148
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. x. AUG. 23, 1902.
4 May, 1821, mentioned by Townsend in his
preface (pp. vi-vii) ? GEORGE C. PEACHEY.
COURT DRESS OR SEMI-COURT DRESS. With reference to the reply about the Wind- sor uniform (9 th S. ix. 292), I should like to know what is meant by Court dress for gentlemen, and its difference from ordinary evening dress, as well as the difference between Court dress and semi-Court dress. Is any one who has received a royal command to a dinner or ball at Windsor or Buckingham Palace with the mention on the card " Court dress" or the like allowed to appear in ordinary evening dress ? E. A.
Stockholm.
[Court dress was changed in the mid- Victorian period from an eighteenth-century to a modern uniform, different for " full dress " and " Levee dress." " Full dress " is worn for balls and State concerts, with knee breeches, and white silk stockings (black for clergy and lawyers) ; also, now, for "Courts." Royal dinner parties, unless "full dress" or "Levee dress" were specified, have hitherto required "frock dress," the nature of which was explained at 9 th S. ix. 292, and, as there stated, it is rumoured that a new Buckingham Palace dinner dress is to be adopted.]
GORDONS OF ROCHESTER. Can anybody tell me the origin of this family 1 George Gordon was Mayor of Rochester in 1 740 and died in 1760. I believe the family is still represented. J. M. BULLOCH.
SHETLAND SONG. The following quota- tion has come into my hands without a reference. Can any reader of ' N. <fe Q.' supply it ?
SHETLAND NEW'R EVEN'S SONG. Gude new'r even, gude new'r night,
St. Mary's men are we ; We 've come here to crave our right Before our Leddie.
Versions of it given by Gorrie and Chambers are known to me already. N. W. THOMAS.
SCOTTISH COLLEGE. I should be much obliged if any correspondent would inform me if there is, or ever was, in Rome a Scottish College, founded by Pope Clement VIII. (Aldo- brandini), and if that college used a book- plate with a figure of St. Andrew in an oval, &c., with the Pope's arms, and the motto " Clemen ti sidere rovit."
JULIAN MARSHALL.
[Clement founded the Scotch College in 1600.]
CHARLES DOYLE was at Westminster School in 1792, and is described in the list of Minor Candidates for that year as the son of William Doyle, of Dublin. 1 should be glad to obtain further particulars of him. G. F. 11. B.
LACY OR DE LACY FAMILY. The castle of
Segewold on the Aa, in Livland (Russia), was
given by the Empress Anna, in the year 1737,
to General Field-Marshal Count Lacy, since
which time the property has been in the hands
of the families of Lacy, Browne, and Borch.
The present owner is Prince Krapotkin. Is
this Lacy one of the same family as the De
Lacies who were formerly powerful in Lan-
cashire ? If so, I should be grateful for in-
formation as to the date of first settlement
in Russia. FRED. G. ACKERLEY.
British Vice-Consulate, Libau, Russia.
FEES FOR SEARCHING PARISH REGISTERS.
I should be glad to know whether a clergy- man's legal search fees (one shilling for the first year and sixpence for each succeeding year) cover all three registers baptisms, marriages, and burials or whether he is entitled to charge separately on this basis for each register searched. Most clergymen assume, I believe, that the latter is the case, but Mr. Walter Rye (who ought to know) dis- tinctly states the contraiy. Can any reader of 'N. A Q.' settle the matter authoritatively by giving a reference to the Act of Parliament by which these fees were fixed giving, if possible, the words of the Act 1 I should also like to know whether, if one sends a clergy- man his legal fee for a search extending over a definite period, one is entitled to demand that the search be made and the results sent, or whether the making of the search is simply an act of grace on the part of the clergyman, who may, if he likes, return the fee and decline to make the search. Again, does the search fee include (uncertified) copies of entries found ; or can the clergyman say, " have searched the registers for the period asked for, and have found three entries," declining to give particulars unless legal fees for certified copies are sent 1 ? The whole matter is looked upon in such different ways by different people that an authoritative statement on the subject would, I am sure, be of great interest to many besides myself. BERNARD P. SCATTERGOOD. Moorside, Far Headingley, Leeds.
[See l Kt S. iv., v., vii. ; 4 th S. iii.]
ESQUIRES. "Barristers rank as esquires." This phrase occurs in a learned article in the 'Ency. Brit.' What are the status, dignity, and property qualification in law and in social usage to-day 1 The matter is not so clearly defined as is desirable. The nice practice of tacking " Esq." to the names of one's butcher or tailor has not improved matters in regard to fixity or certitude of definition. What is the legal basis for the nebulous title 1 When
