Ham.

Lady Percy, Wife of Hotspur (Daughter of Edmumd Mortimer, Earl of March) (Vol. viii., p. 104.).—On reference to the volume and page of Miss Strickland's Lives of the Queens of England, cited by your correspondent G., I find that not only does this lady, by her sweeping assertion, bastardise the second E. of Northumberland, but, in her zeal to outsay all that "ancient heralds" ever can have said, she annihilates, or at least reduces to a myth, the mother of Thomas, eighth Lord Clifford. This infelicitous statement may have been corrected in the second edition of the Lives, for in "N. & Q.," Vol. vii., p. 42., there is a detailed pedigree tracing the descent of Jane Seymour through Margaret Wentworth, her mother, by an intermarriage with a Wentworth, and a granddaughter of Hotspur, Lord Percy, (not daughter, as Miss Strickland writes) from the blood-royal of England. My object, however, in writing this is not farther to point attention to Miss Strickland's mistake, but to invite discussion to the point where this pedigree may be possibly faulty. I will not say "all ancient heralds," but some heralds, at least, of acknowledged reputation, viz. Nicolas, Collins, and Dugdale[[6]], have stated that the wife of Sir Philip Wentworth was a daughter of Roger fifth Lord Clifford. If this be so, in truth there is an end at once of the Seymour's claim to royal lineage; for it is an undoubted fact that it was the grandson of Roger fifth Lord, namely, John, seventh Lord Clifford, K.G., who married Hotspur's only daughter.

C. V.

Footnote 6:[(return)]

Nicolas, Scrope and Grosvenor Roll, ii. 471.; Collins, Peerage, 5th ed., vi. 358.; Dugdale, Baronage, i. 341.

"Up, guards, and at them!" (Vol. v., p. 426.; Vol. viii., p. 111.).—Some years ago, about the time that the Wellington statue on the arch at Hyde Park Corner was erected, I was dining at a table where Wyatt the artist was present. The conversation turned much upon the statue, and the exact period at which the great Duke is represented. Wyatt said that he was represented at that moment when he is supposed to have used the words: "Up, guards, and at them!" It having been questioned whether he ever uttered the words, I asked the artist whether, when he was taking the Duke's portrait, the Duke himself acknowledged using them? To which he replied, that the Duke said that he did not recollect having uttered those words and, in fact, that he could not say what expression he did use on that occasion. The company at dinner seemed much satisfied with Wyatt's authority on this point.

J. D. Gardner.

Pennycomequick (Vol. viii., p. 113.).—A similar story to that related by your correspondent Mr. Hele is told of Falmouth. Previously to its being incorporated as a town by Charles II., it was called Smithick, from a smith's shop, near a creek, which extended up the valley. The old Cornish word ick signifies a "creek;" and as it became a village it was called "Pennycomequick," which your correspondent H. C. K. clearly explains. The Welsh and Cornish languages are in close affinity. The name "Pennycomequick" is evidently a corrupted old Cornish name: see Pryce's Archæologia Cornu-Britannica, v. "Pen," "Coomb," and "Ick," the head of the narrow valley, defile or creek. It has been thought by some to mean "the head of the cuckoo's valley;" and your correspondent's Welsh derivation seems to countenance such a translation. The cuckoo is known in Scotland, Wales, and Cornwall as "the Gawk Gwich." Mr. Hele, perhaps, will be amused at the traditional story of the Falmouthians respecting the origin of Pennycomequick. Before the year 1600, there were few houses on the site of the present town: a woman, who had been a servant with an ancestor of the late honourable member for West Cornwall, Mr. Pindarves, came to reside there, and that gentleman directed her to brew some good ale, as he should occasionally visit the place with his friends. On one of his visits he was disappointed, and expressed himself angry at not finding any ale. It appeared on explanation that a Dutch vessel came into the harbour the preceding day, and the Dutchmen drained her supply; she said the Penny come so quick, she could not refuse to sell it.

James Cornish.

Falmouth.