calling for an outlay of 120,000l., with stores in hand reduced to a value of 5,000l. Without entering into details of the wise measures taken by Pepys to bring the Royal Navy from almost entire nonentity into a condition of great strength and efficiency, we will presently cite the results shown by his figures of a few years later on. But before this was accomplished by Pepys it would seem that after the calamitous state into which the fleet had fallen in the five years of peace, 1679-84, an even greater depth of degradation fell upon it in the few months after May, 1684. A fresh view of its state was taken in the following January. But the Lord Treasurer, according to Pepys, had assured Charles II. that during the five years 1679-84 the fleet had all the while been supplied with 400,000l. per annum. King Charles died February, 1685, and, on the Duke of York succeeding, every effort seems to have been made to stir the naval officers and administration to a redress of this calamitous condition. 90,000l. was at once spent, but fruitlessly, in repairs. Only one fourth-rate, with not so much as one fifth-rate, was found on the occasion of the Duke of Monmouth's invasion ready to be got to sea in less than two months, and that only by the robbing of the Harbour Guard. The thirty new ships ordered were not gone on with, although the money was supplied; their stores were also wanting. Pepys presented a plan of reform to King James II. This was accepted by the king's letters patent April 17, 1686, and in the course of two and a half years Pepys was able to show the following results :Rate of ship.

4

Ships at sea Oct., 1688. 12

28

Men.

4,715 6,318

IT!

Fire ships

Total

20

67

220

370

680

12,303

The ships in harbour were all entirely repaired, or under repair, with money and materials ready, and each repaired ship had eight months' sea stores in hand, amounting with those at sea to 280,000l. of value. There were also reserves of 100,000l. worth of dockyard commodities, which, it is worth observing, are classed by Pepys as all being, save one, of foreign growth, namely, hemp, pitch, tar, resin, canvas, oil, wood. In drawing to an end the account of his great work-for it is truly that, although expressed in one-tenth of the words sufficient for a modern naval Blue-book or report—he gives a final state of the fleet, observing that little rests for carrying it on to "that signal day that puts a natural bound to the subject of these Notes, I mean the day of my late Royal (but most unhappy) Master's retiring in December." This, then, is done by Pepys to December 18, 1688, as the day of "the King's withdrawing himself," and the figures are a

The name of each ship, commander, lieutenant, complement of men, and station, is given in detail, with estimates of defects, real charge of their repairs, and value of their rigging and sea-stores. Then an abstract is provided, which may be summarized as showing the state of the Royal Navy of England, at sea and in harbour, on December 18, 1688, and giving the details of the following totals: 173 ships and vessels, 42,003 men, 6,930 guns.

Pepys winds up his notes with the three following corollaries from his premises. They are so appli cable to the present times, when the real state of our navy is being brought before the public on the same patriotic and ethical grounds as Pepys called "Truths in the Sea Economy of England," that perhaps your editorial indulgence will allow them to be appended to this already long note :

"1. That integrity, and general (but unpractic'd) Knowledge, are not alone sufficient to conduct and support a Navy, so as to prevent its Declension into a state little less unhappy than the worst that can befall it under the want of both.

"2. That not much more (neither) is to be depended on, even from Experience alone and Integrity; unaccompany'd with Vigour of Application, Assiduity, Affection, Strictness of Discipline, and Method.

"3. That it was a strenuous Conjunction of all these (and that Conjunction only) that within half the Time, and less than half the Charge it cost the Crown in the exposing it, had (at the very instant of its unfortunate Lord's Withdrawing from it) rais'd the Navy of England from the lowest state of Impotence, to the most advanced step towards a lasting and solid Prosperity, that (all Circumstances consider'd) this Nation has ever seen it at.

"And yet not such; but that (even at this its Zenith) it both did and suffered sufficient to teach us, that there is Something above both That and Us, that Governs the World. To which (Incomprehensible) alone be GLORY." FREDK. HENDRIKS. Linden Gardens, W.

