Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 1.djvu/514

 508

NOTES AND QUERIES. [is s. i. JUNE 24,

Britain and Ireland,' 1887, p. 43, says, concerning Scotland :

" With respect to the boroughs, everything that bore even the semblance of popular choice had long been done away with. The election of mem- bers was vested in magistrates and town councils that had constituted themselves into self-elected bodies, and had deprived the people of all par- ticipation in the privilege."

As to Queensferry and the other burghs, the same Haldane, then a captain in the 3rd Foot Guards, had represented the constituency in the 1747-54 Parliament. He was appointed Governor of Jamaica early in 1758. Perhaps there was a contest in 1754, and the Governorship was a reimburse- ment for " intolerable expense."

Can it have been that each burgh of the District took its turn in electing the member ? In the Blue-book of Members of Parliament, in the return of 1747 as to this District of Burghs, Culross stands first, and Queens- ferry last; and in that of 1754, Queensferry stands first, and Culross last.

In this Blue-book this District of Burghs appears, 1741 under Fife; 1 747 under Perth ; 1754 under Linlithgow ; 1761 under Stirling.

Perhaps SIB HERBERT MAXWELL, or some other learned Scotch correspondent, will give us the benefit of his knowledge as to this curious " advertisement," and the con- stituency to which it refers.

ROBERT PIERPOINT.

WILLIAM AMES, M.A. Who was he ? He was the author of the following :

" The Saints Security, against Seducing Spirits or, The Anointing from the Holy one The best Teaching. Delivered in a Sermon at Pauls before the Lord Major [sic], Aldermen, and Commonalty, of the City of London, upon the Fifth of Novem- ber, 1651. By William Ames, M.A London,

1652."

Neither the epistle dedicatory nor the sermon itself throws any light on the question of authorship. On the verso of the third leaf of the epistle dedicatory is printed : " December 4. 1651. Imprimatur Joseph Caryl."

The celebrated Dr. William Ames (1576- 1633), though he expected to do so, never came to New England ; but his widow (whose maiden name was Joan Fletcher, not " Sletcher " as stated in the ' D.N.B.'), two sons (not one, as stated in the same place), and a daughter, arrived here in 1637. The widow died here in December, 1644, the daughter married here, but the two sons, both of whom were students at Harvard College, returned to England in 1647 or 1 648. John, the younger, did not graduate ;

but William graduated A.B. in 1645, though, taking no higher degree, became minister at Wrentham on Feb. 1, 1650, and there- " departed this life on July 21 89 and in the 66 yeare of his age." In his ' Harvard Graduates,' i. 109, Sibley says : "In the Catalogue of the British Museum and in, other catalogues it [the above sermon] is in- correctly entered under the name of the author s father." As Sibley wrote in 1873 r he could not have referred to the present printed British Museum Catalogue, where the sermon is entered under "Ames ( William ) r M.A., Minister of Wrentham."

Is this attribution correct ? For two reasons it may be questioned. First, is it likely that a young man who had been preaching less than two years would have been " called to this publique service," as the epistle dedicatory has it ? Second, our Harvard William Ames, as already stated, received only the A.B. degree from Harvard, and, so far as is known, did not receive a degree from any other university.

If these objections are valid, who was the author of the sermon ? Perhaps some of your correspondents can throw light on this- question. ALBERT MATTHEWS.

Boston, U.S.

DICKENS FAMILY: PORTSMOUTH RESI- DENCES. When the family left 387 (now 393) Commercial Road, Mile End, Landport (the birthplace of Charles Dickens), in 1812, they went to reside at 16 Hawke Street, Portsea. This house was discovered by F. G. Kitton, who spared no trouble in locating it (' The Dickens Country,' 1905). B. W. Matz, in his introduction to the memorial edition of ' The Life of Charles Dickens,' by John Forster, 1911, states that the number was 18 Hawke Street quoting F. G. Kitton as the authority. Apparently., this is a misprint, for, according to Kitton, a lady who resided at No. 8 Hawke Street distinctly remembers the Dickens family living at No. 16. The Portsmouth Corpora- tion have of late tabulated a number of houses and buildings of interest for the benefit of visitors; it is therefore essential that there should be no room for doubt. Has any further information relative to this matter been obtained ? F. K, P.

" How NOT TO DO IT." On re-reading ' Little Dorrit ' I find in the description of the ways of the Circumlocution Office this- now familiar phrase. Are we indebted to- Dickens for it, or was it one in then current use ? E. BASIL LTJPTON,

37 Langdon Street, Cambridge, Mass.