100
NOTES AND QUERIES. [n s. xn. AUG. 7, 1915.
A SONNET BY WORDSWORTH. A year or
two ago I bought (secondhand) a copy of
Myers's ' Wordsworth ' in the " English Men
of Letters " Series (pub. 1882). On the
inside of the cover is pasted a half-sheet of
note-paper, on which is written a sonnet,
with the heading, " A Sonnet to Miss Sellon,
by Wordsworth." This begins :
The Vestal priestess of a sisterhood
Who knew no self, and whom the selfish scorn.
At the bottom of the poem is the date 22 Feb., 1849.
I have consulted several editions of Words- worth without finding it, and should be glad if through your paper I could discover whether it is known or not.
WM. SPOONER.
The Boys' County School, Richmond, Surrey.
FITZ JAMES. Can any one give any in- formation of the descent of Capt. Fitzjames, R.N., who perished in the Franklin Expedi- tion ? Or, failing that, the descent of the Fitzjames family of Somerset, subsequent to the year 1600? R. FITZJAMES.
61, Edith Road, West Kensington.
BEVIS MARKS SYNAGOGUE. There is a tradition that during the Rabbinate of Haham Raphael Meldola, the grandfather of Prof. Raphael Meldola, F.R.S., a fire occurred at the synagogue without doing serious damage, in which, however, the adjoining offices, containing portraits of former prominent ecclesiastics and laymen, and other invaluable property, were entirely destroyed. I should be very thankful to any reader for further information and for references to the fire in contemporary journals and magazines. Haham Meldola held the high office from 1805 to 1828.
ISRAEL SOLOMONS.
CHILD'S BANK, No. 1, FLEET STREET. I shall be obliged for any information relating to Thomas Child, brother of Sir Francis Child (1684-1740). He was not a partner in the bank, but possessed property in the same parish (' The Mary gold by Temple Bar,' p. 85, &c.). Said to be a merchant, he was, I venture to infer, identical with the Thomas Child who, in 1750, was at Wilmington, Cape Fear, trading and remitting large sums for payments to be made to certain debts. One letter ends : " We shall follow ourselves very soon, and then I shall take proper measures about ye Yorkshire estate," &c. There is said to be preserved in the Salt Library at Stafford a unique copy of a litho- graphed view of the banking house with a portrait of the founder. T. C. Noble (' MS.
Memoranda on Fleet Street,' now in my
collection) noted that this cost 11. to produce,,
the design being at once obliterated from
the stone. Is anything known as to the-
purpose, date, and artist of this compara-
tively unknown plate ?
ALECK ABRAHAMS.
BIOGRAPHICAL PARTICULARS WANTED* concernirg the following : (1) Capt. Edmund Spencer, author of several books of travel in the Near East, published between 1837' and 1867. (2) Miss Laura Jewry, later Mrs. R. Valentine, a modern authoress of numerous books (novels, tales for the young,.. &c.). (3) John Jackson, author of a book on an overland journey from India to Eng- land in 1797. L. L. K.
WOOD'S PAMPHLET IN ANSWER TO LORD> BOLINGBROKE. Mr. Wood, " a gentleman who held a high post at the Custom-house^"' is said to have written " an answer to Lord' Bolingbroke " previous to that statesman's death in 1751. I want to know particulars about this Mr. Wood. ^jWhat was his pamphlet, and where was it written ?
HORACE BLEACKLEY.
SOPHIE CORNELYS. According to John, Taylor in 'Records of my Life,' i. 270 r Sophie Cornelys, daughter of the famous- Mrs. Cornelys of Carlisle House, assumed the- name of Williams after her mother's falL This statement is corroborated in the- ' Memoirs of Mrs. Sumbel,' hi. 36. Taylor says that Miss Williams went to live first with the Duchess of Newcastle, nee Lady^ Anna Maria Stanhope, and then with Margaret, Countess Spencer (ob. 1814), who- left her 100Z. at her death. Afterwards sha was patronized by Princess Augusta Sophia (ob. 1840). She died before the publication of Taylor's memoirs in 1832. Is anything known of the date and place of her death I HORACE BLEACKLEY.
"TO GO TO THE LANTERN." What does
this mean ? In The Daily Mail of 14 June- I read : "If The Times is excluded from public libraries, Mr. Lloyd George ought ta go to the lantern." M.A.OxoN.
["A la lanterne" was one of the cries of the populace in the French Revolution. Many of the aristocrats were hanged by the lantern ropes to- the lantern supports in the streets, and particularly in the Place de Greve. The best-known instances are perhaps the deaths of Foulon and his son-in-law Sauvigny, soon after the taking of the Bastille. The mob added to the refrain of 'a ira' the line ' Lss aristocrates a la lanterne!' See also Gargle's ' Hist. Fr. Rev.,' Book V. ix.]
