366
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. VIL MAY n, 1907.
the 3rd V.B. The East | Surrey Regiment, who
joined the City Imperial Volunteers | Private
Albert Edward Rowe, son of Richard James Rowe
| and Jane his Wife, of this Parish. He died of
enteric fever at | Pretoria on the 6th of October,
1900, aged 23 years ; and | Private George Edward
Ives, son of Thomas Ives and Eli I zabeth his Wife,
of this Parish. He was killed in action at |
Diamond Hill, near Pretoria, on the 12th of June,
1900, aged | 22 years, during The South African
Campaign. | This Memorial is erected at the
expense of the Regimental Fund. | The Right
Honourable Sir Alfred Newton, Bart., Lord Mayor
| 1899-1900.
Arms of the City of London.
RUVIGNY. Galway Cottage, Chertsey.
(To be concluded.)
THE GYPSY LOBE SOCIETY. In October,
1887, COL. W. F. PRIDEAUX inquired in
your columns (7 S. iv. 289) whether any
systematic attempt had been made to
collect the songs and ballads current among
the English Gypsies. The late MR. W. J.
IBBETSON replied, suggesting that an asso-
ciation should be formed for the purpose
of publishing Romani vocabularies, ballads,
&c. ; and the result was the foundation, by
Mr. David MacRitchie, of the Gypsy Lore
Society, which from 1888 to 1892 issued its
valuable journal. The suspension of the
Society, which was cosmopolitan in cha-
racter, was regretted no less by the Romani
Rais of Great Britain than by the large
body of continental and American scholars
who were interested in its aims. At the
Hamburg Congress of Orientalists in 1902
a Gesellschaft fiir Zigeunerforschung was
formed, with the late Archduke Joseph of
Austria for President, and Prof. Anton
Herrmann as Secretary. This society issued
gratis to its members several important
works at irregular intervals, but it publishes
no journal, nor has it attempted to replace
its predecessor as the central organization
for all Gypsy students and the repository
of miscellaneous Romani knowledge. It
has therefore been decided to revive the old
Gypsy Lore Society, and a large measure of
support, both literary and financial, has
already been secured. The first number of
the new series of the Journal will appear
on July 1st, and I shall be glad to send a
prospectus to any of your readers who are
interested. R. A. SCOTT MACFIE.
6, Hope Place, Liverpool.
CHRIST'S HOSPITAL SITE. As was gene- rally anticipated, the excavations in con- nexion with the new Post Office buildings have brought to light interesting fragments
of the crypt of the Greyfriars' Church and
the Roman Wall. The Star of 22 April
was the first newspaper to take note of these
important discoveries ; but generally it has
not been realized by the press or the public
that this was one of the most interesting
excavations in London for very many years.
The finds of coins, &c., will, it is supposed,
be deposited in the Guildhall Museum ; and
ample record lias, I am informed, been made
of everything of importance unearthed.
The human remains have, as usual, been
reint erred at Ilford.
The earth excavated was carted to Black- friars Bridge, and there shot into barges to be taken down the river a strange journey and end for what was almost sacred soil.
Mr. E. B. S. Shepherd's paper ' The Church of the Friars Minors in London," read on 2 April, 1902, before the Royal Archaeological Institute (published in the Journal, September, 1902), is, I venture to suggest, the most valuable contribution on the subject hitherto issued.
ALECK ABRAHAMS. 39, Hillmarton Road, N.
" BIRCH'S." It is pleasant in these days, when the effacement of well-known land- marks in the City proceeds apace, to be able to record that this famous confectioner's still stands intact at 15, Cornhill, contriving moreover to preserve its peculiar, original characteristics. Pickaxe and shovel have indeed been busy in this particular quarter of late years, and the attack continues with unabated strength. Happily, Messrs. Ring & Brymer's slim, five-storied house, so popularly known as " Birch's," not only exhibits no signs of extinction, but its quaint shop windows, with their small, oddly fashioned panes surrounded by delicate borderings on the woodwork, are now in process of quite elaborate redecoration a good omen,letushope,of continued longevity. The painters would seem to find their task difficult, for, to my knowledge, they have been engaged upon that attractive frontage for weeks ; the amount of scrubbing and scraping it has received must be remarkable. Some day, no doubt, it will assume quite a smart, rejuvenated appearance, and those ancient double doors, through which so many generations of customers must have passed, again swing as merrily as of old upon their hinges. CECIL CLARKE.
Junior Athenaeum Club.
' SOBRIQUETS AND NICKNAMES.' Mr. A. R. Frey's useful little volume with this title
