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140, STRAND W.C.; and 37 PICCADILLY, W., LONDON.

LONDON, SATURDAY, MARCH 18, 1893.

CONTENT 8.-N° 64.

NOTES:- House of Judge Jeffreys, 201- Warburton's Shakespear,' 203-Rev. John Blair, 204-Peg Woffington's

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Recantation

Bunyan Sterne-Ghost Miners, 205

the park. Pitt immediately set to work and built "the two wings of that great house which is opposite to the bird-cages with the stairs and tarrass, &c." Besides Pitt's we have also the testimony of Sir William Harbord, Sir Henry Alleged Decline of Science'-Unstamped Newspapers-Fane, and others, that the two great wings stood Tennysoniana '-A Vicar of Bray, 206-George Kirbye, 207. on the king's ground, that is on the narrow strip QUERIES:-The King and Lord Bigod of Bungay'-'From of ground between the park and the Duke Street Oxford to Rome'-Walter Long-Oldest Tree-Church by Lindsey-Engraving by Kent, 207-Hereford CathedralBachelors' Door-Sir James Sheppard-Gostling-Queen's Players-"Shall" or "Will"-Catalogue of Booksellers' Catalogues-Hobby-horse, 208-Rousseau-J. J. HallsJohn Hughes-"Looking from under Brent Hill"-Reading Prayers-Feast of St. Michael-" Hospitale Conversorum"-Heraldic-Old Coin, 209.

houses. This, as we shall presently see, is an important piece of evidence towards identifying the exact site of Jeffreys's house.

The whole work was finished in about three or four months, and Jeffreys moved into the house. Pitt having thus done his duty under the agreeREPLIES:-Portraits as Book-plates, 210-Angelica Catalani ment, was anxious that Jeffreys should perform his -Glass Eyes, 211-Cudham Church-Arabella FermorBryan Tunstall-Commonplace Book, 212-Penal Laws share of the bargain, but the grant was not forthD. Angelo-Thos. Gent-Foreign Parodies Zolaesque," coming, though Sir Christopher Wren had been 213-Blackball-Sedan-chair-Gladstone Bibliography sent for and told to have the ground between Wild Horses-Chesney-"Jagg." 214-" Eating Poor Jack" - Harrowing of Hell-Heralds' Visitations-Tennyson Storey's and Webb's measured and a "platform" and The Gem-Denton MSS.-Descendants of Thomas taken of it, and Jeffreys had given instructions à Becket-John Palmer, 215-Peg Woffington's Alms- that the necessary deeds be prepared for the grant houses-Church House-Liston-Latreille-Dr. CrolyAmerican Cobblers-Becket' at the Lyceum, 216-Doctor to pass the great seal. As Pitt "lived just by Royal Mandate - Chandler - "Hariole" Printers' Errors-John Cutts-St. Victor, 317-Turner-Public and also wrote to him often to remind him of the against Jeffreys's door," he paid him frequent visits Speaking-" He that runs, may read,” 218.

NOTES ON BOOKS:-Eltons' Great Book Collectors''Book Prices Current '-Earwaker's Four Randle Holmes' -Garbett's Earl of Rosse's Argument.'

Notices to Correspondents.

Notes.

JUDGE JEFFREYS'S HOUSE IN DUKE STREET. (Continued from p. 162.)

Pitt was just finishing his great house against the bird-cages in the park, when the Lord Chancellor of evil fame came to Duke Street "house-hunting," with Alderman Duncomb, the banker, and while looking over the said great house noticed the "idle piece of ground" between it and the park wall. He took the house, and made an agreement with Pitt to the effect that Jeffreys was to "beg of King James all the ground without the park wall between Webb's and Storey's inclusive" for ninetynine years at a peppercorn rent, and was to make over to Pitt the king's grant without any alteration, with liberty to pull down or build upon the park wall, and to make a way and lights into the park, in consideration of Pitt erecting certain building or buildings for the Lord Chancellor, and his - enjoyment of them during his occupation of the said great house. The buildings to be erected under the agreement were a cause room and offices, according to Pitt, or a "court room, vault, and other conveniences," according to a Treasury paper. Accordingly a warrant was obtained from "Mr. Cook out of the Secretary of State's office," in the Lord Chancellor's name, with the king's signature and seal, permitting to pull down the park wall, and to make a door, lights, and steps leading into

grant, but would either receive empty promises or not be able even to see him. As time went on the rent became due, and was eventually half a year overdue, when Pitt made his final call, and found Jeffreys in the midst of his creditors, who had assembled at his invitation. As King William had arrived in England, Pitt knew that Jeffreys was not going to be Lord Chancellor long, and was willing to lose the rent if Jeffreys would hand him over the promised grant. There was, however, a serious hitch. Sir Edward Hales, the same who subsequently "went away" with King James, informed the king of the little transaction between the Lord Chancellor and the bookseller, and being a greater favourite with James than Jeffreys, prevailed upon the king to grant him the land at the back of his house and the one next to his. The only consolation that Pitt received from his tenant was that he was going to leave him the house, and was not going to take either the ground or the buildings away with him. His lordship, so far as we know, did not condescend to explain where the rent was to come from, or the money to indemnify Pitt for the 4,000l. expended on buildings which were little better than a white elephant to him, and part of which stood on ground that did not belong to Pitt, and about which he had no agreement.

