SOURCE WANTED. I want much to trace a passage of English, which begins with the words, "I was born at Shields," and continues to this purport, was bred to the sea as an apprentice, and started on a small vessel for the negro slave-trade... bought niggers in Africa for wine and pitch. on our return voyage these fell ill of some plague, and died in heaps sharks then rescued from a wrecked ship some men of another nationality (? French) who turned out to have been engaged in the same traffic." Can any reader of N. & Q.' kindly help? S.

thrown overboard

AUTHORS WANTED: Can any reader tell me who was the author of a little book 12 mo, and containing 24 pages, of which the following is the title? Descriptio Brevissima Prisca Urbis Romæ. Venetiis apud Cominum De Tridino Montisferrati. M.D. XLIIII." In the text are given the ancient and sixteenth century names and a brief note identifying the sites of buildings, etc., which no longer existed when the book was published. Some of the things referred to are as follows:

"The gates, the regions or districts of the city, baths, forums, arches, acquæducts, theatres, amphitheatres, circuses, porticos, columns, obelisks, pyramids, bounds or goals, cemeteries, Septizoniis,' statues, courts, 'salinæ prisons, basilicas, temples, gardens, markets, clocks, streets, etc."

HENRY HANNEN.

2. What is the source and earliest form of the saying "Dead men tell no tales "? T. O. MABBOTT.

Replies.

CHARLES I AND THE BANQUETING HOUSE, WHITEHALL.

(clii. and cliii. passim; cliv. 1). THE Thomason tracts contain interesting the seventeenth century. I made an exteninformation concerning the middle period give search through those dealing with the last years of the reign of Charles I, and have very full notes of their contents. I did not miss the entry in The Moderate Intelligencer of Jan. 25-Feb. 1, 1648/9, referring to the fencers of London provided by James I for the entertainment of the King of Denmark, in 1614, and I copied this entry, and much more in the same number of the paper, some years ago, long previous to its appearing in The Times of 30 Jan., 1926.

The entry referred to does not indicate where it was the fencers "encountered each other," further than by saying that in the same place King Charles was executed over against the Banqueting House of Whitehall,” adding the scaffold being made from the same window.'

If, therefore, the place and window where the King came out to the scaffold be known, we know, provided The Moderate Intelligencer is correct (which we have no reason to doubt), where the fencers' window situated, and vice versa.

was

Consequently, since I became convinced that the King came out to the scaffold at the north-west corner of the Banqueting House through the lower window in the west wall of the north annexe, the window having been enlarged by the breaking down of the piece of wall immediately beneath it, I have regarded this same place as that where the fencers came out for their contests in front of the House.

It may be mentioned in connexion with this incident of the fencers' exhibition at Whitehall in 1614, that I have for some years had a copy of an old plan, by a well-known architect of the early seventeenth century, of the Hall floor of the first Banqueting House built by James I and completed in or about 1607. This house was destroyed by fire on 12 Jan.. 1619. It is recorded in Stow's Annales,' continued by Howes:1618 (19) About ten a clocke in the morning, upon Tuesday the 12 of January the faire banqueting house at Whitehall, was upon the soddaine all a flaming a fire from end to end, and side to side, before it was

discerned or descryde, by any persons or passengers, either by sent or smoke.

On the site of this burnt down House Inigo Jones erected (1619-1622) the new Banqueting House, being that of the present time.

The plan of the first House shows seven large windows on each side of the Hall floor. It was not until some time after I had come to the conclusion that it was at the northwest corner of the present Banqueting House, and at the window in the west wall of its old north annexe, that Charles I came out to the scaffold, that I looked specially, in connexion with this matter, at the plan I have of the first Banqueting Hall built by James I. I then found that, in the north-west corner of this earlier Hall, a little north of the first of the seven windows along the west front, there is a recess, in which is a window, smaller than the seven windows along the front, but opening, as they do, on to Whitehall Street. This smaller window is about ten feet north of the first window of the west front row. There is no similar window at any of the other corners of the Hall.

This window mentioned in the first Banqueting Hall of James I, corresponds very closely in position with that of the window in the west wall of the north annexe which was attached to the second Banqueting House of James, built by Inigo Jones, namely the present Banqueting House.

per

The window at the north-west corner of the first House of James I would have been quite suitable for the fencers who, in 1614, formed before the King of Denmark, to have passed through in going out to a platform erected on the west front of the building. According to The Moderate Intelligencer, the same window was used both at the King's death in 1649 and at the fencers' contests in 1614, therefore this window in the north-west corner of the first Banqueting Hall must have been that through which the fencers passed, if it be correct, as I have stated it is, that Charles I came out through the lower window in the west wall of the north annexe, in the later or Inigo Jones's Hall, for the two windows are practically the same in position, as regards the north-west corners of the Halls.

