118, Pall Mall.

J. M. BULLOCH.

JOHN PICKFOrd, M.A.

Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge.

"FAIR-COPY."-The earliest illustrative quotation for fair-copy in ' H.E.D.' is of 1840 as a verb and 1873 as a noun; but the combination would seem to be of a decidedly anterior date to either. Mr. George Bernard Shaw, in the preface to his published play The Devil's Disciple,' referring to General Burgoyne's surrender at Saratoga, says:

"The explanation of his defeat given in the play is founded on a passage quoted by De Fonblanque from Fitzmaurice's Life of Lord Shelburne as follows: Lord George Germain, having among other peculiarities a particular dislike to be put out of his way on any occasion, had arranged to call at his office on his way to the country to sign the dispatches; but as those addressed to Howe had not been fair-copied, and he was not disposed to be balked of his projected visit to Kent, they were not signed then, and were forgotten on his return home.'

Sir George Trevelyan, in his lately published volume on The American Revolution,' in doubting the truth of the story, employs the same word fair-copied :—

"It is stated that a letter, giving Sir William Howe positive and explicit orders to co-operate with Burgoyne, had been drafted in the English War Office at the end of March; but that Germain went out of town before it was fair-copied, and forgot to sign and send it. To any one who has had charge of a public department with Permanent Secretaries, and Private Secretaries, to keep him in mind of his duties-the story is unbelievable. It has its origin in a private memoir by Lord Shelburne; but Lord Shelburne, when jotting down reminiscences in the seclusion of his study, was no safe authority for anecdotes reflecting upon the public men of his own time."

There should be no difficulty, therefore, in tracing the word beyond 1840.

ALFRED F. ROBBINS.

FIRST DUKE OF GORDON'S BIRTH.-In the absence of a definite date it is usually said that the first Duke was "about ten years of age when he succeeded his father in 1653. As a matter of fact, his father and mother were married in October, 1644. But a much better test is afforded by the letter the Duke wrote to Lauderdale on 4 July, 1664 (Add. MS. 23, 122, f. 80): "Now, my Lord, having allmost attined to the 14 year of my agge complit, I ame resolved to chose my curators for the better

Queries.

PRIOR AND HIS CHLOE.-Most people, I imagine, take their view of Prior and of his Chloe from Spence's Anecdotes' and Johnson's 'Lives." I have, however, lately met with the following paragraph on the subject, in which a very different colour is given to the commonly-received opinion:—

"It was not Pope, however, that, of all the Queen Anne men, Wesley admired most, but rather Prior. He quotes him repeatedly in the Journal'; and when Samuel Johnson, in the newly issued 'Lives of Prior's character and of his verse, Wesley, then of the Poets,' spoke in terms of depreciation both in his eightieth year, came to the defence of his favourite poet in a most spirited paper. Prior, he asserts, was not half so bad a man as his critics have painted him; while, as to the Chloe of the better than she should be, Wesley declares, on the charming lyrics, who had been represented as no authority of his brother Samuel, who knew her well, that she was an estimable Miss Taylor of Westminster, who refused the advances of the poet while he was living, and spent hours weeping at his tomb after he was dead."- From C. T. Winchester's 'Life of Wesley.'

One would be glad to have this account confirmed, especially as regards "Chloe.' Surely such charming verses as Prior's were not inspired by a worthless woman.

T. M. W.

DAVIDSON CLAN.-I should be greatly obliged to any of your readers who would give me information on the following points connected with the clan Davidson :

1. The ancestry of Pillichattan Mor, the ancestor of Clann Dhai, Clann Mhurich, &c.

2. Any information concerning the disputes between the Davidsons and MacPhersons, particularly as to which son of Pillichattan Mor, Dai Dubh was.

3. Any information, or the names of any books or articles, about the Davidsons since 1386.

4. Was the blue falcon ever a cognizance of the Davidsons, as Scott says in 'The Fair Maid of Perth,' and does the eagle's head crest of Tulloch refer to that?

Replies should be addressed to me care of Mr. William Bryce, Bookseller, Edinburgh. CLANN DHAI.

ROMANS AT YORK.-In Sir H. Drummond Wolff's Rambling Recollections,' the following passage occurs :

"On my way to Scotland I was detained at York for two days in the height of summer. In the daytime the streets were perfectly empty, but in the evening the whole population turned out, and the town was almost impassable. This habit was one that I had only previously seen in Italy. Later, when travelling, I met a gentleman-I think his name was Mr. Wallace-who seemed to have a great deal of antiquarian knowledge. I told him what I had noticed in York, and he replied, 'The reason is that for more than forty years a Roman legion was quartered there. Since then the inhabitants of York all have Roman noses, while Yorkshiremen are generally inclined to be snubnosed.' With me, he attributed the fact of the streets being crowded during the summer evenings

to the same cause."

GORDONS OF MESSINA. The Dizionario Storico Blasonico' of noble Italian families (1886) mentions Gordone di Messina. The family is said to have had a Scots origin and settled in Messina with the baronial title of Camastra in 1702. What is known of it? J. M. BULLOCH.

BURIAL-GROUND OF ST. GEORGE'S, HANOVER SQUARE, BAYSWATER ROAD.-I am engaged in some genealogical research, and I am desirous of knowing whether any printed list of inscriptions on tombstones in this burial-ground has ever been published, or whether any manuscript list is in existence. My inquiry refers more particularly to the early part of the nineteenth century. A. F. H.

ASKEW OR AYSCOUGH FAMILY.-I shall be greatly obliged by information, or suggestions as to the source of information, concerning the descendants of the family to which Anne Askew, the martyr, belonged. I have a special interest in the subject, having been always led to suppose that I am descended from that family. My greatgrandfather married a Miss Askew in Cumberland, and the Christian names Anne Askew are common among my relations.

