Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 7.djvu/539

 12 s. vii. DEC. 4, mo.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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idea was to bring out an imitation, which he proposes to do by cutting down the English inscriptions and adding to the Dutch. Aided by J. ter Gouw he carried out his design, and Van Schevichaven's com- patriots published their "imitation" in 1868 under the title: 'De Uithangteekens, in verband met Geschiedenis en Volksleven beschouwd. Geiillustreerd met ruim 300 boek- druketsen van F. W. Ziircher.

Van Schevichaven's other English works, enumerated above, have not the same interest and need not detain us ; but it is noteworthy that they were all published by Hotten or his successors, from which it is reasonable to assume that although relations between publisher and author may have been strained they were not broken.

In addition to these English books Van Schevichaven, according to his biographer, contributed articles on old London to Once a Week and All the Year Round.

To the fuller biography I am indebted for the following details of Van Schevichaven's long and active life. Herman Diederik Joan van Schevichaven was born on Oct. 14, 1827, at Nimeguen, where he received the greater part of his education. In 1847, after passing the necessary Government examination, he went to Leyden, but did not take a regular course, devoting himself chiefly to the study of modern languages, as English, Spanish, and Italian, and following his bent for sketching. He left Leyden in 1850 and started his travels by a journey to Spain. In the following year he came to London for the Great Exhibition, going on to Paris, where he apparently remained until 1854, when together with Gome French friends he enlisted in the French army for the campaign in the Crimea. His regiment, the Chasseurs d'Afrique, landed at Gallipoli in May, 1854, later in the summer was quartered at Varna, and took part in the battles of Balaclava and Tchernaya and other skirmishes. In February of the follow- ing year, Van Schevichaven was down with dysentery and malaria, and was sent to Constantinople, where he remained until the end of the war, serving latterly as a Com- missariat officer.

On leaving the army he continued his travels through Palestine and Egypt, return- ing with English travelling companions to Scotland. He settled down in Edinburgh in order to study drawing and painting at the Royal Academy. In 1858 he left Edin- burgh for London, continuing his art studies

at South Kensington. There is no evidence that he ever exercised, his artistic skill professionally otherwise than in the illus- tration of ' The History of Signboards ' and ' The Story of the London Parks. '

Except for annual visits to his mother and occasional excursions to Germany and Belgium he remained in London until 1869. In that year his mother died and Van. Schevichaven became the constant com- panion of his step-sister, Mme. Guyot, with whom he travelled continuously for some three and twenty years. Their practice was to spend the winter months in a large city and to start off on their wanderings in the spring ; in this way they journeyed through or visited the greater part of the Continent of Europe and the North Coast of Africa.

Although Van Schevichaven " walked wide " he continued to "read deep," for he published in 1875 and 1881 respectively the ' Bijdragen tot de Geschiedenis der Bataven ' and ' Epigraphie der Bataafsche krijgslieden in de Romeinschelegers,' materials for which he gathered from foreign records and libraries.

In 1893 Van Schevichaven finally settled down in his native city, to which he was some years later appointed " Archivaris " or Keeper of the Archives. From this time onwards he devoted himself with great industry to the history of Nimeguen and the results of his work are to be seen in numerous volumes and collections as 'Oud-Nijmegens, Straten, Markten, Pleinen, Open ruimten en Wandelplaatsen ' (1896), ' Oud-Nijmegens Kerken, Kloosters, Gasthuizen, Stichtingen, en Openbare gebouwen '(1909), ' Rekeningen der Stad Nijmegen ' (1910-14), &c.

He died suddenly on Oct. 12, 1918, full of years, and held in high esteem by his com- patriots and colleagues.

LAWRENCE F. POWELL.

Oxford.

EXTRACTS FROM THE ALDEBURGH RECORDS. I.

(See ante, pp. 141, 184, 225, 287, 327, 366, 402.)

CHAMBERLAIN'S ACCOUNT-BOOKS.

1587

The brasses of some of the "Bence " family still exist in the church the latest, that of John Bence, is in perfect preservation (he had nine sons and two daughters).