Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/370

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. vi. OCT. 19, 1912,

Elijah of Israel, upon this text ' The chariots of Israel and the horsemen, &c.,' and to make himself the inheritor of Dr. Ames his spirit they say he preached in Dr. Ames his cloak." State Papers, Domestic, Charles I., vol. ccl. No. 28.

The following account is by Sir Roger L'Estrange in his Observator, No. 67, 2 Nov., 1681 :

" What would I give now that thou hadst heard and seen honest Hugh Peters sponging for a contribution, as I have done. ' Beloved,' says he, ' He tell ye sad news, Jesus Christ is going away from ye. Ah, Beloved, He is depart- ing. Lift up your hearts. Yea, I say, lift up your voices and call Him back. Ah, Beloved, out with your purses before it is too late and hire Him back. He is going, Beloved, in His gospel. He is going in His Cause. He is going in His members. Ah, Beloved. What are your bags ? What are your hoards, Beloved, without your Christ ? Oh, the Sad news ! And, oh, the Sad sight ! I do not see one giving face before me this day. But, now I think on't, what do ye hear of the King ? A small sum of money would do his business now. Ah, you wretches ! Ah, you wretches ! D' ye grin ? D' ye prick up your ears ? D' ye show your teeth ? How willingly would you give all the shoes in your shops to bring Charles Stuart to Whitehall again. But the devil a penny can a man get among ye for the poor carpenter's son.' "

See also the lengthy account in Mercurius Pragmaticus for 19-26 Dec., 1649 (not, I think, written by Nedham), of another and even more disgraceful sermon, and compare the accounts, given by witnesses at Peters's trial in 1660, of his blasphemous utterances at the time of the murder of Charles I.

Peters's first tract has never been noticed. There is a copy of it in the British Museum, and its title runs :

" Digitus Dei ; or, Good Newes from Holland. Sent to the worthy lohn Treffry and lohn Trefusis esquires," &c. (1631).

The letter is signed " your lo. kinsman H. P.," under which initials the tract is catalogued. It, I think, fixes the date of Peters's arrival in Holland, where he cer- tainly had no occupation at all before Dr. Ames's death.

To those who would gain an idea of Peters's character, his ' Good Work for a Good Magistrate ' may be commended. In this he recommends :

1. That St. Paul's Cathedral may be pulled down to pave Thames Street (p. 4). 2. That all the colleges at the Universities should be destroyed, since there were none in the Gospel (p. 4). Was this a reminiscence of his own expulsion ? 3. That all the records in the Tower should be burnt.

Unquestionably, the man was a lunatic. J, B. WILLIAMS.

THE ROYAL SOCIETY'S 250TH ANNIVERSARY.

(See ante, pp. 181, 202, 223, 243, 261, 282.)

WALTER WHITE succeeded Weld as Assistant Secretary, having been clerk since 1844. Like his predecessor, he adopted the habit of publishing accounts of his vacation tours r and his pleasant volumes ' A Month in Yorkshire,' ' A Londoner's Walk to the Land's End,' 'All Round the Wrekin,' and others, attained great popularity. He was an excellent companion, a good talker, a wonderful linguist ; he even told me that there was not a language that he could not readily acquire. This was not said in a boast- ful spirit, for he was one of the most modest of men, and his kind-heartedness and generosity caused him to be beloved by all who knew him. He always spoke of the Royal Society with the greatest enthusiasm, and I remember how indignant he was when a friend, at whose request he had obtained an invitation to be present at one of the receptions, afterwards decided to go instead to the South Kensington Museum, where there happened to be royalties the same evening. Although White lived until July, 1893, his advancing years he was born on the llth of April, 1811 and failing health forced him to retire in 1885. The value of his services to successive Presidents and Councils was recognized by the bestowal on him of his full salary as a pension when he quitted his post. He was for many years a contributor to The Athenceum, and I have reason to know that next to the Royal Society he held it in his regard.

In 1885 Mr. Herbert Rix succeeded White, and on the 16th of January, 1896, Mr. Robert W. F. Harrison became Assistant Secretary and Librarian. Mr. Rix died in 1906. Messrs. Williams & Norgate pub- lished in December of that year his book entitled ' Tent and Testament : a Camping Tour in Palestine,' and in 1907 a volume of his ' Sermons, Addresses, and Essays.' The Introduction to the latter contained a biographical notice of the author.

In the ' Year-Book ' full details are given of the appropriation of the Government grant, which has been increased to 4,0001., and is voted annually by Parliament for scientific investigations. The institutions on which the Royal Society is represented include the Universities, nine Public Schools (the Charterhouse, Christ's Hospital,