Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 7.djvu/105

This page needs to be proofread.

1 2 . vii. JULY 31, 1920.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 81 LONDON, JULY 31, 1920. CONTENTS. No. 120. -NOTE 5 ! : John Aikin's Excursions: IV. Aug. 28-Sept 10 1305, 81 An English Army List, of 1740, 83 -Statues and Memorials in the British Isles, 84 A Seventeenth-Century Chaplain's Library, 85 'Christ Church' by Rev. H. L. Thompsons Corrigenda "Chinese" Cordon's Signature A Meeting of Ways John Marcello, 86 French Elements in the Milanese Dialect of the Seventeenth Century A Somerset Centenarian Dryden's ' Alexander's Feast,' 87. '-QUERIES: Byron : Reference Wanted Freedom of City of Cork Hopwood Family Wm. Eaden Sir Ralph Bashe Painting by G. Barat S. Raven, Miniature Painter, 88 Heraldry : Dimidiation Black Oliver St. John Influence of Foreign Languages on Style 'Golnnuth : Wadbidding Geo. Buchanan ' Old Bache- lors': Author Wanted English Plays ju Paris -Anglo- Caesarus AJbbot Kemeys, 89 Mahogany and the Dic- tionariesParis v. Paradise Pussyfoot Place of Cranmer's Execution Crimean War in Fiction Author of Quotation Wanted, 90. REPLIES.: -Black Mass, 90 Master Gunner, 91 Teggs (Thmnas and William) Richard Smith, Esq., 92 Elephant and Castle : Arms as a Tavern Sign Source of Anecdote Wanted Manderstoun Local London Maga- zines, 93 Use of Royal Arms on War Memorial Build- 'ings Prisoners who have Survived Hanging ' History of the Navy'-: H.M.S. Coventry, 94 " A Red Rag to a Bnll " Curious Surnames Sailors' Chanties, 95 'Peladan Etymology of "Liverpool" Shakespeare's Shylock,' 96 "Bug" in Place-Names Eighteenth- Century London Coffee-houses Continuation of ' Don .Juan 'The Pala.ee of the Savoy-The Crucifixion in Art : the -'pear-wound, 97 A Late Brass : Greenwood Family Robes of Serge&nts-at- Law Origin of "John Bull" Moss-Troopers : Bibliography Wild Darrell St. Anthony of Padua Prohibited Masses, 98. ^OIES ON BOOKS: 'A Study of A Newe Metamor- phosis, written by J. M., Gent.. 1600' 'Some Seven- teenth-Century Allusions to Shakespeare and his Works Not Hitherto Collected.' ^Notices to Correspondents. JOHN AIKIN'S EXCURSIONS.' . IV. AUG. 26-SEPT. 10, 1805. . AIKIN'S excursion this year was under- taken by coach, his object apparently being to visit friends at Bristol and Bath rather than to see scenery. Many of the people he mentions can be, and are in the footnotes, identified through the 'D.N.B.' August 26fft, Monday. We left London at three afternoon ia company with Miss Ann Rickards in the Bristol double coach. A pleasant evening, and the road, when beyond Hounslow, very pleasant with fine crops of corn cut down or ripe. Lost daylight before reaching Reading, and passed the night in the coach as well as people usually do in that situation. 27 Tuesday. A fine sunrise while crossing Marlborough Downs, and many charming pros- pects opened as we approached Bath. Break- fasted- there and proceeded for Bristol, where we arrived after eleven. A most uncommonly unpromising place at entrance. Walked about the town before and after dinner, and found many good streets and agreeable situations, especially about the elevated part where we were, at Mr. Estlin's*. August 21th, Wednesday. A most enchanting walk in the morning to the Hot Wells and St. Vincent's rocks and back through Clifton. The chasm in which the Avon runs is bordered by rocks in some parts naked and perpendicular, in others richly cloathed with wood, the turns of the river often shutting up the view, and per- petually varying it. Very like the Wye between Boss and Monmouth, but the cliffs less lofty, and the river muddy. Clifton is a very irregular group of buildings, many very handsome, but much deformed by the ruins of unfinished streets, looking like the relics of a siege or earthquake. A walk through another part of Bristol in the afternoon, and a pleasant sociable evening after- wards. August 28, Thursday. Set out after breakfast in a gig for Wells. The road continually up and down hill, but through a beautiful and well cultivated country, chiefly in grass. A few miles short of Wells, crossed a corner of the Mendip ridge wide open moors, but partly in culture. The grey mists driving rapidly over the hills, and enveloping the prospect in their dark skirts as they passed, had a fine effect, corresponding to the gloomy greatness of the scene. A long descent to Wells. This is a small and mean City, but possesses one of the finest cathedrals in England. The choir particularly rich, terminating in a most elegant chapel, with clustered columns rising to the roof. The octagon chapter-house with a centre pillar spreading to the roof is one of the most beautiful gothic rooms anywhere to be seen. The west front of the cathedral is most richly decorated with statues, and has a singular and very striking appearance. The bishop's palace, moated round, and enclosed with old embattled walls, with round towers at the corners, and arched entrance, looks like the castellated mansion of an ancient baron. After dinner proceeded to Oflastonbury, over a fine level road, crossing a branch of the extensive plain of Sedgemoor. Drove first to the foot of the Tor, which we mounted on foot with no small difficulty. The prospect from the summit, lighted by a clear afternoon sun, was wonderfully exten- sive and varied. Beneath, the great green plain of Sedgemoor was the principal object, broken by several woody eminences. Ridges of distant hills in all directions formed the outline ; some as remote as Monmouthshire and Wales. Came down to Glastonbury, a poor ancient place, only remarkable for the very imperfect remains of its once splendid mitred abbey. Though scarcely enough is left to trace the plan, yet some of the arches afford curious specimens of the architecture of a very remote period, and display vestiges of great grandeur and rich ornament. The women

  • John Prior Estlin (1747-1817) Unitarian

minister, who in 1764 had entered Warrington Academy when the divinity chair there was held by John Aikin, D.D., father of the present diarist, and had settled in Bristol in 1771 as a minister. Later he opened a school at St. Michael's Hill, Bristol. " Coleridge. Southey, Priestley, Mrs.