Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 11.djvu/448

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. XL MAY s, im

just given, intimating that it appears in the poet's ' Canterbury Pilgrims,' and adds that the word which signifies a " celestial blue " colour is derived from Watchet, a little seaport in Somerset. " Watchet," he ob- serves,

"shares with the Italian town of Magenta the honour of giving a name to a colour; only, while the colour ' magenta ' is a modern and a horribly in- artistic kind of reddish purple, introduced soon after 1859, when Louis Napoleon's victory over the Austrians at Magenta was popular in France, ' watchet ' is certainly as old as Chaucer."

In his description of the place Mr. Harper does not afford much help towards an acceptance of his contention. Twice within the last few years, he says, furious seas have demolished the local harbour, and it was while walking from Nether Stowey towards Watchet that Coleridge " composed the ' Ancient Mariner ' and the first part of ' Christabel.' " Finally, he intimates that "it is a small place, with paper mills and iron foundries, railway-sidings that come down to the waterside, and a mineral line descending from the Brendon Hills." All these interesting statements shed but little light on any connexion between the proper name and that of the colour.

THOMAS BAYNE.

[We insert our correspondent's note, but may point out that we do not think it worth while as a rule to correct the rash statements of popular writers.]

WE must request correspondents desiring in- formation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that answers may be sent to them direct.

SPANISH STORIES IN IRISH. I find in a manuscript volume two or three stories in Irish which are supposed to be translated f om the Spanish :

1. ' Adventures of Richard and Lisarda.' The birthplace of the lady is " the royal city built in 1272 on the borders of Anda- lusia by Alfonsus, King of Spain."

2. A tale entitled ' Adventures of the Compassionate Bandit.' The names oc- curring are Vincente, Valeric, Claudius, and Camilla.

3. A tale of which the scene is in Greece, an l the hero Claudius, son of Lysimachus, King of Achaia.

I should be much obliged to any reader who could direct me to the originals of these.

T. K. ABBOTT. Dublin.

" TOTTENHAM IN HIS BOOTS." In a letter to Dean Swift from the Archbishop of Dublin, dated "Dublin, Oct. 27, 1711," on political subjects, it is said that " a question [in the Irish House of Commons] was carried in the negative by two accidents, the going out of one member by chance to speak to somebody at the putting the question, and the coming in of another in his boots at the very minute."

I appended a note to this, in ' A Great Archbishop of Dublin, Wm. King, D.D., 1650-1729,' to the effect that the M.P. alluded to was Charles Tottenham, of Tot- tenham Green, co. Wexford (ancestor of the Marquesses of Ely), consequently known as " Tottenham in his boots." A correspondent, however, pointed out that I was mistaken in doing so, as Mr. C. Tottenham (he wrote) was not a member of the House at that time.

I shall be glad of any information as to Mr. Tottenham's predecessor " in boots." CHARLES S. KING, Bt.

St. Leonards-on-Sea.

GAINSBOROUGH'S SIGNED PICTURES. It would be interesting to have as complete a list as possible of authentic pictures by Gainsborough bearing his signature. Although the National Gallery British Cata- logue states, on the authority of Edwards's ' Anecdotes of Painters,' published in 1808, that " Gainsborough is said never to have put his name to any picture," it is indisputable that there are at least half a dozen canvases inscribed with his name or initials.

It would appear that the ' Portrait of Lord Archibald Hamilton,' which is in one of the Rothschild collections, and was lent to the Old Masters Exhibition of 1891 by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild, is the only picture signed " T. Gainsborough.'

The well-known ' Portrait of John Russell, Fourth Duke of Bedford,' which was acquired by the National Portrait Gallery (No. 755) from the Blenheim Collection, is inscribed " Gainsborough." It was exhibited at South Kensington in 1867, at the Old Masters in 1882 (No. 16), and at the Gainsborough Exhibition held at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1885 (No. 38), when it was lent by the Duke of Marlborough.

The large and striking ' Portrait of the Second Mrs. Thicknesse,' which was seen at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1885 (No. 5), and was lent by Mr. Charles Wertheimer to the Old Masters Exhibition of 1894 (No. 101), is inscribed with the words " wife to Phil Thicknesse Esq " and " Gainsborough."