532 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 162. 



Shakspeare," was " bequeathed by liim to a re- 

 lative, Mrs. Gomm of Spitalfields," as no such 

 *' bequest," according to my recollection, appears 

 in Steevens's will. Steevens, we aro told by 

 Nichols {Literary Anecdotes), resolutely refused 

 to sit for his portrait, and destroyed two portraits 

 which had been taken of him when a youujj man, 

 and for years hunted after a third, by Zoffany, 

 sold, with other unclaimed portraits, when the 

 artist went to India. This portrait he did not 

 discover ; and it was understood to be the only 

 one in existence, and was, I think, subsequently 

 engraved. It will be time enough to inquire into 

 the history and authenticity of O. W.'s portrait, 

 when the fact as to the bequest has been esta- 

 blished. Allow me also to ask him how Mrs. 

 Gomm was related to Steevens ? 



This, and the question of another correspondent 

 (Vol. vi., p. 412.) about Collins, and the Notes 

 go signed, reminds me that a former correspondent 

 (Vol. iii., p. 230.), though confused in some parti- 

 culars, says, as from his own knowledge, that 

 Steevens had a relation, a Mrs. CoUinson (query 

 Collins ?) and daughters, who lived with him, and 

 were with him when he died. Who was Mrs. Col- 

 linson, and what was her relationship or connexion 

 with George Steevens ? S. G. 



LEGITIMATION BY GRANT OF LAND. 



A writer, either on Feudal Law or on Heraldry, 

 in making the statement that a bastard is incapable 

 of serving the king, and therefore of holding lands 

 immediately of the crown, says, " and hence arises 

 the rule of law, that when the king grants lands to 

 a bastard, to be held by the crown by military or 

 other tenure, he is presumed to have legitimated 

 the bastard, even as if he had granted letters of 

 legitimation ; because it cannot be supi>osed that 

 the kingwould grant lands to an incapable person." 

 A careless habit of reading without taking notes 

 obliges me to ask tlie favour of some of your cor- 

 respondents to supply my omission of a reference 

 to authority. The rule of law here referred to 

 seems to be capable of illustration by a Scotch case 

 in the sixteenth century : — A man had four bas- 

 tard sons by the same mother ; the three younger 

 received letters of legitimation ; no trace of such 

 letters to the eldest son can be found : but his father 

 had conveyed to the mother, in life-rent, and to 

 her eldest son in fee, a landed estate (or barony) 

 holding immediately of the crown ; which gift was 

 followed by the usual feudal titles. There was 

 not, nor could there have been in this case, any 

 legitimation "per subsequens matrimonium." The 

 question arises. Did this grant of a crown holding 

 supply the place of letters of legitimation ? The 

 bastard bore the name and arms of his father; and 

 it may be further noted that the mother was styled, 



in all documents previous to the crown charter, 

 " proba mulier," but, subsequently, " nobilis 

 domina ; " thus seeming to show that the style 

 "nobilis" attached, as of right, to a woman (a for- 

 tiori to a ninn) holding lands in barony, and tliat 

 the cust(miai-y title of "lady," till of late univer- 

 sally given in Scotland to wives of lairds, and still 

 obtaining in many districts, is not an usurpation. 

 This "proba mulier" was the lawful daughter of 

 a Scotch peer. I have purposely omitted the 

 mention of names. Obliviscens. 



iiltnar caueric^. 



Heraldic Queries. — Can any herald give me 

 the arms of — 



1. CluhulU in the county of Dublin, a family 

 that existed in the fourteenth century ? 



2. Sargeant of Castle Knock, Ireland, about the 

 same time ? 



3. Ens7iake, ^Master of the Rolls in Ireland circa 

 1480? For Ensnake, W. Townsend, Windsor 

 Ht-rald. would read Cusake. 



4. C?-adock, of Dingley in Northamptonshire? 



E. L. B. 

 Ruthin. 



" The wealth of this ivorld.'' — Who is the author 

 of the following lines ? They are given as a quo- 

 tation (but without a reference) in Brook's Apples 

 of Gold (London, 1658) : 



" This WDrld's wealth, which men so much desire, 

 Mny well be liken'd to a burning fire ; 

 Whereof a little can do little harm, 

 I'ut profit mucli, our bodies well to warm. 

 But take too much, and surely thou slialt burn, 

 So too much wealth to too much woe doth turn." 



They struck me as being John Bunyan's, but I 

 cannot discover them in his woi'ks. 11. C. Warde. 

 Kidderminster. 



Wake Family. — Who was the wife of Sir Hugh 

 Wake, Lord of Ellsworth? He died the 4th of 

 May, 1315. H.T.Wake. 



" All beautiful and hind.'" — Can you tell me the 

 name of the author of the annexed lines ? 



" All beautiful and kind, 



But far too wise and chaste, 

 Ever to suit the taste 

 Of any common mind. 



" Alone amid the crowd, 



Unknowing and unknown. 

 She dwells a being worth 

 A monarch and a throne." 



W. p. R. 



Fulahall. — At page 360. of the Scottish Journal, 

 Edinburgh, 5th February, 1848, a correspondent, 

 W. D., makes a very interesting inquiry regarding 



