Tennyson's Lord of Burleigh (Vol. iii., p. 493.).
—The poem of "The Lord of Burleigh" is founded upon a supposed romance connected with the marriage of the late Marquis of Exeter with his second wife, Miss Hoggins. This marriage has also formed the groundwork of a play entitled The Lord of Burghley, published by Churton in 1845. The story of the courtship and marriage perpetuated by this poem, may be found in the Illustrated London News of the 16th November,1844, having been copied into that paper from the Guide to Burghley House, pp. 36., published by Drakard in 1812.
A very slight tinge of romance attends the real facts of this union, which took place when the late Marquis was Mr. Henry Cecil. The lady was not of so lowly an origin as the fiction relates. Mr. Cecil did not become the Lord of Burghley until the death of his uncle, the 9th Earl of Exeter, two years after this marriage, up to which time he resided at Bolas, Salop, the residence of his wife before her marriage, and there the two eldest of their four children were born. The Countess of Exeter died greatly beloved and respected at the early age of twenty-four, having been married nearly seven years.
J. P. JUN.
Bicêtre (Vol. iii., p. 518.)
—It was certainly anciently called Vincestre. It is so in Monstrelêt, whose history begins about 1400. One of the treaties between the Burgundians and Orleanists was made there. President Hénault says (under Charles VI.) that this castle belonged to John, Bishop of Winchester. If he is right in the Christian name, he must mean had belonged, not appartenoit, for the John Bishops that I find in Britton's list are:
| Elected. | Died. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| John of Oxon | 1261 | 1267 | |
| John de Pontessara | 1282 | 1304 | |
| John de Sandale | 1316 | 1319 | |
| John de Stratford | 1323 | 1333 |
C. B.
On a Passage in Dryden (Vol. iii., p. 492.).
—MR. BREEN appears to me decidedly wrong in the view he takes of the passage he quotes from Dryden. In the first place, he commits the mistake of assuming that Dryden is expressing his own opinion, or speaking in his own person. The fact is, however, that the speaker is Torresmond. Torresmond is "mad" enough to love the queen; he has already spoken of the "madness of his high attempt," he says he raves; and when the queen offers to give him counsel for his cure, he says he wishes not be cured: