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In the Author's once popular Performance,

Call'd THE BRUSH.

The Gallimaufry Garnished with a variety of

COMIC TALES,

QUAINT EPIGRAMS,

WHIMSICAL EPITAPHS,
&c., &c.

A Kickshaw Treat, which comprehends
Odd Bits and Scraps, and Orts and Ends,-
Mere nicknack nambypamby Pickings,
Like Fricasees of Frogs or Chickens;
A Mess with Grubstreet Giblets fraught,
And here and there a MERRY THOUGHT;-
In frothy BRAIN SAUCE trimly drest,
But wanting SAGE for perfect zest.
Yet if we countervail that Fault,
With some few Grains of ATTIC SALT,
Sage Critics may withhold their Frown,
And kindly let the Trash go down.
PUBLISH'D BY

THE AUTHOR HIMSELF,

AND

PRINTED BY M. SWINNY, BIRMINGHAM,

1804."

Facing this curious title-page is an engraved portrait, with the words " COLLINS. SCRIPSCRAPOLOGIE SCRIPTOR." The features represent a man rather past middle age, with a keen eye, and an evident tendency to mirth; with that indescribable expression of crossness which a lover of laughter often assumes when he tries, for once in a way, to look very grave and serious. There is a very remarkable resemblance, in this portrait of Collins, to a deservedly popular London comedian of the present day, whose name I shall not mention, lest the allusion should be considered uncomplimentary.

We learn little of Collins from the Scripscrapologia, except that his father was a tailor (p. 182); that he himself was a native of Bath (p. 168), and that when he published the work he was the proprietor of the Birmingham Chronicle (p. vii); but not one word of or allusion to his Christian name, the first page commencing thus

"SCRIPSCRAPOLOGIA; COLLINS,

AUTHOR OF THE BRUSH,

SCRIPTOR."

It would seem, indeed, as if the clever and eccentric man affected to suppress his Christian name, as a matter of no moment to a person so well known by his writings and performances in The Brush as Collins; for in the Birmingham Directory of 1808, I find that every person mentioned has either a Mr., Mrs., or Christian name attached to the surname, but one, and that one exception is," Collins, Camden Street," whom we may most reasonably suppose to be no other than the author of Scripscrapologia.

To the best of my knowledge and belief, The Brush was never printed; but the original manuscript (at least what I assume to be so) of it,

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"John Collins, miniature painter in profile, is a native of England. This ingenious gentleman is better known for his amusing lecture called Collins's Brush; which he

exhibited in Ireland with success, at the same time that he pursued this diminutive branch of the arts; he now resides in Birmingham."

As Pasquin's work is undated, we cannot say what time is specified by the "now resides in Birmingham; " but we glean sufficient to learn, that the Christian name of the author of Tomorrow was John; and some of the able Warwickshire contributors to "N. & Q." may, peradventure, give us a little more information respecting him. I would be glad to learn, also, if there be another MS. of The Brush in existence; mine, from its dirty condition, many creases and thumb-marks, its general sprinkling and flavour of lamp oil, seems to have been the copy which its eccentric author used, when delivering his entertainments. WILLIAM PINKERTON. Hounslow.

ANCIENT WROUGHT-IRON ARTILLERY.

The following from The Times of Wednesday, October 28, 1863, will be read with interest by many of your correspondents. I send it in the hope of its eliciting accounts of a similar nature regarding other relics of the same sort which may exist in many places in Old England. I remember to have seen many old cannon at various ruins,

but omitted, to my subsequent regret, taking a note of them. There were some scattered about, and quite uncared for, at Pevensey Castle, about four years ago, but whether genuine "relics" or not I cannot now remember:

"TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES. "Sir,-In 1427, when the English in Normandy made their last assault on the Mont St. Michel, they brought to their aid plusieurs machines espouvantables et divers engines de guerre, with which, to continue the words of the old chronicler, ils dressèrent une batterie si furieuse contre les murailles qu'ils y firent brèche.' Among these formidable weapons were two enormous wrought-iron guns, which, on the repulse of the besiegers, they were compelled to leave behind them, and which have remained on the rock to the present time.

"Interesting as these pieces of artillery are, both in a historical and a constructive point of view, very little has hitherto been known about them, and I am not aware that any complete and accurate description of them is in

existence.

"During a late visit to Normandy, I have endeavoured (at the suggestion of my friend the Secretary of the Ordnance Select Committee) to supply this want, and possibly the following notes may be acceptable to some of your readers.