From the Treasury papers it appears that Pitt had one Adriell Mill, a stationer, for his partner in these building speculations, to whom he subsequently parted with his interest. How their partnership came to grief and was speedily broken up is related by Pitt himself. It is also through Pitt that we learn that about April, 1689, he let the big house vacated by Jeffreys to the three Dutch ambassadors who came over to England to

congratulate William and Mary upon their happy accession to the throne.

The next piece of information about the house is to be found in a petition of Sir William Turner, Knt., William Carbonell, merchant, and Robert Scott, bookseller, on behalf of themselves and the rest of the creditors of Adriell Mill, in which we are told that the house formerly occupied by the late Lord Chancellor was originally built by Mill and Pitt, and that it was subsequently, with divers other adjacent buildings, mortgaged by Mill, who had since become bankrupt, to Sir Edmund Wiseman for 10,000l. They relate how the late Lord Chancellor had prevailed upon his landlords to erect additional buildings, for his sole convenience, on a piece of ground belonging to the king, for the doing whereof the Lord Chancellor obtained a warrant or licence, under the sign manual and signet of the late King James, promising to procure for them a lease of the ground from the Crown, "but was prevented by the late happy Revolution, although before the same happened the building was perfected," and cost nigh 3,000l. They further relate that Sir Henry Fane had lately obtained a lease for the whole strip of ground outside the park wall, and brought ejectments against them for the parcel of land on which the two wings of Jeffreys's house stood, and given them notice of trial for the 18th inst. The petition itself is not dated, but from a minute thereon we learn that it was referred to Sir William Harbord for his report on June 12, 1691. Petitioners further state that the house is not let for a penny more rent than it was before those additional buildings were erected, and that they are entitled to the equity of redemption of the mortgaged premises, and have little more to depend on for the satisfaction of their just debts due from Mills (sic), amounting in all to about 30,000l. Hence they petition the Lords of the Treasury to stop all proceedings on the ejectment and to appoint a short day for hearing all parties concerned.

Annexed thereto is Sir Henry Fane's petition and version of the affair, and Sir William Harbord's report. From these and some other documents it appears that Sir Henry Fane petitioned for a lease of the whole length of ground between Webb's and Storey's in March, 1689/90. His petition was referred to Harbord, who reported thereon on the 22nd of the same month, valuing the ground rent at ten shillings per square foot, and thinking it very well worth" that rent. In Charles II.'s time, several petitions were presented for the same piece of ground, and he at that time valued the ground rent at five shillings. The Lords of the Treasury, upon his report, directed by several warrants, dated April 25 and May 20, that the lease of the ground should be granted to Sir Henry for fifty years at six shillings and eightpence per quare foot without fine, grantee to make such

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arrangements and contracts with adjoining owners and fix such rents as their lordships may approve or direct. Grantee not to be allowed to build on the land without a special licence from their lordships. A lease was passed to Sir Henry's trustees, Richard Kent and Thomas Musgrave, the grant bearing date June 7, 1690. John Webb's house, however, was excepted from this grant, as was also a small yard on the north side of his house, being but a passage leading from the street into the house. In case Sir Henry were allowed to build on the land south of Webb's house, he was to leave sufficient breadth for light.

Having obtained this document from the Treasury, Sir Henry Fane called upon the owner of Jeffreys's house to pay him ground rent for the parcel of land upon which stood the two wings, but he "dispissed the same," alleging that he had a title to the land and pretending that the Crown had no power to grant a lease for the land. Sir Henry thereupon brought his ejectment for the ground, and obtained a verdict in his favour, "this term,' i. e., Michaelmas, 1690, or Hilary or Easter term, 1691, as Sir Henry refers to a Treasury Order of Dec. 1, 1690. The liability of the house-owner to pay ground rent having thus been established in a law court, Sir Henry wishes the Lords of the Treasury to fix the rate of the yearly rent, and, this being granted, to allow him to make such benefit and advantage of the ground in question as he shall from time to time be enabled to do. For the guidance of their lordships, petitioner informs them that some of the worst part of the ground he has demised at ten shillings per square foot, and that the two wings of the big house stand on the best part of the land.

Sir William Harbord, in his report, dated June 25, 1691, recommends that, as the owners of Jeffreys's house have compelled petitioner to go to law, and by their refusal to come to terms have involved him in heavy law expenses, some addition should be made to the rate of ten shillings per foot. This, he adds, may seem to be a high rate, but it is no more than what William Storey already pays to Sir Henry, who has a contract with him for a length of about forty-six feet of the ground next to the Long Ditch, long made use of by Storey for a small house and several sheds standing thereon and a passage out of it into the street, the said occupier paying Sir Henry 201. per annum and for a time 30%., the rate being computed at ten shillings per foot. The Surveyor-General adds that he believes Storey and the owners of other adjacent houses would be willing to give more than the value of the ground between them and the park if Sir Henry demanded more.

