Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 12.djvu/280

 228

NOTES AND QUERIES, rio s. xn. SEPT. is, 1009.

REV. T. WATSON WARD. Can any reader give me further information about the Rev. Thomas Watson Ward (1762-1825) ? He was the son of Thomas Ward of Cambridge ; admitted to Westminster School 1774 ; Trin. Coll., Camb. ; Usher of Westminster School 1784 ; later he was Vicar of Felmers- ham, Beds, and Sharnbroke, Beds, where he died 30 May, 1825, aged 63. He married Mary, daughter of the Rev. Richard Grant, Usher of Westminster. I should be glad to know if he had any children or if any de- scendants are living. References in 'Alumni Westmonasterienses ' and ' School Register ' known. L. E. T.

2, Little Dean's Yard, Westminster.

' ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW.' Free- man's paper on ' Gundred ' appeared in the number of the above review for October, 1888, which is, I find, out of print. I am most anxious to see it, as it seems to be the last word on my ancestress's origin. If any one would kindly lend me the number, so that I could have the article type-written, I would take the utmost care of it, and return it within a week. (Mrs.) CLAY FINCH. Bark Hill House, Whitchurch, Salop.

MILITARY CANAL AT SANDGATE : MARTELLO TOWERS. If any reader of ' 1ST. & Q.' will let me know where I can obtain information about the construction of the military canal which starts at Sandgate and runs to Rye in Kent, and the building of the Martello towers along the Kent coast, I shall be much obliged. H. C. NORRIS (Col.).

St. Decumans, Folkestone.

[Much on Martello towers will be found at 10 S i. 285, 356, 411, 477 ; iii. 193, 252, 313.]

" ALL RIGHT " : ORIGIN OF THE PHRASE. In a letter dated 6 Aug., 1840, I find this sentence : ' ' All right,' as the guards of the mail-coaches say."

Is this the recognized origin of the ex- pression in question ?

ROBERT GLADSTONE, Jun.

Capenoch, Thornhill, Dumfriesshire.

[The earliest instance in the ' N.E.D.' is 1837, from 'Pickwick,' chap, xxxviii.]

DOWBIGGIN IN LYTTON. In Lord Lytton's ing passage :
 * Night and Morning,' chap, v., is the follow-

" She had stolen from her little^ioard wherewithal to make some small purchases, on which the Dow- biggin of the suburb had been consulted."

What is " Dowbiggin," and what does the allusion refer to ? There is no mention of the name elsewhere in the novel.

Dowbiggin as a place-name is a hamlet 1 miles N.E. of Sedbergh, West Riding of Yorkshire.

As a surname it occurs in the Yorkshire West Riding Poll Tax Returns (1379) : Johannes de Dowfbyggyng and Robertus de Dowfebyging. It is also found in Lancashire wills at Richmond : Christopher Dowbikine of Tatham, 1613 ; and John Dowbiggin of Tatham, 1678. In the fif- teenth century Elizabeth Martoii of Marton- in-Craven married Thomas Dowbiggin of Bentham. CAIUS.

[A later Dowbiggin was discussed recently in ' N. & Q.' ; see 10 S. vii. 509; viii. 54, 135, 218.]

SLOAN SURNAME. Can any reader oblige me by giving information regarding the origin and nationality of the surname Sloan ? S. G.

SNAKE COMMITTING SUICIDE. In what books can I find a description, by an eye- witness, of snakes, scorpions, &c., biting themselves when alarmed or irritated, and thus committing suicide ? L. C. N.

[For suicides of animals, insects, &c., see the numerous communications at 6 S. xi. 227, 354 ; xii. 295, 454 ; 7 S. i. 59, 112, 155, 178 ; iii. 17, 337, 418 ; vii. 105.]

RICHARD HEBER'S LIBRARY. Some few years ago I was fortunate enough to obtain a large-paper copy of the Sale Catalogue of this marvellous library. It is of more than ordinary interest, as it has been the refer- ence copy of Payne & Foss, by whom, it will be remembered, the successive sales were arranged. Henry Foss has added throughout the prices obtained for the many thousands of lots, and, what is more im- portant, has filled in against a large number of books the prices paid by Heber when he originally purchased them. Probably the volumes so distinguished were purchased through Payne & Foss, and, so far as I have been able to compare with the ' Bibliotheca Anglo-Poetica ' and some important sale catalogues, the information thus provided is entirely accurate. This set of the Heber Sale Catalogues wants Parts I. and II. to complete it, and, although they are not the most interesting portions of this great library, I am anxious to obtain them.

Joseph Hunter, F.S.A., writing in" Sep- tember, 1834, on William Upcott, adds :

'Much at the same time occurred the case of Lowndes, author of ' The Bibliographer's Manual, who sold about 300Z. worth of Heber's books which lad been placed in his hands to be catalogued."

ALECK ABRAHAMS.