I found the guns in a bad state, being choked up with masses of stone, sand, rust, and rubbish, which had probably been there for centuries, and had become almost as hard as conglomerate. However, by the courteous aid of M. Marquet, the director of the Maison Centrale' (to whom antiquaries and architects are so much indebted for his intelligent and zealous preservation of the beautiful ecclesiastical buildings on the island) I contrived to get them tolerably clear, to obtain their dimensions, and to take photographs of them.

"The guns are of the kind termed 'bombardes,' and are of different sizes. The larger one is 19 in. calibre, 30 in. greatest external diameter, and 12 ft. total length; of which about 8 ft. 8 in. belongs to the barrel, or chase,' and 3 ft. 4 in. to the smaller powder chamber in the rear. The smaller gun is 15 in. calibre and 11 ft. 9 in. long.

"They are true built-up' guns, being formed of longitudinal wrought-iron bars, about 3 in. wide, arranged like the staves of a cask, and bound round closely with hoops of the same material. The analogy of this ancient construction with that of the modern wrought-iron guns is very curious.

"I found a projectile in each gun, and several others lying about. They are granite balls, roughly spherical, and a little smaller than the bore. Those for the larger gun will probably weigh about 300 lbs. each; but if the size of the gun be denoted according to the calibre on the same principle as modern guns for round shot, it must be called a 920-pounder! The breech-chamber would hold about 40 lbs. of powder. I estimate the weight of the large gun to be about 5 tons, and of the smaller one about 3 tons.

"I have prepared detailed drawings and descriptions, which, together with prints of my photographs, will be deposited at the Royal Museum of Artillery, Wool

wich.

"There are two other ancient bombardes in existence, constructed on the same principle; namely, the 'Dulle Griete' of Ghent, and the Mons Meg' of Edinburgh. The Michelettes,' as they are called by the people of Mont St. Michel, compare well with these, but have an additional interest in their very early date and positive history, and in the probability of their being of English manufacture. They must have been well made and well

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I lately met with a volume containing two curious works, the title-pages of which I copy:

"Petri Goldschmids, Pastoris Sterupensis, höllischer Morpheus welcher kund wird, durch wie geschene Erscheinungen derer Gespenster und Polterbeister, wo bishero zum Theil von keinen einzigen Scribenten angeführet und bemercket worden sind. Daraus nicht allein erwiesen wird, dass Gespenster seyn, was sie seyn, und zu welchem Ende dieselbigen erscheinen, wider die vorige und heutige Atheisten, Naturalisten, und Nahmentlich D. Beckern in der Bezauberten Welt, &c. Aus allen aber des Teufels List, Tücke, Gewalt, heimliche Nachstellungen und Betrug, handgreiflich kan ersehen und erkandt werden." Hamburg, 1698, 8vo, pp. 448.

The frontispiece has a figure with a human head, body, and arms, a hunch on his back after the manner of Punch, a long tail, one leg ending in a cloven foot, and the other in a bird's claws. Several insects, like large bees, crawl about him, and on his hunch is a winged serpent with a bird's head. A devil is flying to the right, and to the left is Satan offering a stone to Jesus.

The book is partly a confutation of Bekker, but amount of demonological learning. The author it contains many original ghost stories, and a vast quotes Glanvil, Henry More, and other English writers in their own language, and seems posted up on such matters to the day of going to press. His credulity is unbounded, and he treats as Atheists all who believe less than he does. His style is clear and his matter readable.

The second book is entitled:

"Petri Goldschmidts, Huso-Cimbri p. t. Pastor Sterup. Verworffener Hexen-und-Zauberer Advocat, das ist Wolgegründete Vernichtung des thorichten Vorhabens Hn. Christiani Thomasii J. U. D. et Professoris Hallensis und aller derer welche durch ihre superkluge PhantasieGrillen dem teufflischen Hexen-geschmeiss das Wort reden wollen, in dem gegen dieselbe aus dem unwidersprechlichem Göttl. Worte und der täglichlehrenden Erfahrung das Gegentheil zur Gnüge angewiesen und bestätiget wird, dass in der That, eine teuflische Hexerey und Zauberey sey, und dannenhero, eine Christliche Obrigkeit gehalten, diese abgesagte Feinde Gottes, Schadenfroh, Menschen und Vieh-Mörder aus der Christlichen Geminde zu schaffen, und dieselbe zur wohlverdienten Straffe zu ziehen." Hamburg, 1705, 8vo, pp. 694.

