Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/463

 9* S. IV. Dec. 16, '99.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 495 Matters of opinion are as plentiful, but do not come within the range of 'N. it Q.' Such are the serious studies of Winkle, Snodgrass, Tupinan, &c. No writer nas suffered more from the enthusiasm of his readers and followers than Dickens—no book more than the ' Pickwick Papers.' Much has been written about it, but the results are most depressing. An eminent writer, who gets amusement out of Thackeray's Jeameses, pretends to think that the strength of Dickens is his " immortal grotesques"—a most monstrous statement. But the general tone of 'Pickwick' appre- ciation does little to improve or remove it. The coarser outlines are always insisted on ; absurd theories (as in the case of Trundle) are pushed to extremes even more absurd ; " identification" goes beyond the bounds of earth ; but the real wonder of the work (which fortunately remains) is made no clearer. Enough copies of ' Pickwick ' have been sold, more probably than will ever be truly read ; " students " exist in scores ; but it all leads to nothing but a mass of writing and quoting, in the great part of which the one thing lacking seems to be a true knowledge of the book. Could any result be more disastrous? George Marshall. Sefton Park, Liverpool. The Poet Parnell.—The date of Parnell's death appears to be an open question, as to which different biographers and critics take up independent positions. Sometimes even the same writer gives diverse statements on the subject. Dr. Johnson says he died at Chaster in July, 1717, in his thirty-eighth year, when on his way to Ireland. Thomas Campbell, in ' Specimens of the British Poets,' does not venture upon the month, but agrees with Johnson as to the year and the place of the death. Mitford, in the Life prefixed to the Aldine edition of Parnell's 'Poems,' coin- cides in one place with Johnson, but at a later point in the narrative says that " Par- nell's first excursion to England began about the year 1706, and he died in 1718." In Mr. Humphry Ward's 'English Poets,' vol. iii., Mr. Edmund Gosse states that the poet " was buried at Chester on the 18th or October, 171"8"—fifteen months after death, if previous biographers are to be trusted. Mr. Gosse's view, however, appears to be that the death also occurred in the year to which he assigns the burial, for in his 'Eighteenth Century Literature' he expresses the opinion that " Parnell's best pieces all belong to the period between 1713, when he came under Pope's influence, and his early death in 1718." In his 'Short History of English Literature,' p. 562, Prof. Saintsbury says, "He felt the death of his wife very severely, and himself died young in 1717"; but, as if desirous of being perfectly impartial, he gives 1718 as the date of death in his index. On the whole, the weight of evidence appears to be in favour of 1717, but it would be curious to know how 1718cameinto the question at all. Mr. Gosse's specific statement about the burial seems, in particular, to need elucidation. The alterna- tive submitted by Mitford and Prof. Saints- bury is akin to the bewildering statements regarding the respective birthplaces of Homer and Mr. Gladstone. Thomas Bayne. [The discrepancies are certainly odd. Mr. G. A. Aitken seems to put the matter at rest by giving in the' D.N. B.,' and also in the memoir attached to the new Aldine edition of Parnell, the register of death in Holy Trinity Church, as sent him by the Rev. E. Marston: "Burials, 1718, Arch Deacon Tho. Par- nell, D.D., Octolrer 24th."] Hebb Family. (See 8th S. i. 493.)—I think Dr. R. G. Hebb, 9, Suffolk Street, S.W., might be able to give your correspondent some in- formation as to the Worcester Hebb family. Christopher Henry Hebb, M.R.C.S., born 1771, died 1861, aged ninety, was a surgeon at Worcester, and was medical attendant to Lucien Bonaparte at Thorngrove, near Wor- cester. He was the first mayor of Worcester, and published several works on medical subjects (see 'Modern English Biography,' p. 1415). I have some notes on the Hebb family, which I shall be glad to place at your corre- spondent's disposal. John Hebb. 2, Canonbury Mansions, N. Embalming Milk.—It may be of interest to note that in American agricultural periodi- cals the practice of adding various preserva- tives to milk is now generally spoken of as "embalming milk" (see Experiment Station Record, vol. x.). II. Hedger Wallace. Did Wellington and Nelson ever Meet? (See ante, p. 366.)—For an affirmative answer to this question, see Croker's 'Correspondence and Diaries,' vol. ii. pp. 233-4. The account of their meeting is the Duke's own relation. F. W. J. Ebber8tou Vicarage, York. "Middlin'." (See ante, p. 416.)—In the quotation from the Daily Aews at the above reference Lieut. Quilliam's use of this word is spoken of as if it were a peculiarity of the Manx dialect. It is by no means so. The British rustic—especially in the North—does not often use superlatives. " Doing middlin'"