Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive.) ODD BITS OF HISTORY. ODD BITS OF HISTORY BEING _SHORT CHAPTERS INTENDED TO FILL SOME BLANKS_ BY HENRY W. WOLFF LONDON LONGMANS, GREEN & Co. AND NEW-YORK: 15 EAST 16th STREET 1894. _(All rights reserved.)_ PREFACE. The chapters composing this book appeared originally in the shape of review articles. I owe acknowledgments to the Editors of _Blackwood's Magazine_, the _National Review_ and the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for the permission kindly accorded me to republish them. To my regret I find, on receiving the clean sheets, that pressure of time and a rather troublesome nervous affection of one eye have led me to overlook a few printer's errors, such as: p. 70, _occassion_ for _occasion_; p. 137, _Fuensaldana_ for _Fuensaldaña_; p. 253, _Nicephoras Phorcas_ for _Nicephorus Phocas_; p. 267, _Polydore Virgil_ for _Polydore Vergil_. The misprints will in every instance, I believe, explain themselves. H. W. W. CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. THE PRETENDER AT BAR-LE-DUC 1 II. RICHARD DE LA POLE, "WHITE ROSE" 58 III. THE EARLY ANCESTORS OF OUR QUEEN 91 IV. ABOUT A PORTRAIT AT WINDSOR 120 V. THE REMNANT OF A GREAT RACE 145 VI. VOLTAIRE AND KING STANISLAS 181 VII. THE PRINCE CONSORT'S UNIVERSITY DAYS 219 VIII. SOMETHING ABOUT BEER 248 I.--THE PRETENDER AT BAR-LE-DUC.[1]