Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 8.djvu/70

 54 NOTES AND QUERIES. [i2s.vm. JAN. is, 1921. T^ooks of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. One firm alone illustrates one hundred and five varieties between the years 1788 and 1815. Some years ago I recollect being shown at one of the Oxford colleges a miniature kind of railway line on which ran a pair of coasters in form of a wagon with wheels, made of old Sheffield plate, holding two decanters. Whilst sitting round the hearth after dinner, in this manner the Fellows could circulate the bottles by pushing the wagon up and down the rail without leaving their seats. F. BRADBURY. Sheffield. BEVERLY WHITING (12 S. viii. 11). Beverly Whiting was admitted to the Middle Temple on Sept. 8, 1722, as the son and heir of Henry Whiting (American Historical Review, vol. xxv. p. 683). He afterwards Ibecame the godfather ef George Washington (Howe's 'Historical Collections of Virginia,' p. 509). Further particulars about him and JKis family may be found in a ' Memoir of Rev. Samuel Whiting, D.D., and his wife "Elizabeth St. John,' by William Whiting, former President of N. E. Hist. Geneal. Society, Boston, 1871. C. E. A. BE DWELL. Middle Temple Library, E.G. CHRISTIAN WEGERSLOFF (12 S. vii. 231). A man bearing these names, doubtless the cfather of the Westminster boy, petitioned for naturalization in the 12th of Will. III. ; he had then been living for seventeen years in London and the suburbs ; see Huguenot Society Publications, vol. xviii, p. 300. J. B. WHITMORE. Louis NAPOLEON : POETICAL WORKS (12 S" vii. 490 ; viii. 14). The David Bogue publi- cation is not a "translation of a selection " of the occasional sonnets, songs, and epi- grams of Louis Napoleon. It is a political skit directed against the Prince, who at the .time of its publication was in the transition stage from President to Emperor. David Bogue 's name on the title-page is followed l>y the announcement that the book "may be had of all French booksellers who have a weakness for Cayenne," and the "preface t>y the translator " quotes a decree of the Prince President "done at the Ely see, this 1st of April." The full title is 'The Poetic Works of Louis Napoleon now first done into plain English.'" There are ninety-five small woodcut illustrations, the source of which is not stated. Most of these were used again twenty years later by John Camden Hotten in ' Napoleon III. from the Popular Caricatures of the last Thirty Years. ' F. H. C. REPRESENTATIVE COUNTY LIBRARIES : PUBLIC AND PRIVATE (12 S. viii. 8, 34). The Public Library of Newcastle-on-Tyne and the Library of the Lit. and Phil, of Newcastle, are pretty good for local works (but not perfect). Two splendid libraries of local works (of the late M. Mackey and tl late R. Welford) have recently been dis- persed. Sunderland Public Library is fairly good for Sunderland printed works, and Darlington Public Library for works relating to that town. Probably the best private Durham library is that of Mr. J. W. Fawcett of Consett (one of your correspondents) which in 1915 numbered over 15,000 printed volumes of which some 5,000 were local (North country) works. Besides these it had over 10,000 charters, deeds, &c. (copies and originals) relating to Durham, North- umberland, &c. BESSIE GREENWELL. Newcastle-on-Tyne. JOHN HUGHES OF LIVERPOOL, 1706 (12 S. viii. 12). Presumably the transcript "in Mason's characters " refers to the shorthand of William Mason, the famous stenographer (see 'D.N.B.'). Little light can be thrown on the identity of John Hughes. In 1705 and 1708 "Mr. John Hughes " had a sugar warehouse in John Street and a he use in Lord Street, Liverpool. In 1727 one of the name was Mayor. In 1719 J. H., mariner, was overseer of the poor ; in 1726 sidesman and in 1727 churchwarden, of the Parish Church. Possibly this was the transcriber. If so, his will was proved at Chester, 1739, and he may have been a son of Moses Hughes, of Water Street, buried at St. Nicholas' Church, Jan. 27, 1712, will proved at Chester, 1713. R, S. B. HAMBLEY HOUSE, STREATHAM (12 S* viii. 11). In the early years of the nine- teenth century Streatham possessed a num- ber of schools. J. Hassell in ' Picturesque Rides and Walks,' published 1817, says : " The air of Streatham is considered very salubrious and healthful and being a pleasant and convenient distance from London, is par- ticularly desirable for the placing of children and advantageous for seeing them, being only an hour's ride from the bridges. There are coaches to this village three times a day. Fares inside 2.9. 6d. ; outside 1.9. 6d. The stages go from Gracechurch Street and the Ship, Charing Cross. There are also the Croydon and Brighton coaches