296
NOTES AND QUERIES. [10*8. v. APRIL 14, im.
the yard which belonged to an old hostelry
of that name, which afterwards became "The
White Horse" Inn. An advertisement of
June, 1720, says :
- This is to give Notice to all Gentlemen, Ladies
and others, that the Oxford, Gloucester, and Here- ford Stage Coaches are removed from the Bolt and Tun Inn to the White Horse Inn in Fleetstreet, London, and sets [szc] out from thence as usual to the Place aforesaid ; where all Passengers shall be kindly used, and the stage well perform'd (if God permits) by William Haynes"
In 1723 we find :
"A Glass Coach and 6 able Horses sets out from the White Horse Inn in Fleet-street to go to the Bath, on Friday next the 31st Instant ; where any Passengers that want to go to that Place may be reasonably and well accommodated."
The old inn was pulled down in the course of the century, and two "elegant brick Dwelling Houses " (Nos. 140, 141, Fleet Street) erected on the site. An advertisement gives notice that,
" by Order of the Executrix of Mr. John Burnell, Carpenter, deceased, at the Globe Tavern, Fleet- Street, on Thursday, March 17 [1774], will be sold the remainder of a Long Lease, with a small Ground- rent, of that extensive and valuable Piece of Ground, on which formerly stood the White Horse Inn,"
together with the two houses, yards, and other appurtenances.
In a paper of 28 Sept., 1779, 1 find that on Wednesday, 6 Oct., was to be sold by auction, by order of the assignees of Mr. James Cox, of Shoe Lane, jeweller, at No. 141, Fleet Street (late Burnett's timber-yard),
"A Magnificent Throne, designed for her Imperial Majesty the Empress of Russia, with two superb bed Pavilions, white and gold, enriched with silk drapery ; several curious iron globe vases, by which the Museum in Spring Gardens was warmed without dust, smoke, the appearance of fire, or any other offensive vapour ; all the ornamental Dwarf Railing that enclosed the pieces of mechanisms, together with the various fine embellishments of the spacious room ; a fine large engine, and a variety of different woods, collected by Mr. Joseph Merlin, during the time he managed the business for Mr. Cox ; sundry tools and implements in the harpsichord-making," &c.
I am not sure if this episode in the history of Cox's Museum has been previously noticed. John Joseph Merlin (1735-1803), who managed the museum for some years, was an extremely clever mechanician.
In 1799 we find from Horwood that the court was occupied by Faulkner and Radley's British Wine Manufactory, which later seems to have developed into the London Wine Company.
Of the houses mentioned by ME. ALECK ABRAHAMS, No. 144, Fleet Street, was occupied, towards the end of the eighteenth century,
by a well known bookseller and publisher,
John Wenman. From Wenman's shop pro-
ceeded in 1776 'The Annals of Newgate;
or, Malefactors' Register,' by the Rev. Mr.
Villette, Ordinary of Newgate, as well as
editions of Fielding, Smollett, Churchill, and
other writers. But the good bookseller did
not confine himself to publishing, as the
following quaint advertisement of 1785 will
show :
'Those Gentlemen who are curious in Leather Snuff Boxes, are hereby respectfully informed, that at Wenman's Original Shop, No. 144, the North side of Fleet-street, there is now on sale the largest and most beautiful collection of Leather Snuff Boxes that ever were offered to the Publick. They are London made, and finished in a superior style to those that are usually sold about town. They may be had, either plain or mounted, with gold or silver joints, and beautifully bordered with gold, and lined either in the usual manner, or with tortoise- shell or silver, gilt or plain, and ornamented with a great variety of hair- work, and beautiful enamels ; where may be had, Clarke of Edinburgh's Trans- parent Leather Boxes, Shooting Flasks, &c. Country Leather Boxes sold remarkably cheap, and a quantity of every sort always ready for exporta- tion."
I have never seen any of these leather snuff-boxes, and as they were made of perishable material, probably not many are in existence. W. F. PKIDEAUX.
"ROMAN" MOUND (10 th S. v. 245). Such mounds of refuge as the ones referred to are common in the low-lying moors in Somerset, and their purpose that of providing refuge for farm stock in times of floods is very obvious to all who know the neighbourhoods. In former days, before the improvement of the system of surface drainage and enlarge- ment of outfalls, such refuges must have been essential, and of constantly recurrent use in the wet season.
Several may be seen in the district of Sedg- moor by looking south-east from the G.W.R., two or three miles north of Bridg water. There is a large one close to the Yeovil branch, on its north side, about a mile short of Langport, on the top of which I once saw a haymow being erected.
I have heard a stranger to the country- suggest that these mounds were the places where the slain were buried after the battle of Sedgmoor !
JAMES R. BRAMBLE, Lieut. -Col , F.S.A.
Upon the isles and marshlands of the Thames and Medway are numerous lines of banking, apparently now serving no definite end. They are traces of '* innings " made in the reclamation of land from the river in earlier days, and some, being considerably
