Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 6.djvu/177

 12 s. vi. APIUL 24, i92o.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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LONDON, APRIL 21>, 19W

CONTENTS. No. 106.

".NOTES : Lord Calderon's Pictures from the Gerin Gallery, 141 London Coffee-houses, Taverns, and Inns ii the Eighteenth Century, 143 Inscriptions at St. Omer Pamela (Lady Edward Fitzgerald), 145 Hugh Beatty Kinma Hamilton - Welshmen's English, 146 Bayle's 'Dictionary': Cromwell Family John Free, D.D., 147.

'QUERIKS: Shakespeare Signals? 147 Postern Gates in the Wall of London. 148 Dante and the History o Mohammed David Humphreys. American Humorist am Lyricist" Diddykites " and Gipsies" The Farnet " the Queen's Street A French Baronet Montretout- Soaps for Salt Water Helps Family The Turul, 149 The Rev. Benjamin Klnyney, D.D. Bibliography o Lepers in England De Quincey or Qtiiticy Marty n anc Beadon Families Anathema Cup Garnham Family Reference Wanted Author of Quotations Wanted, 150

REPLIES: Prince Charles in North Devon. 150 Halhed Family John Carpenter, 152 Blackwvll Hall Factor The Rev. Aaron Baker Grafton, Oxon Sir Henry Cary of Cockington, Devon Slang Terms The Hawkhurct Gang, 153 -Christmas Carol : Origin Wanted, 154 Rs Coningsby of Salop Song : 'The Spade' Gordon : the Meaning of the Name, 155 Mrs. Gordon, Novelist The Third Troop of Guards in 1727 Grosvenor Place, 156 Le Monument " Quand Mme "^Italian St. Swithin's Day : " i qu.ttro Aprilanti" Karliest Clerical Directory P'ewter Snuffers "Tubus": a Christian Name 1 Hocus Pocua ' : ' a Rich Gift.' 157 Master Gunner 'Teapoy "Sir Edward Facet " Catholic " Theodorus of Cyrene, 158 Bank Note Slang Authors f Quotations Wanted, 159.

NOTES ON BOOKS : ' The Oxford English Dictionary ' "The Bowyer Bible.'

'Notices to Correspondents.

LORD CALEDON'S PICTURES FROM THE GERINI GALLERY.

'THE private purchases in Italy by English- men of Italian pictures during the latter part of the eighteenth and the early part of the nineteenth century were of an extensive character. Many English artists, such as Gavin Hamilton, were commissioned by collectors at home to make purchases when- ever anything of importance came into the market. Moreover, the exportation of col- lections small and large from Italy to Christie's and other London auction-rooms was carried on on a large scale. There appears to have been very little difficulty in getting pictures out of Italy in those days, and the laws, if there were any, governing the export of national treasures, of one state would not hold good in another once the frontier was passed. We know a good deal interesting if badly digested 'Memoirs of Painting,' 1824; but not much has been printed concerning the prices paid, except when they were very large.
 * about these exportations from W. Buchanan's

I possess an interesting little bill of Lord Caledon's purchases from the Gerini gallery in Florence in 1826, and this, I think, is worth quoting in extenso :

Nota dei Quadri della Galleria Gerini venduti a

Mylord Caledon per i prezzi di stima flssa

come appresso.

Zecchini.

No. 110 Giuseppe Zocchi .. 10 ,, 140 Bassano. . 60

276 Alessandro Allori. . 100 ., 313 Angelo Bronzino. . 80 Valore delle quattro cornici per il prezzo N. [nominale] di stima.. .. .. .. 5.6

zfzecchini] 245. p [paoli] 6} A. 6 gmbre [anno 6 November] 1826. lo Francesco Speranza M>d. di Casa del Nob. 1 M. Carlo Gerini ho ricevuto da Mylord Caledon per mano del suo Mrd. di casa la suddetta somma di zecchini dugento quaranta cinque fiorentini p[paoli] 6i per saldo del prezzo dei suddetti quadri Prances.[ =francesconi] 490. p.fpaoli] 6i. The zecchino, or sequin, was a gold coin of which the value was from 9s. 2d. to Qs. 6d. sterling. A francescone (or scudo) was half the value of a zecchino; and a paolo, a small silver coin (10 = a francescone), was about equivalent to sixpence. It would appear from the above nota that the pictures were sold without the frames, but that the buyer of the pictures had the option of taking the frames at a valuation.

Apparently there was a sale by auction of the Gerini pictures, or some of them, in 1826, for the bill was written on the back, pre- sumably in Lord Caledon's autograph : " Receipt for pictures bought out of the Gerini palace, Florence, including auction harges."

The Gerini gallery does not appear to have

aeen either one of the oldest or the most

important of the Florentine private collec-

ions. I do not find it in some of the early

' Guides ' which I have, e.g., ' Guida al

Forestiero. . . .della Citta di Firenze ' of 1793

6th ed.) and ' Guida per osservare con

metodo le Rarita e Bellezze della Citta di

Firenze,' of which the ninth edition appeared

n 1805. My copy of the latter belonged to

Sir Thomas Gage of Hengrave Hall, who

lad it interleaved to small quarto size and

filled it with notes on the various pictures

and places in Florence. There was appar-

ently no printed catalogue of the Gerini

pictures, and so Sir Thomas made one for

limself and had it bound up in his inter-

eaved copy of the ' Guida.' He there tells

is he was writing in the summer of 1817

hat :

" This collection consists of 339 pictures for rhich 20 thousand sequins has been asked. The