the French and English governments from 1643 to 1715, who were
incarcerated in the Bastille?

M.V.

_Orkney under the Norwegians._--Torfaeus (_Orcades_), under the
transactions of the year 1430 (p. 182-3.), has an incidental mention of
the Orkneys as among the forbidden islands, "vetitae insulas," of which
the commerce was forbidden to strangers, and confined to the mother
country, as to this day it is with Denmark and her possessions of the
Faroe Islands and Iceland, both mentioned in the paragraph of the
historian among the islands whose commerce was restricted. It would be
very desirable to know of the social state of Orkney under the
government of Norway and its native Jarls of the Norwegian race, and or
its connexion with Norway and Denmark; and some of your correspondents
may take the trouble to point out sources of information on the subject
of this Query.

W.H.F.

Kirkwall

_Swift's Works._--In Wilde's _Closing Years of Dean Swift's Life_ (2d
edit. p. 78.) is mentioned an autograph letter from Sir Walter Scott to
C.G. Gavelin, Esq., of Dublin, in the MS. library. T.C.D., in which he
states he had nothing whatever to do with the publication or revision of
the second edition of the _Works of Jonathan Swift_. This does not agree
with the statement given in Mr. Lockhart's _Life of Sir Walter Scott_,
2d edit. vol. vii. p. 215. Who was the editor, and in what does the
second edition differ from the first?

W.H.F.

"_Pride of the Morning_."--Why is the small rain which falls in the
morning, at some seasons of the year, called "the pride of the morning?"

P.H.F.

_Bishop Durdent and the Staffordshire Historians._--It is stated by
Sampson Erdeswich, Esq., in his _Survey of Staffordshire_, p. 164, 12mo.
1717, that--

"Not far from Tame, Roger Durdent held Fisherwicke of the
bishop, 24 Ed. I. And 4 Ed. II. Nicholas Durdent was lord of it,
which I suppose was procured to some of his ancestors of the
same name by their kinsman Walter Durdent, Bishop of Litchfield,
in Henry II.'s time."

but no authority is given for this statement.

In Shaw's _History of Staffordshire_, p. 365., fol., 1798, it is further
recorded that--

"Walter Durdent, in the beginning of Henry II., appears to have
granted it (Fisherwicke) to some of his relations, for we find
William Durdent of Fisherwicke temp. Henry II.; and in the 40th
of Hen. III. Roger Durdent occurs, who held Fisherwic