Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 6.djvu/465

 «* s. VL NOV. 17, i9oo.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 385 notes, queries, and replies ' N. & Q.' has had on the subject. The first reference was made in the number of the 4th of May, 1850, under ' Notes from Cunningham's " Handbook for London,"' where it is stated that at the beginning of the present century the only official residence in the street was that of the First Lord of the Treasury, but by degrees one house was bought after another —first the Foreign Office, then the Colonial Office, and afterwards a house for the Chan- cellor of the Exchequer. On the 7th of December ALPHA asks for information as to Sir George Downing, to which MR. COOPER, of Cambridge, replies on the 21st of December. On the 25th of January, 1851,.J.P.C.states that " Sir George Downinir was not the son of Calibut Downing, rector of Hackney, but of Emmanuel Downing, a London merchant, who went to New England. Governor Hutchinson, in his 'History of Massachusetts.' (rives the true Recount of Down- ing's affiliation, which has been further confirmed bv Mr. Savage, of Boston, from the public records of New England." On the 15th of March C. H. confirms the accuracy of the memorandum as to Sir G. Downine's parentage by givinar an extract of a letter in Carte's ' Letters,' ii. 319. The letter is from T. Howard to Charles II., written April 5,1660. Under' Notes on Pepys's Diary,' on the 1st of July, 1854, further reference is made to Sir George Downing ; also in 2nd S. xii. 420 : 7th S. 5x. 172 ; 8th S. ii. 464 ; iii. 39. Mr. Choate, in the course of his speech, stated that the school which he had the good fortune to attend in Massachusetts — "the best colony that was ever planted under the English flag, and planted in the best way. because the colonists were driven out to shift for themselves "—had over the entrance arch- way the inscription " Schola Publica Priraa " (it was the first public school organized in Massachusetts), and underneath was in- scribed the name of the first pupil of that school, George Downing, who was also the first graduate sent out by Harvard College in 1642. Mr. Choate then gave an amusing sketch of Downing's career in England, where " he hood- winked Cromwell," and after the Protector's death "tried his arts" upon the "Rump": then, when the Restoration came, " practised his wily arts upon the Merry Monarch," whom he induced to grant to him a great tract of land at Westminster, provided that the houses to be built there should be " handsome and graceful." "So Downing built the houses and many others between there and Westminster Abbey, and the records of the time described them as 'pleasant mansion* having a back-front to St. James's Park.'" N. S. S. STIKLASTAP.—As it will probably be some time yet before we can look for the next edition of that pre-eminently useful book Haydn's ' Dictionary of Dates," it may be well to point out that the name of this Norwegian town is erroneously spelt there, both under 'Battles' (P. 112) and under its own head (p. 1046). Both in Danish and in Dutch the word for town (itad) has no final t, as in German. The dictionary in the second place rightly states that Olaf (after his death called Raint^ was trying to recover the crown of Norway with the assistance of the Swedes : but in the line under ' Battles' it is said that he was defeated by the Swedes. Attempts have often been made to connect this battle with a total eclipse of the sun which occurred in the same year : but Dr. Dreyer, Director of thp Armagh Observatory, has clearly shown (Ohservatorii, vol. xviii. p. 363) that the battle, in which Olaf was slain, took place on 29 July, 1030, and the eclipse a month later, on 31 August. W. T. LYNN. Black-heath. LITTLE LONDON. (See ante, p. 373.)—Little Londons are as common in rural England as California* in France. "The origin of the name" is, in ea«h case, surely, obvious—a combination of the boastfulness of some with the satire of their neighbours.1 D. IMPRESSIONS IN SEALING-WAX OF MARKS ON GOLD AND SILVER PLATE. — There is at present so great and extended an interest taken in the history of old* gold and silver plate, and the hall and other marks stamped upon it, that I venture to think a few direc- tions as to the best manher of taking impres- sions in sealing-wax of these marks may not be unwelcome to those who have no expe- rience in striking this kind of seals. First and above everything see that the plate (at least at the part where the mark is) is per- fectly clean, quite free from even the smallest particle of whiting, preserve. <&c. Of course, the discoloration of silver which comes with lapse of time and lurks in the corners of the mark does no harm. The least morsel of sealing-wax remaining in a mark is fatal to the next impression. Next take care that the metal is quite cold and quite drv. When satisfied that the article is thoroughly clean, cold, and dry, take a piece of notepaper (which must not be too stout or stiff), and drop on it a thick blotch of wax at least twice the size of the mark of which a cast is required, and have the blotch near, but not too near, the edge of the paper; then, while the wax is very hot, press it on the plate, or the plate on it, as is most convenient,