Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 10.djvu/339

 9 th 8. X. OCT. 25, 1902.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

331

oath taken by the people, "This rather extravagant profession of loyalty was intro- duced by Laud, under whose superintendence the Scottish ceremonial was prepared " (p. 125). The Marquess of Bute, in his ' Scottish Coro- nations,' says of preparations in the Chapel Royal that the arrangement was not Scottish, but "intensely English" (p. 80), and writes of "the rule followed by Laud at Holy rood " (p. 137). Patrick Lindsay, Archbishop of Glasgow, and five bishops v^ere present in black gowns, and the story of Laud rebuking the archbishop and thrusting him aside for not wearing canonical vestments is well known. The Marquess of Bute discredits the story as it is generally told, but adds, " It is probable enough that Laud may have given Lindsay a nuage at some particular moment, and that the latter may have thought him fussy or even officious " (p. 140).

W. S.

EXPERTS (9 th S. x. 270). If O. O. H. will refer to 72 ' Law Times Reports,' 298, I think he will find something on the subject. I have not these particular Reports at hand, and only write from a note in my commonplace book, but I believe there are dicta bearing on this subject. To Lord Bram well's opinion, or reputed opinion, may be added that of a recently deceased engineer of renown, who is reported to have said that there were four kinds of liar, i.e., "liars, d d liars, experts, and my brother John. " W. H. QUARRELL.

AMERICAN KNEE-BREECHES (9 th S. x. 1C9, 312). In reply to the question as to what was worn by Mr. Choate at the Coronation along with knee-breeches, the American Ambassador wore "black frock dress i.e., ordinary evening dress coat." In other words, Mr. Choate was, as previously stated, dressed like George Washington. In reply to the suggestion that possibly he might have worn "the Windsor coat," the answer must be that it would obviously be inconceivable that he should have done anything of the kind. The Windsor coat is a coat worn by those in attendance at Windsor Castle. What is, however, probably intended by your correspondent is British diplomatic uniform, which is, of course, inapplicable to the case of any one not a British subject.

A. K. B.

"TASTE OP THE POTATO" (9 tb S. x. 270)- This expression of George IV., used with reference to Lord Moira (the Marquis of Hastings), refers, of course, to the fact that he was an Irishman by birth. In Lady Holland's ' Life of Sydney Smith,' vol. i. p. 379, I find the following from his 'Table Talk': "Ah,

you always detect a little of the Irish fossil, the potato, peeping out in an Irishman."

WM. H. FEET.

"THIRTY DAYS HATH SEPTEMBER" (9 th S. x. 206, 279). Does this not go back earlier than Grafton ? MR. COLEMAN does not give a reference ; will he kindly do so, and add the terms in which Grafton introduces the lines, so that we may see the terms in which he claims the authorship of this truly "im- mortal verse "? O. O. H.

At p. 279 Grafton is quoted as the writer of the well-known lines. I should be pleased to have more information about Grafton, who he was and when he lived. His lines for school children have immortalized him. RANDOLPH DE PAYEN PAYNE. -

[Particulars of Grafton are furnished at the first reference.]

POLYGRAPHIC HALL (9 th S. X. 109, 233).

The utility of ' N. & Q.' is demonstrated when it is made the medium of conveying informa- tion on subjects "4iich do not seem to lie within the scope of ordinary books of refer- ence. I can find no account of the Polygraphic Hall in any of the works to which one would first turn in hunting for topographical facts, and MR. HARLAND-OXLEY'S note is, there- fore, valuable in supplying information upon an easily forgotten episode in the dramatic history of London. A few remarks upon the entertainer with whose name the place was chiefly associated may not be unacceptable from one who in his teens owed many a happy hour to his versatility and skill. William Samuel Woodin was born in 1825. He was the son of Mr. Samuel Woodin, a highly respected dealer in works of art, living at No. 16, Old 'Bond Street, and was intended for the Church, but, somewhat against the wishes of his father, he chose a path in which his histrionic faculty had wider scope, and embarked on the career of a public enter- tainer. In starting, and indeed throughout his public life, he had the assistance of that excellent fellow, my old acquaintance Edward Leraan Blanchard. Blanchard records in his diary under date 13 June, 1851, that he received a visit from Woodin, who offered him 5l. if he would write him an entertain- ment. This resulted in Blanchard writing for him ' The Carpet Bag,' for which he re- ceived altogether the not excessive sum of 151. On 9 February, 1852, a week after he had finished 'The Carpet Bag' part of the entertainment, Blanchard writes that he dined with Woodin at 6, Park Walk, Bromp- ton, by the " Goat in Boots," when Mr. Samuel Woodin, Mrs. Woodin, and the family were