Voltaire's "Henriade."—I have somewhere seen an admirable translation of this poem into English verse. Perhaps you can inform me of the author's name. The work seems to be scarce, as I recollect having seen it but once: it was published, I think, about thirty years ago. (See antè, p. 330.)
The house in which Voltaire was born, at Chatnaye, about ten miles from Paris, is now the property of the Comtesse de Boigne, widow of the General de Boigne, and daughter of the Marquis d'Osmond, who was ambassador here during the reign of Louis XVIII. The mother of the poet being on a visit with the then proprietor (whose name I cannot recollect), was unexpectedly confined. There is a street in the village called the Rue Voltaire. The Comtesse de Boigne is my
authority for the fact of the poet's birth having taken place in her house.
A. J. M.
Alfred Club.
Queries.
THE BLAKE FAMILY.
The renowned Admiral Blake, a native of Bridgewater, and possessed of property in the neighbourhood, left behind him a numerous family of brothers, sisters, nephews, and nieces, settled in the county of Somerset; to wit, his brothers Humphrey, William, George, Nicholas, Benjamin, and Alexander all survived him, as did also his sisters, Mrs. Bowdich, of Chard, and Mrs. Smith, of Cheapside, in London. His brother Samuel, killed in an early part of the Civil War, left two sons, Robert and Samuel, both of them honourably remembered in the will of their great uncle. Can any of your readers, acquainted with Somerset genealogies, give me any information which may enable me to make out the descent of the present families of Blake, in that county, from this stock?
There are at least two Blake houses now in existence, who are probably of the blood of the illustrious admiral; the Blakes of Bishop's Hall, near Taunton, of which William Blake, Esq., a magistrate for the county, is the head; and the Blakes of Venue House, Upton, near Wiveliscombe, the representative of which is Silas Wood Blake, son of Dr. William Blake, a bencher of the Inner Temple. These families possess many relics of the admiral—family papers, cabinets, portrait, and even estates; and that they are of his blood there are other reasons for believing; but, so far as I know, the line is not clearly traced back. In a funeral sermon spoken on the death of the grandfather of the present William Blake, Esq., of Bishop's Hall, I find it stated that—