Jult26. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



71 



February of that year. If this be so, it must be 

 taken as a proof of extraordinary popuhirity that 

 the work should have reached a third edition as 

 early as 1700, as stated by Sib F. Madden. The 

 " account how these memoirs came at first to be 

 ■writ" possesses some interest. It appears that 

 Queen Alary used to hold frequent converse with 

 the Doctor on the subject of her great-grand- 

 father's and grandfather's history, and — 



" At last she fell to regret the insuperable difficul- 

 ties she lay under (for I well remember that was her 

 mind) of knowing truly the history of her grandfather's 

 reign ; siying that most of the accounts she had read of 

 it were either panegyrick or satire, not history. Then 

 with an inimitable grace she told me, ' If I would in a 

 few sheets give her a short sketch of the affairs of that 

 reign, and of the causes that produced such dreadful 

 effects, she would take it well of nie.' Such com- 

 mands were too sacred not to be obeyed ; and wlien I 

 was retiring from her presence, she stopt me to tell me 

 she expected I would do what she had desired of me 

 in sucli a manner, and with that freedom, as if I de- 

 signed it for the information of a friend, and not one of 

 the blood of King Charles I., promising to show it to 

 none living without my consent." 



Welwood further states, that after Mary's death, 

 King William — 



" Sent me, by the late Earl of Portland, the manu- 

 script I had given his Queen, found in her cabinet ; 

 where, upon the back of it, she had writ with her own 

 hand the promise she had made me of showing it to 

 nobody without my consent." 



In addition to the extract from Monmouth's 

 Diary given in my former communication, Wel- 

 wood publishes a letter of the Duke's to the brave 

 and true Argyle, which is perhaps more credit- 

 able to Monmouth than any other memorial he 

 has left. The letter, as We! wood suggests, ap- 

 pears to have been written shortly after the death 

 of Charles II. I copy it ; but if you think this 

 paper too long, omit it : — 



" I received both yours together tliis morning, and 

 cannot delay you my answer longer than this post ; 

 though 1 am afraid it will not please you so much as 

 I heartily wish it may. I have weighed all your 

 reasons, and everything that you and my other friends 

 have writ me upon that subject; and have done it 

 with the greatest inclination to follow your advice, and 

 witliout prejudice. You may well believe 1 have had 

 time enough to reflect sufficiently upon our present 

 state, especially since I came hither. But whatever 

 way I turn my thoughts, I find insuperable difficulties. 

 Pray do not think it an effect of melancholy, for that 

 was never my greatest fault, when 1 tell you that in 

 these three weeks' retirement in tliis place I have not 

 only looked back, but forward ; and the more I con- 

 sider our ])resent circumstances, I think them still the 

 more desperate, unless some unforeseen accident fall 

 out wliicli I cannot divine nor hope for. [Here follow 

 sixteen lines all in cyphers.] Judge then what we 

 are to expect, in case we should venture upon any 



such attempt at this time. It's to me a vain argument 



that our enemies are scarce yet well settled, %vhen you 

 consider that fear in some, and ambition in others, 

 have brought them to comply ; and that the Parlia- 

 ment, being made up, for the most pait, of members 

 that formerly run our enemy down, they will be ready 

 to make their peace as soon as they can, rather than 

 hazard themselves upon an uncertain bottom. I give 

 you but hmts of what, if I had time, I would write 

 you at more length. But that I may not seem ob- 

 stinate in my own judgment, or neglect the advice of 

 my friends, I will meet you at the time and place ap- 

 pointed. But for God sake think in the mean time of 

 the improbabilities that lie naturally in our way, and 

 let us not by struggling with our chains make them 

 straighter and heavier. For my part, Fll run the 

 hazard of being thought anything rather than a rash 

 inconsiderate man. And to tell you my thoughts 

 without disguise, I am now so much in love with a 

 retired life, that I am never like to be fond of making 

 a bustle in the world again. I have much more to 

 say, but the post cannot stay ; and 1 refer the rest till 

 meeting, being entirely 



" Yours." 



Monmouth's ill-concerted and ill-conducted 

 expedition following, at no distant period, the 

 prudent resolutions expressed in the above letter, 

 places the instability of his character in a strong 

 light. C. Ross. 



^t^liti to iHi'imr ©urn'eS. 



Popes '■'■honest Factor" (Vol. iv., p. 7.). — The 

 " Honest factor who stole a gem away," 

 to whom Pope alludes, was Thomas Pitt, Esq., 

 (ancestor of the Earl of Chatham), who was by 

 Queen Anne appointed Governor of Fort St. 

 George in the East Indies, and purchased there 

 for the sum of 20,400?., or 48,000 pagodas, a 

 diamond weighing 1'27 carats, which he sold to 

 the King of France about 1717, and is now known 

 as the Pitt diamond. I suppose it is at present 

 in the possession of the Republic of France. 



De H. 



Temple, July 5. 1851. 



Banks Family (Vol. iii., pp. 390. 458. 507. 524.). 

 — I am obliged by your inserting my note on this 

 subject. I can infiinn L. II. th.at Uie present owner 

 of the lead mines in Keswick is related, though 

 distantly, to John Banks the philoso[)her, who was 

 born at Grange in Borrowdale. Can any of your 

 correspondents give any reason why the crest of 

 this branch of the family should be exactly similar 

 in every respect to that of the Earl of Lonsdale ? 



Bay. 



Dies Ira, Dies Ilia (Vol. ii., p. 72. ; Vol. iii., 

 p. 4(18.). — Although some time has elapsed since 

 the Query on this hymn appeared, yet :is no very 

 definite reply has been given, I send the following. 



This hymn is oae of the four "proses" or verses 



