Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 1.djvu/401

 9 th S. I. MAY 14, '98.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

393

panied by a portrait. Where the details are so voluminous no summary could be attempted, but I shall be pleased to afford SIGMA TAU any particulars if he will com- municate direct. Mrs. Drew's maiden name was Kinloeh, and she was born in London, of theatrical parents, on 10 January, 1818. W. J. LAWRENCE. Comber, Belfast.

Mrs. John Drew was born in London on 10 January, 1820, her father's name being Lane. In 1827 she came to America with her mother and her stepfather, after havingplayed in Liverpool as Agib in * Timon the Tartar.' Her first appearance in America was in the Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, where she acted with Junius Brutus Booth, playing the Duke of York to his Richard. Soon after she had a benefit at the old Bowery Theatre, New York, playing Goldfinch in the ' Eoad to Ruin.' She was taken to Jamaica, where she was performing at the time of the insur- rection in 1831. In 1834 she played Julia in the * Hunchback ' at the Boston Theatre, and in 1835 she opened the St. Charles Theatre, New Orleans, playing Lady Teazle. At the age of sixteen she was married to Henry B. Hunt, a popular vocalist of the time. In 1838 she played with Forrest, and later with Mac- ready. Between 1842 and 1846 she played in New York as a member of various stock companies, acting in all kinds of domestic drama, burlesque, and light comedy. She was the original Fortunio and Graceful in 'The Fair One with the Golden Locks.' Besides being known as an actress, she was renowned for her singing and dancing. Her second husband was George Mossop, a young Irish comedian, who did not live long. Soon after his death she met the popular comedian John Drew, who in 1850 became her third husband. In 1851 both were in the stock company at the Chestnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, and in 1853 Mr. Drew leased the Arch Street Theatre with William Wheatley. In 1855 Mr. Drew made a starring tour of England and Ireland which was very prosperous. In 1862 Mrs. Drew undertook the management of the Arch Street Theatre, Philadelphia, which she carried on prosperously for thirty- one years. In her later years her association with Joseph Jefferson endeared her to the present generation, her impersonation of Mrs. Malaprop being exquisite comedy. She will be remembered by old theatre-goers as Lady Teazle, Julia, Lady Macbeth, Con- stance, Beatrice, Mrs. Oakley, Jane Shore, and other widely different characters. At the time of her death, 31 August, 1897, it was written of her that

"she retained her vigour and vivacity in .extra- ordinary degree long beyond the Scriptural limit of human life, and was perhaps the only woman who ever succeeded in playing such parts as Lady Teazle acceptably, and even with illusion, after the age of seventy years."

The present writer remembers with delight the splendid manner in which she rolled out the magnificent mistakes of Mrs. Malaprop. WM. GUSHING BAMBURGH. El Mora, Union Co., New Jersey, U.S.

WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL (9 fch S. i. 180, 206). May I suggest that it would be a very doubtful benefit to " rebuild the belfry towers" of this cathedral, as suggested by MR. GARBETT ? Probably nothing would have to be destroyed in order to do the rebuilding, but even then is it not best to leave the old work alone, and if towers are required let them be supplied to new buildings? I am aware that the notion of completing old build- ings is popular, but I would suggest that for the future we ought to have a different idea preservation, but not alteration. This is the view now with regard to statues. A visit to the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, informs one what parts of an ancient statue nave been re- stored, and that the restoration is now deemed incorrect. I regret that the same kind of information is not always vouchsafed us at the British Museum, where a statue is labelled as Greek or Roman, even if half a fraud, unless it be a modern addition. ^ I never go to Canterbury and see the exquisite Norman towers without regret at the destruc- tion of the Norman tower at the north-west entrance, for which a brainless imitation of the west tower then existing was substituted. I am sorry the rage for " pairs " is not over, but if any one wishes to learn how superior different towers look he may see Llandaff Cathedral. RALPH THOMAS.

RAOUL HESDIN (9 th S. i. 348). The ' Diary of Raoul Hesdin ' is not a genuine document, but a particularly impudent fiction ; see English Historical Review, July, 1896, pp. 594-7, and Athenceum> 25 March, 4 April, and 16 May, 1896. A. F. P.

MOON THROUGH COLOURED GLASS (9 th S. i.

328, 377). The ability of the moon to do what Keats has poetically described needs prosaic confirmation. Not long ago, in a certain hurch in Pisa, I was struck by the beautiful effect produced by the rays of the westering sun as they fell on some children standing against a pillar, throwing on them "warm may have seen those children, or their grand- mothers, thus illuminated; but if he had
 * ules " and or and azure and vert. Keats