Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 10.djvu/494

 4S,s

NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. x. DEC. 19,

depicted. The " opinions of the press " include the following : " It 's werry snug, as the undertaker said to the corpse " (Sam Weller). ALECK ABRAHAMS.

PHOTOBIBLIOGRAPHY. This was the name given by Henry Stevens to his method of cataloguing rare and valuable books by photographing the title-pages, now largely employed by antiquarian booksellers. He took out a patent for the method on 30 Sept., 1871 (Xo. 2590), but it never went beyond the " provisional " stage, his only object being to establish the date of his invention. In 1878 he published a small book entitled ' Photobibliography,' in which he gives a detailed account of the method by which he proposed to carry his invention into practice. This note may serve to remind librarians and others that they are indebted to Henry Stevens of Vermont for this valuable sug- gestion. R. B. P.

WE must request correspondents desiring in- formation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that answers may be sent to them direct.

' THE SLANG DICTIONARY ' PUBLISHED BY JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN : ITS AUTHOR. Halkett and Laing's Dictionary gives John Camden Hotten as the author, and 1865 as the date. At 11 S. ii. 528, s.v. ' Matsell's " Vocabulum," ' MR. RICHARD H.THORNTON writes :

"That ("1859] was the very year in which Mr. Sampson's 'Slang Dictionary' (usually attributed to J. C. Hotten) saw the light."

If " Mr. Sampson " means Henry Sampson, author of ' A History of Advertising,' the attribution to him appears to be more likely than that to Hotten. At the end of my copy of ' The Slang Dictionary,' published by Hotten's successors, Chatto & Windus, a new edition, 1874, is a list of books published by Chatto & Windus, dated July, 1875, in which appears ' A History of Advertising from the Earliest Times,' by Henry Sampson. In this list is ' The Slang Dictionary,' " an entirely new edition," author not named.

In the ' Dictionary of National Biography ' Henry Sampson is credited with two books only, viz., ' A History of Advertising,' 1874, and 'Modern Boxing, by Pendragon,' 1878. It appears that in 1872 Sampson took the pseudonym " Pendragon " in The Weekly

Dispatch, for which he wrote letters of" general criticism on sport. Kirk's Supple- ment to Allibone's Dictionary mentions only the two books named above.

Was Henry Sampson the author of ' The Slang Dictionary ' ?

ROBERT PIERPOINT.

AMPHILLIS WASHINGTON. At 8 S. ii. 254 it is mentioned that in a Staffordshire will occurs the peculiar Christian name of Amphillis. Can anybody tell me who the- testator was, and where the will is to be seen ? I am trying to discover the maiden name of Amphillis Washington, wife of the Rev. Lawrence Washington of Purleigh, and where they were married. She was a direct ancestress of George Washington.

(Rev.) R. USSHER.

Westbury Vicarage, Brackley.

AUTHOR WANTED. The Manchester Guar- dian lately referred to a skit on Mr. Gladstone called ' Hair- Splitting as a Fine Art : Letters to my Son Herbert.' It was published by Tinsley in 1882. Can any one say who wrote it ? GLADSTONIAN.

BORSTAL. What is the derivation of this name ? BRADSTOW.

DE TASSIS, THE SPANISH AMBASSADOR TEMP. JAMES I. In August, 1603, Don John de Tassis, Count of Villa Mediana, arrived in England as ambassador from Spain. He was of a Spanish family of high rank, whose lineage is given in Spanish in the ' Xobiliaro- Genealogica ' by Lopez de Haro, published at Madrid in 1621, but without dates. I should be glad to know the date of his death, place of burial which was, I fancy, at Valladolid and whether there is any monu- mental effigy of him extant, also if there is any print or portrait of him in Spain. It seems a far cry to that country from which to obtain information through ' N. & Q.,' but this invaluable aid to literary inquirers is the only help available, and may be successful. I should also like to know whether the De Tassis family has any representative at the present time, and whether the present Marquess de Penafnente del Acazar, or the Marquess de Casa Fontenelles, Count of Villa Mediana (creation of 1713), is de- scended from it. B. M.

SCHAW OF SAUCHIE. Can any of your readers tell me where a pedigree of this Clackmannanshire family may be seen ? The period which is of interest to me is 1580-1680.

140, Hope Street, Glasgow. W - D - KEB '