2°d S. No 30., July 2C. '56. ] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



79 



entry Into Ghent as Count of Flanders. Chai-les 

 was so pleased at the fiict of a simple artisan 

 bringing up and educating such a family, that he 

 conferred on Oliver a modest pension. The re- 

 nowned Count of Abensberg, when the Emperor 

 Henry II. visited his German provinces, presented 

 his thirty-two children as the most acceptable 

 offering he could make to his sovereign. The 

 Count was happier with them than poor Minjau 

 and his wife Amalberga with theirs. The thirty- 

 one children of this Ghent couple were carried off 

 together, in 1526, by the suette^ which we have no 

 difficulty (as It Is called the newly Imported En- 

 glish disease) In recognising as the Mack stveat of 

 England. Minjau and his wife died within a few 

 weeks after the loss of all their children, among 

 whom they lie interred. Their monument Is the 

 most affecting of the many memorials of the dead 

 raised in populous Ghent. J. Doran. 



JrisJi Round Towers (2"'^ S. 11. 44.) — In reply 

 to J. M. G., I beg leave to express my dissent 

 from his statement, that the origin of these towers 

 Is a profound mystery. I have myself visited and 

 examined a majority of them ; and have read, I 

 believe, all that has been published about them, 

 and have not the slightest doubt that they were 

 belfries, as their ancient, as well as present native, 

 denomination imports, clochus. I cannot but think 

 that It would be a sad waste of your space to re- 

 produce the absurd theories with which this really 

 very simple question has been perplexed. C. 



The best theory that I have heard, as to the 

 origin of the round towers, was one current in the 

 famine years, when all kinds of useless labour 

 were devised for the employment of the poor. It 

 was simply this — there was a Board of Works In 

 those days. X. II. 



Shoivlng the While Feather (P' S. v. 274. 309.) 

 — In Andrew Borde's Bohe of the Introduction of 

 Knoivledge, 1542, I find, under the head Navarre : 



" The chiefe towne is Pampilona, and there is another 

 towne called Saj'nte Domyngo, in the whj-che towne there 

 is a church, in the whiche is kept a white cocke and a 

 hene. And euery pijgrime that goeth or commyth yt 

 way to Saynt James in Compostel hath a whit feder to 

 set on his hat." 



Borde then proceeds to tell a marvellous tale 

 about this cock and hen ; which, however, do not 

 appear to be connected with the pilgrim's white 

 feather, otherwise than in his inexplicit language. 



J. P. 



Birmingham. 



The Ten Commandments (2"'^ S. I. 503.) — For 

 the sake of information and not controversy, will 

 F. C. H. be so good as to give the editions, dates, 

 &c., of " the [Roman-Catholic] catechisms used 

 by authority in this country " i|i wbich the Com- 



mandments are taught at length ? Dr. M'^Caul 

 In a tract published a few years ago stated that 

 he could find only one or two such in the world. 



/3. y. 5. 



Jacobite Song (2"'' S. 11. 43.) — There Is a mis- 

 print in this song which Is worth correcting : 

 " Monarchy halters" should be " Monarchy 

 haters.^^ 



In the " Political Poem," in p. 46., " trump" 

 is obviously a mistake for '■'■triumph" C. 



Kneller's Portrait of Shahspeare (2"'' S. ii. 45.) 

 — The following note from Sir Walter Scott's 

 Dryden (vol. xi. p. 87.) will furnish your corre- 

 spondent with the information of which he is in 

 search : — 



" The portrait was copied from one in the possession of 

 Mr. Betterton, and afterwards in that of the Chandos 

 famih'. Twelve engravings were executed fi'oni this 

 painting, which, however, the ingenious Mr. Stevens 

 [Steevens?], and other commentators on Shakspeare, 

 pronounced a forgery. The copy presented by Kneller to 

 Dryden is in the collection of Earl Fitzwilliam at Went- 

 worth House; and may claim that veneration, from 

 having been the object of our author's respect and en- 

 thusiasm, which has been denied to its original, as a 

 genuine portrait of Shakspeare. It is not, however, an 

 admitted point that the Chandos picture is a forgery: 

 the contrary has been keenly maintained ; and Mr. 

 Malone's opinion has given weight to tho.se who have 

 espoused its defence." 



J. Y. 



Crooked Naves (2"*^ S. I. 432.) — An Instance 

 of a crooked clioir occurs in Christ Church, Dub- 

 lin. The building takes a very decided bend to 

 the north. It is remarkable that the east window 

 of this cathedral is placed much nearer to one side 

 (the south, I think,) than the other. It looks as If 

 intended to compensate for the bend in the choir. 



C. II. S. (Clk.) 



''Siuang," "Wong" "Wang" (2"'' S. i. 471. 

 522.) — At Tickhill, co. York, are lands, all or 

 mostly meadow, called the North Wongs, South 

 Wongs, Saffron Wongs, and Church Wongs. 



C.J. 



NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC. 



" Southey's Letters shoAv his true character," is the 

 motto, from one who knew him well, quoted on the title- 

 page of the Selections from t/ie Letters of Robert Soul/iey, 

 of which the third and fourth volumes, "edited by his son- 

 in-law, the Rev. John Wood Warter, are now before us. 

 We think this motto might be amended, and that to get 

 Southey's true character, we should have all his letters, 

 and not a selection, from which to form our judgment. 

 On the appearance of the former volumes we spoke 

 warmly in their favour ; and if our notice of those which 

 are now published is more tempered, it is because we feel 

 that ja»5tic9 to Southey himself, as w«U aa to many others, 



