Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/525

 2 nd S. NO 26., JUNE 28. '56.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Samuel Eaton was a notable man in his day, and appeared not seldom before the public as an author. His character and writings appear to be little known, even to those who have professed to write the history of Independency in England and its literature. His name is not mentioned in Hanbury's three bulky volumes of Historical Me- morials relating to the Independents. If MR. TAYLOR, or any of your correspondents, can fur- nish me with references to manuscript or printed books, illustrative of Eaton's life and writings, they will be gratefully received as contributions to a proposed history of Dukinfield, in which vil- lage Eaton ministered under the patronage of the parliamentary colonel of that name, and where he founded the first Independent Church in the county, if not in the north of England. If MR. A. TAYLOR finds any difficulty in meeting with Aston's book, I shall be happy to assist him in obtaining it. R. BROOK

Dukinfield, Cheshire,

GORTON'S "BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY." (1 st S. xi. 430.)

I have just seen the communication headed as above from HARVARBIENSIS of Cambridge, New England, and as no notice appears to have been taken in " N. & Q." of an error the writer has fallen into, I will venture to set him right.

HARVARDIENSIS has confounded two brothers whose Christian names present the same initials, a mistake by no means improbable even in their native country.

Hugh James Rose was of Trin. Coll., Cambridge, B.A. 1817, fourteenth Wrangler, senior medallist, and senior prizeman, Fellow of his College.

Henry John Rose was of St. John's College, Cambridge, B.A. 1821, fifteenth Wrangler, Fellow of his College, and Hulsean Lecturer, 1833.

By whom the Biographical Dictionary was ori- ginally projected I know not ; but it was first un- dertaken by the elder Rose, Hugh James, and on his lamented death at a comparatively early age, after some years of declining health, it was carried on by the younger and surviving brother, Henry John. I hope this explanation will convince HARVARDIENSIS that Rose's Biographical Dic- tionary has not been published under false colours, a strong suspicion of which is implied by the tone of his remarks.

While upon this subject I would suggest to HARVARDIENSIS to reflect on the utter imprac- ticability of the compilers of such a work study- ing the wishes and predilections of all those who would be likely to consult it. The volumes of a Biographical Dictionary which would satisfy every one might suffice to bridge the Atlantic \ and who

would purchase such a production ? To say no- thing as to the possibility of its accomplishment. An amount of twelve volumes merely will produce a considerable effect upon the sale of any pub- lication, and the absolute necessity of compression will account for many defects discoverable in, in- deed inseparable from, such a performance as a biographical dictionary for familiar use. A perfect collection of the kind is hopeless : wherefore, re- collecting the difficulty of the undertaking, and the irreconcileable differences of opinion as to the names to be introduced, we should rather be grateful for those labours which have given us an useful, though incomplete, book of reference, than cavil because the unavoidable omissions do not ac- cord with our own estimate of what the selections ought to have been. ARTHUR HUSSEY,

liottingdean.

HENGIST AND HORSA. (2 nd S. 1. 439.)

A very singular illustration of the utility of " N", & Q." has just occurred. In a note, headed " Hengist and Horsa," signed with the honoured initials of J. M. K., I find these words :

" There is no reason to believe the Frisian heroes Hengist and Horsa to be a bit more genuine than Cad- mus or Romulus. The banner and arms of Kent are a mere fiction, derived at a very late period from the names themselves."

Now, it happened to me gome years ago, or, according to the pictorial chronology of our good old fairy historians, " once upon a time," to be one of a learned literary dinner party. To the young practitioner, very few operations of the mind are more painful. There is generally on such occasions the one man greatest of the great. The " piece de resistance" served up, on that day, was a very promontory of flesh, a moving moun- tain (after the manner of the more celebrated type in Dante) of gross intellectual vigour, I do not say " He was the terror of his neighbourhood ;" but the man was the awe, the law, and the autho- rity, the approving good, and inexorable authority of his circle. On the day we met, he was on duty as Dr. Johnson. The shadow of the great name loomed in the mental awe of the unseen presence felt by every person in the room. The head, and its contents, and the external ornament the flow- ing wig the flopping brown coat luminous but- ton holes and now top-coat buttons indeed were wanting ; but then we had the introductory muttering before speech, the same vibratory mo- tion of the body, the same dogmatic noisy pouring forth of soul. The conversation fell or was led into the Anglo-Saxon period. Ilengist and Horsa were the theme. From whence I precisely drew my authority, it would be difficult to say ; but I