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NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. vm. SEPT. 27, 1913. "Key" at the end, as the whole of the text consists of remainder sheets. The object of this note, however, is merely to show that "William Egerton. Esq.," the supposed author of 'The Faithful Memoirs,' has no claim to rank otherwise than as one of Curll's fictions.

—J. H. Merivale, writing on 18 Oct., 1796, says:—

"Here I am at last, a Johnian Hog. (That is the name given to the inhabitants of St. John's. So those of Trinity are Bulldogs, and of King's, gentlemen.)"

The first of these is, of course, familiar, and is noted in the 'N.E.D.,' but your readers may not know of the second and third.

" MARK RUTHERFORD " AS A PRACTICAL ASTRONOMER. In all the recent notices of the late " Mark Rutherford " (W. Hale White) I have seen no reference to his rscientific side. Yet that he was more than an amateur in astronomy is shown by two letters which he addressed to me (a com- plete stranger to him) soon after the publica- tion of my ' Galileo : his Life and Work.' As they also show, implicitly, that he was well grounded in the principles of the physical sciences generally, I think they should find a place in ' N. & Q.'

The Cottage,

Groombridge, Kent,_

21 Nov., 1903.

DEAR SIB, Will you kindly tell me whether the dates in your interesting book on Galileo are uniformly adjusted to the New Style, that is to say, for example, whether Galileo was born on the 15th February, 1564, O.S., or on 15th February, 1565, N.-S. ? I should infer from the dates on p. 402 that you have used the N.S., but as the N.S. was not introduced in Italy till 1582 I am uncertain.

I should also much like to know, if it is not troubling you too much, how any " adaptation " (p. 207) of the Galilean telescope could turn it into a microscope.

Faithfully yours,

W. HALE WHITE.

I replied to this on 5 Dec. following, and in due course received a second letter :

The Cottage,

Groombridge, Kent,

10th Dec., 1903.

DEAR SIB, Please allow me to thank you for your kind note. With the help of your explana- tion I now understand how Galileo used his telescope as a microscope. If I might make a suggestion to you, it would be that the scientific part of your book would be improved by a little expansion. I am not myself ignorant of the con- struction of astronomical telescopes, and have

used one for some years ; but a diagram of the microscopical adaptation would have been of some service.

I have not read anything for a long time which has interested me more than your ' Life and Work.' I shall re-read it, and I hope some day to see it amplified.

Faithfully yours,

W. HALE WHITE.

J. J. FAHIE.

[Sir Robertson Nicoll, in his article on ' Mark Rutherford as a Critic ' in The British Weekly for 21 August, mentions that Mr. Hale White was " all his life keenly interested in astronomy," and cites from a letter of his to The Athenceum a comment on the accuracy of Tennyson's astro- nomy.]

TOWN CLERK'S SIGNATURE. (See ante, p. 179.) John Carpenter's " foible " of signing only his surname, like a peer, ex- tended into the provinces. As late as 1880 orders issued by the Court of Quarter Sessions for Bucks were always signed By the Court

TIXDAL, Clerk of the Peace.

G. W. E. R.

EPIGRAM. In looking over a manuscript album which bears the date 1806, I found the following, which is probably unpublished, and may be worth preserving :

On a Music Master absconding toith a Sum of Money he had received at a Concert. His time was short, his touch was neat,

Our gold he truly fingered ; Alert alike in hands and feet,

His movements have not lingered. Where lies the wonder of the case ?

A moment's thought detects it ; His practice has been thorough-base,

A chord will be his exit : Yet while we blame his hasty flight,

Our censure may be rash ; A traveller is surely right

To change his notes for cash.

AV. B. H.

COURT INFLUENCE ON LETTERS. The Empress Catherine II., a voluminous author in French and Russian, largely self-taught, carried on some correspondence with M. Senac de Meilhan with regard to his pro- jected History of Russia. In a letter to him, dated 16 June, 1791 (Imperial Academy edition of the Empress Catherine's ' Works,' xi. 580), occurs the following note inter- esting, but of dubious critical merit :

" Vous voulez que je vous donne la solution d'un probleme qui vous occupe, dites-vous, depuis longtemps, et ce probleme, c'est : d'ou vient que Charles neuf, roi de France, ecrivait plus elegamment que son poete Ronsard ? Eh bien, je vous le dirai : c'est que c'est la cour qui