Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 10.djvu/418

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. x. NOV. 21, uu.

"KULTUR" (11 S. x. 331, 377). The connexion of Germany and Kultur is not modern. Long ago Tacitus described Ger- mania as " cultu tristis " (' Germ.,' ii.).

H. E.

AUTHOR AND CORRECT VERSION WANTED (11 S. x. 349). Another version, whether more correct or not, is given in a foot -note to chap. ii. of H. D. Traill's ' Sterne ' :

"A once - familiar piece of humorous verse describes the upset of a coach containing a clerical pluralist,

When struggling on the ground was seen

A Hector, Vicar, Canon, Dean ;

You might have thought the coach was full,

But no ! 'twas only Dr. Bull.

Dr. Jacques Sterne, however, might have been thrown out of one of the more capacious vehicles of the London General Omnibus Company, with almost the same misleading effect upon those who only heard of the mishap."

VOLTAIRE IN LONDON (11 S. ix. 70: x. 138). We know of a house besides Fawkener's in which Voltaire lived when staying at Wandsworth. See Prof. Lucien Foulet's ' Correspondance de Voltaire (1726- 1729),' Paris, Hachette, 1913, p. 93, where in a note to a letter of Voltaire to Thieriot, dated 27 May (N.S.), 1727, we read :

"Voltaire a pris pension chez on teinturier qui habite a Half-farthing, sur la paroisse de Wands- worth. Non loin se trouve 1'ecole des Quakers, tenue par John Kuweidt [?] Voltaire y a fait la connaissance d'un jeune adjoint, Edward Higgin- son, qui lui donne des lemons d 'anglais et a qui il essaye sans succes d'inculquer le d&sme. Higginson nous a fait lui-meme le re"cit des tres amusantes conversations qu'ils eurent ensemble. II faut lire ce re"cit dans ' Lettres philos.,' 4d. Lanson, t. i., pp. 19-22 ; cf. Revue de Paris, 1908, ' Voltaire et les Lettres philosophiques.' II y a du reste peu de doute que ce se"jour a Half -farthing ne doive se placer au printemps de 1727. En mai, 1728, Edward Higginson termine son apprentissage de maitre d'e'cole ; & I'e'poque de ses entrevues avec Voltaire il avait d6ja, a ce qu'il nous dit lui-naeme, servi la moiti6 de son temps : il est vraisemblable que ce ' temps ' e"tait de deux ans. Tout autre calcul (peu probable en soi) aboutit a mettre Voltaire a Wandsworth a une e"poque oil nous savons par ailleurs qu'il e"tait a Londres."

At p. 154, in a note on Voltaire's letter to Thieriot dated Wandsworth, 14 June (O.S.), it is pointed out that Voltaire was probably again staying with Fawkener.

Prof. Foulet's book is indispensable to any one interested in Voltaire's residence in England. It is interesting to see from the French scholar's introduction that his work was suggested by a reading of the late John Churton Collins's ' Bolingbroke, a Historical Study, and Voltaire in England ' 1886). EDWARD BENSLY.

MOURNING LETTER-PAPER (4 S. iv.^390 ; 11 S. x. 371). The custom of using blacl edged paper is much older than the dat ] 818- of the example of its use given MR. NEWTON. In No. XXXIX. of Connoisseur papers (1754) the writer makes fun of the dismal mourning customs then prevalent. After pointing out sundry ab- surdities, he says :

" But what I most of all admire is the in- genious contrivance by which persons spread the tidings of the death of their relations to the most distant parts, by means of black-edged paper, and black sealing-wax."

The writer supposes that originally black- edged paper was intended, like gilt paper, for the use of the polite world only. But the fashions of the quality are aped by those beneath them in the social scale, and so the moralist is not surprised to be told by a stationer near the Exchange that he not only sold a great quantity of mourning paper to the citizens, but had lately blacked the edges of their shop-books for several trades- men !

In an undated letter to the Rev. Walter Bagot, written in 1789 or 1790, Cowper remarked : " My paper mourns for the death of Lord Cowper, my valuable cousin, and much my benefactor."

MR. NEWTON quotes the first reference above, but seems to be unaware of the replies the query produced, and of sub- sequent discussions of the subject in ' N. & Q.' The following references may be added :

4 S. vii. 209, 307, 378, 443 ; viii. 16 ; 8 S. vii. 109, 194, 353. The late MR. BIRKBECK TERRY quoted an example from Addison's comedy ' The Drummer,' 1715; and another correspondent mentioned an invitation to a funeral which had been found among the family papers of a Scotch house, which was written on paper edged with black, dated

5 Jan., 1683. This appears to be the earliest reference known to mourning -paper.

G. L. APPERSON.

Will MR. NEWTON permit me to extend his query so as to include the title-pages of funeral sermons ? If so, I may mention that I have a black-bordered pamphlet of viii + 34 pp. containing

" A | Sermon | Preach'd in | St. John's Church of March, 1734-5 [Upon occasion of the much- lamented Death | of the | Lady Jane Clavering | Eelict of the late | Sir John Clavering Bart. | By J. Thompson, M.A. | Prov. x. 7. | The Memory of the Just is Blessed. | Newcastle upon Tyne : Printed and Sold by Isaac | Lane, and Company, and the Booksellers there | and in Durham [Price
 * in | Newcastle upon Tyne, on Sunday the 2