Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 7.djvu/129

 12 s. vii. A. 7, lose.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 101 LONDON, AUGUST 7, 1930. CONTENTS. No. 121. "XJOTES : John Aikin's Excursions : V. Aug. 27-Aug. 31 1807, 101 London Coffee-houses, Taverns, and Inns, 103 Proposed Museum of Arts, 1787. 104 -Irish Family History Reynolds of- Casrleflnn and Dromore, 105 Disraeli an Delane, 106 "Sweet Lavender "Jottings from an Ol Colonial Newspaper Portrait of Abraham Cowlev, 107 ' The Northampton Mercury ' : its Bicentenary, 108. 'QUERIES :- Gnaton Phipps = Waller GrandfUhe Clock: Date Wanted " Le Tir Anglais " Col. Join Lightfoot. 108 Zoffany's 'Cock Match 'Grammar o Stage Directions Price Family "Seevier" "Every Bullet has its Billet" Sovereign of Naas : Sovereign o Dingle Leonard Digges German : Origin of the Name 109 Beadon Family Pannier Market Ancient History of Assam' Wandsworth in 1790' John Davidson : Vale at Long Ditton Hamiltons at Holy rood Family of Hagar of Bourn Hall, Cambridgeshire Barr-Doroth Stanley French Titles, 110 Author Wanted, 111. ^REPLIES : Mushroom Freemen : Mandamus Voters, 111 l^atin as an International Language, 112 Dinwiddi Family Old Semaphore Tpwers, 113 Emerson's ' English Traits ' Sailors' Chanties Croydon Parish Church Archbishop Herring's Tomb Prisoners who have Survivec Hanging, 114 Lowstofr, China, 115 -A Literary Hoax- Pussyfoot Coinage of Charles II. 'History of the Navy' H.M.S. Coventry, 116 Spoonerisms Jedediah Buxton 117' Teachings from the Church's Year ' ' Stalky & Co., by Rudyard Kipling Funeral Parlour Diocesan Calendars and Gazettes " To Trash for Overtopping" Heraldry of Fishes, 118. -JNOTES ON BOOKS :-' On the Art of Reading'-' English Historical Review.' -OBITUARY :-Mabel Peacock. Notices to Correspondents. JOHN AIKIN'S EXCURSIONS. V. AUG. 27- AUG. 31, 1807. ~WiTH this journal John Aikin's excursions cease. There is no evidence that he made one 'in 1806, the manuscript for the present year being separate from that of the four others. August 2,1th, 1807. Left Stoke Newington soon after eight and proceeded through London to Bromley in Kent. Great bustle of carriages continued till the turning off. to Lewisham, after which the road was pretty quiet. It is agreeably 'bordered with trees in some parts, but affords nothing striking to Bromley. There we took coffee, and then walked to see the college, as it Is called, being a set of almshouses for clergymen's widows. There are two quadrangles, with -colonnades round them affording an agreeable walk. On each hand open the apartments of -the widows, which appear very neat and decently 'furnished, suitable to the rank of the inhabitants. "The" whole has a very pleasing appearance, and we saw several good matronly figures, and some very young children, so that, if they are all widows, they must be admitted very soon after the commencement of widowhood. From Bromley the road soon became worse, with much chalky and flinty soil, and upon the whole rather a barren country. But the scene suddenly changed on coming to the wide vale in which the Dart takes its rise, and nothing could be richer than the whole extent each way, and the rise on the other side, crowned with the town of Sevenoaks and Knole-park. Chevening Ld. Stanhope's lay just beneath us in the bottom. The descent is long and steep, and the ascent to Sevenoaks corresponding, so as to try the powers of our feeble little horse. We passed through Sevenoaks, a neat town very agreeably situated, to the inn on the common beyond, on the edge of Knole-park. We had a long and very agreeable stroll about the park, which is finely wooded, and well varied on the surface. We came by a circuitous path in front of the old mansion, which is an edifice of great antiquity ahd vast extent, but of little magnificence ; it is, however, well suited to the idea of an ancient English noble. Solitude and silence pervaded the whole park, which was animated only by the herds of deer, winding along the glades or feeding on the eminences. We wandered so long that we were glad through the dark to find the way back to our inn. Some of the beeches in this park surpass by their mass and spread of shade those in Mr. Locke's. August 28. A squally morning, with driving misty showers, prevented us from repeating our walk to Knole Park. After breakfast we set out for Penshurst, and had a pleasant drive, though distant objects were mostly obscured by the haze. Our road was chiefly along a wide valley, rich, and with wooded sides. Penshurst is an old battlemented house, with towers and turrets, irregiilar, and rather singular than grand. We saw the inside, attended by an old porter, who seemed the only inhabitant. We past through several good rooms, in which were many pictures, but most of them much decayed. The most interesting were numerous portraits of the Sydneys and their allies, some good and striking, ay Holbein, Vandyke, &c. One of the portraits of the patriot Algernon appeared to have been cut across the face, probably by some mean- souled loyalist. There is a Sir Philip S. in stiff stays and ruff, a most formal figure another as a handsome youth. Sacharissa more than once. L great family piece of a Mr. Perry who married he last heiress of the house, exhibits the formality if half a century ago, and certainly shows no rogress in taste or the arts. Mr. Perry himself 3 a fat vulgar cit-like figure, strangely nestled ,mong the heroic Sidneys. The furniture of the ooms is of very different ages also, from queen Elizabeth to Mr. Perry chairs of every form of owper's delineation, &c. On the whole the genius of Penshurst old " seems to have, left he place, and neglect and desertion are strongly narked about it. The park has few beauties and s without deer. After an early dinner we proceeded for Tunbridge Veils. The road for some way ran on the ridge ibove a fine wooded vale, but the driving showers bscured the prospect. The rain was however ittle more than mist except just at our journey's nd. Tunbridge W^ells displayed the bustle of a ashionable watering place smart carriages, adies, footmen, &c. It is a populous little place,