Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 1.djvu/192

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NOTES AND QUERIES. 112 s. i. MA. 4,

seen a reproduction of an autograph letter {obviously in Wilkes's handwriting) written to Francois Casanova, the painter, brother of the memoirist. It is dated from Long- <3hamp, where Wilkes had rooms (if not a, small villa), Friday, Oct. 15 (it should be Oct. 16), 1767. Wilkes addresses the ^artist as " mon cher compatriote," an odd phrase, at first sight, but it should be remembered that the Englishman was an -outlaw at the time. He goes on to speak of the " sentimens favorables dont monsieur votre frere [i.e., Giacomo Casanova] veut bien m*honorer. Je serai charme de faire sa <5onnaissance sous vos auspices," and con- cludes by accepting the painter's invitation to supper on Friday, Oct. 23 (see ' Jacques Casanova, Venitien,' Charles Samaran, pp. 281-2). Perhaps the two famous men met on that date, for the adventurer was then in Paris, though distressed on account of the illness of a chere amie. Wilkes did not leave for Ostend until Nov. 22, whence he reached Dover on Dec. 2.

One of Casanova's stories indicates that the English magistrate had learnt a lesson from the mistake made a few months pre- viously in arresting Wilkes under a General Warrant :

" I went to a magistrate who, after hearing my information, granted me a Warrant. .. .but he did not know the women, which was necessary. He was certain of arresting them, but it was necessary that those whom he arrested should only be those mentioned in the warrant, and there might

"be other women present .. ." ' Me'moires,'

vi. 548.

Under the famous General Warrant of April 26, 1763, forty-nine persons are said to have been apprehended, in addition to Wilkes, so there is much significance in Casanova s statement that only those named by a warrant could be arrested.

Casanova's assertion that the Duke of Cumberland was present at the subscription ball given in honour of the Hereditary Prince of Brunswick at Madam Cornelys's in Soho Square on Jan. 24, 1764, is corroborated by the newspapers (cf . ' Memoires,' vi. 552), and the peeress whom he calls " Milady Grafton " was in all probability Anne Liddell, Duchess of Grafton, for, according to Horace Walpole, the Duke of Grafton was one of the principal promoters of the entertainment (' Letters of H. Walpole' [Toynbee], v. 441). The statement that she wore her hair *' without powder, 1 * thereby causing much amazement, and setting a fashion that was adopted all over Europe, suggests an interesting problem for the students of the history of costume. It is curious to note that J. P. Malcolm in

' Anecdotes of the Manners and Customs of London in the Eighteenth Century,' ii. 348, gives the year 1763 as the date of " the rational change .... of wearing the natural Hair instead of Wigs."

I had hoped to find some record of Casanova's presentation at Court, but, un- fortunately, no lists of the presentations at St. James's appear to exist prior to the year 1773, so search at the Public Record Office has been of no avail.

It will be remembered that Ange Goudar showed the adventurer a remarkable arm- chair with concealed springs which fastened themselves on to the arms and legs of any one who sat down in it, holding him a prisoner ('Memoires* [Garnier], vi. 511). On the authority of * L'Espion Anglois, ou Correspondance secrete entre Milord All* Eye et Milord All' Ear' (Loiidres, Chez John Adamson, 1779), vol. ii. 363 (of. ante, pp. 29, 78), there was a similar chair in the house of the notorious Madame Alexandrine Ernestine Jourdan, known as "la Petite Comtesse," in the Rue des deux Portes, Saint-Sauveur, Paris. A chair of the same kind is described by G. W. M. Reynolds in the second series of ' The Mysteries of the Court of London. 1

Although I have looked through the files of The Public Advertiser, St. James's Chronicle, and The London Chronicle from June, 1763, to April, 1764, for references to the window-card advertisement, the parrot episode, and the report of Casanova s ap- pearance before Sir John Fielding (all of which he says were noticed in the newspapers), my search has been entirely fruitless.

HORACE BLEACKLEY.

19 Cornwall Terrace, N.W.

DOCUMENTS DISCOVERED AT LYON IN 1916. My old friend Prof. Henri Gaidoz of Paris has sent me the ficho de Paris of 12 fevrier, 1916, containing the following interesting news. It deserves a niche in 1 N. & Q.' :

" ONE GROSSE DOOUVERTE A LYON.

" Le ' Grand Cartulaire de 1350 ' de I'archeveche de Lyon, recherche pendant plus de trente ans et qui etait conside're' com me de"finitivement perdu, vient d'etre retrouve d'une maniere tout & fait singuliere, en menie temps qu'un grand nombre de parchemins et papiers preeieux, notamment un diplome original, le seul connu, du roi Charles, fils de 1'empereur Lothaire I., dat6 de 861 et accor- dant des privileges a I'archevech^ de Lyon.

" Cette decouverte, annonc^e hier a l'Acade'mie des inscriptions par M. Omont au riom de M. Guigne, vient d'itre faite par des ouvriers qui