380 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 234. 



me pleasure to send him Notes from Sparks' 

 Washington, Virginia, its History and Antiquities, 

 Sfc. ; amongst which is a picture of " Greenway 

 Court Manor House." I now give only an extract 

 from Washington to Sir John Sinclair (Sparks, 

 vol. xii. pp. 327, 328.), which answers in part 

 W. H. M.'s third Query : 



" Within full view of Mount Vernon, separated 

 therefrom by water only, is one of the most beautiful 

 seats on the river for sale, but of greater magnitude 

 than you seem to have contemplated. It is called 

 Belvoir, and belonged to George Wm. Fairfax ; who, 

 were he now living, would be Baron of Cameron, as 

 his younger brother in this country ( George Wm. 

 dying without issue) at present is, though he does not 

 take upon himself the title. This seat was the resi- 

 dence of the above-named gentleman before he went to 



England At present it belongs to Thomas 



Fairfax, son of Bryan Fairfax : the gentleman who will 

 not, as I said before, take upon himself the title of 

 Baron of Cameron." 



T. Balch. 



Philadelphia. 



I cannot but deem your correspondents W. W. 

 and H. G. in error when they consider that the 

 name of Baron Fairfax ought not to be retained 

 in the Peerage. The able heraldic editors of the 

 Peerages are likely to be better versed in such 

 matters than to have perpetrated and perpetuated 

 so frequently the blunder ; or what is to be said 

 of Sir Bernard Burke's elevation to be a king of 

 arms ? Not to omit the instance of the Earl of 

 Athlone, who, though a natural-born subject of a 

 foreign realm, in 1795 took his seat in the House 

 of Lords in Ireland (a case which H. G. wants 

 explained), we have a more recent instance in 

 the case of the present King of Hanover, a foreign 

 potentate, who is Duke of Cumberland and Te- 

 viotdale by inheritance, in our peerage, and whose 

 coronation oath (of allegiance ?) must be quite 

 incompatible with the condition of a subject in 

 another state. I confess I should like to see this 

 explained, as well as the position of those (amongst 

 whom, however, Lord Fairfax now ranks) who, 

 while strictly mere subjects and citizens of their 

 own state, may have had conferred upon them- 

 selves, or inherit, titles of dignity and privilege in 

 a foreign one. We usually (as in the case of the 

 Rothschilds, &c.) acknowledge their highest title 

 in address, but without any adjective or epithets 

 to qualify with honor, such as " honorable ; " as 

 is the case, too, with doctors of foreign univer- 

 sities, whose title from courtesy we also admit, 

 though this does not place them on a footing with 

 those of England. The present Duke of Wel- 

 lington and the Earl Nelson inherit, I believe, 

 titles of dignity in foreign lands, though natural- 

 born subjects of this realm ; and there can hardly 

 be a doubt that Lord Fairfax inherits correctly 

 his British barony, though, whenever he may 



exercise for the first time a legal vote, he may 

 have to exhibit proof of his being the very heir 

 and person qualified, merely because born and 

 resident in a foreign state ; the same as would in 

 such case doubtless occur with regard to the 

 other noble persons I have referred to. 



A Fairfax Kinsman. 

 Nantcribba Hall, N. W. 



The following entry in T. Kerslake's catalogue, 

 The Bristol Bibliographer, seems worth notice : 



" Burrough's (Jer.) Gospel Remission. True 

 blessedness consists in pardon of sin, 1668, 4to., with 

 autograph of Thos. Lord Fairfax, 1668, and several 

 MS.* notes by him, 12s. 6d." 



E.M. 



Hastings. 



" CONSILIUM DELECTORUM CARDINALIUM. 



(Vol. ix., pp. 127. 252.) 



I have before me a copy of this very interest- 

 ing document, together with an Epistola Joannis 

 Sturmii de eadem re, ad Cardinales caterosque 

 viros ad earn Consultationem delectos, printed at 

 Strasburg (" ex officina Cratonis Mylii Argen- 

 toraten.") a.d. 1538. The report of the Com- 

 mittee had reached Sturmius in the month of 

 March, 1537-8 ; and his critique, addressed espe- 

 cially to Contarini, bears the date "tertio Non. 

 Aprilis." As it is a somewhat scarce pamphlet, 

 two or three extracts may not be unacceptable to 

 the readers of " N. & Q." : 



" Rara res est et praster omnium opinionem oblata 

 occasio, pontificem datum orbi talem, qui jurejurando 

 fidem suorum sibi ad patefaciendam veritatem astrinx- 

 erit, ut si quid secus statuatis quam religio desideret 

 vobis ea culpa non pontifici prasstanda vitleatur." — 

 C. 2. 



" At si diligenter et cum fide agatis, vestra virtute, 

 florentem Christi rempublicam conspiciamus ; si ne- 

 gligenter et cupide, ut cujus rei adhuc reliquia? non- 

 nullas supersunt, ilia? continuo ita tollantur, simul ac 

 calumniari ae male agere ceperitis, ut ne vestigia qui- 

 dein nl 1 ins sanctitatis apud vestras quidem partes pos- 

 teris nostris appareant." — C. 4. 



He then passes to other topics, where he has to 

 deplore the little sympathy evinced by the Cardi- 

 nals for Luther and his party, e. g. on the subject 

 of indulgences : 



" Quid de ilia ratione quam pcenitentibus praescri- 

 bitis, nonne falsa, nonne perversa, nonne ad quantum 

 magis et ad tyrannidem quam ad vita? emendationem, 



* One note may be thought to be characteristic. 

 In the table occurs, " Many think their sins are par- 

 doned, because it is but little they are guilty of." The 

 general has interlined, " A pistol kills as well as a 

 cannon." 



