Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 7.djvu/193

 12 s. vii. AUG. 21, i92o.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

157

indies, most of the Irish Papists favouring ^the island of Montserrat.

MARCELLA FRENCH! She was evidently sister of Jeffery French, M.P., for Tavistock, who d. May 13, 1754, in his will described as of Leicester Fields and of the Middle ' Temple, Esq. He left his estate in Jamaica worth 3000 st. a year to trustees, to pay his wife's jointure of 600 a year, and named his brother Simon French of Ireland, niece Ann Kirwan, and nephews Chr. and Patrick Blake sons of Andrew Blake [131 Pinfold]. 'There is an earlier will, that of Martin French of Montserrat, from Galway, dated 1724
 * {181 Plymouth].

V. L. OLIVER.

SunninghilL

DRYDEN'S 'ALEXANDER'S FEAST' (12 S. -vii. 87). The question raised by G. G. L., /like so many others, was not uninteresting to Charles Lamb. In his ' Works ' (Lucas, or Macdonald) is a literary note by him, in which he quotes with disapproval this 'identical passage from Jeremy Collier in <0mparis3n with Dryden's poem. E. B.

MAHOGANY AND THE DICTIONARIES (12 S. -vii. 90). In the above connexion it may be

worth while to call attention to Boawell's reference (1781) to a curious liquor which Cornish fishermen drink ; they call it

Mahogany. Johnson observed in relation

hereto :

'* Mahogany must be a modern name ; for it is mot long since the wood called mahogany was

known in this country "

Did Johnson have " mahogany " in his dictionary ? I have not the volume for reference. WILLIAM R. POWER.

157 Stamford Hill, N.I 6.

PRINCIPAL LONDON COFFEE-HOUSES, &c. (12 S. vi. 29, 59, 84, 105, 125, 143, 162 ; vii. 27, 67, 103, 145).

Fountain Tavern. " Deed between Wil- liam Ligon, John Terry, Richard Blagrave, 'Thomas White, and Thomas Harrington, all of London, gentlemen, relates to land and houses in Aldersgate. London, one of them called the Fountain Tavern dated 1711." James Coleman's Catalogue of .Ancient Deeds,' &c. No. cxcix. vol. xxii. 1890, No. 136.

Deed between John Terry, citizen of

London, William Lygon of London, gent,

Richard Blagrave, citizen and merchant

'Taylor, London, and Thomas White, gent,

^relates to land, &c., in St. Ann and St.

Agnes in Aldersgate, London, called the Fountain Tavern dated 1708 Ibid. No. 196

Green Dragon. Deed between Charles Bower of London, gent, and Amy, widow of Alexander Bower, late of Richmond, gent, and Gerrard Bourne, citizen and haber- dasher of London, relates to land, and an inn called the Green Dragon, and a garden of fruit trees, between St. Giles Church, and Holbourn dated 1687. Ibid., No. 304.

J. W. FAWCETT.

Templetown House, Consett.

A reference to Tom's Coffee-house in Steele may be worth noting. In ' The Funeral ; or Grief -a-la-Mode,' act ii. sc. i., Campley says to Lord Hardy " I know, sir, this is an opportunity you want. If you'll meet me at Tom's, have a letter ready," &c.

E. R.

WIDEAWAKE HATS (12 S. vii. 28). The note at the above reference recalled to me the fact that I had somewhere on my shelves, a small brochure entitled ' Hints on Hats,' by Henry Melton (published by J. C. Hotten for the author, 1865), from which something might be gleaned. The work touches his- torically, though succinctly, on its subjects, and I find a brief reference on p. 53 : " The navvy's wideawake (in reality so called, as I am told, because it never had a nap)."

I feel a sort of grievance against Mr. Melton, in that he should have been satisfied with this mere mention, and did not pur- sue the enquiry as to the originator of the name. But possibly he was more con- cerned with the material than the literary side of the subject, when he received the information. It has been on my mind many a time to ask by whom ihisjeu d' esprit was first added to the vocabulary of our daily round. In the ' Encyclopasdic Dic- tionary ' the name is interpreted as " a kind of soft felt hat with a broad brim turned up all round," and a quotation is given from The Daily Telegraph, Feb. 28, 1887. To my ears the term was familiar in the early seventies ; I remember its frequent usage by my father. Evidently it was considered slang, for I find in the late Mr. Henry Sampson's edition of 'The Slang Dictionary' (1873), it is duly recorded : " wide-awake " a broad-brimmed felt or stuff hat, so-called because it never had a nap, and never wants one." But there is no record as to its origin. This is the kind of word the late Mr. J. A. Sala would have written pithily of, and I would ask