Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 8.djvu/615

 10 s. VIIL DEC. 28, loo?.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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suggest some means by which it could be obtained. AXFRED STANLEY FOOBD.

11, Riverview Gardens, Barnes, S.W.

FIRING A BEACON NEAR HEMSWORTH. Some will recall the graphic account given in ' The Antiquary ' of the false alarm of invasion caused by the fire at Sir, Arthur Wardour's mines, the flames of which were mistaken for a beacon-light giving warning of the approach of the enemy.

In Sir Edgar MacCulloch's ' Guernsey Folk-lore ' (p. 476) there is a story how three lads, by way of a frolic, were the cause of a beacon being fired, and as a consequence the whole population of the island being thrown into confusion.

Upwards of seventy years ago my father was told a tale which is a fit companion of these. What amount of truth it contains I do not know. The old Yorkshireman who was my father's informant declared that he was one of those who took part in the turmoil. This is what he said. During the great war with France, when invasion was a matter of hourly expectation, one night a great blaze was seen in a westerly direction not very remote from Doncaster. Whether it was a real beacon fired by " mischance or blame," or whether it was an accidental conflagration of some sort, I do not now call to mind ; but whatever its nature, it was sufficient to alarm the inhabitants of a wide extent of country. The yeomanry and militia were called out, and every other means that could be thought of taken to make a strenuous resistance. Hemsworth was then only a small village, but it seems to have been one of the points where troops were massed, for so many hungry men gathered there that everything eatable and drinkable, not only in the lone inn which existed there in those times, but also in nearly every private house in the place, is said to have been rapidly exhausted.

I am anxious to know whether this is a mere fable, or, if it be true, when it happened, and what was the cause of the scare. If there be any substantial foundation for the story, some account of what came to pass must have found its way into the local newspapers of the time. I think The Doncaster Gazette and The Leeds Mercury were both in existence during the time of the Napoleonic wars. K. P. D. E.

SIR RICHARD WESTON : SOAP-MAKING. On 21 July, 1637, a patent was granted to Sir Richard Weston, Kt., for the manufacture

of soap. I feel pretty certain that he must be identical with Sir Richard Weston (1591-1652), the well-known improver of of the river Wey, noticed at length in the ' D.N.B.' Can any of your readers furnish me with information respecting the soap- making patent, or assist in the identification of the patentee with the canal-maker ?

R. B. P.

CROWE FAMILY. In the early part of the eighteenth century a family of the name of Crowe was living in Norfolk, at Felbrigg, Overstrand, &c. Can any one give me information about its members ?

W. ROBERTS CROW.

HORNE TOOKE. Passing by the Bunhill Row grounds, I saw a tablet inscribed as follows : "In these grounds are the vaults of John Home Tooke," &c. Can any of your readers tell me whether Home Tooke was any relation to the Tooke family men- tioned in ' N. & Q.' some time back ?

F. OWEN.

S. GREGORY, PORTRAIT PAINTER. I possess a small oval water-colour portrait, measuring, without borders, 3 in. by 2J in., and signed on the right side " S. Gregory, 1809." I should like to learn something of the artist, and where he lived. The portrait is in what appears to be a con- temporary oval wood frame. It may be added that I incline to identify the subject with a relative known to have been living in 1808 at " Cow Cross, parish of St. Sepul- chre, Middlesex," as testified by his will.

A. STAPLETON.

158, Noel Street, Nottingham.

GERMAN TRANSLATION: AUTHOR WANTED. There is an excellent translation from Uhland beginning :

Many a year is in its grave, Since I crossed this restless wave.

It is familiar to classical scholars as trans- lated into Latin elegiacs by W. E. Heitland (' Sabrinse Corolla,' 4th ed., p. 403) and Sir R. Jebb (' Translations,' 2nd ed., p. 66). Both these references ascribe the English to Longfellow, but Jebb's ' Life and Letters,' recently published, contains the following extract from a letter of 1873 :

"Do you remember, in Longfellow's 'Hyperion, the translation

Many a year is in its grave, &c., of Uhland's little poem? An interesting (nega- tive) fact about the authorship of this translation has just come to me through the kindness of a stranger. An American gentleman, Mr. Hayes, a Professor of Greek in the States wrote to me a