and Wednesday, 25 July, 1883; all three are marked "specimen copy." Was there any earlier specimen copy than that of 11 July; and when and why did this newspaper venture terminate?

T. N.

GIBBET HILL is the name of an eminence over looking the village of Groton, Massachusetts, which has been so called from the earliest history of the town. The tradition is that once an Indian was gibbeted on its summit; but this is known now to be false. I have a notion that the name was brought from home by the original settlers, and given to the hill, perhaps from its resemblance to some other hill in the old country. I wish to ask if this is a name ever or often applied to hills in England. S. A. G.

WORDS AND TUNES OF SONGS WANTED.-Can any reader tell me where I can obtain the words and tunes of the old song 'Sweet Richard '; of the Dalecarlian march beginning "Brave of heart and warriors bold"; and the tune of Oliver Cromwell's advice, "Keep your powder dry"? SONGSTER.

THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR.—I should be glad to know if there is any record at all of women being on board any of Nelson's ships at the battle of Trafalgar, as painted in the well-known picture by Daniel Maclise, R. A.

R. N.

Fooles be they that inveigh 'gainst Mahomet,
Who's but a morral of love's monarchie.

H. Const., Decad.,' iv., sonn, iv. Can any earlier quotations than this be given for such usage? Smollett uses the expression in 'The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle,' c. xiii., sub init.: "What! won't you turn out and hail little Perry? It will do your heart good to see such a handsome young dog: I'm sure he is the very moral of you, and as like as if he had been spit out of your mouth, as the saying is."

So remarks Hatchway to Mrs. Trunnion. Dickens also has it in Martin Chuzzlewit,' c. ix.:—

"It makes me happy too,' said Ruth Pinch, who, now that her first surprise was over, had a chatty, cheerful way with her, and a single-hearted desire to look upon the best side of everything, which was the very moral and image of Tom."

I do not desire quotations for the use of the expression, but, if possible, to ascertain when it originated, and how. F. C. BIRKBECK TERRY.

WILLIAM MICHELL OR MITCHELL.-He married a daughter of John Cromwell, of Notts, and sister of Walter, of Putney. His daughter Elizabeth married, first, Barré, and secondly, Ralph Sadleir,

1500-1587. Any clue to his wife's Christian name will oblige. A. C. H.

THE DUKES OF AQUITAINE. As Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, D.D., in his 'Historical Memorials of Westminster Abbey,' pp. 103-5, third edition, 1869, quotes Horace Walpole's amusing account of "The coronation of George III.,” that "the English representatives of the Dukes and in connexion with the great ceremony states last time, and with them the last relics of our of Aquitaine and Normandy appeared for the dominion over France vanished," I shall be much obliged by information respecting the persons whom the Dean of Westminster referred as the present in the Abbey on September 22, 1761, to descendants of the Dukes of Aquitaine.

Clapham, S.W.

HENRY GERALD HOPE.

to the pedigree giving the (about) fourteen generaTHE O'DUGAN.-Can any one give or refer me tions between the last of the O'Dugan stem (published in O'Hart's 'Irish Pedigrees') and John O'Dugan, died 1372, who is mentioned in 'Dict. Nat. Biog.' as Ollamh to O'Kelly? I also desire to obtain pedigrees of his descendants, information regarding the "sept" of Dugan, and family arms. SÉAN MOR.

Manchester.

Ex-M.P.s: DATE OF DEATH WANTED.-Can

any reader of N. & Q.' give me the date of death or place of burial of any of the following ex-M.P.s? Are any of them still living? C. St. John Fancourt (Barnstaple, 1832-7), Č. Rippon (Gateshead, 1832-41), James Stewart (Honiton, 1837-41), F. Villiers (Canterbury, 1835, Sudbury, 1841-2), J. A. Hodson (Wigan, 1820-31), F. Rufford (Worcester, 1847-52), J. Richards (Knaresborough, 1832-7), J. Ellis (Newry, 1837-41), E. Ruthven (Kildare, 1832-7), J. H. Rorke (Longford, 1832-3), C. Waddy (Wexford County, 1834-5), H. Bridgman (Ennis, 1835-47), E. Jacob (Dungarvan, 1834-5), C. C. M‘Tavish (Dundalk, 1847–8).

Preston.

ALFRED B. BEAVEN, M. A.

Beylies.

GRETNA GREEN MARRIAGES.

(8th S. ix. 61, 149.)

I am much surprised to find a writer who is usually so accurate as MR. G. C. BOASE stating: "Whether such a marriage [a Gretna Green marriage] would have been held legal in England had a case of disputed possession come before the courts was, I believe, never settled." So far from this being correct, I think nothing is more certain than that such marriages have been held legal in many cases where the succession to English estates was dependent upon them. I give the following as an example.

