Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 10.djvu/62

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. x. JULY is, im Falconer's house, regarding Johnson's conversational powers:

"Dr. Falconer expressed no great esteem of them; and no envy at those who had had the opportunity (which never occurred to himself) of listening to them."

The words I have italicized settle this point conclusively.

Dr. Johnson's Successors at Bolt Court.In the early days of ' N. &. Q.' one B. B. contributed a valuable note on Johnson's residence in Bolt Court, in which he stated (1 S. v. 233):—

"After the Doctor's death the Rev. Stockdale, of the Church of England, occupied the house; next to him it was tenanted by a Rev. Moir, (I believe) a Presbyterian; next, by one Copley, an old tailor,"

whose family was the last to occupy it as a dwelling-house.

In The Gentleman's Magazine for 1788, pt. i. pp. 537-8, I stumbled across a review of 'Gleanings, or Fugitive Pieces,' by the Rev. John Moir, M. A., a native of Scotland, which thus concludes:—

"Mr. M.'s whole dependance is on the lectureship of St. Dionis Backchurch, Fenchurch Street, and his publications, for the support of a sickly wife and numerous increasing family, who are all with him in the house inhabited by the late Dr. S. Johnson in Bolt Court, which Mr. M. took with the hope of letting it out in lodgings."

It does not appear from the review that Mr. Moir, as a literary man, was a worthy successor to the great Doctor.

"The Rev. Stockdale, of the Church of England," stated to have been Johnson's immediate successor at Bolt Court, was, I presume, the Rev. Percival Stockdale (1736-1811), a miscellaneous writer of whom some account is given in the 'D.N.B.' He was intimate with Johnson, and in a volume of memoirs related some anecdotes of him; and we are told that he "lodged both in Johnson's Court and in Bolt Court" (Boswell's 'Johnson,' ed. Birkbeck Hill, vol. ii. p. 113, foot-note).

Park Corner, Blundellsands, near Liverpool.

—An interesting bowl, used for the reception of fees by Samuel Martin throughout his career at the Bar (1830-50), has recently been presented to this Inn by his grandson, the Hon. Malcolm Martin Macnaghten. Samuel Martin was a son-in-law of Sir Frederick Pollock, Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, and he himself became a Baron of the Exchequer in November, 1850. He gave this bowl to his brother-in-law Charles Edward Pollock, who also became a Baron of the Exchequer, being also at the time of his appointment a Bencher of the Inner Temple; and from him Mr. Macnaghten received it.

As the use of these "fee bowls" in the past by members of the Bar appears only to be within the recollection of some very senior members of the profession, the following extracts from a letter by Mr. George F. Pollock will, I think, be of interest and worthy of preservation in 'N. & Q.'

Mr. George Pollock was called to the Bar in 1843, and appointed a Master of the Court of Exchequer 1851, and Queen's Remembrancer 1886, from which post he retired in 1901 (after fifty years' service as Master). Mr. Pollock writes:—

"I can give you some information. Bowls were formerly in general use. In times past cheques were not in such general use as now, and fees were commonly paid in cash with brief delivered, especially small ones. When Sir James Scarlett (afterwards Lord Abinger) became Lord Chief Baron in 1834, my father, then at the Bar, succeeded him in his chambers at 1, King's Bench Walk, and took over the furniture and other small articles, including the bowl in which his clerk had received fees, and which was used by mv father's clerk for the same purpose. I was already at the Bar when my father became Chief Baron in 1844, and I then became possessed of the bowl and used it. At the time when I became a Master the taxing fee was paid in cash when the bill of costs was taxed, and was so paid till the introduction of stamps years afterwards, so I then used the bowl to receive fees for bills taxed by me."

Mr. George Pollock was born in 1821, and has not only a wonderful recollection of the Courts and legal procedure of bygone days, but is still, happily, able to recount to this generation the noble traditions of his great profession. He is one of the last if not the last living who heard Scarlett address a jury.

Inner Temple Library.

—I recently purchased two photographs labelled 'Hornsey in 1750' and a postcard described as 'Arundel House, Highgate, where Arabella Stuart escaped from.' The first two I will dispose of briefly. Both were photographed from Cassell's 'Old and New London,' vol. v. pp. 43 and 264 respectively: 'Jenny's Whim Bridge, 1750,' and 'Farm in the Regent's Park.' Comment is unnecessary.

The post card requires some notice. I have more than once in the local papers refuted the story about Arabella Stuart,