Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 1.djvu/364

 356

NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. i. APRIL so, m

crossing of a brook decides the conquest of the world." And the Germans have " Kleine Ursachen, grosse Wirkungen."

AETHUE MAYALL.

Capt. Alan Boisragon, in 'The Benin Massacre' (second edition, Methuen & Co., London, 1898), observes, towards the end of chap, ii.,

"At the end of 1896, two of the Protectorate officials, Major Leonard and Captain James, man- aged to reach a place called Bende, some sixty miles into the interior from the head of the Opobo River, which no white man had been able to get to before."

Their success, it appears, was greatly due to the circumstance that they happened to have with them "powerful magic" in the shape of some bottles of effervescent soda- water ! But the captain may be allowed to tell the rest of the curious anecdote in the book itself. Brilliant success of bottled soda over bloodthirsty cannibals ! Oaks from acorns seem hardly more strange.

H. E. M.

St. Petersburg.

I find the following in ' N. & Q.,' 4 th S. viii. 350:

"This reminds one of Pascal's admirable phrase, although it may not be altogether historically cor- rect* : ' Rome meme alloit trembler sous lui, mais ce petit gravier, qui n'^toit rien ailleurs, mis en cet endroit, le voilk mort, sa famille abaiss^e et le roi re'tabli.' P. A. L."

EVERAED HOME COLEMAN.

71, Brecknock Road.

16TH LIGHT DEAGOONS (9 th S. i. 229). In February, 1760, the regiment was stationed in Scotland, in July at Hereford. In 1761 two troops were at the siege of Belle Isle ; in 1762 four troops embarked at Portsmouth, where they were joined by the two from Belle Isle, and took part in the capture of Valencia de Alcantara. In 1763 they were back in England and reviewed on Wimbledon Com- mon. In 1766 the title was changed to " the Queen's Light Dragoons." In 1776-8 they were in North America, taking part in the engagements at White Plains, Delaware, Crooked Billet, Barren Hill, and Freehold Court House. In 1779 a detachment went to the West Indies ; the remainder embarked for England, in 1781 was stationed at Lenham, in Kent, in 1782 at Portsmouth. In 1785-92 the regiment furnished royal escorts, and assisted the revenue officers in the maritime towns and villages in the prevention of smuggling. In 1792 it embarked at Blackwall for Ostend, and was present at Tournay, Va- lenciennes, Premont, c. In 1796 it embarked

Speaking of Cromwell's death."

at Bremen for England, and encamped near Weymouth. In 1797 it was reviewed on Ashford Common, and in the year following on Hounslow Heath. The headquarters in 1800 were established at Canterbury, and afterwards at Croydon. These particulars are from Cannon's ' Historical Records of the 16th Light Dragoons.' AYEAHE.

Raised, apparently, in 1759, according to 'Army Lists' of the day, the 16th Light Dragoons were stationed in Britain from the date they were raised to 1773. 1774 and 1775 ' Army Lists ' give no country or station. In 1776, 1777, 1778, they are down as being in America. After that the ' Army Lists ' are silent. Reference, of course, could be made to the headquarters of the regiment for more detailed information. C. J. DUEAND.

Grange Villa, Guernsey.

BEEMUDA will probably find a sufficient answer to his question about the 16th Light Dragoons in Richard Cannon's ' History of the 16th Lancers ' (they became lancers after Waterloo), forming one of the volumes in Cannon's 'Historical Records of the British Army.' W. G. BOSWELL-STONE.

Beckenham.

HOUSES WITHOUT STAIRCASES (9 th S. i. 166, 210). Of Orchardleigh, a fine house about four miles from Norton St. Philip, in Somerset, it is told that it was at first planned without staircase, and that the serious omission was afterwards repaired as best might be.

It may be remembered that when models for the construction of the lantern of the Duomo of Florence were shown, and that of Brunelleschi was chosen, fault was found with it on the score that he had provided no staircase by which the ball could be reached. But Filippo had arranged this within one of the piers " presenting the form of a hollow reed or blow -pipe, having a recess or groove on one side, with bars of bronze by means of which the summit was gradually attained," and he had concealed the opening to it by a piece of wood, in order, as I suppose, to make a little sensation by disclosing it or to keep the secret of its construction from imitative rivals. ST. SWITHIN.

The story of Balzac's house at Jardies, near Paris, is to be found in Leon Gozlan's 'Balzac en Pantoufles,' a book which once had con- siderable vogue. It is true that this house was completed, or nearly so, without a stair- case ; but this was not the fault of the archi- tect, but of the owner, who, not finding the rooms to his taste, gradually encroached upon the area reserved for the staircase until it