Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/242

 196 NOTES AND QUERIES. [ 12 s.ix. 81^.3,1021. THE " CHALK FARM PISTOLEEB " ( 12 S. ix. 149). " ChalkFarm," a corruption of Chalcot Farm, Primrose Hill, was for many years a favourite spot for duels. One of the earliest which took place there was in 1790, and the last in 1818. The one arranged to take place between Tommy Moore, the poet, and Francis Jeffrey, the reviewer, came to an abrupt termination by the arrival of the police at the scene of action. A long account of this is given by Moore, and Byron also alluded to it. It was stated at the time that the pistols were only loaded with blank cartridges ! This was in 1806. CONSTANCE RUSSELL. Swallowfield Park, Heading. Freeling's 'Railway Companion' (1838) does not mention any particularly notorious episode there, but the account may be inter- esting. On the left, or westward, still looking forward, Primrose Hill cannot fail to be observed ; persons not familiar with the neighbourhood may as well be informed that the field at the base, a little more to the westward, is a sort of Champ de Mars, in which our honorable gentlemen let off their crackers (in general very harmlessly, though accidents will occasionally happen) ; this is called duelling. We merely mention the fact, being willing to afford our travelling Hotspurs every facility lor this diver- tissement which the railroad presents. We dare almost affirm, that its projectors did not take into their calculation the traffic which this announcement may occasion. A. H. W. FYNMOBE. Arundel. EMERSON'S ' ENGLISH TRAITS ' (12 S. v. 234 ; vi. 9). No. 7, at the first reference : " Sir John Herschel said, ' London was the centre of the terrene globe.' " Herschel made tbe following statement in his ' Out- lines of Astronomy,' p. 172, section 284, in the fourth edition, 1851 : It is a fact, not a little interesting to English- men, and, combined with our insular station in that great highway of nations, the Atlantic, not a little explanatory of our commercial excellence, that London occupies nearly the centre of the terrestrial hemisphere. To the above Herschel has a footnote : More exactly, Falmouth. The central point of the hemisphere which contains the maximum of land falls very nearly upon this port. No. 15, at the second reference : " Even Lord Chesterfield . . . wjien he came to define a gentleman, declared that truth made his distinction." On more than one occasion in his Letters to his son Chesterfield inculcates the diitvof truthfulness. For example, on Sept. 21 (O.S.), 1747 : I really know nothing more criminal, more mean, and more ridiculous, than lying. It is the production either of malice, cowardice, or vanity ; and generally misses of its aim in every one of these views ; for lies are always detected, sooner or later. . . . Equivocating, evading, shuffling, in order to remove a present danger or inconvenienc y, is something so mean, and betrays so much fear, that whoever practises them, always deserves to be, and often will be, kicked. . . . Remember then, as long as you live, that nothing but strict truth can carry you through the world, with either your conscience or your honour unwounded. Again, on Jan. 8 (O.S.), 1750, he writes : There is one of the vices above-mentioned, into which people of good education, and, in the main, of good principles, sometimes fall, from mistaken notions of skill, dexterity, and self-defence ; I. mean Lying : though it is inseparably attended with more infamy and loss than any other. . . . It is most certain, that the reputation of chastity is not so necessary for a woman, as that of veracity is for a man. . . . For God's sake, be scrupulously jealous of the purity of your moral character. No. 16, at the same reference: "Madame de Stael says, that the English irritated Napoleon, mainly, because they have found out how to unite success with honesty." See ' Ten Years Exile, or Memoirs of that interesting period of the Life of the Baroness de Stael-Holstein, written by herself. . . translated from the French,' London, 1821, chap, iii., p. 17 : The English particularly irritate him, as they have found the means of being honest, as well as successful, a thing which Bonaparte would have us regard as impossible. Tliis shining point of the world has dazzled his eyes from the very first days of his reign. EDWARD BENSLY. JAMES 1. AND A WIDOW BOOKSELLER OF BRISTOL (12 S. ix. 130). With respect to the language of this extraordinary docu- ment it is worthy of note that it contains the words " proposal "' and " enslaved." The earliest example of " enslave " in the ' N.E.D.' is from the year 1643, while of the word which Mrs. Gamp pronounced " propojal " the earliest record is in 1653. Nor are these the only peculiarities. EDWARD BENSLY. SHAKESPEARE'S CHEESE-LOVING WELSH- MAN ( 12 S. ix. 110). -In reply to the question, " What grounds were there for Welshmen and cheese to be coupled together ? " Robert Burton may be quoted, who writes in 1, 2, 2, 3, of ' The Anatomy of Melancholy ' : In Wales, lacticiniis vescuntur, as Humfrey Llyud confesseth, a Cambro-Brittain himself, in