Mar. 10. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



185 



Death and the Burial Board: a Grave Note. — 

 The result of a poll which terminated on the 

 2nd ultimo placed Mr. Death, churchwarden of 

 the populous parish of Shoreditch, at the head of 

 the burial board for that district. Fact. 



Hue and Cry ! Harrow and Help ! — My igno- 

 rance was considerably enlightened the other day 

 when I was told that the word hue was derived 

 from the old French verb huer, to create an alarm ; 

 and when the alarm was entoned after a plunderer 

 of hen-roosts, or the transgressor of an important 

 commandment, it was in the words " harrow and 

 help ! " — in other words, Ha ! RoUo, Help ! Bell- 

 men corrupted Oyez into O yes! and the con- 

 stables, it would appear, have made us familiar 

 with " Harrow and help ! " K. 



<lSi\itViti. 



EDMUND BUBKE — HIS FAMILY, MARRIAGE, ETC. 



I am reminded by the article on Burke, which 

 appeared in The Athenceum of Saturday last 

 (Feb. 17), of an intention which passed by me 

 unacted upon some months since, when the very 

 curious papers on Burke's private history ap- 

 peared in that journal. As " N. & Q." is read 

 more particularly by the very class of readers and 

 inquirers, both In this country and in Ireland, 

 who could throw light upon the many obscure 

 points in the history of the great philosophical 

 politician, will you allow me through your columns 

 to invite replies to the following Queries as a first 

 instalment. 



1. Among your many correspondents in Dublin, 

 surely there is some one who would not think a 

 morning ill spent in looking out for the registers 

 of births of the children of Richard Bourke or 

 Burke, who married Miss Nagle in 1725 or 1726 ; 

 and by her, as Mr. Prior tells us, " became the 

 father of fourteen or fifteen children, all of whom 

 died young, except Garret, Edmund, Richard, 

 and a daughter named Juliana," of whose baptism 

 at Castletownroche Mr. Prior gives the certi- 

 ficate. To complete this part of the case, the 

 certificates of baptism of those children who died 

 young should be searched for. The importance 

 of this will be seen by reference to my third 

 Query. 



2. The next important certificate which is 

 Wanted, must be sought for by some correspon- 

 dent at Bath, namely, that of Burke's marriage 

 with Miss Nugent in 1757 or 1758. I think a 

 Query on this point has already appeared in your 

 columns, but cannot now conveniently refer to It.* 



[* In consequence of the Querj' on this subject in 

 Vol. viii., p. 134., search for the register of Burke's mar- 

 riage has already been made in the several churches of 

 Bath by our valued correspondent Mk. Markland, but 



3. Another mysterious question is. Who was the 

 chief of the Benedictine Monks at Parma, referred 

 to in the story told by Gait — which I however 

 quote from The Athenceum — of President West, 

 late in 1763, or early in 1764, within a few 

 months of his leaving Italy, meeting Burke at 

 dinner at Dr. Markham's? 



" On being introduced to Burke, he was so much sur- 

 prised by the resemblance which this gentleman bore to 

 the chief of the Benedictine Monks at Parma, that when 

 he spoke he could scarcely persuade himself he was not 

 thff same person. This resemblance was not accidental ; 

 the Protestant orator was, indeed, the brother of the monk. 

 It alwaj'S appeared to Mr. West that there was about 

 Mr. Burke a degree of mystery, connected with his early 

 life, which their long intercourse never tended to explain." 



As you have, it is evident, among your corre- 

 spondents several members of the same com- 

 munion with the Benedictines at Parma, I am not 

 without hope that among them will be found one 

 able and willing to solve this Query. B. M. B. 



MANUSCRIPT COMEDT. 



I have in my hands a manuscript comedy, 

 written towards the close of the seventeenth cen- 

 tury, but without title or name of author ; and in 

 the hope of obtaining information respecting these 

 points, I am induced to forward some particulars 

 of this play. It is in five acts ; and Its chief merit 

 consists in the allusions made in it to cotemporary 

 customs and events. 



The principal characters are : Underwit (a 

 brainless coward, just made captain of the trained 

 band), and his man Thomas ; Sir Richard Hunt' 

 love, his lady, her sister, and her maid Dorothy ; 

 Mounsieur Device (an over-dressed fop) ; Sir 

 Francis Courtwell, his nephew Mr. Courtwell; 

 Captain Sackurie, and Mr. Engine (a fanciful 

 Inventor of new projects and patents). The plot 

 of the piece chiefly turns on an Intrigue between 

 Sir Francis Courtwell and Lady Huntlove ; which 

 Is defeated in consequence of Sir Francis having 

 fallen asleep when he ought to have been awake. 



•■*.• * T ■■■• 



no entry of such marriage has been discovered by him. 

 The more ancient Koman Catholic chapel in Bath was, 

 with its contents, burnt by the followers of Lord George 

 Gordon in the celebrated No Popery riots, so that if the 

 marriage was there celebrated, the register of it is irre- 

 coverably lost. Mr. M. considers it questionable whether 

 Bath was the place of residence of Dr. Nugent (as stated 

 by Mr. Prior) at the time of Burke's marriage. Whilst 

 a student in the Middle Temple, Burke's health suffered, 

 and he resorted for advice to Dr. Nugent. That gentle- 

 man, it is said, " considering that the noise and various 

 disturbances incidental to chambers must impede the 

 recovery of his patient, kindly offered him apartments in. 

 his own house." It was during this period that an at- 

 tachment was formed between Burke and Miss Nugent. 

 May we not then infer that Burke was carried by Dr. Nu- 

 gent to some house in the vicinity of the Temple, not to 

 Bath ? — Ed. " N. & Q."! 



