Dec. 4. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



531 



Rheims, obtained a dispensation from tbe Pope to 

 effect his marriage with ^laderaoiselle des Essarts, 

 one of the favourites of that most licentious and 

 profligate king, Henry IV. of France. E. H. A. 



Relics of Judge Jeffreys (Vol. vi., p. 432.). — I 

 ■was not aware, till I saw it in some of your previous 

 Numbers, that the birthplace of Judge Jeffreys 

 was a matter of doubt. Acton, near Wrexham, 

 has always claimed whatever honour may be con- 

 sidered belonging to such an individual. There is, 

 however, a circumstance connected with the judge 

 and Acton not generally known. The late Dean 

 Shipley, who died many years ago, at an advanced 

 age, married a Miss Young of Acton ; but whether 

 she was any connexion of the judge I do not know. 

 However, the interval between the judge's death 

 and Miss Young's father's must have been very tri- 

 fling, if any. Miss Young, the wife of the dean, was 

 the owner, among other effects, of fourteen arm- 

 chairs, originally painted green and gold, which are 

 still in existence, seven of them being in the library 

 of Bodryddan, in the county of Flint, the property 

 of the dean's grandson, Mr. Shipley Conway. The 

 other seven are in the possession of Mrs. Hughes, 

 who now resides at the Manor House, Ruthin, the 

 widow of the late rector of Manavon, in Mont- 

 gomeryshire. They were given to her many years 

 ago by the late dean, with whom she in her younger 

 days was very intimate. She was informed by 

 him that they had been the property of the Judge 

 Jeffreys, and from their style and character they 

 are certainly of that date. E. I. B. 



Ruthin. 



Superstition on the Death of great Men. — A 

 superstition prevails among the lower classes of 

 many parts of Worcestershire, that when storms, 

 heavy rains, or other elemental strifes take place 

 at the death of a great man, the spirit of the storm 

 will not be appeased till the moment of burial. 

 This superstition gained great strength on the oc- 

 casion of the Duke of Wellington's funeral, when, 

 after some weeks of heavy rain, and one of the 

 highest floods ever known in this county, the 

 skies began to clear, and both rain and flood 

 abated. The storms which have been noticed to 

 take place at the time of the death of many great 

 men known to our history, may have had some- 

 thing to do with the formation of this curious no- 

 tion in the minds of the vulgar. It was a common 

 observation hereabout in the week before the in- 

 terment of his Grace, " Oh, the rain won't give 

 over till the Duke is buried." J. Noake. 



Worcester. 



^yxtvit^. 



HENRY WALDEGRAVE. 



In the Evangelical Magazine and Missionary 

 Chronicle (vol. xxii. p. 261. &c.) for July, 1814, is 

 the following extract from a "Funeral Sermon 

 preached at Bury St. Edmunds by the Rev. 

 Charles Dewhirst : " 



" The late Rev. Thomas Waldegrave was born in 

 the city of Norwich, in the year 1732. He was the 

 only surviving child of Henry and Letitia Waldegrave ; 

 a branch of the Right Hon. family of that name. His 

 father was possessed of extensive property ; and gave 

 his son the elements of a liberal education, becoming 

 his situation and prospects. He was deprived, how- 

 ever, at an early period, of paternal attention ; for in 

 consequence of the part which his father took in the 

 rebellion in 1745, his property was confiscated, and he 

 was obliged to quit the kingdom. 



« After this event, there appears a blank in his his- 

 tory, as he very seldom chose to speak upon the sub- 

 ject, even to his own family, from a sentiment of deep 

 regret at the painful vicissitudes in his father's life, 

 and the uncertainty of what became of him, for he was 

 never heard of afterwards." 



The sermon proceeds to give an account of his 

 conversion from the Roman Catholic religion, and 

 subsequent life as a Protestant dissenting minister, 

 and of his descendants ; some of whom are yet 

 living, but the name is extinct from the failure of 

 male heirs. 



After much private inquiry, the only further 

 information E. L.W. has been able to obtain, is 

 from a scrap of paper in the handwriting of sonae 

 ill-educated person, which sets forth that " Ali- 

 tiah" or " Laticiah Waldegrave," who "had a son 

 Thomas," is " buried in a tomb in the Catholic 

 chapel at Norwich." 



Can any of the readers of " N. & Q." throw any 

 light on the questions which arise naturally ? 



Who was this Henry Waldegrave ? 



Where was his property situated ? 



Where can any account be found to corroborate 

 the statement that " taking part in the rebellion 

 of 1745, his property was confiscated ? " E. L. W. 



GEORGE STEEVENS. 



So little is known about George Steevens, that 

 I was induced by a late reference in " N. & Q." to 

 turn to Vol. i., p. 212, I do not understand, as 

 you appear to do, that H. E. states positively that 

 the poem there printed, " The Pursuer of Litera- 

 ture pursued," was written by Steevens, but that 

 " it is believed " to have been written by him. 

 Will your correspondent oblige me by giving his 

 authority for even this qualified opinion ? 



I will also ask O. W. (Vol. ii., p. 476.) on what 

 authority he states that " the portrait of George 

 Stevens [Steevens], the celebrated annotator on 



