_Bastille, MS. Records of._--Are there amongst the MSS. of the British
Museum any documents relating to spies, or political agents, employed by
the French and English governments from 1643 to 1715, who were
incarcerated in the Bastille?

M.V.


_Orkney under the Norwegians._--Torfæus (_Orcades_), under the
transactions of the year 1430 (p. 182-3.), has an incidental mention of
the Orkneys as among the forbidden islands, "vetitæ 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