Notes and Queries, Number 49, October 5, 1850

STRAY NOTES ON CUNNINGHAM'S LONDON

The following notes are so trivial, that I should have scrupled to send them on any other ground than that so well-conceived and labouriously-executed a work should have its most minute and unimportant details as correct as possible. This, in such a work, can only be effected by each reader pointing out the circumstances that he has reason to believe are not quite correctly or completely given in it.

Page 24. Astronomical Society.—The library has been recently augmented by the incorporation with it of the books and documents (as well as the members) of the Mathematical Society of London (Spitalfields). It contains the most complete collection of the English mathematical works of the last century known to exist. A friend, who has examined them with some care, specifies particularly some of the tracts published in the controversy raised by Bishop Berkeley respecting "the ghosts of departed quantities," of which he did before know the existence.

The instruments to which Mr. Cunningham refers as bequeathed to the Society, are not used there, nor yet allowed to lie unused. They are placed in the care of active practical observers, according as the special character of the instruments and the special subjects to which each observer more immediately devotes his attention, shall render the assignment of the instrument expedient. The instruments, however, still remain the property of the Society.

P. 37. Bath House.—Date omitted.

P. 143.—Evan's Hotel, Covent Garden, is described as having been once the residence of "James West, the great collector of books, &c., and President of the Royal Society." There has certainly never been a President, or even a Secretary, of that name. However, it is just possible that there might have been a Vice-president so named (as these are chosen by the President from the members of the council, and the council has not always been composed of men of science): but even this is somewhat doubtful.

P. 143. Covent Garden Theatre.—No future account of this theatre will be complete without the facts connected with the ill-starred Delafield; just as, into the Olympic, the history of the defaulter Watts, of the Globe Assurance Office, must also enter.

P. 143. near top of col. 2. "Heigho! says Kemble."—Before this period, a variation of the rigmarole upon which this is founded had become poplular, from the humour of Liston's singing at Sadler's Wells. I have a copy of the music and the words; altogether identical with those in the music. Of these, with other matters connected with the amorous frog, I shall have something more to say hereafter. This notice is to be considered incidental, rather than as referring expressly to Mr. Cunningham's valuable book.

P. 153. Deans Yard, Westminster.—Several of the annual budgets of abuse, obscenity, and impudent imposture, bearing on their title-pages various names, but written by "John Gadbury, Student in Physic and Astrology," were dated from "my house, Brick Court, Dean's Yard, Westminster;" or this slightly varied, occasionally being, "Brick Court, near the Dean's Yard," &c. I have not seen a complete series of Gadbury's Almanacks, but those I refer to range from 1688 to 1694 (incomplete). His burial in St. Margaret's, Westminster, in 1704, is noticed by Mr. Cunningham, at p. 313. As brick was then only used in the more costly class of domestic buildings, this would seem to indicate that prophecy was then a lucrative trade; and that the successor and pupil of the "arch-rogue, William Lilly" was quite as fortunate in his speculations as his master had been. It is a truth as old as society itself, that "knaves grow rich while honest men starve." Whilst Gadbury was "wallowing in plenty," the author of Hudibras was perishing for want of a crust!

P. 153. Denzil Street.—Here, about the middle of the street, on the south side, lived Theophilus Holdred, a jobbing watchmaker, whose name will always hold a place in one department of mathematical history. He discovered a method of approximating to the roots of numerical equations, of considerable ingenuity. He, however, lost in his day and generation the reputation that was really due to him for it, by his laying claim to more than he had effected, and seeking to deprive other and more gifted men of the reputation due to a more perfect solution of the same problem. He was, indeed, brought before the public as the tool of a faction; and, as the tools of faction generally are, he was sacrificed by his own supporters when he was no longer of any use to them.

I once called upon him, in company with Professor Leyburn, of the Royal Military College, but I forget whether in 1829 or 1830. We found him at his bench—a plain, elderly, and heavy-looking personage. He seemed to have become "shy" of our class, and some time and some address were requisite to get him to speak with any freedom: but ultimately we placed him at his ease, and he spoke freely. We left him with the conviction that he was the bonâ fide discoverer of his own method; and that he had no distinct conception, even then, of the principle of the methods which he had been led by his friends to claim, of having also discovered Horner's process before Horner himself had published it. He did not (ten years after the publication of Horner's method) even then understand it. He understood his own perfectly, and I have not the slightest doubt of the correctness of his own statement, of its having been discovered by him fifty years before.

