316 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 205. 



tending from elbow to elbow, just as the wooden 

 one is placed in a child's chair to prevent the 

 occupant from falling forward. 



W. J. Beknhakd Smith. 

 Temple. 



Watch-paper Insmption, — Akin to dial in- 

 scriptions are inscriptions on watch-papers used 

 in the days of our grandfathers, in the outer case 

 of the corpulent watch now a-days seldom seen. 

 I send you the following one, which I read many 

 years since ; but as I did not copy the lines, I can- 

 not vouch for their being strictly accurate : 



" Onward perpetually moving, 

 These faithful hands are ever proving 



How quick the hours fly by ; 

 This monitory pulse-like beating, ' 



Seems constantly, methinks, repeating. 

 Swift ! swift ! the moments fly. 

 Reader, be ready — for perhaps before 

 These hands have made one revolution more. 

 Life's spring is snapt — you die ! " 



F. James. 



^utxit^. 



BIRTHPI-ACE OF GEN. MONK. 



In a clever biographical sketch by M. Guizot, 

 originally published in a French periodical (the 

 Hevue Franqaise) under the title of " Monk, 

 Etude Historique," George Monk, first Duke of 

 Albemarle, is said to have been born on the 6th 

 of December, 1608, at the manor-house of Pothe- 

 ridge, the ancient inheritance of his family, in the 

 county of Devon. 



This Potheridge (otherwise Pen-the-ridge) is, 

 it appears, a village or hamlet situated "on the 

 ascendant ridge of a small hill," in the parish of 

 Merton, about four miles south-west of Torrington. 

 As M. Guizot's statement, in so far as locality is 

 concerned, seems open to doubt at least, if not 

 positive exception, I wish to elicit, and place on 

 record, through the medium of " N. & Q." if I 

 can, some farther and perhaps more decisive in- 

 formation on the subject. In opposition to M. 

 Guizot's authority (whence derived or whatever 

 it might be), Lysons, in his account of Devonshire 

 in the Magna Britannia, positively lays the venue 

 of Monk's birth in the parish of Lancros or 

 Landcross, near Bideford, confirmatorily alleging 

 that his baptism took place there on the 11th of 

 December in the year above mentioned. In 

 another account, a notice of the Restoration by 

 M. Riordan de Muscry, appended to Monteth's 

 History of the ReheUio7i, he is said to have been 

 born in Middlesex, an assertion to which (in the 

 absence of all authority) little value can, of course, 

 be given. The slightest local investigation, in- 

 cluding a reference to the parochial registers of 

 Landcross and Merton, would, however, probably 



at once solve the difficulty. But for the known 

 fidelity of Lysons, and the probability of his pos- 

 sessing superior information on the specific point 

 at issue over that of M. Guizot, I should be most 

 reluctant to impeach the accuracy of any state- 

 ment of fact, however trifling or minute, emanating, 

 from that distinguished writer. Few indeed there- 

 are, even amongst our own historians, whose claims 

 on our faith, arising from close and accurate re- 

 search, intimate knowledge, clear perception, and 

 thorough comprehension of the events of that 

 most eventful period of English history, com- 

 mencing with the Revolution of 1640, can (a» 

 manifested in their published works at least) vie- 

 with those of M. Guizot. "With some few of the 

 opinions, interpretations, constructions, and com- 

 ments passed or placed by M. Guizot on the life- 

 and actions of Monk in this same " Etude His- 

 torique," I shall, perhaps (with all deference)^ 

 be tempted to deal on some future occasion. An 

 able translation of the Avork, from the pen of the- 

 present Lord Wharncliffe, appeared in 1838, the 

 year immediately succeeding its first publication^ 

 The prefatory observations and valuable notes- 

 there introduced richly illustrate the text of M. 

 Guizot, whose labours, in this instance, are cer- 

 tainly not discreditably reflected through the- 

 medium of his English editor. With one expres- 

 sion of Lord Wharncliffe' s, however (in the note 

 to which this paper chiefly refers), I take leave to 

 differ, wherein he hints that the question of 

 Monk's birthplace can have little interest beyond, 

 the limits of the county of Devon, clearly a palp- 

 able error. F. KyrriN Lenthall.. 



Harmony of the Four Gospels. — Can any of 

 your correspondents furnish me with the date of 

 the earliest Harmony, or the titles of any early 

 ones ? Any information on the subject will niucb 

 oblige Z. 4. 



The Noel Family. — Will any of your readers 

 be kind enough to give me information on the- 

 following point ? About the commencement of 

 the last century, a Rev. Wm. Noel lived at Rid- 

 lington, county of Rutland : he was rector of that 

 parish about the year 1745. What relation was- 

 he to the Earl of Gainsborough then living ? Wa» 

 it not one of the daughters of this clergyman who 

 married a Capt. Furye ? Teecee. 



Council of Trent. — References are requested to- 

 any works illustrative of the extent of knowledge- 

 attainable by the Romish clergy, at the sittings of 

 this council, in (1.) ecclesiastical antiquities, (2.)> 

 historical traditions, (3.) biblical hermeneutics. 



T. J. BUCKTOK- 

 Birmingham. 



