168
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. vm. AUG. 24, 1901.
before 1 May, or later than the very beginning
of June, 1820. Let Canon Ainger " cudgel
his brains no more about it," &c., but take
his pen and mark these three letters to Cottle
"Nov. 5, 1819," "1819, later," and "Mayor
early June, 1820," respectively.
That the reader may form some notion how far the editorial blunderings in the ' Letters ' of 1900 extend, I now append a list of the documents in their true order, dated as exactly as possible, from October, 1798, to the close of 1800. The asterisks mean wrong dates in the " revised " edition of 1900. Edition de Luxe Edition of
(1900). 1888. Date.
- Oct., 1798
XXXV.
xxxyi.
xxxiy.
xxxyiii.
xxxix.
xl.
xli.
xlvii.*
xliv.
xlviii. *
xlv.
xlvi.
xxxvii.*
xlix.
1.
In.
liv.
Ivi.
Ixxii.*
Ixxxiv.*
Ivii.
Iviii.
lix.
Ixi.
Ixix.*
Ixii.
Ixv.
Ixvi.
Ixvii.
Ixiii.
Ixiv.
Ixviii.
Ixx.
Ixxi.
Ixxiii.
Ixxiv.
Ixxv.
Ixxvi.
Ixxvii.
Ixxviii.
Ixxix.*
Ixxx.
Ixxxi.
Ixxxii.
xcvii.
(postscript)* Ixxxiii.
Oct., 1798
xxxv. 29 Oct., 1798
xxxvi. 3 Nov., 1798
xxxvii. 8 Nov., 1798
13 Nov., 1798
20 Nov., 1798
xliii. c. 20 Nov., 1798
xxxviii. 28 Nov., 1798
xxxix. 27 Dec., 1798
xl. 21 Jan., 1799
xliv. c. 31 Jan., 1799
xli. 15 March, 1799
xlii. 20 March, 1799
After 13 April, 1799
Sept., 1799
xlv. 31 Oct., 1799
xlvii. Dec., 1799
xlvi. 28 Dec., 1799
xlviii. 23 Jan., 1800
liii. 13 Feb., 1800
xlix. 1 March, 1800
1- 17 March, 1800
Jxiv. c . 5 April, 1800
Ixxvi. 16 or 17 April, 1800
li. 12 May, 1800
17 May, 1800 hi. End of May, 1800
2 July, 1800
- ?" July (early), 1800
Jiv". Prob. 22 July, 1800 l v - 6 Aug., 1800
Jviii. c. 7 Aug., 1800 J 1X - 11 Aug., 1800 } x : 14 Aug., 1800 lvi - c. 14 Aug., 1800 J vn - c. 16 Aug., 1800 Ixi. 22 Aug., 1800
Prob. autumn, 1800 26 Aug., 1800
9 Oct., 1800 13 Oct., 1800 16 Oct., 1800
3 Nov., 1800 28 Nov., 1800
4 Dec., 1800
10 Dec., 1800
13 Dec., 1800
14 Dec., 1800 16 Dec., 1800
Ixiii.
Ixv.
Ixvi.
Ixvii.
Ixviii.
Ixix.
Ixx.
Ixxi.
Ixxii.
Ixxiii.
Ixxiv.
Ixxxiv.
(postscript) Dec. 19, 1800
27 Dec., 1800
MYOPS.
SWEENY TODD (9 th S. vii. 508 ; viii. 131).
As there seems some interest in " the demon
barber," I will just mention that in the year
1859 I well remember going with my old
college friend Walter Besant, who was to
become so famous, to a performance called
' The String of Pearls ; or, the Barber Fiend
of Fleet Street.' I forget whether the theatre
at which it was played was the Standard in
Shoreditch or the Britannia, Hoxton ; but I
think, it was the Britannia. Certainly our
blood was curdled, steteruntque comce.
JOHN W. HALES.
The hideous story has been frequently revived. I have known it since 1840, and once saw it acted as a drama at a " penny gaff" at Hoxton. Its latest appearance in print was in the new series of the London Journal, 1899, vols. xxxi. xxxii., one of the special ' Tales of Mystery,' and entitled * The String of Pearls,' the second name of the dramatic version. It ended in No. 826, 14 October, 1899. J. W. EBSWORTH.
The Priory, Ashford, Kent.
Besides the ' Sweeney Todd ' drama by F. Hazel ton of 1850 there was one by George Dibdin Pitt, produced at the Britannia Theatre in 1842, called 'Sweeney Todd, the Barber of Fleet-Street ; or, the String of Pearls, a Legend- ary Drama in Two Acts.' I do not think G. A. Sala wrote the story. I fancy it was from the pen of a man named Savage, who was responsible for ' Charley Wag,' * The Woman with the Yellow Hair,' and other abomina- tions of the same class. I do not think George Augustus Sala ever " prostituted " his abilities at any time. He wrote for Bow Bells and Dicks, but Dicks did not publish anything of such a low class as the works I have mentioned. S. J. A. F.
KIPLING STORIES (9 th S. vii. 488). I gladly answer MR. ELLIOT STOCK in regard to two of the five stories. The silly illustrated trifle entitled ' The Legs of Sister Ursula ' appeared in the earlier sixpenny series of the Idler. (I have mislaid my copy, but it was before August, 1895, when the new series began, edited by Jerome K. Jerome.) In another number, at nearly the same time, was pub- lished the railway story of 'A Sunday Holiday,' which is perhaps the worst that Kipling ever wrote, quite unworthy of its reappearance in in ' The Day's Work ' volume. ' The Lament- able Comedy of Willow Wood ' has not been republished. It fills twelve large octavo pages of the Fortnightly Review, pp. 670-81, May, 1890. There are many other of Kipling's stories that well deserve to reappear, such as ' The
