Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 10.djvu/474

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NOTES AND QUERIES. fio s. x. NOV. H, im.

Engraved in one corner is a small view of the fort. I should like particularly to know where Fort Montague was situated, and in connexion with what military expedition it was erected. J. C.

JEFFREY HUDSON THE DWARF. Is there any record of the burial of Jeffrey Hudson, the famous dwarf, who died in London in 1682?

What was the name of the "Mr. Crofts," brother to Lord Crofts with whom he fought a duel in France ? I have referred to the 4 D.N.B.' without success. P. M.

MR. REPINGTON AND DR. JOHNSON. Is anything known of a Mr. Repington as friend or correspondent of Dr. Johnson ? His name does not occur in Boswell's ' Life.'

J. S.

Oxford.

BISHOPS AND PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS. Certain English bishops have no seat in the House of Lords. Are such bishops " peers " within the meaning of the Commons' resolu- tion of 1699 " that no peer of this kingdom hath any right to give his vote at the election for any member to serve in Parliament " ? The sessional order of 1802 (27 April) in- cludes " any lord of Parliament, or other peer or prelate." Of course these are merely resolutions of the Commons, but I find no legal decision as to the status of these bishops. Have they by accident lost their interest in both Houses ? The point is of interest to students of constitutional history, but does not seem to be discussed in any of the books at any rate, not such as are within the reach of YGREC.

BANDY LEG WALK.^-This was, it seems, the name of a street in either Westminster or Southwark in the latter years of the eigh- teenth century. It is mentioned in The Catholic Weekly of 16 October, p. 2. Where was it ? Does it exist now under a changed name, or has it been swept away ?

M. Y. A. H.

GEORGE IV.'s EARLY HOUSEHOLD. I cannot recall where I saw a reference to the fact that George IV., when quite a young man, as Prince of Wales, had (his first ?) an independent establishment at an old manor house, perhaps in Sussex or Surrey. I shall be glad to have full particulars of the place, and to know where the house- keeper's accounts or list of staff (domestic and stable) during the Prince's tenure are

preserved. Did he obtain some Yorkshire servants through Earl Fitzwilliam. If so, from which district ? MARYLEBONE.

TH AS A SYMBOL. Would one of the learned philologists who contribute to N. & Q.' be good enough to inform me when the Old English characters ]> and G were used for the last time, and when and why th was introduced in their stead ? The change seems a step backwards, first, because th does not render the pronunciation at all, and secondly, because it has to represent two sounds, one voiced, the other voiceless.

In Ireland I have heard Thomas pro- nounced as T-homas, with a real t plus the aspirate ; but in England the name is simply sounded with a t. By the way, is that Irish peculiarity general for t ? Pro- bably it is only by mere chance that I did not notice it in similar cases.

G. KRUEGER.

Berlin.

SILAS TOLD.

(10 S. x. 348.)

SILAS TOLD was born at Bristol in 1711. Of his father nothing is recorded, but his grandfather appears to have been a doctor in Bunhill Row, and his mother came from Exeter and bore the odd maiden name of Suckabitch. Silas was educated at the Colston School in Bristol, and when about fourteen years old he sailed from that port for Jamaica with Capt. Moses Lilly. Silas married when he was twenty-three, and after a life of travel and great adventure in the West Indies and elsewhere, he returned to England and became a schoolmaster in Essex, under the wing of the Luther family, who were then resident at Kelvedon (see Morant's 'Essex,' Vol. I. Parochial Section, p. 186). About 1760, after hearing John Wesley preach at the Foundry, he began his work as a prison philanthropist, and this he continued till his death in 1788.

The sources of information for the life of Silas Told are numerous and interesting, and chief among them is his own autobio- graphy, which was first issued in 1786 under the following title :

" An account of the Life and Dealings of God with Silas Told, late Preacher of the Gospel, wherein is set forth the wonderful display of Divine Providence towards him when at Sea : his various sufferings abroad : together with many instances of the Sovereign Grace of God in the conversion of several malefactors under Sentence of Death, who