It is hardly necessary to say that The Moderate Intelligencer did not mean that the two windows referred to were actually the same. No window of any description in the second or present Banqueting House, the House from which Charles I passed to the scaffold was, it is manifest, strictly speaking, iden

tical with any window in the first Banqueting House of James I, which was completely destroyed by fire in 1619.

By the finding of this window in the plan of the first Banqueting House in the same position in relation to the Hall as was the window in the annexe of the succeeding House, we have a circumstance that corroborates the independently formed opinion that it was at a similar position, and through a similarly placed window in the annexe of the later House, that the King passed out to the scaffold.

6

What is mentioned in Sir Philip Warwick's Memoirs of the King having" come out of the Banquetting House on the scaffold," does not, in the least degree invalidate what I have said as to the window through which the King passed from the Banqueting House having been the lower window in the west wall of the north annexe. This annexe at the north end had opening into it the six doors in the north wall of the Hall, three of these doors being on the Hall floor and three at the gallery level. It also contained the staircase by which the Hall floor was reached, and the higher staircase leading to the Hall galleries. The annexe was, in fact, as incorporated with the building, essentially part of the Banqueting House, as is the annexe now at the north end of the House. No one would speak of the present annexe as not being part of the Banqueting House. It must be remembered that the Banqueting House and the Banqueting Hall strictly identical, a fact apt to be lost sight of. The Banqueting House formerly, as now, included the Banqueting Hall, the large ground-floor chamber beneath the Hall, and the annexe.

are not

Consequently, when the King came out at the window of the annexe he came out of the Banqueting House, having previously passed from the Hall into the annexe, viz., from one part of the Banqueting House to another.

MR. BERESFORD makes an appropriate remark concerning the manuscripts of Sir Thomas Herbert's Threnodia Carolina,' to which I referred. The question he raises is one I had carefully considered but did not

mention.

If an author revises one of his earlier manuscripts, it is, of course, the revised manuscript that those quoting him should use, but the manuscripts of Herbert's memoirs are peculiar in certain respects.

The fact that the enlarged and revised MS. belonging to Le Neve, identical with what is

A

some perill to their persons were crowded in, to behold the saddest sight England ever ват: who as his Maty past by wth a cheerfull Countenance, could heare the people pray for him, ye souldyers never rebuking them, but by their silence and lookes rather seaming afflicted then insulting. his Maty past to ye scaffold through ye Wall yt was purposely broken downe at ye North end of the roome. What past upon ye Scaffold is in print and therefore omitted.

mr. Herbert all that tyme stood mourning at the doore near ye scaffold. and the good Bishop coming thence with ye royall Corpes, wch was presently coffin'd and Covered wth black Veluit, hee and mr. Herbert followed it to the backstayres where it was to be imbalmed.

A point to be carefully noted concerning the manuscripts mentioned above, is, that the Martin-Edmunds MS., all of which is in Herbert's handwriting, the Bishop of Ely's MS. as printed in 1702, and Le Neve's MS. (Harl. 4705), all mention the end of the Banqueting House as being near the scaffold, and the original MS., all of which is in Herbert's handwriting, and which he sent to Dugdale in 1678 (Harl. 7396) also mentions the Bishop's instructions to Herbert to wait at the end of the Banqueting House, and that Herbert then stood at the door near the scaffold.

No question can, therefore, arise here as to an original manuscript and a revised manuscript differing materially in what they say concerning the end of the Banqueting House and the door Herbert was standing at during the execution having been near the scaffold, as it may be concluded from all the manuscripts that the end of the House and the door where Herbert stood were close to the scaffold.

In view of Herbert's Memoirs definitely stating that the scaffold was near the end of the Banqueting House, and that he himself stood, during the execution at the door near the scaffold, the difficulties that have been raised concerning the place of the King's execution are very remarkable, especially when it is remembered what corroborative evidence there is of Herbert's statements, from other

been well known and much talked of at the time.

Some have described the scaffold as having been under the centre window on the west front of the House, but as the middle of this centre window is 60 feet from the northwest corner of the Banqueting House, this window could certainly not be described as near the north end. Nor could Herbert, when standing at the north end of the House have been mourning at the door near ye scaffold," had the scaffold been under the centre window. The door at which Herbert stood at the north end of the Hall near the scaffold was either the west door in the north wall of the Hall itself, the doorway which is now built up at its back and forms a cupboard in the wall, by which the King entered the annexe into which he passed from the Hall, or else the door-window, through which, on turning to the left after entering the annexe, the King passed out of the annexe on to the scaffold. Standing at either of these doors, which were only a few feet apart, Herbert would have been near the scaffold, were it placed where I have stated it was, under the first window from the north end of the House, and extending some way further towards the second window, without attempting to define within a few feet, either its length or breadth,

which no one could now do with exactness. CHARLES HERBERT THOMPSON.

A

London.

(To be concluded.)