The frontispiece is an ordinary representation of the witches' sabbath, with nothing remarkable

but a race in the clouds between two witches, one mounted on a ram, the other on a pitchfork. Below each plate is "P. Goldschmidt, fecit." The second work is a fit sequel to the first, and is composed of similar materials. Eleven hundred pages of demonology in old German is too much for continuous reading, but Peter Goldschmidt is one of the most learned and amusing of his class, and I expect to read him bit by bit. I have looked into such works of reference às lie in my way here, and cannot find any mention of him. I shall be glad to know who he was, and whether these volumes are well known or not.

Paris was once the place for picking up curious books; it is now far less so than London. The quais abound with boxes of books, but they are mostly modern or worthless. I bought the abovementioned at a stall in the Rue Colbert (Lefebvre's, No. 10), which I have visited for many years, and seldom failed to find something tempting. Give me credit for mentioning this, for it is as if Venator were to point out the form of a hare, or Piscator the haunt of a trout.

Paris.

FITZHOPKINS.

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withal. A task which employed the bookbinder The "flower" was probably to make paste and the writer for five weeks was evidently a considerable one. Mr. Baker (by whom the extracts are communicated) in a note has attributed it to an entire revision of the books of the old church

service, attendant upon the full completion of the Reformation. It was not, however, until two from the churchwardens for correcting the service years after that Sir Richard Charnell received ij' drink during the time of doing it, and John Pack, of Thomas Becket, together with ijd for bread and ijs iiija for razing the windows of Becket, and transposing the stained clothes that Thomas Becket was on. The "correcting," it may be presumed, was equivalent to cancelling; and the " transposing" something like turning inside out.

J. G. N.

ANCIENT BOOKBINDING.

In the last number of the East Anglian; or Notes and Queries on Subjects connected with the Counties of Suffolk, Cambridge, Essex, and Norfolk, among various extracts from the churchwardens' accounts of Bungay in the first-named county, are the following very circumstantial details of some expenses in bookbinding, which I transcribe as being deserving of wider circulation, and in the hope they may attract other information of a similar kind upon an art of which comparatively little has been published:

1525. It'm, payde to the Booke bynder for ij dayes and a halfe

It'm, payde for his boorde

It'm, payde for parchement for to mende wt ye seid book

viijd

yd

ijd ob

By "bis boorde " we must understand, not the material for his work, but his maintenance in food, as more fully detailed in the following entries:

1537. It'm, payd onto Garrard for iij cawfskyns
for the reparacion off ye books
It'm, payd onto him for halfe a horsse-
hydd for the reparacion of ye books and
bells (i. e. the bells in the steeple)
It'm, payd onto Thomas Gyrlyng for iij
skyns to ye reparacion of the books
It'm, payd unto the sayd Thomas for ij
skyns for the cloffers [covers?] to ye
books

It'm, payd for iiij rede skyns for the books

xviijd

xvja

viijd

iijd

xvjd

FASHIONABLE QUARTERS OF LONDON. The progress of transmigration of the fashionable world from the East to the West of the metropolis, with the occasional irruptions into the Northern and other outlying districts, is a subject into which, I should think, would be generally of antiquarian and modern interest, the inquiry acceptable to your readers. Let me, then, suggest to some of your learned correspondents the obligation they would confer, particularly, on your London friends, if they would trace the changes of locality which have occurred either by necessity or fashion, or by the gradual increase of the town and its junction with the suburbs.

As it would be unfair to make a suggestion for inquiry without contributing some little matter to further it, let me begin with the Chancellors of England, a body of men who, if they cannot be considered of the class of fashion, are still so important in their position as to afford some index to the variations which have taken place from time to time in the residences of the great.

In the earlier reigns, when the Chancellor was little more than the King's private Secretary, they probably were located in the palace with the royal family, till they received their reward in Bishoprics or other ecclesiastical dignities. It would not assist our purpose, therefore, to carry the inquiry further back than the reign of Edward III.

Under that king we find the Chancellor, Sir Robert Parning, resided in Aldermanbury.

Robert de Thorpe died Chancellor in 1372, at the Bishop of Salisbury's house in Fleet Street.

In the reign of Henry IV. the residence of John de Scarle, the Chancellor, was in Chancery Lane, on the site which is now known as Serjeants' Inn.

Henry VIII. compelled Cardinal Wolsey, so long his Chancellor, to give up his residence as Archbishop of York, called York Place, which the king converted into a palace known by the name of Whitehall.

