Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 3.djvu/259

This page needs to be proofread.

12 S. III. MARCH 31, 1917.] NOTES AND QUERIES.


253


Diaries of Mrs. Philip Lybbe Powys,' whict largely relates to journeys made by tha lady, in the course of which she visitec Worcester in August, 1771. Like the other diarist, she went to the china works, and like him she also mentions that she saw them making figures, which was the first rea proof we had that figures were made there and we now get the interesting confirmation of that fact in this diary.

The reason why this points to the same date for the unknown diarist's visit lies in the fact that it is fairly certain that figures were only made at Worcester for a very short time. They were obviously not a success. Figures not only call for special skill on the part of both the designer and the workmen, but would probably require a " body " different from that suitable for other articles ; and altogether I think it is fairly evident that, whilst we thus know that they were made there, their manufacture was not continued for any length of time, and probably not many were made in all.

It would follow, therefore, that the diarist's visit to Worcester could not have been long either before or after that of Mrs. Lybbe Powys, and we know from the date which is given in her diary that she was there in August, 1771, and therefore preceded him by from seven to eleven weeks only.

DYSON PERKINS.

MEDIAEVAL WORK ON MAKING OF ENAMEL (12 S. iii. 169). J. A. K. may like to know of another authority on the subject, which goes into considerable detail. It 4s a book published in 1787, called ' The Art of making Coloured Crystals to imitate Precious Stones,' translated from the French by William Drew, the author being M. Fontanieu, member of the Royal Academies of Science and Agri- culture. In the first chapter Fontanieu mentions several chemists who have written on colouring glass and painting on enamel. The fourth part of this book is devoted to the colours employed for painting in enamel. It is a thin volume of some 60 pp.

If J. A. K. would like to see my copy, it will give me much pleasure to send it to him. There is no mention of Hollandus in the list of seven chemists mentioned by Fontanieu. G. G.

RICHARD LAMBERT JONES (12 S. iii. 90, 178). References to this gentleman " the City Dictator, as he was called" occur in the ' Retrospections ' of Charles Roach Smith (London, 1883), vol. i. pp. , 21, 122, 131. Mr. Smith's house in Lothbury being


wanted for a City improvement (date not stated), he appeared before the Court of Common Council and pleaded for reinstate- ment in the near neighbourhood of that house, when Mr. Jones, as Chairman of the- City Improvements Committee, said em- phatically : " No, sir ; there's no place for you in the line of Lothbury." Mr. Jones probably had a clearer vision of the future- of Lothbury than Mr. Smith ; and we need not adopt the suggestion of the latter that Mr. Jones acted out of personal dislike to him, having mistaken him for another person who had attacked Mr. Jones in. The Westminster Review.

E. BRABROOK.

TENNYSON AND GRINDROD (12 S. iii. 149)~ After Irving put Tennyson's ' Becket ' on the stage, Dr. Grindrod wrote a brief letter to The Standard, dated Feb. 8, 1893, re- garding that play and his own ' Henry IE.' He said that his drama had been for some- years in Irving' s hands, and that soon after it was returned to him notices of the forth- coming ' Becket ' began to appear in the press. " I cannot wonder," he added," at the great author being preferred to the- small one." This communication produced replies from Irving and others, which were- followed by a long letter from Dr. Grindrod, dated Feb. 10, in which he noted various parallel passages in the two plays. He concluded with a strong protest against Irving' s suggestion that he implicitly ac- cused Tennyson of " literary theft." " I do- not believe," he said, " that great man to- have been capable of conscious plagiarism,, or any other mean action." The corre- spondence may have been continued further,, and if so the dates now given will make it all easily accessible. THOMAS BAYNE.

BALLENY ISLAND (12 S. iii. 149). The> Balleny Islands were discovered in 1839 by John Balleny, a captain in tho employment of the famous whaling firm of Enderby Brothers. Balleny sailed from England on. a voyage of discovery on July 16, 1838, in.

he schooner Eliza Scott, accompanied

the cutter Sabrina, H. Freeman. In Perseverance Harbour, Campbell Island,. Balleny met Capt. John Biscoe, on a seal ing- expedition in the Emma. Biscoe was also- sailing for Enderby Brothers, and in 1831 lad discovered Enderby Land and Grahara iand. Balleny left Campbell Island on Fan. 17, 1839, and on Feb. 9 discovered he group of five islands known by his name. He named them Sturge Island (the largest)