Nor. 1. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



343 



Any one who can help me out of my difficulty 

 will much oblige me, as Iji-amhall's letter is a pain- 

 ful mystery, and truth of any kind is always less 

 distressing than vague and shadowy surmises. 



Rt. 



Warmington, Oct. 16. 1851. 



THE SEMPILLS OF BELTRUS : ROBERT SEMPILL. 



Some few months ago there was published in 

 Edinburgh the first collected and only complete 

 edition of the Poems by the three brothers " Sir 

 James, Robert, and Francis Sempill of Beltriis," 

 better known as the authors of " The Pack-Man's 

 Paternoster ; or, a Pickfooth lor the Pope," "The 

 Life and Death of Hahbie Simson, Piper of 

 Kilbarclium," "The Ely thsome Wedding," "Mag- 

 gie Lauder," &c., with biographical notices of their 

 lives. I am now anxious to know if any of your 

 numerous correspondents can inform me if copies 

 of the original editions of the Poems by " Robert 

 Sempill" can be procured, or if they are in anv of 

 the public or private libraries in England? The 

 following are what I am in quest of, viz. : 



1. The Regentis Tragedie, 1-570. 



2. The Bischappis Lijfe and Testament, 1.571. 



3. My Lnrde Methwenis Tragedie, 1572. 



4. The Sege of the Custel of Edinburgh, 1573. 

 Also where any notice as to his family, life, and 



character can be found. 



A collection of Sempill's Poems, with some 

 autlientic account of tVie author, is certainly a 

 desideratum in Scottish literature. T. G. S. 



Edinburgh, Oct. IS. 1851. 



DESCENDANTS OF JOUN OF GAUXT. 



John of Gaunt, by his third wife Katharine Swyn- 

 ford, left four ciiildren, born before his marriage 

 with her, but legitimated by act of parliament. Of 

 these the eldest is thus mentioned in Burke's "In- 

 troduction" to the Peerage, p. x.\i. : — 



" Jolm de Beaufort, Marqutss of Somerset and 

 Dorset, who married Mar:;aret, daughter of Thomas 

 Holland, Eail of Kent, and ha i a son John, Duke of 

 Somerset, whose nn'y datighter and htir, Jlaigaret, 

 married Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond, and was 

 mother of Henry VII." 



Query, Was Margaret "only child," as well as 

 only daughter of John Duke of Somerset ? or 

 was she not sister to Henry, Edmund, and John, 

 successively Dukes of Somerset ? (See Burke's 

 Peerage, " Duke of Beaufort.") 



In that case, after the ileath (d' this last-named 

 Duke Johi\ issueles.s she woidd become " sole 

 heir," a.s she hud always been "sole daughter," of 

 Duke John the First. 



Or was she in fact the daughter of this second 

 and lust Duke John / At his death tlie male line 



of Lancaster became e.xtinct ; the royal branch 

 having already fixiled at the death of Henry VI. 



There appears some little confusion in 13urke's 

 excellent work, as may be seen by comparing 

 p. xxi. of the Introduction, &c., with the genealogy 

 of the Beaufort family. A. B. 



Clifton. 



246. Rnchj Chasm near Gaeta : Earthquake at 

 the Crucifixion. — Dr. Basire (who was archdeacon 

 of Northumberland, prebendary of Durham, and 

 chaplain to King Charles the Martyr and King 

 Charles II.), in'his account of a tour made by 

 himself and companions in 1649, says : 



" Wee landed to see Gaeta, a pleasant, strong, and 

 very antient citty. In it we saw some wonders, espe- 

 cially the thorow rupture of a rocky mountain by an 

 earthquake, which tradition sayes,and Cardinal Baronius 

 publislies to have happened at our Saviour's passion : a 

 stupendous sight it is however, and well worth our 

 digression." — Correspotidence, §-c., of Basire, edited by 

 the Rev. W. N. Darnell, p. 90. 



I cannot here consult Baronius, to see whether 

 he gives any references, and should be very glad 

 to be referred to any ancient historian who has 

 noticed the event to which this remarkable chasm 

 is attributed, and to know whether the tradition is 

 preserved by any classical writer. I do not find 

 the chasm in question described by any naturalist, 

 or other traveller, whose writings I have been able 

 to refer to. It is in a locality which abounds with 

 indications of volcanic action. It is said that the 

 Monte Somma was probably not distinct from the 

 present cone of Vesuvius prior to the great erup- 

 tion in A.D. 79. In Dr. Daubeny's Description of 

 Active and Extinct Volcanos, mention is made of 

 an ancient town beneath the town of Scssa, where 

 a chamber with antique frescoes and the remains 

 of an amphitheatre were disinterred, of the over- 

 whelming of which there is no record, nor is there 

 even a tradition of any eruption having occurred 

 near it in the memory of man. AV. S. G. 



Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 



247. Cavalcade. — Your correspondent Mr. W. 

 H. Hesleden, in his description of " A Funeral 

 in Hamburgh" (Vol. iv., p. 269.), has twice made 

 use of the word cavalcade in reference to that 

 which would otherwise appear to be a walking 

 procession. He will oblige me_(and I dare say 

 others of your readers) by explaining whether the 

 procession was really e(iuestrian, or whether he has 

 any authority for the application of the term to 

 pedestrians. The use of the word cannot have 

 been a mere oversight, since it is repeated. The 

 relation in which it stands makes it very doubtful 

 whether it can, by any possibility, be intended to 

 describe a riding parly. If, by any latitude, the 

 word may be otherwise applied, an authority would 



