Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/184

 148 NOTES AND QUERIES. [io«-a. iv. AUG. 19, iocs. tablets on the walls of the entrance lobby and staircase. J. G. T. SINCLAIR, Bart. HENRY SANDERSON, CLOCKMAKER. — A bracket clock has inscribed on its brass dial " Henry Sanderson, London." I should be glad of any information as to period within •which the said clock may have been made. T. BULLOCK. Westminster. [Henry Sanderson occupied a shop at 301, Strand, 1778-81. See Mr. F. J. Britton's admirably useful ' Old Clocks and Watches and their Makers.'] GEORGE III.'s CLEVERNESS. — In March, 1837, Lord Brougham read to Mr. Creevey letters written by George III. to Lord North, of which the hearer testified to Miss Ord :— " Talk of the Creevey papers, my dear! would that they contained these royal letters ! 1 have never seen anything approaching them in interest— the cleverness of the writer, even in his style—his tyranny—his insight into everything—his criticism upon every publick parliamentary man—his hatred of Lord Chatham and Fox, and all such rebellious subjects—his revenge; but at the same time and throughout, his most consistent and even touching affection for Lord North."—' The Creevey Papers,' vol. ii. p. 318. Has any other candid writer committed himself to such a favourable judgment of the ability of George III. ? Thackeray, who refers to autograph notes of the king appended to Lord Brougham's biographical sketch of Lord North—probably of those read to Creevey—thus excuses the royal writer for some of his remarks :— " Remember that he was aman of alow jiarts [the italics are mine! and imperfect education ; that the same awful will of Heaven which placed a crown upon his head, which made him tender to his family, pure in his life, courageous and honest, made him dull of comprehension, obstinate of will, and at many times deprived him of reason."—' The Four Georges,' p. 144. ST. SWITHIN. SEVERANCE AS A PROPER NAME.—Will some reader kindly tell me the origin of the proper name Severance ? W. H. PARKS. 19, Rue Scribe, Paris. SOPHONY.—This Christian name occurs in a Ball will, proved 1561. I should be very much obliged if any of the readers of ' N. & Q.' could refer me to contemporary, or earlier, mention of it. H. HOUSTON BALL. PUBLIC MEETING.—What is the earliest known use of this term ? Mr. Henry Jeph- son, in the opening portion of his work ' The Platform : its Rise and Progress,' appears to date the rise of the modern form of political public meeting at about the middle of the eighteenth century. POLITICIAN. " NEWLANDS," CHALFONT ST. PETER. — Thome's 'Handbook to the Environs of London' (i. 83) says that until his death, in 1807, this was the seat of Abraham Newland, of the Bank of England. Is this statement correct ? From his biography, published in 1808, and some MS. notes of Islington celebrities, I have always understood that he lived at the Bank until his retirement, when he took up his residence with Mrs. Corn- thwaite, at 38, Highbury Place. He died there 29 November, 1807. The house at New- lands is evidently of much later date. ALECK ABRAHAMS. 39, Hillmarton Road. WILLIAM CONGREVE.—In a note in Wilson's 'Life of Defoe,' vol. iii. p. 646. there is a quotation from Dr. Duncan's ' History of the Independent Church at Wimborne,' which begins:— "Mr. Congreve, the poet, lived at Merley, and belonged to this meeting with his family ; but he sold the manor and resided at the manor house of Aldermaston, Hampshire." Dr. Duncan was minister of the Indepen- dent chapel at Wimborne towards the end of the eighteenth century; but I have not been able to find his history, and there does not appear to be a copy in the British Museum Library. The statement that Congreve was at one time an Independent, and that he lived in Dorsetshire, is new to me. Can any reader of 'N. & Q.' throw light on the subject 1 Aldermaston is in Berks, not Hants. J. A. J. HOUSDEN. WESTMINSTER HALL : ITS INTERIOR. — Can any one tell me the date of the first impres- sion of an engraving of the interior of West- minster Hall, by C. Morley, after Gravelot. It is entitled ' The First Day of Term : a Satirical Poem.' The poem, of thirty-two lines, is at the bottom of the print. The second impression, dated 1797, is well known. But I have as yet been unable to discover a copy of the first impression, or anything about it. E. A. P. Temple. WILLIAM LEWIS, COMEDIAN.—What autho- rity Bother than Mr. Calcraft's statement, Dubhn University Magazine, under ' Peep at the Pictures in the Garrick Club,' vol. xlii. p. 643 if seq.) is there for assuming that 35, King Street, Covent Garden, the first home of the Garrick Club, was Mr. Lewis's residence for many years .' R. W. THORNBURY ON THE CIVTL WAR.—The late Mr. W. Thornbury wrote a ballad relating to the great Civil War. So far as I remember the