510 



NOTES AND QUERIES. [2«'« s. vi. 155., Dbc. is. '58. 



considered ; but I do not believe these to be in- 

 surmountable difficulties ; if the case be only put 

 fairly and openly before the Legislature, and the 

 mischief, injury, and damage hitherto sustained 

 by registers be faithfully represented to that as- 

 sembly, success will be almost certain ; the Houses 

 of Parliament will scarcely allow these valuable 

 records to run the risk of farther injury, but will 

 at once transfer them to a lasting home, where 

 they will be central, secure, and easily accessible. 

 I gladly second any proposition respecting the 

 formation of a Committee for the purpose ; it is a 

 necessary step, and might be organised at once. 

 There are, I believe, many noblemen and gentle- 

 men who would willingly lend their assistance for 

 the attainment of such an object. Will you, Mr. 

 Editor, invite these gentlemen to step forward 

 and form a Committee ? for, unless we make a 

 beginning, all the talking and writing on the sub- 

 ject will be useless. 



The Public Kecord Office is the most fitting 

 place for the reception of these records ; in fact, 

 it is their proper home ; for the earlier registers 

 demand in their treatment an archaic knowledge 

 in which the employes of the Record Office are 

 quite at home, and which is utterly unknown in 

 any other department, except to those who for 

 amusement make archaeology their study. It is 

 needless for me to expatiate on the propriety of 

 this step, and to show its advantages, or I might 

 fill your entire number ; but I ask you to agitate, 

 and agitate again, until we see a consummation 

 which will be hailed with acclamation by all who 

 are interested not merely in preserving legal evi- 

 dence, but in perpetuating the living fountains of 

 historical truth. William Henrt Haet. 



Folkestone House, Eoupell Park, 

 Streathatn. S. 



By way of reply to the Queries embodied in 

 Mr. Hutchinson's remarks, I beg to say that I, 

 for one custos of registers, love the old books, and 

 handle them and keep them " as if I loved them," 

 independent of the heavy pains and penalties, and 

 provisions made for the safe-keeping both of the 

 old and new books in 52 Geo. III. c. 146., which 

 is prefixed to every copy of baptismal register 

 since that date. There it is plainly laid down that 

 fourteen years' transportation is to be the lot of 

 every offender for breach of trust ! but few will 

 probably be found to prosecute, on the prospect of 

 receiving half that penalty for informing, which 

 the Act has by a blunder enacted. 



H. T. Ellacowbe. 



THE GENEALOGICAL SUGGESTION. 



(2"d S. vi. 307. 378. 438. 481.) 

 As a subscriber to " N. & Q." from its com- 

 mencement, I beg to enter a strong protest against 

 allowing any more space to genealogical in- 



quiries. The ancestry and succession of distin- 

 guished men are matters of general interest ; but 

 I can conceive nothing more likely to limit the 

 usefulness and diminish the circulation of " N. & 

 Q." than inserting the Query of every John Jones 

 who wants to find out his maternal great-grand- 

 mother, and whether he may lawfully quarter her 

 arms. These are Queries which should take the 

 form of advertisements, and be paid for. G. P. 



[There is much good sense in the suggestion of our cor- 

 respondent. Genealogical Questions fall into two marked 

 divisions. The first, which may very properly be treated 

 at length in the columns of "N & Q.," includes such in- 

 quiries as relate to the lives and families of persons emi- 

 nent for station, learning, or genius, — inquiries, in short, 

 which are of an historical character. 



The second, which is of more limited interest, comprises 

 those inquiries which relate to members of private fami- 

 lies, and have for their object the completion of Pedigrees 

 of such families. 



Queries of this nature clearly come within the pur- 

 pose and scope of our Journal. But as the Replies , 

 to such inquiries are of no interest to the general 1 

 reader, the Querist should specify how those who may be 1 

 readj' to reply to him, may reply to him direct. In this 

 way we shall be able to assist gentlemen desirous of ob- 

 taining genealogical information which may be of great 

 importance to them, although of no interest to the readers 

 of " N. & Q.," while at the same time we avoid filling our 

 columns with matter which is "caviare to the general."] 



HtfiltcS to Minax ikutxUi. 



The Two Marshalls (2"'' S. vi. 461.) — The ob- 

 scurity in the biography of these two celebrated 

 actresses has been removed, and Sir Peter Ley- 

 cester's and Mr. Pepys's contemporaneous state- 

 ments verified in a note by the Rev. Canon 

 Raines, in the Stanley Papers, Part ii. 173-4., 

 printed by the Chetham Society, 1853. It ap- 

 pears that Stephen Marshall commenced his 

 career as a Churchman, being " a zealous Epis- 

 copalian and Royalist," and only became a Pres- 

 byterian after having petitioned the King for a 

 deanery, and at another time for a bishoprick, 

 and having met with a refusal. In early life he 

 was chaplain to the loyal Lord Gerard, but hav- 

 ing become a Presbyterian his connexion with 

 that nobleman ended. Lord Braybrooke's con- 

 jecture was right, but he had mistaken Marshall's 

 character. W. E. M. 



National Anthem (2°'' S. vi. 475.) — Almost im- 

 mediately after reading Dk. Gauntlett's Note 

 on this subject, our attention was accidentally 

 drawn to a passage in Froude's History of Henry 

 VIII., vol. iv. p. 421., which seemed an interesting 

 illustration thereof. Speaking of the goodly fleet 

 assembled in June, 1545, at Portsmouth, it is 

 stated : — 



" The watchword at night was perhaps the origin of 

 the National Anthem. The challenge was, 'God save 

 the King.' The answer was, ' Long to reign over us ! ' — 

 State Papers, vol. i. p. 814. 



S. M. S. 