Wolsey's successor, Sir Thomas More, lived successively in Bucklersbury, Crosby Place in Bishopsgate, and Chelsea; at the last of which he resided when Chancellor.

The next Chancellor, Sir Thomas Audley, Lord Audley of Walden, held his private sittings at his house in Cannon Row, Westminster; but afterwards converted the priory of the Holy Trinity, or Christchurch, in Aldgate, his share of King Henry's confiscations, into a mansion for himself. This was afterwards occupied by his son-in-law, the Duke of Norfolk; the memory of which is still preserved in its modern designation of Duke's Place.

Lord Chancellor Thomas Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, who held the office under Henry VIII. and Edward VI., lived in Lincoln Place, Holborn, afterwards known as Southampton House, the site of which is now partly covered by the offices lately used by the Masters in Chancery.

Edward VIth's Chancellor, Richard Rich, Lord Rich, of disreputable memory, lived in Great St. Bartholomew's.

Nicholas Heath, Archbishop of York, Lord Chancellor to Queen Mary, received a grant from her Majesty of a residence in London for the Archbishops of York, in lieu of that taken away from Cardinal Wolsey by Henry VIII. This

was

Suffolk House, near St. George's Church, Southwark; but was permitted to change this for Norwich House, near Charing Cross, which, adopting the name of York House, became the

residence of several future Chancellors as tenants of the Archbishops.

Except in the instance of York House, which is remarkable for the reason above-mentioned, I have not noticed the residences of the Chancellors who were Bishops, inasmuch as they were generally attached to their Sees, and I confine myself in this communication to the localities of legal

men.

For the present I will stop here, reserving the future reigns for another week, supposing you show your approval by inserting this.

EDWARD Foss.

Minor Notes.

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"PIG AND WHISTLE:" INCONGRUOUS SIGNS.This subject has been taken up by a literary contemporary, and some ingenious but far-fetched attempts at explanation have been made, deduced from languages the publican is not likely to have heard of. The following seem at least to be undoubted English: "The Sun and Whalebone," "Cock and Bell," "Ram and Teazle," "Cow and Snuffers," "Crow and Horseshoe," "Hoop and Pie,"- cum multis aliis. I have some remembrance of a very simple solution of the cause of the incongruity, which was this: - The lease being out, of (say) the sign of "The Ram," or the tenant had left for some cause, and gone to the sign of "The Teazle:" wishing to be known and followed by as many of his old connexion as possible, and also to secure the new, he took his old sign with him and set it up beside the other; and the house soon became known as "The Ram and Teazle." After some time the signs required repainting or renewing; and, as one board was more convenient than two, the "emblems," as poor Dick Tinto calls them, were depicted together-and hence rose the puzzle. A. A.

Poets' Corner.

of neglected biography which have been menSIR JOHN DALRYMPLE.-To the many instances tioned in your miscellany, must be added the author of the Memoirs of Great Britain. His life is not given by Chalmers, Gorton, the compiler of the Georgian Era, Rose, or Chambers; nor is even his death recorded in the Gentleman's Magazine, the Annual Register, or the Edinburgh Annual Register.

Cousland; was born in 1726, and after being He was the son of Sir William Dalrymple of educated in the University of Edinburgh, and at the Scottish bar. He succeeded to his father's Trinity Hall, Cambridge, became an Advocate at baronetcy in 1770; was made a baron of the Scottish Exchequer in 1776; resigned that post in 1807, and died Feb. 26, 1810.

He married his cousin Elizabeth, only child and heir of Thomas Hamilton Macgill, Esq., of Fala and North Hamilton, became Earls of Stair; the and Oxenfoord. Two of his sons, John Hamilton latter now enjoying that dignity.

be obtained from the ordinary sources of biblioParticulars of Sir John Dalrymple's works may graphical information, and somewhat, but not much, respecting him from Boswell's Life of Johnof Alexander Carlyle. A brief notice of Sir John son, the Caldwell Papers, and the Autobiography Dalrymple occurs in the English Cyclopædia (Biogr. ii. 483, col. 2), but the date of his death is not there given.

Cambridge.

C. H. & THOMPSON COOPER.

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SELLING A WIFE BY AUCTION. There have been several notices of wife-selling in your columns, but I do not remember seeing any account of the peculiar circumstances under which the custom became a settled legal point in the minds of the labouring population.