A quarter of a century since the late Mr. Justice Willes and a jury tried at Carlisle Assizes a case of disputed possession which turned entirely upon the question whether or not there had been a wedding at Gretna Green. As some of the parties are still living, it may be proper to conceal the identity of the litigants under fictitious initials. In 1812 a Cumberland lady died, having by will devised to her grandson, A. B., "and the heirs of his body lawfully issuing," certain property in a parish a few miles to the southward of Carlisle, and therefore in England. A. B., who was described by one of the learned counsel engaged in the case as a rustic Don Juan," became acquainted about the year 1822 with G. H., the daughter of a labourer residing in the neighbourhood. Her relatives were very angry when they found that she was about to become a mother, and to pacify them, it was alleged by one of the parties to the litigation, he pretended that he bad married the girl at Gretna Green. After that he dived with her, and she bore him three daughters and a son, J. B., born in 1832. In 1835-three years after the birth of that son-A. B. and G. H. were married by banns at St. Mary's Church, Carlisle, and in the summer of that year another son, T. B., was born. By-and-by the father died, and then a litigation arose between his two sons as to who was entitled to succeed to the property devised by the lady who died in 1812. This was the question which came before Mr. Justice Willes at Carlisle Assizes. T. B., the son who was born in 1835, after the marriage at St. Mary's, Carlisle, sought to oust J. B., the son who was born three years before that marriage. The whole litigation really turned upon the question whether, prior to the birth of J. B., his father and mother were married at Gretna Green. In support of his case a document was produced, signed "William Creighton," testifying that A. B. and G. H. had acknowledged themselves to be man and wife at Gretna Green on 8 January, 1823; and evidence was given that this document had been found among the papers of the father of the litigants.

On the other hand, it was testified by the witnesses for T. B. that A. B. had always said that son would be heir to the property. The explanation of the fact which was offered by Mr. Quain, the counsel for J. B., was that there was a popular but erroneous notion that, "although a Gretna Green marriage was good for some purposes, it did not enable the issue of such marriage to inherit property." Neither of the eminent counsel for the plaintiff (Sir John Holker and Mr. Herschell) suggested that there was any foundation for this in law. They simply sought to show that it was improbable there was any marriage at Gretna Green. In the end the jury found for the defendant, that is, for the son born before the marriage in St. Mary's, Carlisle-a verdict of which the judge expressed his entire approval.

I observe (p. 149) that your correspondent G. I. says he does not think that Messrs. Wright & Brown, solicitors, Carlisle, have got the marriage I saw registers of Mr. Murray. He is in error. There are them in their office the other day. many volumes, containing thousands of entries. Some of these are of great interest. Amongst them I may mention that there i the record of the marriage of a Lord Chief Baron of England (Sir Fitzroy Kelly). That marriage took place in September, 1856, a few months before the Act came into force which practically abolished such marriages, so far as residents in England were concerned. ZETA.

Carlisle.

Interviewing is not quite so modern as some people imagine. Pasley was interviewed early in the present century, for the purpose of working up a biographical sketch, and the details, so far as they differ from any I have seen published, may be of interest. First, I remark that MR. BOASE's note agrees almost verbatim with an article in the Illustrated News, 1856. The spelling of the name there used is adopted, though in the same periodical cates with his name correctly signed; his wretched there is a copy of one of Pasley's marriage certifiof Elliot's certificate given by MR. A. C. JONAS handwriting is commented on. As the specimen (see N. & Q.', 7th S. ix. 186) is a facsimile of Pasley's, it need not be reproduced. The following 1806,' and are the results of an interview, and therefore, I should imagine, authentic :—

extracts are from a volume Public Characters of

"Joseph Pasley was born in the parish of Kirkandrews upon Esk, in the county of Cumberland, in the year 1732. His father was a Dissenting clergyman, and he himself, when young, was bound apprentice to a tobacconist, but left that business as soon as he possibly could. He then earned his livelihood as a fisherman, in which capacity he was distinguished by his great dexterity as well as by the extraordinary fatigues to which he submitted......He states that he entered upon his present, a far less fatiguing vocation, near half a century since. The profession did not exist, or at least was not

very necessary, and perhaps not very lucrative, before the passing of the statute commonly called Lord Hardwicke's Act, containing the existing English law upon marriage, which was about fifty years ago. Joseph Pasley has, therefore, been first a tobacconist, then a fisherman, and now he officiates in one of the essential characters at least of a clergyman, but never was a blacksmith, according to vulgar and unauthorized report. When he had assumed the office of marrying such as applied to him for that purpose, he was styled the 'Gretna Priest'; after a rival had started up he was, and still is, denominated the 'Gretna High Priest."". Pp. 138, 139.

