300 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 152. 



much learning, knowledge, clemency, and divers other 

 virtues, yet he said he had heard that the king was 

 mtich given to cursing ; I answered that it was out of 

 his gentleness : but the Prince demanding how cursing 

 could be gentleness ? I replied yes ; for tho' he could 

 punish men himself, yet he left them to God to punish i 

 which defence of the King my master was afterwards 

 much celebrated in the French Court." 



Jarltzberg. 



THE HEREDITARY STA^SDARD BEARER, SCOTLAND. 



(Vol. v., p. 609. ; Vol. vi., p. 158.) 



In reply to your correspondent E. N., I beg to 

 mention that, upon reference to a collection of 

 Edinburgh Almanacks from the year 1745 to 

 1851 inclusive, which I have at present for sale, I 

 find as follows, viz. : In the year (the \qvj first in 

 which the office is mentioned) — 



1768. Mrs, Seton, of Touch, Heritable Standard 



Bearer. 



1769. Do. do. 



1770. Do. do. 



1771. Do. do. 



1772. Do. do. 



1773. Do. do. 



1774. Do. do. 



1775. Do. But the name of the office is altered 



to that of " Heritable Armour Bearer." 



1776. Do. do. 



1777. Do. do. 



1778. Do. do. 



1779. Mr. Seton, of Touch, Heritable Armour 



Bearer, and Squire of the Royal Body. 



1780. Mr. SetOD of Touch, Heritable Armour 



Bearer. 



1781. Same as in 1779. 



1782. Do. do. 



1783. Same as in 1780. 



1784. Do. do. 



1785. Same as in 1779. 



1786. Do. do. But this year there is 



entered the Earl of Lauderdale as 

 " Heritable Royal Standard Bearer." 



In Beatson's Political Index (edition of 1788), 

 and also in Adolphus's Political State of the British 

 Empire, 1818, it is there stated that the " Earl of 

 Lauderdale is Hereditary Royal Standard Bearer." 



As regards the " sale of the office," as stated by 

 Mr. Warren in his address before the House of 

 Peers, to have taken place, it is not — from the 

 vast number of cases unreported in the old collec- 

 tions of decisions of the courts of law here — easy 

 to find such out ; but I will endeavour to procure 

 what your correspondent wants as soon as I can. 



T. G. S. 



Edinburjih. 



JOHN ASGILL. 



(Vol. vi., p. 3.) 



Mr. Crosslet, in his reference to this extra- 

 ordinary character, does not remark that in 

 Southey's book The Doctor, there is an interest- 

 ing notice of Asgill (vol. vi.) ; neither does he 

 seem aware of a curious episode in his life, 

 namely, that of his figuring for a while in the 

 character of an Irish landed proprietor, in circum- 

 stances which do not redound much to the credit 

 of his integrity. In the Irish Records he is some- 

 times mentioned as "John Asgill of Castle Rosse," 

 which is part of the hereditary property of 

 "Browne, Earls of Kenmare,'' from whence they 

 take the title of Viscount ; and the noble ruin of 

 Castle Rosse forms a marked feature in the scenery 

 of Killarney. Asgill's claim to this property arose 

 in a questionable manner : and as it exhibits some 

 remarkable circumstances of the unsettled state of 

 society in Ireland after the revolution of 1688, it 

 may be worth relating here. 



Asgill had married" Jane Browne, a daughter of 

 Nicholas Browne, second Viscount of Kenmare, 

 who suffered personal attainder for his adherence 

 to James II., though the rights of his wife (an 

 heiress), and the succession of his infant son under 

 previous family settlements, were held not to be 

 affected thereby. His life estate in his lands was, 

 however, held to be forfeited to the Crown, and as 

 such was sold by the trustees of forfeited estates, 

 on the 28th April, 1703, to John Asgill, his son- 

 in-law. The further proceedings show that this 

 transaction was considered one of honour and 

 tntst, and that Asgill was but a trustee in the 

 affair for the young heir. I discovered, among 

 the Irish parliamentary records, some original 

 letters from Nicholas Viscount Kenmare to Asgill, 

 couched in terms which sustain this view ; but it 

 would seem that Asgill soon began to assume the 

 rights and position of an owner in earnest, for on 

 the 30th October, 1703, we find a petition from 

 "Anthony Hammond of Somersham," co. Hunt- 

 ingdon (VVouhl any reader of " N. & Q." oblige 

 me with any information concerning him ?), as 

 next friend of Valentine Browne the heir, com- 

 plaining to the House of Commons in Ireland that 

 " John Asgill as council," and " Mutagh Griffin as 

 agent," had purchased the estates from the trustees 

 for Valentine Browne, and, in breach of the trust 

 reposed in him, do now refuse to convey the same. 

 "This petition, on vote of the House, was re- 

 jected, November 10, 1703." And, in reference to 

 it, I found the two following original and charac- 

 teristic letters of Mr. Asgill to the Speaker, in the 

 Record Office in Dublin : 



"Saturday, Nov. 6, 1703. 

 " To Sir Alan Broderick, Speaker, 



" Sir, — When I attended your bar on Wednesday 

 last, I had forgotten my privilege as a member of 



