Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 2.djvu/455

 ii s. VIIL DEC. 6. 1913.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

449

This only perfect copy of the Review was purchased by Mr. James Crossley at the Chal- mers Sale (vide ' Daniel Defoe,' by Albinia Wherry, London, G. Bell & Sons, 1905). It was disposed of at the Crossley Sale, at Sotheby's, about 20 June, 1885. I shall be very glad if any reader of ' N. & Q.' can inform me where it now is.

In speaking of the MS. of ' The Compleat English Gentleman ' Mr. William Lee said :

" Mr. Crossley would do great service to al lovers of pure English Literature if he could be persuaded to publish this valuable work of Defoe.'

Through the enterprise of Mr. David Nuti and the scholarship of Karl D. Biilbring M.A., Ph.D., this wish was fulfilled in 1890 As only one perfect copy of the Review seems to exist at the present day, I hope the time is not far distant when a modern reprint of it, suitably annotated, may owe its publication to similar enterprise, and be distributed among the important libraries of Great Britain.

This valuable commentary on affairs between 1704 and 1713, " Defoe's greatest political work " " greatest undoubtedly, as to its magnitude, and perhaps, in value and importance " will then be more readily accessible to those who wish to study the less familiar productions of that many- faceted genius which has enriched the world's literature with ' Robinson Crusoe and a host of other works ; some, perhaps, equally meritorious, but lacking, as Charles Lamb happily phrases it, " .... the un- inhabited island, and the charm that has bewitched the world, of the striking solitary situation."

That Defoe's Review is a particularly rich mine of unworked literary gems is clearly shown by the success of the partial quarry- ings his biographers, notably Chalmers, Wilson, Lee, and Minto, have made in it.

FRANK CUBBY. Liverpool.

HUMOBOUS STORIES. (See 10 S. ii. 188, 231, 355.) I desire assistance with a view to ascertaining definitely the truth of the facts involved in the story of ' The Cornish Jury.' At the references given above * Tales of Devon and Cornwall ' and ' Tales and Sayings of William Robert Hicks of Bodmin ' were quoted as places where the account would be found. On comparing the two it is plain that, whilst ' Tales of Devon ' cor- rectly gives 1817 as the year of the trial at Launceston for poisoning, and says the history of the verdict was told by one of the jury to "a gentleman who knew him,"

panion and hearer of the juryman, at Lis- keard, was Hicks himself : " Hicks happened to be at Liskeard, and in the market there he met," &c., and was besides personally- addressed by the narrator as " Mr. Hicks." ' Tales of Devon ' says this talk occurred " some year or so after," and calls the jury- man's friend " Mr. Wullyam," by which Hicks may or may not be indicated. But the point is that William Robert Hicks was born in 1808, and would only have been some 9 or 10 years old at the date supposed (see 'Tales and Sayings' and 'D.N.B.'), which is certainly not what is intended to be conveyed. A still greater difficulty affect- ing both works equally is that the whole story is made to hinge on the jury having been locked up for many hours (" twelve hours " is repeatedly mentioned in ' Tales and Sayings : ) ; whereas a contemporary account of the ' Trial of Robert Sawle Donnall,' Exeter printed, says at p. 22 : " The Jury considered about twenty minutes, and then returned a verdict of Not Guilty." It would be a pity that so good a story should be discredited, and I hope its correct- ness in the main may prove capable of
 * Tales and Sayings ' claims that the com-

vindication.

W. B. H.

AUTHOB OF PAMPHLET WANTED. I have a pamphlet with the title-page :

" A Good Husband for five shillings, or, Esquire Bickerstafi's Lottery for the London- Ladies. Wherein those that want Bedfellows in an Honest Way, will have a Fair Chance to be Well-fitted. London : Printed and sold by James Woodward and John Baker. MDCCX."

Is this by Steele

F. JESSEL.

"FLEWENGGE" : " INTO WE." Among the

xpenditure on the repair of some houses at Carlisle in 1301-2 was that titled in the accounts ' Empcio clauorum ' :

In Mille de Spykingges emptis de Thoma de Furneys ...... v.s.

Item in .ij. Millions de Broddes ...... iiij.a. vj.rf.

Item in Mille D e de Flewengges emptis de eodem Thoma, ii.s. vj.cZ.

Under the heading ' Scindicio Meremii ' s an entry :

In stipendio Alexandri filii Henrici de Raghtone .scindentis .ij. [so*]les ad aulam .iiij. postes vj. bendes .ij. balkes .ij. Intowes .ij. soles, et perres ad bracinam et pistrinam. et .iij. postes vj. bendes .ij. Intowes et .ij. soles ad coquinam ad

tachiam .iiij.s.

What is the meaning of the two words


 * hat head this query ?

Q. V.

Two (?) letters have been worn away