E. W.

FALSE QUANTITIES.—Quite recently I was reading an article on famous false quantities made in speeches. I remember two instances: "Moritur et moriens, &c." and "Sunt plura bona" at end of a hexameter. Can any one refer me to the article? G. W. E. R.

[Is it Mr. H. Paul's' Decay of Classical Quotation' (Nineteenth Century, April, 1896), or Bishop Welldon's on 'The Art of Classical Quotation' in the same magazine for April, 1905? A Last Ramble in the Classics,' by H. E. P. Platt (1906), gives the line from Martial ending in "sunt plura bona" as quoted by Lord Clarendon. See his short article on False Quantities on p. 153. See also 10 S. ix. 354, 512.

CONSCIENTIOUS SCRUPLES AGAINST WAR. -The following is the substance of the Constable's statement, respecting a distraint taken from John Paul, a member of the Society of Friends at Tavistock for refusing to lend his waggon to convey military baggage in consequence of his conscientious scruples against war :

BURNEY'S 'HISTORY OF MUSIC.'-Does any reader know the exact collation of Burney's History of Music,' 1776-89, 4 vols, 4to? Apparently one volume was issued in 1776, and a second edition, with new plates, in 1788, when the other three volumes appeared. There is no list of plates in the 1776 volume. FRANCIS P. MARCHANT. Streatham Common.

SCOTCH TOUR: TITLE WANTED.-Can any reader give me the title of a work published in 2 vols., 8vo, somewhere about 1830 ? It was written by a lady, and described a tour made in Scotland. It was illustrated by herself.

W. E. WILSON

66

It is surprising that there should have been any doubt as to Snodgrass being a real name, as people bearing it are still to be found in Glasgow, Paisley, and other parts of Scotland.

1. An account of the Snodgrass family of Cunninghamehead is given in Paterson's "History of the Counties of Ayr and Wigtown,' iii. 209-10, which I will not repeat more than is necessary for the purpose of adding dates, &c. John, the first Snodgrass owner of Cunninghamehead, and builder of the house there, died 20 Oct., 1771. The eldest son Neil died 6 Oct., 1821, aged 81, his wife Marian having predeceased him 13 March, 1818. The second son William died at Irvine, 2 Nov., 1824, aged 83. The youngest son John became a lieutenant in the 82nd Regiment, 19 Dec., 1778, and was drowned at sea soon afterwards.

Neil Snodgrass of Cunninghamehead had three sons and three daughters. His eldest son David took the name of Buchanan. His second son John was a major in the H.E.I.C.S. The Major's only son William James married 18 Sept., 1845, at Dalchully House, Inverness-shire, Isabella Newman, dau. of Henry Bousfield, Esq., late surgeon Bengal N.I. The Major's eldest daughter Marion Elphinstone Coates was married at St. George's, Bloomsbury, 13 Sept.,

1849, to Theophilus Thompson, eldest son of Thomas Thompson, of Poundisford Park, Pitminster, Somerset. The Major's second daughter Eliza Ann died at Edinburgh unmarried, 30 Nov., 1862. Capt. James Persia, in October, 1814. The date of the Snodgrass, Neil's third son, died at Tabriz, marriage of Christina Snodgrass to Lieut.Col. Reid was 21 July, 1806.

2. So far as I know, no account has been given of the Snodgrass family of Paisley. John Snodgrass, Sheriff-Clerk of Renfrewshire, died 24 May, 1785. Hew Snodgrass, W.S., died at Newton, near Paisley, 31 April, 1807. Neil Snodgrass, late of Paisley, died in Jamaica, 14 May, 1818. I suspect that this was the cotton manufacturer of this name who on 24 July, 1807, married at Johnstone, Agnes, e.dau. of Mr. Robert Hodgart, merchant. Hew Snodgrass Morant Bay died at Port Royal, Jamaica, 24 Oct., 1819. Lieut. Wm. Snodgrass, late of the 24th Regiment of Foot, died at Govan, 4. Dec., 1820. John Snodgrass, W.S., died at Paisley, 7 March, 1822.

of

The Rev. John Snodgrass, D.D., & Presbyterian minister of Paisley, married Janet, eldest sister of General Sir Kenneth Mackenzie Douglas (a lady ignored by Burke), and died at Saltcoats, 19 June, 1797. She died at Eagleton, Williams' River, N.S.W., 30 July, 1852, aged 90. Their son Kenneth is the leader of a Portuguese regiment" mentioned at 9 S. x. 72. There is no evidence to connect him with Gabriel Snodgrass, the shipbuilder of Chatham, or with an earlier Gabriel Snodgrass who was principal surveyor to the H.E.I.C. in the middle of the eighteenth century. Major Kenneth Snodgrass was in command of the 1st Battalion of the 13th Portuguese Regiment at the siege of San Sebastian, and was slightly wounded on 17 July, 1813, when the fortified convent of San Bartolomé and an adjoining work on a steep hill were carried by assault. On 31 Aug. the town itself was taken after some very hard fighting. Sir Thomas Graham wrote:

The advance of the 1st Batt. 13th Reg. under Major Snodgrass, over the open beach and across the river......was made in the handsomest style under a very severe fire of grape. Major Snodgrass attacked and finally carried the small breach on the right of the great one."

The Duke of Wellington also wrote:

"All reports concur in praise of the detachment from the 10th Portuguese Brigade under Major Snodgrass, which crossed the river Urumea, and which could be directed on them from the castle stormed the breach on the right under all the fire and town."