GIBBON'S'AUTOBIOGRAPHY.' Gibbon, when mentioning in his 'Autobiography' (p. 13, ed. 1837), the various ailments of his childhood, says that "every practitioner, from Sloane and Ward to the Chevalier Taylor, was successively summoned to torture or relieve me." Та a literary man the words "from Sloane and Ward to the Chevalier Taylor" might possibly appear suspicious, inasmuch as the evenly-balanced clauses of Gibbon's style would lead him to expect four names to be mentioned instead of three, viz.,

"from A and B to Y and Z." To a physician acquainted with the professional history of the last century they would have an additional source of perplexity, from the fact of Sloane and Ward being mentioned together as persons of the highest character, the meaning evidently being that every practitioner was consulted, from those of the greatest eminence to the veriest quacks. An inspection of Gibbon's own MS. (in the possession of the Earl of Sheffield) enables us to solve all these difficulties by inserting the name of Mead after Sloane and joining Ward to Taylor, thus reading the clause as follows, "from Sloane and Mead to Ward and the Chevalier Taylor." Of the two former, as well-known specimens of the highest type of physicians, it is unnecessary to speak; of the two latter, who were sufficiently notorious in their day, but who have now sunk into comparative oblivion, it may be well to give a brief

account.

Of Joshua Ward, better known by the name of "Spot Ward" (from one side of his face being marked with a claret-coloured nævus maternus), it was said by a contemporary poet :

Of late, without the least pretence to skill, Ward's grown a fam'd physician by a pill. There were three sorts of pills given by Ward-one blue, the second red, and the third purple; all of these were believed to contain some preparation of antimony, and two of them arsenic. The pills were puffed at Court, and Ward had the honour of attending the king (George II.), who had such an opinion of his skill that he allowed him an apartment in the Almonry Office, Whitehall, where he attended on certain days in the week and gave his medicines to poor patients at His Majesty's expense. He was the first person who brought into notice in England the mode of preparing sulphuric acid by burning the sulphur with saltpetre. He obtained a patent for his invention, and for a considerable time monopolized the manufacture, which he carried on with great secrecy, at first at Twickenham and afterwards at Richmond. He is said to have been an imperfectly educated man, but to have been well acquainted with the practice of chemistry and pharmacy; he possessed considerable natural powers, with an abundant share of acuteness and common sense, but was too much of a charlatan to command respect. There is (or lately was), however, a fine statue of him in the entrance-hall of the Society of Arts in the Adelphi. (Edinburgh Medical Essays and Observations,' vol. vi. p. 423; "Professional [Medical] Anecdotes,' vol. i. p. 282; vol. ii. p. 198; Brande's Manual of Chemistry,' p. 20, fourth edition.)

The name of John Taylor appears in the 'Biographie Medicale' (1825), where he is said to have been a travelling oculist, who was a man of real merit and extensive information both in anatomy and surgery, spoiled by shameless boasting and

charlatanism. Haller calls him ("Biblioth. Chirurg.,' vol. ii. p. 80), "expertus homo, sed in promittendo liberalior." He wrote several works, of which the Account of the Mechanism of the Globe of the Eye' (Norwich, 1727) was translated into at least eight different languages. In his travels he was introduced to most of the sovereigns of Europe, from whom he received many marks of their liberality and esteem, and among these (it may be supposed) his right to the title of "Chevalier." On Taylor's assumption of this title an epigram by Horace Walpole is quoted by Dean Milman in a note to Gibbon's 'Autobiography,' where he is mentioned. His mode of operating for cataract by couching is detailed in the Edinburgh Medical Essays and Observations,' vol. iv. p. 383; and his personal character and appearance are described by Dr. King in his 'Anecdotes of his own Times (p. 131), quoted in the 'Professional [Medical] Anedotes,' vol. ii. p. 50. W. A. G.

TOUCHING FOR THE EVIL.-The chapter on this interesting superstition in Mr. Inderwick's pleasant and informing volume ('Sidelights on the Stuarts') gives us a graphic and somewhat comprehensive account of the ceremonial; but one important source of information does not appear to have been drawn upon. Sir William Lower, in his 'Relation of Charles II.'s Voiage and Residence in Holland from the 25 of May to the 2 of June, 1660,' describes the function at the Hague in great detail from his own observation. The king took this very early opportunity of exercising his powers, and the ceremonial was observed in a punctilious fashion. One very needful ordinance is thus described:

