Boni brought up the two remaining battalions of the 1st Regiment, and the enemy was tumbled back into the plain. A third attack with fresh troops immediately followed smiting both regiments simultaneously, only to meet the same fate as the previous ones. While thus the Granatieri di Sardegna maintained their position intact, their comrades of Lombardy were being overwhelmed. Lieutenant-Colonel Boni at once flew to the rescue with his two battalions from the 1st Granatieri di Sardegna and re-established the fight at this point also. Meanwhile a fourth attack by twenty-six fresh Austrian Companies had developed against the six Sardinian battalions left on Monte Torre and Monte Croce, in vain; it was also repulsed. But by now the defenders were completely exhausted. The great heat, the march before the battle and the hard fighting had taken their toll. The stream to the rear of wounded men was beginning to be swelled by stragglers-a sign of incipient demoralisation-when, in the nick of time, the 8th Italian Division arrived and relieved the worn out Brigade. 5,000 Italians had been driven out of action, but on the Austrian side the confusion was worse; Werckbecker's and part of Böck's brigade, 10,000 men in all, were so demoralised as to necessitate their withdrawal to the rear, unfit for further service on that day. The withdrawal of the Sardegna Brigade did not, however, put an end to its share in the battle. While the relief was proceeding, Boni's two battalions, who had gone to the rescue of the Lombards north of Custoza, joined by a party from the 2nd Regiment under Captain Croce, who had been cut off, were smitten by a renewed attack by Scudier and those of Böck's men who were still fit for fighting, and this time the defenders were overborne and Custoza itself lost. This was the state of affairs when General Govone of the 9th Division, the only one of the higher Italian commanders who distinguished himself on that day, arrived to take command of the fight. He saw the importance of regaining Custoza at all costs. Leaving the 8th Divison to hold Monte Croce and Monte Torre, he deployed his own division, the 9th, against Custoza. The village was heavily bombarded and the Division's Bersaglieri regiment sent to reinforce the Grenadiers. Boni's men did not fail to respond; Grenadiers and Bersaglieri rushed to the attack together, Custoza was stormed and the enemy driven back through the village. General Govone promptly followed this success up by supporting the attack with his whole division, with the result that the Grenadiers had the satisfaction of seeing the enemy which had pressed so hard and so long since the morning driven right back to his original position, out of action. By his vigour and the skilful use he made of his troops Govone had given the Italians a great opportunity, had their reinforcements been at hand. Unfortunately at the very moment that the Italian artillery fire from Monte Torre was beginning to flag, owing to the difficulty of bringing up the reserve ammunition up the steep slope, nine fresh Austrian batteries opened fire and a fresh Austrian Corps 25,000 strong debouched on the battlefield north of Custoza. Boni who in virtue of his rank had taken command of the advanced troops, Grenadiers, Bersaglieri and 9th Division men, hurled his men at the advancing Austrians; but the enemy was being continually reinforced and the withdrawal on Custoza was begun. Boni in person with Captain Croce and their remaining Grenadiers covered the move to the rear and were still holding out in the outskirts of the village when the order for the general retreat was given and the second battle of Custoza was lost. The Brigade of Granatieri di Sardegna had lost one and a half times as many men as any other Italian Brigade and the Austrian Brigade of Werckbecker, its chief opponent at the beginning of the battle, had suffered even more heavily. The Great War is too recent to enable us to form an opinion of the conduct of the Brigade during it; and the necessary data are not available. It will suffice therefore to state that 70,000 men passed through its ranks, an eloquent testimony to the heaviness of its losses. Throughout their long history, as a regiment, as isolated companies, as single individuals, as professional soldiers, and as conscripts, as Guards or as Granatieri di Sardegna, both officers and men were equal to all calls made upon them; and no higher tribute can be paid to them than that they worthily upheld the highest traditions of their profession, and have by their conduct earned a place by the side of the best regiments of countries of far greater size than their own F. R. RADICE. CELEBRATION OF THE NINE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE celebrations held in Normandy in honour of the 900th anniversary of the birth of Guillaume le Conquérant, or le Conquéror as the Normans called him, were attended by a certain number of English guests who had been