Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 3.djvu/243

 ii s. m. MAR. 25, Mil.] NOTES AND QU ERIES.

237

that which distinguished its companion song, but it was also very general and decided. Even now one sometimes hears the stirring, rhetorical stanzas rendered in the drawing-room by a baritone voice. These are the opening lines :

To the West ! to the West ! to the land of the free, Where mighty Missouri rolls down to the sea, Where a man is a man, if he 's willing to toil, And the humblest may gather the fruits of the soil.

See ' The Poetical Works of Charles Mackay,' published in their " Chandos Classics " by Messrs. Frederick Warne & Co.

THOMAS BAYNE.

When I was a small boy in the early sixties, the family butler on whom be peace ! presented me with a little green paper-covered collection of Henry Russell's popular songs, about 3 inches by 4 inches in size. How I wish I had a copy now ! I was not long in learning the whole of its contents by heart, such as ' Cheer, Boys, Cheer ! ' 'A Life on the Ocean Wave,' ' Woodman, Spare that Tree,' and numerous others, including ' To the West ! ' The words which Henry Russell set to music and popu- larized by singing, like many of his other songs, w r ere written by his boyhood friend Dr. Charles Mackay. Henry Russell died in December, 1900, at the ripe age of 87, beloved and respected by all who knew him.

WlLLOUGHBY MAYCOCK.

The year 1852 was a great one for emigra- tion. Henry Russell, the tamous vocalist of our youth, was then in the zenith of his fame, and in conjunction with his friend Dr. Mackay made use of the prevailing spirit, and started an entertainment called 4 Far West; or, The Emigrant's Progress from the Old World to the New.' This included several songs whose popularity lasted for a long time. ' To the West ! ' was dedicated to Mrs. Herbert Ingram, wife of the proprietor of The Illustrated London News. All were published at Webb's Royal Music Saloon, 33, Soho Square ; and each had an illustrated title-page, that on ' To the WestJ ' being*an American river steamer. A. RHODES.

[Numerous other correspondents thanked for replies.]

LAST MAIL COACH (11 S. iii. 186). COL. FISHWICK may like to know that 1851 saw the last mail coach leave the General Post Office at St. Martin' s-le-Grand ; so I was told by a friend, ^ho was permitted to take the ribbons on that occasion.

I have the offside door of the Brecon mail, lettered "Abergavenny. Crickhowell, Brecon," which, ceasing as a mail in the sixties, ran as a stage coach up to thirty years ago.

HAROLD MALET, Col.

I can remember a regular mail coach running from Turriff in Aberdeenshire to Banff in 1859.

F. E. R. POLLARD-URQUHART.

I should suppose that the last mail coach of the genuine old style was that which ran between Golspie and Thurso, via Wick. It was running daily until August, 1874, when the northern portion of the Highland Railway was opened for traffic. G.

Have we seen the last of the mail coaches yet ? Does not the coach from Winder- mere to Keswick still run, carrying the mails ? It did quite recently. A four-in- hand coach, built on the old " stage coach " lines, it was used to deliver Post Office letter-bags at Ambleside, Rydal, Grasmere, Wythburn, and (I think) Thirlspot, on its way to Keswick.

ERNEST B. SAVAGE, F.S.A.

S. Thomas', Douglas.

' BIG BEN ' AND PHIL MAY (US. iii. 187). Big Ben was one of the journalistic pro- jects of the late Mr. Edgar Lee, and was intended as a successor to the defunct St. Stephen's Review. It was never published. I can speak from personal experience, having been engaged by Mr. Lee to contribute the ' Notes on Music.' ANDREW DE TERNANT. 25, Speenham Road, Brixton, S.W.

I have a recollection of being shown, some three years ago, a dummy copy of a magazine bearing this title, to which, if it came into being, I was to contribute. So far as I know, it was never published.

AITCHO. [MR. W. SCOTT also thanked for reply.]

ELEPHANT AND CASTLE IN HERALDRY (11 S. i. 508 ; ii. 36, 115, 231, 353, 398 ; iii. 36). May I be permitted to say a few words in reply to MR. MERCER'S remarks at 11 S. ii. 353 ? In his first paragraph he would seem to throw some doubt on the Rev. Dr. Woodward's having described an elephant's head as the crest of the Malatestas of Rimini. If he will read my reply again (p. 231), he will see that I have emphasized the word "head" as being given by Dr. Woodward ; and a further reference that I have made to his work (vol. i. p. 243) assures me that I am not mistaken.