"After the Liturgy (and touching) the Gentleman Usher brought a bason an ewer and a towel, and being accompanied by the Lord Leonel Cranfield, Earl of King gave since the quality of Earl of Saint Albans, he Middlesex, and the Lord Henry German, to whom the presented the bason and ewer to the youngest of the two who stood on the left of the Gentleman that carried the towel, taking the right hand of the Elder of the two Lords, The last finding himself in the midst of them, they marched in this order towards the King, and after making three low reverences they put themselves all three on their knees before his Majesty; and whilst the Earl of Saint Albans poured forth the water on the King's hands, the Earl of Middlesex took the towel from the Gentleman Usher and presented it to his Majesty, who wiped his hands therewith. After this the two Lords and the Gentleman Usher rose up, made three great reverences to the King, and retired. And after that the King arose also, and went thence to the Princess Royal her chambre."

It appears that, in addition to this "touching" at the Hague, Charles touched 260 persons at Breda and many at Bruges and Brussels. Sir William was firmly convinced of the entire efficacy of the operation, on the testimony of the English residents, but he naïvely adds

"that there was no person healed so perfectly who was not infected again with the same disease if he were so

There is a complete and most interesting series of touch-pieces at the Stuart Exhibition, nine in number. I possess four only of the series: Charles II. (gold); James I., Old Pretender, and Young Pretender (silver); but I wish to describe a medal in my possession, hitherto, I believe, unmentioned, except by Boyne ("Uncertain Tokens," No. 63), to whom this piece, possibly unique, once belonged. It is of copper, eight-tenths of an inch in diameter. Obv., an open hand issuing from the clouds touching one of a group of four bearded heads: HE TOVCHED THEM; rev., crown, beneath it rose and thistle entwined: AND THEY WEARE HEALED. The medal is not perforated. Its character is almost identical with that of many of the traders' tokens (1648-1672), but the bearded heads seem to point to a rather earlier date. What can have been the relation of this cheap copper medal to its more extensive and betterknown fellows? J. ELIOT HODGKIN.

Richmond-on-Thames.

AN ANCIENT NORFOLK WILL.-A set of court rolls of the manor of Braydeston, in the eastern division of the county of Norfolk, have recently been sent to me for examination by Mr. Jonathan Nield, of 14, Great Russell Street, under the mistaken belief that they related to the manor of Bradstone, co. Devon. They belong to the troubled times which followed the death of Henry VIII., viz., 1547-1559, and are very interesting to Norfolk collectors, not only on the score of rarity (documents of Edward VI. and Mary I. seldom finding their way into the market), but because they contain a vast number of family names in connexion with field-names, parishes, &c. It is interesting, also, to observe the change of style: Edward VI. is "Supreme Head of the Church in the lands of England and Ireland," and Mary is so styled in her first year; but in the following year, when the name of Philip of Spain was added to her own, the claim to supremacy was abandoned, not to be revived until the advent of Elizabeth. In 1 Edw. VI. a presentment was made concerning the death of John Thurkeld, a "native," whose wife, Helena, comes before the court as an "alyen," and as executrix of her late husband's will, a portion of which, relating to the lands within the jurisdiction of the court, is transcribed upon the roll, in English, as follows:

"Itm-I wyll & gyff to Ellyn my wyff my messuage & tenement with all the londe, bothe free & bond, marshe & waters therunto belongyng; and all or my messuage tenement & londe, free and bonde, marsh & waters, of my own purchace, stondyng lyeng & beyng in Strumpshaugh, Braydeston, & Lyngwood, for to be sellyd [sold] by my wyff Ellyn, home [whom] I make my soole execu

trix, & the money therof comyng for to paye my dettes wt all." The MS. has been returned to Mr. Nield, and I mention this in the interest of any local collector who may desire to possess it. ALFRED WALLIS.

Exeter.

A CONTRIBUTION TO THE OBITUARY OF 1888.The names in the following list are confined to the holders of heritable rank and heads of untitled families of distinction. It is worthy of note that so many baronets died last year :Jan. 10. William Crackanthorpe, Newbiggin, Westmoreland, Esq. Jan. 19. Sir Robert Carden, Bart. Jan. 20. Sir Robert J. Buxton, Bart.

