I trust I may now have shown reasonable grounds for the belief that Ben Jonson may, after all, have had better authority than his license as a dramatic poet, for dating the attainment of majority at six o'clock A.M.; and that nothing short of contemporary evidence directly contradictory of the custom so circumstantially alluded to by him, ought to be held sufficient to throw discredit upon it. It is one of the singular coincidences attending the discussion of this matter by Gellius, that, at the conclusion of the chapter I have been expatiating upon, he should cite the authority of Virgil; observing that the testimony of poets is very valuable upon such subjects, even when veiled in the obscurity of poetic imagery.
A. E. B.
Leeds.
LORD HALIFAX AND MRS. CATHERINE BARTON.
(Vol. viii., p 429.)
Your Correspondent Prof. De Morgan has so ingeniously analysed the facts, which he already possesses, bearing on the connexion of Sir Isaac Newton's niece with Lord Halifax, and her designation in the Biographia Britannica, that I am tempted to furnish him with some additional evidence. This question of Mrs. Catherine Barton's widowhood has often been canvassed by that portion of her relatives who do not possess the custody of Sir Isaac Newton's private letters.
The Montagues had a residence in the village of Bregstock in Northamptonshire, where the Bartons lived. The Bartons were a family of good descent, and had long been lessees of the crown with the Montagues for lands near Braystock.
There were several Colonel Bartons, whose respective ages and relationship can best be
exhibited by a short pedigree. Thomas Barton had two sons, Thomas and Robert.