Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 11.djvu/143

. XL FEB. 14, 1903.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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to accommodate the members of the con- gregation expected to communicate, are covered on Communion Sundays with narrow white cloths, and in the chapter on ' Orna- menta^' in the third edition of my ' Parochial Ecclesiastical Law of Scotland ' I suggested that those white cloths are the survival of the houseling cloth (p. 94). In many cases the times at which church bells in Scotland are rung are survivals of Pre-Eeformation usages ; see on this subject Mr. Eeles's ' Church and other Bells of Kincardineshire,' p. 81. Long after the Eeformation the pro- cessional cross seems in Shetland to have remained in the custody of the parish church for use in summoning meetings (Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vol. ii., Third Series, p. 196).

WILLIAM GEORGE BLACK. Ramoyle, Dowanhill Gardens, Glasgow.

Having often observed this "smoothing of their foreheads" by the village men on taking off their hats on entering my father's church 1842-60, and noting the reason, for they wore their hair brushed forward without a parting, I cannot help thinking that the vicar of Kelloe's idea is chimerical. The practice, in this church I speak of, of the men being seated on the north and the women on the south side, has existed from pre-Keformation times, and still continues. HAROLD MALET, Colonel.

WALE (9 th S. xi. 48). Upon what ground does MR. LOFTIE suggest that Wale " was hanged for forgery'"? Neither Sand by in his ' History of the Royal Academy,' nor Red- grave nor Bryan in his dictionary, alludes to any such ignominious end to what appears to have been an active and useful life. To sum up the information given by these autho- rities, Wale was born at Yarmouth (Norfolk) ; studied design at St. Martin's Lane Academy; was elected a Royal Academician ; made Pro- fessor of Perspective and appointed librarian, holding both offices until his death ; was placed upon the pension fund in 1778, being the first member who participated in its benefits ; and died 6 February, 1786, in Little Court, Castle Street, Leicester Fields.

The book-plate of "James Paine Archi fc ," signed " S. Wale delin," was for some years rather scarce, having apparently been "cornered " by a bookseller who would have a good price for copies, but now that it has become widely distributed the price has been reduced to a few shillings, varying, of course, with the condition of the example.

A reference to that invaluable work ' The Artists and Engravers of Book-plates,' by

H. W. Fincham, will give MR. LOFTIE the names of several other plates designed by Wale, the most important of which is that of "The Rt Hon ble Henrietta Louisa Jeffreys, Countess of Pomfret," signed " S. W. invy reproduced as frontispiece to Miss Labou- chere's 'Ladies' Book-plates' one of the most generally interesting books of its kind.

GEORGE POTTER. Highgate, N.

The engraver who was hanged for forgery was not Wale, but William Wynne Ryland, who was executed on 29 August, 1783, for a forgery on the East India Company the last execution, I believe, which took place at Tyburn. The story of Blake and Ryland has often been quoted as an instance of the prophetic power possessed by the poet- painter. Having been taken by his father to Ryland's studio, at which it had been in- tended to apprentice him, the boy said, on leaving, " I don't like that man's face; it looks as if he will live to be hanged !" Twelve years afterwards the presentiment came true. I have a very curious collection concerning this unfortunate man, which was formed by the Rev. H. Cotton, the well-known ordinary of Newgate, and was afterwards owned by Mr. Dawson Turner. It includes some con- temporary pamphlets, extracts from maga- zines, Old Bailey papers, &c., together with the original handbill offering a reward for Ryland's apprehension, and a drawing of the engraver's mother by J. T. Smith, the author of the ' Life of Nollekens,' and Keeper of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum. W. F. PRIDEAUX.

This well-known book-plate of Paine the architect is not very scarce, and is not now worth as much as it was a few years ago, for that reason. Though designed by Wale, it was not engraved by him, but by Grignion (sic\ whose name is so engraved in the right corner below. Samuel Wale designed, but did not engrave, seven other book-plates, enumerated by Mr. Fincham in his book on signed book-plates, including one for All Souls' College, Oxon. ; another for the Right Hon. Henrietta Louisa Jeffreys, Countess of Pomfret, &c.

Neither Bryan nor Redgrave says a word about the charge of forgery or the consequent hanging. JULIAN MARSHALL.

HISTORICAL POINT IN AN EPITAPH (9 th S. x. 468, 516). Your correspondent MR. MIN- CHIN has missed the point of the lines : I grudge the fashion of the day To fat the church and starve the lay.

The church " the writer refers to is not the