12 s. ix. JULY 23, 1921.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 73
dozen people were making the trip to Europe, is disclosed by the vivid account the ambassador's wife gives of the many discomforts encountered on the occasion, (12 S. v. 122.) "when the whole ship is at our service, it is little better than a Prison." The vessel was deeply loaded with oil and potash, the former leaking, the latter smoking, while the Passengers quarters were so filthy that Mrs. Adams had personally to organize measures for making them habitable. The captain was at best a rough diamond, but the cook figures as "a great, dirty, lazy negro, with no more knowledge of cooking than a savage," who would dish up the pork with the bristles on, and serve a pair of fowls before the roast beef the potatoes not being produced till the meal was nearly over.
IT is only fair to many kind correspon-
dents to inform them, through the medium
of 'N. & Q.', that exhaustive enquiries
have proved that the Right Hon W E
Gladstone did not write an article entitled i
'The Natural History of Dante' Canon
Vaughan's article on ' The Birds of Dante '
appeared in The Churchman of Mav, 1894
and in The Nineteenth Century of June,
1892, there is an article by Mr. Gladstone
entitled ' Did Dante study in- Oxford ? '
Possibly this mav have given rise to the
statement, made to me by a friend, which
lead me to insert my original query in
'N. &Q.' I may add that Dr. Facet Toyn- TT ? e ^ llar P asse *ger service between the
bee, author of ' Britain's Tribute to Dante Ui u ted States and England was not put on a
in Literature and Art.' knows of no such P ro P e r working basis apparently till after
paper by Mr. Gladstone. the war of 1812 - Even - before systematic
HUGH S. GLADSTONE emigration set in the number of passengers
from America was insignificant compared
"STATE ROOM"=A PASSENGER'S CABIN ^ the ^^g new-comers and others
(12 S. i. 307, 475; v. 104). From the ex- !l no c T trived to find their way westwards,
tracts supplied by MB. ROBERT PIERPOINT I - H * Fairbairn, a sociological writer,
and MR. ALBERT MATTHEWS at the last two : affirms : " The second period [of immigra-
references, it is, I think, pretty clear that tlon ^ from 1783 to 1820 marks the beginning
the American use of the word " state ^? f national life - ^ was a period of small
room "as a passenger's cabin did not become ; immigration, and ^ closes with the year in
general till the early years of the nineteenth !? ^icli f ederal statistics were first collected
century ; though the citation from Hodg- ( Immigration, p. 28).
son's ' Letters from North America ' anti- Tt ma y be safel y Burned that in the
cipates the ' N.E.D.'s ' first example by meantime sleeping accommodation had
sixteen years greatly unproved on American coasting and
The accommodation described in the river boats ; and as the better class cabins
aforesaid extracts, howev.r, points plainly were de cprated and distinguished by the
to it being that belonging to the officers of ^f* j the dl ? er ^ States like the
a merchant ship, which had been leased for chief bed rooms m hotels m those da y 8
the nonce to private individuals for a <f e 12 S ' L . 307 )' the uame state r ? om '
monetary consideration ; that the said rooms though not originating thus, would be likely
were not regularly so reserved, and that the *9 ^P its diffusion and vogue to this means,
temporary tenants were only using nautical Mr ' Ma h ews admits that such a tradition
terminology when they called such apart- ^ 3 lon S existed ir * America, so there must
ments "our state rooms ": the possessive be some g od ^^ d for the belief. At
pronoun being here employed in a vague' ^ ra * e / ^ T uld rather accept thls vl - ew
and indefinite sense, as when an editor : than thmk the term owed lts ad option
speaks of "our author," "our readers," i cluen > to lts somewhat grandiose tone
&c. Naturally enough a passenger of the l and character. N. W. HILL.
rank of the Hon. Mrs. Adams might so! Berkeley, Cal.
enlarge on the advantages she possessed : j HORSE-RIDING RECORDS (12 S. viii. 509;
the more so as she at the same time uses ix. 32, 56). See "Endurance Tests for
" cabin " in its two ordinary meanings
of a saloon and a sleeping berth. That
the good ship Active was nothing more
than an Atlantic cargo boat, on which some
Horses " in The Times, Nov. 12, 1920. Among
other items is an account of 50 miles a
day for five days done in Sussex by Arab
horses. W. BRADBROOK.
