188 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2°d S. X. Sept, 8. '60. 



" Du Cirimonial des Ambassadeurs de la Cour de France 

 a celle d'Espagne" 



The MS. has evidently no pretension to be the 

 original MS. of the author, but appears a careful 

 transcript made in the earlier part of the eigh- 

 teenth century. As the Marquis de Villars died 

 in 1698, aged about eighty, the Memoirs were 

 probably written several years before that date. 

 Blecourt, for whose use they are said to have 

 been written, accompanied his relative the Mar- 

 quis d'Harcourt on his embassy to Spain towards 

 the end of the reign of Charles II., and was left 

 there by that minister as charge cCaffaires, which 

 post he filled at the time of the King's death. 



The Memoirs are curious and interesting, and 

 I believe unpublished. I have consulted all the 

 best bibliographies without finding any mention 

 of them, or of either of the other works attributed 

 in the introduction to their author. No notice of 

 them, or of the fact of his having written anything 

 beyond despatches, is to be found either in the 

 JBiGgraphie Universelle, or in the Memoirs of St. 

 Simon, or of the Marechal Due de Villars, or in 

 the preface to the latter by M. C. Cayx {Coll. 

 Petitot, tom. 68 — 71.), or in the Lettres de la 

 Mai-quise de Villars (his wife), Amsterdam, 1759, 

 12mo. No copy of the Memoires exists among 

 the MSS. at the British Museum, nor can my 

 friends, there give me any information on the 

 subject. 



If any reader of " N. & Q." should happen to 

 know of another copy, or, in the course of his 

 reading, should have met with any account of 

 them, or any notice of the Marquis de Villars as 

 an author, I shall fe'el grateful if he will commu- 

 nicate such knowledge to me. As the book ap- 

 pears wojth printing, I am contemplating a small 

 impression of it for the Philobiblon Society ; and 

 I am naturally desirous of obtaining all available 

 information with regard to it, and an opportunity, 

 if that be possible, of collating my copy with ano- 

 ther. William Stiblihg. 



Shakspeare's Family. — I have in my posses- 

 sion a seventeenth century token of one "John 

 Shackspeer, of Roap Walk in Upper Shadwell." 

 Can any of your correspondents inform me whe- 

 ther he had any family connections with our great 

 dramatic poet ? If he was not a relation of the 

 poet, I should be glad if anyone could tell me who 

 he was. E. A. T. 



The Rev. Thomas Ford's Catalogue of Mu- 

 sicians. — In the Sale Catalogue of Dr. Burner's 

 musical library, sold by White of Storey's Gate, 

 August, 1814, lot 986, is the following, of which I 

 should be glad to know something more : — 



« A curious MS. Catalogue of the Names of Musicians 

 and Works, carefully selected and Alphabetically arranged, 

 with a Chronological Index and Remarks, &c., written 



and collected by Thomas Ford, Chaplain of Christ Church, 

 Oxon. (118 pages.)" 



The Rev.Thos. Ford was prebendary and vicar- 

 choral of Wells, and vicar of Banwell and Wokey 

 in the county of Somerset. Noble, from whom I 

 glean this notice (Biogi-aphicul Hist, of England, 

 in. 115.), adds, "This gentleman, who died Aug. 

 29, 1746, was father of the late deservedly emi- 

 nent physician and accoucheur. Dr. Ford." 



Edward F. Rimbault. 



Manuscripts of Irish Forfeitures. — I have 

 recently been perusing the Report of the Com- 

 missioners for Inquiry into Irish Forfeitures pre- 

 sented to the English House of Commons on 15 

 December, 1699, and published by order of the 

 Speaker in the year 1700. 



This Report refers to nine different books of 

 rentals and accounts delivered to the House with 

 it, and which seem to contain valuable information 

 to the student of Anglo-Irish history. Perhaps 

 some of your readers can say what has become of 

 those MS. books, and if they have ever been pub- 

 lished ? A. 



Cope Family. — Information is desired respect- 

 ing the daughters of Jonathan Cope, Esq., of 

 Ranton Abbey, co. Stafford, who married Anna, 

 daughter of Sir Hatton Fermor of Easton Neston, 

 CO. Northampton. He had issue : 



1. Jonathan, whose son Jonathan was created 

 a baronet in 1713. 



2. Elizabeth, married, 1691, John Gouldsmytb, 

 Esq., of Stapeley Manor, Cheshire, and had a 

 son Jonathan, who died *. jo. ,• and a daughter and 

 heir Judith, who married Walter Stubbs, Esq. 



3. Arabella, m. 1696, Robert Slaney, Esq., of 

 Hatton Grange, and of Budge ; and had a daugh- 

 ter Anne, who d. s. p. 



4. Katherine, m. Gabriel Wettenhall, Esq., of 

 Hankelow, Cheshire, but has no descendants. 



There were two other daughters; and the 

 names of these and of their husbands are required. 

 Any information concerning Elizabeth Gould- 

 smytb, and her husband and son (especially as to 

 the date of their decease and place of burial), is 

 particularly requested. Tiie Baronetage of Burke 

 and Brydges, and various county histories, have 

 been searched in vain. T. E. S. 



Earl of Halifax. — Johnson, in his Life of 

 the Earl of Halifax, says : 



" Charles Montague was born April 16, 1661, at Horton, 

 in "Northamptonshire: the son of Mr. George Montague, 

 a j'ounger son of the Earl of Manchester." 



A little farther on it is said of the same Charles 

 Montague : 



" About the same time (1687) he mamed the Countess 

 Dowager of Manchester." 



Who was this lady, and how related to the 

 Earl of Manchester, grandfather of Charles Mon- 

 tague ? Libya. 



