232
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. ix. MARCH 22, 1902.
a gentleman is represented as having come to
grief, the velocipede having been upset,
showing that it had its dangers like the
bicycle in the present day.
Almost within the memory of man the Rev. Joseph Coltman, incumbent of Beverley Minster, who had attained an enormous bulk, used to go about the streets of the town on a velocipede. Certainly within the last twenty years a silhouette of this might have been seen in a broker's shop in Beverley. He was said to have been the biggest man in Eng- land next to Daniel Lambert.
JOHN PICKFORD, M.A.
Newbourne Rectory, Wood bridge.
The inquirer on this subject should con- sult the sections on the literary history of the bicycle which are contained in a volume by Karl Kron, entitled ' 100,000 Miles on a Bicycle' (New York, 1887). They occupy pp. Ixxii-lxxvi and 653-700.
W. P. COURTNEY. Reform Club.
SIR WILLIAM DAMSELL (9 th S. ix. 169). Richard Brandesby, writing to his friend Roger Ascham, says that he was met near Louvain by George Gilpin, " secretarius, una cum nostro Darnosello." The date would be about 1553. See ' R. Aschami Epistolarum Libri Tres,' Hanov., 1602, p. 576. W. C. B.
PORTRAITS OF EARLY LORD MAYORS (9 th S. viii. 485 ; ix. 173). A complete list of por- traits of the Lord Mayors of London, with their present owners, would be interesting and useful. I may add that I possess a fine oil portrait by Sir James Thornhill of Sir bamuel Garrard, Bart., before whom Dr. bacheverell preached his famous sermon, for which he had to stand his trial.
M-n u-n o THOMAS TURNER.
Mill Hill Road, Norwich.
AUTHOR OF BOOKS WANTED (9 th S. ix 188) -The author of 'Experiences of a Gaol Uhaplam is Erskine Neale (1804-83) The book was published in three volumes in 1847 and again in 1849, and, I believe, again later. It is a work of fiction. For a bibliography of this authors works see AlliboneV Dictionary of Authors ' and the ' D.N.B.,' vol. xl.
Bury ARCHIBALD SPARKE.
fche "kroner's
"BARRACKED" (9 th S. ix. 63, 196). -It may
^H? t( ? ? oinfc oufc thafc my ^te Prof. Morris, in his ' Austral English'
states that "to barrack" is an Australian
football term dating from about 1880. He
derives it from a native word ** borak," mean-
ing " to banter." It certainly was not used
commonly before 1883 in Victoria.
The accepted derivation of " larrikin," when I was resident in Australia, was that the word is an Irish pronunciation of larking. An Irish constable charged a youth with "larra- kin " about the streets. The police reporter used the word and it stuck. Prof. Morris is disinclined to accept this derivation, but it is certainly believed in in Australia. It always seemea to me that the French " larron " had served at once to perpetuate the word and to affect its meaning. H. A. STRONG.
University College, Liverpool.
FITZGERALD QUOTATION (9 th S. ix. 189). The passage quoted by Mr. Asquith occurs in FitzGerald's translation of 'Attar's * Mantik- ut-Tair,' which he called 'Bird-Parliament.' It will be found on p. 457 of the second volume of the ' Letters and Literary Remains of Edward FitzGerald,' 1889.
W. F. PRIDEAUX.
The lines quoted are to be found in * Bird- Parliament,' p. 457, vol. ii. of 'Letters and Literary Remains of Edward FitzGerald,' edited by W. Aldis Wright, 1889.
R. A. POTTS.
THE PARENTAGE OF C-ESAR BORGIA (9 th S. viii. 524 ; ix. 176). As BARON CORVO devotes five pages of his book to arguments in support of Varillas's theory, and all the way through writes " Cardinal " or " Duke Cesare (detto Borgia)," I may perhaps be pardoned for supposing him to have been convinced by Varillas. The latter's tale was ignored as \yorthless by such writers as Creighton, Symonds, Villari, Gregorovius, Roscoe, &c.; it has remained for the keen eye of Corvus to detect that "it very likely is not fiction, historical or otherwise, but the blind and naked Truth emerging from her well un- abashed." BARON CORVO'S note at the last reference given above is no answer to my query ; but if you allow, I will so far trespass on your space as to answer some of the state- ments on this point contained in his satura.
In the first place, nothing is proved either one way or the other by the fact that "in no official document is he [Caesar] named as the son of" Alexander VI. On what authority does BARON CORVO state, with regard to Vanozza, " that she was the mistress first of Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, second of Cardinal Rodrigo de Langol y Borgia"? Even granting this, for the moment, to be true, and that the father of her first son was
