Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 5.djvu/15

 iis.v.jAN.6,i9i2.j NOTES AND QUERIES.

"undiscernible. And to this day they continue to live there entirely secluded from the world. Only now and then they invite good physicians to cure their diseases ; but even then they invari- ^ably blindfold them on every ingress and -egress, in order to prevent them from revealing the secret."

KUMAGUSU MlNAKATA. Tanabe, Kii, Japan.

" NOSE OF WAX." (See 10 S. viii. 228, 274, 298 ; x. 437.) I find the source of this phrase was traced by VERTAUR at 1 S. x. 235 to Apuleius. N. W. HILL.

New York.

MINIATURE OF MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS. With reference to L. M. M. R.'s query at $ S. ix. 256, I have such a miniature in my possession. GEORGE MACKEY.

70, New Street, Birmingham.

WE must request correspondents desiring in- formation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that answers may be sent to them direct.

DINNER-JACKET. Can some reader of ' N. & Q.' say when the dinner-jacket first came into fashion in England, and whether it is an English or an American invention, or was imported from any other country ? Further, was it always known by this name ? In Germany it is generally called smoking (probably = smoking jacket) or smocking. The latter seems to be merely a corruption of smoking. It would be interesting to know whether either of these forms was ever in use in English-speaking countries, or whether one or both of them are " made in Germany." p. j. c.

Frankfurt-am-Main.

KINGS WITH SPECIAL TITLES There were four kings in Europe having special titles: France, Spain, Portugal, and Hungary Plus Chretien, Plus Catholique, Plus Apos- tolique. What was the fourth, and to which did each belong ? B. M. D.

Gibraltar.

EDGAR ALLAN POE'S MOTHER: Miss ELIZABETH ARNOLD. In R. H. Stoddard's ' Life of Edgar Allan Poe,' prefacing his edition of Poe's works (Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., 1884), it is stated that Poe's mother was a Miss Elizabeth Arnold, with whom his father (David Poe, jun.) became ac- quainted during a visit she made to New York as an actress in a company of comedians. The company was an English one, brought

over by a Mr. Solee for the City Theatre, Charleston, South Carolina. They remained long enough at New York to fulfil an engage- ment in the Old John Street Theatre, and among the pieces which they played was the popular farce of ' The Spoiled Child,' in which Miss Arnold performed the part of Maria. Who Miss Arnold was, except that she was an English actress, and what was her rank in the theatrical profession, can only be conjectured. The company played in other cities. Miss Arnold is said to have appeared in Baltimore while David Poe, jun., was a member of the Thespian Club, and is also said to have been a Mrs. Hopkins at the time.

David Poe and Miss Arnold married in the spring of 1806. In the summer season at the New Vauxhall Gardens, New York, she played (16 July) the part of Priscilla Tomboy. In the winter of 1809 the hus- band (who had gone on the stage) and the wife were both engaged at the Boston Theatre. The Boston Gazette contains an- nouncements of her appearance on a number of dates from January to May, 1809. Her son Edgar was born there during tliis engage- ment. From Boston she proceeded with her husband and her two children to New York, and played at the Park Theatre. Sight is lost of her until the autumn of 1811, when she was attached to the Richmond Theatre. She was then the mother of three children William Henry, who was in his fourth or fifth year ; Edgar, who was in his third year ; and Rosalie, who was a babe in arms. She was ill, she was destitute, and, if the recollections of those who knew her at this time are to be trusted, she was abandoned by her husband. Her public record closed with the paragraph in The Richmond Enquirer of Tuesdav, 10 December, 1811: "Died, on Sunday last, Mrs. Poe, one of the actresses of the company at present playing on the Richmond boards," &c.

Is anything further now known of the iarlier career, birth, parentage, and place of origin in England of Poe's mother ? Was she really twice married, and was her true maiden name Elizabeth Arnold ? Will the readers of ' N. & Q.' on both sides of the Atlantic assist me in my search ? If we assume Miss Arnold was 25 or 26 years of age in 1806 at the time of her marriage to David Poe, she would be born about 1780. Whose was the company of come- dians engaged by Mr. Solee from England ? Are there any means of tracing such a company or an ordinary member of the