of whistles from the enginemen. Most gauge locomotives to be seen at the principal companies supplied them with a pilot cloak Great Western stations, where they are and goggles, as they ran serious risks of employed to collect money for railway being blinded by the sparks and pieces of charities, are invariably equipped with the coke emitted by the engine-fiery particles iron sentry-box at the end of the tender. which also constantly set fire to the pasH. G. ARCHER. sengers' luggage carried on the roofs of the vehicles. On freight trains in the United States it is a regular custom for guards to be stationed on the roofs of covered luggage wagons; but, although I have seen them perched in that apparently perilous position hundreds of times, I have never noticed any wearing masks or goggles such as ST. SWITHIN mentions. HARRY HEMS. Fair Park, Exeter. The next refinement was to provide brake-vans for storing the luggage, and to make the guard ride inside. In order that he might still keep a look-out along the top of the train, the roof of those vans was furnished with a raised glass-hutch. At the time of writing, the fusion of the London and North-Western and North London Railways is announced. An interesting feature of the North London trains consists of the retention of the raised guard's look-outs of olden days, which are seldom to be met with now on any other railway. The Great Western was one of the first railway companies (if not the first) to introduce regular brake-vans. In October, 1847, however, in consequence of the great speed of the broad-gauge express trains, the directors considered an additional precaution necessary, so an iron box was provided at the end of the engine tender for a travelling carriage porter," whose duty was to keep a steady That test had promptly the desired effect. and vigilant look-out on both sides and along the top of the train, so that in case of any accident to any of the carriages, or of any signal from the guards or passengers, or any apparently sufficient cause that might come to his observation, he could at once communicate with the engineman, and, if necessary, stop the train. "SHIBBOLETH (10 S. x. 408).—Another historical instance is the legend that some authors on Frisian history attach to the defeat of the army of William IV., Count of Holland, Sealand, Hengau, &c., near Stavoren (1345). The Frisians, aware of the difficulty a Hollander had in speaking their language, compelled all who were escaping to pronounce their own sentence by speaking the following lines : Butter, bry, yn greane tchease Amsterdam. A. M. CRAMER. CHARLES CROCKER, POET (10 S. x. 489).— According to the autobiographical details in the preface to the first edition of his poems, Charles Crocker was born in Chichester on 22 June, 1797. I have been told that his parents were then living in the street called Little London, in the parish of St. Andrew. He was educated, he says, at the Grey Coat School, of which there is now no trace, but of which Hay (Hist. of Chichester,' p. 392) says: "There is also a charity school, for cloathing and educating twenty-two poor boys, whose uniform is grey; and twenty-two poor girls in blue.” He Crocker was apprenticed to a shoemaker, and worked as such for many years. was for a time employed by Mason, the printer and publisher. In 1845 he was appointed sexton of the Cathedral, and subsequently received in addition the office of Bishop's verger, a capacity in which I knew him well. He was twice married. His daughter by his first wife married a greengrocer named Benford, who subsequently settled down as a publican at Compton. By his second wife he had a daughter Mary, who died unmarried, and a son Charles W. Crocker, whom I also knew well. This son, who was a botanist, had been employed at Kew; but, his health breaking down, he came back to Chichester, and succeeded his father as sexton of the Cathedral. He was, I think, consumptive, and he died in 1868. I do not remember much about his family, but know that he had a daughter who married her cousin Benford, son of the elder daughter, mentioned above. They are living in London now. poem be generally pronounced as a word of two Of course Crocker's poems are of varying merit, and many different opinions have been passed on them. It has always been reported that Southey declared that The Sonnet to the British Oak' contained one of the finest ideas in such poetry, viz., that the Druids worshipped the oak from a prophetic knowledge of the part it was to play in the making of British naval supremacy. I do not know whether F. K. P. is speaking sarcastically when he calls Crocker of equal merit with "the Silkworm Hayley of Peter Pindar. The alluded to, The Ode to Kingley Vale,' the blackboard was this: Capt. BBBB whatever its merits, has had what I consider went with his CCCC to dig pot oooo0000. a disastrous effect upon the nomenclature He chuckled deliciously when no pupil