Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 12.djvu/26

 18

NOTES AND QUERIES. rio s. xn. JULY 3, im

DOCTORS WHO REMAINED IN LONDON

DURING THE PLAGUE OF 1665 (10 S. xi. 266).

Add Dr. Nicholas Davis and Dr. Edward Deantrv (see Intelligence, 7 Aug., 1665).

S. D. CLIPPINGDALE.

' IF I ONLY KNEW ' (10 S. xi. 410). The correct title of this "monologue" with musical accompaniment is 'If We Only Knew.' It is by Mel. B. Spurr, who used to recite it at the Maskelyne and Cooke entertainments at the former Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly : he died some eighteen months ago. It is to be obtained of the publishers, Messrs. Reynolds, 13, Berners Street, W. LIONEL SCHANK.

T. TRUMAN, BOOKSELLER, 1746 (10 S. xi. 347, 418). There was a Gabriell T. Truman in Drury Lane at the sign of "The Goat," as his token indicates. It bears the initials in the " field," G. T. T. Even though book- sellers did not issue tokens, yet he may have been related to the T. Truman of the query (Akerman's 'London Tokens,' 1849, No.

591). J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.

PRIME MINISTER (10 S. ix. 425). During the present year a further step has been taken in the long process of giving a gradually increasing official recognition to the office of Prime Minister. Down to the end of last session all resolutions moved by the Prime Minister in the House of Commons were entered in the Orders and Votes under his name ; from the beginning of the present session the name has been dropped, and " The Prime Minister " substituted.

F. W. READ.

JAMES ISAACSON, M.P. (10 S. xi. 387). He was M.P. for Banbury from 1698 until expelled the House on 10 Feb., 1699, because he held the office of a Commissioner of Stamps, contrary to the statute ; and there is some account of him in ' Oxfordshire Members, 1213-1899.' L. M.

GAINSBOROUGH, ARCHITECT, c. 1300 (10 S. xi. 449). The Architectural Publication Society's * Dictionary of Architecture ' con- tains a short note on the monument of Ric- ardus de Gaynisburgh in the cloisters of Lincoln Cathedral, but gives no information as to the man himself. Gough, in ' Sepul- chral Monuments,' ii. 95, gives the inscrip- tion, copying it apparently from Walpole's not recollect seeing it in any of his visits to Lincoln. Possibly it is not now in existence BENJ. WALKER.
 * Anecdotes of Painting,' and says he does

Gravelly Hill, Erdington.

HOLBECK (10 S. xi. 448). It simply means " hollow beck," or stream ma hollow. See the admirable articles in ' N.E.D.' upon holl, adj., "hollow," and hcU, sb., "a hollow." The sb. is from the adj., viz. A.-S. hoi. Holbrook is mentioned in an A.-S. charter with the spelling holan-broc ,- where holan represents the weak form of the dative case.

Beck is, strictly, a Norse form ; IceL ekkr. Beach is not precisely the same word, but is of native origin ; and the words are doubtless closely allied. I would connect beach with the A.-S. bcec, brook, and (appa- rently) a valley, for which see Earle's ' Land "barters.* WALTER W. SKEAT.

POSTSCRIPT OF A WOMAN'S LETTER (10 S.

xi. 489). Steele in The Spectator, No. 79, 711 : "A Woman seldom writes her Mind

but in her Postscript." But in 1625 Bacon aid he had a male friend who usually " put hat which was most material in the post- script " ('Essays,' ed. Arber, 93). I quote ,hese from the 'N.E.D.' (vol. vii. p. 1177,

col. 2), a work which should not be over- ooked in inquiries of this kind. W. C. B. [MR. A. RHODES also thanked for reply.]

NOTES ON BOOKS, &a

Notes fiy the Way. By John Collins Francis.

(T. Fisher Unwin.)

A WORK which, so far as our knowledge goes,, has not yet seen the light, but for which, we are convinced, an expectant posterity is looking, is a General History of Editors. Individual bio- graphies we have, but a comprehensive work on this entrancing subject still awaits a Prometheus. Editors may roughly be divided into two classes : those who, Eke Etelane, are known to the world as editors, and nothing more ; and those who,, like Steele, are editors, and a great deal more. In political journalism an editor who travels beyond the strict limits of the leading article is regarded with suspicion, and Chenery, the suc- cessor of Delane, was heavily handicapped by the fact that Arabic literature was popularly supposed to hold a higher place in his affections than the battles of parliamentary frogs and mice. In this matter editors are at a disadvantage as compared with their staff. The principle of anonymity, in which we have the profoundest faith, protected Edward Henry Palmer, who, not being an editor, was enabled, in spite of his Arabism, to write leading articles that took the public fancy. Joseph Knight belonged to the school of Steele, to whom in temperament, if not in genius, he bore a marked resemblance. In largeness of nature, in geniality of spirit, in tender chivalry towards women, the friend of Addison was closely paralleled by the generous Yorkshire- man who for a longer period than any of his predecessors conducted the fortunes of ' N. & Q.*"