284
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. x. OCT. 10, im
Simms (Samuel William), d. 17 Jan., 1908, aged 97
Bath bookseller. Said to have voted in every
Parliamentary election since the Reform Act.
Simpkin (William), hatter and bookseller. Assistan
to B. Crosby (q.v.). One of the founders in 1815
of the firm of Simpkin & Marshall. His only
child, a daughter, married H. G. Bohii (q.v.).
Smith (Egerton), b. Keridal, 1768 ; d. 18 Nov., 1841
Principal proprietor and editor of The Liverpool
Mercury, one of the few provincial newspapers
possessing national importance at the time. A
man of rare energy, industry, and ability
Founder of the Mechanics' Library and the Night
Asylum at Liverpool.
Smith (Francis), d. 22 Dec., 1691. London book seller, and Keeper of the Custom House. His remarkable epitaph in Bunhill Fields records that he " suffered much by fines, corporal punish- ment, and forty-two imprisonments, for urging the frequency of Parliaments, and publishing the sentiments of freemen during the reign of tyranny and oppression in the 17th century." Smith (YVilliam Henry), b. 7 July, 1792. News- agent and stationer. Founder of the Railway Bookstall business, in which he possessed a mono poly for many years.
Sotheran (Thomas), bookseller. Founded the busi- ness bearing his name in Old Broad Street, 1812.
Spence (Ferrand). Translator of 'Miscellanea
by C. Marguetel de Saint- Denis,' 1686. Stephen (Sir Leslie), b. London, 28 Nov., 1832
Original editor of the ' D.N.B.' Stevens (W.), d. 1887. Publisher and founder of
The Family Herald.
Traheron (W.). Translator of 'Historieof all the Roman Emperors,' by Pedro Mexia (and others), 1604; 'The Imperiall Historic,' by P. Mexia, 1623.
Valpy (Richard), 1754-1836. Add : Produced acting versions of some of Shakespeare's plays in aid of national memorials. Yaux (Thomas), second Baron. Add : Contributor
to * Songes and Sonettes,' 1557.
Yere (Edward de), seventeenth Earl of Oxford. Add: Contributor to 'Paradice of Dainty Deuises,' 1576.
Wackrill (Samuel Thomas), d. 1907. First Mayor and "Father of Leamington." Devoted the greater part of a long and strenuous life to the public service. A citizen whose chief object in life was the public weal.
Wall (Alfred H.), d. 1906. In turn actor, miniature painter, photographer, journalist, artist, and librarian. Author of ' Fifty Years of our Good Queen's Reign,' 1887 ; ' Shakespeare's Face,' 1890; ' Shakespeare Adversaria,' 1890 ; ' Guide to Strat- ford,' 1885. Edited 'Cassell's Household Guide.' Contributed to Popular Science Review and other publications. Sometime editor of Illust. Sporting and Dramatic News and Lady's Pictorial. Sent to Australia in 1888 to sketch for Illufst. London News. Walton (Sir John Lawson), d. 1908. M.P. for South
Leeds from 1892. Attorney-General from 1905. Weaver (Edmund), fl. 1620. Publisher. Clothed
by the Stationers' Company, 26 Oct., 1607. Westell (James), d. 1 Feb., 1908, aged 79. Engaged in practical bookselling for 67 years. His cus- tomers included Gladstone (once besieged in the shop, escaping by a rear door), Bulwer Lytton, Dyce, Father Ignatius, Joseph Knight, and' other eminent men.
Whalley (J. Lawson), Colonel 4th King's Own
Lancashire Regiment. Author of 'Gold War
Medals awarded to British Military and Naval
Forces from Elizabeth to Victoria,' 1888.
White the elder (Benjamin), 1725-94. Publisher and bookseller at the sign of " Horace's Head," Fleet Street. One of the first booksellers to issue an annual list of expensive books, begun in 1771. Brother of Gilbert White, whose immortal ' Selborne ' he first published.
White the younger (Benjamin), d. at Ewelme, Oxfordshire, 18 May, 1821. Publisher and book- seller. Succeeded his father at "Horace's Head, ' and continued to publish the annual catalogue of books in conjunction with his brother John until 1796 ; continued by John until 1807 or later. Some of the finest publications of the period were issued by B. White.
White (John Campbell), first Baron Overtoun, b. Hayfield, near Rutherglen, 21 Nov., 1843 ; d. 1908. Convener of Dumbartonshire. Bequeathed 61,000^. to charitable and religious societies.
Williams (John), 1761-1818. Add : Author of ' Chil- dren of Thespis,' 1787 ; ' Poems by Anthony Pasquin,' 1789, 2 vols.
Wimbledon (R.). Author of ' A Sermon preached at St. Paul's Crosse in the reign of K. Henry IY. in the yeare 1388 [sic], and founde hyd in a Wall,' 1575.
Ylope (M.). Contributor to ' Paradice of Dainty Deuises,' 1576.
WILLIAM JAGGABD.
In M'Neill's * Tranent and its Surround- ings,' second edition, 1884, pp. 106-10, the spelling of the name of the Tranent school- master is Feane not Fian or Fyan, as in MB. JAGGABD'S list. W. S.
ABABIC-ENGLISH. Many years ago a dis-
tinguished Arabic scholar, the Rev. George
Percy Badger, commented on the remarkable
fact that, considering the vast number of
Orientals who were living under the sway
of Great Britain, only an infinitesimal amount
of attention was spent in this country upon
the study of Eastern languages. Arabic,
he observed in a letter addressed to myself,
as an instrument for the rigorous training
of the mind, was not inferior in value to
mathematics, was certainly equal to Greek,
and probably superior to Latin. And yet
this study, so far as I am aware, has never
yet entered into the curricula of any of our
Secondary Schools. Complacent ignorance
is a national trait, and complacently ignorant
we shall probably always remain.
One may ask how many Englishmen know the meaning of the names of the rival Sultans n Morocco. A short time ago such a well- nformed journal as The Pall Mall Gazette had a leader headed by the time-worn joke, dating thirty years back, of " Abdul As Is, and Abdul As Was." Such a name as Abdul would not only be meaningless in Arabic, but