of that wonderfully beautiful coombe of the ventured to interpret the mystery, and he South Downs. Up to the publication of found it necessary to explain that it meant that poem it was always known as "Kingley Capt. Forbes went with his forces to dig Bottom," but after that it was considered potatoes." This was in the sixties, when more genteel to adopt the poet's name. The one would not have risked sounding the fact that it was not a vale or valley at all, profundity of a pedagogue. Since then and that it was a true Sussex bottom,' it has become fashionable with the upper had no effect whatever, and now only a few and educated classes to make Forbes monoknow the place by its true name. The first syllabic. I have friends now who would edition of Crocker's collected poems was keenly resent the older method of pro published in 1830, the second in 1834, and nouncing their name. THOMAS BAYNE. the last in 1860, one year before his death. E. E. STREET. 66 the In the Sussex Collection of the Brighton Public Library is a volume of Crocker's poems, entitled 'The Vale of Obscurity, the Lavant, and other Poems,' Chichester, 1830. In February, 1861, the spire of Chichester Cathedral fell, and Mark Antony Lower's 'Worthies of Sussex,' 1865, says that fall of Chichester spire killed but one man, and that man was Charles Crocker." He died on 6 Oct., 1861, at Chichester, and was buried in the Subdeanery Churchyard of that city. The two books I have quoted may be seen in the Reference Department here. A. CECIL PIPER. Brighton Public Library. SCOTTISH IS AND -ES IN PROPER NAMES (10 S. x. 486).-Regarding the name Forbes a word may be added to what is said at the above reference. In Scotland it used to 66 LORD BEACONSFIELD AND THE PRIMROSE (10 S. x. 486).—In 7 S. v. 146 there is another reference to Lord Beaconsfield's novels and the primrose, namely, that in 'Lothair it is said that this flower makes a capital salad. Lady Dorothy Nevill's book of reminiscences p. 210, deals with the subject, and her ladyship admits that she had not heard Disraeli express any partiality for the primrose, and goes on to relate : "As a matter of fact, I believe that Queen Victoria at the proper season sent Lord Beaconsfield primroses from the slopes at Windsor, and it is probable that, having expressed to some one his warm appreciation of those flowers, it was in consequence assumed that the great statesman had a strong partiality for the primrose." This to some extent confirms the story told at 7 S. v. 146 as to the flower being the favourite, not of Lord Beaconsfield, but of the Prince Consort, and that when the Queen wrote the superscription "His favourite ISABELLA LICKBARROW (10 S. x. 403).She wrote "A Lament on the Death of H.R.H. Princess Charlotte Augusta. To which is added Alfred, a Vision," Liverpool, printed by Harris's Widow & Brothers, and published in 1818 at 2s. 6d. R. S. B. "LOVE-A-LA-MODE' (10 S. X. 490).This is described in The Poetical Register,' 1723, as having been "writ by a person of honour, and acted with applause. D. E. Baker, in his Biographia Dramatica,' observes that it might possibly be known who this writer was, by tracing back the alliances of the Colbrand family, as the first of three recommendatory copies of verses prefixed to this play is subscribed R. Colbrand, Baronet, and directed to his honoured brother the author, who by the letters signed to the preface appears to have been his brother-in-law, or half-brother."-Vol. ii. p. 194. Miscellaneous. NOTES ON BOOKS, &c. The Story of a Lifetime. By Lady Priestley. (Kegan Paul & Co.) LADY PRIESTLEY originally wrote her 'Story' for her children only, and for five years it remained among books printed for private circulation. She has now been persuaded to issue the work for the public, and we cordially congratulate her on having done so, although we can well understand her hesitation in placing so much that must be almost sacred to her in the hands of an outside world, for this story reveals her home life with all its joys and sorrows, and that home was from first to last an abode of peace and love, the only sorrows that came to it being those caused by sickness and Lady Priestley wrote this book in the solitude of her library, "a refuge in time of trouble, a retreat after a full and active life, a sanctuary.' She is a daughter of Robert Chambers, and some reminiscences of him are given. It is difficult to recognize the staid Robert Chambers as we knew him in the early sixties with the accounts he wrote to his wife of the goings-on in which he took part in December, 1847, at Fingask, in the house of his friends the Thrieplands death. "We carry on very merrily. Last night there was 'High Jinks' of the most extraordinary character. What would you think of a whole night of singing, dancing, and capering in all sorts of dresses, ending at about one in the morning with three or four of them, including Lord M., roaring out the