236
NOTES AND QUERIES. en s. XL MA*. 20, 1915.
DE LA CROZE, HISTORIAN, &c. (US. xi. 130,
175, 215). In the ' Biographie Universelle,'
vol. xxiii., 1819, he appears as Mathurin
Veyssiere de Lacroze. Under Croze one is
directed to Lacroze.
He was born at Nantes, 4 Dec., 1661. His father, who had made a considerable fortune in commerce, neglected nothing for his edu- c tion. Mathurin was able to speak and write Latin correctly at an age when other children do not know the first rules. How- ever, he gave up study and embarked for Guadeloupe when only 14 years old. There, more by associating with foreigners than by books, he learnt English, Spanish, and Portuguese. He returned to Nantes in 1677. His father having lost his money, he determined to forsake commerce and study medicine. Not liking that pursuit, and wishing for a retreat where he could satisfy his passion for knowledge, he took the habit of St. Benedict in the congregation of St. Maur in 1682. He found that his nature was too independent for such a place. He contended with his superiors, and escaped imprisonment only by flight. He crossed France in disguise, and arrived at Basle in 1696, where he matriculated at the University under the name of Lejeune. At the end of a few months he made public profession of the reformed faith. Having gone to Berlin, where he gave lessons in French, he was in 1697 made librarian of the King of Prussia, with very moderate emoluments. He took charge of the education of the Margrave of Schwedt, This tutorship ended in 1714. He was then so poor that he appealed to Leibnitz, who got him nominated to a chair in the academy of Helmstadt ; but he could not take possession of it as he refused to sign the profession of the Lutheran faith. Having won some money in a Dutch lottery, he was a little more comfortable, and was soon afterwards recalled to Berlin to super- intend the education of the Princess Royal of Prussia, who afterwards married the Margrave of Baireuth. Here he would have been at ease, but bad health and the loss of his wife poisoned the rest of his life.
His friend Pere Pez tried to reconcile him IS AI L e - Chlirch ^ring him, on the part of the Abbe de Gottwic, the position of Keeper of the celebrated library of the abbey; but ne tailed. Lacroze, after some years of
died a
c The ' Biographie ' refers its readers to the
JNouveau Dictionnaire Historique,' &c., par
J. G. de Chaufepie, 1750-56. In that die
tionary (,i. 173 of Letter C) is an interesting
biography of Mathurin Veyssiere la Croze,
accompanied by notes, extracts from letters,.
&c. From it I take a few items.
In the presence of suffering he had not the sang-froid required by a physician. He- made his novitiate for the congregation of St. Maur at Saumur under Dom Michel Piette. He left that congregation in Feb- ruary, 1696. He left Basle in September ,. 1696. On 21 Nov., 1702, he married Mile. Elizabeth Hose of the Dauphine, who died 1731. After much suffering he died 21 May r 1739, of gangrene in the leg, aged, according to De Chaufepie, 77 years, 5 months, and 17 days. A quarter of an hour before his death he bade his servant read to him Psalms li. and Ixxvii. Then he died quietly. He used always to have on his table the Psalms in Hebrew, the New Testament in Greek, and Thomas a Kempis in Latin. He knew almost all of this last by heart, a* well as the Psalms of Buchanan.
I have not thought it necessary to give even part of a list of his writings. De Chaufepie refers to Jordan, ' Histoire de la Vie et des Ouvrages de Mr. la Croze.'
ROBERT PIERPOESTT.
HAMMERSMITH (11 S. xi. 128, 194). I thank M. for his reference to Bowack ; but Bow r ack must be wrong when he says that the place was mentioned in Domesday as Hermoderwode, and in an ancient deed of the Exchequer as Hermoder worth. If M. cares to consult ' A Literal Extension of the Latin Text and an English Translation of Domesday Book in relation to the County of Middlesex' (1862), I think he will con- vince himself that Hermodesworde is repre- sented by the modern Harmondsworth. The tenant -in-chief was the Abbot of the Holy Trinity at Rouen. On pp. 16 and 17 of this publication the original Latin of Domesday and a translation are given side by side. Perhaps I ought to have mentioned this in my query ; I had already seen Bowack and looked up the facts. PHILIP NORMAN.
RETROSPECTIVE HERALDRY (US. xi. 28, 77, 155). It is no uncommon phenomenon for various persons to note an occurrence, and to receive opposite impressions from it. With due appreciation, therefore, I complete the line from Terence, quoted by MR. UDAL,, by adding " suus cuique mos."
The reasoning I submit is as follows. Let us take the case of three brothers, John, Thomas, and William Smith, applying for a patent of arms to be granted to them, and their heirs for ever. There is clearly
