Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 10.djvu/359

 9 th S. X. Nov. 1, 1902.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

351

lady in question lived before my time any remarks I could make would be only of the second-hand or hearsay order. If I knew her real (not her theatrical) name I could soon trace out a short biography. The so- called or self-styled Black Malibran, a hand- some negress, black as ebony (in no way related to Madame Malibran de Beriot), came to this country from the United States, where she had already made her mark, about the year 1836, though I cannot fix the date. Having a very lovely voice, like many negresses (though to say she was in any way either the equal or rival of Madame Malibran would be only talking "moonshine"), she made an immediate success, and during the forties and fifties was always sure of applause at Vauxhall, Cremorne, Highbury Barn, Surrey Gardens, <kc., to say nothing of provincial concert-rooms : but I do not think she ever achieved much success as an operatic singer. Her latest appearances in public were, I have been informed, at the Oxford and Canterbury during the early sixties. As I write only from shadowy recol- lections of what I have been told, I shall be only tco ready to confess myself all in the wrong should any correspondent of ' N. & Q.' chance to know more about the subject than myself. HERBERT B. CLAYTON.

39, Renfrew Road, Lower Kennington Lane.

REFERENCES WANTED (9 th S. x. 268). No. 3 is undoubtedly a translation from Goethe, and far more touching and melodious _than Carlyle's rendering given in ' Wilhelm Meister.' I give both translations :

Who ne'er his bread in sorrow ate,

Who never through the long midnight hours,

Weeping, upon his bed has sat,

He knows ye not, ye heavenly powers.

Translator unknown. Who never eat his bread in sorrow, Who never spent the darksome hours Weeping and watching for the morrow, He knows ye not, ye gloomy powers.

Carlyle's translation in ' Wilhelm Meister.'

I cannot say which is the more correct trans- lation, but the former possesses a spirituality which that of Carlyle lacks.

HARRIETT MC!LQUHAM.

No. 4, "Measure thy life," &c., and No. 5, " Here, and here alone," are from Harriet Eleanor Hamilton King's ' The Disciples : Ugo Bassi III.' JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.

9, Tavistock Place, W.C.

DREAM-LORE (9 th S. x. 269). As, the only definite authority upon the subject must perforce remain uncommunicative, the ques- tion " At what age does a voung child begin to dream?" continues to be somewhat or a

poser. But if infantile sighs and murmu rings are trustworthy indications, I am disposed to think a certain little four-year-old of my acquaintance offers a clue to the period in his own fragile person. Students of babyhood must be pretty well agreed that very young children do indulge in dreams. But how early in life? There 's the rub, again.

CECIL CLARKE.

WATSON OF BARRASBRIDGE, NEWCASTLE-ON- TYNE (9 th S. ix. 388; x. 177, 237, 272). I suggest a reference to the ecclesiastical authorities. Archdeacon de Winton, of Colombo, who is at present, I believe, administering the -ordinary affairs of the diocese, will be able to find out if the burial in question took place at any of the stations then garrisoned by British troops in the island of Ceylon. Until about 1820 the British in Ceylon made use of the old Dutch Government churches for their services, and the old Dutch burial-grounds for their ceme- teries. After that date a new British burial- ground was set apart for use at Colombo ; but it is possible and probable that at some of the smaller up-country stations where there were detachments, such as Jaffna, Matara, Point de Galle, Trincomalee, and others, the old Dutch churches and churchyards were still in British use in 1824. Jaffna Church was certainly so used as late as 1819, for in this church there is a tablet to the memory of the Hon. George Tumour, fourth son of the Earl of Winterton, who died 19 April, 1819 (see Ludovici's 'Monumental Inscrip- tions'). Visitors to the old Dutch burial- ground in the Pettah at Colombo are sur- prised to see amongst the massive monuments of the old Dq.tch officials memorials of British civil and military officers. Amongst them are those of

John Ewart, M.D., Physician-General to H.M.'s troops in India, and Inspector-General of Hospitals in Ceylon, 1800.

Dugald Campbell, captain 88th Regiment, 1801.

William Ollen Ranshaw, lieutenant 65th Regiment, 1803.

Major David Blair, H.E.I.C.S., A.D.C. to his Excellency Governor F. North, 1803.

Burton Gage Barbirt, colonel H.M.'s service, 1803.

John Wilson, colonel H.M.'s service, 1807.

Anne Young, wife of Lieut, and Adjutant Young of the 65th Regiment, 1803.

There are also memorials of several other officers of the 19th, 51st, 65th, and Ceylon Regiments.

When I visited the spot two years ago it wa.s in a sadly neglected condition. Possibly