66 of "NEWLANDS," CHALFONT ST. PETER. Thorne's Handbook to the Environs London' (i. 83) says that until his death, in 1807, this was the seat of Abraham Newland, of the Bank of England. Is this statement correct? From his biography, published in 1808, and some MS. notes of Islington celebrities, I have always understood that he lived at the Bank until his retirement, when he took up his residence with Mrs. Cornthwaite, at 38, Highbury Place. He died there 29 November, 1807. The house at Newlands is evidently of much later date. ALECK ABRAHAMS. 39, Hillmarton Road. WILLIAM CONGREVE.-In a note in Wilson's GEORGE III.'s CLEVERNESS. In March, 1837, Lord Brougham read to Mr. Creevey letters written by George III. to Lord North, of which the hearer testified to Miss Ord:"Talk of the Creevey papers, my dear! would Life of Defoe,' vol. iii. p. 646, there is a that they contained these royal letters! I have quotation from Dr. Duncan's History of the never seen anything approaching them in interest-Independent Church at Wimborne,' which the cleverness of the writer, even in his style-his begins :tyranny-his insight into everything-his criticism upon every publick parliamentary man his hatred Lord Chatham and Fox, and all such rebellious subjects-his revenge; but at the same time and throughout, his most consistent and even touching affection for Lord North."-The Creevey Papers,' vol. ii. p. 318. Has any other candid writer committed himself to such a favourable judgment of the ability of George III. ? Thackeray, who refers to autograph notes of the king appended to Lord Brougham's biographical sketch of Lord North-probably of those read to Creevey-thus excuses the royal writer for some of his remarks : "Remember that he was a man of slow parts [the italics are mine] and imperfect education; that the same awful will of Heaven which placed a crown upon his head, which made him tender to his family, pure in his life, courageous and honest, made him dull of comprehension, obstinate of will, and at many times deprived him of reason."-The Four Georges,' p. 144. ST. SWITHIN. SEVERANCE AS A PROPER NAME.-Will some reader kindly tell me the origin of the proper name Severance? W. H. PARKS. 19, Rue Scribe, Paris. mention of it. "Mr. Congreve, the poet,......lived at Merley, and belonged to this meeting with his family; but he sold the manor and resided at the manor house of Aldermaston, Hampshire." dent chapel at Wimborne towards the end of . -Can WESTMINSTER HALL: ITS INTERIOR. any one tell me the date of the first impression of an engraving of the interior of Westminster Hall, by C. Morley, after Gravelot. It is entitled The First Day of Term: a Satirical Poem.' The poem, of thirty-two lines, is at the bottom of the print. The second impression, dated 1797, is well known. But I have as yet been unable to discover a copy of the first impression, or anything about it. E. A. P. Temple. SOPHONY.-This Christian name occurs in a Ball will, proved 1561. I should be very WILLIAM LEWIS, COMEDIAN.-What authomuch obliged if any of the readers of 'N. & Q'rity (other than Mr. Calcraft's statement, could refer me to contemporary, or earlier, Dublin University Magazine, under 'Peep at H. HOUSTON BALL. the Pictures in the Garrick Club,' vol. xlii. P. 643 et seq.) is there for assuming that home of the Garrick Club, was Mr. Lewis's 35, King Street, Covent Garden, the first residence for many years? R. W. PUBLIC MEETING.-What is the earliest known use of this term? Mr. Henry Jephson, in the opening portion of his work 'The Platform: its Rise and Progress,' appears to date the rise of the modern form of political public meeting at about the middle of the eighteenth century. POLITICIAN. THORNBURY ON THE CIVIL WAR.-The late Mr. W. Thornbury wrote a ballad relating to the great Civil War. So far as I remember the subject was the heroic conduct of a maid at And Capel and Hirst; If any one can identify these verses I shall Wickentree House, Kirton-in-Lindsey. DE GOURBILLON.-Can any of your readers very kindly give me information as to this family Members of it held important posts under Louis XVI. and Louis XVIII. One was administrator of the royal lottery; one secretary to the queen; another director "des postes" at Lille, 1787; another was a writer; while Madame de Gourbillon was maid of honour and lectrice to Mary of Savoy, queen of Louis XVIII., and assisted her and the Comte de Provence to escape from Paris, 1791. What was the origin of the family? What happened to these members? REVOLUTIONIST. Is it likely that rites connected with the OFFICERS OF STATE IN IRELAND.-Can you ABSTEMIUS IN ESOP'S 'FABLES.'-In an old edition of Æsop's Fables' I have come across some fables written by a man called Abstemius. Can any of your readers tell me who this Abstemius was? CLIFTON ROBBINS. ELIZABETH MILTON, the daughter of Richard JANE WENHAM, THE WITCH OF WALKERN. Milton, was baptized in 1608 in the parish-Does any portrait exist of this greatly church of Upton, Bucks, which is about four maligned woman? It seems improbable that miles from Horton, where the poet's parents a trial for witchcraft which caused great came to reside some years afterwards. Was excitement in Hertfordshire, and resulted in Elizabeth Milton related to the poet? the publication of at least five pamphlets, E. L. R. should not have produced any pictorial illusFORRESTER, OF GARDEN.