Jan. 20. W. H. Pole-Carew, of Antony, Cornwall, Esq. Feb. 1. Sir John E. Buckworth-Hearne-Soame, Bart. Feb. 8. Ven. John Wynne-Jones, of Treorwerth, Angle

sey.

Feb. 11. Sir Thomas Peyton, Bart.

Feb. 17. Sir William Edmonstone. Bart.
Feb. 22. Sir Wm. Marjoribanks, Bart.
Feb. 19. Rev. Sir St. Vincent L. Hammick, Bart.
Feb. 26. C. R. B. Legh, of Adlington, Cheshire, Esq.
Feb. 26. Col. E. T. Coke, of Trusley, Notts.
Feb. 29. Sir Charles Munro, Bart.
March 3. Sir Richard Brooke, Bart.
March 4. Duke of Rutland.

March 15. Alfred Seymour, of Knoyle, Somerset, Esq.
Murch 8. Sir Frederick Graham, Bart.
March 16. Col. Farquharson, of Invercauld.
March 17. Lord Annaly.

March 18. T. B. Thoroton-Hildyard, of Flintham, Notts.,
Esq.

March 31. Earl of Lisburne.

March 29. Samuel Starkey, of Wrenbury, Cheshire, Esq.
April 1. Rev. W. L. Palmes, of Naburn, Yorkshire.
April 2. Sir G. F. J. Hodson, Bart.
April 3. Lord Hatherton.

April 6. Sir Charles Watson-Copley, Bart.
May 25. Sir J. W. Cradock-Hartopp, Bart.
May 27. Sir Robert Loder, Bart.
June 5. Sir Philip J. W. Miles, Bart.
June 6. Earl of Seafield.

June 6. Sir Edward G. H. Stracey, Bart.
June 8. Sir F. H. Doyle, Bart.
June 13. John Staunton, of Longbridge, Warwickshire,
June 13. Sir A. L. Montgomery, Bart.
Esq.

July 2. Rev. Walter Sneyd, of Keele, Staffordshire.
July 2. Lord Wolverton.
July 9. Sir John Hardy, Bart.

July 24. T. Tyrwhitt-Drake, of Shardloes, Bucks, Esq.
July 10. Sir C. D. O. Jephson-Norreys, Bart.
July 25. G. L. Basset, of Tehidy, Cornwall, Esq.
July 27. Algernon C. Talbot, of Aston, Cheshire, Esq.
Aug. 11. Sir G. E. Holyoake-Goodricke, Bart.
Aug. 12. Lord Conyers.

Sept. 6. Sir E. H. K. Lacon, Bart.
Aug. 27. Earl of Berkeley.
Sept. 8. Sir C. R. Rowley, Bart.
Sept. 16. Earl of Mar and Kellie.
Sept. 19. Sir H. A. Farrington, Bart.
Sept. 28. T. Gambier-Parry, of Highnam, Gloucestershire,
Esq.
Oct. 1. Lord Sackville.
Oct. 11. Lord Seaton,
Oct. 16. Lord Mount Temple.

Oct. 22. Sir E. A. Waller, Bart. Oct. 25. Sir J. W. Alexander, Bart.

Oct. 29. Miss H. M. ffarrington, of Worden, Lancs. Nov. 1. Lord Newborough.

Nov. 1. Sir B. J. Chapman, Bart.

Nov. 11. Earl of Lucan.

Nov. 13. Baroness Willoughby de Eresby.

Christ at Dublin in Ireland...... Published by Mr. Winter, Mr. Chambers, Mr. Eaton, Mr. Carryl, and Mr. Manton. ......London: Printed by R. White, for Francis Tyton, at the three Daggers in Fleet Street, near the Inner-Temple Gate, 1657.

The dedication, which is "To the Right Honour

Nov. 18. Earl of Devon.

Nov. 19. Viscount Portman.

Nov. 23. Sir David W. Barclay, Bart.

ASTARTE. PAPER-CHASES IN FRANCE.-This sport as now

Nov. 25. John Weld, of Leagram, Lancashire, Esq.

Dec. 1. Sir W. G. Stirling, Bart.

Dec. 10. Sir Brodrick Hartwell, Bart.

