142
NOTES AND QUERIES. [n s. m. FEB. 25, 1911.
Polevoi and other writers on Lomonossov as
a man of letters than as a scientific worker.
He well understood the limits of science and
literature, for, in his own words,
" the mathematician is not reasonable who thinks
he can measure the will of God with a pair of
compasses, nor is the instructor of divinity if he
supposes he can teach astronomy or chemistry
out of the Psalter."
The search for the North Pole and the North- West Passage engaged Lomonossov' s atten- tion.
Born with the old Novgorod dialect, Lomonossov became familiar with other forms of Russian through residence at Moscow and Kiev, and mastered the com- plicated grammar of Church Slavonic. His works include a short Russian chronicle ; the grammar, odes, tragedies, and Court panegyrics ; writings on chemistry, elec- tricity, glass manufacture, and metallurgy ; and translations from Lucian, Erasmus, Rousseau, and Junker. He was high in favour under the Tsaritsa Elizabeth, but retired from the Academy with a pension soon after the accession of Catherine II.
I have heard Russian class-masters extol the career of Lomonossov as a model for young pupils in the tone of Dr. Samuel Smiles, a form of exhortation which creates disappointment quite as often as it en- courages. The eloquent tribute to the merits of the Russian language, in which Lomonossov cites Charles V., included in Reiff's grammar, is known to many who are unfamiliar with his life and work.
FRANCIS P. MAKCHANO?.
Streatham Common.
BISHOPSGATE STREET WITHOUT.
(See ante, p. 2.)
" THE CATHERINE WHEEL " in Bishopsgate Without, between Nos. 43 and 48, was, until lately pulled down, the last of the old galleried inns in Bishopsgate Within and Without. Some years before its demolition it was severely damaged by fire, or it would probably have held out longer. Only one side of the house remained in 1895, and the galleries upon which the eyes of generations of travellers and carriers had rested, in anticipation of the repose afforded behind them, had been filled in with glass partitions. The date 1564 was upon an old lamp pre- served on the premises ; but whether this was an afterthought with a view to " business " one cannot say. I had not time in 1895 to look over the remains thoroughly, though
many features of antiquarian interest were
claimed for what remained of the old inn.
There was a local tradition that the stables of the inn were by no means innocent of accommodating the horses of " gentlemen of the road," among whom is said to have been that glorified rascal Richard Turpin.
" On Saturday last Sir Humphrey Cahoon, a Scotch Gentleman, took a lodging at the' Katherine-Wheel Inn without Bishopsgate ; and next Morning about ten a Clock cut his own Throat with a Penknife, in so violent a Manner, that tho' the Assistance of able Surgeons was called in, he died in the Space of an Hour after. The Coroner's Inquest having sat upon the Body, brought in their Verdict Lunacy ; it appearing that for some time he was disorder 'd in his Senses." Weekly Journal, 25 Aug., 1722.
If this be Sir Humphrey Colquhoun of the Nova Scotia baronetcy, the origin of whose family is " enveloped in the obscurity of remote antiquity," the date does not agree with that given by Burke. Sir Humphrey Colquhoun, a member of the Union Parlia- ment, died, according to the ' Peerage ' of 1864, in 1715, but in another part of the account of the family the date is given as 1718.
It has been assumed I think erroneously that this sign had its origin in the Knights of St. Catherine of Mount Sinai, an order created in 1063 for the protection of pilgrims on their way to and from the Holy Sepulchre. This, of course, might be indirectly the case, but it is exceedingly probable that the sign was derived more directly from the arms of the Turners' Company, before that Company was incorporated, 2 James I., 1604. These arms are : Azure, a Catherine wheel between two columns or ; in chief, a regal crown proper ; in base, an axe argent, handled of the second, lying fesseways, the blade down- wards. (Cf. "The Axe Inn" in St. Mary Axe, 9 S. x. 425 ; xi. 110, 231 ; xii. 170, 253, 351, 507 ; 10 S. i. 89.)
In connexion with Richard Flecknoe's assertion that " The Catherine Wheel " became " The Cat and Wheel," owing to religious prejudice (' ^Enigmatical Charac- ters,' 1658, 8vo), it is worthy of note that in the scarce little book called ' The Stranger's Guide, or Traveller's Directory,' three dis- tinct Cat and Wheel Alleys are thus de- scribed :
" Cat and Wheel Alley, in Bishopsgate Street
without.
Cat and Wheel Alley, in Whitechapel. Cat and Wheel Alley, on Snow Hill."
It is probable that religious prejudice had nothing to do with the popular abbrevia- tion. At all events, in the same ' Guide y
