Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 8.djvu/464

 382

NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. VIIL NOV. ie, 1907.

DR. JOHNSON'S ANCESTORS AND CONNEXIONS.

(See ante, p. 281.)

Dr. Johnson's first visit to London. In my book (pp. 136, 174) I called attention to the fact that when Mrs. Johnson, in 1712, took Samuel to London to be touched by the Queen, she stayed " at Nicholson's, the famous bookseller, in Little Britain," but a stone's throw from Christ's Hospital, where her cousin, Cornelius Jesson, held office as steward. Dr. Birkbeck Hill, in his ' John- sonian Miscellanies ' (vol. i. p. 133), makes no attempt to identify Nicholson, but in Mr. William Roberts's ' Earlier History of English Bookselling,' 1889, I read (p. 127) that

"John Nicholson, of the King's Arms, Little Britain, was another extensive bookseller whose name is frequently found in conjunction with that of Robert Knaplock, of St. Paul's Churchyard, and Samuel Ballard."

Their lists, we are told, include a large number of

"quaint and curious little books Perhaps the

most important book in the lists of Nicholson and Knaplock was Stebbing's edition of Sandford's ' Genealogical History of the Rings and Queens of England' (1707), a folio of nearly 900 pages." Nicholson is also alluded to in a vein of friendly irony by the eccentric John Dunton (1659-1733) in his ' Life and Errors ' (ed. 1818, p. 209):

"Mr. John Nicholson. His talent lies at Pro- jection, though I am thinking his 'Voyages and Travels ' will be a little posthumous. He is usually fortiinate in what he goes upon. He is a man of good sense ; for I have known him lay the first rudiments and sinews of a design with great judg- ment, and always according to the Rules of Art or Interest. He purchased part of my Stock, when I threw up all concerns in Trade ; and I ever found him a very honest man."

The hour of Dr. Johnson's birth. As the bicentenary of his birth is not far off, it is well to call attention to the fact (overlooked, I think, by Dr. Birkbeck Hill and other Johnsonians) that an early number oi ' N. & Q.' contains evidence as to the exact time of his birth. On 12 March, 1859 (2 S vii. 216) O. L. CHAMBERS communicated a note to the effect that he possessed a volume consisting of three of Dr. Johnson's works bound together, the inside cover of whicl" bore the inscription : " Ex dono Authoris Anna Williams " ; and that at the end o the volume was inserted an old and tatterec paper recording that " Dr. Samuel Johnson was born the 7th day of September, 1709 at Litchfield, near the market-place, abou

our o'clock Jn the afternoon." Few will doubt the authenticity of this piece of evi- dence, or the accuracy of the information, which would doubtless be derived, directly or indirectly, from a family Bible. It is,, of course, the fact that Johnson was born on 7 September, 1709 (O.S.), and his baptism s well known as one of those whom th& arge-hearted Doctor provided with a home.
 * ook place the same day ; and Anna Williams

Dr. Johnson's china teapot. At the end of my book (p. 283) I gave some particulars of the Rev. Samuel Hay Parker, who com- municated to Croker some anecdotes of Dr. Johnson derived from his mother, and rom whose daughter Sarah Anne was acquired (in 1885) the great Worcester teapot which helps to keep the Doctor's memory green in the Common Room of his old college. It is worth noting that the Liverpool papers for 30 April last recorded tier death :

" April 26, at her residence, 163, Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury, Sarah Anne, eldest daughter ot the late Rev. S. H. Parker, late vicar of Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-on-Avon."

In The Athenceum for 1 June was advertised an auction sale of the contents of. her resi- dence, including 700 ounces of silver, as well as cut glass, engravings, old furniture, &c. This made me wonder if there might be any items of Johnsonian interest, but on receipt of a catalogue I found that all the effects had belonged to

" the late Wm. Scoltock, Esq., a well-known Shrop- shire Antiquarian, the greater portion having been in his family for generations, and are now to be sold by order of the Executrix of the late Miss Parker."

The Rev. Samuel Hay Parker, whose daughter Harriett Steele Parker became in 1878 the third wife of my grandfather, William Treleaven Fox, presented a valuable collection of Johnsonian documents to the library of Pembroke College on 1 June, 1827, when he took his degree there.

Andrew Johnson. In Nichols's ' Leices- tershire,' under ' Wistow ' (vol. ii. pt. 2, p. 871), I find the following :

" In 1719, the freeholders who polled from thi parish were, sir Richard Halford, bart. and Andrew Johnson. Richard Halford, esq. of Edithweston r polled also for a freehold at Croxton.

" In 1722, sir Richard Halford and Andrew John- son again occur ; but in 1775 not a single name."

Whether this can refer to the Doctor r s uncle, Andrew Johnson (1660-1729) of Birmingham, is more than I can say. In my account of him (pp. 217-27) there is no evidence of his owning any property int Leicestershire. His son, Fisher Johnson,.