Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/12

 NOTES AND Q UERIES. tii s. vi. JULY e, 1912.

CASANOVIANA.

1. CASANOVA AND CHARLES Fox. When Casanova was at Lausanne in August, 1760, he declares that he met " le celebre Fox, qui avait alors une vingtaine d'annees " (Garnier, iv. 431 ) ; and a little later he says that he saw him again at Geneva and Aix. IVlany commentators have accepted this statement without question; and even Mr. Whibley, although he does not say so in precise words, seems to believe that the person referred to was Charles James Fox, the statesman ('Literary Portraits/ P. 300 \ Yet a moment's consideration will con- vince any one that Casanova did not meet Charles Fox at Lausanne, Geneva, or Aix iri 1760, for at that time Fox was j\n Eton boy eleven years old. It was riot till 1763 that his school life was interrupted by the famous visit to Paris and Spa. Obviously, Casanova was mis- taken. He may have met Charjes Fox rabout 1766-8, when the young man was making his tour of the Continent ; but as he asserts that the young Fox, who borrowed fifty louis from him at Aix in 1760, paid him "back when they met in London in 1763, it would appear as if he was right in his dates, but wrong as regards the person w r ho became Tiis debtor. The question is worth examina- tion.

2. CASANOVA AND LORD LINCOLN. In December, 1771, Casanova met at Florence " Lord Lincoln, jeune homme de dix-huit ans. . . .fils unique du comte de Newcastle " (Gamier, viii. 294-5). He encountered this -nobleman again at Bologna in March, 1772, and he tells us, " Ce jeune lord mourut de debauche a Londres trois ou quatre ans apres " (viii. 314). The : -person in question appears to have .been Henry Pelham- Clinton, Earl of Lincoln, eldest surviving son of Henry, second Duke of Newcastle. Casanova is fairly accurate as regards his age, for he was born 1 July, 1752 ; but he antedates his death, for he did not die until 22 Oct., 1778, and not in London, but, ^according to Horace Walpole, " two posts from Calais " (' Walpole's Letters,' Toynbee, x. 342). On 26 July, 1770, Walpole writes to Mann that Lord Lincoln is coming to Florence ; and in January, 1772, he refers to the fact that the young Englishman had fallen into the hands of card-sharpers, who had won large sums of him, thus confirming Oasanova's story (Toynbee, vii. 400 ; viii. 140). I forget whether the incident is mentioned in Dr. Doran's ' Mann and

Manners,' but I may remark en passant that a new and unabridged edition of Mann's letters to Walpole would be of great assist- ance to students of the period, Doran's publication being wholly unsatisfactory. There are other references to Lord Lincoln in Walpole's letters and Jesse's ' George Selwyn and his Contemporaries.' Any in- formation respecting his tour on the Conti- nent would be useful to annotators of Casanova. HORACE BLEACKLEY,

STATUES AND MEMORIALS IN THE BRITISH ISLES.

(See 10 S. xi. 441 ; xii. 51, 114, 181, 401 ; 11 S. i. 282 ; ii. 42, 242, 381 ; iii. 22, 222, 421 ; iv. 181, 361 ; v. 62, 143, 481.)

MEN OF SCIENCE (concluded).

Penzance. On 15 October, 1872, a marble statue of Sir Humphry Davy, inventor of the Safety Lamp, was unveiled. It stands directly in front of the Market House, " on the very site where he performed some of his first experiments." On the front of the granite pedestal is inscribed the word "Davy."

Taibach, Glamorgan. A fountain in honour of Dr. J. H. Davies, J.P., medical practitioner in Port Talbot and neighbour- hood, was unveiled by Sir Arthur Pendarvis Vivian, K.C.B., on 15 October, 1910. It was erected by public subscription at a cost of 350 guineas. The fountain is of solid Scotch granite, and stands 7 ft. 6 in. high from the base. It is designed both for man and beast. The front bears a life-size medallion of Dr. Davies in bronze, executed by Mr. W. Goscombe John, R.A. It bears the inscription :

' ' This fountain is erected to John Hopkin Davies , M.D., J.P., of Tir Caradoc, Port Talbot, by his many friends and admirers, amongst whom he had laboured with unfailing kindness over a long period of years October, 1910." Dr. Davies, who was present at the un- veiling, asked the Margam District Council to accept the fountain " for the use of the general public for all time."

Newcastle-on-Tyne. The Duke of North- umberland unveiled a bronze statue of Lord Armstrong, designed by Mr. W. Hamo Thornycroft, R.A., on 24 July, 1906. The founder of the Elswick Works is represented standing, with his right hand upon a book which lies upon a table beside him. At his feet reposes a Scotch terrier. The pedestal is of Heworth stone, and from it on either