Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 12.djvu/165

 9". s. xii. AUG. 22, IMS.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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of Antony and Cleopatra. It is certain that Bacon made mistakes as did other people before and since. Mr. Churton Collins has proved that Shakespeare was one of the best Latin scholars who ever lived, and obtained his knowledge of Greek through Latin trans- lations. Ben Jonson says Shakespeare had " small Latin." Whom are we to believe ? GEORGE STRONACH.

THE ALBANY (9 th S. xii. 49). Among a selection of prints, &c., from the Gardner Collection, which were exhibited at the open- ing of the Library and Museum of the Cor- poration of London in 1872, was a view of the first entrance to the Albany (designed and erected by Sir W. Chambers), in water colour. S. P. is possibly aware of the ample information afforded in Wheatley's 'London.' J. HOLDEN MAC MICHAEL.

MRS. MARTYR, SINGER AND ACTRESS : C. H. WILSON (9 th S. xii. 107). For an account of the life and writings of Charles Henry Wil- son, sometime editor of the Gazetteer, who died 12 May, 1808, see Baker's ' Biog. Dramat.,' vol. i. part ii. 751. G. F. R. B.

COUNTY COUNCIL BOARD SCHOOLS (9 th S. xii. 107). MR. COLEMAN'S question is singu- larly confused. What does the heading mean? Board schools, properly so called, have nothing to do with County Councils. Under the Education Act of 1902 all schools under the entire and direct control of the new local education authorities county, borough, and urban district councils become "provided" schools, or, as the Board of Education has suggested, "Council" schools. When the Act is fully in force all over the country the term " Board " will be extinct. At present it exists where the new authorities have not taken over the schools, consequently a "Council Board " school is impossible.

Then MR. COLEMAN asks for information about " parish" rates. Here again the County Council heading is quite inapplicable. Before the passing of the Act of 1902 a school rate, so far as England was concerned, was levied only in those boroughs and parishes where elementary education was locally under the control of a School Board. Full particulars of the school rates levied in these boroughs and parishes have been published annually in the Blue-books issued by the Board of Education. Of course no returns under the Act of 1902 can yet be issued, it having been only a few months in force in some places, while in others it has not yet come into operation. MR. COLEMAN complains of the "excessive" nature of school rates. Much

could be said on the other side ; but I trust the education controversy will not enter the neutral field of N. & Q.'

G. L. APPERSON.

Wimbledon.

I am now able to reply in part to my own query. There has very recently been issued " The Report of the London County Council for the Year 1900-1, prepared by the Clerk to the Council" (G. L. Gomme). The book contains upwards of 300 pages, and describes the Council's powers, financial, administrative, &c., and has an excellent index. If the School Board would issue a similar report the public would possess much interesting and valuable information.

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN.

71, Brecknock Road.

" OVERSLAUGH" (9 th S. xi. 247, 331 ; xii. 93). I have just found the word "overslagh " in the dictionary which is at the end of Simes's ' Military Medley,' second edition, 1768. Perhaps it may be in the first edition, in which case a still earlier date will have been obtained for it.

The explanation of the meaning of the word, and the accompanying table to illustrate it, which are given in Smith's ' Military Diction- ary,' 1779, have been taken from the ' Military Medley.' W. S.

ANATOMIE VIVANTE (9 th S. xii. 49). The " Living Skeleton " was exhibited at the "Chinese Saloon" in Pall Mall in 1825. Claude Ambroise Seurat was the name of the being so designated. He was a native of Troyes, in Champagne, and was then twenty -eight years old. His health was good, but his skin resembled parchment, and his ribs could be counted and handled like pieces of cane. He was exhibited nude except about the loins ; the arm from the shoulder to the elbow was like an ivory German flute ; the legs were straight, and the feet well formed. There is a long account of this won- derful freak, with engravings illustrating his front, profile, and back, in Hone's ' Every - Day Book ' (26 July), pp. 509 to 517. A writer in the Daily Telegraph of 31 December, 1902, under the heading ' Modern Piccadilly,' seems to be in error in saying that the "Anatomic Vivante " " was exhibited at the Egyptian Hall on the dispersal of Bullock's Museum." Another " Living Skeleton," British this time, was shown at the Coburg Theatre in Waterloo Bridge Road, Lambeth, in rivalry with " the Pall Mall object." See the ' Every-Day Book,' 22 August, p. 565.

J. HOLDEN MACMICHAEL. [Many replies acknowledged.]