Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 12.djvu/142

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. XIL AUG. is, i9o&

FLATS (9 th S. xii. 49).-

" At present almost the only separate etage* to be found in London are those in Queen Anne's Man sions, a good number of sets in Victoria Street, a few in Cromwell Road, and a single set in George Street, Edgware Road. . Of all these, however, the last named, with a few sets in Victoria Street, are the only examples of the real self-contained ' flat," the inhabitant of which, whilst relieved of all the responsibility and most of the troubles of an isolatec house, yet enjoys to the full all the advantages of a separate establishment." From a long article on 'Flats,' in Dickens's 'Dictionary of London,' 1879.

"Victoria Street, Westminster was openec

6 August, 1851 It was at a standstill for some

years and took slowly for building purposes, in fact it was only completely tilled up in 1887. The street is lined with lofty ' mansions' let out in 'flats ' as residences at the time of their erection a novelty in London and large blocks of chambers." Wheat- ley's ' London Past and Present,' iii. 435.

The oldest of these are, I believe, in Victoria Street, the newest in the very lofty Queen Anne's Mansions in Queen Anne's Gate, for- merly Queen Square, Westminster.

ADRIAN WHEELER.

I believe one of the earliest blocks of flats in London was Albany Square, near Wai worth Road. W. L.

Was not the block of lofty dwellings im- mediately outside the District Railway, St. James's Park, which, if I remember right, are twelve or thirteen stories high, the pioneer effort as regards that egregious departure in domestic architecture the Lon- don flat ? J. HOLDEN MAL'MlCHAEL.

Although I cannot answer the question, it is evident that flats must have been in exist- ence before 1888. In that year Charles Annandale issued the 'Imperial Dictionary,' in which he describes a flat to be "a story or floor of a building, especially when fitted up for a single family." The history of the flat movement has yet to be written.

EvKRAiiD HOME COLEMAX.

71, Brecknock Road.

THE FORMATION OF CLOUDS (9 th S. xii. 05). In the nassage quoted by MR. THORNTON Cobbett describes a normai phenomenon in hilly districts, whereof the cause is perfectly understood by meteorologists. A current of warm air charged with vapour, /.c., invisible moisture, which it carries in virtue of its heat, moving along the sea or a plain and meeting with rising ground, is raised to a higher and colder level, and begins parting with its heat. In proportion as it does so it loses its carrying power ; the vapour begins to be condensed into particles and becomes visible cloud, just as a clear sheet of glass ground to dust becomes a white powder

The higher the air current rises the lower the temperature falls, and the cloud increases in volume until, on reaching and passing the summit, condensation becomes complete, when the particles of moisture aggregate into drops which fall as rain. Thus the rainfall is always greater on that side of a range of hills which is furthest from the direction of the prevail- ing wind or air current,

HERBERT MAXWELL.

LONG LEASE (9 th S. xii. 25). Leases in this neighbourhood are usually granted for ninety- nine years, and in some rare cases for 999 years. I have lately dealt with a lease the term of which, I believe, is unique, at least in Devonshire, viz., 199 years. I should be glad to learn if such terms are known or usual in other parts of the country.

A. J. DAVY.

Torquay.

'' WAKE " = A VILLAGE FEAST (9 th S. xii. 107). Such old-fashioned terms are fast decaying, thanks to new ideas of education and facili- ties for travelling. But I have heard more than once in Oxfordshire, on the Banbury side, this proverb on the lips of men inno- cent of reading : " Like Heyford wake, it mends." HIPPOCLIDES.

TALE BY ARCHIBALD FORBES (9 th S. xii. 88). -' How " the Cray ture " got on the Strength ' was reprinted in Forbes's Barracks, Bivouacs, and Battles' (1891, Macmillan), from the English Illustrated, vol. vi. p. 525 et seq. (April, 1889), and from the Living Age, vol. clxxxi. p. 469 et seq. J. POTTER BRISCOE.

Nottingham.

' Lois THE WITCH ' (9 th S. xii. 89). This is by Mrs. Gaskell, and is the last story in ' Cranford and other Tales ' in Smith & hlders eight-volume pocket edition of Mrs. GaskelTs works. C. E. LEEDS.

62, Clyde Road, Addiacombe.

> KLOPSTOCK'S 'STAB AT MATER ' (9 th S. xi. 489; xn. 50). I wrote my reply when I was away trorn my books. I am doubtful about D. M. Moir being the translator. Delete 1834. See Erasers Magazine, 1836, p. 497. The Greek version is signed A. 4>PENX.

THOS. WHITE.

Junior Reform Club, Liverpool.

"TORY" (9* S. xii 9, 97).-I have to thank KB. JAMES PLATT, Jun., for having settled he point concerning which I asked ; "but I ail to see any relevancy in the reply of MR.

K C ? LE i M xT N ' f, Surely one frequent con- ributorto 'N.&.Q-' should do another the ourtesy of believing that he knows what he