Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 10.djvu/406

 332 NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s.x. APRIL 29,192:!. who, with his sons John, Peter and Louis, continued to exhibit it. It was Haddock's collection which was shown in Norfolk Street in 1797, as noted ante, p. 269. The " Fruitery " was a variation of Baklucci's " Druggist," and the " Highland Oracle " was his " Blackrnoor " in other guise. M. I. M. C. EARLY VICTORIAN LITERATURE. (12 S. x. 210, 273.) I AM extremely obliged for MB. W. ROBERTS' s reply to my query, and regard his remarks as some authority on the subject. Having a collection of some of these rare old " bloods " he has good ground to work upon. He inquires as to the authorship of ' Black Bess ; or, The Knight of the Road,' which ran to 254 penny weekly numbers and '2,028 pages, each number of eight pages being illustrated with quaintly drawn illus- trations by clever artists. This romance was written by Edward Viles during 1863- 1868. At any rate the Preface to a bound volume of the first issue is dated 1868. It was followed by ' The Black Highwayman,' j being the second series of ' Black Bess,' by the same author, and comprised 86 numbers and 688 pages, published during 1866-1868. (A splendid coloured plate was given away with Nos. 1 and 2.) ' Blue- skin,' a romance, by the same author, com- | prising 158 numbers and 1,259 pages, was also written and published during 1866- 1867, so that the writer had a rather busy time in keeping three different romances going at the same time. ' Blueskin ' (i.e., Joseph Blake, the Highwayman) is considered by many to be the best of the three works. I believe Edward Viles also wrote ' Gentle- man Clifford ; or, The Lady's Highway- man,' 35 numbers (1865) ; ' Will Scarlett ; or, The Outlaws of Sherwood,' 40 numbers (1865), and several other penny shockers during this period. He wrote- as well ' The ! Illustrated London Novelist,' 24 numbers (1864). He was a most prolific writer on sensational subjects. ' Nightshade ; or, Claude Duval, the Dashing Highwayman,' 60 numbers and j 480 pages (1863-4), was, however, not | written by Edward Viles, but by Malcolm J. Errym (?), otherwise called "Merry" (?) or " Rymer " (?). All these and many more works of a most highly sensational character were published by E. Harrison, Salisbury Court, Fleet Street, while at the same time he was publishing such modest and sensible publica - tions as The Young Ladies' Journal (No. 1, April 13, 1864) and The Gentleman's Journal and Youth's Miscellany (No. 1, Nov. 1, 1869), a high-toned and really first-class periodical. I also beg to thank MB. ALBEBT HALL for his able and well-informed reply. I agree- with him that if the real name of the writer who wrote under the name of " Bos " could be established, it would clear the air of a good deal of the mystery surrounding these old writers. Personally I am of opinion (formed from my research work) that "Bos " was the pen-name of Thomas Peskett Prest, author of k Ela the Outcast,' and about a hundred penny dreadful romances published by Edward Lloyd ; but whether he really wrote ' Fatherless Fanny,' or ' Newgate, a Ro- mance ' (97 numbers and 772 pages of single columns, and illustrated by the most exe- crable pictures imaginable, abounding in horror of the most vivid description, pub- lished in 1847), ' The Old House in West Street ; or, London in the Last Century ' (1846), ' Varney the Vampire ; or, The Feast of Blood ' (1847), or ' Ada the Betrayed ; or, The Murder at the Old Smithy,' or ' Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street,' or ' The String of Pearls,' all pub- lished in penny numbers by E. Lloyd, are questions I am endeavouring to clear up, and I shall be grateful for any evidence bear- ing upon the same. I find by further research that the novel ' Gentleman Jack,' by the author of ' Caven- dish,' W. Johnson Neale, is not the same as that published by E. Lloyd. They are entirely different. Neale' s is a naval story and was published in three volumes, with no> illustrations, by Henry Colburn, 13, Great Marlborough Street, London, in 1837. Lloyd's, a voluminous work of cccxcviii. chap- ters, 1,636 pages, in 205 penny weekly num- bers, each embellished with a woodcut illustra- tion, was published in book form in 1852, its title being ' Gentleman Jack ; or, Life on the Road,' a romance. It deals with highway- men, including the notorious Dick Turpin, Sixteen String Jack, and others. I regret no further light has been thrown upon its rightful author beyond my state- ment in my article, No. 26 in Spare Mo- ments, April 19, 1919, that the author's name was Mrs. Elizabeth Caroline Grey, based upon the announcement of another penny dreadful published by Lloyd, entitled ' The Dream of a Life,' a romance bv the author