306
NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. x. OCT. 17, uu.
- erveing that you had not applied long ago for
Mr. Jefferson was appointed to the Vanguard in Dec r last. My arm is perfectly healed and my general health is better than it usually has been. I shall be in Town ab' the end of this Month but J should be sorry you took the trouble of such a "very long Journey merely to see me. Believe me
Dear Sir Your Obliged jHumble Serv*
HORATIO JEndorsed]
Bath Feby fourth 1798 Inchiquin.
To MR. GRAHAM
At Mr. David Smith's Warehouse
Liverpool.
December 17 th 1800. MY DEAR SIR/
You must as my other friends have the good- .ness to forgive my not writing so much or so often as those who have two hands, and not -attribute to neglect or inattention what is truly the effect of my loss. I can assure you no one Tejoices more to hear of you than myself and feel jgrateful for all your congratulations and good wishes and only rest assured that I am as ever your sincere friend NELSON.
.[Endorsed]
London December Seventeenth 1800. MR. THO S GRAHAM Surgeon B.N. .NELSON. Liverpool.
B. B E.
Two EASTBOURNE WORTHIES. The an-
cient church of St. Mary, Eastbourne, has
lately lost by death a valued official in the
person of the late Mr. Simeon Hart, a mem-
ber of a family whose services thereto are
probably unique in English parish history ;
and the following extract from The East-
bourne Chronicle of 26 Sept. last may be of
interest to readers of ' N. & Q.' :
"The Hart Family.
- Either as clerk or sexton, or as holders of
loth offices, members of the Hart family have teen uninterruptedly in service at the Parish Church for a period of 174 years. In his admir- able book, ' Old Eastbourne, 1 the Bev. W. Budgen supplies interesting details of the various parish and church offices for several centuries past. We gather therefrom that the first of the family to serve one John Hart was clerk from 1740 to 1777. Thomas Hart, his son, held the post from the latter date to 1793, and was suc- ceeded by his own son, bearing the same Christian name, until his death in 1821. William, a second son of Thomas Hart, sen., then came on the scene, and served for 32 years. ' He was,' says Mr. Budgen, ' the last of the clerks of the old echool. Some of the older residents can still call ,to mind his old-time ways how, after giving out .the Psalm from his seat below the Vicar's desk, he would walk down the church to join the choir in the gallery at the west end.' ' The salary at
this period,' adds the author of ' Old East-
bourne,' ' had risen to lOi. per annum, but this
probably covered the sexton's duties as well
as the clerk's.' On the death in 1853 of
\Yilliam Hart the clerkship went to Mr. John
Marchant, who in 1866 was succeeded by Mr.
Welch. The line of service in connection with
the Hart family remained, however, unbroken.
George Hart filled the' post of sexton for the
remarkable term of sixty years, only relinquishing
the post at his death, which occurred in 1880,
when he was 82 years of age. Mr. Simeon Hart,
who has just died, was a son of the veteran
George, and although his appointment as sexton
dates from no remoter year than 1880, he began
work at the old church as assistant verger so
long ago as 1856. The latter post, since Mr.
Simeon assumed the r61e of sexton, has been
occupied by the deceased's son, Mr. Bobert Hart,
who represents the sixth generation of the Hart
family who have successively held office in the
church."
It may be permissible to add that, by a curious coincidence, the Mr. Welch above mentioned as having been appointed parish clerk at the same church in 1866 also passed away in the same week. He was in addition head master of the parish schools from 3 Jan., 1856, until his retirement in 1901, and for several years a much-esteemed Alderman of the Borough of Eastbourne. ALAN STEWART.
WARS OF Louis XIV. : HOUSEHOLD LINEN. A large white linen table - napkin in our possession furnishes an interesting link with the conquests of Louis XIV., and in view of its topical interest I venture a detailed description.
The napkin measures 3 ft. 9 J in. by 2ft. 11 in., and the design, which runs lengthwise, is surrounded by a border of cannon, pikes, muskets, standards, sabres, halberds, swords, coats of mail, and drums arranged in conventionalized patterns, with the three fleurs-de-lis on a shield surmounted by a crown repeated in each corner.
The centre of the cloth is also occupied by the arms of France in a larger version, and on the right and left of the shield appears the name of Louis XIIII. (sic). The right-hand side of the design being similar throughout to the left, but in reverse, I describe the left-hand side only. The top left corner has a representation of a forti- fied town, under which appears the name of MONS. A few houses to the right, within a great wall, are labelled CHAR, and above Char a soldier stands, holding a long staff, valiant in armour and a hat with a sweeping feather. Mounted cannon and balls occupy the intervening spaces, and the relative pro- portions of towns and men, &c., are entirely