—I should be tration of the so-called witch or her abode. obliged to any of your readers who would tell me the name of the wife of Alexander Forrester, of Garden, or direct me to a pedigree of his family. The said Alexander Forrester was dead by 1604. W. M. GRAHAM EASTON. COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON AT HIGHGATE. -Is there any authority for the statement that Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, once resided at Highgate? HENRY JOHNSON. Apart from the pamphlets, what contemporary accounts are there of the trial? The poor creature is stated to have been given a home by Col. Plumer, of Gilston, and presumably died there. Any references to this instance of eighteenth-century superstition would be welcome. W. B. GERISH. Bishop's Stortford. with my notes and observations when I went away; Dudley was Roger Dudley. It is of this though he has a sufficiently accurate index of all Roger Dudley that information is needed to the Greek MSS. there, made by David Colville, a Scotchman, which he is thinking of speedily giving complete the descent. He was said to be a to the light, together with my notes and animad-captain in the army. It is possible that the versions on unpublished authors, if he could obtain Drapers' Company's records contain some a printer to suit his purpose." information. In a 'Chronicle of Henry IV. of France,' translated from the Spanish by a London author about 1872, it is stated that two Captains Dudley were slain at the battle of Ivry, 1590. Extracts relating to this would be esteemed, as also the names of author and translator. G. DUDLEY. The catalogue of Greek MSS. kept at the library itself is stated to be old and not so accurate as that of Colville, "which he prepared lately" (i.e., shortly before 1648). It would be of great interest to find out further particulars of this Scotchman, who was cataloguing the library of the Escorial in the seventeenth century. Corderius was not allowed to publish Greek MSS., as he had hoped, and complained that the authorities kept the library too much as though it were a monument of antiquity and rarity. W. R. B. PRIDEAUX. ROBERTSON OF STRUAN.-James Robertson, fourth son of Robert Robertson, tenth Baron of Struan, according to Douglas's Baronage,' married Margaret Robertson, a daughter of Fuscalzie, and had issue. Where did he settle? What family had he? Are there any descendants of this branch? PERTHSHIRE. "THE STAR AND GARTER," 1842.--I have a print from a picture A Day's Pleasure' (at "The Star and Garter," Richmond), by E. Prentis, dated 18 April, 1842. The figures are well-known people of that time. Could any of your readers tell me for whom they are intended? C. D. LANGWORTHY. SLIPPER, A SURNAME.-In the list of successful candidates for pensions granted by the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution in June last occurs the name of William Slipper. This is probably a tradename. Can any one say from what occupation it has originated? 56, Preston Road, Brighton. Beplies. JOSEPH ANSTICE. In THIS accomplished scholar was born at Madeley Wood, Shropshire, on 20 December, 1808. He was the second son of William Anstice, and grandson of Robert Anstice, of Bridgewater. The name of Robert Anstice will not be found in 'The Dictionary of National Biography,' although it commemorates hundreds of lesser men. My great-grandfather was born in 1757, and died on my fifth birthday, 30 April, 1845. I have but a faint remembrance of a noble old head, crowned with a bush of snow-white hair. Still it is something to have sat on the knees of a man who was born in the year when Plassey was fought, and who was senior by a year to Nelson, by two years to William Pitt, and by twelve years to Wellington and Napoleon. and his early years were spent at sea. Robert Anstice s father was a shipowner, middle life he settled at Bridgewater, where his family had resided for some generations, and for many years filled the then important appointment of Collector of Customs. was the leading inhabitant of the town, and Mrs. Henry Sandford ("Thomas Poole and his Friends,' 1888, i. 274) records how during the French war, being almost the only man in the place who took in a London newspaper, he scarcely had it well in hand before a barrel was reared up on end near the Market Cross, which he was there and then expected to mount, and read the news aloud JUVENAL. to his fellow-townsmen. He was devoted to natural history, and was one of the early memTHOMAS DUDLEY, GOVERNOR OF MASSA-bers of the Linnean Society. I have amongst CHUSETTS, used the armorial bearings of the baronial family, but his descent cannot be proved. Thomas was born in 1576, and went to America from Boston, Lincs. His eldest son was born at Northampton, England, in 1608. The father of Governor Thomas N. M. & A. 