Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 11.djvu/91

 9* 8. XL JAN. 31, 1903.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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The death of Mr. Serjeant Edward William Cox took place suddenly on the 24th of November, 1879. He was born on Decem- ber 8th, 1809 ; he went to Oxford, and was intended for the Church, but adopted the profession of a solicitor at Taunton, and was eventually called to the Bar. He had strong journalistic tendencies, his first venture being the Somerset County Gazette. On coming to London he started the Law Times. He was a prolific writer, and the * Dictionary of National Biography' (vol. xii. pp. 409-10) gives a list of twenty-nine of his books, his first being a collection of poems entitled 'The Opening of the Sixth Seal.' The others include many well - known legal works. One, 'The Law and Practice of Joint- Stock Companies,' has been through six editions.

On the 22nd of February, 1875, he founded the Psychological Society of Great Britain, and devoted much time to spiritualism, in which he was a most consistent believer, writing several books on the subject. He was twice married, his second wife being the only daughter of J. S. M. Fonblanque. He was a man full of kindliness and honesty. An appreciative notice appeared of him in the Athenceum of the 29th of November, 1879, and his portrait was given in the Illustrated London News, December 6th, 1879.

The rapid increase in the sale of the Field can be seen at once upon reference to the official stamp returns. For the year 1854 the number used was 167,217. It must be remembered that this represented the entire sale. Iii 1856, the second year of Mr. Cox's proprietorship, this number, notwithstanding the repeal of the compulsory stamp, was exceeded by a thousand, and in 1857 the return shows the number had increased to 240,500.

The present circulation of the Field is not quoted, but it must be a large one. Its issue for the 17th inst. consists of thirty-four pages of matter, well printed on good paper. Besides this there are, including the cover, thirty-four pages of advertisements, repre- senting 951 different advertisers. The value of these to the proprietors probably exceeds twelve hundred pounds.

The Field has long abandoned its record of current events, the space being required for its own special subjects ; but there are many articles of general interest. Those in the number just mentioned include ' Travel and Colonisation' and 'A Summer Holiday in Newfoundland.' Mr. C. Holmes Cautley gives some extracts from an old Sty nan game - book. These afford a glimpse of

country life in Styria from July 12th t 1636, to Martinmas, 1643. The patriarch of the staff, Mr. W. B. Tegetmeier, who recently received the hearty congratula- tions of his colleagues on his eighty-sixth birthday, makes another contribution to the history of " vanishing London " in a paper on he close of the Aquarium, "the last of the pseudo-scientific institutions." He remarks how singular it is that all such institutions should come to grief. His reminiscences include the menagerie at Exeter Change, where he saw the elephant Chuny. Chuny had to be shot, and the other animals were removed to the site of the National Gallery, and thence to the Surrey Gardens. The body of Chuny was stuffed and placed in the Museum at Saffron Walden. At the Exhibition of 1851 it was a prominent feature in the Indian Court, covered as it was with gorgeous trap- pings. Mr. Tegetmeier also remembers the exhibition of the skeleton of a gigantic whale in a large temporary building erected across Trafalgar Square ; the Adelaide Gallery, at the end of the Lowther Arcade, organized for the popular exhibition of scientific inven- tions; the Polytechnic; the Panopticon; and, last, the Aquarium, designed as a winter garden and promenade, which could be utilized by members of the House of Commons, whilst the science of fish culture could be exhibited. Mr. W. A. Lloyd was the manager. The tanks were well stocked with different species. The large quantity of salt water required was a great expense. Mr. Lloyd was most enthusiastic in his studies of the habits of fish. He watched them so constantly that their mode of progression became reflected in his own. In the Athenceum of April 1st, 1871, he gave a sketch of the history of 'Aquaria.' An obituary notice of him ap- peared in the same paper on the 24th of July, 1880.

In all these cases the scientific excitement soon waned. Mr. Tegetmeier relates that at the Adelaide Gallery a greater attraction was the exhibition of Madame Wharton and her troupe. The Panopticon became converted into the Alhambra, under the successful management of Mr. John Hollingshead. The Polytechnic is now a useful educational institution. The sudden death on Saturday, January 17th, of Mr. Quintin Hogg, the founder of the new Polytechnic, must be here noted. He was one of London's noblest citizens, and from the time of his school- days at Eton devoted his whole life to the poor boys of London. Upon the Poly- technic scheme lie expended 100,000/. He had designed the place for 2,000 members ;