Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 12.djvu/170

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NOTES AND QUERIES, po s. xii. A, u,

MACBAY could kindly give the names of the " seventeen sorts of English apples which had been sent as being the best to Marshal Wrangel in Sweden in the year 1663." It seems to me that a list of what were con- sidered to be the best varieties of English apples in Charles II. 's reign would be very interesting, if only to see how many of them are known or grown at the present day.

J. S. UDAL, F.S.A. Antigua, W.I.

GENERAL PICTON (10 S. xi. 490). Many years ago I knew John W. Picton, M.D., who died, I think, at his house in Carlisle Square (?), in or about 1883. If my memory is correct, he told me, or I was told by some one else who knew him, that he acted as chief mourner at one of the two funerals of Sir Thomas Picton. My impression is that he said it was when he was a boy. In that case it must have been in 1815.

The second funeral that is, when the body was removed from the St. George's, Hanover Square, burial-ground, Bays water Road, to the crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral took place on 8 June, 1859. According to The Illustrated Times of 11 June, 1859 (p. 379), the first carriage contained J. Picton, Esq., the Hon. Col. Vereker, &c. Perhaps J. Picton, Esq., was John W. Picton, M.D. The Illustrated Times of the next week has (p. 397) two pictures, 'Arrival of the Car containing the Remains .... at St. Paul's Cathedral ' and * Depositing the Remains .... in the Vault at St. Paul's Cathedral.' This second funeral is not, I think, mentioned in the ' Dictionary of National Biography.'

ROBERT PIERPOINT.

A MUSICAL FAMILY: DR. JAY (10 S. vi. 441, 502 ; vii. 293). On pp. 441 and 504 Mrs. Symons, a daughter of Dr. Jay, is mentioned. I have just come across another instance of her fame as a harpist in the following piece : " Valse a la Taglioni, arranged for the harp, and dedicated to Mrs. ^Symons, by J. F. Pole. London, J. Dean, 148, New Bond Street."

The date suggested in the National Library Catalogue of Music is 1845 ; but this is too late, as Dean's name is in the ' P.O.D.' at the above address in 1830-7-8 only, and hot after.

I have not been able to find any par- ticulars of John Frederick Pole, but besides the aboye waltz four pieces of music by him are in the National Library, namely, Andante,' Edinb. (1835); 'Saxon Air,'

Lond. (1845); 'The Rose Tree ' (1850); and ' The Royal Archer's Quadrilles,' Edinb (1861).

I may mention that a pedigree of the Jay family is given in ' The Green Room Book"; or, Who's Who on the Stage,' for 1908, p. 590 ; it is compiled by Mr. J. M. Bulloch from the articles in ' N. & Q.'

I should like to take this opportunity of making a correction. On p. 504 I gave the Public Record Office high praise because there were no fees charged. There were not when I then last searched, but now the case is altered. RALPH THOMAS.

ELIZA FENNING' s EXECUTION (10 S. xii. 68, 115). About seven or eight years ago I studied this case with some care ; but although I took a good deal of trouble to obtain " authentic evidence " of the death- bed confession mentioned by MR. WALTER BELL, I could discover nothing to show that it had ever been made. The case of Eliza Fenning was used by opponents of the Government for political purposes, and the unhappy woman obtained much sympathy because she was hanged for a crime less than murder ; but apart from her persistent declarations there is nothing to show that she was innocent. HORACE BLEACKLEY.

Haydn's ' Dictionary of Dates ' (20th ed.) says of Eliza Fenning, sub ' Executions ' : " In the ' Annual Register ' for 1857, p. 143, it is stated, on the authority of Mr. Gurney, that she confessed the crime to Mr. James Upton, a Baptist minister, shortly before her execution." ST. S WITHIN.

CAPT. R. J. GORDON (10 S. xii. 29).-

There is a short notice of Capt. Robert James Gordon, R.N., in ' Annual Obituary * for 1824 (vol. ix. p. 419), in which he is stated to have died on 27 Sept., 1822, at Wilet Medinet, one day's journey from Sanaar, while on his way to attempt to penetrate to the source of the Bahr Colitiad. F. M. R. HOLWORTHY.

Bromley, Kent.

FIG TREES : PAPAW : MATURING MEAT (10 S. ix. 389 ; x. 53, 96, 453 ; xi. 456). When I first went to live in Jamaica, nearly forty years ago, I was told that if a fowl was tied to a papaw tree at night, it would be found dead in the morning ; and that if a papaw tree grew near a stable, the horses kept there would suffer in health. Some time later I noticed papaws growing near the stables (very open ones) in which a friend kept his working mules at night, and