Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 8.djvu/364

 298 NOTES AND QUERIES. [i2s.vm. APRIL 9, 1021. MONTHLY PERIODICAL : ' PENNY POST (12 S. viii. 251). This came out regularly from January, 1851, to the end of 1896. It was at first published by John Henry Parker, 377 Strand, ultimately by Parker & Co., 6 Southampton Street, Strand. I believe it was edited by one of the Parker family, and think I have been told that his name' was James. I daresay it would be helped on by John Henry who made a study of architecture, was a keen archaeo- logist and received a C.B., but I do not think he was commander-in-chief of the Penny Post, one of the best little magazines we have ever had. ST. SWITHIN. ' HlNCHBBIDGE HAUNTED : A COUNTRY GHOST STORY ' (12 S. viii. 211, 254). George Cupples was the author of ' Hinchbridge Haunted,' also of ' The Green Hand,' ' The Two Frigates,' 'The Ariadne and Le Har- pagon,' ' Dick Webster,' and ' The Deserted Ship.' 'The Green Hand' was first pub- lished in Blackwood serially about 1849, and as a book in 1856, and ' The Two Frigates ' in the Railway Library. Mrs. A. J. Cupples, his wife, is credited, with about 46 books, many on sea subjects, others juvenile litera- ture, and some on domestic economy. JOHN LECKY 17 Hazlewell Road, Putney, S.W. CHURCHES OF ST. MICHAEL (12 S. viii. 190, 231). Of Churches in north Wales with a St. Michael dedication that in Llan Festiniog stands on a high and commanding elevation overlooking a lovely vale and broad sweep of country ; and 'Llanrug parish church, near Carnarvon is on an upward gradient isolated from a populous village. St. Michael's Aberystwyth (S. Wales) is at the seaward end of the watering-place on level ground in near proximity to the University College. ANEURIN WILLIAMS Menai View, North Road, Carnarvon. CAPT. CHARLES MORRIS (12 S. viii. 251). Thackeray was a great writer, but he was not an authority on matters of biographical detail. MR. STRATTON should consult the 'D.N.B.' and 'The Life and Death of the Sublime Society of Beef Steaks,' by Brother W r alter Arnold (Bradbury Evans & Co., 1871) Captain Morris was their Laureate, and for many years he delighted the brethren by his witty conversation and his clever songs, twelve of which are printed in that volume. There is no proof that in old age he felt himself called upon to see " the error of his ways." To judge from a communication to the " Recorder " of the Club on the occasion- of his entering his eighty-sixth year, he had then suffered from diminished means, and intended to close his life "in humble retire- ment and domestic privacy." His verses on that occasion are naturally expressive of regret. In the following year, however,, according to a Minute of the Society, "the Old Bard Charles Morris, having entered his 87th year, and being in full possession of health, and of those splendid lyrical talents which have charmed this Sublime Society for more than half a century, again took his seat at the board." His song, consisting of thirteen stanzas composed for that occasion, began thus : Well, I'm come, my good friends, your kind wish to obey, To sing, if I can, a last song here to-day ; To turn the heart's sighs to the throbbings of joy, And a grave aged man to a merry old boy. We are told by brother Arnold that he "died in 1838, at the age of 93, retaining unimpaired until within four days of his death the mental and physical faculties of" his youth." PHILIP NORMAN. 45 Evelyn Gardens, S.W.I. An account of Captain Morris will be found in Timbs' ' Club Life in London,' vol i. He was the Laureate of the Beef Steak Society until 1831, when he retired to Brock- ham, in Surrey, to a residence given to him by the Duke of Norfolk. Your corres- pondent's quotation refers to a bowl pre- sented to him in 1835 by the Society as a testimonial of their affection and esteem, and comes from a poem alluding to this treasured gift : For I feel while I'm cheer'd by the drop that I lift, - I'm Blest by the Motive that hallows the Gift. Timbs says that at Brockham, Morris " drank the pure pleasures of the rural life long after many a gay light of his own time had nickered out, and become almost forgotten. At length his course ebbed away, July 11, 1838, in his ninety- third year.'' ARCHIBALD SPARKE. DR. JOHNSON : PORTRAIT IN HILL'S EDI- TION OF BOSWELL (12 S. viii 229, 274). The frontispiece of the third volume of Hill's edition of Boswell's ' Life of Johnson ' is certainly a portrait of Dr. Johnson by Sir Joshua Reynolds, and is the same as that illustrated on p. 7 of Sir Walter Armstrong's ' Sir Joshua Reynolds ' (Heine- mann, 1900), and which is catalogued as follows : " Johnson, Samuel, LL.D. Duke of Suther- land. Painted for Dr. Johnson's step-daughter, Miss Lucy Porter, of Lichfield. Replica at Knole