Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 10.djvu/91

 12 s.x. JAN. 28, 1922.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 69 and the narrator says, " Bowow is sepa- rated from Bagshot only by a stream the inhabitants are not proud of the name of their place." N. A. WEBB. RUSKIN : GENEVA LETTER FOUND. In the Library edition of Raskin's Works is printed (vol. xxxiv., p. 493) a letter dated Geneva, Feb. 16, 1863, of which the first publication had not been traced. I find the letter first appeared in an obscure New York magazine, The New Path for May, 1863 (vol. i., No. 1., p. 10), a file of which is owned by the New York Historical Society. THOMAS OLLIVE MABBOTT. Graduate School, Columbia University. APPRENTICES TO AND FROM OVERSEAS (see ante, p. 29). Since my former aiticle the following overseas apprentices have been found : John Beale, son of Richard Beale of Antegoa, W. Indies. App. to Thos. Herbert of Coventry, Apothecary. Dec. 3rd 1714. Consid. 53 15 0. (Inl. 1/44-10.) Thomas Owen, son of Richard Owen of Jamaica, Med. Dr. App. to Roger Bayly of Bristol, Haber- dasher of Hats. Oct. 7th 1714. Consid. 60. <Inl. 1/43-135.) Thomas Adams, son of William Adams of the Island of Barbadoes, Mercht. App. to Saml. Dunklyn, Cit. and Scrivener. Feb. 21st 1716. Consid. 100. (Inl. 1/5-96.) William Frere, son of Tobias Frere of Bar- badoes, dec'd. App. to Rich. Tilden, Cit. and Broiderer. May 12th 1718. Consid. 300. (Inl. 1/6-62.) Isaac Gale, son of Isaac Gale of Jamaica, Painter. App. to Richard Chapman of Bristol, Mercht. 23 Jan. 1718-9. Consid. 210. (Inl. 1/46-8.) John Barbot, son of James Barbot of Maryland in Virginia, Mercht. dec'd. App. to Pierre La Brasse of St. Anns Westminster, Silversmith. 1717 Consid. 16. (Inl. 1/5-117.) John Brazil, son of John Brazil of Newfound- land, America, dec'd. App. to James Lippyeat Hooper & Eleanor his wife. 2 March 1714. Consid. 20. (Inl. 1/43-166.) Nathaniel Irish, son of William Irish of Mount Surat, in West Indies, Mercht. dec'd. App. to Isaac Waldoe, Cit. and Grocer. 7 Sept. 1716. Consid. 25. (Inl. 1/5-16.) GERALD FOTHERGILL. 11, Brussels Road, St. John's Hill, S.W.I 1. STOWE HOUSE, SALE OF CONTENTS, 1847 AND 1921. Last summer witnessed the I final dispersal of the contents of this princely mansion, and there has since been much discussion as to the adaptation of the house to other uses. Possibly this final sale will be fully recorded and analysed in a volume similar to that published by David Progue in 1848, which also provides an adequate history of the remarkable building. The valuable contents included specimens of special interest to compilers of works on china, glass, furniture, MSS. and the like thus James Marryatt, an authoritative writer on porcelain, seeks information respecting Etruscan cups, &c. But of most interest in some correspondence of the early nineteenth century is a letter from Stowe House dated Sept. 9, 1817, written by Father Charles O'Connor (1760-1828), then libiarian, to some unidentified corre- spondent. After a preliminary reference to some list of subscribers he pioceeds : I am very busily employed in preparing for publication the first volume of my Catalogue raisonne of this MS. room, where I had the pleasure of passing some very cheerful hours with you about a year ago. Since that tune 1 have never heard from Mr. Petrie, and having lost his address, may I beg of you to say some- thing kind from me to him, and to assure him that I keep his Welch Chronicle untouched, and uncopied with the exception only of some few dates, which I think he gave me permission to use. Dimensions of Stowe Great Library above : Length 75 feet, breadth 25 feet. Number of books and books of Prints above stairs, 21,000. Below stairs, Gothic Room or MS. Room, Number of MSS., 2,000. The ebony chairs were purchased at Antwerp, they were Rubens' and are beautifully carved in festoons, wreaths of flowers, &c., &c. I cannot be more accurate ; who carved them I cannot discover, but the workmanship is worthy of such a professor as Rubens. My 2nd vol. will come out immediately after my catalogue is completed and an Irish map of the Middle Ages completed. At this date the Grenville Library, sub- sequently bequeathed to the British Mu- seum, was at Stowe House. The dispersals by Messrs. Sotheby ot the boojfcfc and MSS., and by Phillips of the prints '(1834), had not occurred or were even considered im- pending. The manuscript library was fitted in the Gothic style by Sir John Soane, who copied many of the ornaments in Hemy VII. 's Chapel at Westminster Abbey for the purpose. Dr. O'Connor was grandson of Charles O'Connor of Belangare, whose Irish MSS. had passed to this collection. His elaboiate work in four volumes, 'Reium Hiberni- carum Scriptores Veteres,' is now scarce. Ihe Catalogue raisonne of the MSS. was privately printed at Buckingham. The sale of last summer did not cause the popular furore of the earlier sale, 1847. The times were unpropitious, and such redistribution of collections not so un- common. ALECK ABRAHAMS.