94 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2»d S. VIII. July 30. '59. 



second place, it is not to be found in the published 

 lists of Vertue's works. And thirdly, more mar- 

 vellous still, it is nowhere mentioned in the valu- 

 able paper in your 1" S. xi. pp. 380-1. ("Re- 

 marks on Crowns," &c., from MS. of S. M. 

 Leaks, Es^., Garter), in which, according to 

 your correspondent's statement, he finds "re- 

 peated reference" to it ! 



The learned papers " on Crowns," in your first 

 series, contain various references, especially in the 

 notes, to draughts by Vertue ; but these must be 

 sought for in another quarter, and under a differ- 

 ent title. When the Knaptons determined to 

 publish their edition of Rapin's History of Eng- 

 land, " they engaged Vertue to accompany it with 

 effigies of Kings, and suitable decorations" ("Life 

 of Vertue," appended to H, Walpole's edition of 

 Vertue's Catalogue of Engravers, p. 198.). Ver- 

 tue accordingly executed a " large set of heads of 

 the Kings, for Rapin" (folio edition), and a 

 " smaller set, ditto," octavo (see Walpole's " List 

 of Vertue's Works," ut supra) . However, as the 

 Knapton editions, which were originally published 

 in numbers, are not always complete in respect 

 to the prints, your correspondent Sheen, if he 

 wishes to verify Garter's descriptions by Vertue's 

 Draughts, will perhaps best effect his object by 

 the aid of Vertue's Heads and Monuments of the 

 Kings of England. This work he will find in the 

 British Museum under "Vertue," in the Cata- 

 logue of the King^s Library. It is a noble folio, 

 containing the " Heads and Monuments," with a 

 moderate amount of letter-press, but without the 

 text of Rapin. The accuracy of Garter's de- 

 scriptions, as referring to the " draughts" of Rapin, 

 your correspondent will find most exemplary. 

 But there is some room for suspicion, as to the 

 accuracy of Vertue himself; although", in his day, 

 he was run down for his stubborn fidelity. 



Thomas Boys. 



VAcademie Frangaise (2"'^ S. viii, 37.) — The 

 mention of the French Academy is only sugges- 

 tive to most Englishmen of Johnson's great Dic- 

 tionary, and of Garrlck's witty epigram respecting 

 it, as a task which the doctor accomplished uu- 

 aided and alone; while a similar laborious under- 

 taking was assigned in France to forty literati — 

 the number of members of the French Academy. 

 The merits and services of the Academie Fran- 

 <jaise, however, far transcend the utility, great as 

 it is, arising from the compilation of a national 

 dictionary. Instituted by Cardinal Richelieu, the 

 Academie speedily became a centre for the most 

 distinguished literary merit and talent in the na- 

 tion ; and showed that a new and independent 

 power had arisen in the world of letters — a power 

 which still subsists, and whose favourable and un- 

 biassed opinion crowns the works that are sub- 

 mitted to its decision with an award which is 

 considered of the highest distinction. 



The new edition, by M. Livet, of the Histoire 

 de r Academie Francaise, par Pellisson et D'OlIvet, 

 will give the reader ample information on a very 

 interesting subject. J. Macray. 



Chatterton MS. (2"^ S. vill. 50.) — Is your cor- 

 respondent quite sure this MS. is 7'eally "in the 

 well-known autograph of Chatterton ? " My rea- 

 son for asking the question is, that in December, 

 1853, one precisely similar was knocked down to 

 my agent at auction as genuine, but afterwards 

 rejected on having been pronounced by the 

 highest authority not to be Chatterton's. It was 

 utterly unlike anything I had ever seen of the ill- 

 fated poet's in my own possession or in the British 

 Museum, and had I inspected it before the sale, of 

 course, I should not have sent a commission to 

 purchase. As far as I remember, the water-mark 

 was as described by Mr. Owen, and that the last 

 line of the twelfth page was — 



" Defend thee from the flying shafts of Death." 



Upon comparison I came to the conclusion it 

 was a modernised fragment of " ^Ua," from the 

 pen of Mr. Leger (author of Memoi?'s of Bristol), 

 and one of your many readers will probably be able 

 to inform Mr. Owen if paper with such water-mark 

 was manufactured in Chatterton's time ? 



On looking over some letters from Mary New- 

 ton (Chatterton's sister) in my possession, in reply 

 to a question, I find she stated Chatterton gleaned 

 the "Argument" from the old Redcliff church 

 parchments, and that he " versified " it probably, 

 first of all in modern, and afterwards in antiquated 

 orthography. Bristoliensis. 



De Foe's Descendants (S'"^ S. vHI. 51.) — I 

 copied from the fly-leaf of a Pocket-Bible in the 

 possession of a friend the following entries, which 

 I intended to have placed in " N. & Q." some 

 time ago. I was reminded to do so by the in- 

 quiry of your correspondent CM.: — 



" Henry Baker and Sophia De Foe were married 30"' 

 April, 1729. 



"David Erskine Baker was born at London in the 

 Parish of S«. Dunstan in the West, on Friday, 30'h Jany, 

 1729-30, about three o'clock in the afternoon. He was 

 baptized in the same Parish. The R'. Hon. David Er- 

 skine, Earl of Buchan, and John Forster, Esq. being his 

 Godfathers, and M". Hj-de his Godmother. 



" Henry Baker was born at Enfield in the county of 

 Middx. on Sunday', W^ Feby. 1733-4, between nine and 

 ten in the morning. He was also baptized there, M^ 

 Thomas Pritchard and M"'. John Stillingfleet being his 

 Godfathers, and M". Jane Forster his Godmother." 



I observe a note in the Neto England Genealo- 

 gical Register for July, 1858, which states that 

 James De Foe was the father of eight children, 

 two of whom, James and Priscilla, were surviving. 



W. St. 



Watson, Yorkshire (2"* S. viii. 10,) — There are 

 two Bilton Parks In Yorkshire : one between York 

 and Wetherby, long the seat of the Plumers ; 



