434 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2"* S. VIII. Nov. 26. '59. 



merely as specimens, and shall be glad of any in- 

 formation on the subject. E. G. R. 



[Our correspondent will find the local names of Scrip- 

 ture elucidated in Arthur Penrhyn Stanley's Sinai and 

 Palestine, 8vo. 1857 ; but especially in Dr. Edward Ro- 

 binson's valuable work, Biblical Researches in Palesline, 

 3 vols. 8vo. 2nd edit. 1856.] 



Bishop Landal. — William Landal, or De Lan- 

 dalis, who was Bishop of St. Andrews from 1341 

 to 1385, was a son of the baron or laird of Landels, 

 in the shire of Berwick. Where is the locality of 

 Landels ? There is no place in Berwickshire, so 

 far as I know, now known by that name. Could 

 any correspondent of "N. & Q." inform the 

 writer where Landals was ? Or who now repre- 

 sents the family of Landals ? MentXnthes. 



Chirnside. 



[By Landels is meant Lauderdale, one of the three 

 divisions of the countj' of Berwick. From this district 

 the noble family of Maitland, first Earls, then Dukes, and 

 jiow Earls again, take their title. Fordun {Scotichromcon, 

 lib. vi. cap. xlvi.) says, concerning Bishop Landal, that 

 he was Lord of all the lands of Landallis (Laverdale, 

 editio Heamii), and yet modest, mild, and ingenuous; 

 and that he loved his canons as much as if they had been 

 his own children."] 



Ridley Hall, Chester. — Who were the inhabit- 

 ants of Ridley Hall in the county of Chester 

 from 1650 to 1700? G. W. M. 



[During the Civil War Ridley Hall was garrisoned by 

 the Parliament ; an unsuccessful attack appears to have 

 been made upon it on the 4th of June, 1645, by a party 

 from the garrison at Beeston castle. (Burghall's Diary, 

 printed in the History of Cheshire, 8vo., ii. 943.) This 

 ball was for three or four descents the seat of a branch of 

 the Egertons. In the dispersion of this family, Ridley 

 Hall passed by sale to Orlando Bridgeman, second son of 

 Sir Orlando Bridgeman, Bart., Lord-keeper of the Great 

 Seal to James I. ; but the family do not appear, from the 

 parish registers, ever to have made it their residence. 

 It was consumed by fire in 1700. (Ormerod's Cheshire, 

 ii. 161. ; Lysons's Cheshire, 351.) We fear, however, 

 that these notices of Ridley Hall will not be considered a 

 satisfactory reply to the Query.] 



LOUIS THE FIFTEENTH. 



(2"« S. vili. 268. 297. 387.) 



Y. S. M. fans acknowledged his error in stating 

 that the late Earl of Stirling * was found guilty of 

 forgery. It would have been more to Y. S. M.'s 



[* B}' the insertion of this Reply (with which the dis- 

 cussion of this question in the columns of "N. & Q." must 

 be brought to a close), we must not be understood as con- 

 sidering the late Mr. Alexander as Earl of Stirling. No 

 man has a right to assume a title until he has established 

 his claim to it in the manner which the law requires. If 

 he does, neither himself nor his friends must be surprised 

 if the world regard him as a mere pretender, and treat 

 him accordingly. — Ed. "N. & Q."] 



credit, hearing that the Earl had many relatives 

 and friends living, to have let it rest there, be- 

 cause an accusation can be made in a few words, 

 but not so a defence. I must, however, put Y. S. 

 M. right on a few points. The word "Assoilzied" 

 does not merely mean " not convicted," as Y. S. 

 M. ingeniously suggests, but has a much stronger 

 meaning; for on referring to Wharton's Zaw Lexi- 

 con, under the head " Assoilzie," he will find the 

 following, " to acquit a defendant, and to find a 

 person not guilty of a crime. Scotch Law." The 

 italics are mine. 



The excerpt of a charter of Novo damns was 

 not used by the Earl in proving his right of service 

 as heir to his great-grandfather's grandfather, 

 William 1st Earl of Stirling. Mr. Banks, the 

 celebrated genealogist, brought the excerpt to 

 Lord Stirling months afterwards, and always de- 

 clared it to be genuine. The juries who declared 

 Lord Stirling to be heir to the 1st Earl never had 

 this excerpt before them ! They were men of 

 position, of ability, and of high respectability, and 

 many of them are living who can testify to the 

 accuracy of this statement. In addition, on the 

 8th July, 1831, Lord Stirling obtained from Wil- 

 liam IV. seisin and investiture of his lands and 

 rights in America. Y. S. M.'s private opinion of 

 the tombstone case in the Tracy Peerage may be 

 very valuable to himself, and those who know 

 him, but has nothing to do with the matter before 

 us. It is an anonymous opinion wounding to the 

 feelings of living individuals, and as such is un- 

 worthy of a Christian and a gentleman. 



A second antagonist, M. L., has however sprung 

 up, adding Lincoln's Inn to his name, as a make- 

 weight one would suppose. With regard to Lord 

 Stirling's antecedents, to which M. L. alludes, I 

 may state that Mr. Humphrys, sen., was a gentle- 

 man of good family, as well as of wealth and 

 station, residing at the Larches near Birmingham. 

 His wife was the daughter of the Rev. John Alex- 

 ander, and his son, so insolently spoken of by M. 

 L., was the claimant of the Earldom of Stirling. 

 These facts were testified to at the trial by Lord 

 Stirling's intimate friends General Sir George 

 D'Aguilar, late Commander in Chief of H. M.'s 

 Forces in China, Mr. J. Wilson, late Chief Justice 

 in the Mauritius, and Mr. Charles Hardinge, cousin 

 to the late Sir Robert Peel, Bart. 



With regard to the verdict, so far from Lord 

 Stirling being, as M. L. insinuates, " merely ac- 

 quitted from the charge of forging documents 

 upon which he based his pretended claim, but 

 which documents were found to have been forged" 

 the Earl was acquitted also from the charge of 

 having " uttered them as genuine knounvg them to 

 he forged" which is quite a diflferent affair, I 

 may add here that the documents on which Lord 

 Stirling really based his claim were those in the 

 Digbeth or JPe Porquet packet, which contained 



