510 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2° d S. IX. June 30. '60. 



an account of Garibaldi's Irish descent and birth 

 at Mullinahone. As Mr. Garstin appears anxious 

 to learn if there is any truth in the Irish version 

 of that great hero's history, allow me, as the au- 

 thor of the storj', which first appeared in the 

 Clonmel Chronicle (whence it was copied and 

 garbled without acknowledgment by the Limerick 

 Chronicle), to state for Mr. Garstin's informa- 

 tion that my little romance originated in the absurd 

 practice to which that gentleman refers, namely, 

 that of the Irish press claiming for Ireland all the 

 illustrious foreigners of distinction (ivithout dis- 

 tinction), from St. Patrick of pious memory, who 

 (they sing) " Came from dacent peaple, for his 

 mother kept a sheebeen-house, and his father 

 built a steeple," down to the gallant victor of 

 Magenta. 



Believing that the formidable list of celebrities, 

 so appropriated, was incomplete without the name 

 of Garibaldi, and at the same time deeming him 

 eminently worthy of the honour I had in view for 

 him, I resolved to humour the national propen- 

 sity for hero-annexation, by conferring on him the 

 proud distinction of an Irish pedigree, and, failing 

 my ability to bestow on "his excellency " any 

 territorial rank, to assign to him for the place of 

 his birth the classic town of Mullinahone : thus 

 qualified, his glorious name has been added to the 

 list of Irish heroes, in'accordance with the practice 

 in this country ; and, thanks to the press of the 

 United Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, 

 due publicity has been accorded to the honour 

 thus conferred, no doubt much to the amusement 

 and edification of all political ornithologists, who 

 could not have failed to have detected in the 

 widely-circulated story a canard of the rarest 

 species. As the bird, however, in the course of its 

 flight has lost some of its best feathers, and been 

 otherwise cruelly mutilated, and in some instances 

 unfairly appropriated, I enclose a copy of the ori- 

 ginal story as furnished by me to the editor of the 

 Clonmel Chronicle : — 



"Another Illustrious Irishman! 



" ' Their name is Legion.' 



" (From our confidential Correspondent.) 



"The public will no doubt be surprised to learn tbat 

 the illustrious Garibaldi, whose fame has spread over the 

 whole civilised world, is a native of Mullinahone in this 

 county (Tipperary), where his father, as worthy a man 

 as ever breathed the breath of life, kept a school. His 

 name was Garret Baldwin, but being much liked b\ his 

 scholars they used to call him playfully, and for shortness 

 sake, old '• Garry Baldy." On the death of this excel- 

 lent old gentleman, his only child, the gallant subject of 

 this notice, was left under the care of his maternal uncle, 

 a much respected priest of a neighbouring parish, who, 

 having occasion some years after to visit the Eternal 

 City ou business connected with his profession, resolved 

 on taking his young nephew with him, with the view of 

 educating him for the church. They accordingly pro- 

 ceeded to Rome, where the lad was placed at college, but 

 his ardent temperament ill brooked the confinement and 



sedentary drudgery which his studies imposed upon him ; 

 and he therefore soon after took the opportunity of bid- 

 ding a clandestine farewell to school and Rome together, 

 and, leaving Home by the Porta del Popolo, hastily pro- 

 ceeded ou foot along the road leading to the north. 

 After a weary tramp of several days he found himself 

 tired and footsore at Turin, without even a single bajoc- 

 cho in his pocket. At this juncture, meeting with a dash- 

 ing sergeant of the Sardinian army, he was induced to 

 enlist, which he did under the pet name of his worthy 

 father, which he Italianised for the purpose, and which 

 name he has rendered illustrious by his heroic valour, and 

 noble disinterestedness. Ireland, but especially Mullina- 

 hone, has just cause to be proud of her gallant son." 



Garry Owen. 



Dr. Parr (2 nd S. ix. 159.)— The extract from 

 a letter from David Love to George Chalmers, 

 dated Feb. 26, 1788, relating to the eccentricities 

 of Dr. Parr, and given in "N. & Q.," induces me 

 to offer another extract on the same subject, 

 written by me, then an under-graduate, to my 

 father, from Cambridge, in July, 1818 : — 



" Yesterday I dined at Emanuel for the purpose of 

 meeting Dr. Parr, by whom a Harrow man is sure to 

 have a cordial welcome. Dr. Butler (of Shrewsbury) * 

 dined there also. Dudlej- North f seems to be very 

 popular in his College, for they drank his health after 

 dinner. Parr spoke of him in very high terms. The 

 principal objections to the society of the 'learned pig' 

 are, that he has a more than Mahometan fondness for 

 tobacco, and the smoking of a pipe is with him, as with 

 the followers of the prophet, a certain passport to friend- 

 ship. The chief objects of his detestation seem to be a 

 Christchurch man, a Johuian, a Welshman, and the Re- 

 gent, all of whom suffer in turn under the lash of his 

 invective. Harrow and Trinity are the idols of his 

 adoration, so I was safe. Butler appears to be a very 

 pleasant man, and much more of a civilized being than 

 the Grecian Goliah. By the way, I must tell you that 

 Sheridan's J room was uninhabitable for three hours after 

 Parr's dejeuner fumigations." 



C. E. L. 



Stolen Brass (2 nd S. ix. 463.)— There can be 

 no doubt that the brass of Robert le Grys, referred 

 to in the communication to the Leicester Journal, 

 quoted by Mr. Gantillon, was stolen from Bil- 

 lingford church, near Diss, in Norfolk. Brasses 

 with inscriptions to Christopher Le Grys, the 

 father, and Christopher Le Grys, the son, of this 

 llobert who died 1583, are mentioned by Blome- 



* Afterwards Bishop of Lichfield. 



f Mr. Dudley Long, who assumed the name of North, 

 and was one of the well-known witty Parliamentary as- 

 sociates of the Whig party in the Augustan age of Charles 

 Fox. 



X My lamented friend, the late Charles Brinsley Sheri- 

 dan. I well remember the breakfast. It was on a Sun- 

 day, at his lodgings in that little alley by the church, 

 between the gates of Trinity and St. John's. The Doctor 

 never showed the slightest disposition to attend the 

 morning service, but when breakfast was over, said, 

 " Charles, Charles, where are the pipes?" and they had 

 to be sent for from a neighbouring public-house. I doubt 

 if, in this age of tobacco, such an outrage on propriety 

 would now be perpetrated. 