specially invited to take part in the festivities as descendants of William or of his compagnons. Among them were Viscount Scarsdale, Sir Robert Gresley, the Dean of Winchester, Major and Mrs. Talbot Mr. and Mrs. Giffard, Captain Malet, Mr. and Mrs. Ducros, the Mayor of Hastings, Mr. and Mrs. Hopkins, and Dr. Cloudesley Brereton. Several of these have distant "cousins" still living in the Duchy, with whom in a few cases they have remained in touch since the beginning to quote only the Curzons (originally spelt Courson) and the Malets, or Mallets, who go back to the times when the spelling of family names was not so exact a science as to-day. The festivities opened at Caen, the city which, as one of the speakers remarked, was ever the dearest to his heart. The lunch of truly Norman dimensions with an abundance of hors d'oeuvres, is no doubt a survival of the "cold table" still in honour in the fatherland of the Norsemen to-day. In the middle of the repast came another gastronomic peculiarity, the trou normand." It consists of a glass of Normandy brandy and, as its name implies, enables the partaker to find room for a second appetite in order to do justice to the Gargantuan remainder of the repast. After a ceremonial reception at the Town Hall, a visit was paid to the Chamber of Commune housed in the old hôtel d'Escoville, a real bijou of Renaissance architecture. The company was shown over the building by the local antiquary, Professor Prentout, who pointed out how, in spite of its Renaissance origin, it contained a certain number of bas-reliefs with religious subjects that recalled the traditions of the Middle Ages. Thus the rape of Europa found itself cheek by jowl along with scenes from the Apocrypha. Thence the pilgrims passed to the Abbaye des Dames, built by Matilda partly at her own expense to placate the Pope for her unlawful " marriage with William. This beautiful specimen of Norman or, as the French call it, Roman architecture, contains her tomb. It suffered during the wars of the Huguenots in the sixteenth century, but less than did the superb Abbaye des Hommes erected by William for the same reason, to which the company next repaired. Here the bells pealed out as the pilgrims entered, and hardly had the doors closed behind them when turned literally thousands of electric lights were up and the procession walked slowly up the nave to the choir to the subdued After laying a wreath on William's tomb, strains of the English National Anthem. they stood for a moment in silence around the slab which bears the inscription— Invictissimus Gulielmus Conquestor-an empty grave, alas! for it was broken into at the Revolution and the bones scattered, only a single one having been recovered. Next day the company drove through the open plain of Caen, almost devoid of trees and hedgerows but covered with rich crops, to Falaise, the birthplace of the Conqueror, which lies on the edge of the so-called woodland Normandy. This wonderfully picturesque town is perched along a cliff or falaise with intersecting valleys, down which the town that has outgrown its walls now straggles. It is dominated by a castle and a keep, whence the tourists had a superb view right up both the hills that mark the beginnings of the so-called Norman Swit zerland, while in the gorge below, directly under the castle wall, lay the celebrated well of Arlette, where Robert le Diable caught sight of the future mother of William- a well from which, as the company saw for themselves, the inhabitants still draw water to-day. At the High Mass at the parish church, the preacher spoke of William as a man who had " conquered England, humiliated France, and troubled the Pope, yet all three parties had come together that day to do him honour." William was a bastard, but we were not to forget that morganatic-like marriages, or as he put it marriages à la danoise, were not unknown among these Christian descendants of the Vikings. He pointed out William's humour, his sense of justice, and right, as well as the darker side of his character, including the avarice that marked his old age-a péché véniel in Normandy! At the grand reception that followed, the guests were received by Lord Crewe, the British Ambassador, supported by the century, where all the cooking is still done, Minister of the Marine and two ex-prime as in the olden times, before an open fire. In Ministers and the local notables, the Viking the parish Church the visitors inspected the element being represented by attachés froin vast tablet containing a list of the compagthe Norwegian and Danish Legations. At nons put up in the last century by the Archthe lunch the Marquis d'Harcourt, Chair-æological Society of France. Unfortunately, man of the Reception Committee, described the Conquest as a sort of conquête cordiale and recalled the prophetic dream of Arlette of a gigantic tree proceeding from her and covering Normandy and England with its branches. a A splendid