Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 1.djvu/220

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XOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. i. M AK. n, 1916.

offering to live with the young lady, if a suitable provision was made for them. In consequence of this insult the Court of King's Bench, as Gustos Morum of the kingdom, is to issue its process, by which the delinquent will be either 'suitably provided for ,' or else outlawed."

Lord Rodney had three daughters : (1) Jane, m. July 6, 1784, George Chambers ; <2) Margaret Anne, d. at Calais, Oct. 14, 1758 ; (3) Sarah Brydges, m. Nov. 26, 1801, General Mundy, and d. July 17, 1871.

Which of these was the heroine of the elopement ? It does not seem probable from this evidence that a marriage with Wilson ever took place. Is it possible, therefore, that a man of this unsavoury reputation remained a friend (as Taylor said he did) of Lord Eldon ? And was the " Treacherous Host " of The Totvn and Country Magazine the same Richard Wilson who was elected for Barnstaple seven years later ? The extract quoted by W. B. H. seems to show that it was.

That the name of the " Treacherous Host " was Richard Wilson is proved by the de- scription in the magazine, which says that he was thrashed in " a coffee house under the Piazza " by George Brereton, the duellist, for an insult offered to William Brereton, the actor. A duel followed, in which Wilson was wounded. This incident is referred to in The Morning Post, April 19, 1777, and The St. James's Chronicle, April 17-19, 1777.

There was a Richard Wilson who was the Duke of Northumberland's solicitor in 1817, and who, I believe, was then living at Craven Cottage, Fulham. Another Richard Wilson, who died in September, 1834, was a director of the Rock Life Assurance Co. and a pro- prietor of Drury Lane Theatre. Either of these is more likely to have been the Wilson mentioned by Taylor.

I should be glad of further information. HOBACE BLEACKXEY.

Another bit of evidence in corroboration of the contention of W. B. H. as to the identity of Dick Wilson is this passage, at p. 14, in a scarce pamphlet by him, in my possession, entitled

"A Narrative of Various Murders and Rob- beries committed in the Neighbourhood of the Relater upon the Roman Catholics by a Banditti describing themselves as Orangemen, with his letters to the Duke of Richmond and Lord Manners on the disgraceful state of the Police in that quarter.

T .....By Richard Wilson, Esq Late a Member of

the British Parliament and a Magistrate of the

Siblm l808 T -I r0ne '" &C * 12m ' xii+95 pp '

an old friend of mine, Lord Eldon, ta the same
 * I also endeavoured to draw the attention of

subject; yet, though my communications to his Lordship were made at his own request, I never learned his opinion of them ! I have lately made another effort with my noble friend my com- munications were made for the information of the whole of the administration, although they were particularly addressed to Lord Eldon as an old acquaintance."

At pp. 21-6 the letter to Lord Eldon is given in full. EDITOB ; IBISH BOOK LOVEB.'

JOHNNIE FOSTEB : ST. ANDBEW'S : LAY VICABS (12 S. i. 134. See sub 'Moray Minstrels '). L. G. R. writes :

44 Johnnie Foster, before going to Westminster, had been organist and choirmaster at St. Andrew's, Well Street [this must be a misprint for Wells Street], and had made that church as attractive by its music as by its ornate ritual, which was in advance of other churches. ' '

Foster, as organist at St. Andrew's, Wells Street, Oxford Street, had a good cathedral service, the music being mostly by English composers ; but it was Joseph Barnby, at a later date, who made the church specially famous by his introduction of adaptations to the Communion Service of Masses by eminent foreign composers, and also of many anthems by Gounod, who had lately attained to the height of his fame by his opera of * Faust.' It was then that the income of St. Andrew's from voluntary con- tributions reached its highest level, and many people could not get into the church for want of room.

I am astonished, however, at the statement that it had an ornate ritual, which was in advance of other churches. It was always considered a very moderate church compared with " round the corner " (All Saints', Margaret Street). Vestments and incense have never been used in it, and in the times to which I refer the candles on the altar were not lighted except at Evensong, nor were coloured stoles worn.

It has been said that Foster became a lay vicar of Westminster Abbey, but there are really no lay vicars there. The title of the singers in the Elizabethan statutes is lay clerks, as it is also in Henry VIII. 's statutes for cathedrals of the new founda- tion, though lay clerks of these cathedrals (Canterbury, Winchester, &c.) sometimes get wrongly called vicars choral or lay vicars. In cathedrals of the old foundation each member of the Chapter was supposed to have his representative or vicar to sing for him in the choir. Hence the title " vicars choral." At St. Paul's all the six vicars choral are laymen. At Hereford they are all clergymen ; and at some cathedrals there are two divi- sions called priest vicars and lay vicars. I