Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 5.djvu/270

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NOTES AND QUERIES-

[12 S. V. OCT., 1919.

These facts, together with the recollection o the elaborate hoax which Swift had playe upon Partridge the astrologer a few year before, make one a little suspicious. An< although, if Peer was not a real person, th circumstances of the two jests would not be exactly parallel, it seems possible, to say the least, that the whole essay is a joke of some kind, the key to which is now lost.

Can any reader throw further light on thi subject, or adduce any evidence, independen of Steele's essay, that Peer really existed ?

It may be worth while to add that Steele's statement that no one but Peer " could ever touch " the two parts mentioned is noi literally true, for Gibber records in hi 'Apology ' (chap, ix.) that Richard Estcourt spoke the prologue in the play scene wher 'Hamlet' was acted at Drury Lane in 1707

GORDON CBOSSE. Oxford and Cambridge Club, Pall Mall, S.W.I.

CHARLES MORRIS OF PORTMAN SQUARE. About the middle of last century Charle Morris of Portman Square was a frequent visitor and great benefactor to Malvern. He built schools, still known as the " Morris Schools," and large tanks capable of holding many gallons of water for a much-needed water supply, and performed many other good deeds. Unfortunately, no record of him remains beyond these bare facts. Can any of your readers supply the dates of his birth and death, and details of his life, or present or lend a portrait of him to this library ? My committee are most anxious to make our local collection as complete as possible and will be grateful for any help that can be given.

F. C. MORGAN, Librarian. Public Library, Graham Road, Malvern. .i

CONGEWOI. Rolf Boldrewood in his hovel ' Modern Buccaneer,' speaking of a marine vista outside of Sydney, remarks : " The sea is here much as I remember when a boy I used to get ' congewoi ' for bait off those very rocks." What are we to understand by the term ? ANEURIN WILLIAMS.

Menai View, North Road, Carnarvon.

AMERICAN CHURCH OF ENGLAND BISHOPS. Can any reader furnish us with the name of a work giving the succession of the bishops of the Church of England in the United States of America, and their mis- sionary bishops, or furnish me with a copy ? What is chiefly wanted is full name, degree, date, and place of consecration, and date and place of death. [ J. W. F.

GILBERT WHITE: PORTRAIT OF. At 1 S. viii. 304 (1853) Mr. A. Holt-White wrote as follows :

" Oriel College, of which Gilbert White was for more than fifty years a Fellow, some years since offered to have a portrait painted of him for their hall. An inquiry was then made of all the mem- bers of his family, but no portrait of any descrip- tion could be found. I have heard my father say that Gilbert White was much pressed by his brother Thomas (my grandfather), to have his por- trait painted, and that he talked of it, but it was never done."

This passage is quoted in Jardine's edition of 1853 of 'White's Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne.'

In 1913 an alleged portrait of the natural- ist, which had been purchased in the Cattle- Market, was exhibited at a meeting of the Selborne Society, and it was understood that the owner was endeavouring to trace the early history of the portrait.

Can any of your readers give information as to what was done in the matter, whether the portrait was duly authenticated, or it was proved to have been a forgery ?

EDWARD A. MARTIN. The Gilbert White Fellowship, 285, Holmesdale Road, South Norwood, S.E.

COORG STATE : STRANGE TALE OF A PRINCESS. Dr. Vincent Smith, in his recently published ' Oxford History of India,' p. 660 note, writes :

"The princess having been brought up as a Christian by her father's desire, was baptized by he name of Victoria in 1852, the Queen being her godmother. The royal favour encouraged the laja to claim seven lakhs of rupees from the East Tndia Company, but he lost his suit after litigation asting several years. His daughter married Colonel C., and had a child by him The union vas unhappy, and she died in 1864. Some time ater visitors in a cab called at the Oriental Club, lanover Square, for Colonel C., who drove off with hem, saying he would return shortly. He was lever seen again. The child also disappeared. Soth must have been secretly murdered and buried omewhere in London. The story of the dis- .ppearance of Colonel C. was related by his son to he author. The Raja died before his daughter, ,nd was buried in Kensal Green cemetery."

}an any one give any further detail of this trange story, or refer to any contemporary iterature on the subject ? EMERITUS.

MORE OR MOORE. The family of More or foore of Milton Place, Egham, Surrey, were ettled in Antwerp during the reign of Eliza- eth. It has been said that they were con- ected with the Mores of Loseley, Surrey, ut I have never found the slightest evidence a support of this statement. Is anything nown of the origin of the Egham family ? FREDERIC TURNER.