Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/353

 2 nd S. N 18., MAT 3. '56.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

345

LONDON, SATURDAY, MAY 3, 1856. fiatei.

INEDITED NOTES FROM NEWSPAPERS.

It seems that the Old Pretender continued the practice of his family :

"Bologna, April 17. On Saturday the Princess of Piombino paid a visit to the Chevalier de St. George and his Lady, who received her very affectionately. Next day the Pretender performed the ceremony of Touching in his chapel." Flying Post, April 23rd, 1728.

It is amusing to hear George I. holding out serious hopes of paying off the National Debt. He thus replies to Parliament (April, 1728) :

" The provision made for gradually discharging the National Debt is now become so certain and considerable, that nothing but some unforeseen event can alter or di- minish it; which gives us the fairest prospect of seeing the old debts discharged without any necessity of incur- ring new ones." Flying Post, April 11, 1728.

Here we have the earliest history of Sir Robert Walpole's famous Houghton :

" The Honourable Robert Walpole, Esq., has laid the foundation of a seat at Houghton in Norfolk, which, as 'tis said, will cost about 30,000" Weekly Journal, June 16, 1722.

It is curious to glance at the mortality of London, about half its present weekly average :

" Casualties. Drowned in the River of Thames, at S.John at Wapping, 1. Executed, 1. Killed by a fall from a window at S. James in Westminster, 1. Made away herself at S. Marv at Newington, 1. Overlaid, 2. Aged, 4. Convulsions, 118. Fever, 61. Small Pox, 38.

Christened. Males, 148. Females, 138. In all, 286.

Buried. Males, 226. Females, 240. In all, 466.

Decreased in the burials this week, 20.

Whereof have died,

Under two years of age - - 149

Between two and five - - - - 49

Five and ten - - - - - 12

Ten and twenty - - - - 8

Twenty and thirty - - - - 34

Thirty and forty - - - - 62

Forty and fifty - - - - - 45

Fifty and sixty - - - - - 36

Sixty and seventy - - - - 84

Seventy and eighty - - - - 23

Eighty and ninety - - - - 12

Ninety and upwards - - - - 2 "

Postboy, April 11, 1728.

Here is a contribution to the collectors of stage coach advertisements :

" A very good coach and six able horses sets out from the Coach and Six Horses in Wood Street, on Thursday next the 25th instant, for Bath. Any persons that have occasion to go thither, or to any part on that road, shall be handsomely accommodated by me, JOHN TEA."

Daily Courant, April 19, 1728. John Tea's " coach and six able horses," how- ever, had not sufficient attractions for the Princess Amelia, who prefers going to Bath in a " chair and eight men : " "On Saturday the Princess Amelia set out for the

Bath, whither her Highness is to be carry'd in a sedan chair by eight chairmen, to be relieved in their turns, a coach and six horses attending to carry the chairmen when not on service. Her Highness dined the same evening at Hampton Court, being accompany'd by the Princess Royal and the Princess Carolina. Sunday morning her Highness set out thence for Windsor, where she was to be entertained in the evening ; and yesterday morning proceeded to Dr. Freind's house near'Reading, in Berkshire. A party of the Horse Guards escorted her Highness to Hampton Court, relieved next day by a party of the Blue Guards, &c." Post Boy, April 13, 1 1 28.

This whimsical journey, commenced on April 13th, terminated on April 19th.

Mr. Tea was not, it appears, without compe- titors :

" If any persons has [sic] occasion to go to Bath, they may be carried in a handsome easy coach, which sets out on Saturday next, the 27th instant, at a reasonable rate, by Richard Maddock, in Bull Yard, near Aldersgate Bars." Daily Courant, April 25, 1728.

The following is the advertisement of the poem that drove Mrs. Colonel Brett from Bath :

" This day is published.

f J 4- The Bastard, a Poem. Inscribed, with all due reverence, to Mrs. Bret, once Countess of Macclesfield. By Richard Savage, son of the late Earl Rivers.

' Decet hac dare dona Novercam.' Ov. Met.

Printed for T. Worrall, at the Judge's Head, over against S. Dunstan's Church in Fleet Street; sold by Mr. Graves and Mr. Jackson, near S. James's House, the Booksellers in Westminster Hall, and Mrs. Nutt under the Royal Exchange; price Gd." Postboy, April 30, 1728.

The transfer of the provinces of North and South Carolina to the Crown is thus laconically announced :

" We hear for certain that a treaty is concluded be- tween the Government and the Lords Proprietors of North and South Carolina, touching the purchase of the same by his Majesty, and that an order is issued to the Treasury for payment of the purchase money." Postman, May 2, 1728.

Quaint sounds the mention of Guy's Hospital, for " Mr. Guy " was only dead four years :

" Mr. Callaham has resigned his place of apothecary to Mr. Guy's Hospital." Ibid.

Thus the citizens raised the wind for a Mansion House :

" It is much talked that the citizens, in their choice of sheriffs, will enter this year upon the list of those nomi- nated by former lord mayors, in order to bring in fines enow to build a Mansion House for the lord mayors of this city, a thing so much wanted to complete its glory. And we hear that their first essay is likely to fall upon Mr. Henry Raper, Painter Stainer, and Mr. Edward Strong, Mason." Postboy, May 2, 1728.

" A picket of guards " is generally sent for to quell any night brawl or tumult, but here is a touch of the mysterious :

" The same evening two persons of great quality having quarrelled at a coffee-house in S. James a Street, the