Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 8.djvu/477

 [us. vii. JUNE H, i9i3.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

469

Can any one corroborate these statements ? The last number of the periodical in the British Museum is dated 28 July, 1866, and I am unable in the numbers to that date to find the review of Johnson or the heterodox articles of Bendysshe.

W. P. COURTNEY.

PORTRAIT OF CHARLES DILLON, ACTOR* A portrait of the actor Charles Dillon, in the character of Macbeth, has lately been presented to the City of Sheffield. It is said that the portrait was painted by Mac- lise, and was presented to the actor at Drury Lane Theatre. Perhaps some of your readers can give me the date of this occurrence, or can refer me to some account of it. I desire evidence that the portrait is the work of Maclise.

G. C, MOORE SMITH. Sheffield.

WALBEOFF FAMILY. John Walbeoff of the Ceylon Civil Service died at Colombo, 14 Dec,, 1831, as the result of an accident while out hunting. I should be glad of information regarding his pedigree.

The Walbeoff family seem to have lived at Peterstone in the parish of Llanham- llwch, Breconshire, until recent times. A certain John Walbeoffe, who is supposed to have lived in the seventeenth century, married a daughter of Humphrey Howarth of Whitehouse, Herefordshire, and, "being of a gay and extravagant turn, left the estate very much encumbered to his son Charles, and soon after his death it was foreclosed, and afterwards sold to Mr. John Powel, a barrister."

So says Theophilus Jones, the historian of Breconshire.

There seems to have been only one Wal- beoffe descendant of John Walbeoffe in the nineteenth century, Thomas Walbeoffe of Pen-y-lan in Glasbury, Master and Com- mander in H.M.'s Navy, who died in 1805. He was a great-grandson of the above- mentioned John of Peterstone. How was John Walbeoff of Ceylon related to the naval officer ? The name Walbeoff appears to be extinct now in England and Wales, though not in Ceylon.

The family was founded by Sir John Walbeoffe, a follower of Bernard de Newmarch who came over with the Con- queror and established himself at Talgarth in Breconshire. To Sir John Walbeoffe were assigned the manors of Llanhamllwch and Llanvihangel-Tal-y-llyn.

PENRY LEWIS.

Quisisana, Walton-by-Clevedon, Somerset.

THEATRE LIT BY GAS. In 'Don Juan/ Canto V. Iviii., we read :

Are things which make an English evening pass: Though certes by no means so grand a sight

As is a theatre lit up by gas.

This was written in 1821. Where could Byron have seen a theatre lit up by gas ?

Was there a theatre so illuminated in London ? HENRY FISHWICK.

The Heights, Rochdale.

THE AUCTIONEER'S HAMMER. It is de- sired to ascertain when the hammer was first used in auction sales, and whether there is any significance attached to its employment. J. GEO. HEAD.

7, Upper Baker Street, N.W.

PURNELL - EDWARDS OF STANCOMBB PARK. Can any reader give me informa- tion about the pedigree of the Purnell- Ed wards of Stancombe Park, Gloucester- shire ?

Are they the same family as the Purnells of Wrington and Havyot Manor in Somer- setshire ? Please reply direct to

(Mrs.) S. HUTOHINSON.

2, Palace Mansions, Addison Road, West Kensington.

" THE FOUR S's." In Bret Harte's book ' On the Frontier,' in the chapter headed ' At the Mission of St. Carmel,' Section II., the following passage occurs : " He may have the four S's for all I care." A girl is here speaking of a boy, and is appa- rently alluding to personal qualities which excite admiration. The scene is laid in South California, where Spanish is spoken. I shall be glad if your readers can tell me to what the " four S's " refer.

G. M. H. P.

MAJOR JOHN ANDRE. The unfortunate Major John Andre, born in 1751, was the son of a Genevese merchant established in London. Would it be possible to know the place and day of the month of his birth, the dates of his commissions in the Army, and, above all, whether he was of French Huguenot extraction or of pure Genevese blood ? S. CHURCHILL.

7, Rue de Verneuil, Paris.

[The * D.N.B.' says " the date of his commission " was 4 March, 1771.J

" ATTAINTING ROYAL BLOOD." George, Duke of Clarence, was attainted by Parlia- ment temp. Edward IV. His children, as under their father's attainder, were passed over by the Parliament which later declared Richard III. (their uncle) legitimate heir