Authors Wanted.—Who wrote the following?—
1.O name of God ineffable,
Undreamt of yet by me,
Let my soul listen till it hear
That far-off melody,
And in the music of that word
Rise, rise eternally.
2.Too quick a sense of constant infelicity.
Who is the author of a book called—
Thinks-I-to-myself,
a
Serio-ludicro, Tragico-comico
Tale,
Written by
Thinks-I-to-myself,
Who?
In two volumes.
London:
Printed by Law and Gilbert, St. John's Square, Clerkenwell,
and Sold by Sherwood, Neely and Jones,
20 Paternoster Row;
Hatchard, Piccadilly;
and Aspern, Cornhill.
1811.
Are any criticisms of it known, or anything of its history? I have an impression on my mind that it may have been written by Stevens, whose 'Lectures on Heads' once had some vogue. L. A. W. Dublin.
[The book is by Edward Nares, D.D. See the notice in the 'D.N.B.']
Father Christmas and Christmas Stockings.—On pp. 117, 118, of 'Memories of a Spectator,' Mr. J. S. Fletcher writes, concerning his early years:—
"I am glad to say that in those days people knew nothing (at any rate they knew nothing in our part of England) about such German things as 'Christmas Trees,' or such German saints as 'Santa Claus.' Our Christmas presents were found in stockings, and put there by Father Christmas; others were hung on the good old English Mistletoe Bough, made and decorated after the English fashion. I have no patience with English people who bring their children up to German customs and neglect their own."
I am as John Bullish as may be, but I do not remember finding any gifts in my youthful socks or stockings, and have an impression that my first introduction to the contemplation of such cornucopias was in the pages of an American story-book. I also have a suspicion that Father Christmas is not very old among us. Was he not the result of an attempt to naturalize Santa Claus, whose name sounds Italian rather than German? St. Swithin.
[Santa Claus is St. Nicholas, patron of children and sailors, whose day falls on Dec. 6.]
The Family of Hackett.—According to Mr. Montrose J. Moses's 'Famous Actor-Families in America' (1906), Mr. James K. Hackett, the well-known American actor, is descended from a Norman knight, Baron Hackett, whose descendants went to Ireland during the reign of Henry II. "Several members of the family sat in the House, of Parliament" (p. 143); and the actor's great-grandfather, Edmund Hackett, lived at Amsterdam and married a daughter of Baron de Massau. Was he by any chance related to Col. Halkett of the Scots Brigade in Holland? I may add that Mr. Moses's book, which is very little known in this country, gives tables of nine other actor-families besides the Hacketts—the Booths, Boucicaults (with some alliances not noted in our 'Who's Who in the Theatre'), Davenports, Drews and Barrymores, Hollands, Jeffersons, Powers, Sotherns, and Wallacks. In each case, except the Davenports, the founder is traced to our own shores.
123 Pall Mall, S.W.
The Pindar of Wakefield.—Does any reader of 'N. & Q.' know of any surviving example of this old tavern sign?
Cruelty to Animals.—It is stated in 'The Law relating to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals,' by Burton and Scott, that before the passing of Martin's Act in 1822 the law took no cognizance of acts of cruelty (regarded merely as such) inflicted upon animals.
Yet I find in 'A Picture of England,' by W. de Archenholtz (published in 1797), that the author speaks of fines of five shillings or more being imposed by magistrates upon those guilty of cruelty to animals; and he emphasizes the fact that "hence it happens that in England animals are treated with almost as much humanity as if they were rational beings."
I should be glad if any of your readers could throw some light on this apparent contradiction. H. S. S.
Col. John Pigott, d. 1763.—Can any Irish correspondent of 'N. & Q.' give me particulars of the parentage of Col. John Pigott, member of Parliament for the borough of Banagher, King's County, from 1759 to his death in 1763?
He married first on Jan. 22, 1730, Constantia Maria, only daughter of Sir Roger Burgoyne, Bart, of Sutton Park, Beds; secondly, in 1740, Catherine, daughter of
