Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 10.djvu/215

12S.X.MAB.4.1922.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 173 (12 S. x. 127). Immediately after reading 's helpful directions I took a case, the working out of which exemplifies one of the pitfalls mentioned by him, and perhaps other points of interest. George Baker was admitted on the foundation at Eton, March 20, 1698, æt. 10. He died, according to the most expanded notice, "on 28 January, 1772, in the eighty-sixth year of his age." But the notices in The Gentleman's and London Magazines of 1772 have "æt. 85." To take "aged 10 " and "aged 85" results in a contradiction, producing different latest possible dates. I then took "aged 10 " and "aged 84," and found that he was born between March 21, 1687, and Jan. 28, 1688. This confirms the parish register, which records his baptism on July 17, 1687. I say confirms because the years in parish registers are not seldom misplaced, and in the case of two of George Baker's brothers, while Eton and Oxford agree, the parish register makes them each two years older.

GENERAL NICHOLSON'S BIRTHPLACE (12 S. x. 109, 158). There is in the ' Life of John Nicholson,' by Capt. Lionel J. Trotter (2nd ed., 1898), p. 4, a distinct statement that the eldest boy of Dr. Nichol- son's family was born as Lisburn, where his wife's mother, Mrs. Hogg, lived ; and that j he was born on Dec. 11, 1822. In a footnote Capt. Trotter, referring to Kaye's ' Lives of Indian Officers,' vol. ii., says : "Kaye has given 1821 as the year of j John's birth : this is a manifest error, for i John's eldest sister was born in October of | that year." There is also much information bearing j on the date of Nicholson's birth in ' Memo- rials of the Life of Sir Herbert Edwardes,' by Lady Edwardes (1863) ; valuable because he was a contemporary in years and Indian service, and an intimate friend of Sir John Nicholson ; and also because he is responsible for the inscriptions on the tomb of Nichol- son at Delhi, and on the tablets in the church at Bunnoo (western border of the Punjab) and in the parish church at Lisburn, Co. Antrim, Ireland, where Nicholson's mother had lived " ever since she had been a i widow." The inscription on the tomb at Delhi records that Nicholson died Sept. 23, 1857, ! aged 35 ; the inscrpition on the tablet in the j church at Bunnoo and also that in the church i at Lisburn records that "he died on the 23 September 1857 aged only 34." Capt. Trotter, in mentioning the memorial in Bunnoo church, adds a footnote (p. 316), " On this memorial Nicholson's age is rightly given as 34, not as the tombstone gives it as 35." In the * Dictionary of Indian Biograph ' (C. E. Buckland, C.I.E.) the dates of birth and death are given, 1821-1857, the place of birth not being mentioned. W. M. CLAY. Alverstoke, Hants. PSEUDO-TITLES FOB " DUMMY " BOOKS (12 S. x. 129). I have always taken an interest in this subject and herewith I venture to enclose a list of dummy books I made many years ago for a door in my own library. They were chiefly compiled from a com- petition which was then going on in Truth. It will be observed that some of them are topical of the past. It would be interesting to collect specimens from some of the country houses of England. There was a good list at Ritchings, the home of the Meekings in Buckinghamshire. Viscount Long of Wraxhall has one at Rood Ashton, and I have somewhere a list compiled by Charles Dickens for the door in his library at Gads- hill. I recollect (when I stayed there with Major Austin Budden, the penultimate owner) there were ten thick volumes devoted to ' Five Minutes in China,* and some scathing sub -titles to an encyclopaedia called ' The Wisdom of our Ancestors.' 1. ' A New England Cat,' by M. B. W. 2. ' Thoughts on my Bed,' Stead. 3. ' The Rightful Heir : a Story of the Whigs.* 4. ' A Brief Tale of a Manx Cat,' by Hall Caine. 5. ' Open Sesame ! or Taken in.' 6. ' The Strange Case of Ann Chovies,' by the Editor of Howe on Toast. 7. ' The Bloodhounds of Bodega ; or Whines from the Wood.' 8. ' Lost in the Wash,' by the author of ' Bache- lors' Buttons.' 9. ' On a Japanese Bike,' by the author of ' Cycle of Cathay." 10. * Contents of a Library,' Wood. 11. ' Appearances are Deceitful.' (Illustrated.) 12. ' Carpenter's Works.' 13. ' Cover Hunting,' by M. T. Ness. 14. ' Bunyan on the Great Toe.' 15. ' A Bolt from the Blue ; or the Deserting Policeman.' 16. ' Master Wouldn't,' by Mrs. Wood. 17. The Last Letter,' by Omega. 1 8. ' Midnight Musings on the Itchen ' : a sequel to ' A Night at Margate.' 19. ' Lays Ancient and Modern ; or Thirteen Eggs for a Shilling.' 20. ' Deceived,' by Ascham Dawe. 21. ' Backs et praeterea nihil,' by a Carpenter. 22. ' (Euvres de la Porte.'