Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 5.djvu/468

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460


NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. V.JUNE 9, 1900.


well as his whole household, in black " on the death of his son Gaston. On the death of King John of France (1364) "the King of Cyprus was himself much affected and clothed himself in black for his mourning." At the funeral of the Earl of Flanders (1383) "a magnificent dinner was provided, and every knight and squire were gratuitously enter- tained the day and night of the obsequies, and all the black cloth they had worn was given to them." The colour of mourning, and the period for which it is worn, have been referred to on many occasions in * N. & Q.,' but the only articles bearing on the present query will be found 3 rd S. viii. 506 ; ix. 87, 144, 229 ; xii. 357. EVERARD HOME COLEMAN.

DUCHESS OF GORDON (9 th S. v. 336). Some particulars as to this lady will be found in Wood's edition of Douglas's 'Peerage,' s.v. 'Gordon.' Col. Staats Morris was not an American; at all events, he sat in the British Parliament as member for Elgin for ten years, was colonel of the 61st Foot, after- wards a general, and died Governor of Quebec 2 April, 1800. J. B. P.

Cosmo George, Marquess of Huntley, born about 1720, succeeded his father (the second Duke) as third Duke of Gordon, 28 Novem- ber, 1728. He married, 3 September, 1741, Katherine Gordon, daughter of the second Earl of Aberdeen by his second wife, Susan, daughter of the first Duke of Athole. Duke Cosmo (who was the first of the title reared in the Protestant faith) was made K.T. as a reward for his loyalty during the '45. He died in France 5 August, 1752, having had issue : Alexander, afterwards fourth Duke ; William, married to Frances, daughter of the last Viscount Irwin ; George, died in Newgate, 1 November, 1793 (having been imprisoned for a singular libel on the Queen of France) ; Susan, married, first, to the ninth Earl of Westmoreland, secondly, to Col. John Wood- ford ; Anne, married to the Rev. Alexander Chalmers ; and Katherine, married to Thomas Booker, 53rd Regiment. The Duchess, their mother, married, secondly, 25 March, 1756, Staats (or Staates) Long Morris, of New York, bachelor, aged twenty - five, after- wards a general in the army, colonel of the 61st Foot, and M.P. for the Elgin Burghs, 1774-84. She died 10 December, 1779, in London, and was buried in Elgin Cathedral ; will proved February, 1780. Gordon peerage extinct 1836. HERBERT B. CLAYTON.

39, Renfrew Road, Lower Kennington Lane.

RENFRED (9 th S. v. 375). I am glad to hear that this name still exists as a Christian


name. It occurs in Old High German in the form Raganfrid, whence are derived the German surnames Renfert and Renneforth. The name Raganfrid means " the peace of the gods." It belongs to that numerous family of names which contains as the first element the Teutonic ragan, a word of solemn religious import, meaning the gods as the makers and rulers of the universe. See Vigf usson's ' Ice- landic Diet.,' s.v. ' Regin.' Among the Ragan names may be mentioned Rembrandt (the sword of the gods), Renard (the strength, hardness of the gods), Reginald (the power of the gods). A. L. MAYHEW.

Oxford.

Renfry Arundell was Sheriff of Cornwall in 1463, and one of his family, Renfry (or Renfred) Arundell, has lived in our own time at Lif ton, Devon. . DUNHEVED.

A Roger fitz Reinfrid or Reinfrai was living in 1176, and after he had a son called Rainfrai and another who was called Gilbert Fitzreinfred. As this Gilbert married the heiress of Lancaster by direct gift of Richard I., and as his daughter took the barony of Kendal to the De Brus family and thence to De Ros and Parr, the name of Reinfred must have been honoured. T. W.

Aston Clinton.

BYRONIANA (9 fch S. v. 44, 205, 262). 8. Churchill is one of those writers who sometimes use the verb lay instead of lie : But that poor, sickly Science, who had laid, And drooped for years beneath Neglect's cold shade.

' The Candidate.' The day (that never is forgot) Was very fine, but very hot ; The nymph (another general rule), Inflamed with heat, laid down to cool.

'The Ghost.'

A likeness between some lines of Goethe and others of Byron has been remarked. I do not know whether the likeness of the same lines of Goethe to a passage in Thom- son's 'Seasons ' has been ever noticed : Bear me, Pomona ! to thy citron groves, To where the lemon and the piercing lime With the deep orange, glowing through the green, Their lighter glories blend.

  • Summer.'

Kennst du das Land, wo die Citronen bliilm? Im dunkeln Laub die Gold-Orangen gliihn.

Goethe. E. YARDLEY.

Goethe's song 'Kennst du das Land?' is supposed to be sung by Mignon, and occurs in ' Wilholm Meister,' iii. 1. Except as regards its opening question it bears no resemblance whatever to Byron's ' Know ye the land ? ' either in spirit or language ;