Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 11.djvu/134

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. XL FEE. e, im

VANISHING LONDON : OLD HOUSES NEAR BLACKFRIARS ROAD. The subject of demoli- tions in London is ever with us, irrespective of locality. In The Daily Graphic of Thurs- day, October 1, was an excellent engraving of what are alluded to as the "Wooden Huts" of South wark, reputed to be " two hundred and seventy-five years old." Whatever their exact age, they have all the appearance of hoary antiquity, and are quite entitled to be called ancient. They are situated in Collingwood Street, at no great distance from Blackfriars Bridge ; and if the local records are to be considered trustworthy, their age is beyond dispute, so they become a most interesting link with the past. They are built entirely of wood, and have a really rural look, out of keeping with their sur- roundings. There are five rooms in each of the eight houses, the rent being 10s. a week per house moderate as rents go in South- wark. There are no basements, but the " ground floor " is really below the level of the outside ground, so that the tenants have to go down a step to get indoors, and even then have to lower their heads as they enter. The newspaper already alluded to says that " the earliest inhabitants, when they wished to reach the other side of the river, had either to use the ferry or to walk over London Bridge, Blackfriars Bridge then being non- existent." These houses once had it is said large gardens, but these have long since been built over. It is stated that " when these places were erected the Thames flowed right up to the doors." This was probably so in many places near here ; but as Christ Church was finished in 1671, it is not unlikely that a neighbourhood had, by that time, sprung up towards the river, and so cut them off from it. At present they look as if they might be good for another century, and perhaps for even longer ; but I fear their ultimate doom is sealed, though it (has recently been asserted that there is no intention of removing them.

W. E. HARLAND-OXLEY.

Westminster.

MAJOR HULL, C.B. It may be worth while recording the existence of the MS. Journal and Notebooks of Major Hull (who died in Norfolk Street, Park Lane, on 9 Nov., 1841). They are thus described by Messrs. Simmons & Waters, of Leaming- ton, in the November issue of their catalogue :

" Hull (Major) Journal, Journey, and Note-Books of Major Hull, C.B., who married Mildred Corbett, daughter of Archdeacon Corbett, on June 22, 1826. Major Hull left Portsmouth as a cadet for India on June 8, 1798, and landed in England on July 17,

.823, being absent almost [sic] 25 years. These books record the overland journey from India and the sxcursions taken in Europe and at home during ater years. They describe the method of travelling, Hull was born 1778 at Devizes ; his father was a soldier, and served in America during the War of [ndependence. One volume supplies his life and active services from his landing in India until the L821), proprietor of The Morning Chronicle. He left 100,000^, and Major Hull as an executor to his will. 3 vols. 4to, 4 vols. post 8vo, together 7 vols.
 * ime taken, sights seen, and visits made. Major
 * ime he left. His sister married James Perry (1756-

1823-40."

W. ROBERTS.

WIND AND THE CRUCIFIXION. " It was a black wind which blew at the Crucifixion." So A. T. heard some years since from a loucestershire woman. Black winds are easterly or north-easterly winds accom- panied by dark, lowering clouds. Another, acquaintance of A. T.'s used to say that Jews hated an east wind because it blew when the Saviour was crucified.

This idea is new to me in England, but that excellent collection of popular beliefs ' Le Folk-lore de France,' par Paul Sebillot (1904), contains a legend which is evidently related to it. In the neighbourhood of Gerzat, Puy-de-D6me, people think the east wind does not blow more than three hours at a time, and very seldom even so long, because it blew when Jesus was on the cross. The Saviour asked it in vain for water to quench His burning thirst : the wind would not yield Him this charity, and it was for that reason that Jesus cursed it and condemned it to blow very rarely (vol. i. pp. 80, 81). W. A. T.

" PADDIES " ON ST. PATRICK'S DAY IN THE U.S. This expression of popular ill- feeling, as it existed ninety years ago, is described by H. B. Fearon in his ' Sketches of America,' 1818 :

" Frenchmen and leeks, Irishmen and bulls, are even now the subjects of American ridicule, and in the uncontaminated style of Spitalfields and Shore- ditch. In Washington, on last St. Patrick's day [1817], according to custom, a figure was stuffed similar to our Guy Faux, and called Paddy ; he was placed within the gate of the Navy-yard, with pipes, tobacco, and whiskey. In Philadelphia a gentleman informed me that there were numerous Paddies exhibited in the same style ; some were carried by boys, begging to remember poor Paddy. This offensive practice was carried to such an ex- tent iu New York a few years back, that serious riots were produced by it. There is now a law of that corporation, prohibiting Paddies being ex- hibited on the 17th of March."

A friend tells me that this custom pre- vailed in Philadelphia till about 1873 ; and on 18 March a further insult was added