Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 1.djvu/465

 n s. i. JUNE 4, mo.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

457

The following information is supplied by Mr. R. Lachlan, Sc.D., of Trellech, co. Monmouth :

Among the deeds of his property there are two fragments relating to the purchase of a plot of ground by the Rev. Peregrine Ball, in 1749 and a deed of conveyance of the same in 1797 by Thomas Bannister Ball, of St. Briavels, co. Gloucester, esquire, only son and heir at law of the Rev. Peregrine Ball, clerk, late of Newland.

Trellech registers contain the record of the burial of Peregrine Ball, 14 Nov., 1794. In the chancel is a tombstone believed to be his, but it is almost covered by a layer of stone, placed there about twenty years since for the purpose of raising the holy table. Adjoining is the tombstone of James Ball, A.B., Minor Canon of the Collegiate Church of Bristol, son of the Rev. Jtames Ball of Trellech parish and Dorothy his wife, died 10 July, 1739, aged 24 years. In the churchyard is the gravestone of the Rev. James Ball, Vicar of Trellech, age 67, date illegible.

Trellech registers 1762-94 were signed by curates, first by Howel Powel, and after his death by his son Ezra Powel, the latter succeeding Ball as vicar in 1794.

Trellech had no vicarage house until 1820. From 1686 there was a lecturer paid out of a trust fund left by a -former vicar ; the lecturer acted as curate, and sometimes also as schoolmaster.

The minute-books of the trustees show that on 18 June, 1750, Peregrine Ball was removed from the lectureship, and was succeeded therein by Howel Powel, and later by Ezra Powel. Later the trustees called on Ezra to explain why there had been no services in church, and he said there was only occasionally an evening service, and that he used to read prayer at 9 A.M. every Sunday, until the people ceased to come. Subsequently he promised in future to read prayers in the morning on the Sundays on which an evening service was held.

In 1766 Peregrine Ball signed the minute- book with other trustees ; he signed first, indicating that he was vicar.

F. S. HOCKADAY.

Highbury, Lydney.

"PULL" (11 S. i. 407). This is simply the verbal substantive, from pull, verb. The ' E.D.D.' gives :


 * ' pUlly tO

ague has And again

weaken, to bring low, to pull down. * The properly pullea him this time ' ; Kent, in, * It has pulled him sadly ' ; Kent."

WALTER W. SKEAT.

MARK TWAIN : ARTEMUS WARD (11 S. i. 367, 418). I well remember hearing Mark Twain lecture in London, but whether in he Hanover Square Rooms or elsewhere [ do not recollect. Neither can I give the date. I should think it must have been about 1873-7. I think that the lecture, or Dart of it, was about the Sandwich Islands. [ was not much amused by it ; in fact, I was disappointed with the matter and the monotonous delivery of the lecturer. Yet there were two of his queer jests which stuck in my memory.

Speaking of the natives (" Kanakas " I hink he called them), he said that they would lie till the air around them became blue.

Again, concerning a mountain in one of the islands he said that it was so high that when you got to the top you could not speak the truth, adding, "I know, for I ? ve been there.' 1

I never saw Artemus Ward. Did he not at one time lecture at the Egyptian Hall ? I find among the advertisements in my copy of ' Artemus Ward in London,' pub- lished by John Camden Hotten, in the "Very Important New Books. Special List for 1870,'' the following :

"Artemus Ward's Lecture at the Egyptian Hall, with the Panorama, 6*. Edited by T. W. Robertson (Author of 'Caste,' 'Ours,' 'Society,' &c.), and E. P. Kingston."

Charles F. Browne (Artemus Ward) died in 1867. ROBERT PIERPOINT.

Between thirty - two and thirty - seven years ago Mark Twain certainly lectured in the old Hanover Square Rooms, my husband and I being present. It was pitiful. No one in the audience laughed or smiled but we two. The remarks around us were, " What a fool the man must be ! " &c. The performance rapidly degenerated into a lecture from Mark Twain to us two, with a wonderful sympathetic comprehen- sion between us. However, he persevered to the end and told his wonderful whistling story. M. L. SANDERS.

Parkholme, Elm Park Gardens. S.W.

MR. SCHLOESSER can hardly have heard Artemus Ward in the later seventies, as he died in 1867. I heard him at the beginning of that year or the end of 1866, and he died shortly after. So great were his humour and genius that the "excessive drawling" (this is a true description), the downcast eyes, the melancholy expression, and even the frequent consumptive cough, only added to the piquancy of the wit. No one with