_Death of Edward II._ (Vol. viii., p. 387.).--P. C. S. S. has noticed with considerable surprise the very strange assertion of MR. C. M. INGLEBY with reference to the murder of Edward II. at Berkeley Castle, viz. that "Echard and Rapin are silent, both as to the event and the locality." If MR. INGLEBY will again refer to Echard (vol. i. p. 341., edit. 1718) and to Rapin (vol. iii. p. 147., edit. 1749), he will perceive that the two historians record "both the event and the locality."
MR. INGLEBY did not perhaps consider that the transaction in question took place during the reign of Edward III.; and is, therefore, not to be sought for at the close of that of Edward _II._ (where probably MR. C. M. INGLEBY looked for it), but among the occurrences in the time of Edward _III._ MR. C. M. INGLEBY will assuredly find it there, not only in Echard and Rapin, but in every other History of England since the date of the "event."
_Luther no Iconoclast_ (Vol. viii., p. 335.).--An occasional contributor wishes the Editor to note down this Query. What could have led your correspondent J. G. FITCH to use so peculiarly inappropriate a synonym for Martin Luther as "the great Iconoclast?" Has he any historical evidence for Luther's breaking a single image?
It is not to defend Luther, but to point out a defect in his teaching, as it is regarded by the adherents of other Protestant churches, that Dr. Maclaine has said, in his note on Book IV. ch. i. § 18. of Mosheim:
"It is evident, from several passages in the writings of Luther, that he was by no means averse to the use of images, but that, on the contrary, he looked upon them as adapted to excite and animate the devotion of the people."
Mosheim, and Merle D'Aubigné, and probably any other historian of the Reformation in Germany, may be cited as witnesses for the notorious fact, that Carlstadt excited the citizens of Wittemberg to break the images in their churches when Luther was concealed in the Castle of Wartburg, and that he rebuked and checked these proceedings on his return. See Mosheim, as cited before, or D'Aubigné, book IX. ch. vii. and viii.
_Rev. Urban Vigors_ (Vol. viii., p. 340.).--My great-great-grandmother was a sister of Bishop Vigors, who was consecrated to the see of Leighlin and Ferns, March 8, 1690. He, I know, was a near relative of the Rev. Urban Vigors. An Urban Vigors of Ballycormack, co. Wexford, also married my great-great-aunt, a Miss Thomas, sister of Vigors Thomas, Esq., of Limerick. I should, equally with your correspondent Y. S. M., wish to know any particulars of the "Vigors" family; and should be delighted to enter into correspondence with him.