chorus of 'It's no use knocking at the door' at the top of their voices?...... The whole made good the saying that men are only overgrown laddies, or, as Dryden puts it, Men are but children of a larger growth. This morning I don't know how we are all to face each other. There was a locking of the doors at last to make the ladies submit to an accolade before escaping, but they picked Lord Charles's pocket of the key of the back door and stole away." It was shortly before this that 'The Vestiges of Creation' "fell like a bomb among the Darwinites of the future." Great was the mystery as to its author, and many precautions were taken that his identity should not be known; but there was no doubt about it in literary circles, and at an early period it was well known to ourselves. Lady Priestley's first school had for its master Dr. Graham. Boys and girls were taught together, being divided by a screen "not so tall that we could not tilt ourselves up to see the boys getting palmies.' One of the boys in the school was William Playfair. Dancing lessons the young girl took at home; the dancing master wore tights, played the fiddle as he danced, and rejoiced in a green wig from which we could never take our eyes. About this time (January, 1839) De Quincey spent many. Sundays at her father's house, but had to rush back to get into Sanctuary before twelve o'clock, after which hour he could be arrested." There were "delightful" Edinburgh days when we girls gave the balls, and our mother the dinner-parties." One of these was "purely and simply a Scotch dinner" in honour of George Outram, editor of The Glasgow Herald. It is to be hoped that the guests did not suffer from indigestion, for the dinner consisted of hotch-potch, cockie leekie, crabbit heads, salmon scollops, haggis, and poor man o' mutton. Occasionally evenings were diversified by the advent of Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, who would try experiments on the girls in electro-biology. Prof. Simpson would sometimes come with him, and would try the effects of chloroform upon the girls, and "would have half-a-dozen of us lying about in various stages of sleep.' Private theatricals also afforded a favourite amusement, and at Dr. Simpson's in The Babes in the Wood' the host and Lyon Playfair were the babes, the prologue being written by Alexander Smith, and the epilogue by Sydney Dobell. On the 17th of April, 1856, Eliza Chambers, the author, was married to William Priestley, who had been Prof. Simpson's assistant. As a student he had taken the Senate Medal as well as the Simpson Gold Medal and Balfour's Prize for Botany. Both husband and wife were innocent of all worldly affairs, but never felt oppressed with the sense of poverty." Priestley had saved something out of his salary, and had just received 507. for his share in editing Simpson's works. "That formed our ready cash, and our sole capital was 1,000l. promised by my father to start us in life." Of their early struggles and first brilliant success we leave Lady Priestley to tell. Her friends included many of the well-known names of the second half of the nineteenth century, her uncle, Henry Wills, being assistant editor of All the Year Round. There is much about Dickens. We can well understand Lady Priestley's great affection for Wills, for we always found him full of kindness, and aspirants to literary fame were sure of his sympathy and advice. He had previously been assistant editor of The Daily News, and was on the first staff of Punch. Another intimate friend was Thackeray, and we have an account of his reconciliation with Dickens at the Athenæum Club in the autumn of 1863. On the 24th of December of the same year Lady Priestley was invited to meet him to dine at the Benzons'. There was one guest missing; his place at the table had been laid, it was now removed; that guest-Thackeray was lying dead in the pretty red house he had built for himself within a stone's throw of the festivities in which he was expected to take part." The illustrations include portraits of Lady Priestley and her father and mother, sketches by Dicky Doyle, and a sketch of a dog by Millais. 66 The Fortnightly Review for January includes an article on 'The late Empress of China' by Dr. E. J. Dillon, who shows that she had many good points. She is compared as a political reformer with Gladstone. Mr. A. Maurice Low writes interestingly on 'The Future of Parties in America. The Opposition in the Commons' is not so crushing as the article on the old Tory gang in last month's National Review, but it is hardly flattering. Complaint is made of recent negligence to attend Parliament in several cases. Mr. W. T. Stead has some startling stories to tell of communications which he heads with the title How I know that the Dead Return.' Mr. Masefield writes on Defoe in a rather elaborate and unnatural style, and some of his general statements are not, we think, defensible. Miss