Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 6.djvu/137

 128. vi. APRIL io, i<m] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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it has often been pointed out that Russia has no national school, that her artists, so slow to invent, so quick to imitate, have made themselves the docile followers of various great European masters, but, at any rate, the subject matter of these paintings, when they refer to Russian mythology and Russian history, have an originality about them that cannot fail to excite the liveliest curiosity. Repine, Gue, Aivasovsky (the Russian Turner), and Verestchagin are surely worthy of some comment, while Vasnetzov is considered the founder of a school that is distinctively Russian. Who that has seen his ' Flying Carpet ' is likely to forget it, or the resusci- tated Byzantinism, with its marvellous regard for detail, yet dominated always by his powerful personality, which adorns the glorious picture gallery, where he worked so long and so successfully the cathedral of St. Vladimir at Kiev ?

T. PERCY ARMSTRONG.

" TEAPOY." The only meaning in the ' N.E.D.' attributed to the word " teapoy " is that of a three-legged wooden table or stool used in the East as a receptacle for tea. But every student of ceramics here, and certainly every collector, knows the word as meaning a porcelain or earthenware (generally the latter) tea-caddy, not much bigger than a cream jug, numberless examples of which occur daily in the auction catalogues of antique china. E. T. BALDWIN.

We must request correspondents desiring in- formation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that answers may be sent to them direct.

ENGRAVINGS : ' NELSON'S SEAT.' I have in my possession two pictures (apparently engraved from wood blocks), size 7 in. by 10|in. each, which have been in our family for generations. They are, apparently, two of a series, one bearing the number 10 and the other the number 12 in the upper right corner.

No. 10 is entitled ' A View from Nelson's Seat.' It is a view from the terrace of the mansion, of which a corner appears at the left of the picture, and shows a park with ladies and gentlemen in costumes of the period from 1740 to 1750.

No. 12 is entitled : " A view of the Grotto and two shell temples. London, printed for and sold by Robt. Sayer, opposite Fetter

Lane, Fleet Street." This is apparently another view of the same park, as one of the shell temples can be seen in the other picture. The persons walking in the park are in dress of the same period say 1740 to 1750 or 1755, but not later than 1755, as evidenced by a careful study of books on costumes.

I should like to inquire what Nelson this was ? where the estate was located ? and whether it is now in existence ?

At what time was Robt. Sayer located on Fleet Street, opposite Fetter Lane ? This would show the approximate date of publica- tion, which I should like to ascertain.

WILLIAM FRANCIS CRAFTS.

69 Cypress Street, Brookline, Mass.

ITALIAN ST. SWITHIN'S DAY : " i QUATTRO APRILANTI." In the September issue of The Anglo-Italian Review there is a descrip- tion of tho Flood in which " illustre Noe, buon Patriarca, dicci la storia dell' Area Santa." According to the narrative :

" Pu in primavera, il giorno dei Quattro Aprilanti, che incomincio a venire il Diluvio ; onde ppi e rimasto il proverbio contadinesco che, piovendo in quel giorno, piovera per altri quaranta di seguito."

I have long suspected that the superstition about the forty days of rain following St. Swithin's Day had its origin in the Bible narrative of Noah's flood. Who are the four " Aprilanti " saints and which is their day in the Italian calendar ? L. L. K.

GROSVENOR PLACE. Can any reader tell me when Grosvenor Place, extending from Hyde Park Corner towards Victoria Station, was made, as a road, and whether by a private Act, or how, and where I can find the record ? CHARLES T. GATTY.

GOODWIN. Can any one give me any information as to the parentage of the Very Rev. William Goodwin, or of his wife Marie, ho was living June 11, 1620 ? Dr. Goodwin ('D.N.B.') was a Scholar of Westminster School, whence in 1573 he was elected to Christ Church, Oxford. In 1590 he was Sub -Almoner to Queen Elizabeth, Chancellor of York 1605, Dean of Christ Church 1611, Archdeacon of Middlesex 1616, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University 1614-15 and 1617-18. His dau. Anne, who d. Aug. 11, 1627, and was buried at St. Michael's, Oxford, m. (as his first wife) the Rev. John Prideaux, rector of Exeter College and after- wards Bishop of Worcester (1641-50), and had issue Col. William, killed at Marston Moor, Capt. Matthias, b. 1622, Fellow of Exeter 1641, B.A. 1644, M.A. 1645, d. of