452
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io* s. m. JUNE 10, iocs.
16 pp. and plate. There is no date, but it was issued in 1825, as is shown by the statement on p. 2:—
"Claude Ambroise Seurat was born at Troyes, in the department of Champaigne, on the 10th of April, 1797, and is now therefore twenty-eight years of age."
The correction referred to is the number in Pall Mall, which is 94—not 49, as stated.
A note in pencil is added at, the end:—
"The three figures represent a man who was exhibited as a living skeleton at the Egyptian Hall and elsewhere ";
but not much importance need be attached to it, as it is evidently recent. The last two paragraphs refer to his being exhibited:—
"So far from having any disinclination to being exhibited in this country, Claude Ambroise Seurat has repeatedly urged his wish to gratify the strong desire of the public, in allowing them to view him without loss of time; and hearing that some of the journals had spoken in strong terms of the bad taste and cruelty of the parties, who had taken him under their protection and care, he begged permission to contradict such statements, and accordingly addressed a letter to that effect to the Editor of the British Press, which cannot fail to satisfy every dispassionate mind as to the motives of those who have brought forward this almost supernatural being.
"Trusting to the liberality of a discerning public, and at the urgent solicitations of many medical and private friends, the gentlemen who have brought him over at a very great expence, have consented to exhibit him, for a limited period, satisfied that it is the best means of refuting all the opinions and speculations that have been advanced upon the subject."
I distinctly remember seeing Tom Thumb at the Egyptian Hall in May or June, 1844, when he and a red Indian of the name of Roc-o-sot were being exhibited there by the celebrated showman Barnum. Tom Thumb was twenty-five inches high, and said to be thirteen years old; but thirty years later, in 1874, I made acquaintance with Barnum as a fellow-passenger on board an Atlantic steamer, and he told me that Tom Thumb was really only five years old when he was exhibited at the Egyptian Hall in 1844, and that he afterwards grew to such a height well over three feet that he became quite worthless as a show. R. Marsham-Townshend.
With the view of helping Mr. Harland-Oxley towards a complete list of the entertainments at this hall, I would mention the appearance there—for one or more seasons—of Messrs. Edmund Yates and Power (a son of the Mr. Power who was wrecked in the ship President), for I well remember to have seen them there together in their entertainment.
I cannot call to mind the date, but as it was advertised daily in The Times, there can be no difficulty in finding it. C. Mason.
Norfolk Folk-Songs (10ᵗʰ S. iii. 365).—Although I am unable to offer Mr. Holcombe Ingleby the particular information he seeks, yet it is just possible that the following generalities may interest him as well as others of your readers who desire to help in the work of recording our traditional song before it is too late.
Two songs are given under 'Norfolk' in 'English County Songs,' by Lucy E. Broadwood and J. A. Fuller Maitland, published at the Leadenhall Press in 1893; and two or three others will be found in the earlier numbers of the Journal of the Folk-Song Society, which may be obtained from the hon. sec., Miss Lucy Broadwood, 84, Carlisle Mansions, Victoria Street, London, S.W. The six parts of the Journal already issued contain between two and three hundred traditional melodies, with the words to which they were sung, and valuable notes and references by Miss Broadwood, Mr. Frank Kidson, and others. To the sixth number Mr. Kidson has contributed a select list of works dealing with the subject.
The number of folk-songs that may be found in any given district depends to a very great extent upon the manner in which the collector seeks for them, and "young"' collectors could not do better than procure the leaflet entitled 'Hints to Collectors,' issued by the Society.
Bonaparte and England (10ᵗʰ S. iii. 408).—A copy of the extract from the letter of the Rev. Thomas Belsham, dated Hackney, 16 August, 1805, will be found in 2ⁿᵈ S. vii. (30 April, 1859). Two contradictions followed at p. 402, one of which says: "There was never anything more absurd than this fabrication, for it can be called nothing less."
Owen Brigstocke (10ᵗʰ S. ii. 86, 237).—The following are some of the particulars promised for the information of Palamedes and D. M. R.
Owen Brigstocke, of Llechdwny and of Llandebie, eldest son and heir of John Brigstocke (ob. 1640), of Croydon, Surrey, and of Llechdwny, co. Caermarthen, born circa 1628-30—High Sheriff for co. Caermarthen in 1657 and again in 1669, one of
