Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 7.djvu/160

128 NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. vn. AUG. u, 1020. " Bethels," of which there were quite a number at that date, in the East End) for financial purposes primarily under the direct tutelage and supervision of the late Dr. Nathan Adler, who was known through- out Europe as "the Great Eagle" (Hah- naysher Haggodoul), and subsequently under that of his son Dr. Hermann Adler. The five synagogues brought into working arrangements were the Great Synagogue founded in 1692; the Hambro' "in 1756; the New in 1760 (recently transferred to Stamford Hill) ; the Central, off Portland Road, in 1855 ; the Bayswater in 1863. In 1870 the total membership was 2,155 seat- holders, among whom could be counted men of mark, such as Sir Anthony de Rothschild, the President ; Lionel L. Cohen, Esq., M.P. for the City of London (the first Hebrew admitted to the House as such), and Samp- son Lucas, Esq., a financial magnate, the father of the late Col. Lucas, M.P. In this year of grace the Foundation consists of some twenty-five synagogues, including auxiliaries known as " Associates," which are situate as widely apart as East Ham from Richmond, New Cross, Chelsea and Wood Green, and having a membership of over 10,000 requiring the services of over fifty ministers. M. L. R. BBESLAB. Percy House, South Hackney, E.9. CABLYLE'S INACCUBACY. In his fifth lecture on ' Hero Worship ' Carlyle delivers himself thus : - " Among the great men of the eighteenth century, I sometimes feel as if Burns might be found to resemble Mirabeau more than any other. They differ widely in vesture ; yet look at them intrinsically. There is the same burly thick- necked strength of body as of soul. ..." The poet's own testimony of his physique appears to be unambiguous. Writing to his father on Dec. 27, 1781 that is when 22 years of age -he says : " My health is nearly the same as when you were here, only my sleep is a little sounder. . . . The weakness of my nerves has so debilitated my mind that. . . .the least anxiety or perturba- tion in my breast produces most unhappy effects on my whole frame." Corresponding with his old school-master, John Murdoch, Burns tells him on Jan. 15, 1783 : " Though indolent, yet so far as an extremely delicate constitution permits, I am not lazy ; and in many things, especially in tavern matters, I am a strict economist....! abhor as hell the idea of sneaking in a corner to avoid a dun possibly some pitiful, sordid wretch, who in my heart I despise and detest. 'Tis this, and this alone, that endears economy to me." To Allan Cunningham, on Feb. 26, 1794,, he complains : " For these two months I have not been able* to lift a pen. My constitution and frame were ab origine, basted with a deep incurable taint of hypochondria, which poisons my existence." These admissions, written in language sufficiently robust, doubtless allude to con- stitutional rather than physical weakness,, but it would indeed be an incongruity for nerves so morbidly sensitive, save in cases, of severe shock or serious accident, to be; encased within " burly thick-necked strength." ' The Heroic in History ' was published in 1840, while many of Burns' ' Letters ' did not appear till 1834, and a further number till 1840, consequently Carlyle may have had no opportunity of studying them, but these excerpts show how cautiously a. statement of fact should be made if in- tended to be used as the foundation-stone of a monument for all the world to gaze- upon. J. PAUL DE CASTBO. 1 Essex Court, Temple. ' OUB LONDON LETTEB.' The origin andi development of a popular feature in pro- vincial papers, ' Our London Letter ' would' make an interesting, chapter in the history of British journalism, I do not remember noticing it dealt with to any considerable- extent in any work dealing with the annals of our newspapers. Until well into the- nineteenth century most of the papers in the provinces were made up from news cut out of the London newspapers which arrived at their destinations by the stage coach, with local news added. One of the- earliest of the eighteenth century papers to have its own London Letter was The Kentish Post, or the Canterbury News Letter, and the issue of this for Wednesday, Aug. 30,. to Saturday, Sept. 2, 1727, starts off with " From a written London Letter, Aug. 25," which seems to be nothing more than a re- hash of news from the London papers, pro- bably extracted by a correspondent in London and sent down to Canterbury- ready to be set up and printed right away. The same heading, varied sometimes to " From a London Written Letter," continued to appear till the end of 1729, and probably later. It may be that there are earlier instances of a phase of journalism which developed so tremendously when tele- graphy was pressed into the service of news- papers. W. ROBEBTS. 18 King's Avenue, S.W.4.