'DOCTRINALI ALANI.'-Can any reader tell me if there is any English translation in existence of Doctrinali Alani'? My copy is of the late fifteenth century, and was probably printed at Mayence. The Latin is very archaic, and the abbreviations render a free translation difficult to an indifferent scholar. Any information as to the work would be of service. He my books a manuscript volume, containing copies of the correspondence which for several years he carried on with Col. George Montagu, the well-known ornithologist (see Dict. Nat. Biog."). He was also an ardent antiquary, and every coin which was turned up by the plough in the neighbourhood of Bridgewater was added to his collection. Very many of these coins, consisting chiefly of Roman brass and silver, together with the beautiful Louis Quinze cabinet, inlaid with variegated wood, in which they were kept, are in my possession. William Anstice was the second son of Robert Anstice, and was born in 1781. Through his mother, Susanna Ball, he was connected with the family of the celebrated Bristol philanthropist Richard Reynolds, and on attaining to manhood he entered into partnership with that gentleman's son, William Reynolds, in the conduct of some extensive ironworks at Iron Bridge, in Shropshire. William Anstice, writes Mrs. Sandford, "has been described to me as one of the most fascinating of men, brilliant in wit-all the Anstices possessed that delightful endowment, a strong sense of humour-very poetical, very religious and highly principled, and at the same time a first-rate man of business, and of considerable scientific acquirements." In 1806 he married Penelope, the youngest daughter of John Poole, of Marshmill, Over Stowey, Somerset, and a first cousin of Tom Poole, Coleridge's friend and correspondent. Miss Poole, though between eight and nine years older than her husband, survived him for seven years. Mrs. Sandford describes her as "a beautiful, dark-eyed girl, with a voice of unusual power and sweetness, and a fine taste for the best music, which made Handel her favourite composer." Tom Poole for years bore an attachment to this attractive cousin which was never returned. She died on 14 July, 1857, her husband having predeceased her on 12 Aug., 1850. Joseph Anstice was the second son of this gifted pair. As a boy he acquired the rudiments of learning at a village school which had been established by his uncle, the Rev. John Poole, at Enmore, in Somersetshire, of which place he was vicar. John Poole, who had been a distinguished Fellow of Oriel, was an enthusiast in the cause of education, and his school acquired celebrity as a model institution. From Enmore Joseph Anstice proceeded to Westminster, and thence to Christ Church, where he was elected to a studentship. At the University he became a fast friend of Mr. Gladstone, who was a year or so his junior, and who has acknowledged the benefit he received from his intercourse with his young comrade. Of his University successes there survives "Richard Coeur de Lion. a prize poem, recited in the Theatre, Oxford, June 18, 1828" (Oxford, 1828, pp. 15), a work not perhaps above the average of such performances, though it contains a few fine lines. He took his degree with much distinction, and when King's College was founded, a year or two later, he was offered and accepted the appointment of Professor of Classical Literature. His introductory lecture, delivered at the College on 17 October, 1831, was published by B. Fellowes, of 39, Ludgate Street, pp. 31, at the end of that year, and its striking defence of classical scholarship might be read with advantage at the present time. About the same time he married his first cousin, Elizabeth Spencer Ruscombe Poole, daughter of Joseph Ruscombe Poole, a Bridgewater solicitor, who was a brother of his mother, Penelope. This lady, who was about a year older than himself, was known to her friends as Bessy Poole, and had been educated in France, where she had had as a schoolmate no less a person than Fanny Kemble. In the 'Records of a Girlhood she figures as "E.," and, as Mrs. Sandford says, was an object of unbounded admiration to her volatile schoolfellow. In early life she resembled her aunt Penelope in being beautiful, and on her return to England she became the friend and companion of Sara Coleridge, with whom, as was the custom of young ladies in those days, many tender verses were exchanged. Some specimens of Elizabeth Poole's poetry are in my possession but their quality will be better estimated by the version of Schiller's poem 'Thekla's Song' which is given in the notes to her husband's selections from Greek choric poetry. She was also an acquaintance of Arthur Hallam, who addressed to her the sonnet beginning O gentle nightingale, whose woodland home Is empty now of thine accustomed lay... Why is there silence with thee now? The tone Sleeps in the lyre-wilt thou not break its rest? In 1832 Joseph Anstice published through B. Fellowes, of Ludgate Street, his 'Selections from the Choric