Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 12.djvu/469

 10 s. xii. NOV. is, 1909.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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CABRIOLET : CAB : MR. PICKWICK. In TJie Gentleman's Magazine, vol. xciii. pt. i. p. 463, is the following under date 1823, April 23 :

"Cabriolets were in honour of his Majesty's birthday introduced to the public this morning. They are built to hold two persons besides the driver (who is partitioned off from his company), and are furnished with a book of fares for the iise of the public, to prevent the possibility of imposi- tion. These books will be found in a pocket hung inside of the head of the cabriolet. The fares are one third less than hackney-coaches."

It is not clear how the introduction of cabriolets on 23 April was in honour of the King's birthday, which was 12 August.

The cabriolet (no doubt private) is de- scribed in a 1789 quotation in the ' New English Dictionary ' as

" a light two- wheeled chaise drawn by one horse, having a large hood of wood or leather, and an ample apron to cover the lap and legs of the occupant."

It is, I think, worth noting that the descrip- tion of the public cabriolet of 1823 answers to the cab in which Mr. Pickwick drove on 13 May, 1827, as depicted by Seymour (chap. ii. of ' Pickwick '), and as appearing on a much larger scale in Alfred Crowquill's extra illustrations, of which the first has at the foot, " Pub. May 1 st . 1837 by Ackermann & C 96 Strand." Crowquill's drawing gives the upper part of the cab with Mr. Pickwick inside, and the driver " partitioned off " from him. It appears to be too narrow to contain two full-grown men. One of Onwhyn's extra illustrations (" London : E. Grattan. 51 Paternoster Row Sept r 30. 1837 ") gives a back view of the off-side of a cab with the driver in his seat. It is the picture in which Mr. Pickwick is mounting the coach on his way to Ipswich, chap. xxii. ROBERT PIERPOINT.

[Cab and cabriolet are discussed at 5 S. xii. 65, 135, 174.]

JUDGE JEFFREYS'S HOUSE IN WEST- MINSTER. Some years ago I contributed to ' N. & Q.' a series of articles on this subject. I had an opportunity to call shortly afterwards at 37, Great George Street, the corner house in St. James's Park, and was astonished to find on the landing the arms of the infamous judge fully emblazoned, with an inscription setting forth that the house was formerly occupied by him.

As the whole of the north side of Great George Street and the whole of Delahay Street are to be pulled down shortly to make room for an extention of the Govern- ment offices, I paid another visit a few days

ago to No. 37 (now empty), for the purpose of copying the inscription, but could not find it. Probably it and the coat of arm& were removed when the former tenants, Messrs. Lucas & Aird, left the building some years ago. L. L. K.

BLACKSTONE'S ' COMMENTARIES,' FIRST EDITION. A statement is made in Lowndes'& ' Bibliographer's Manual ' about the first edition of this famous work which seems to- be incorrect, or at any rate for which I can find no corroboration. It states : " Sundry passages, strongly advocating the liberty of the subject, were expunged in subse- quent editions." I should be glad to learn what passages are referred to, as I am unable to find any such on careful comparison of the first, second, and fourth editions.

The dates of publication are not quite correctly given in Lowndes. Vol. i. of the first edition appeared in 1765, vol. ii. in 1766, vol. iii. in 1768, and vol. iv. in 1769. Of the second edition, vol. i. appeared in 1766 (not 1768, as stated in Lowndes), vol. ii. in 1767, vols. hi. and iv. in 1768 and 1769. It will be seen that the second edition consists of a revised issue of vols. i. and ii. only, vols. iii. and iv. serving for both editions. An extract from the preface of vol. i. of the second edition will make this clear :

" Upon a careful revisal of the former edition of this volume, the author hath found it necessary to supply some omissions and correct many errors, partly from his own observation, and partly pointed out to him by the candor of his learned friends. These he once had intended to publish separately, as a supplement to the former impression ; but found them sometimes too minute, and in general too much interwoven with the body of the work, to be easily distinguished and extracted. An under- taking of this nature must always be open to im- provement ; but he hopes that the subsequent volumes will stand in less need of correction.

4 "2 Nov. 1766."

No hint is given that any part of the text of the first edition is omitted, and I can discover nothing of the kind. There is a certain amount of revision, including a somewhat fuller description of the com- ponent parts of the kingdom ; but the addi- tional matter amounts to a few pages only.

There are also no discoverable omissions in the fourth edition, 1770 (the third edition is not in the British Museum) but there is a notable paragraph added, which is probably the basis of Lowndes's statement. In the life of Blackstone in the ' D.N.B.' (vol. v. p. 138) an account is given of the passage of arms over Wilkes's case in which the ' Commentaries ' was quoted as an