Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 11.djvu/25

 10 s. XL JAN. 2, 1909.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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bitterness evidently lasted until his death, although he was under some obligation to Evans when he obtained a position at the London Institution.

R. H. Evans came to 93, Pall Mall between 1821 and 1822, and was there until 1839 or a few years later. The ' Street Directory' of 1817 (Johnstone's) gives " G. Wagner & Co., hat manufacturers," as the then occu- piers. ALECK ABRAHAMS.

SAMUEL FOOTE, COMEDIAN (10 S. x. 109, 455). MR. ROBERTS states that Samuel Foote, the dramatist, was buried in the Cloisters of Westminster Abbey in 1777. same statement, but in Ireland's ' History of Kent,' referring to St. Mary's Dover, the author says :
 * The Annual Register ' for 1777 makes the

" Amongst the numerous monumental records is an inscription, painted on a black board, placed at a great height, near the east end of the middle aisle of this church, in memory of the British Aristo- phanes. Samuel Foote, who died at * The Ship Tavern ' in this town, on his way to France (whither he was going for the recovery of his health), and was here buried."

The above was published in 1829. The black board with its inscription is not now in St. Mary's Church, having probably been removed in the rebuilding of 1843 ; but at the west end of the south aisle, affixed in the wall, is a large plain stone with this inscription :

Sacred to the memory of Samuel Foote, Esq.,

who had a tear for a friend, and a hand and heart ever ready

to relieve distress.

He departed this life Oct. 21, 1777 (on his journey to France), at the Ship Inn, Dover, aged 55 years. This inscription was placed here by his affectionate friend Mr. William Jewell.

The wall in which this stone is fixed was erected at the rebuilding of 1843.

JOHN BAVINGTON JONES. Dover.

RATTLESNAKE COLONEL : CATGUT RUFFLES <10 S. x. 189). The expression "a Rattle- snake Colonel " is singular, and the present writer is unable to suggest its meaning or origin. Though MR. MALLESON fails to mention where Mrs. Browne met Col. " Crisop," yet a guess may be hazarded as to his identity. He was doubtless Col. Thomas Cresap, who, born in Yorkshire, emigrated before 1737 to America, became a noted man, was a friend of Washington, and died at the advanced age of 106. There are constant allusions to him during the war with the French that took place while Mrs. Browne was in America. He was

the father of Capt. Michael Cresap, who, as alleged (probably unjustly) by Jefferson, murdered the celebrated Indian chief Logan. A sketch of Col. Thomas Cresap will be found in Brantz Mayer's ; Tah-gah-jute ; or, Logan and Capt. Michael Cresap ' (1851), pp. 15-22. ALBERT MATTHEWS.

Boston, U.S.

MILITARY BANK-NOTE : FORT MONTAGUE (10 S. x. 389, 437). At Knaresborough there is a curious dwelling excavated in the rock at the top of a cliff ; it is more than a century old. The front wall is embattled, and the place has long been known as Fort Montague.

believe that at one time souvenir tickets were given to those who paid for admission. Probably your correspondent's " note " is one of these tickets. G.

PARCEL POST IN 1790 (10 S. x. 450). It is evident from quotations in the 'N.E.D.' that formerly there was a parcel post in existence early in the eighteenth century. The passage in 'The Adventuress ' is "Jack Spavin bolted an old apple-woman into the parcel-post at Cripplegate," and the context shows it was the act of a reckless horseman, who in his wild career frightened an old woman, and caused her to seek shelter in an enclosed place, here called a " parcel- post."

Under " post," 5, the ' N.E.D.' gives a quotation from Chamberlayne's ' Present State of England,' iii. (ed. 22), 444, in 1707 :

"There is establish'd another Post, called the

Penny-Post, whereby any Letter or Parcel

is conveyed to, and from Parts not con- veniently served by the General-Post."

Then under " parcel," 7, there is a quotation from The London Gazette in 1715 :

" The General Penny - Post - Office where

Letters and Parcels will be taken in as usual."

These two quotations show that there was an office for the reception of letters and parcels, and it is possible that the two branches were distinct, and that the old woman bolted into an office at Cripplegate to get out of the way of the " road-hog " of that period. AYEAHR.

A parcel post was established in London as far back as April, 1680, but was dis- continued in 1765. (The first use of post- marks was made also in 1680 by Dockwra.) For further details consult Joyce's ' History of the Post Office from its Establishment down to 1836' (London, 1893), chaps, v. and xL K. B.

Upton.