Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 10.djvu/458

 452

NOTES AND QUERIES. [n s. x. D EC. 5, wu.

" KULTUR : ' (11 S. x. 331, 377, 412). " What else is Kultur" asks Goethe, " but a higher notion of political and military relations ? Every- thing depends, for a nation, upon the art of bearing itself in the world and of striking in when neces- sary ^yheneyer and wherever the French lay

aside their Philistinism, they stand far above us in critical judgment and in the comprehension of original works of the human spirit."

One of your correspondents has asked for a definition of German "culture." Perhaps he will take Goethe's description of it as adequate. H. H. JOHNSON.

68, Abbey Road, Torquay.

THE GARDNER PRINTS AND DRAWINGS OF OLD LONDON (US. vi. 348, 432). The pam- phlet or fragment which occasioned my query has since been identified as part of the " Cata- logue of Portraits, &c., exhibited at the opening of the New Library at the Guildhall, November, 1872." This imposing volume, a stout 4to, bound in red cloth, gilt, is quite a familiar work ; but a few copies of the section dealing with the loan collection of Mr. J. E. Gardner's prints and drawings were printed in a smaller size, and as a separate pamphlet. Of the complete work there is also an 8vo edition on ordinary paper, an issue probably intended for use at the exhibition. ALECK ABRAHAMS.

LAW AGAINST CUTTING ASH TREES (11 S.

x. 211, 396). I have acted on the suggestion at the second reference, and have looked up the paragraph in The Morning Herald. It seems to be worth printing in full in order to show that it is by no means the report of a case, as would naturally be supposed. It runs as follows :

"James Baker was sent to the tread-mill for non-payment of '201. penalty and II. costs for cutting the bough off [not of, as printed at p. 211] an ash tree. (See Newspaper of Saturday, June 19.) By statute 6th Geo. II. c. 37, it was felony, without benefit of clergy, to destroy an ash. Dr. Ash, a great wit and friend of Swift, was once wet through with the rain, and upon going into an inn, asked the waiter to strip off his coat for him, upon which the waiter started, and said he would not, for it was felony to strip an Ash. Dr. Ash used to say he would have given 501. to have been the author of that pun."

It is clear from the above that the writer simply used the case of James Baker as a peg for the witticism. It should also be noted that he does not say that the conviction was under the statute cited ; in fact, by saying " it was felony " he rather suggests that the statute had been repealed, though if this was his meaning, he was mistaken.

As to the statute itself, it is quite true that it contains no reference to ash trees ;

but it does contain a clause that must have been the source of the statement in The Morning Herald. By 9 Geo. I. c. 22, sec- tion 1, it was enacted that any person op persons, "being armed with swords, fire- arms, or other offensive weapons, and having his or their faces blacked, or being other- wise disguised," who shall "cut down cj otherwise destroy any trees planted in any avenue, or growing in any garden, orchard, or plantation, for ornament, shelter, or profit," should be liable to the death penalty "as in cases of felony, without benefit of clergy."

This enactment, which was temporary, was continued by 6 Geo. II. c. 37, section 4. There was clearly no special protection for ash trees, nor would the destruction of an ash (or any other) tree, apart from the cir- cumstances of aggravation set forth in the statute, be punishable as felony. Never- theless, the enactment does afford some sort of justification for Larwood's statement, though in the form given by him ifc is most misleading. It may be added that both statutes were repealed by 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 27, section 1. F. W. READ.

THOMAS SKOTTOWE (11 S. x. 389). Thomas Skottowe, Governor of South Caro- lina, died 23 Nov., 1788, at Kings Langley, co. Herts, and was buried at Chesham, co. Bucks, where the Skottowe family had considerable property. In ' A Chat about Chesham,' by G. J. Smith, will be found an illustration of ' Chesham Church and Rectorial Manor,' taken in 1770, showing the old Skottowe residence, dismantled by a member of the family of Lowndes, who purchased the property.

Thomas Skottowe married Mary Lucia Bellinger, who died in 1781, and was buried at Charlestown, South Carolina, and had seven sons viz., Thomas Britiffe, Nicholas Britiffe, Coulson Britiffe, John Bellinger, Edmund Massingberd, George Augustus Frederick, and Coulson and one daughter, Anne Langford.

The Governor was immediately descended from the Skottowes of Great Ayton, co. York, who derived from the Skottowes of Melton Parva, co. Norfolk, in which church there are numerous tombs dating back to 1656. After the American War Thomas Skottowe petitioned Parliament for compensation, claiming 3,301Z. for loss of property, and 1,500Z. for loss of income per annum. He was given a temporary allowance of 200Z. a year^until 1788, when he was granted 8201. for his first claim, and 1,400Z. for the second,