Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 3.djvu/221

 9- s. in. MAB.

NOTES AND QUERIES.

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Palatinate with a means of subsistence. His scheme was to convey these people to the New Forest, in Hampshire, where the Government should provide every man with ' three acres of ground,' with leave to build cottages upon the same, and a certain quantity of common land, that they might have a few sheep or cows. Any one desirous of studying the subject cannot do better than peruse Defoe's delightful work. A full account is therein furnished of his project and its result."

POLITICIAN.

DR. JOHNSON AND TEA-DRINKING (9 th S. ii. 265, 413). The theory regarding the size of the teacups which Dr. Johnson so frequently evacuated is to me new and very interesting ; but I incline to think that the doctor's twenty- four (or twenty-five cups, according to MR. MARSHALL'S interesting reference) would have amounted to much more than a pint and a half of liquid, of which any one might dispose in the course of an evening without much effort. It is, I believe, evident that Dr. John- son rather prided himself on his feats as a tea-drinker. We all remember the famous passage in which (in answer to Jonas Han- way's attack on tea) he describes himself as a " hardened and shameless tea-drinker." Then we have the evidence regarding the capacious teapot which held two quarts (was it?). Then, again, we have the verses which he playfully addressed to Miss Reynolds when that lady was supplying him with the " cup which cneers," in which he tells her :

Thou can'st not make the tea so fast As I can gulp it down.

Dr. Johnson's record as a tea-drinker must stand. I should suppose each cup contained i about one-third of a pint. Twenty-four cups 1 would thus represent four quarts. This was j Dr. Johnson's evening often lasted (more j Hibernico) till four next morning. Say he j began to talk and drink tea at ten, and con- tinued for six hours, there is nothing so re- markable in the quantity. Many beer-drinkers in any of our large towns could dispose of as much liquor in an even shorter time. It is also worthy of note that Dr. Johnson was a very large man, that he talked much and perspired freely. THOMAS AULD.
 * the quantum for an entire evening, and

SANDERSON FAMILY OF SEBERGHAM, co- CUMBERLAND (9 th S. iii. 129). C. H. C. will find some account of the above family in the ' Life and Remains of Thomas Sanderson,' by the Rev. J. Lowthian, 12mo., Carlisle, 1829. In this volume no account is given of the origin of the family, but it is said to be very ancient. It is also alleged that many genera- tions of the Sandersons lived upon and managed their own paternal estate, chiefly

situated in Sebergham, but extending into the adjoining parish of Castle Sowerby. John Sanderson, the father of Thomas, is said to have left the family property much im- poverished in consequence of his lavish expenditure on husbandry, building, and the superior education of his family, which was large. The epitaph inquired for will be found in the above-named volume, p. 105. It is as follows :

" Epitaph inscribed on a, Mural Monument in

Memory of the author's Parents. By this lov'd pair, whom long experience taught The value of that bliss which virtue brought, No praise was claimed but what the bosom gave, No meed was sought but that beyond the grave ; Unsullied fame, Religion's sacred ray, Still marked the progress of their earthly day ; Hence at that hour when life awaits its close, With all the Christian's faith their hopes arose, To gain the crown which heav'n alone can give That sacred palm which bade their virtues live ! "

W. NIXON.

Warrington.

HISTORICAL PARALLEL (9 th S. iii. 104). MR. A. R. BAYLEY draws attention to a recognized dramatic device in Bolingbroke's (Henry IV.) treatment of Exton and David's dealing with the young Amalekite after Saul's death on Gil- boa. Shakespeare's version of that episode presents a further parallel, in which Exton stands to Henry IV. as Becket's murderer to Henry II. Thus Exton remarks :

" Have I no friend ? " quoth he ; he spake it twice,

And urged it twice together, did he not ?

And speaking it he wistly looked on me

As who should say I would thou wert the man

That would divorce this terror from my heart,

Meaning the king at Pomfret.

The actual means by which Richard was done to death are obscure. On 8 Feb., 1400, the Council recommended that were he still alive he should be placed in safe keeping. By 14 Feb. he was announced as being dead. The official view was that Ije had "pyned to death," or " forehungered." To leave any doubt surrounding the actual fate of a dis- possessed rival presented a danger which the progress of the civil wars clearly brought out. In Henry IV. 's case, doubt of his rival's doom led to rumours of Richard being alive in May, 1402. C. S. TERRY.

" HORSE-MARINE " (9 th S. ii. 26, 1 12, 355, 456). With regard to the reply of B. H. L. at the last reference, I had no intention of putting Forward the origin of the similarity of the uniform of the 17th Lancers to that of the Royal Navy as my own suggestion, as I stated ihat I had seen it suggested elsewhere, but lave now forgotten where. I find, on refer-