2"'iS. VI. 153., Dec." 4. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



455 



or know, individual members of these families in 

 various ranks of life, and I think the decided ma- 

 jority of them are not fair-haired, ruddy-cheeked, 

 blue or grey-eyed Teutons, but dark-haired and 

 sallow-complexioned Celts. I remember seeing 

 the name Mallet. over a tradesman's door in 

 Amiens. It may probably be the name of a Pi- 

 card family. Paget has been localised four cen- 

 turies at Ibstock in Leicestershire ; and the arms 

 of the family (sable, a cross engrailed argent, in 

 the dexter chief an escallop,) would lead us to 

 consider it long settled in England — as early, at 

 least, as the Crusades. I have no doubt Mr. Mark 

 Antony Lower, in his forthcoming Dictionary of 

 Su7'}iames, will enlighten us on this and kindred 

 obscure topics connected with surnames. 



James Thompson. 

 Leicester. 



Pompeian English. — In Athenceum, Nov. 6, 1858, 

 a correspondent furnishes a copy of an advertise- 

 ment put forth by the proprietor of the hotel in 

 Pompeii. "Mine host" improves in his spelling. 

 I was there in 1846, and brought away one of his 

 circulars, which now lies before me, and of which 

 the following is, vej-hatim et literatim, a copy : — 

 " HoTEi. Restaurant Belle-Vue. 

 Tenu par Fraiifois Prosperi. 

 En face le Quarter-Militaire. 

 |®° A Pompei. 



" Get hotel tout recemment ouvert, ue laissera rien a 

 tlesirer pour la proprete des apparteraents et du linge, 

 pour I'exactitude du service, et pour rexcellence de la 

 ve'ritable cuisine fraD9aise. 



" E'tant situ^ k proximite' de cette renaissance, il sera 

 propice a recevoir toutes families quelconques, lesquelles 

 desireront resider alternativement dans cette ville, pour 

 visiter les monuments nouvellement trouves, et y respirer 

 la salubrite de I'air. 



" Get etablissement evitera a tous les voj'ageurs visi- 

 (eurs de cette ville sepulte, et aux artistes (voulant des- 

 siner les antiquitcs) un grand de'rangement occasionne' 

 par le tardif et dispendieux contour du chemin de fer. On 

 y trouvera e'galement un assortiment coniplet de vins 

 etrangers, et du ro^'aume, des bains chauds et froids, 

 ccuries et remises, le tout a des prix trfes-moderes. 



" Or, tous las soins et les efforts de I'hotelier, tendront 

 toujours a correspondre aux gouts et aux desirs de tous 

 ses clialands, lesquels lui acquerront sans doutc, dans cette 

 ville, la reputation qu'il ambitionne." 



" Restorative Hotel, Flse Hok. 

 Kept by Frank Prosperi. 

 Facinij the Military Quarter. 

 At Pompei. 



" Tliat hotel open since a very few days, is renowned 

 for the cleanness of the apartments and linen ; for the 

 c.tactuess of the service, and for the eccellcnce of the true 

 french cookery ; 



" Being situated at proximity of that regeneration, it 

 will be propitius to receive families, whatever, which will 

 desire to reside alternatively into that town, to visit the 

 monuments new found, and" to breathe thither the salii- 

 britv of the air. 



2"'' S. VI. 153.] 



" That establishment will avoid to all the travellers, 

 visitors, of that sepeultcity, and to the artists (willing 

 draw the antiquities) a great disordor, occasioned by tlie 

 tardy and expensive contour of the ironwhay. People 

 will find egually thither, a complete sortment of stranger 

 wines, and of the kingdom, hot, and cold baths, stables 

 and coach-houses, the whole with very moderated prices. 



" Now, all the applications, and andeavours of the 

 hoste, will tend always, to correspond to the tastes and 

 desires, of their custoners, which will acquire wit-hout 

 doubt to him, in to that town, the reputation whome, he 

 is ambitious." 



II. A. 



Straw Paper. — The following is an extract 

 from a notice of Richard Twiss, the author of 

 Travels in Spain and Portugal, a Tour through 

 Ireland, and several other works, who died 5 

 March, 1821: — 



" This gentleman was born to the possession of an 

 ample hereditary property ; but unfortunately he had an 

 idea that straw could be converted into paper. This er- 

 roneous opinion he followed with all the enthusiasm 

 which a favourite hypothesis generally produces ; he was 

 led bej'ond the line of prudence, and deeply embarked his 

 fortune in the speculation, which completely failed, and 

 his own ruin followed." — Miller's Biog. Sketches, i. 29. 



The communication I now make is written upon 

 straw paper, which seems adapted for general use. 



John AVilliam Coopek. 

 Gambridge. 



The Ancient Irish as Seamen. — The fact of the 

 ancient Irish having distinguished themselves as 

 seamen, or (which includes seamanship and some- 

 thing more) as pirates, seems unknown to most 

 Englishmen ; and the assertion will doubtless ap- 

 pear incredible to the readers of a Blue Book 

 composed some years ago, wherein great dirt was 

 thrown upon the Irish, because it was shown that 

 a few peasants on the coast of Kerry had not pro- 

 vided themselves with luggers and nets, so as to 

 enable them to earn a handsome livelihood during 

 the memorable famine. My Note, however, con- 

 cerns the past, not the present race or races of 

 that country. Claudian commemorates a great 

 Roman defeat which the Scoti or Irish pirates 

 sustained in the fourth century : " Scotorum cu- 

 mulos flevit glacialis lerne." And in the same 

 century we find Nial of the Nine Hostages 

 monarch of all Ireland, whose fame is as much 

 naval as military : for a great part of his exploits 

 were performed out of his own country by the aid 

 of his shipping. Claudian commemorates his in- 

 cursions upon our shores. St. Patrick was a re- 

 sult of an incursion upon the coast of Bretagne, 

 and our hero ends his days prematurely at Liege. 

 The Exeter Domesday also, in very much later 

 times, records the devastation of the coasts of 

 Cornwall per Irlandos. And the old romance of 

 Sir Tristram points to the tradition that such 

 ravages were Irequent at an early epoch. The 

 curious reader will recollect that Sir Tristram re- 

 lieves his uncle's territories from paying tnavage 



