ing to the family."--_Peveril of the Peak_, vol. ii. p. 174.

J. M.

Oxford.

_Poets Laureate_ (Vol. ii., p. 20.).--Your correspondent S. H. will find
"an account of the origin, office, emoluments, and privileges of poet
laureate" in a recent work entitled _The Lives of the Poets Laureate, with
an Introductory Essay on the Title and Office_, by W. S. Austin, Jun., and
J. Ralph (Richard Bentley, 1853).

From _The Memoirs of William Wordsworth_, vol. ii. p. 403., it would appear
that there is a "very interesting literary essay on the laureates of
England by Mr. Quillinan."

In the year 1803, it would appear that Lord Hardwicke, Lord Lieutenant of
Ireland, "offered to create a laureateship in Ireland, with the same
emoluments as the English one," if Mr. Moore would accept it. (_Memoirs of
Tom Moore_, vol. i. p. 228.)

From Mr. Moore's Letter to his Mother, dated May 20, 1803, we learn that--

"The manner in which Mr. Wickham communicated the circumstance to me
would disgust any man with the least spirit of independence about him.
I accordingly, yesterday, after the receipt of my father's letter,
enclosed the ode on the birth-day, at the same time resigning the
situation."--_Memoirs of Tom Moore_, vol. i. pp. 126--128.

LEONARD L. HARTLEY.

York.

_Brissot de Warville_ (Vol. ix., p. 209.).--Since my last communication on
the above subject, I have obtained _The Life of J. P. Brissot, &c., written
by himself_, an 8vo. volume of pp. 92, published by Debrett, London, 1794.
It is a translation, the original of which I have never seen. And if you do
not think the subject exhausted, perhaps you will spare a few lines for his
own account of his name.

"The office of an attorney was my gymnasium; I laboured in it for the
space of five years, as well in the country as in Paris.... To relieve
my weariness and disgust, I applied myself to literature and to the
sciences. The study of the languages was, above all others, my
favourite pursuit. Chance threw in my way two Englishmen, on a visit to
my own country: I learned their language, and this circumstance decided
my fate. It was at the commencement of my passion for that language
that I made the metamorphosis of a diphthong in my name, which has been
imputed to me as so great a crime; and, since I must render an account
of every particular point, lest even the slightest hold against me
should be afforded to ma