Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 7.djvu/44

 32 NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s vii. JULY 10, 1920. there no contemporary candidates ? Tennyson might obviously be one ; but who could be the other ?] 6. P. 130, 1. 18. [The Anglican Church has had] plenty of " clerks and bishops, who, out of their gowns, would turn their backs on no man." [In a footnote Emerson gives this as a quotation from Fuller. His son ascribes it to Fuller's ' Worthies of England.' But I cannot find it there. Any reference ?] 7. P. 131, 1. 8. A great Duke said, on the occasion of a victory, in the House of Lords, that he thought the Almighty God had not been well used by them, and that it would become their magnanimity, after so great successes, to take order that a proper acknowledgment be made. [Who was this Duke, and what was the occasion ?] 8. P. 132, 1. 32. [The instinct of the Anglican Church] is hostile to all change in politics, litera- ture, or social arts. The church has not been the founder of the London University, of the Mechanics' Institutes, of the Free School, or whatever aims at diffusion of knowledge. The Platonists of Oxford are as bitter against this heresy as Thomas Taylor. [What does the last sentence mean ?] 9. P. 133, 1. 23. " The heavens journey still and sojourn not." [Whence this quotation ?] 10. P. 136, 1. 8. Lord Shaftesbury calls the poor thieves together, and reads sermons to them, and they call it "gas." [Any authority for this statement ?] 11. P. 137, 1. 4. Souft'rir de tout le monde, et ne faire *o?///rtr persomt.e. [In a passage of his diary relating to a visit to Montreal, Emerson cites this as an inscription ' over a door in the Sceurs Grises." Are the Soenrs Grises a com- munity in Montreal ? And does the motto originate with them, or is it borrowed ?] 12. P. 137, 1. 29. [The English muse] says, with De Stael, " I tramp in the mire with wooden shoes, whenever they would force me into the clouds." [Where is this passage in Mme. de Stael ?] 13. P. 138, 1. 13. Byron " liked something craggy to break his mind upon." [Whence this quotation ?] 14. P. 138, 1. 17. Hobbes was perfect in the " noble vulgar speech." [Whence the phrase in inverted commas ? In his journals for 1849, Emerson says that he finds Dante " full of the nobil volyare eloqucnza " : is this anything more than a reminiscence of Dante's phrase, ' Un libro di volgare eloquenza ' (Convivio, C. i. 5. 69) ?] 15. P. 143, 1. 10. Dr. Samuel Clarke's argument for theism from the nature of space and time. [What, in brief, is the substance of Clarke's argument I- 1 ] 16. P. 143, 1. 17. The identity-philosophy of Schelling, couched in the statement that " all difference is quantitative." [What is the general drift of this theory ?] 17. P. 148,1. 37. [The English] respect the five mechanic powers even in their song. [What are the five mechanic powers ?] 18. P. 152, 1. 7. " He wrote a poem," says Landor [referring to Wordsworth], " without the aid of war." [Can any one give me the reference to this saying in Lander's works ?] (Rev.) R. FLETCHER. Buckland, Faringdon, Berks. OLD SEMAPHORE TOWERS. (12 S. vi. 335; vii. 14). THE various mechanical devices for trans- mitting visible signals on land were gener- ally known as telegraphs. From the early part of the eighteenth century numerous suggestions appeared, among the inventors being the Marquis of Worcester and Dr. Hooke in England, and W. Amontons in France. But it was not till after the successful experiments of the Abbe Claude Chappe in France that any attempt was made to connect London with the naval ports. By July, 1793, Chappe and his assistants had made a chain of stations between the Louvre in Paris and the French army then at Lille. A few years later jealous rivals seem to have disputed the poor Abbe's claim to originality, so, becoming a prey to melancholy, he ended his life by throwing himself down a well. Details of his plan quickly found their way to Frank- fort, where models were made and sent by a Mr. Playfair to the Duke of York. Chappe's device was a simple two-armed semaphore mounted on an upright post, but the British Admiralty, after various tests, decided to adopt a telegraph " consisting of six octagonal boards, each mova- ble about an axis, and capable of being placed either vertically or horizontally, so as to be either visible or invisible at the nearest station at pleasure." These gave thirty-six changes. Presumably, this was the telegraph invented by the Rev. Lord C4eorge Murray, a son of the third Duke of Atholl, and later Bishop of St. David's, who, after discussing the subject with the King, was given in March, 1796, the direction of the Admiralty telegraph. The Board proceeded to build eighty-seven, signal towers, each being manned by a lieutenant, a midshipman, and two seamen. Besides signal towers along the coasts, three - chains of stations were established, con- necting in the first place London with Deal Sheorness and Portsmouth as follows : 1. London to Deal. Admiralty, West Square, New Cross, Shooter's Hill, Swans- combe, Gadshill, Callum Hill, Beacon Hill, Shottenden, Barham Downs, Bettishanger, and Deal. 2. Beacon Hill to Sheerness. Tong, Barrow Hill, Sheerness.