482 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2'><i S. VI. 154., Dec. 11. '68. 



such a tax upon his time ? Suppose I say that 

 Mr. Gaestin or any other were disinterested 

 enough to forward me the work of days in re- 

 turn for the scribblings of a paltry hour, would it 

 not lay the recipient under an obligation diflScult 

 to discharge ? Again : how could C^do Illud, 

 who says he is " a military man and always on the 

 move," give anyone an adequate return for any- 

 thing which he may want? In France there is an 

 ecole des chartes, wherein a number of persons are 

 brought up to the profession, if I may so entitle 

 it, of reading and deciphering ancient documents 

 and archives. In England, on the contrary, there 

 are but very few of what may be termed com- 

 petent persons in this branch of literature. 

 Hence (as Brother Jonathan would say) the 

 milk in the cocoa-nut, — the abundance of clerical 

 errors in our county histories and other works of 

 public interest and research. The system here 

 mooted might answer for a little time as a hobby 

 or amusement among mutual friends or members 

 of a learned Society, but it is too absurd to suppose 

 thiit such a scheme could ever be carried on and 

 adopted by literary men in general ; and I, in 

 common with many others, fully concur in your 

 Editorial Note upon this question. Cmdo Hoc. 



In the face of what C^edo Illud has advanced 

 iipon this subject, I cannot but agree with Me. 

 Editor that a list of names and residences of 

 persons residing in London and elsewhere accus- 

 tomed and willing to make transcripts and colla- 

 tions /or a consideration, would be far preferable. 

 There may be found "gentlemen who would gladly 

 furnish extracts or assist in any way, either from 

 love of the gentle science, or in hope of obtaining 

 from other places information they may require;" 

 but woiild they be in all cases competent to per- 

 form what they profess ? Would CiEDO Iilud 

 put up with anybody s transcript ? Having caught 

 his correspondent, would he not feel inclined to 

 put such questions as, " Can you read manuscript 

 contractions ? Are you acquainted with the old 

 German and Secretary hands ? Do you under- 

 stand Latin ? " &c. My experience teaches me 

 that no transcript or collation can be relied upon 

 unless it comes from the hands of a professedly 

 experienced person. I have had occasion to 

 correspond much with clergymen in England, 

 and have seldom found one able to decypher the 

 registers under their custody before the middle 

 of the seventeenth century. Again : would not 

 such a proposal, if carried out, lead to constant 

 squabbles as to equivalents between the corre- 

 spondents thus brought together ; not, of course, 

 in the pages of " N. & Q.," but in private ? How 

 does C. L. propose to settle the difference if he 

 requires two pages from me, and I twenty from 

 him. I trust the subject may not fall to the 



ground, but I must confess that I see difficulties 

 ahead. Zz. 



GHOST STOEIES, ETC. 



(2"'> S. vi. 193, 194.) 



The account of the Wynyard ghost is not less 

 vague and uncertain than that of Lady Beresford ; 

 precision in dates is wanting, and the story is 

 never told twice in the same way. The version that 

 I read, or heard, (I forget which) some forty years 

 ago, ran thus : The two friends being in barracks 

 at Halifax, N. Scotia, were in the habit of retir- 

 ing after dinner from the mess, to study together 

 in the room of one or the other ; and they liad 

 done so on the occasion when the ghost made its 

 appearance as related, &c. Now, 1 once happened 

 to visit Halifax, and having some acquaintances in 

 the Old Barrack, visited them also. If what I am 

 about to state be incorrect, there are doubtless 

 many among the military readers of "N. & Q." 

 capable of correcting that statement. The offi- 

 cers' rooms which I saw in that OW Barrack (since 

 burnt ?)were perfect dog-kennels; miserably small, 

 and none of them having a second room opening 

 from it. The North Pavilion and the South 

 Barrack were neither of them built at the period 

 in question. If, therefore, the apparition ever did 

 take place, it must have occurred in one of the 

 aforesaid cribs. This presents a difficulty ; and 

 another arises from the circumstance that some of 

 the accounts state (and who is to pronounce be- 

 tween them ?) that Sherbrooke did not see the 

 ghost ; if so, how could he subsequently have re- 

 cognised the brother in London ? And if so, may 

 we not legitimately conjecture that the spectre 

 owed its existence to the state of the seer's 

 stomach, aided perhaps by news received by the 

 last packet from England? — something allied to 

 the " Spectra Catiana." With respect to the 

 vaticination of Lieut. White, your correspondent 

 himself offers some clue toward solving the mys- 

 tery, and shows that the fulfilment might be 

 pretty well accounted for from natural causes, and 

 an incidental coincidence. 



There is no want of recorded cases exhibiting 

 the power of the moral over the physique, espe- 

 cially when the latter is enfeebled by protracted 

 suffering. In the present instance nothing is spe- 

 cific : neither the name of the person, or persons, 

 to whom the prognostication was addressed, nor 

 the date when, — nor the date of death and fune- 

 ral, — nor the name of the ship. For the latter a 

 dash is substituted. When all the rest is so well 

 remembered, surely this can hardly have been for- 

 gotten ? 



Now, be it observed, the harbour of Ilfracombe 

 is (or was) a dry harbour ; i. e. at low water ves- 

 sels lay aground "high and dry." Do men-of- 



