July 12. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



25 



lowing note, in correction of the passages I have 

 quoted (Burn. Hist. Re/., vol. iv. p. 578.) : 



" Here and in several other places it is supposed 

 that the next heir apparent of the crown was Prince of 

 Wales. The heir apparent of the crown is indeed 

 prince, but not, strictly speaking, of Wales, unless he 

 has it given him by creation; and it is said that there 

 is nothing on record to prove that any of Henry's 

 children were ever created Prince of Wales. There are 

 indeed some hints of tlie Lady Mary's being styled 

 Princess of Wales; for when a family was appointed 

 for her, 1525, Veysey, bishop of Exeter, her tutor, was 

 made president of Wales. She also is said to have kept 

 her house at Ludlow ; and Leland says, that Tekenhill, 

 a house in those parts, built for Prince Arthur, was 

 prepared for her. And Thomas Linacre dedicates his 

 Rudiments of Grammar to her, by the title of Princess 

 of Cornwall and Wales." 



This is one of the many instances of the inaccu- 

 racy, carelessness, and (where his religious or 

 political prejudices were not concerned) credulity 

 of Burnet. Whatever he found written in any 

 previous historian, vinless it militated against his 

 preconceived opinions, he received as true, with- 

 out considering whether the writer was entitled to 

 credit, and had good means of gaining information. 

 Now, neither Hall, HoIinshe(l, Polydore Virgil, 

 nor (I think) Cardinal Pole, contemporary writers, 

 say anything about Mary or Elizabeth being 

 Princesses of Wales. The only writer I am 

 acquainted with who does say any such thing, 

 previous to Burnet, and whose authority I am 

 therefore compelled to suppose the latter relied on, 

 when he made the statement which he afterwards 

 contradicted, is PoUini, an obscure Italian Domi- 

 nican, who wrote a work entitled L'Historia 

 Ecclesiastica della Rlvolitzion (T Inghilterra ; Ea- 

 colta da Gravissimi Scrittori non meno di quella 

 Nazione, che delV altri, da F. Girolamo Pollini 

 deir ordine de Predicatori, della Frovincio de 

 Toscana: Roma, Facciotti, 1594. In book i. 

 chapter ii. page 7. of this author is the following 

 statement, which I translate, speaking of the 

 Princess Mary: 



" As the rightful heir of the throne she was declared 

 by Henry, her father, Princess of Wales, which is the 

 ordinary title borne by tlie first-born of the king ; since 

 the administration and government of this province is 

 allowed to no other, except to that son or daughter of 

 the king, to whom, by hereditary right, on the death of 

 the king the government of the realm falls. ... In 

 the same way that the first-born of the French king is 

 cilled the Dauphin, so the first-born of the English 

 king is called Prince of Britain, or of Wales, which is 

 a province of that large island, lying to the west, and 

 containing four bishoprics. Wliich Mary, with the 

 dignity and title of Princess, assisted by a most illus- 

 trious senate, and accompanied by a splendid establish- 

 ment, administered with much prudence," &c. 



PoUini's liistory is, as may be supposed, of very 

 little historical value ; and one feels surprised that, 



on a point like the present, Burnet should have 

 allowed himself to be misled by him. But still 

 more remarkable, in my opinion, is the use Miss 

 Strickland makes of this author. After several 

 times giving him as her authority at the foot of the 

 page, by the name of Folliiio, but without giving 

 the least information as to the name of his work, 

 or who he was, she has the following note relating 

 to tlie passage I have quoted (Lives of the Queens 

 of England, vol. v. p. 156.): 



" The Italian then carefully explains that the Princes 

 of Wales were in the same position, in regard to the 

 English crown, as the Dauphins were to that of France. 

 Pollino must have had good documentary evidence, 

 since he describes Mary's council and court, which he 

 calls a senate, exactly as if the Privy Council books 

 bad been open to him. He says four bishops were 

 attached to this court." 



It seems to me a singular mode of proving that 

 Pollini must have had good documentary evidence, 

 by saying that he speaks exactly and positively ; 

 and I would ask what good documentary evidence 

 would a Florentine friar be likely to have, who 

 certainly never was in England, and in all proba- 

 bility never far from his convent ? But it is the 

 statement about the bisliops tliat I v/ish more par- 

 ticularly to allude to, as I can find no sta*eineiit to 

 that effect in Folliiii, and can only suppose that 

 Miss Strickland misunderstood the passage (quoted 

 above) where he says the province of Wales con- 

 tains four bishoprics. 



I think I have now shown that Hume's state- 

 ment rests on no sufficient grounds as to the 

 authority from whence he derived it. But there 

 is yet another reason against it, which is this : it 

 would be necessary, before Elizabeth was created 

 Princess of AVales, that IMary should be deprived 

 of it ; and this could only be done by a special act 

 of parliament. But we find no act of such a 

 nature passed in the reign of Henry VIII. There 

 are other reasons also against it; but having, 

 I think, said enough to show the want of any 

 foundation for the assertion, I shall not trouble 

 you any further. C. C. 11. 



Line. Coll., Oxon., June 2'j. 



THE LATE MR. WILLIAM HONE. 



(Vol. iii., p. 477.) 



In reply to the inquiry of E. V. relative to the 

 conversion of the lute Mr. William Hone, I send 

 a sligiit reminiscence of him, which may perhaps 

 be generally interesting to the readers of the 

 Every Day Book. It was soon after the period 

 when I\Ir. Hone (at the time afflicted both in 

 " body and estate ") began to acknowledge the 

 truths of Christianity, that I accidentally had an 

 interview with him, though a perfect stranger. 

 Our conversation was brief", but it turned iq)on 

 the adaptation of the Christian religion to the 



