heirs-apparent of crowns and regal families
during the last half-century. Since the
Tsarevitch Nicholas died in early manhood,
two successive Princes of Orange pre-
deceased their father, William III. of Hol-
land. Napoleon III.'s only son perished
by the hand of savages in Zululand. A
lonely hunting-box at Meyerling was the
scene of the Crown Prince Rudolf's tragical
end, though impenetrable mystery still
shrouds the actual details of the drama.
Two grandsons of Queen Victoria, both
heirs to crowns, were cut off in the flower
of their youth, viz., Albert Victor, Duke of
Clarence, and his cousin Alfred, Hereditary
Duke of Coburg; whilst their unfortunate
young kinsman, the Crown Prince of Portugal,
was ruthlessly murdered only a short time
ago, and now the heir of Brunswick has
been swept away.
H.

Queries.

THE HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK.- -A few weeks since a motor accident by the wayside in Northern Germany caused the instantaneous death of the young prince George William of Cumberland. The sad event, however distressing to his own relations and personal friends, attracted little attention in this country, perhaps not unnaturally, as he was himself unknown in England, which his branch of our reigning house had quitted for Hanover so far back as the year 1837. But a brief note of sympathy, deploring the untimely fate of this youthful scion of Brunswick, may not be out of place in the pages of N. & Q.,' for in Prince George William has passed away one of the very few surviving male descendants of King George III., and the heir of the most ancient and famous house of Guelf. That KING SIFFERTH.-I should be glad of house, one of the oldest in Europe, now some information about King Sifferth, who, stands in risk of total extinction at no very according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,' distant day, unless the late prince's only in the year 962 "killed himself, and his brother should marry and have sons, for the body lies at Wimborne."

WE must request correspondents desiring into affix their names and addresses to their queries. formation on family matters of only private interest in order that answers may be sent to them direct.

line of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel died out According to Florence of Worcester, with the last reigning duke-William-William of Malmesbury, Roger of Wendover, some years ago, whilst that of Hanover Simon of Durham, and others, Sifferth, a is to-day represented only by the Duke of Cumberland, now an elderly man, and one unmarried son. It is needless here to dwell on the notorious fact that the Duke's persistent refusal to accept the logic of events in his father's ci-devant kingdom of Hanover presents the only obstacle to the full recognition by Prussia of his sovereign rights in the duchy of Brunswick; but his royal highness has always displayed in his political attitude no small amount of the quality-called "noble firmness " by some, less kindly termed by others-which characterized his great-grandfather, our third George, in his dealings with the rebellious Americans. The attitude in question almost suggests a Stuart trait, inherited from their ancestors of that race. "De gustibus," however, “non disputandum."

In connexion with the death of Prince George William, one cannot avoid reflecting how heavily Fate has dealt with the

King of Wales, was one of the eight tributary princes who did homage to King Edgar, and rowed his barge at Chester on the river Dee, about the year 972. But this was ten years after the death and burial at Wimborne of the king of the same name. Besides which the chronicler alludes to the homage done at Chester by these vassal kings shortly after Edgar had been consecrated King at Bath in 972, though he speaks only of six kings, and does not give their names. Edgar, be it remembered, had obtained the kingdom more than twelve years before his consecration. (Cf. also Freeman's Norman Conquest,' vol. i. p. 68, n. 1.)

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There is an old charter of King Edgar's, dated 3 June, 966, in which the King made a grant to the Church of Dorobernensis (Canterbury) and the monks serving God there. This was witnessed by "Siferd, subregulus," by the Archbishops of Canterbury

and York, and others; and also, in THE DEATH OF SHELLEY.-I should be addition to Sifferd, by six of the tributary grateful for information relative to the kings who a few years later did homage reception, by London newspapers, of the to Edgar, viz., Kinath, King of Scotland, news of Shelley's death. Were any details of Maccus, King of the Isles, Malcolm, King of that catastrophe given by correspondents Cumberland, Jacob subregulus, Inkil sub- abroad? and did any obituary notice of the regulus, Dufnal, &c. (Cf. No. 519, Codex young poet appear in the leading journals Diplomaticus Evi Saxonici,' J. M. Kemble, of those days? RICHARD EDGCUMBE. London, 1848.) Edgbarrow, Crowthorne, Berks.

