Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 1.djvu/519

 ii s. i. JUNE 25, i9io.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

511

I have read with interest MB. BERNATJ'S proposals for the formation of a Genealogical Society. This seems to me to be much needed, and I should be pleased to subscribe a guinea as suggested.

W. ROBERTS CROW.

Camelot, Park Hill Road, Wallington, Surrey.

In response to MR. BERNAU'S communica- tion concerning a Genealogical Society, I should be very pleased to subscribe a guinea to help to form a preliminary Society (not Syndicate), and I sincerely trust that before long such a Society will be established, and I should be glad to do anything in my power to assist in its formation.

F. M. R. HOLWORTHY.

Elsworth, Tweedy Road, Bromley, Kent.

CHINA AND JAPAN : THEIR DIPLOMATIC INTERCOURSE (11 S. i. 8; 154, 397). " It was necessary to interpret what occurred into Chinese for the information of the Viceroy " was quoted at the last reference. My impression, however, is that Li Hung Chang understood English well, and that his pretended ignorance was merely an habitual device for gaining time to frame his reply. An instance, somewhat similar, appears in Admiral R. D. Evans's recent ' Memoirs,' in detailing his audience with the Empress Dowager of China :

" Officially she knew no word of English, but several times she started to reply before my words had been translated, which convinced me that she understood every word I was saying. The rapid changes of expression on her face also led me to this conclusion."

Can any certain information be given as to Li Hung Chang's English ?

ROCKINGHAM. Boston, Mass.

DE QUINCEY AND SWEDENBORG ((11 S. i.

109, 435). Upon the removal of William Newbery in 1843 from No. 6, Chenies Street, Bedford Square, to No. 6, King Street, Holborn, he was appointed publishing agent to the Swedenborg Society, and so continued until, in 1854, the Society acquired the house, then styled No. 36, now No. 1, Bloomsbury Street, whence have emanated all its sub- sequent publications. The Rev. J. Hyde's 1906, furnishes (Index, p. 731) reference to about 120 volumes bearing Newbery's name upon their title-pages. The same authority, however, treats Newbery only as a Londoner, it knows nothing of Newby, nor, indeed, of any publisher of Swedenborg at Cambridge save at its namesake in the
 * Bibliography of Swedenborg's Works,*

U.S.A. Among Newbery's publications were the 15 volumes upon philosophical and scientific subjects issued by the Swedenborg Association (an offshoot of the Swedenborg Society) in 1843-61. Foremost among the promoters of this Association were Dr. James John Garth Wilkinson and the Rev. Augustus Clissold, M.A., but neither of them was a Cambridge student. Of the former, we are told "his education was begun at a school in Sunderland, continued at a private school at Mill Hill, and completed at Totteridge." The latter "graduated at Exeter College, Oxford, taking his B.A. in 1816, and proceed- ing to M.A. in due course." While, there- fore, I cannot but admire MR. SCOTT'S in- genuity, and cordially thank him for his proffered suggestions, I fear they do not facilitate the solution of the problem. If the documents in the case were not too modern for that kind of treatment, one would be inclined to hazard the wild con- jecture that in this instance " Cambridge " is a misprint for Coleridge.

CHARLES HIGHAM.

DR. BEKE'S DIARY (11 S. i. 427). So far as is known, no single work by Dr. Beke entitled ' Travels and Researches ? was published in 1846. His ' Statement of Facts l appeared in 1845, 2nd ed., 1846. In 1847, however, he issued ' An Essay on the Nile and its Tributaries J ; and in 1849 another essay * On the Sources of the Nile,' containing an account of an unsuccessful attempt made in 1848 to reach the sources of that river. Perhaps to these two publica- tions, dealing with the subject of African exploration, Dr. Budge may have referred under the general designation ' Travels and Researches.' But in any case the date 1846 is wrong. W. S. S.

WARMING CITY CHURCHES (11 S. i. 449). In the year 1634 a patent was taken out for making or erecting stoves of iron, brickwork, and earth for heating water ; also for heating hothouses and rooms in dwelling- houses. And no doubt some such machine was used during the period mentioned, so that the congregation did not sit and shiver. Pepys, who regularly attended the London churches, sometimes complains of the sermon being bad, but never of feeling cold. Of course churches do not require much heating, as people usually sit in their walking apparel. During the eighteenth century some pro- gress was made in the improvement of stoves. David Riz in 1770 patented a stove, either portable or fixed, for warming rooms,