Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 12.djvu/350

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NOTES AND QUERIES, -no s. XIL OCT. 9, im

years alone in the island of Juan Fernandez, many years before Selkirk (having been marooned, not shipwrecked) spent four and a half years there, 1704-9.

ROBERT PlEBPOINT.

ROBERT PALTOCK, THE AUTHOR OF ' PETER WILKINS.' Very little is known of the personal history of that delightful romance ' The Life and Adventures of Peter Wilkins ' a book which has numbered amongst its admirers Southey, Scott, Coleridge, and Lamb. It may be well to place on record one curious fact that has so far, I believe, escaped notice. In The London Gazette of 10-13 Nov., 1764, there is the following notice :

" In pursuance of a Decree and General Order ot Iransfer of the High Court of Chancery, the Creditors of Robert Paltock, late of the Parish of Enneld in the County of Middlesex, Gent., who were Creditors on 9r before the 21st day of June, 1748, are peremptorily to come in and prove their Debts before John Eames, Esq. ; one of the masters of the said Court, at his Chambers in Lincoln's Inn, Chancery Lane, London, on or before the 20th Day of December next, in order to receive their distri- bution of the Trust Estate and Effects of the said Robert Paltock, according to the Deed of Trust mentioned in the said Decree, or in Default thereof they will be absolutely excluded the Benefit of the said Decree."

' Peter Wilkins ' appeared in 1750, and it is possible that its production may have some relation to the pecuniary difficulties of 1748 referred to in this notice. Its publica- tion in ' N. & Q.' may perhaps serve as a clue to some further information about a writer who enriched the literature of England with a classic. WILLIAM E. A. AXON.

PENNY-IN-THE-SLOT MACHINES IN 1829. The Tubingen Morgenblatt of 31 Oct., 1829, contains a description of such a machine as then in use in the London coffee-house. It was in the shape of a tobacco- jar, which stood on the table and had a slot into which a penny had to be inserted to obtain a pipeful of tobacco. The weight of the coin depressed a lever and released a lock. The writer adds that a halfpenny would not do the trick, and the would-be cheat could not recover his money. L. L. K.

THOMAS PERCY, BISHOP OF DROMORE. It seems singular that Percy should have been absent from his benefice of Easton Maudit, Northants, for such lengthy periods, though ecclesiastical matters were managed in a very lax fashion in the days of George III. Percy certainly was married during all the time he was resident at Northumberland House with his friends the Duke and

Duchess of Northumberland. In addition to Easton Maudit, he held the living of Wilby, an adjacent parish.

The following is a list of Percy's six children, all born in the old vicarage, and entered in the register by his own hand :

1. Anne Cleveland, born 18 March, 1760 ; died 18 Nov., 1770.

2. Barbara, born 3 Aug., 1761 (Mrs. Isted).

3. Henry, born 7 Feb., 1763; died at Marseilles in 1783.

4. Elizabeth, born 11 July, 1765 (Mrs. Meade).

5. Charlotte, born 1 Sept., 1767 ; died 9 Jan., 1771.

6. Hester, born 4 July, 1772 ; died 19 Feb., 1774.

Having frequently visited Easton Maudit, and recently read Miss Gaussen's interesting book ' Percy, Prelate and Poet,' I am induced to make these notes.

JOHN PICKFORD, M.A.

CHRISTOPHER WREN AND FREEMASONRY. MR. HEMS states that Sir Christopher Wren was master of a Masonic lodge (see ante, p. 190). The lodge which met at "The Goose and Gridiron " when the English Grand Lodge was formed in 1717 has never borne the title of " St. Paul's " ; it is now known as the " Antiquity " Lodge. The leading craft historian, Robert Freke Gould, is strongly of opinion that Wren was never a Freemason, much less a Worshipful Master. Another eminent authority, Dr. Chetwode Crawley, after a careful review of the evidence collected (mainly by Gould), considers that the arguments for and against Wren's being a member of the order " are inconclusive," but has no hesitation in pronouncing against his holding any rank therein. His son Christopher makes no mention in his ' Parentalia ' of his father having been a Freemason, whilst the first ' Book of Constitutions ' (1723) is equally silent. The second edition (1738) states that Wren was made a Grand Warden by Charles II. in 1663, and was appointed Grand Master in 1685, but gives no authority for either statement. Even the latter date is six years earlier than that assigned for Wren's "adoption" (initiation), viz., the day following Rogation Sunday (18 May), 1691, in Aubrey's ' Natural History of Wiltshire.' This is the only known reference to the great architect and Freemasonry, and occurs on the reverse of folio 72 of the original manuscript. CHARLES S. BTJRDON.

[Wren's connexion with Freemasonry was fully discussed at 9 S. x. 17, 136, 218.]