In Freeman's Old English History' (Rhys's edition, p. 175) is the following passage :-.

"We hear of no invasion of the Danes.... There was a little fighting with the Welsh and a little with the Scots just at the beginning of Edgar's reign....To preserve his kingdom from foreign invaders, Edgar, like Alfred, kept up a great fleet, which was always sailing about the coasts, so that the Danes could never land. But there may now and then, very likely, have been some fighting by sea; for instance, in 962 we read how a certain king Sigferth killed himself and was buried at Wimborne. Now it is hard to see what any King Sigferth could have been doing anywhere near Wimborne unless he was a Danish prisoner."

"Moolvee.”—I am studying the history of the Arabic word maulawiyy (a learned man), which is generally anglicized moolvee. I want to know to what triliteral root this word may be traced. Are native Arabic scholars agreed upon an etymology? I suppose that in form it might be derived from the root wala" (to be near)-a root identified by Western scholars with the Hebrew lawah (to be joined together). So the 'Oxford Hebrew Lexicon.' If this etymology be correct, how can the semantology be explained? how can we arrive at the meaning of "a learned man"? Is the sense-development as follows: to be near," to be a friend," helper, protector, lord, saint, learned man? It should be noted that all these senses and many more are found in the word and its co-radicates. 21, Norham Road, Oxford.

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A. L. MAYHEW.

Freeman assumes from his name that the King Sigferth, or Sifferth, who was buried at Wimborne must have been a Dane. But the old monkish historians are very clear in describing the Sifferth who was one of the tributary kings to King Edgar as a King of Wales. Neither Bath, where Edgar ESTATES OF Nonjurors.—On p. 603 of was consecrated, nor Chester, where homage vol. xcv. (part i.) of The Gentleman's Magawas done to him, is very far from Wales.zine there is a list of persons Wimborne could be reached by road from Bath, and would not be more than seventy miles distant. Or Bristol, which is twelve miles from Bath (and that journey might be made by river), would be accessible by sea from Poole, which is but six miles from Wimborne, or from Wareham, which is but ten miles away, and in those days was an important seaport.

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Now the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle' was the work of various writers. Is it possible that its chronology is, so far as Sifferth is concerned, somewhat confused; that the above-mentioned passages all relate to the same man, Sifferth, a King of Wales; that the date of his death is incorrectly given in the Chronicle; and that it should be more than ten years later?

It is worthy of mention that Wimborne had previously been the burial-place of another monarch, Ethelred, the elder brother of Alfred the Great, in the year 871, and that the Purbeck marble slab which covered his remains is shown in the Minster at the present day. JAS. M. J. FLETCHER. The Vicarage; Wimborne Minster.

"taken from a scarce book intituled 'Names of the Roman Catholics, Nonjurors, who refused to take the oath to his late Majesty King George the First. Taken from an original MS. of a Gentleman who Office belonging to the Commissioners for the forwas principal Clerk to the Accomptant General's feited Estates of England and Wales, after the Rebellion in the year 1715. Staffordshire, published 1745.'"

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The first entry in the list is as follows: William Stafford, Esq., estate at Bradley, in possession of Peter Hatton and others, 3997. 108."; and similar entries follow. What is the meaning of the amount placed against the name and description of each person? Is it that the estates of those mentioned were forfeited to the Crown and released on payment of a fine? In several cases the estates referred to remained the property of the Nonjurors subsequent to 1715. Where can I obtain any information upon the matter? R. Vaughan Gower.

