Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 5.djvu/74

 58

NOTES AND QUERIES.

[11 S. V. JAN. 20, 1912.

CAVENDISH SQUARE : EQUESTRIAN STATUE (11 S. iv. 527). I think MB. HERBERT SIEVEKING is under a misapprehension in thinking that the statue of the Duke of Cumberland was on its pedestal so recently as twenty years ago. Some details regard- ing it will be found in Chancellor's ' Squares of London.' It was erected in November, 1770, by General William Strode, " in gratitude for his private friendship, in honour to his public virtue." It was removed in 1868 to be recast, but was never restored to its former position. The question of what became of it was raised in 'N. & Q.' (9 S. ii. 528), but, so far as I am aware, elicited no response. WILLOUGHBY MAYCOCK.

I solicited information in vain concerning this statue at 10 S. x. 123. I also there referred-to 9 S. ii. 528, where a correspondent stated that it was removed in 1868, and desired to know " by whom, and where ? " My friend the late Mr. Everard Home Coleman supplied me with the following inscription upon the pedestal on which the statue was placed :

" William, Duke of Cumberland. Born April 15> 1721. Died October 31, 1765. This equestrian statue was erected by Lieutenant General William Strode, in gratitude for his private friendship, in honour to his public virtue. Nov : the 4th Anno Domini, 1770."

Another copy substitutes "kindness" for " friendship," and " honour for " instead of " honour to."

In his tenth ' Discourse ' Reynolds thus alludes to the statue :

" In this town may be seen an equestrian statue in a modern dress, which may be sufficient to deter modern artists from any such attempt."

JOHN T. PAGE.

With your permission, I am now able to answer my own query, being in possession of full details, with regard to the vanishing of the statue of William, Duke of Cumber- land (1721-65), third son of King George II., both of whom fought at Dettingen in 1743, the former being wounded by the side of His Majesty.

It is a long story, beginning in 1867, and would occupy more space than your columns could afford.

In brief, the statue, being merely in an insecure condition, was melted by order of the fifth Duke of Portland (1800-79), and in 1882 his solicitors forwarded the sum of 231. 3s. to the then Treasurer of Caven- dish Square, such sum representing the price of the metal.

I may add that for 14 years the inhabitants of Cavendish Square struggled in vain to obtain better recognition for the effigy of one who, whatever his faults, was a first- class fighting man.

Quite apart from the question of manners, no evidence has yet been produced to show that the fifth Duke was the owner of the statue, which was erected on 4 Nov., 1770 r by Lieut. -General William Strode,

In Gratitude For His Private Kindness

In Honour

To His Publick Virtue.

I propose to forward accounts of the matter to Sir Schomberg McDonnell, G.C.V.O., and to Sir Laurence Gomme, with the request that this extraordinary action may be brought to the notice of the First Com- missioner of His Majesty's Works, and the London County Council respectively, in the hope that some London statues, in the present, may be placed under protection more enduring than that of capricious in- dividuals, ducal or otherwise.

HERBERT SIEVEKING. [G. F. R. B. also thanked for reply.]

COLTMAN FAMILY (11 S. iv. 530). While I cannot answer for their being associated with the particular stock in which he is interested, MR. S. S. McDowALL may like to know that certain ' Manuscript Memoirs of the Coltman Family of Leicester ' are drawn upon in ' Catherine Hutton and her Friends,' edited by her cousin, Mrs. Catherine Hutton Beale, 1895. These 'Memoirs' include a considerable amount of their corre- spondence with Spence, Dodsley, and others, which I extensively quoted in my pamphlet ' New Notes about Robert Dodsley and the Dodsley Family,' 1909. I see that John Coltman, parish St. Nicholas, borough of Leicester, was married by licence, 10 October, 1766, to Elizabeth Cartwright at Duffield (vide Phillimore's 'Marriage Registers').

A. STAPLETON.

KEATS'S ' ODE TO A NIGHTINGALE,' (11 S. iv. 507; v. 11). Had Keats 'The Arabian Nights ' in his mind when he wrote the lines quoted by TRIN. COLL. CAMB. ? In some of those ancient tales we read of persons being cast from " perilous seas " on to for- lorn (solitary or forsaken) fairy lands where there are magic palaces, with wondrous gardens containing gold and jewelled aviaries of nightingales and other singing birds in short, places where there is every- thing to delight the senses, yet few or no inhabitants to partake of such delights.