Jane E. Harrison on The Divine Right of Kings' is not concerned with theories of the Jesuits, as one might suppose, but deals with the theories of Dr. Frazer in his 'Lectures on the Early History of the Kingship' and 'Adonis, Attis, and Osiris." This is a highly interesting article. Mr. Filson Young's account of The New Poetry' of Mr. John Davidson should also not be missed. The Nineteenth Century has secured the Earl of Erroll, Lord Ribblesdale, Lord Stanley of Alderley, and the Comtesse de Franqueville to write on politics and education; while Lady Paget publishes a reminiscence of Court and Society at Berlin in the Fifties.' The Waste of Infant Life,' by Dr. Janet E. Lane-Clayton, is an important article; and Mr. W. C. D. Whetham's Inheritance and Sociology' is lucid and interesting. Prof. Simon Newcomb does not believe in Modern Occultism,' under which heading he also deals briefly with the work of the Psychical Society, and phantoms of the living. He suggests strikingly the many possible causes of error in such transactions. Mr. Herbert Paul deals with Milton in his usual attractive style. Mr. Lewis Melville's article on of Edgar Allan Poe' is largely a recapitulation of "The Centenary material now familiar to most lovers of letters. The Cornhill begins with 'A New Year's Ron deau' by Mr. Austin Dobson, which is elegant, as usual with him. Mr. Lucy continues his reminiscences, which are always heavily drawn on without delay by the daily papers-a tribute to their interest. C. L. G. has some amusing Stanzas addressed to the Hon. Charles Parsons, F.R.S." They are, perhaps, a little too elaborate, though often ingenious. Two personal papers, Charles Eliot Norton,' by Mr. Frederic Harrison, and "John Thadeus Delane,' by the Dean of Canterbury, overdoes the praise of virtues which are generally are both good reading, though the latter somewhat regarded as needing no comment in the English gentleman, Delane used "his rare powers for public ends and for the good of his country." no doubt; but he also used them for the good of his paper and the support of popular clamour. This of the difficulties which the Duke of Newcastle and may be seen in Crimean Papers,' a lucid account Lord Panmure were both inadequate to meet, by Sir Herbert Maxwell. This article, excellent in judgment, is the best thing in the number. Miss. Jane Findlater, herself a novelist, deals with The Novels of Fogazzaro'; and Dr. W. H. Fitchett with 'The Man who discovered Australia.' The Burlington Magazine opens with A Retrospect concerning its fortunes, which is full of sound sense and criticism. It is matter for great congratulation that the magazine is firmly established, for it stands alone in its knowledge, independence, and resolute refusal of the second-rate. The question of 'Reorganization at South Kensington' is further considered. The frontispiece is a reproduction of Whistler's striking picture The Coast of Brittany,' which serves to illustrate an article on Whistler and Modern Painting' by Prof. C. J. Holmes. Another illustration is a portrait of Luther as "Junker Jörg," by Lucas Cranach, in the King's collection at Windsor, which is con sidered by Mr. Lionel Cust. Eight Italian Medals' from the British Museum, by Mr. G. F. Hill, are of a quality well deserving reproduction. Probably, however, the most interesting article in the number is the appreciation of Charles Eliot Norton by Mr. Henry James, who excels in such portraiture. In the section on Art in America' the pictures of Mr. E. C. Tarbell are noteworthy. BOOKSELLERS' CATALOGUES.-JANUARY. MR. HENRY DAVY has in his Catalogue 13 an uncut copy of the first edition of Festus,' Pickering, 1839, 27. 108.; Henderson's 'My Life as an Angler,' green levant, super-extra, 1879, 11. 58.; Catalogue of the Works of Art exhibited at Ironmonger's Hall,' 1861, 2 vols., royal 4to, 2. 2s. (the object of the exhibition was to show the progress made in production of iron from the earliest period); and White's Selborne,' with Augustus Hare's bookplate, 1813. 17. 18. There is a handsome set of Fielding, 16 vols., uncut, 1903, 37. 5s. Under Kent we note Woolnoth's Canterbury Cathedral,' blue morocco extra, 1816, 17. 2s. 6d. Under Topography is 'Magna Britannia,' 6 vols., 4to, calf, 1720, 21. 2s. Messrs. Ellis's Winter Catalogue 123 contains choice books and manuscripts, including a beautiful Book of Hours of the fifteenth century, containing 55 exquisite miniatures, each leaf with a varied design, 210. An exceptionally good and perfect copy of the Third Folio Shakespeare is 4201. Other rarities include the first edition of Hudibras,' 3 vols., morocco extra, by Rivière, 251.; the best edition, folio, black-letter, of 'The Ship of Fools,' 287.; and first editions of Cowper's Poems, 2 vols., 1782-5, 18. 18%. (the first volume contains the suppressed preface written by John Newton, of which very few examples exist). A copy of the 1529 Dante is priced 15.; Drayton's Poems, a fine tall copy in original calf, 157. 