May 6. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



431 



the Epigrams, &c, &c, in Elegant Extracts, in the 

 edition bearing date 1805, under the title of a 

 Rhapsody. West Sussex. 



Boman Roads in England (Vol. ix., p. 325.). — I 

 think that in addition to the reference to Richard 

 of Cirencester, Pbestoniensts should be apprised 

 of the late General Roy's Military Antiquities of 

 Great Britain (published by the Society of Anti- 

 quaries), a most learned and valuable account of 

 and commentary on Richard de Cirencester, and 

 on all the other works on the subject ; Stukeley, 

 Horsley, &c. I have my own doubts as to the 

 genuineness of Richard's work ; that is, though I 

 admit that the facts are true, and compiled with 

 accuracy and learning, I cannot quite persuade 

 myself that the work is that of the Monk of West- 

 minster in the fourteenth century, never heard of 

 till the discovery of an unique MS. in the Royal 

 Library at Copenhagen about 1757. I suspect it 

 to have been a much more modern compilation. 



C. 



Anecdote of George IV. (Vol. ix., pp. 244. 

 338.). — If Julia R. Bockett has accurately copied 

 (as we must presume) the note that she has 

 sent you, I am sorry to inform her that it is a 

 forgery : the Prince never, from his earliest youth, 

 signed "George" tout court; he always added P. 

 If the story be at all true, your second correspon- 

 dent, W. H., is assuredly right, that the " old 

 woman" could not mean the Queen, who was but 

 eighteen when the Prince was born, and could not, 

 therefore, at any time within which this note could 

 have been written, be called, even by the giddiest 

 boy, " an old woman." When the Prince was twelve 

 years old, she was but thirty. C. 



General Eraser (Vol. ix., p. 161.). — The com- 

 munication of J. C. B. contains the following 

 sentence : 



" During his interment, the incessant cannonade of 

 the enemy covered with dust the chaplain and the 

 officers who assisted in performing the last duties to 

 his remains, they being within view of the greatest part 

 of both armies." 



As some might suppose from this that the Ame- 

 rican army was guilty of the infamous action of 

 knowingly firing upon a funeral, the following ex- 

 tract from Lossing's Bictorial Field Book of the 

 Revolution, lately published, is submitted to the 

 readers of " N. & Q." It tells the whole truth upon 

 the subject. It is from vol. i. p. 66. : 



" It was just sunset in that calm October evening, 

 that the corpse of General Fraser was carried up the 

 hill to the place of burial within the 'great redoubt.' 

 It was attended only by the members of his military 

 family, and Mr. Brudenel, the chaplain ; yet the eyes 

 of hundreds of both armies followed the solemn proces- 

 sion, while the Americans, ignorant of its true character, 

 kept up a constant cannonade upon the redoubt. The 



chaplain, unmoved by the danger to which he was ex- 

 posed, as the cannon-balls that struck the hill threw 

 the loose soil over him, pronounced the impressive 

 funeral service of the Church of England with an un- 

 faltering voice.* The growing darkness added solemnity 

 to the scene. Suddenly the irregular firing ceased, and 

 the solemn voice of a single cannon, at measured in- 

 tervals, boomed along the valley and awakened the re- 

 sponses of the hills. It was a minute gun, fired by 

 the Americans in honour of the gallant dead. The 

 moment information was given that the gathering at 

 the redoubt was a funeral company fulfilling, amid 

 imminent perils, the last breathed wishes of the noble 

 Fraser, orders were issued to withhold the cannonade 

 with balls, and to render military homage to the fallen 

 brave." 



I may add, for the information of English readers, 

 that Lossing's Pictorial Field Booh of the Revolution 

 is a work of great general accuracy, written by a 

 gentleman who travelled thousands of miles to col- 

 lect the materials. The drawings for the work 

 were drawn, and the numerous woodcuts engraved, 

 by him. They are the finest woodcuts ever pro- 

 duced in this country. Uneda. 



Philadelphia. 



The Fusion (Vol. ix., p. 323.). — The Orleans 

 branch, though it derives its eventually hereditary 

 claim to the throne of France from Louis XIII., 

 as stated by E. H. A., have later connexions in 

 blood with Louis XIV. The Regent Duke married 

 Mdlle de Blois, the legitimated daughter of Louis 

 XIV. Louis-Philippe's mother was great-grand- 

 daughter of Louis XIV. by another line. C. 



" Corporations have no souls " (Vol. ix., p. 284.). 



— This saying is to be found in Coke's Reports, 

 vol. x. p. 32. : 



* A corporation aggregate of many is invisible, im- 

 mortal, and rests only in intendment and consideration 

 of the law. They cannot commit treason, nor be out- 

 lawed, nor excommunicate, for they have no souls, 

 neither can they appear in person, but by attorney." 



Ekica. 



Apparition of the White Lady (Vol. viii., p. 317.). 



— Some account of the origin of this apparition 

 story is given at considerable length by Mrs. 

 Crowe in the Night Side of Nature, chapter on 

 Haunted Houses, pp. 315. 318. John James. 



Avington Rectory, Hungerford. 



Female Parish Clerk (Vol. viii., p. 338.). — The 

 sexton of my parish, John Poffley, a man worthy 

 of a place in Wordsworth's Excursion, was telling 

 me but a few days ago, that his mother was the 

 parish clerk for twenty-six years, and that he well 

 remembers his astonishment as a boy, whenever 



* Burgoyne's State of the Expedition, p. 169. Lieu- 

 tenant Kingston's Evidence, p. 107. 