P. 166. Dulwich Gallery.—This is amongst the unfortunate consequences of taking lists upon trust. Poor Tom Hurst1 has not been in the churchyard these last eight years—except the three last in his grave. The last five years of his life were spent in a comfortable asylum, as "a poor brother of the Charterhouse." He was one of the victims of the "panic of 1825;" and though the spirit of speculation never left him, he always failed to recover his position. He is referred to here, however, to call Mr. Cunningham's attention to the necessity, in a Hand-book especially, of referring his readers correctly to the places at which tickets are to be obtained for any purpose whatever. It discourages the visitor to London when he is thus "sent upon a fool's errand;" and the Cockney himself is not in quite so good a humour with the author for being sent a few steps out of his way.

P. 190. Rogers—a Cockney by inference. I should like to see this more decidedly established. I am aware that it is distinctly so stated by Chambers and by Wilkinson; but a remark once made to me by Mrs. Glendinning (the wife of Glendinning, the printer, of Hatton Garden) still leads me to press the inquiry.

P. 191.—The Free Trade Club was dissolved before the publication of this edition of the Handbook.

P. 192.—And to Sir John Herschel, on his return from the Cape of Good Hope.

P. 210. Royal Society.—From a letter of Dr. Charles Hutton, in the Newcastle Magazine (vol. i. 2nd series), it appears that at the time of Dr. Dodd's execution the Fellows were in the habit of adjourning, after the meetings, to Slaughter's Coffee House, "to eat oysters," &c. The celebrated John Hunter, who had attempted to resuscitate the ill-fated Doctor, was one of them. "The Royal Society Club" was instituted by Sir Joseph Banks.

P. 221. Hanover Square.—Blank date.

P. 337. Millbank Prison.—It was designed, not by "Jeremy Bentham," but by his brother, the great mechanist, Sir Samuel Bentham. In passing, it may be remarked that the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, is constructed on the same principle, and, as was stated in the Mechanics' Magazine, on authority, a year or two ago, by the same engineer. General rumour has, however, attributed the design to his gracious Majesty George III; and its being so closely in keeping with the known spirit of espionage of that monarch certainly gave countenance to the rumour. It may be as well to state, however, that, so designed and so built, it has never yet been so used.

P. 428.—Benbow, not a native of Wapping, but of Shrewsbury. A life of him was published nearly forty years ago, by that veteran of local and county history, Mr. Charles Hulbert, in the Salopian Magazine.

P. 499. Whitfield.—Certainly not the founder of the Methodists, in the ordinary or recognised acceptation of the term. John Wesley was at the head of that movement from the very first, and George Whitfield and Charles Wesley were altogether subordinate to him. Wesley and Whitfield parted company on the ground of Arminianism versus Calvinism. For a while the two sects kept the titles of "Arminian Methodists" and "Calvinistic Methodists." The latter made but little ground afterwards, and the distinctive adjective was dropped by the Wesleyans when the Whitfieldites had ceased to be a prominent body.

P. 515. Doctor Dodd.—The great interest excited in favour of a commutation of his sentence, led to the belief at the time, that his life had not been really sacrificed. Many plausible stories respecting the Doctor having been subsequently seen alive, were current; and as they may possibly in some future age be revived, and again pass into general currency, it may be as well to state that the most positive evidence to the contrary exists, in a letter of Dr. Hutton's before referred to. The attempt to resuscitate him was actually made, by a no less distinguished surgeon than John Hunter. He seemed then to attribute the failure to his having received the body too late. Wonderful effects were at that time expected to result from the discovery of galvanism; but it would have been wonderful indeed if any restoration had taken place after more than two hours of suspended animation. John Hunter, according to the account, does not seem to have been very communicative on the subject, even to his philosophical friends at Slaughter's Oyster Rooms.

Shooter's Hill.

SATIRICAL SONG UPON GEORGE VILLIERS, DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM

In turning over some old bundles of papers of the early part of the seventeenth century, I met with the following satirical effusion upon "James's infamous prime minister," George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. As an echo of the popular feelings of the people at the time it was written, it merits preservation; and although I have seen other manuscript copies of the ballad, it has never yet, as far as I can learn, appeared in print.

It appears to be a parody or paraphrase of a well-known ballad of the period, the burden of which attracted the notice of the satirist. It afterwards became a common vehicle of derision during the civil war, as may be seen by turning over the pages of the collection entitled Rump Songs, and the folio volumes of the king's pamphlets.

The original of these parodies has hitherto eluded my researches. It is not among the Pepysian, Roxburghe, Wood, or Douce ballads, but perhaps some of your readers may be able to point it out in some public or private collection.

