] cut it out
of a newspaper; but unfortunately has omitted to furnish the date of the
newspaper." [Query, How then known to be cotemporary?] The difference is
important; but where is the copy containing this letter? By whom has it
been seen? By whom and when first discovered? Where did Barker find the
story recorded? When and where first printed?

P. T. A.

_Honorary D.C.L.'s._--It was mentioned in a report of proceedings at the
late Installation, that the two _royal personages_ honoured with degrees,
having been doctored by diploma, would be entitled to vote in
Convocation,--a privilege not possessed by the common tribe of honorary
D.C.L.'s.

Can you inform me whether Dr. Johnson had, or ever exercised, the right
referred to in virtue of his M.A. degree (conferred on the publication of
the _Dictionary_), or of the higher academical dignity to which his name
has given such a world-wide celebrity?

CANTABRIGIENSIS.

_Battle of Villers en Couche._--Some of your correspondents, better versed
than myself in military matters, will doubtless render me assistance by
replying to this Query. Where can I find a copious and accurate account of
the battle, or perhaps I should rather say skirmish, of Villers en Couche?
If I am rightly informed, it must be one of the most remarkable actions on
record, when the comparative numbers of the troops engaged are taken into
consideration. We have, as an heirloom in our family, a medal won by an
officer on that occasion: it is suspended from a red and white ribbon, and
is inscribed thus:

"FORTITUDINE
VILLERS EN COUCHE.
24th APRIL,
1794."

I do not remember to have read any account of the battle; but, as I have
heard from the lips of one who gained his information from the officer
before alluded to, the particulars were these:--General Mansell, with a
force consisting of two squadrons of the 15th Hussars, and one squadron of
the German Legion, _two hundred and seventy-two_ in all, charged a body of
the French army, _ten thousand_ strong. The French were formed in a hollow
square: but five times, as I am informed, did our gallant troops charge
into and out of the square, till the French, struck with a sudden panic,
retreated with a loss of twelve hundred men. I am desirous of
authenticating this almost incredible account, and shall be thankful for
such information as may guide me to an authoritative record of the action
in question.

W. SPARROW SIMPSON, B.A.