Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 12.djvu/113

 ii s. XIL AUG. 7, 1915.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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the movement. The property was vested in trustees appointed by members, and managed by an elective committee. Good lending libraries, reading-rooms, and classes in various branches of education were pro- vided, and in many places large halls for lectures and public entertainments. As a matter of fact working-men made little use of these institutions, although the cost was small. It was chiefly to tradesmen, pro- fessional men, and the clergy they owed their support. B" D. MOSELEY.

The name probably originated with Dr. Birkbeck, who founded the forerunner of them in Glasgow in 1800, and the first " properly so called " in London in 1824, as I learn from Haydn's ' Dictionary of Dates.' ST. S WITHIN.

NAPOLEON AND THE BELLEROPHON (11 S. xi. 339, 438 ; xii. 35). The engraving which faces p. 477, vol. ii. of Baines's * History of the Wars of the French Revolution ' (1817), depicting Napoleon's arrival on board the Bellerophon, is inaccurate in two respects.

(1) The Emperor did not, as represented, surrender his sword to Capt. Maitland.

(2) Capt. Maitland did not, as represented, stand uncovered in the Emperor's presence. There is satisfactory evidence on both points from an eyewitness of the scene, the mid- shipman George Home. Home, describing the Imperial costume on the occasion, distinctly states (1) that Napoleon "was without any sword, I suppose as emblematical of his changed condition " ; (2) that Mait- land " only raised his hat, as to a general officer, and remained covered while the Emperor spoke to him." But } even without this witness, the question as 'to the sword could be decided against the engraving. Napoleon, in his written protest on board the Bellerophon, declared that he had come voluntarily, that he was England's guest, not a prisoner of war : " Jo ne suis pas prisonnier, je suis I'hote de 1'Angleterre " (see Las Cases, ' Memorial de Sainte-Helene,' tome i. partie i. p. 66, Londres, 1823). Napoleon's view of himself as England's guest precludes any proffer or surrender of his sword. Home's account forms Additional Appendix III. to the 1904 edition of Capt. Maitland's ' Narrative,' and the quotations given above will be found at pp. 248, 249. Napoleon retained his sword. Admiral Viscount Keith writes to Capt. Maitland, 7 Aug., 1815, regarding the transhipmert from the Bellerophon to the Northumber- land : " Whan the General quits the ship it is

but to let him wear it, but not the others ' r I (see Maitland's ' Narrative,' p. 189, 1904 edition, or p. 192, 1826 edition).
 * not intended to take his sword from himr

Errors in all sorts of matters of detail are- quite characteristic of artists' representa- tions of historical events.

JOHN SALMON. The Mount, Belfast.

" TOBACCO-STOPPERS " AND SIB ISAAC' NEWTON (11 S. xii. 49). A graphic account of the incident of Sir Isaac Newton, in a fit of abstraction, surprising, and anything but delighting, a lady, who fondly supposed she was receiving attentions of a particular kind, by placing the tip of her finger on the burning tobacco in the pipe he smoked, is in- ' The Georgian Era,' 1834, vol. iii. p. 107.

The Welcome Guest, vol. i. p, 190 (I860)., has six eight-line verses by Paul Ward, with, an accompanying woodcut illustration by- Kenny Meadows, upon the subject.

W. B. H,

[ST. SWITHIN also thanked for reply.]

PEAT FAMILY (4 S. ix. 79 [see correct ion r 106], 225 ; 9 S. xii. 176 ; 11 S. xii. 29). The Rev. Robert Peat, D.D., was perpetual curate of St. Laurence, New Brentford,. Middlesex (not Brentwood in Eisex) from 1808 until his death in 1837. He was Senior- Knight Grand Cross of Stanislaus of Poland r and received the royal licence to wear hia order in this country. Some interesting particulars about him and his wife will be- found at the above references. LEO C.

AGNES, DAUGHTER OF Louis VII. (11 S'- xii. 29, 72). She first married Alexis, Emperor of Constantinople, and secondly- Theodore, Lord of Adrianople. In genea- logies of the French kings no other husband is mentioned, and her marriage to a De- Burgo seems unlikely. In Lodge's ' Irish Peerage ' she is mentioned in the pedigree of the Marquis of Clanricarde as wife of William de Burgo, Earl of Cornwall, father of Adelm, William being the last Earl of Cornwall of that name.

MARQUIS DE TOURNAY. Frant, Sussex.

JOHN TRUSLER (US. xi. 190, 234, 289- 325). If your correspondent succeeds i finding the MS. Autobiography of Truslor, I shall be glad to know whether it contains any reference to his " snuffers that will not drop the wick," for which he obtained a patent on 16 Sept., 1777 (No. 1169).

R. B. R