188
NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. i. MAR. 4,
(gwriia.
WE must request correspondents desiring in- formation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that answers may be sent to them direct.
MlD-NlNETEENTH-CENTUBY LlTEBATUBE
FOB BOYS. I am extremely interested in the history, &c., of the old penny weekly numbers of " dreadfuls," boys' periodicals, and similar literature of the forties, fifties, sixties, and seventies.
Have any articles or answers appeared in
- N. & Q.' bearing on the subject, or on the
old-fashioned " penny-a-liner " writer of those decades ? I believe something of this nature has appeared somewhere, but I cannot, trace it. I have searched through the ' Dictionary of National Biography,' Boase's ' Biography,' and also Allibone's
- English and American Literature,' and can
find mention only of Percy B. St. John and his father and brothers, E. J. Brett (Boys of England), and W. S. Hayward. There was, however, a multitude of similar authors, such as Bracebridge Hemyng (Jack Harka- way), Chas. Stevens, R. Proctor, Geo. and William Emmett, Chas. Fox, E. Harcourt Burrage, and Chas. Ross, who knocked about Fleet Street in the old days of journalism, and whose works I occasionally come across.
Any information will be gratefully re- ceived by FBANK JAY. St. Malo, 21 Fircroft Road, Upper Tooting, S.VV.
[Much information on the subject will be found in MR. RALPH THOMAS'S series of articles dealing with Sir John Gilbert, J. F. Smith, and The London Journal. See 11 S. vii. 221, 276, 375; viii. 121, 142 ; x. 102, 144, 1&3, 223, 262, 292, 301, 318, 328, 357, 426.]
THOMAS HOLCBOFT : Two ANECDOTES IN THE * MEMOIRS.' There are two anecdotes in Holcroft's ' Memoirs ' which I should like to have explained :
" 30th [October, 1798] Young S , and B 's
nephew, came in their fathers' name to ask for orders. Both families are rich, but I complied
and procured them. B and N . M.P., being
at Brighton, where Major R was, N praised
the Major as a man of great information, his
friend, and one with whom B ought to be
intimate. B said, they had met and spoken,
and as there could be no great harm, he would
accompany N to visit R . They happened
to meet him, and R presently took occasion
to tell N , that, from the principles he pro- fessed, and the speeches he had made in parlia- ment, he could not but consider him as an enemy to his King and country, he therefore desired they might have no more intercourse. B laughed at
N and his friend, but remarked the Major was-
an honest man, for most people would have said as much when he was absent, without the courage to declare such sentiments to his face" (iii. 58-9).
And if the filling-in of the names B ,
N , M.P., and Major R of Brighton,
is very simple to some person who has the same anecdote related in some other book r I can propose another passage :
"26th [December. 1798] Walked with B r
to see P , whose hands are excessively burned by
extinguishing fire, which had. caught his wife's clothes, and must certainly have burned her to death. His resolution was considerable. When
the wife of B r was sitting for her picture,.
B related the following anecdote. At the
time of the last procession, he was painting K. G., who asked if he intended to see the sight. B-; answered in the affirmative. ' It will be very tine*
B , very fine.' The day after, when sitting, he
again said, * Well, B , did you see the procession,
B ?' The painter answered he had. * How
did you like it, B ? How did you like it ? '
'Exceedingly.' 'Had you a good sight, B ?*
'A very good one. I saw it from a one pair oi stairs, on the top of Ludgate Hill.' 'That must
have been very fine, very fine indeed, B . I
wish I had been in your place. I should like to have seen it myself.' But I could see nothing but the back of the coachman.' "
And these further problems as to B ,
B r, P , and the procession I leave
also in the hands of my readers.
'ELBBIDGE COLBY.
52 West 126 Street, New York City.
ABTHUB WEBSTEB, DANCEB. Ben Web- ster, the actor, had a half-brother, Arthur Webster, who danced with his sister Clara in the late thirties as " Master Arthur and Miss Clara." Until Miss Webster's tragic death in 1845 they were constantly together in ballets and pantomimes. When did Arthur Webster die ? J. M. BULLOCH.
123 Pall Mall, S.W.
HEBALDBY. Will some reader skilled in heraldry oblige me by telling me what family bore the arms, Paly of six azure and or, a chief gules, about the end of the fifteenth century ? I am nearly sure that the coat belonged to an Italian family,, probably Venetian. H. C. L. MOBBIS.
The Steyne, Bognor.
EDWABD WOBTLEY MONTAGU, 1713-76. ( 1 ) When and where was he born ? The ' Diet. Nat. Biog.' xxxviii. 237-40, says in the summer of 1713, and another authority says in October, 1713. (2) What was the name of " the woman much his senior, and of no social position," whom he married ? When and where did this marriage take place ? (3) Who was the mother of his sou Edward Wortley Montagu 2 G. F. R, B.
