Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/313

 ns.vi.SKPT.28,1912.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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Chappie, on two indictments (now in the Record Office) for horsestealing. Two wit- nesses proved the identity of John Pawmer alias Palmer with Richard Turpin, and being asked by the Court if he were indeed the notorious Essex highwayman, " Pawmer" replied affirmatively.

Descriptions of the last dying scene, with Richard in white dimity, appeared in several papers. ERIC WATSON.

A ' Handbook to Aston Hall and Museum,' published by the Corporation of Birmingham in 1873, is before me. In the former chapel of the old mansion of the Holte famity there was then exhibited, in a " miscellaneous collection of curiosities," " the blanket-rope by means of which Dick Turpin, the high- wayman, escaped from York Castle." I remember this blanket-rope well. It was probably deposited in the Hall long before 1873. There was a faded manuscript label attached to it, giving some particulars of its history. The whole thing may, of course, have been bogus, but it is still possible that the reverse was actually the case.

This alleged relic of Turpin has long since disappeared from public view. What was the inscription on its label, and where is the " blanket-rope " now ?

WILMOT CORFIELD.

BEDFORD BOUNDS, BLOOMSBTJRY (11 S. vi. 188). The boundary marks in Theobalds Road to which MAJOR YARROW BALDOCK refers undoubtedly mark the limits in this direction of the estate given in 1566 by Sir William Harpur, alderman, and Alice his wife, for the benefit of the poor, and for other objects of charity in the town of Bedford. An account of the bequest, together with a map of the property, was published at Bedford in 1794. Adjoining No. 116 on the east side, between it and the public-house called " The Harpur's Arms," there is (or was) a quaint galleried yard, views of which have lately appeared in illus- trated newspapers, wherein it has been described as the last galleried London inn. I have not, however, convinced myself that it ever formed part of a hostelry. In a map of St. Andrew's parish attached to Strype's' Stow,' 1720, it is distinctly marked, but has no name ; in a plan of 1813 it is called " Stable Yard." This is about to be at once cleared away, and the ground is to be occupied by a " Cinema Picture Theatre." I went there recently, and was told by the courteous occupant, Mr. G. Bailey, that the

work of demolition would begin to-day (12 Sept.). A quaint relic of old London thus disappears.

The boundary wall of the Harpur estate runs due north from No. 118, forming the western wall of the stable yard, having until now a galleried range of buildings attached to it. Here are two tablets : one has the inscription " B. B. 1776," the other " Bed- ford Charity Bounds. 1808."

PHILIP NORMAN.

JOSEPH FTJSSELL, A FORGOTTEN WATER- COLOURIST (11 S. vi. 145). I am glad to see that useful and interesting piece of biography which MR. HERBERT B. CLAY- TON'S knowledge of artists (extensive and peculiar) has, as he says, rescued from oblivion. It is a welcome addition to Mr. Algernon Graves' s bare facts in his ' Dic- tionary of Artists,' 1895.

Mr. Graves enumerates three Fussells Alexander, Frederick Ralph, and Joseph. As regards Joseph, Mr. Graves has fallen into an error in his laudable endeavour to give full forenames. I suspected there must be something wrong, as it is mani- fest that if Joseph was born in 1818 he could not exhibit in 1821. I find by the Royal Academy Catalogues that the Fussell who exhibited at that date never put any Christian name, only the initial " J.," and there can be little doubt that was the father, John. Was Frederick Ralph Fussell another son ? Mr. Graves credits him with five pictures only, and he never had more than one exhibit in the Royal Academy, and that was a portrait in 1858 ; then he addressed from Nottingham. Is it not probable that he was the one who did not succeed at painting portraits ?

MR. CLAYTON says Joseph made copies in water-colour for the line engraver, which were often " a piece of jobbery " merely to " make work " for the water-colour artist. I do not understand why this was a job. Will he explain ? Was it a job on the part of the engraver, or the dealer who commis- sioned the engraving, who might get part of the artist's price ?

I have a dim recollection of going to the studio of T. Oldham Barlow (for him sea Boase's ' Modern English Biography,' vol. iv.) as a youth, and seeing him at work on a large plate which he said would not be finished for several years. This was, of course, a line engraving, now a dead art. If there was a copy, the engraver could go on with the work from that, without depriving the owner of his picture. If there was no copy