"WHOLE DUTY OF MAN," AUTHOR OF

"Octo'r 31. 1698. Mr. Thomas Caulton, Vicar of Worksop, &c. [as in the note p. xiii. to the editor's Preface, ed. 1842, with unimportant variations, such as Madam Frances Heathcote, where the printed copy has Mrs. Heathcote; Baker reads Madam Ayre of Rampton after dinner took, where the printed copy has, Mrs. Eyre. After was dead, follows in Baker,] and that in that Month she had buried her Husband and severall Relations, but that her comfort was, that by her Monthly Sacraments she participated still with them in the Communion of Saints.

"Then she went to her Closet, and fetched out a Manuscript, w'ch she said was the original of the Whole Duty of Man, tied together and stitched, in 8'vo, like Sermon notes. She untied it, saying, it was Dr. Fell's Correction and that the Author was the Lady Packington (her Mother), in whose hand it was written.

"To prove this, the s'd Mr. Caulton further added that she said, she had shewn it to Dr. Covell, Master of Christ's College2 in Cambridge, Dr. Stamford, Preb. of York, and Mr. Banks the present Incumbent of the Great Church in Hull. She added, withall, that The Decay of Christian Piety was hers (The Lady Packington's) also, but disowned any of the rest to be her Mother's.

"This is a true Copy of what I wrote, from Mr. Caulton's Mouth, two days before his Decease.

"Witness my hand,

"Nov. 15. 98.

"JOHN HEWYT."

"Bp. Fell tells us, that all these Tracts were written by the excellent Author (whom he makes to be one and the same person) at severall times, as y'e exigence of the Church, and the benefit of soules directed y'r composures; and that he (the Author) did likewise publish them apart, in the same order as they were made. The last, it seems (w'ch is The Lively Oracles), came out in 1678, the very year Dr. Woodhead died. Had the Author liv'd longer, we should have had his Tract Of the Government of the Thoughts, a work he had undertaken; and certainly (as Bp. Fell hath told us), had this work been finished, 'twould have equall'd, if not excelled, whatever that inimitable hand had formerly wrote. Withall it may be observ'd, that the Author of these Tracts speaks of the great Pestilence, and of the great Fire of London, both w'ch happen'd after the Restoration, whereas Bp. Chappell died in 1649. And further, in sect. vii. of the Lively Oracles, n. 2., are these words, w'ch I think cannot agree to Bp. Chappell [and less to Mr. Woodhead]. I would not be hasty in charging Idolatry upon the Church of Rome, or all in her Communion; but that their Image-Worship is a most futall snare, in w'ch vast numbers of unhappy Souls are taken, no Man can doubt, who hath with any Regard travailed in Popish Countries: I myself, and thousands of others, whom the late troubles, or other occasions, sent abroad, are, and have been witnesses thereof. These words seem to have been spoke by one that had been at Rome, and was forced into those Countries after the troubles broke out here. But as for Chappell, he never was at Rome, nor in any of those Countries.

"As for Archbp. Stern, no Man will believe him to have any just Title to any of these Tracts. [The last Passage concerning idolatry, will not agree with Mr. Woodhead, nor the rest with Lady Packington.]

"In a letter from Mr. Hearne, dat. Oxon, Mar. 27, 1733, said by Dr. Clavering, Bp. of Petr. to be wrote by one Mr. Basket, a Clergyman of Worcestershire. See Dr. Hamond's Letters published by Mr. Peck, et ultra Quære."

On so disputed a point as the authorship of the Whole Duty of Man, your readers will probably welcome any discussion by one so competent to form an opinion in such matters as Hearne.

The letter above given was unknown to the editor of Mr. Pickering's edition.

Marlborough College.

MISTAKE ABOUT GEORGE WITHER

In Campbell's Notices of the British Poets (edit. 1848 p. 234.) is the following, passage from the short memoir of George Wither:—

"He was even afraid of being put to some mechanical trade, when he contrived to get to London, and with great simplicity had proposed to try his fortune at court. To his astonishment, however, he found that it was necessary to flatter in order to be a courtier. To show his independence, he therefore wrote his Abuses Whipt and Stript, and, instead of rising at court, was committed for some months to the Marshalsea."

The author adds a note to this passage, to which Mr. Peter Cunningham (the editor of the edition to which I refer) appends the remark inclosed between brackets:—

"He was imprisoned for his Abuses Whipt and Stript; yet this could not have been his first offence, as an allusion is made to a former accusation. [It was for The Scourge (1615) that his first known imprisonment took place.]"

