Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 8.djvu/378

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NOTES AND QUERIES. LIO s. vm. OCT. 19, 1907.

rising and sometimes falling, so as to cause some apprehension, on account of the changing of the wind towards the west, that it might be carried away into the North Sea, and this was only avoided by his keeping it to the nearest point of land.

" The wind now shifted again more to the south, and blowing from the south by west, the magis- trates and the public had every opportunity of appreciating the superior talents of M. Blancnard in the aeronautic art by the course of the balloon, which he still directed more to the west, retarding, indeed, his voyage, but rendering it perfectly safe, and doing away with all fear as to the route it might have taken.

At 3 o'clock the report of a cannon was heard from Fort Rouge, as a signal that the balloon had effected the passage over the Straits, and it was soon visible that he was endeavouring to alight, but that the wind carried him back towards the sea, obliging the aeronaut and his attendant to re- ascend and pursue their course beyond the marshes of Frethun and Guinea, where they could not descend without danger, on account of the water with which these lands were covered. At half past three the balloon was seen descending toward the point of the Forest of Guines, two and a half leagues distant from the sea.

"In order to perpetuate the remembrance of the voyage, and give M. Blanchard a testimony of their esteem, the magistrates of the town of Calais came, the same day, to a resolution that the title of Citizen should be, the day following, conferred on M. Blanchard, and the form necessary for the same presented him, enclosed in a gold box, ornamented with a medallion relative to his voyage, and that the same sentiments of esteem should be expressed to Dr. Jeffreys, with the regret they had not it in their power (on account of his being a foreigner) to offer him the same title without special authority from the French Government."

The above is printed, and enclosed in an old black frame of the period. If the par- ticulars are accurately recorded and there appears to be no reason to doubt them it would seem that M. Blanchard possessed some means of steering in the air.

HARRY HEMS. Fair Park, Exeter.

There are various coloured and other illustrations relating to this incident in the fine collection of balloon prints, &c., com- prised in ' Aeronautica Illustrata,' contained in several large folio volumes, in the Patent Office in Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane. These were collected by the late George Norman, and were sold by him to this institution shortly before his death. The collection is well worth inspection.

E. E. NEWTON. 7, Achilles Road, West End, West Hampstead.

'THE OUTLAW' (10 S. viii. 231). This poem was written by Mrs. Henderson, nee Scott, for G. V. Brooke, and first recited by him at the Theatre Royal, Belfast, in the

summer of 1842 (' Life ' by W. J. Laurence, p. 31). It was impressed on my memory by the discovery that the first stanza was practically " lifted " from Sir Samuel Ferguson's ballad of ' Willie Gilliland ' and three other stanzas almost word for word from Fitz-Greene Halleck's poem on Burns. The poem is too long for insertion, but I may be able to send a copy direct if MB. GILMOUR favours me with his address.

JOHN S. CRONE. Kensal Lodge, Harrow Road, N.W.

" POT-GALLERY " (10 S. vii. 388, 431 ; viii. 172, 254). I am not clear whether DR. MURRAY'S third illustration is or is not a reproduction of a two-page sheet in the Guildhall Library (Index, p. 916), ' A Survey of the Buildings and Encroachments on the River of Thames,' dated 1 March, 1683/4. If not, he may like to have the following nine extracts from it (out of 58 encroach- ments specified) :

Dimensions. East to Ft. into West, ft. the River. At Allen's Dye-house and Pott

Gallery 21 12

A Pott Gallery upon the West

Side of Still Stairs ... 90 5,6,7,8,9

A Pott Gallery to the West of

Wheeler's Yard 85 9

Thomas Harvell's Pot Gallery 22 John Gulick's Pot Gallery ... 12 10

Thomas Mallam's Pot Gallery 15 10

Mr. Edward Hawkins's Pot

Gallery 35

Robert Warner's Pot Gallery 25

Mr. Crowder's Pot Gallery ... 45 6

The above dimensions clearly establish that the structures were galleries on (i.e., alongside of or over) the river, and effectually dispose of my suggestion at the second reference that they were eel-pot stagings projecting into the river. But also they seem to cast not a little doubt on the suggestion favoured by DR. MURRAY, viz., that a pot-gallery was the balcony of a pothouse, where customers sat over their pots. The first gallery mentioned, for ex- ample, was at or on a dyer's. Then there was another gallery no less than thirty yards in length. If the majority of them were on pothouses or inns, there is no in- dication that such was the case. On the other hand, as one gallery, for example, belonged to plain Thomas Harvell and another to " Mr. " Edward Hawkins, it may reasonably be inferred that the two pro- prietors were not regarded as of the same social standing not both of them bonifaces. So that we seem back to the point that there were a good many balconies over the