Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 2.djvu/261

 12 8. II. SEPT. 23, 1916.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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John Kit to (1804-54) died at Cannstadt in Germany. " His remains were buried in. the cemetery there, a tombstone being erected over them by Mr. Oliphant, his publisher" ('D.N.B.'). ' M.

Freeman, the historian,' and Aubrey Beardslev, both buried in cemetery of Mentone, France. W. C. J.

[Crashaw died at Loretto, and is buried there.]

LADIES' SPURS (12 S. ii. 190). In Mrs. Power O'Donoghue's 'Riding for Ladies,' 1905, pp. 347-50, appear the following references to ladies' spurs :

" I have pleasure in appending sketches of the only three of these that I know of that are manufactured ; they are the ' Rowel guard,' the 'Sewarrow,' end the 'Box-spur.' The Sewarrow is, I think, excellent of its kind, but I am not much in favour of spurs for ladies who ride in the ordinary quiet way. Novices should never make use of them either for road riding or when hunting.

Lady equestrians frequently use a small pair of

hunting spurs of the shape worn by men the right one having a knob in place of a rowel. These are used with Hessian boots, and look well when dis- mounted."

Another reference to ladies' spurs appears in Belle Beach's ' Riding and Driving for Women,' n.d. [1913], chap, vii., ' Correct Dress for the Saddle,' p. 130 :

"It is not safe for a woman, unless she is an experienced rider, to wear a sharp spur, and one should never be worn except with an open skirt, as it is almost certain to catch in a plain skirt. The spur, if worn, should be plain and of the same pattern as a man's."

The following extract is taken from Alice M. Hayes's ' The Horsewoman,' 1910, pp. 204-10 :

" The spur is inapplicable to the requirements of ordinary side-saddle riding, because in order to use it properly it should be applied, as nearly as practicable, at right angles to the side of the horse, so as to touch him only on one spot, in which case the knee will have to be well brought away from the flap of the saddle and the toe of the boot turned outwards. This would necessitate the use of a long stirrup leather, which would bring the rider's weight too hmch on the near side and

would alo render her seat insecure A lady who

rides with her stirrup leather at the correct length can use the spur only in a more or less parallel direction to the animal's side, in which case the spur, if it is sharp, will be almost certain to tear the skin instead of lightly pricking it. Lady Augusta Fane, who is one of the best horsewomen

in Leicestershire is strongly opposed to the use

of the spur. She tells me that ' if a horse is so sticky as to require a spur, he is no hunter for this country, and if he is a determined refuser, no woman, spur or no spur, can make him gallop to big fences and jump. I consider the spur a very

cruel thing.' Lord Harrington, who is well

known as a fine horseman, also dislikes spurs, and has advocated their abolition in the yeomanry

Mr. Whyte-Melville points out that my sex are

unmerciful in the abuse of the spur and a lady

who rides a horse in the ordinary way with this instrument of torture, which she is unable to use correctly, brands herself in the eyes of her more experienced sister as an incompetent horsewoman.

It is the fashion to wear spurs with top-boots,

but many good horses go better without them. Mr. Whyte-Melville remarks that 'a top-boot has an unfinished look without its appendage cf shining steel. Men wear spurs in hunting because it is fashionable to do so, but there is no arbitrary law laid down for ladies, and the presence of the spur

adds to the danger of dragging by the stirrup I

certainly think that no lady should subject her hunter to the " insult of the spur." '

ARCHIBALD SPARKE.

THE NOVELS AND SHORT STORIES OF G. P. R. JAMES (12 S. ii. 167). To the best of my belief I have read none of this author's books, and I do not mean to make a begin- ning, but I feel that MR. W. A. FROST'S complete list of his novels and collected short stories is an interesting contribution to literary history, and I venture to supplement it by a few lines explaining that it was James's misfortune rather than his fault that his works did not far outnumber the fifty-six enumerated by MR. FROST. If the publishers of James's era had been as enter- prising as the author was industrious, his output would have broken all records. Under happier auspices he might have pro- duced a novel a month, to say nothing of the short stories which he could have knocked off in his leisure moments.

Even George Smith was not strong enough to support the weight of this writer's fecundity. The story of his connexion with James, as set out in the ' Memoir of George Smith ' prefixed to the First Supplement (1901) of the 'Dictionary of National Bio- graphy,' is as follows :

In 1844 Smith, Elder & Co., in addition to beginning an elaborate collected edition of James's works already in being, entered into a contract with him to publish any new novel which he should write, he receiving 6001. for the first edition of 1,250 copies.

In each of the three years following James favoured the publishers with two three- volume novels. This, however, was only an earnest of his capacity; by 1848 he was getting into his striae, and during that year he supplied the firm with three novel-;. Strange to say, they began to think that it was time for James to moderate his Iran - ports. Their books showed that between 1844 and 1848 they had offered the public twenty-seven volumes from his pen, at a total cost to the purchasers of thirteen and a half guineas. A polite request that the