Dec. 18. Sir William Pearce, Bart.
Dec. 25. Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart.
Dec. 28. Viscount Eversley.

Dec. 31. Sir John Ralph Blois, of Cockfield, Suffolk, Bart.

A. F. HERFORD.

A CHINESE FUNERAL IN EAST LONDON.-I think the following should be made a note of in the columns of 'N. & Q.' It is cut from the Daily News of Dec. 24, 1888:

"An extraordinary scene was witnessed in the Eastend yesterday afternoon at the funeral of a Chinaman named Sut Poo, aged twenty-six years, of 12, Limehouse Causeway. A large coucourse of people gathered at the house previous to the departure of the remains, which were placed in a polished oak coffin. The cortège consisted of several mourning carriages, a number of cabs and private vehicles occupied by Chinamen, of whom a large number live in the neighbourhood, which is, in fact, a Chinese colony, where many opium dens are known to exist. In the dead man's mouth were placed two silver coins, while some small cards with holes punched in them and printed in Chinese characters said to be prayers-were placed in the coffin. Before starting, a quantity of Chinese fireworks were exploded from the windows of the coaches. On arrival at the East London Cemetery, a pail, containing roast pork, roast fowl, rice, apples, oranges, a bottle of gin, Chinese chopsticks, papers on which were written Chinese characters, and small cups, was emptied, the contents being placed around the grave. The paper and chopsticks were then set fire to, and the mourners, with hands clapsed, bowed before the fire. At the request of Mr. Chivers, the coroner's officer for Poplar, the English clergyman connected with the cemetery then read the burial service in English, which the Chinamen, though they did not uncover, listened to attentively. The body was then lowered into the grave, and the Chinese threw some earth upon the grave three times in succession, with the food and fruit. The bottle of gin was then served out in small cups to the bystanders. The ceremony then ended, and the mourners returned homewards. This is the first Chinese funeral in London at which an English clergyman has officiated. The body was not, however, taken into the church."

what we understand by the term in England, that I may perhaps be excused if I give some account of Several names have been given to it in France, but paper-chase is not among them. They call it paper-hunt (Larchey, 'Dict. d'Argot,' supplément), rallie-papier (Larchey, ibid.; Barrère, Argot and Slang), rallye-papers ('Sports Athlétiques,' G. de Saint-Clair, 1887, p. 60), and I have also heard it called rallie-paper paper pronounced as in English) and rallie alone. This last is about the most common, and paperhunt the least common form. The sport seems, according to Larchey, to have been "becoming fashionable in France in 1877; but a French officer tells me that he was acquainted with it some years before that. This use of the word rallie puzzles me, but the French themselves evidently think it is so called because the pieces of paper form the track which the hounds have to keep to, and rejoin if lost.t

the performers are generally boys, and the chase In an English paper-chase, as everybody knows, takes place on foot. The hares, too, scatter the

*The spelling with y is much affected, though in Old French it does not seem to occur. But the French, I find, generally suppose that rallye-paper(s) is borrowed from English, and so they may very likely have borrowed the y from us.

† Comp. Saint-Clair (l.c.). Speaking of the hares, he

66

says, "Ceux-ci sont munis d'une sacoche, contenant des petits morceaux de papier qu'ils jettent en courant et qui forment la voie que doit rallier la meute," where rallier evidently means to rejoin or keep to. See Littré, s.v., and Larchey, s.v. Paper-hunt." According to this view, rallie-papier would mean "rejoin-paper"; but, according to the rules which in French preside over compound words of which the first half is a verb, the word ought rather to mean something or some one who rejoins (the) paper, and so would be applicable rather to every one of the pursuers than to the game itself. But perhaps each player was at first so called, and then the designation was extended to the game. Or possibly somewhere in Great Britain or Ireland, or in some other English-speaking country, the game was at one time (or still is) called paper-rally, rally being a substantive (cf. Rallie,' "Ralyie" in Jamieson boisterous or disorderly sport, for rallying implies disorder); for paper-rally turned into French would naturally be rallie-papier, inasmuch as the rule in French is that the qualificative substantive (like an adjective) comes last, and not first as in Eng. lish."

‡ Not always boys, however, for I well remember that a year or more ago a soldier got drowned in following the hares across a river.