A minute records their lordships' decision. They agree that Sir Henry may compound at ten shillings for the improved ground, and five shillings for that which is not improved. It is the same old story. Pitt improved the ground at his own expense, and

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THE SOLAR ECLIPSE OF SEPTEMBER 3, B.C. 404.-This eclipse is of great interest in chronology (though not much notice of it has been taken), as it fixes the correspendence between the Greek Olympiads and the years as reckoned from the date originally (hough incorrectly) assumed as that of the birth of Christ. The eclipse in question was annular, and as the central line passed, according to modern calculations, over the northern part of the Balkan peninsula, it must have been very large in Greece. There is no reason, therefore, to doubt that it was the one mentioned by Xenophon, in the second book of the 'Hellenics,' as having occurred in the autumn of the year (he calls it the next year, because the Attic year began | at midsummer) in which Lysander took Athens in the spring, and thus brought to a conclusion the first Peloponnesian war. He also tells us that this was an Olympiad year, which proves that these festivals were held in B.C. dates at even multiples of four years. The Olympiad in question must have been the ninety-fourth, and it fell, as is fixed by the eclipse, on B.C. 404, which was ninetythree complete Olympiads, or 372 years, after that in B.C. 776, which is reckoned as the first.

It is well known that great trouble has been given to chronologists by the statement of Herodotus that an obscuration of the sun occurred whilst Xerxes was at Sardis on his expedi

year

tion for the invasion of Greece. For the
was in all probability B.C. 480, and no eclipse
occurred that year excepting one (when the sun
was rather more than half eclipsed) on Oct. 2.
Herodotus apparently, however, only speaks of that
occurrence at Sardis in the spring by a Persian re-
port, and probably either he was mistaken or the
darkness was caused by some meteorological pheno-
menon. In the autumn he does speak of an eclipse
actually seen in Greece, which so frightened Cleom-
brotus, then engaged in fortifying the isthmus of
Corinth, that he hastily retired. This was, in all
probability, the eclipse of Oct. 2, B. C. 480, and
fully confirms that year as the date of the invasion
of Xerxes. It was also the year of an Olympic
festival, which would be the seventy-fifth, seventy-
four complete Olympiads, or 296 years, after B. C.

776.

Blackheath.

W. T. LYNN.

REV. JOHN BLAIR, LL.D.-The Rev. John Blair, LL.D., Prebendary of Westminster, was born at Edinburgh in 1723. His father was John Blair, of an ancient Perthshire family, who made a considerable competence in one of the few commercial enterprises at that time considered open to gentlemen in reduced circumstances. This John Blair was twice married; first to a Miss Gibb, of Loughton, and secondly to a Miss Graham, half-sister to Mr. Colt, of Inveresk. Of the twenty-four children resulting

from these marriages, one of the younger was John Blair, the subject of this notice. He received his education at Edinburgh, where he was contemporary with Hugh Blair, his celebrated namesake of another family. He is said to have come to London in company with Andrew Henderson, a voluminous writer, who kept a bookseller's shop in Westminster Hall and was usher in a school in Hedge Lane. In this latter post Blair succeeded him, and while so engaged received in 1751, from the University of Aberdeen, the degree of LL.D., and in 1754 published the work which made him famous, 'The Chronology and History of the World from the Creation to the Year of Christ 1753.' This work met with a very flattering reception, and soon after its appearance Blair was, in January, 1755, elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1756 he published a second edition of his Chronology'; and on Nov. 20 of the same year he was inducted to the rectory of Burton Coggles, in Lincolnshire. In 1757 he was appointed chaplain to the Princess Dowager of Wales, and mathematical tutor to H.R.II. the Duke of York. In 1761, March 10, he was appointed to a prebendal stall in Westminster Abbey; on March 16 to the vicarage of Hinckley, in Leicestershire; and in the course of the year received the degree of M. A. from Cambridge University, and was elected F.S.A. His residence at these livings, which he held together by dispensation, was only occasional, his other duties keeping him for the most part in London. In September, 1763, he accompanied his royal pupil, the Duke of York, in a twelve months' tour on the Continent, visiting, among other places, Lisbon, Gibraltar, Minorca, most of the principal cities in Italy, and several parts of France, returning with the duke in August, 1764. In March, 1771, he was presented by the Dean and Chapter to the Vicarage of St. Bride's, in the City of London, resigning Hinckley and Burton Coggles. In April, 1776, he was presented to the rectory of St. John the Evangelist, in Westminster, for which he resigned St. Bride's, but he obtained in June a dispensation to hold the rectory of St. John together with that of Horton, near Colnbrook, in Bucks. These two livings he held until his death, which took place in Dean's Yard, June 24, 1782.

Of his numerous brothers and sisters the greater number died young. An elder brother, Patrick (Peter), was a physician of some eminence in Cork; another, Gilbert, was a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, and lived to be ninety-six; and a younger, William, was a lieutenant-colonel in the H.E.I.C.S., and died in 1814. It is this last who has been confused by the biographers with Capt. William Blair, R.N. Dr. Blair's sister Elizabeth married Capt. John McNeil; another sister married Capt. Macmillan. Dr. Blair married, Feb. 22, 1770, Ann Persode, daughter of Col.

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