The filthy espièglerie related by that very suspicious authority St. Simon, of the Duchess of Burgundy, already sufficiently incredible, is rendered impossible in J. R.'s version of "administered to herself." St. Simon supposes no such legerdemain.
The Groom of the Stole is the first lord of the King's bed-chamber; under a Queen the equivalent office and title is Mistress of the Robes.
C.
Grinning like a Cheshire Cat (Vol. ii., pp. 377, 412.).
—In one of your early Numbers I have seen some Queries respecting the phrase "Grinning like a Cheshire Cat." I remember to have heard many years ago, that it owes its origin to the unhappy attempts of a sign painter of that county to represent a lion rampant, which was the crest of an influential family, on the sign-boards of many of the inns. The resemblance of these lions to cats caused them to be generally called by the more ignoble name. A similar case is to be found in the village of Charlton, between Pewsey and Devizes, Wiltshire. A public-house by the roadside is commonly known by the name of The Cat at Charlton. The sign of the house was originally a lion or tiger, or some such animal, the crest of the family of, I believe, Sir Edward Poore.
H.
Mallet's Death and Burial (Vol. v., p. 319.).
—I am now able to answer a Query which I lately sent to you. David Mallet died in George Street, Hanover Square, and was buried in the burial-ground of Grosvenor Chapel, South Audley Street.
Can any of your readers tell me when and where Mrs. Mallet, his widow, died? Who was T. C., the writer of a letter in the Gentlemen's Magazine, vol. lxii. pt. 1. p. 100.
F.