Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 2.djvu/175

 128. ii. AUG. 26, i9i6.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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Sir James Paget on May 22, 1886. The statue was executed by Thomas Brock, A.R.A. ; it is 8 ft. high, and stands on a Cornish grey granite pedestal 5 ft. 6 in. high, mounted upon two steps. Sir Erasmus is represented in the robes of President of the Royal College of Surgeons, and holds a book in his left hand. His gaze is directed west- ward, where stand the chapel, wards, &c., erected through his generosity. The pedestal is inscribed :

Erasmus Wilson

1809-1884

The following inscription is on a brass tablet in the chapel, south of the chancel arch :

The Chapel

the New Wing and other additions and improvements to

this Infirmary

were bestowed on the Institution A.D. 1882

by Sir Erasmus Wilson, LL.D., F.R.S.

Fellow and President of the Royal College of Surgeons

of England.

This Tablet is erected

by the Directors and Governors

of the Institution

as a Record of the Munificent Gift

so generously intended to relieve

the sufferings and promote the cure of the Scrofulous Poor of Gt: Britain

John Creaton, Lt. Col. Chairman.

Swanscombe. Sir Erasmus Wilson died at The Bungalow, Westgate-on-Sea, Aug. 8, 1884, and was buried at Swanscombe, Kent, on Aug. 1 3. He restored Swanscombe Church in 1873; and in 1874 the Erasmus Wilson Lodge of Free - Masons rebuilt the porch, " as a tribute of affection to their first Master, Erasmus Wilson, F.R.S." A monument to his memory in the church is thus inscribed :

Sir Erasmus Wilson, F.R.S., LL.D., &c., Fellow and President of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, Born November 25th, 1809, Died August 8th, 1884, And is buried here. It pleased Almighty God not alone to endow bun with fine intellect, but to give him grace to utilize his talent and the fortune that it earned for the good of his fellow men and the advancement of the noble profession which he loved so well. " Well done, good and faithful Servant."

(See 9 S. v. 474.)

London. On one of the bronze tablets affixed to the obelisk known as Cleopatra's Needle, Victoria Embankment, is the follow- ing inscription :

Through the patriotic zeal of Erasmus Wilson, F.R.S., this obelisk was brought from Alexandria

in an iron cylinder ; it was abandoned in the Bay of Biscay, recovered and erected on this spot by John Dixon, C.E., in the 42nd year of the reign of Queen Victoria.

JOSEPH STURGE.

Birmingham. On June 4, 1862, this statue was unveiled by Mr. Wm. Middlemore, Chairman of the Memorial Committee. It stands in a commanding position at Five Ways, where Birmingham and Edgbaston meet.

" The monument consists of a central figure of Mr. Sturge, his right hand resting on a Bible placed upon a dwarf column from which some carefully arranged drapery descends. The left hand is stretched forth as though he was address- ing a meeting. On the right base is the figure of Charity, her left arm encircling an infant, while in her right hand she holds a bowl which a youthful negro is pressing to his lips. To the left is seated the figure of Peace, clasping a dove to her bosom with her right hand and holding a palm branch in her left, an olive wreath encircling her brow ; beside her is a lamb, and at her feet are ears of corn. At the base of the statue, in front and back, are large basins for ornamental foun- tains, and at either side are drinking fountains."

The memorial was designed and executed by Mr. John Thomas. The statue and base are of Sicilian marble, and the subordinate figures of Portland stone. On the front of the memorial is inscribed : Joseph Sturge

at the sides " Charity " and " Peace," and at the back " Temperance."

(See 11 S. ix. 282.)

JOHN T. PAGE. Long Itchington, Warwickshire.

(To be continued.)

SEALS ON ANGLO-SAXON CHARTERS. Nearly twenty-five years ago Mr. W. H. Stevenson showed that the only preserved Anglo-Saxon charters, as distinguished from writs, which bear seals are forgeries. They are two in number, and are drawn up in the names of Kings Offa (790) and Edgar (960) in favour of the monastery of Saint-Denis.* Mr. Stevenson pointed out in The English Historical Review for October, 1891 (vol. vi. 736-42), that they present features which condemn them to any one with an el( mentary knowledge of the forms of Anglo-Saxon documents, not to speak of philology ; they are of French manufacture, and cannot have been written earlier than the eleventh centurv. The seals are, if possible, still

1 See Birch, ' Cartularium Saxonicum,' Nos. 259 and 1057, where the seals are figured.