pageant, illustrating the return of William to Falaise after the Conquest, followed. Up the richly decorated streets to the town hall gay with flags, Norman, French and English-came cortège of knights, trumpeters, heralds, jongleurs, troubadours, noble ladies, Saxon chiefs, and finally William and Matilda. Among the figurants were descendants not only of the local people but of English families of Norman origin, who had come to take part in the procession. Then followed a Court of Love on mediaeval lines and, later, illuminations. The little town of Falaise, with its 5,000 inhabitants, richly deserved the congratulations of the 30,000 visitors who crowded its streets that day. The guests themselves were quartered with various noble descendants of the Conqueror's "comrades of the great war. Two of their hosts bore the curious name of Oillamson, descended in the female line from Guillaume, but in the male from a Scottish captain of Archers at the French Court in the fifteenth century, whose name was Williamson. Needless to say, the hospitality was truly écossaise. Next day the Dean of Winchester lectured on the ties between William and the old Saxon capital as illustrated by the Rufus Tower at Winchester and the New Forest. Dives was the next objective. Halfway a halt was made at St. Pierre du Dive to see a marvellous covered market built in 1145; its lofty tiled roof still rests on the original beams, and the market is still in use to-day. A visit to the parish Church revealed a life-size crucifix in wood by that incomparable artist, Jean Goujon. Dives was the Aulis of William's expedition, where for more than a month his vast fleet of vessels and transports lay weatherbound. A visit was paid to the picturesque hostel where he stayed, which has been in the hands of the same family since the sixteenth the list is said to be little more reliable than the Roll of Battle Abbey. Next day the crossing of the Seine estuary was negotiated without too much unpleasantness, and the Epigoni arrived at Havre and were received in the National Pavilion which served as a British Hospital during the Great War, when Havre was our principal port for the landing of troops and supplies. The port itself has nothing to do with William, having been built by François I as a protection against England, only speedily to become the principal commercial gateway between the two countries. A visit was also paid to the priory at Graville, built by a Malet of the time of the Conquest, and containing the remains of many of the members of the family. The pilgrimage fitly ended at Rouen, the scene of the Conqueror's death. On their arrival there the delegates were welcomed by speeches, while a massed choir of school children sang Ma Normandie' and other songs. In the evening came a fête and a the Cathedral wonderful illumination of which blazed out through the dark like a vast conflagration. Next day's programme included a pilgrimage to the English cemetery with its 14,000 dead, where a wreath was laid on the stone of remembrance; a choral service at St. Gervain, the priory where the Conqueror breathed his last; a visit to the site of the martyrdom of Jeanne d'Arc; banquet, and a visit to the hunting-lodge of Robert le Diable at the Bois Guillaume. a One effect of the pilgrimage was to inspire and deepen admiration for the Conqueror and his work, for the man who, as it has been said, dragged England by the scruff of the neck into the ambit of Western civilisation, tempering Saxon freedom with the steadying ideas of order and authority, blending the law of custom with the law of contract, and transforming English arts and crafts, and especially English architecture. The prototypes of the English cathedrals, and of English military construction, like the Tower of London and Canterbury Cathedral, were seen by the visitors at Caen, Falaise and, indeed, throughout the Duchy. A DESCENDANT. AND G. H. LAWRENCE, Lieut.-Col. ACCURACY ERROR: PROBABILITIES.-I should be glad of the. opinion of readers of 'N & Q. who have to deal in any way with evidence, or who are engaged in historical research, on the two following points. 1. Good faith and ordinary capacity and memory being pre-supposed, which may be presumed to be the more trustworthy, a witness's account of what he himself said, or a witness's account of what was said to him? 2. In a document which cannot be verified, in which the spelling of a name is of some consequence, and this occurs in two different forms, would there be a fairly safe presumption that the first spelling is the correct one? FONCHY. NELLIE MCNEILL O'FARRELL. Αν WOKEN."This form, which one's teachers were wont to correct one for using, is now not at all uncommon in places of the utmost literary respectability. For example, looking through an old Quarterly Review, I came across mention of the magnificent spectacle of Greek Tragedy in which the same feelings are awoken by the representation of life upon the stage." Mr. H. W. Fowler in Modern English Usage' is silent upon it. Can any reader say whether the S.P.E. has pronounced? and, if so, where ? H. A. R. REAR-ADMIRALS DURELL AND CHARLES HOLMES, 1759 (see 11 S. viii. 28, 188).