NCIENT SEALS (cliii. 298, 393, 442, 481). -The earliest English seals were royal ones-the first being that of Edward the Confessor. One of the earliest non-royal seals is that of William de Romare 3rd Earl of Lincoln. Early seals were often not stamped on the document, but appended thereto by a cord or ribbon.

Sealing-wax with lac as an ingredient was probably invented in India or China, as it is only in those parts of the world that the lac insect is found, and the earliest sealing-wax was almost certainly red-the colour of sticklac.

Before the introduction of sealing-wax into Europe, coloured beeswax was used for sealing.

The use of sealing-wax of other colours than red goes back many centuries. Several Charters of Trinity College, Cambridge, and possibly of other Colleges and Corporations, are duplicates each copy appearing to be equally original and authentic, but one bear

387, 467).In Carl Van Vechten's novel

Firecrackers is mentioned a business men's luncheon club, on the top storey of a New York skyscraper, frequented by one of the characters. It plays no important part in the plot. Any modern novel of fashionable life set in New York where the characters reside in Park Avenue may have a skyscraper mise-en-scène, although the author might not mention the fact; the apartment hotels range from twenty to thirty storeys in height. While painting, drama, ballet and the "" movies make use of the skyscraper, the novel has little to say of it because the trend

in fiction has been away from the romantic. The skyscraper roof, bungalows and clubs are so striking as settings that they might detract from the interest of the action, unless it would be of a melodramatic sort. Most skyscrapers house nothing but offices, and it has been the convention up to the present to disregard the business world as a main theme in

fiction.

Winnetka, Illinois.

PAUL MCPHARLIN.

say

SAMUEL AMUEL KNIPE (cliii. 262, 302, 428). Will your correspondent kindly whether the Knipe family is still extant, and give the name of the member of the family

from whom the Irish branch was descended. The first of the family in Ireland appears to have been George Knipe, Ensign Cavan Militia, commission dated 1719.

John Knipe, of Belturbet, Co. Cavan, was probably the son of the said George. The will of John was proved at P.C. Dublin, A.D. 1788.

The following extracts made by me may be useful:

A.D. 1653 Samuel Knype of Fairbank, Co. Westmoreland, brother to Anthony Knype was seized of certain Lands at Catawicke, Co. Yorks. Samuel Knype the younger was son of Samuel Knype the elder.

Ch. Proc. before 1714 Brydges 395/149. A.D. 1628 Samuel Knipe of Fairbank, Co. tions the marriage solemnised 3 yrs. ago beWestmoreland, Gent and Frances Pudsey mentween Isaac Knipe s. and h. of said Samuel Knipe and Mary Dudley da of Frances Pudsey of Arneforth, Co. York, widow.

Ch. Proc. before 1714 Brydges 615/108. A.D. 1638 Samuel Knipe and Elizabeth his wife formerly wife of Wm. Huddleston who was seized of lands in Co. York and Co. Cumberland.

Wm. Huddleston died A.D. 1628.
Ch. Dep. Eliz.-Car. I.
Extracted from P.R.O.
L/2/17.
E. R. COTTINGHAM,
Lt.-Col.

DE BOLEYN, TEMP. STEPHEN (cliii.
480).-Faramus of Boulogne, alias de
Tingrey, was the subject of a paper by Dr.
Round, in the Genealogist, N.S. xii. p. 145.
The pedigree given shows that he was a son
of William of Boulogne (dead 1130), and
great-grandson of Count Eustace of Bou-
logne and Geoffrey de Mandeville. His
wife's name was Matildis. His daughter and
heiress Sibyl, became lady of the fief of Tin-
grey in the Comté of Boulogne, and was the
ancestress of the English house of Fiennes.
R. S. B.

CANONIZATION OF ENGLISH SAINTS

(cliii. 480).-The most recent saint of is Saint John of Bridlington, who died in English nationality to be formally canonized 1379. He was canonized in 1401. The last canonization of an English saint took place in 1456, when Saint Osmond (who died in 1099) was formally canonized.

HEN

JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.

ENRI BACHELIN: BIBLIOGRAPHY (cliii. 479). Some titles of Henri Bachelin's books are: 'Le Péché de la

Vierge' (roman, 1924); Les Grandes Orgues' (roman, 1925); La Cornemuse de Saulieu 'La (roman, 1925) Maison d'Annike' (roman, 1926); J.-K. Huysmans (étude littéraire, 1926); Le Taureau et les Boeufs (roman, 1927).

Olomouc, Czechoslovakia.

OTTO F. BABLER.

GRAZIA DELEDDA (cliii. 479).

German translations of this writer are: Elias Portolu' (J. Engelhorn, Stuttgart, 1905); Asche,' Uebertragung von E. Berling (S. Fischer, Berlin, 1907); Versuchungen und andere Novellen (Philipp Reclam, Leipzig s. a.); In der Wüste' (Albert Langen, München s. a.).

.

Olomouc, Czechoslovakia.

OTTO F. BABLER.