When the war was over in 1815, and great numbers of soldiers were disbanded, many of them found, on reaching what had been their homes, that their wives had married again, and that a new family had sprung up to which the unfortunate soldier or sailor had no claim. In some of these cases certainly nobody was to blame. The wife had heard from more or less certain sources that her husband had been killed in such a battle, and after a decent interval had got another; all parties were in the wrong; all were to be pitied, but what was to be done? I don't suppose that the thing originated then, for such events must have occurred in former wars; but any way, the fact of taking a wife to the market, and selling her by auction, was considered as effectual a way of dissolving the vinculum as if it had been done in the House of Lords itself. The second husband became the purchaser for a nominal sum, twopence or sixpence, the first was free to marry again, and all parties were content. In the manufacturing districts in 1815 and 1816 hardly a market-day passed without such sales month after month. The authorities shut their eyes at the time, and the people were confirmed in the perfect legality of the proceeding, as they had already been satisfied of its justice.

It seems, however, not improbable that its origin would be found in times long ago, when women guilty of adultery were either put to death or sold as slaves. JANNOC.

LADY DENBIGH AND GARRICK.-The following letters are extremely characteristic, and, so far as I am aware, have not been printed. Before I possessed them they were in the collection of Mr. Dawson Turner, and a MS. note declares they were sold at Southgate's, Feb. 19, 1827, lot 78. Garrick's reply has many erasures and interlineations:

"Lady Denbigh is extremely surpriz'd to find it advertis'd that Mr Garrick plays to-night, and to have receiv'd no notice of it from him notwithstanding her request and his promise.

South Street, Thursday Morn."

"Adelphi, Thursday. "Mr Garrick presents his respects to Lady Denbighhe had so much when her Ladyship's servant was with him, that he cd not give a full answer to the Note. Mr G. did not imagine that her Ladyship would want any Notice of a Play which was in the Papers the day before. Had Mr G. not settled to play the part of Kitely so soon, he should certainly have given her LP notice of it as it was Mr G. had secured a box for Ly D., and expected her Servant all ye morng to have her commands, and must confess that he was rather surpris'd to receive

a note of Displeasure, when he flattered himself he deserv'd Lady D's thanks." J. D. CAMPBELL.

Glasgow.

STEAMBOAT. The following may be useful as a mark of the rate of speed in ship building:

"A new steamboat has been launched at Potsdam larger than any yet built in Europe. It is 200 feet long, and 44 feet wide. It is impelled by two engines of 20-horse power each; it was named The Blucher' with grand ceremony."-Literary Gazette, 1820, Feb., p. 94. W. P.

LAYING THE FIRST STONE. - Godwyn, Rom. Ant. p. 22, ed. 1633, has an account of laying the first stone of a temple among the Romans, which very much corresponds with the present custom. After describing other ceremonies of dedication, he writes:

"This being done, the Prætor touched certain ropes, wherewith a great stone, being the first of the foundation, was tyed. Together with that, other chief magistrates, priests, and all sorts of people did help to pluck that stone, and let it down into its place, casting in wedges of gold and silver, which had never been purified or tried in the fire. These ceremonies being ended, the Aruspex pronounced with a loud voice, saying-Ne temeretur opus saxo aurove in aliud destinato:' i. e. Let not this work be unhallowed by converting this stone or gold into any other use."

Those who stand at the laying a foundation stone would hardly conceive the antiquity of those details in which they take part, or, at all events, FRANCIS TREnch.

see.

Islip Rectory.

FATHER AND SON.-The case of a man not setting eyes on his own son until he was fifty years old, is probably without a parallel. The story is told by Leslie, in his agreeable Recollections of West, the painter's father. On his emigrating to America, he left his wife in England; who died shortly after giving birth to a son, whom his father first saw on his return to his native land fifty years afterwards. The painter was one of the second wife's family, born in America.

E. H. A.

ALPHONSO FERRABOSCO.-A note or two (from MS. materials) touching a well-known musician resident in England in the reign of James I., will interest DR. RIMBAULT, MR. CHAPPELL, and many of your musical readers:

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To Alphonso fferrabosco, one of her Mats Musicons, upon a Warrant dated vto Decembr. 1623, for a new lyra and vall de gambo by him bought, xx-Accounts of the Treasurer of the Chamber.

Ferrabosco, the elder, died in 1627-8; and was succeeded in one, at least, of his situations at court by his son:

"A Warrant to swear Alfonso Ferrabosco, a musician to His Majesty, for the Viols and Wind Instruments, in ye place of his father, Alfonso Ferrabosco, deceased.— 19 March, 1627-[8]."

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