Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 7.djvu/518

 510 NOTES AND QUERIES. [iis.vu.juNK28.i9ia year (' Journey to Central Africa,' 10th ed., London, 1856, p. 198). And in 1854 James Hamilton passed it (' Sinai, Hedjaz, and Soudan,' London, 1857, p. 384). But none of these travellers mentions Melly's Christian name. In 1861 John Petherick took out a marble tablet to place on the tomb, and Mrs. Petherick partly supplies the omission in her account of the travels of her husband and herself ('Travels in Central Africa,' London, 1869, vol. i. p. 46). The inscrip- tion, as transcribed by her, reads :— " ....In memory of O. Melly, of Liverpool, England, Born at Geneva, 12'h of May, 1802; Died at Gagee, near this spot, 19th of January 1851 " The tablet was destroyed by Albanian soldiers in 1864 (Petherick, ' Travels,' 1869, vol. ii. p. 61). Dr. Wallis Budge, in a biblio- graphical list of works on the Sudan in his ' Egyptian Sudan,' 1907, vol. ii. p. 551, has the entry :— " Melly, Andre D.—' Lettres d'Egypte et de Nubie. Sept. 1850 a Janvier 1851.' Privately printed. Londres, 1851." Was this Andre1 D. Melly another son of G(eorge) Melly, sen. ? and did Sir H. Johnston, in error, transfer the name to the father ? He is not mentioned in the 'D.N.B.' Fredk. A. Edwards. 34, Old Park Avenue, Nightingale Lane, S.W. Wonderment Pamphlets of the Stuabt Era.—I should be glad to be referred to any accessible articles dealing with these more or less fictitious marvels, set forth in an ethical fashion with great wealth of embroidery around a small narrative of fact. W. B. Gerish. Fanny Brawne. — Fanny Brawne, the beloved of Keats, was the daughter of Samuel Brawne. I am desirous of obtaining more information as to her family. My great- grandmother was Elizabeth Brawne (cousin of Beau Brummel), and I particularly wish to know the connexion between Elizabeth and Fanny. Were they aunt and niece T C. E. B. Rev. William Lancaster.—He was Head Master of Folkestone Grammar School 1805-13, and in 1810 published " A Collection of Letters on Various and Inter- esting Subjects from Different Celebrated Italian Authors. Translated by the Kev. V. Lancaster. Folkstone, Printed by W. Uoden, and sold by Messrs. Longman. Hurst, Kees, and Orme, Paternoster Row, London." Is anything known of this author and his subsequent career ? R. J. Fynmore. Sandgate. Robert Riddell, the antiquary and friend of Robert Burns (" the trusty Glen- riddell, so versed in old coins "). Is the date of his birth known (he died 21 April, 1794)? Where was he buried? and is his portrait in existence ? Hugh S. Gladstone. Capenoeh, Thornhill, Dumfriesshire. Milkmaids' Grease - Horns. — In the Cardiff Corporation Museum are shown three Welsh milkmaids' grease-horns. These con- tained grease or butter, into which the milk- maids dipped their fingers before commencing to milk, in order to prevent the causing of any soreness to the cows in cold and frosty weather. To what countries and periods was the usage of these articles confined ? J. Landfear Lucas. Glendora, Hindhead, Surrey. Hfplifs. DEMOLITION OF DICKENSIAN LAND- MARKS IN BIRMINGHAM. (11 S. vii. 325, 432.) The recently destroyed Easy Row house had seven or eight steps leading up to the front door. Mr. E. A. Fry is correct in pointing out that Dickens mentions only three when referring to Mr. Winkle's resi- dence. This fact was known to me at the time of writing. The reasons for the identi- fication of the Easy Row corner house with that referred to in ' Pickwick ' are none the less sufficiently well grounded to support its claims to general recognition. Mr. Winkle was a wharfinger " at the canal " ; not, be it noted, " at a canal." There were, doubtless, many houses in central Bir- mingham about the time ' Pickwick ' was being written to which Dickens's briefly recorded description would have partly applied. One of the long-ago demolished houses in the Old Square, of which the best remembered is that of Hector, the host of Dr. Johnson, would have better fitted the case as regards its distance from the hotel— as stated by the waiter—than would have any house in Paradise Row (now Paradise Street) or any house whatever in Easy Row. There was no reason why Dickens should have looked to a less obvious house in the same street (Easy Row) in order to pick out one with only three steps to its door ;