Poetry of the Greek Dramatic Writers.' To render adequately a Greek chorus into English verse is perhaps beyond the capacity of mortal man; but no one can read these 'Selections' without being impressed by the great taste and cultivation of the translator, as well as by his extraordinary linguistic ability. In the notes will be found parallel passages from the principal poets not only of Greece and Rome, but of France, Germany, and Italy, rendered into English verse with unerring skill and appropriateness. As indicated above, in the preparation of these notes he was assisted by the gifted lady who became his wife. In the whole family at the early cessation of a 1834 he wrote an essay on The Influence career which seemed to hold out so great of the Roman Conquests upon Literature a promise. In some respects, had it but and the Arts in Rome,' which was included possessed a vates sacer, it might have in the "Oxford English Prize Essays," pub-paralleled in public estimation that of his lished at Oxford by D. A. Talboys in 1836, friend Arthur Hallam. v. 113-73. This is also a work of considerable learning and research, written in strong and nervous English. The hard work of a professorship, sustained with the conscientious earnestness which marked every step in the career of Joseph Anstice, was too much for a constitution which was naturally feeble. In a few years he was compelled to resign his appointment and retire to Torquay, where he died on 29 Feb ruary, 1836. The farewell message which on his death-bed he sent to his old pupils is an affecting document. He had always been a convinced Christian, and during the last months of his life his principal occupation was the composition of hymns, which after his death were collected and printed in a thin volume for private distribution. Some of them have found a place in 'Hymns Ancient and Modern,' special mention being merited by the harvest hymn : Lord of the Harvest! once again and that beginning O Lord, how happy we should be, His remains were conveyed to Enmore, where they were buried on 8 March, 1836, and a monument, with a long Latin inscription, was raised to his memory in the chapel of King's College. His widow died in 1887, having survived her husband for more than fifty years. Joseph Anstice had two children, a son, John Arthur, who died young, and a daughter, Josephine Elizabeth, who on 21 March, 1857, married Colonel the Hon. Henry Hugh Clifford, V.C. (afterwards MajorGeneral Sir Henry Hugh Clifford, K.C.M.G.. C.B.), third son of the seventh Lord Clifford of Chudleigh, who left her a widow on 12 April, 1883. One of her sons is Mr. Hugh Charles Clifford, C.M.G., Colonial Secretary of Trinidad, who, while enjoying a distinguished career under the Colonial Office, is perhaps better known in the domain of literature as the author of 'In Court and Kampong,' and other works inspired by his experiences in the Malay Peninsula. My father, who was a first cousin of Joseph Anstice, being a son of Mary Cowles Anstice, an elder daughter of Robert Anstice, often told me of the sense of loss which was felt by W. F. PRIDEAUX. All the information G. F. R. B. requires can. I think, be found in Mrs. Henry Sandford's interesting work on 'Thomas Poole and his Friends.' JOHN COLES, Jun. Frome. land. Miss 'LA BELLE ASSEMBLÉE': MISS CUBITT (10th S. iv. 108).—Miss Cubitt's father was a singer of some repute at Vauxhall, and useful in musical dramas at Drury Lane. Cubitt made her first appearance as Margeretta in 'No Song, No Supper, at Drury Lane, 1817, and was engaged at that theatre and Vauxhall up to 1827, when she left EngOn her return she took part in oratorios-but, through her uncertain state of health, constantly disappointed the public. She died in Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, at the early age of thirty. Winston credits her with a remarkably quick study, and great musical knowledge. Miss Cubitt figures in Clint's picture, now in the Garrick Clubexhibited at the Royal Academy, 1821, in the scene from 'Lock and Key,' with Munden Knight and Mrs. Orger. She died 1830, and is buried in St. Paul's, Covent Garden. ROBERT WALTERS. Ware Priory. "KNIAZ" (10th S. iv. 107, 130).—I have before me a letter from a Russian friend, who lives at Theodosia, dated 27 June-10 July, in which is the following: "Ces jours-ci nous avons eu de grandes inquié tudes à cause de l'apparition dans la rade de Théodosie du cuirassé rebelle Prince Potëmxine." Is Potëmxine, or Potemkin, the proper Western rendering of the Russian name? What is the effect of the two marks over the first e? ROBERT PIERPOINT. In reply to MR. WILSON, Kniaz is etymologically the same word as English "king," but in Russian it has the sense of "prince." Kniaz Potemkin means Prince Potemkin. By the way, this surname is rarely pronounced correctly by foreigners, owing to the fact that its e, which bears the stress, should be sounded like yo. The name may be phonetically rendered Pat-yóm-kin. JAMES PLATT, Jun. 1 Kniaz means "prince," and is apparently pronounced as a monosyllable, the ia repre |