92 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 92. 



" Et noil solum nomine bonus appellatiis est [sc. 

 Alex. Nowel], sed etiam et in vita sua bonitas apparuit, 

 et in morte bona sua opera ilium sunt sequuta, et 

 uberiiis et fusius in Effiyiehus nostris et vitis illustrium 

 Anyloriim cum de Coleto tum de illo apparet : (qu^ 

 nunc transmarine babitu vesticndce sunt) quare liic 

 ilium pluribus prosequi verbis non est opus." 



Here is unanswerable evidence that Henry 

 Holland was the comi^iler of both works. In the 

 catalogue of the Grenville collection of books, now 

 in the British Museum, both works are ascribed 

 to Hugh Holland. 



5. " The edition of 1614 was certainly the first, 

 and that of 1633 certainly the second." — The 

 querist adopts my correction of his threefold error, 

 and calls it an answer ! 



6. " I shall therefore leave the shade of Cole 

 and Me. Bolton Cornet to settle the question as 

 to whether any such work exists." — The querist 

 did not perceive that the Roxana of Alexander was 

 an error for the Roxana of Alabaster — so he en- 

 deavours to draw off the attention of his readers 

 from this proof of critical obtuseness by a common- 

 place witticism. 



I must describe the facile process by which our 

 querist has obtained his apparent triumph. Wood, 

 at the close of his article on Hugh Holland the 

 poet, which is chiefly derived from the Worthies 

 of Fuller, mentions one Hugh Holland as ad- 

 mitted B.A. in 1570, and another Hugh Holland 

 as matriculated at Baliol college in 1582, aged 

 twenty-four; with others of that surname. He 

 adds, " but whether any of them were authors, 1 

 cannot yet tell, or u-hether the last was the same with 

 the poet. Qu." Now, with regard to the first and 

 second articles, our querist omits the sentence 

 which proves the inapplicability of his quo- 

 tations! and with regard to the third article, he 

 omits the word afterwards, which forms the gist 

 of the argument. Bolton Coeney. 



LADY FLORA HASTINGS BEQUEST. 



(Vol. iv., p. 44.) 



" Assertion is not proof," and it surely does 

 require proof ere we consent to brand a writer of 

 unimpeached character with the charge of " a 

 shameless, heartless act of literary piracy." 



It rests with Erza to bring lorward his or her 

 proof that the lines in dispute were written by 

 Lady Flora. Erza asserted that they were " never 

 before printed." I have enabled him or her to 

 satisfy himself or herself that they were in print 

 nearli/ twelve years ago. I am disposed to believe 

 Erza equally mistaken in the assertion as to the 

 authorship of the lines. If this prove so, the im- 

 putation cast upon Miss Barber will revert upon 

 her accuser, and will demand the most ample 

 apology. 



I do not know Miss Barber; her writings I 

 have long admired ; and having been the means 

 of drawing down upon her such an accusation, I 

 am not disposed to let the inquiry terminate here. 

 Nor can I believe the Editor of " Notes and 

 Queries " will desire that either a literary error or 

 a groundless slander should descend to posterity 

 in his pages. L. H. K. 



Erza cannot entertain a higher respect than I 

 do for the memory of Lady Flora Hastings ; but 

 I am sure no member of her fiimily would coun- 

 tenance any attempt to exalt her reputation at the 

 expense of another's ; and I fear Erza, however 

 unintentionally, has fallen into this error. The 

 stanzas she attributed to Lady Flora, as L. H. K. 

 stated (Vol. iii., p. 522.), were published as Miss 

 M. A. S. Barber's in The Christian Ladys Maga- 

 zine for September, 1839, only two months after 

 Lady Flora's death. In the preceding number, as 

 L. II. K. also correctly stated, is a brief memoir of 

 Lady Flora, in which it is said, that shortly before 

 her death she " delivei-ed to her fond brother a 

 little Bible, the gift of her mother, requesting him 

 to restore it to that beloved parent," &c. Erza 

 may be unacquainted with that publication, but I 

 can assure her that Lady Flora's brother, my 

 esteemed and lamented patron, was not ; for 

 shortly after the number appeared, I found it lying 

 on his table, in his own private room at Doning- 

 ton Park, and, while waiting to see him, partly 

 read it there myself for the first time. I know 

 not whether he ever read the lines in question in 

 the succeeding number, but I know the Magazine 

 was regularly taken by some of Lady Flora's in- 

 timate friends, and I cannot suppose they would 

 allow any poem of hers to pass unnoticed for twelve 

 years, with the signature of Miss Bai'ber attached 

 to it. Indeed the stanzas bear internal evidence 

 of being written after Lady Flora's death, and 

 founded on the account given by Charlotte Eliza- 

 beth in the preceding number. If, however, Erza 

 still persists in attributing them to Lady Flora 

 Hastings, she is in duty bound to give her autho- 

 rity, and not bring such a heavy accusation against 

 Miss Barber on the bai'e assertion of an anony- 

 mous correspondent. If Miss Barber really com- 

 I^osed the stanzas, as I believe she did, she was 

 doubtless actuated with a desire to honour the 

 memory and character of Lady Flora ; and in such 

 case nothing could be more cruel and unjust than 

 the conduct imputed to her by Erza. Unfortu- 

 nately I do not know IMiss Barber's address, or 

 whether she is still living ; but if any of your 

 readers do, I hope they will name this case to her, 

 or her friends, that her reputation may be cleared 

 from the imputation thus rashly cast on it. If the 

 case cannot thus be satisfactorily settled, I will 

 obtain the desired information from another quar- 

 ter ; but I hope Erza will also offer the assistance 

 in her power towards this desirable object; and to 



