300 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 126. 



" I believe that no man can have a sincerer regard 

 for you than myself, nor can any man wish to serve and 

 assist you with more ardour ; " and " Attachments be- 

 tween men of certain characters do generally arise from 

 something alike in their natures, and sliould never fall 

 from a certain degree of firmness, that makes them the 

 same all the world over, and incapable of any dimi- 

 nution. I have (as you justly acknowledge) a perse- 

 verance in friendship, that time, nor distance, nor cir- 

 cumstance, can defeat, — nay, even neglect can hardly 

 conquer it ; and you are just as warm and as near me 

 in North America as you would be upon the spot." 



Rickson survived Wolfe eleven years, and I 

 possess the key of the tomb in which his remains 

 repose in Restalrig churchyard, near Edinburgh. 

 A fine miniature of him in his antique regimentals 

 also exists ; and it is interesting to contemplate 

 the lineaments of a countenance so familiar to 

 Wolfe, and of a man to whom the latter seems to 

 have communicated his inmost thoughts. There 

 are passages in the letters indicative of this to a 

 degree, that I felt bound in honour not to disclose. 

 Rickson died a lieutenant-colonel in 1770. His 

 antique military chest remained in possession of 

 relatives in Scotland almost forgotten, till about 

 three years ago curiosity prompted the examina- 

 tion of a mass of old papers, covered with dust, 

 lying at the bottom of it. A number of curious 

 documents have thus been brought to light, in- 

 cluding a file of letters to RIckson from the Duke 

 of Queensbury (under whose auspices he con- 

 structed the military roads in Gallowayshire) and 

 other distinguished personages of the last century, 

 but best of all twelve invaluable letters from the 

 lamented Wolfe, tied up by themselves, probably 

 by Rickson, as memorials of his bosom friend who 

 fell in the arms of victory. It was, as already 

 said, among these old papers that the fragment of 

 the letter above quoted was also found lately, on 

 a more careful inspection of the antique chest in 

 ■which they lay. I was so much struck with the 

 noble sentiments expressed by Wolfe in the 

 letters, that I ventured to write a short sketch of 

 Lim from very imperfect materials, which ap- 

 peared, along with the letters themselves, ad 

 longam, in Tait's Edinburgh Magazine for De- 

 cember, 1849. Had I been aware of some of the 

 facts which have since been contributed to the 

 " N. & Q.," I would have modified certain pas- 

 sages in the narrative. All I aimed at, however, 

 was merely to elucidate the letters which accident 

 placed in my custody. But I now earnestly invite 

 some competent writer to rescue Wolfe's history 

 from the undeserved neglect and obscurity In 

 which it Is at present shrouded. I shall cheerfully 

 allow any such party access to the whole letters, 

 under proper guards for their safety, and my ad- 

 dress has been left with the Editor accordingly. 



5- 



Glasgow.. 



EARL OF CHEPSTOW. 



(Vol. v., pp. 126. 204. 261.) 



The seeming difiiculty regarded in these commu- 

 nications arises from Hooker's unauthorised trans- 

 lation of " Comes Strigulensis" into " Earl of 

 Chepsto?je," and in a phrase of ancient parlance 

 appearing a Title of Dignity. The error does not 

 exist in the original work, as GIraldus wrote 

 " Dermutlus Morchardi filius, Lagenensiura Prln- 

 ceps, Ricardo Comiti Strigulensi, Oilleberti Comitis 

 filio, S." — Camden's Anglica, &c., p. 767. 



The town, called in later times Chepstow by the 

 English, and sometimes Cas Gwent, or Castell 

 Gwent, by the Welsh, Is clearly StriguL (as shown 

 in Lhwyd's Commentariolum, p. 102. edit. 1731,. 

 and Archceologia, vol. xxix. p. 31.) ; but these 

 names are not precisely equivalent. In early docu- 

 ments the Town, Vill, or Burgh is thus variously 

 named, and the style of the present Court Baron 

 is, " the Honour of Chepstow, alias Strlguil ;" but 

 In old charters and chronicles the Lordship 

 Marcher, the castle, and the honorary description 

 of Its lords, are usually designated by the word 

 " Strlgul " (variously written) only ; and of this 

 "Hooker alias Vowell" was perhaps ignorant. 

 GIraldus himself is correct, as shown above. 



As to the style of " Earl of Strlgul," Dugdale 

 admits the use of it by Richard Fitz-Gilbert, who 

 occurs as "Comes Strigulensis" above, and as 

 " Ricardus Comes de Strlguil Dermuciigener," In 

 Ralph de Diceto (p. 590.). His descendant Gil- 

 bert Marescair is also termed " Counte de Stro- 

 goile " in the petition of Margaret, daughter of 

 Thomas de Brotherton, at the coronation of 

 Richard II. (Vincent's Corrections, p. 345.) 

 There Is a stronger instance In Selden's Titles of 

 Honour (p. 617. edit. 1631), correctly cited from 

 Hoveden, and mentioning the fact of William 

 Marshall and Geofirey FItz-Peter being severally 

 girded '■'■gladio Comitatus de Striguil et gladio 

 Comitatus de Essex," at the coronation of King 

 John, with remarks on their previous rank as 

 earls, their administration of earldoms, but their 

 non- Investiture, and their sitting at the royal table 

 in consequence of this investiture. 



Nevertheless, It Is laid down in the third Report 

 on the Dignity of a Peer, p. 146., that such expres- 

 sions are to be considered vague. It refers, for 

 instance, any description of Roger deMonte- 

 gomeri, as Earl of Arundel (If such exists), to 

 residence ; adding, " that Is, he was an earl, and 

 from his residence was denominated Earl of Arun- 

 del, as the Earls of Pembroke were denominated 

 Earls of Strigul, a castle which appears to have 

 been built by William Fitz-Osborn, Earl of Here- 

 ford, and which had no connexion with the county 

 of Pembroke." 



As to the immediate parentage of Earl Richard 

 Fitz-Gilbert, proof will be readily found In the 