I cannot discover upon any authority sufficient ground for Mr. Campbell's note resecting a former accusation against Wither. He was undoubtedly imprisoned for his Abuses Whipt and Stript, which first appeared in print in 1613, but I do not think an earlier offence can be proved against him. It has been supposed, upon the authority of a passage in the Warning Piece to London, that the first edition of this curious work appeared in 1611; but I am inclined to think that the lines,—

refers to the period at which the "Satirical Essays" were composed. Mr. Willmott, however (Lives of the Sacred Poets, p. 72.), thinks that they point to an earlier publication. But it is not likely that Wither would so soon again have committed himself by the publication of the Abuses in 1613, if he had suffered for his "liberty of speech" so shortly before.

Mr. Cunningham's addition to Mr. Campbell's note is incorrect. The Scourge is part of the Abuses Whipt and Stript printed in 1613 (a copy of which is now before me), to which it forms a postscript. Wood, who had never seen it, speaks of it as a separate publication; but Mr. Willmott has corrected this error, although he had only the means of referring to the edition of the Abuses printed in 1615. Mr. Cunningham's note, that Wither was imprisoned for the Scourge in 1615, is a mistake; made, probably, by a too hasty perusal of Mr. Willmott's charming little volume on our elder sacred poets.

USEFUL VERSUS USELESS LEARNING

A single and practical plan for the formation of a complete and useful library and respository of universal literary knowledge.

The design which I propose in the following few lines, is one which I should imagine nearly all the more learned and literary of your readers would wish to see already in existence and when I show that it might be effected with very little trouble and expense (indeed no trouble but such as would be a pleasure to those interested in the work), and that the greatest advantage would follow from it,—I hope that it may meet with favourable consideration from some of the numerous, able, and influential readers and correspondents of your journal.

I am the more induced to hope this from the fact of such a wish having been partially expressed by some of your contributors, and the excellent leading articles of Nos. 1 and 2.

What I propose is simply this: the SYSTEMATIC ARRANGEMENT of all the existing literary knowledge in the world that is considered of value by those best qualified to judge, disposed in such a manner as to answer these two purposes: 1st, to give a general connected and classified view of the literary treasures of the whole world, beginning from the most ancient in each language and department (including only what is valuable in each); and, 2dly, to afford the greatest possible facility (by means of arrangement, references and indexes) to every inquirer for finding at once the information he is in search of, if it is to be found anywhere by looking for it.

There are two ways in which this work might be accomplished, both of which were desirable, though even one only would be much better than none.

The first and most complete is, to make a real COLLECTION of all those works, arranged in the most perfect systematic order; and, while doing so, to make at the same time a corresponding classified Catalogue.

The chief (and almost the only) difficulty in the way of this would be, to find a room (or suite of rooms) to contain such a library and repository; but such would probably be found if sought.

The other way in which this object might be attained is by the formation of a simple CATALOGUE in the same order, such as does already exist and lies open for public use (though only in manuscript, and not so accurately classified as might be) in the noble library of the Dublin University.

This plan would be far easier than (besides forming the best possible basis for) that so urgently advocated by MR. BOLTON CORNEY (Vol. i. pp. 9, 42, 43.).

Of course so extensive a design would require to be distributed among many hundred persons; but so does any great work: while, by each individual undertaking that department in which he is most interested and most experienced, the whole might be accomplished easily and pleasantly.

The great fault of antiquarians is, that they are constantly beginning at the wrong end: they fix on some one piece of information that they want to get, and devote a world of labour to hunting about in all directions for anything bearing on the subject; whereas the rational way obviously is, to have the whole existing mass of (valuable) knowledge classified, and then the inquirer would know where to look for his purpose.

Of course there will always remain much knowledge of a miscellaneous and irregular nature which is picked up by accident, and does not come within the scope of the present design; but this is generally of a trifling and fugitive kind, and does not at all controvert the principle above laid down.

In conclusion, I have worked out a tolerably complete series of arrangements for the above design, showing its practicability as well as usefulness, which will be much at the service of any one who can use them for the furtherance of that object.

MINOR NOTES

Numerals.—For the old Indian forms, see Prinsep's Journal Asiatic Soc. Bengal, 1838, p. 348. The prospectus of Brugsh, Numerorum apud Egyptios Demoticorum Doctrina, Berlin, promises to give from papyri and inscriptions not only the figures, but the forms of operation. Probably the system assumed its present form by the meeting of the Indian and Egyptian traders at some emporium near the mouth of the Indus. Peacock seems to give undue weight to the fact, that the Tibetans have a copious nomenclature for high numbers: their arithmetic, doubtless, came with their alphabet, and the Buddhist legends from India.