If his occupation was marrying, his glory was brandy drinking. His conversation seldom turned on religious subjects; in fact, he was too bibulous

to be Biblical :

"His exploits as a drinker of brandy have been, as might be expected from a man of such singular opinions, extraordinary in the extreme. He is accustomed to relate, in the presence of concurring witnesses, that he has swallowed a pint of it at one draught. He dwells with complacency on a celebrated achievement, of which he shared the glory with a great brother-drinker: they consumed, without any assistance whatsoever, no less than ten gallons of liquor in three days......notwithstanding he has arrived at the advanced age of seventy-two and still retains health and strength. Indeed, so suitable and congenial does this strong drink appear to his nature, that he never looks more dignified or venerable than when sitting in his chair after an indulgence that disables him from leaving it."-Pp. 140, 141.

He was shrewd enough as to remuneration. He first learnt from the postboy, by secret signs, the station and circumstances of his clients; then having extracted the utmost penny from the gentleman, he beckoned the lady aside, and by cajolery or threat generally managed to pocket a further tribute from her. "Mr. Pasley has been known to make one hundred pounds in a week, and he seldom earns less than from five to six hundred pounds a year." Clandestine marriage needed but little ceremonial; the law required that the pair should acknowledge themselves man and wife in the presence of two witnesses. Pasley, for his own ends, introduced new regulations; he borrowed some of the formula of the Church of England service, and he held it absolutely necessary that the ceremony should take place in a bedroom, and that the marriage should be consummated in his presence, otherwise he would not grant a certifi

cate:

"Marriage,' says a Scotch lawyer, 'is perfected by sole consent, for carnal knowledge is only the consummation.' But the Gretna High Priest does not understand this subtle distinction, and he will not furnish a certificate until he has seen the parties in a situation which must be shocking to the delicacy of a well-bred female. Of this certificate he preserves a duplicate, which is regularly deposited in a brown jug. Some years ago, in a momentary gust of passion, he emptied the contents of this precious utensil into the fire; and therefore, as far as he is concerned, authentic proofs of the modern Gretna marriages alone are preserved."-P. 146.

As to Pasley's personal appearance and opinions:

"He spent a week in London, where he had lodgings in Friday Street, Cheapside. His observations in the great city, though novel, do not seem to have been extensive. When asked by the compiler of this narrative what he thought most remarkable in the metropolis, he answered, That there were no tombstones in the churchyards.' The figure of Mr. Pasley is striking and respectable; on the other hand, his manners and conversation are such as might be supposed to belong to so great a lover of brandy! He has been married fifty-five years, and has five sons and one daughter.”—P. 151.

It seems a pity this Falstaffian priest was denied a niche in Britain's national biography. He is scarcely respectable, it is true; his crapulous habits, perhaps bar him; still the very oddity of hie his gross procedure, his utter non-intellectuality, hymeneal operations calls for notice, and he is just one of those grotesque types of character without which both literature and life would be the poorer. W. A. HENDERSON.

Dublin.

Gretna had no monopoly of the marrying trade; it had serious rivals in Coldstream and Lamberton. Coldstream became a popular resort for runaway couples after the bridge across the Tweed was built in 1756; and here it is generally said that John Scott, afterwards Lord Eldon, was married to Bessie Surtees. A writer in the New Review, however, states that in 1772 Lord Eldon was married not at Coldstream, but at Blackshiels in East Lothian; and that although the Rev. Mr. Buchanan, of the Haddington Episcopal Church, officiated, the marriage was irregular. Here, then, was an irregular marriage of a runaway couple solemnized by a regular or qualified clergyman.

At Lamberton, again, and not at Gretna, it would appear that Gordon used to officiate in regimentals, wearing a great cocked hat and a sword. At this place, too, for many years, till about 1843, Beattie was the leading "priest." In 1885 (if not later) there was to be seen in Lamberton a sign bearing the words, "The House for the Border Marriages"; and in the same year the last priest of Lamberton, Andrew Lyon, died of injuries received from a fall in the streets of Berwick.

Edinburgh,

R. D. M.

D'OILLIAMSON (WILLIAMSON) (8th S. ix. 287). -In 'The Scots Men-at-Arms and Life-Guards in France,' by William Forbes-Leith, S.J. (Edinburgb, William Paterson, 1882), vol. ii. p. 226, "Notes and Illustrations: X. A List of some of the Estates possessed by the Scots Guards in France," the following occurs :

du Bourg, Ouilly-le-Basset (Normandy), Lonlay, St. "Williamson, d'Oillamson, Seigneuries du Tremblé et Germain, Posle, &c. The Williamsons or d'Oillençons, with many territorial branches, clustered round les terres de Saint Germain, Lonlai-le-Tresson, La Nocherie,' &c., and preserved their highly characteristic native motto, Venture and Win.'-La Chesnaye, vol. xi. p. 138,”