Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 12.djvu/399

 9* s. xii. NOV. 14, 1903.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

391

contains an obligation that if she desires to bear her arms when she is a widow she must impale them with those of her deceased husband. If her husband be still alive she could, of course, only use them when impaled with his.

But if her husband be an ignobilis, the rule seems to me to imply that she is then relieved from the obligation of impalement as being impossible, and might use her own arms by themselves. Surely different and more unequivocal language would be used if the exemption meant the deprivation of the use by her of her arms at all. The exemption from an obligation is very different from the deprivation of a right.

Perhaps some authority from the Heralds' College could say what is the modern prac- tice, and if it be different from that of bygone years.

I still want to be shown some authority why an armigerous female should be treated differently in this respect from an armigerous male. J. S. UDAL, F.S.A.

Antigua, W.I.

THOMAS SIBSON, ARTIST (9 th S. xii. 249). Sibson's 'Sketches of Expeditions from the Pickwick Club ' were published by Sherwood, Gilbert & Piper in 1838, and consisted of ten etchings, with letterpress. The original price was 2s. tfd, but a set in good condition will now realize from 151. to 20. on account of rarity. Sibson also designed seventy- two etchings for ' Master Humphrey's Clock.'

F. G. KITTON.

REFERENCE WANTED (9 fcb S. x. 387 ; xi. 138). The following quotation in Terashima's 'Wakan Sansai Dzue,' 1721 (reprint Tokyo, 1884, vol. i. pp. 725-6), from a Chinese ency- clopaedia, the ' San-chai-tu-hwui,' compiled about a century earlier, is perhaps a version of some classic tradition :

" Sha-mih-cha is a country no stranger could ever reach. But once in ancient times a sage named Tsu-koh-ni went there and invented letters for its people. It lies in the western extremity of the world, and there the sun sets. Every day at sun- down a tremendous noise is heard like thunder- ing, to intercept which the king uses to collect a thousand men on the wall in order to confuse it with their tumultuous music played upon the horns, gongs, and drums. Otherwise children are surely to perish terror-smitten."

KUMAGUSU MlNAKATA.

Mount Nachi, Kii, Japan.

THE STATUE FROM SOHO SQUARE (9 th S. vii. 209 ; xii. 336). I can offer at least a partial explanation of Mr. Blackwell's action in presenting the statue to Mr. Goodall. It happened, I believe, at the time when Soho

Square was a comparative wilderness, and, whether from lack of response to appeals for subscriptions I cannot say, was laid out, either wholly or in major part, at Mr. Black- well's expense. I should think his standing in the parish would preclude the suggestion that he had not first obtained sufficient warrant for his action, which probably saved the relic from utter destruction.

F. BEAUMONT.

THOMAS YOUNG, SECRETARY TO LORD MEL- BOURNE (9 th S. xii. 350). I copy the following from ' Memoirs of Lord Melbourne,' by W. M. Torrens, M.P. :

' Young had been recommended to the Home Secretary by the Duke of Devonshire as a shrewd, bandy sort of man, whom he had found as purser of his yacht more serviceable than men of better breeding. To his surprise and that of others, Mel- bourne named him private secretary, and, as he said, made use of him as a weather-gauge when nicer instruments were off their balance. Had he checked the habitual bluntness of the man, or winced at his innate vulgarity, he would have been no longer useful. ' Through him,' he would say, * I am able to look down below, which for me is more important than all I can learn from all the tine gentlemen clerks about me.' By long sufferance Tom Young grew too familiar not only with his chief, but with persons who could brook it less good-humouredly. But he was devoted, inde- fatigable, had a keen discernment of the foibles and oddities of his master, and, save on one occasion, served him sagaciously and well."

F. E. R. POLLARD-URQUHART.

Castle Pollard, Westmeath.

Thomas Young, commonly known as " Ubiquity Young," was recommended to Lord Melbourne by the Duke of Devonshire "as a shrewd, handy sort of man, whom he had found as purser of his yacht more serviceable than men of better breeding. To his surprise and that of others, Melbourne named him private secretary, and, as he said, made use of him as a weather- gauge when nicer instruments were off their balance " (' Memoirs of Lord Melbourne,' by W. M. Torrens, 1878, vol. i. p. 368).

See also 'Lord Melbourne's Papers,' edited by Lloyd C. Sanders, 1890, pp. 203, 522, and ' The Greville Memoirs,' 1874, vol. iii. p. 126.

G. F. R. B.

CHRISTMAS CARD : THE FIRST (9 th S. xii. 347). In allusion to the note mentioning the late Mr. John Callcott Horsley, R.A., as the designer of the first Christmas card at the suggestion of my father, Sir Henry Cole, I may say that I have in my possession one of these cards, coloured, and sent by Mr. Horsley to my father, with the inscription " Xmasse 1843," three years earlier than the first issue of the cards and, wishing to verify the date, I consulted my father's diaries, and found the following entry : " 17th November, 1843,