Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 12.djvu/40

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. xn. JULY 11, im

Miss GUNNING, DUCHESS OF HAMILTON (9 th S. xi. 468). The picture of the three Miss Gunnings was painted by Miss Caroline Read, and engraved in 1771 by R. Laurie. The engraving was in an oval form, and was published by Robert Sayer, 53, Fleet Street, price 5s.

The painting was lent by the Duke of Argyll to the Dublin Exhibition of 1872, and is doubtless still in the possession of the family. There is an account of Miss Gunning in the Cornhill Magazine, vol. xvi.

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road.

The portrait inquired for is probably the first one under-mentioned :

Eliz. Gunning, Duchess of Hamilton, afterwards of Argyll. Bust, small size ; white close headdress trimmed with blue ribbon ; oval, crayon. Paper, 17 x 14i in. By Francis Cotes, R.A. Lent by the Duke of Argyll.

Another. Half - length, as a laundress ; low figured dress. Canvas, 30 x 25 in. By Henry Robert Morland. Lent by the Earl of Mansfield.

Another. To waist ; low dress, full face. Canvas, 25 x 21 in. By Gavin Hamilton. Lent by Sir W. G. Gordon-Gumming, Bt.

The first two were in the second exhibition of National Portraits, 1 May, 1867, at South Kensington Museum ; the last was in the third exhibition, 13 April, 1868.

ADRIAN WHEELER.

FOUNTAIN PENS (9 th S. xi. 390, 438, 450). Samuel Taylor, in his * Universal System of Shorthand Writing,' London, 1786, says at p. 98 :

" I have nothing more to add for the use or instruction of the practitioner, except a few words concerning the kind of pen proper to be used for writing shorthand. A common pen must be made with the nib much finer than for other writing, and something harder, with a small cleft. For expedi- tious writing, some use what are called fountain Sens, into which your ink is put, which gradually ows when writing, from thence into a common pen cut short to fit the smaller end of this instru- ment ; but as it is a hard matter to meet with a good one of this kind, I would recommend a steel or silver one that will write fine, without blotting the curves of the letters."

J. H. Clive, in his ' Linear System of Short- hand' (edition 1830), at p. 24 speaks of a "well-made metallic or agate pen" : but in the 1810 edition he speaks of "a silver pen " (p- 20). MATTHIAS LEVY.

118, Chancery Lane.

The following description of what was evidently a fountain pen is from James Henry Lewis's 'System of Shorthand,' first published in 1812 :

"We have been particularly fortunate in having discovered and patented an instrument which

appears to give great satisfaction, and has obtained the patronage and approbation of every individual in the stenographic profession. The self-supplying petrified pen is peculiarly adapted for the purposes of shorthand, as it not only forms the characters with greater elegance and correctness, but also enables the stenographer to write with twice the rapidity he could possibly do by any other means ; for, as the petrified pens never require mending, and the elastic tube to which they are attached furnishes a constant supply of ink for a whole day's writing, the artist is not subjected to the inconvenience and loss of time occasioned by con- tinually taking off the pen to procure ink, but is enabled to pursue, without interruption, the most rapid flights of the most vehement orator, and to sustain a continued and most vigorous attention during his loftiest and most extended efforts."

The date of the above is not given, but it probably first appeared about 1820.

ALEXANDER PATERSON. Barnsley.

4 'ENGLISH TAKE THEIR PLEASURES SADLY" (7 th S. viii. 466). I presume Ouida alludes to Faujas de Saint Fond (Barthelemi), but he has written a number of works and she gives no reference. I thought that his ' Voyage en Angleterre,' &c. (1797), would most likely contain the phrase, and have glanced through the book, but without finding it. If this were brought to the notice of the author of ' Ohandos,' she might possibly oblige with the exact reference to Saint Fond. Failing this, perhaps some reader of *N. & Q.' may find ! time to continue the search. I certainly found I in the work named (chap. xiv. vol. ii. p. 276) the following :

" Je suis persuade qu'elle [cette atmosphere humide, &c.] est une des causes de cette melancolie j sombre* qui attaque si sou vent les Anglois."

He also alludes to the English custom of conveying food to the mouth with the fork in the left hand, whereas, he says, the French, after cutting up meat, take the fork in the right hand to convey it to the mouth. I am riot sure, but believe this difference to exist still. EDWARD LATHAM.

CRAKANTHORP, BY WORDSWORTH : "VILDE- soN"(9 th S. xi. 469, 498). There can be no doubt that the form "Vilsedon" represents Willesdon, a parish in Middlesex bordering on Paddington and Hampstead. There was a celebrated image of the Virgin in this place, to which pilgrimages were made. In 1538 this image, together with those belonging to Walsingham and Ipswich, and many other places in England and Wales, which were specially brought up to London for the pur- pose, were burnt at Chelsea as monuments of

spleen."
 * I presume that which our neighbours call " le