Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/205

 us. vi. Arc, si, 1912.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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in 1874 by Lord Napier of Magdala, Com- mander-in-Chief in India. It has been suggested that a new Town Hall should be built on its site. Before leaving London for India, it stood for a time in Pall Mall, near the Duke of York's Column, and London was so charmed with it that a general desire was expressed for its retention there. The General, hatless, and with sword in hand, is reining in his spirited steed while leading a charge. The rearing horse, a masterful conception, is superbly executed. A long inscription records ser- vices in Persia and India. " The Bayard of the East." " His life was given to India/' A full-sized model is in the Crystal Palace at Sydenham. There is another statue on the Thames Embankment, and a bust in Westminster Abbey, both by M. Noble, R.A.

Another bust is in the cornice of the Inner Court of the India Office.

WlLMOT CORFIELD.

(To be continued.)

LIVERPOOL ACADEMY. Since the corre- spondence on Bullock's Museum (see ante. p. 158) has given rise to a mention of this institution, it seems worth while to put on record a few particulars concerning its history. It was founded in 1810, and is in existence yet. Its first President was George Bullock, a sculptor, of the firm of Bullock & Stoakes, 48, Church Street, Liver- pool (Gore's ' Directory,' 1805). In 1810 the firm was Bullock & Gandy. Joseph Gandy was an A.R.A., an architect and sculptor, and lived at 14, Bold Street, Liverpool, in 1810. George Bullock appears to have been a prosperous man, as he exhibited nine works at the Liverpool Academy in 1810, four works in 1811, and one in 1812. He was President also in 1811, and a member in 1812-13-14. He did not exhibit in Liverpool after 1812. He exhibited at the Royal Academy 1804 to 1808, 1810-13-14-16. In 1813 his ad- dresses were Troughton Street, Edge Hill, and 79, Bold Street, both in Liverpool. In 1814-16 his address was 4, Tenterden Street, Hanover Square, London. The Walker Art Gallery does not possess any of his works. He is not mentioned in ' Me- morials of Liverpool,' by Sir James Allanson Picton, nor in the ' D.N.B.' His works are enumerated in Algernon Graves's ' Dic- tionary of Exhibitors in the Royal Academy,' vol. i. THOS. WHITE.

Junior Reform Club, Liverpool.

ANCIENT LEATHER COLLECTION. At the great Earl's Court exhibition there is one side show which, on account of its pro- bably unique character, antiquity, and semi-historical connexion, seems worthy of permanent record. The collection consists of, it is said, eight hundred objects, all entirely made from the best and thickest Spanish leather of the fifteenth century. They are said to have formerly been in the chapel and the judgment hall of the Palace of the Inquisition in Lisbon, and to have been obtained during the disruptions and confusions of the Napoleonic invasions, and brought to England.

For some years past I have known of their having been in a private house in the Kennington Park Road, but was never able to see them. Their owner having died, they have passed to another, who has now allowed the public to inspect them ; and they cer- tainly bear every evidence of genuineness and antiquity. The objects are very various, consisting of figures, chairs, tankards, benches, shrines, mugs, lanterns, candle- holders, ships, wine - coolers, lecterns, to- gether with a table, tabernacle or pyx, organ, cradle, crucifix, double seats, throne, cupboard for sacred vessels, shields, con- fessionals, &c., and pictures.

All these objects are entirely made of leather, and apparently without any wood or metal in their frames; but the leather is so thick, and so well are they made, that they stand upright by themselves. The figures are very singular in character, and vary from about 6 ft to 2 ft. in height. One is a crowned king; others repre- sent a cardinal, archbishop, bishop, abbess, nuns, soldiers, dwarfs, slaves, &c. The largest is a huge dragon driving Satan, a tall thin red figure. Another is a demon with a trident. One group represents Joseph, Mary, and the Infant in a cradle.

The chairs are very peculiar, being figures of men sitting, with outstretched arms, so that you sit in the man's leather lap. Some of these are double, representing two men joined. The lecterns are nuns, whose hood or veil is raised behind, to make a book-rest. A soldier stands with uplifted sword, and the arm is jointed and connected by wires, so that an unseen person could make the sword descend on the head ofa passer-by. Another large figure has a wide- open mouth, in the throat of which is a pipe, so that a hidden person could make sounds come out of the mouth. The benches are supported by feet shaped as dwarfs