Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 3.djvu/287

 12 s. in. APRIL 14, i9i7.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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later than 1691 ; but the article may have been written at an earlier date. As, how- ever, vol. i. of ' The Humourist ' claims to be " By the Author of the Apology for Parson Alberoni,'' which was first published in 1719, the presumption is that he was born not earlier than 1690. This agrees with several authorities, who give the date of his birth as "1690?" THOS. FRASEB.

Maxwellknowe, Dalbeattie.

THE CO-OPERATIVE SYSTEM IN FICTION (12 S. iii. 211). I think I am right in saying that ' Father Ralph,' by Gerald O'Donovan, 1913, contains some account of co-operative dairies in Ireland.

MARGARET LAVIXGTON.

Miss Mary Patricia Willcocks's novel ' The Way Up; published in 1910, deals with the co-operative system. It is the story of a young ironmaster who tries to remedy the evils of the Capitalist system by founding a method of co-operative production. The story is said to be based on the life of Jean Andre Godin.

' The Men who Fought for us in the '' Hungry Forties" : a Tale of Pioneers and Beginnings,' by Allen Clarke, published at Manchester in 1914, deals with the be- ginnings of the Rochdale Co-operative Societies. ARCHIBALD SPARKE.

PHOENICIAN TRADERS IN BRITAIN (12 S. iii. 210). The statement that the Phoeni- cians brought tin along the Pilgrims' Way to Sandwich is a conjecture based chiefly on so me passages in ancient historians. In Diodorus Siculus's ' Bibliotheca Historica,' Bk. V. ch. 22, we are told that the inhabitants of the British promontory of Belerion (Land's End or Cornwall), after smelting the tin ore, earn- the metal to a certain island called Ictis, off the coast of Britain, getting it across in their waggons at low tide when the channel is dry. The natives then sell the tin to merchants, who ship it over to Gaul.

Attempts have been made to show that the island in question is St. Michael's Mount or the Isle of Wight. C. I. Elton, in his ' Origins of English History,' p. 36, second edition, suggests that it " may easily have been the Isle of Thanet, which has only been joined to the mainland in modern times."

In Pliny's ' Xatural History ' there is a .somewhat different account : " Timaeus historicus a Britannia introrsum sex dierum navigatione abesse dicit insulam Mictim in qua candidum plumbum proueniat. Ad

earn Britannos vitilibus navigiis corio cir- cumsutis navigare " iv. 16 (30), 104.

The " vitilia navigia corio circumsuta" are evidently coracles. The Thanet theory was severely criticized by Prof. Ridgeway in a paper on ' The Greek Trade-Routes to Britain,' which appeared twenty-five years or more ago. In the passages referred to- it is the Britons, not the Phoenicians, who bring the tin to the island. Whether,, indeed, Phoenician merchants or miners ever visited Britain is, I understand, regarded as at least extremely doubtful. Certainly any discussion of such problems would be un- suitable here. The only object of this answer is to suggest the source to which the statement mentioned by MR. W. A. HIRST would seem to be traceable.

EDWARD BENSLY,

CRETISOT (12 S. iii. 189). " Creusot " no doubt is intended for Crussol, one of the great French families. Louis Emmanuel de Crussol, 15th Comte de Crussol, is also 15th Due d'Uzes and Premier Duke-Peer of France. There are several branches of this family, which sprang from Languedoc, and one often meets with the name in French memoirs. CONSTANCE RUSSELL.

Swallowfield Park, Beading.

AUTHORS WANTED (12 S. iii. 230).' A Derelict Empire,' by " Mark Time " : author, Henrv Crossley Irwin, I.C.S. (retired).

D. G. P.

FIRST STEAMER TO AMERICA (12 S. iii. 189). Some interesting details of the historic vovage of the Sirius from Cork Harbour to New York, April 4-22, 1838, will be found in a lengthy illustrated article contributed to "the Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society, October -December, 1905, by Mr. W. J. Barn-, a member of Council. Particulars of registry and a list of the crew, including stewardess, are given ; also the ship's log, and Capt. Roberts's journal of the voyage. Mr. Barry adds :

" She carried 40 passengers, viz., first cabin, 5 ladies, 6 gentlemen ; second cabin, 5 ladies,

3 gentlemen ; steerage, 1 lady, 20 gentlemen. Total passengers, 11 ladies, 29 gentlemen. The only surviving passenger is the Rev. T. Bansome, Bector of Compton Bassett, Wilts, who, when

4 years old, crossed the Atlantic on this memor- able voyage, together with his father (who was proceeding to quell the Lower Canada Rebellion) r sister, and brother. Mr. Davenport and his daughter, actor and actress, were also amongst the passengers. The saloon fare was 35 guineas (the same as the sailing ships) ; second cabin, 20 guineas : and steerage, 8 guineas."