Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 5.djvu/95

 io" s. V.JAN. 27, 1906.) NOTES AND QUERIES.

75

SUSSEX INSCRIPTION (10 th S. iv. 389). Th explanation surely is that a rough draf was made of the inscription, in which th dates were to be filled in ; and without thi being done the stone-cutter got to work an< did the inscription. P. MONTFORT.

CLASSICAL QUOTATIONS (10 th S. v. 27). 1. The two words ^TriVrei Kare^ovo~a may b found in 'Heliodori ^Ethiopicorum, Lib. L towards the end of chap. ii. L. L. K.

3. The author of "Tarn otii," &c., is no Seneca, though he may have quoted th< dictum, but Cato. Cicero in his 'Pro Cn Plancio,' cap. 27, 66, says :

" Et enim M. Catonis illud, quod in principl scripsit Originum suaruni, semper magnificum e prseclarum putavi, clarorum virorum atque mag norum non minus otii quam negotii rationen exstare oportere."

The * Origines ' were published about B.C. 138 according to Mommsen.

JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT. [MB. P. J. F. GANTILLON also refers to Cicero.]

WELSH POEM (10 th S. iv. 208, 392, 516; v. 14) 1 hope I may excusably add one word. It was not indifference to verification, but the lending of my copy of Dean Ramsay's volume, which caused me unwittingly to misinterpret that worthy humorist. I was impelled to quote from memory. Thus from T. F. D comment I draw the more fitting conclusion, that it is wisdom indeed not to lend books.

W. B.

THE KING OF BATH (10 th S. v. 28). The list which I desired seems to be supplied by no less an authority than Philip Thicknesse in 'The New Bath Guide' Possibly the " Censor-General of Great Britain, Professor of Empiricism, and casual Compiler, Rape and Murder - Monger to The St. James's Chronicle " was not so great a liar as he is painted, for his brief history of the Masters of Ceremonies shows none of the virulence or exaggeration that his enemies always ascribed to him. On the contrary, his account tallies with many details that are found in other sources.

According to Governor Thicknesse, Capt. Webster held office from 1703 to 1710, and upon his death in the latter year was succeeded by his protege, the famous Richard Nash. After the death of the ancient Beau, on 3 Feb., 1761, a Mr. Collect occupied the post for a brief period. Another notorious per- son then came into office, Samuel Derrick to wit, who, in spite of " much opposition "I am quoting the " Gunner of Landguard Fort "reigned until his decease on 28 March,

1769. Two rival kings then arose, Mr. Plomer and Major William Brereton. Each was powerfully supported, and for a time there were two Masters of Ceremonies. Finally, the parties came to terms, and on 18 April, 1769, Capt. Wade, son of the general, was appointed. Upon his resignation, on 8 July, 1777, there were seven candidates for the vacant position, and the situation seems to have been rendered more difficult from the fact that a New Assembly Room had been in existence since October, 1771. After an ex- citing contest the victory lay between William Dawson and Major William Brereton, when, at a meeting of the subscribers to the dress balls, it was thought advisable (or more politic), since Bath was growing larger and its visitors more numerous, to elect a Master of Ceremonies for each room. Thus Brereton and Dawson shared the throne, the former officiating at the Old, and the latter at the New Assembly Rooms. After three years the fighting major retired, and in 1780 Richard Tyson took his place. Both Masters wore beautiful medallions, and the new regime seems to have been a success.

Thicknesse reproduces their portraits in his book. A monograph on the dour, hard- hitting governor-doctor would be a welcome addition to eighteenth-century literature, and, since biographers of Gainsborough seem generally to regard him as a prickly person, to be lightly handled, the work might be of some assistance to critics of art. There is plenty of material, and there is no reason why the book should not be well done.

HORACE BREACKLEY. Fox Oak, Walton-on-Thames.

In ' Selecta Poemata Anglorum,' and dated 761, is a long Latin epitaph upon Beau STash, by Gulielm King, LL.D., covering more than four pages; but whether inscribed n the Abbey Church at Bath I cannot say. NQ are introduced to Nash in ' Roderick landom ' (published in 1748) when Melinda nquires the name of Tobit's dog, and receives he reply, " His name was Nash, and an mpudent dog he was." In ' Humphry blinker,' published by the same author in 771, Tabitha Bramble's favourite dog Chow- ler, shows a formidable array of teeth at Derrick, a successor of Nash as M.C., and is ummarily ejected.

JOHN PICKFORD, M.A. Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge.

The following is a list of the Bath M.C.s own to the present time. Tyson and King uled at the end of the eighteenth century : /apt. Webster, Beau Nash, Mr. Collette,