2 nd S. IX. Fee. 4 '60.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



93 



pounds. On examining the work, he discovered that 

 his suspicions were well founded as to the inaccuracies of 

 the more recent editions." — pp. 28, 29. 



E. D. 



The Drisheen City. — The note on the 

 "Origin of Cockney" (2 nd S. ix. 42.) calls to 

 mind a name given to the city of Cork — " The 

 Drisheen City" — consequent on a dish peculiar 

 to Cork. I have often heard of that dish, but 

 never tasted it. Of what is it composed ? It is 

 not considered complimentary to a Cork man, to 

 ask him if he is a native of the " Drisheen City ?" 



S. Redmond. 



Liverpool. 



Son or Pascal Paoli, etc. (2 nd S. viii. 399. 

 502.) — Can any farther particulars be given of 

 the unfortunate Colonel Frederic ? I have re- 

 ferred to the Gent's Mag., 1797, p. 172., but find 

 that the account of the suicide of the son becomes 

 merely a peg whereon to hang an account of the 

 reverses and death of the father. I have before 

 me a little volume by the former, entitled — 



" Memoirs of Corsica ; containing the Natural and Po- 

 litical History of that important Island; the principal 

 Events, Revolutions, &c, from the remotest Period to 

 the present Time. Also an Account of its Products, 

 Advantageous Situation, and Strength by Sea and Land. 

 Together with a Variety of interesting Particulars which 

 have been hitherto unknown. Illustrated with a New 

 and Accurate Map of Corsica, by Frederick, son of Theo- 

 dore late King of Corsica." London, &c, 12mo., 1768, 

 pp. 165. 



William Bates, 



Anno Regni Regis (2 nd S. viii. 513.) — 

 Supposing that a king comes to the throne in a.d. 

 1850, and that his regnal years are reckoned from 

 a given day of a given month in that year, e. g. 

 from the 10th June; his first year will contain 

 the days commencing with 10th June, 1850, and 

 terminating with 9th June, 1851 ; his second year 

 the days commencing with 10th June, 1851, and 

 terminating with 9th June, 1852, and so on; his 

 fifth year, containing the days commencing with 

 10th June, 1854, and terminating with 9th June, 

 1855 ; and his tenth, the days commencing with 

 10th June, 1859, and terminating with 9th June, 

 1860. To find in what year of our Lord any day 

 in a given regnal year falls will not be difficult; 

 suppose 13th July, in the 18th year of the king 

 be proposed, his 18th year commences with 10th 

 June, 1867, and ends with 9th June, 1868; the 

 proposed day will fall, therefore, in a.d. 1867. 

 Generally the nth year of the reign will end in a.d. 

 (1850-HO on tne 9th June, and of course eom- 

 mence on the 10th June, a.d. (l850-|-7i — 1) or 

 a.d. (1849-fn) ; and from this it is easy to see in 

 what a.d. any proposed day of any a. r. will fall. 



If, however, the king's reign commences on a 

 moveable feast, as that of our own King John 

 did, recourse must be had to a perpetual almanac, 

 or tables of iegnul years, in order to discover on 



what days of the month the successive feasts fell 

 in successive years of our Lord. If, as occasion- 

 ally happened in the reign of King John, a regnal 

 year terminates later in a year of our Lord than 

 it commenced in the preceding year, a certain 

 number of days in the two years of our Lord 

 will be common to the same regnal year; and 

 further information, such as the mention of the 

 days of the week corresponding to these doubtful 

 days, or their distance from a feast-day, will 

 be necessary before it can be decided to which 

 year they belong. Thus, suppose the 6th regnal 

 year to commence on 10th June, 1859, and on the 

 17th June, 1860, these two days being assumed 

 to answer respectively to a moveable feast and its 

 eve, it is clear that the 10th, I lth, 12th, 13th, 

 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th June, a. r. 6, may be- 

 long either to a.d. 1859, or a.d. 1860. But if 

 in addition we should know that, e. g. the 12th 

 June, a. b. 6, was Whit-Sunday, it would be clear 

 that it belonged to the former a.d., and not to the 

 latter. 



If Mr. Hutchinson's Query, which I cannot 

 agree with him in considering " foolish," be 

 aimed at more recondite difficulties than these, I 

 can only regret that I should have missed them in 

 this reply. H. F. 



A Gloucestershire Story. — In 2 nd S. viii. 304. 

 mention is made of the old manor-house of the 

 family of Stephens, styled Chavenage, near Tet- 

 bury ; and now occupied by the Hon. Mr. Buller 

 (of the Chirrs ton family), which stands upon its 

 original elevation, with its furniture of the age of 

 Queen Elizabeth ; and the hall of which contains 

 a considerable collection of armour and weapons 

 which saw the fields of battle then raging on the 

 Cotswold hills, in the time of Charles I. 



It appears that Nathaniel Stephens, then in 

 Parliament for Gloucestershire, was keeping the 

 festival of Christmas, 1648, at Chavenage, having 

 shown much irresolution in deciding upon sacri- 

 ficing the life of the monarch, was wavering on 

 the subject, when Ireton, who had been dispatched 

 " to whet his almost blunted purpose," arrived at 

 the manor-house — and sat up, it is said, all night 

 in obtaining his reluctant acquiescence to the 

 sentence of the king from the Lord of Chavenage. 

 It appears that in May, 1649, the latter was seized 

 with a fatal sickness, and died the 2nd of that 

 month, expressing his regret for having partici- 

 pated in the execution of the sovereign. 



So far circumstances have every semblance of 

 fact, but on these a legendary tale has been 

 founded, which the superstitious and the believers 

 in supernatural appearances are now only begin- 

 ning to disbelieve. When all the relatives had 

 assembled, and their several well-known equipages 

 were crowding the court-yard to proceed with 

 the obsequies, the household were surprised to 