-Under this heading your correspondent expressed the wish to be put into communication with representatives of the families of the above Admirals for historical purposes. I am desirous of ascertaining whether MR. MCCORD eventually published any work relating to them, and should be greatly obliged if any reader could give me information on the subject. J. ST.M. MACPHAIL. CHRISTIAN NAME SAIBNE.-What is the derivation of this Christian name. Is it a form of Sabina? The following entry occurs in the Burial Register of St. Paul's, Covent Garden, for 1770: the It was here on a certain Sunday, in the year 1801, that a man of the congregation, who had committed a grave and scandalous act, was made to kneel, clad in a white sheet. After a reproofs of his pastor, the Rev. Henry Dennet. public confession of guilt he received This is claimed to be the last occasion on which a canonical penance was imposed in England. Is this claim justified? It would be of interest to know the precise date in 1801 and the penitent's name. EARLY HARMATOPEGOS. EXAMPLES OF CAMOUFLAGE.-Can any one give me early examples of camouflage in war, whether at which were given out as carrying twentysea or on land? The Dutch fireships in 1652, four guns or more, are said, in fact, to have painted to deceive the eye. carried only three or four, the rest being Are there any examples of similar camouflage in the English navy at that date? N. E. A. THE ESSEX RING (See ante p. 38 s.v. 'Memorabilia ').—I have by me a cutting taken from an old number of The Family Herald (date not known) which says that the ring which Elizabeth gave to Essex was a present to her from Mary, Queen of Scots on the occasion of her marriage with Lord Darnley. The ring was accompanied with some verses written by Buchanan. It was afterwards presented to Sir Thomas Warner by James I. In the first year of the reign of Charles I Sir Thomas was appointed Governor of the Colonies in the West Indies. The ring descended as an heirloom in the Warner family, and the latest owner of it, at the time when the paper mentioned was published, was the son of Colonel Edward Warner, occupying the post of Her Majesty's Attorney-General at Trinidad. Can the above be reconciled with the account appearing at the reference? Spennymoor. H. ASKEW. SAMUEL ROGERS, ESSEX POET.– We all know Samuel Rogers, bankerpoet, but is anything known of Samuel Rogers, tradesman-poet? He was the author of The Village Bells and other Poems (London, Printed for the Author, by C. Potter, Warwick Place, Kingsland. Second edition, 1853). He states in his Introduction that his "collection of rhymes are the production of an humble tradesman. That he was of Essex is proved by the 'Lines on an Oak which I planted in Essex,' and by several other verses on that county, including those To Miss King, who requested, or rather hinted me to scribble a Line on the Merits of the Concert performed at Walthamstow, her place of residence.' Miss King, who was probably a lady of some importance in the neighbourhood, had engaged for the occasion Signor Lablache, with his strange grimaces,' "Hobbes (who) sang 'Old England,' in a. manly frame," and Amusive Parry.' Rogers also mentions that as younger man, he walked ten miles " 'to hear the vet'ran Braham." His poems show that he was an enthusiastic amateur-musician and a sympathetic believer in women's political rights. That he had his business worries is shown in the poem 'An Oppression; the principal perpetrators being Messrs. R.-Ks., Wholesale Cheesemongers.' There is no allusion in the volume to the wealthier Samuel Rogers, who died on Dec. 18, 1855, about two years after the publication of the second edition of the humbler tradesman's collection of poems. Is the tradesman-poet mentioned in any of the letters of the banker-poet? ANDREW DE TERNANT. 36, Somerleyton Road, Brixton, S.W. WRIGHT AND BROMLEY.-On the stretcher of a portrait of Sir John Huband, 2nd Bt., in the possession of a descendant, it is recorded "This portrait of his ancestor given to Sir James Wright, Bt., by his kinsman-Bromley.' I shall be obliged for assistanec in tracing the relationship between the Wright and Bromley families. RUPERT. "BLACK DEATH": ORIGIN OF THE NAME.-Who first called the plague of 1349 by this name? Has any contemporary a special name of the sort for it? Why has the name been restricted to the plague of that year, or at any rate of that century? Am I right in thinking that the Black Death was bubonic plague? E. R. WHOLE DUTY OF MAN': WELSH printed 1672 is a rendering of this work into Welsh by J. Langford. On the title-page are armorials of the four Welsh dioceses. VERSION.---An 8vo. volume calf Is anything known and communicable about the translator? ANEURIN WILLIAMS. |