Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 8.djvu/212

 170 NOTES AND QUERIES. [i2s.vin.FE B .26 f i92i. THE MANNEQUIN OR DRESSMAKER'S DOLL. I am anxious to trace eighteenth-cen- tury references to the mannequin or dress- maker's doll. Rose Bertin, the leading French modiste of the seventeen-eighties (and, I think, other dressmakers), was accus- tomed to communicate the newest Paris fashions to the capitals of Europe by sending to them an elaborately dressed doll, iSmile Langlade, in his * Life of Rose Bertin,' refers to the practice, which is also touched on in the first number of the Cabinet des Modes (Nov. 15, 1785), where the method of the fashion-plate Planche in taille douce enluminee- is commended as far better. Certainly by the end of the century the fashion-plate, both in France and England, had reached so high a level of artistic ex- cellence as entirely to supersede the dressed doll. But I should like to trace eerlier references to the mannequin and to discover if any actual specimens remain in museums or private hands. Some of the dolls in the Victoria and Albert Museum may possibly be mannequins, but I know of no authentic evidence to this effect. TSToRAH RICHARDSON. Red House, Wilton, Salisbury. TAVERN SIGNS. What is the derivation of the following tavern signs which I have lately seen on public-houses in London. Xone of them is given in Larwood and Hotten's ' History of Sign Boards ? '- Old Blade Bone, Bethnal Green Road. Sun in the Sands, Old Dover Road, Blackheath. Flying Scud, Hackney Road. Rose of Denmark, Newington Causeway. Hares Foot, Mortimer Street. , British Queen, Old Street, E. PHILIP GOSSE. 25 Argyll Road, Kensington, W.8. SHEFFIELD PLATE : MATTHEW BOULTON. A presentation of Sheffield plate was recently made, and according to the report of an expert the two candelabra and four candlesticks were the work of Matthew Boulton at the Soho Works, Sheffield, about 1815, and bore his mark of "the Sun in Splendour," double struck. The pair of wine coolers also bore his mark and their date was about 1810. The famous Soho Works were of course and still are in Bir- mingham (not in Sheffield) ; Matthew Bolton was born and remained all his lifetime in Birmingham, where he died on Aug. 18, 1809. Moreover, his mark was a horseshoe surmounted by a ball, according to Bertie Wyllie's ' Sheffield Plate ' (re-issued in 1913). I have not seen the presentation plate myself and suspect that the " Sun. in Splendour, double struck " is probably the mark of the Soho Plate Co., also of Birmingham, namely two stars of eight points each ; but I am open to conviction. Mr. Wyllie states that Boulton had moved from Sheffield to Birmingham in 1764 and started silver plating in that town too. As a matter of fact the Soho Works were opened by him in 1762. His biographers say nothing about his stay in Sheffield but tell us that his father with whom he served his apprenticeship had been a silver stamper and piercer at Bir- mingham. L. L. K. ARMY BADGES. I am anxious to know when the present badges of rank worn by officers and W.O.s and N.C.O.s of the army at the present time came in to use. What badges were worn before the present ones ? Are the chevrons on the uniform of the City Marshall relics of such badges ? Why do the metal stars worn by officers bear the motto Tria juncta in uno ? Is it correct to say that the title major- general is a shortened form of sergeant- major-general ? TERRIER. RANELAGH IN PARIS. I understand that these gardens were opened in 1774. Did they ever 'attain a fashionable reputation, and when were they closed ? The location of Ranelagh Gardens is still indicated in the topography of the French capital by an avenue; a rue, and a square, so named, in the Passy district. J. LANDFEAR LUCAS. 101 Piccadilly., MRS. SUSANNA GORDON.-^-! find among my family papers a 'Copy Mr. Jeremy's Opinion on instructions to settle Bill by the Rev. Mr. Plees against Mr. Short and Wife,' and wish to trace the relationships or associations of the various persons named therein ; also anything of interest relating to the matter itself. The opinion, given by " George Jeremy, Lincoln's Inn, 21st Jan- uary, 1835," commences as follows : " Presuming that the Will of Mrs. Susanna Gordon was duly executed to pass real Estates as it appears to have been, I am of Opinion, that Mr. and Mrs. Plees have the same grounds for proceeding in Equity as she had ; but the case must, of course, be supported by evidence.... If such evidence be forthcoming I think Mr. and Mrs. Plees have good grounds of proceeding. At all events, I should think that, under the