EVANGEL INKPOT.-There has recently come into my possession a quaint metal inkpot, truncated-cone shape. Round it the following figures appear in relief: a man in a full robe, holding an open book; an

S.
..ATHEVS :

animal (?a dog) with its forepaws on an
open book; another animal (?a kid); a
bird. There is a nimbus round the head of
each, and over them respectively are the
words
MARCVS: S. LVCAS:
S. JOHANN. Is there any interest attaching
to this kind of inkpot? A friend tells me
that it illustrates Revelation iv. 7:"And
the first beast was like a lion, and the second
beast like a calf, and the third beast had a
face as a man, and the fourth beast was
like a flying eagle." If this is correct, why
are the figures named after the Evangelists ?
If any readers can help me, I shall be glad.
WM. T. SANIGAR.

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ST. SWITHIN.

Mr. C. Bogue Luffmann's book was pub. [The use of these Evangelical symbols-derived lished long after that of Miss Bates. from the four "living things" of the Apocalypseto signify the four Evangelists goes back at least to Irenæus, who expounds their meaning as answering to the fourfold character of the work of the Eternal Word. The lion represents His sovereign power; the calf, His priestly function; the man. His human nature; the eagle, the gift of the Spirit. The distribution of the symbols here given is now the usual one; but both Irenæus and Augustine distribute them differently.]

1. MOSES CHARAS, PHARMACOPEUS REGIUS. I have an engraved portrait of this man seated in his laboratory at a table, writing. I should be glad of any biographical details.

2.

"STEPHANI

RODERICI CASTRENSIS LVSITANI ANN. ÆTAT. LXXVIII."-I have an engraved portrait with the above inscription. He was probably a medical man. Where can I find a full account of his life? ISRAEL SOLOMONS.

118, Sutherland Avenue, W.

LYNDON EVELYN. Can any of your readers give me the following information: the date of birth of Lyndon Evelyn, M.P. for Wigton 1809-12, Dundalk 1812-18, and St. Ives 1820-26-supposed to be eldest son of Francis Evelyn of Dublin, who entered himself as student of Lincoln's Inn, 11 Nov.. 1778, and was Chief Examiner in the Court of Chancery for some years? I shall be glad of any further details with regard to his family.

S. G. EVELYN.

Corton, Presteign, Radnorshire.

INSCRIPTION IN PARISH CHURCH OF ST. MARY, LLANFAIR-WATERDINE. Has the inscription on one of the communion rails in the above church ever been translated? Many have tried to decipher it, without success, though I understand that Sir John Rhys, of Oxford, discovered a key to a single word. WILLIAM MACARTHUR. Dublin

SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER: EXPLANATIONS WANTED.-I should be grateful if your columns could give me help upon the following points, which, in a small Swiss village, I find it hard to determine.

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1. Who composed the opera Ariadne' (the minuet in which is referred to in She Stoops to Conquer,' Act I.), and in what The Rev. H. R. year was it produced? Haweis, in 'Music and Morals,' ascribes it to Handel, and says it was produced at the Haymarket in 1733. Burney's History of Music' says Porpora's Ariadne was first performed in 1733. Is the reference to one of these? It cannot be to Georg Benda's 'Ariadne auf Naxos,' which was produced in 1774, a year after She Stoops to Conquer.'

2. What is the derivation of the phrase "Rabbit me "Rabbet me or (=Confound me)?

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66

Odso 3. Is (a minced form of God so ") an abbreviation of God so help me "God save me ? Or can any other origin be found?

6

66

4. Are the Grotto Gardens (mentioned in She Stoops to Conquer,' Act II.) to be identified with Finch's Grotto and Garden, which, according to Curiosities of London,' p. 323, by John Timbs (London, 1855), were established in the present Southwark Bridge Road about 1760: Here Suett and Nan Cattley acted and sang," &c.? Were they the scene of musical and dramatic performances? The only annotation of the passage which I have seen is simply Clerkenwell," and I do not know the authority for that.

Baker, in A Descriptive Guide to the Best SHIPS LOST IN THE GREAT STORM, Fiction, British and American,' supplies eight names of novelists who have written of them. I shall be glad, however, to learn, through the pages of N. & Q.' or direct, of any writer or historian who has dealt with this subject at length otherwise than in a fictitious way. F. C. WHITE.