158.; Southey's copy (with his autograph) of the first edition of Killigrew's Comedies,' 1664, 187. 188.; second edition of Montaigne, with the scarce portrait of Florio, 1613, morocco extra, 10. 108.; and the large folio editio princeps of the Nuremberg Chronicle,' 1493, 351. Under Occult Sciences, Medicine, &c., are 350 items. We note Gilbert's De Magnete,' the first great book on physics published in England, first edition, extremely rare, 1600, 217. Dryden wrote of Gilbert: "Gilbert shall live till loadstones cease to draw." Topsell's 'Historie of Foure-Footed Beastes,' 1607, and 'The Historie of Serpents,' 1608, 2 vols. in 1, folio, are 16. 168. Works on Witchcraft include Scot's Discovery,' 1651, very scarce, blue morocco extra, 7. 10s.; and Herbals include Turner's, all first editions, fine copies, 4 vols. in 1, folio, black letter, 1561, 667. Mr. F. Marcham, successor to the late James Coleman of Tottenham, sends Part I. of the first volume of 'The Antiquaries' list of Middlesex Deeds and other Documents.' Under Chelsea are several in which the name of Charles Cheyne appears; and under Clerkenwell is a lease of booktrade interest, dated the 20th of August, 1798, and naming Robin Allen, Richard Hughes the elder, Richard Hughes the younger, Patrick Kirkman, Chas. Humphrey Lackington and Thomas Hasker of Finsbury Square, booksellers, and George Ross, 50, Finsbury Square. Messrs. B. & J. F. Meehan of Bath have in their Catalogue 65 Fergusson's Architecture,' 3 vols., 1862-7, 21. 10s. ; and Meyrick's Ancient Arms and Armour,' 3 vols., 4to, as new, 107. 10s. Under Bath is a long list which includes Nattes's 'Bath Illustrated.' coloured plates, royal folio, red morocco, 1806, 15. 158.; Malton's Views,' 1779-88, 17. 18.; Meehan's Famous Houses, 1901, 17. 10s.; and Wood's Beau Nash,' author's original copy, never published in book form, ready for publication, half. calf, 51. 5s. In a list of works by the Rev. Richard Graves, Rector of Claverton, we find 'The Spiritual Quixote,' 3 vols., calf, 1774, 17. 7s. 6d. There are lists under Johnson and Piozzi. Under Romney is the Edition de Luxe by Ward and Roberts, 57. 10s.; under Rowlandson, The Comforts of Bath,' Walker's issue, 1857, 31. 38.; and under Somerset, Gaskell's Leaders, Social and Political,' 150 portraits, 21. 10s. A complete set of Tracts for the Times includes Tract 90, 5 vols., full calf, 1840, 17. 58. Messrs. Parker & Son of Oxford have in their Me Catalogue V. the large-paper 4to edition of Coleridge and Prothero's Byron,' 13 vols., 77.; the hand-made paper edition of the English Dialect Dictionary, 18 parts, 10. 108.; Edition de Luxe of Tennyson, including Life,' 12 vols., 1898-9, 5/. 10s.; and a set of Defoe, 20 vols., Oxford, 1840-1, halfcalf, 8. Oxford items include University Costumes,' coloured plates, 6s. 6d.; Ingram's morials,' 3 vols., 1837, 17. 18.; Loggan's Oxonia Illustrata,' folio, calf, a tall, clean copy, 1675, 10. 10s.; Mozley's Reminiscences,' 6s.; Moffat's Old Oxford Plate,' 4to, 2/. 10s.; and 'Our Memories: Shadows of Old Oxford,' 1893. 4to, vellum, inlaid with blue calf, 8. 108. Under Pepys is Wheatley's edition, 10 vols., 4. 4s.: and under Romney is Ward and Roberts's Edition de Luxe (limited to 350 copies), 2 vols., 4to, 4. 15s. A set of Crisp and Howard's Visitations of England and Wales,' 14 vols., 1893-1904, is priced 16. (privately printed and limited to 500 copies); and "Sacred Books of the East," edited by Max Müller, 49 vols., 16/. We should like to persuade Messrs. Parker to alter the colour of the cover of their catalogue, or else to print no items upon it. Their present method puts a great strain upon the eyes. Notices to Correspondents. We must call special attention to the following notices: ON all communications must be written the name and address of the sender, not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith. We cannot undertake to answer queries privately, nor can we advise correspondents as to the value of old books and other objects or as to the means of disposing of them. To secure insertion of communications correspondents must observe the following rules. Let each note, query, or reply be written on a separate slip of paper, with the signature of the writer and such address as he wishes to appear. When answering queries, or making notes with regard to previous entries in the paper, contributors are requested to put in parentheses, immediately after the exact heading, the series, volume, and page or pages to which they refer. Correspondents who repeat queries are requested to head the second communication "Duplicate." LUCIS ("Enjoy bad health ").-See the articles at 9 S. ii. 248, 474. NOTICE. Editorial communications should be addressed to "The Editor of Notes and Queries””—Advertisements and Business Letters to "The Pub. lishers" at the Office, Bream's Buildings, Chancery Lane, E.C. |