Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 11.djvu/431

 us. xi. MAY 29, 1915.) NOTES AND QUERIES.

421

The poet Denham was at Oxford at the time, and wrote his song of the ' Second Western Wonder' as the result. I think that some verses from this will amuse my readers. I should premise that " book " was an abbreviation for " newsbook," and referred to Civicus :

You heard of that wonder, the lightning and thunder

Which made the lye so much the louder, Now list to another, that miracle's brother.

Which was done with a firkin of powder.

Oh, what a damp it struck through the camp ;

But as for honest Sir Ralph, It blew him to the Vies, without beard or eyes,

But at least three heads and a half.

When out came the book, which the newsmonger took

From the preaching ladies letter, Where in the'first place stood the Conqueror's face,

Which made it show much the better.

But now without lying you may paint him flying, At Bristol, they say, you may find him,

Great William the Con, so fast he did run, That he left half his name behind him.

Two quotations from other pamphlets will add point to this song.

' Certaine Informations,' for 10-17 July, says that Hopton was

"so scorched. .. .that his eyes are burnt out* and his head is therewith swollen as big as two or three heads."

And a " relation " entitled ' The copie of a letter .... from the Maior of Br.stoll ' adds that Hopton

a miserable spectacle, his head being as big as three, and both his eyes blinded, besides which, he was shot in the arme the day before " !
 * ' was yesterday carried in his bed to a caroach,

After all this, the news of Roundway Down must have been very disconcerting.

Another poet, John Cleiveland, in his ' The Character of a London Diurnall,' makes satirical mention of Sir William Waller and also of Hazlerig's " lobsters," who were under his command at Roundway Down :

" This is the William whose lady is the Con- queror. This is the City's Champion and the Di ur nail's delight, he that cuckolds the General in his Commission, for he stalks with Essex, and shoots under his belly, because his Excellency him- self is not charged there. Yet in all this triumph there is a whip and a bell. Translate but the scene to Roundway Down, there Hazlerig's lobsters turn'd crabs, and crawled backwards. There poor Sir William ran to his lady for an use of consolation."

The Royalists nearly always had a mono- poly of wit. It is a pity so much explanation of the jokes is needed nowadays.

J. B. WILLIAMS.

PARISHES IN Two OR MORE COUNTIES (11 S. ix. 29, 75, 132, 210, 273, 317, 374). One or more of your correspondents on the above subject stated that there was no book giving a list of such parishes, but I find in the ' County Statistics ' at the end of James Lewis's ' Digest of the English Census of 1871 ' (London, Stanford, 1873) that the names of these parishes are set out under each county, while Table X. (pp. 56-60) gives a very useful list of those parishes which are in a different diocese from that in which the bulk of their respective counties lies. THOS. M. BLAGG.

124, Chancery Lane, W.C.

EDWARD TYRRELL SMITH (US. xi. 281). The late Mr. E. T. Smith described himself, I believe correctly, as the son of an admiral.

He attempted the character of Othello at Drury Lane Theatre, then under the management of Stephen Price, on 12 March, 1827, being announced as " a gentleman, his first appearance on any stage." He had engaged, if the receipts should amount to less than 300Z., to make up the deficiency. According to the newspaper accounts, his failure was complete he was scarcely allowed to proceed, and the experiment cost him 150Z. He was afterwards at various times a policeman, a sheriff's officer, and a licensed victualler.

In 1852 he was for a short period lessee of the Marylebone Theatre, and about that time he kept a public -house in Red Lion Street, Holborn, where the chief attraction was a giant barmaid. Later in that year he took Drury Lane Theatre, of which he con- tinued lessee until Christmas, 1862.

He was a shrewd and energetic man of business, and in that capacity was respected in the theatrical profession. Whether he ever made a second appearance as an actor is very doubtful. WM. DOUGLAS.

125, Helix Road, Brixton Hill.

FAWCETT, RECORDER OF NEWCASTLE (11 S. xi. 380). I would refer G. F. R. B. to The Monthly Chronicle of North - Country Lore and Legend of November, 1890. Chris- topher Fawcett was the eldest son of John Fawcett of Boldon, Recorder of Durham, and was born in the year 1713. He matricu- lated at Exeter College, Oxford, in 1729; and from Gray's Inn was called to the Bar in 1735. He settled as a practising barrister in Newcastle, and became Recorder, in succession to William Cuthbert, in 1745. In consequence of his indiscreet utterance, at Dean Cowper's table at Durham, respecting William Murray (Lord Mansfield), he was