Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 8.djvu/137

 9*s. vm. AUG. 10, 1901.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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upon the Chicago side of the World's Fair grounds. Upon heavy wood piles was a superstructure of brick brought up to within five feet of the water-line. Above, in every respect, it was practically, and to all appear- ance, an actual ironclad. This costly model was an exact replica of a 10,300 ton coast liner battleship, complete in every depart- ment, from sleeping quarters to gun-deck, and was steel armour-plated below the berth deck, whilst above decks were steel turrets and redoubts, through whose portals pro- jected 8 in. and 13 in. guns. She also carried an imposing armament of usual heavy ordnance. Her total length was 248 ft., ana her beam 65 ft. 3 in. Throughout the whole period of the exhibition (six months) she was manned and officered with a crew of two hundred men, who went through daily drills, and in many respects performed the actual duties required when at service on the high seas. During the time of the exhibition I visited her many times, and the illusion was simply perfect.

The reverse side of the picture of ships of war on land is that of the Dutch fleet frozen up on the river Y before Amsterdam nearly one hundred years ago, charged over the ice and captured by invading French troopers. It is difficult to realize the Dutch admiral, anchored half a mile or so from shore, flying the signal " Prepare to receive cavalry."

HARRY HEMS.

Carrara.

ROYAL BOROUGH OF KENSINGTON (9 th S. viii. 82, 107). Kensington Palace was formerly situated in the parish of St. Mar- garet's, Westminster, but under the scheme made for the revision of boundaries under the London Government Act, 1899, the palace and grounds have been included within the borough of Kensington. Kensington was a district which was situated partly in the parish of St. Mary Abbots, partly in that of St. Margaret, and partly in that of Pad- dington. The King seems to have accurately described the place of Queen Victoria's birth as Kensington, if it is regarded in its ordinary signification of a district. It may be worth while to record in these columns the letter which the Home Secretary addressed to the Mayor of Kensington, Sir Henry Seymour King, K.C.I.E., M.P., communicating the conferment on the borough of Kensington of the title of "Royal " :

Home Office, Whitehall, July 13.

SIR, In reply to your letter of the 26th ult., with

regard to the address forwarded by the council of

the borough of Kensington in December last, for

presentation to her late Majesty, praying that she

night be graciously pleased to confer upon the jorough the title of the " Royal Borough of Ken- sington," I have to inform you that I have had the ic-nour to lay the request of the council before the King, and I am commanded by His Majesty to inform you that, in accordance with the expressed wish of her late Majesty that her birth at Kensing- ton Palace should be so commemorated, His Majesty las been graciously pleased to command that the aorough should in future be designated "The Royal Borough of Kensington." I am, Sir, your obedient servant, CHARLES T. RITCHIE.

W. F. PEIDEAUX.

WILLIAM HONE (9 th S. vii. 408, 498). I have already sent to MR. ANDREWS direct a copy of the inscription on Hone's gravestone ; but in view of MR. CLARK'S failure to find the spot in Abney Park cemetery where he lies interred, perhaps I may be allowed to say a few words in ' N. & Q.' I am somewhat sur- prised that MR. CLARK should fail to find the grave if (as I suppose) he possesses a copy of the Rev. James Bran white French's 'Walks in Abney Park.' On the plan which accom- panies this valuable little book its exact position is marked. I should roughly describe it as being on the left-hand side of the way, a few paces down the outermost path branch- ing north from the main road leading from the entrance gates to the church The head- stone bears the following inscription :

The family grave

of

William Hone,

who was born at Bath

the 3rd of June, A.D. 1780,

and

died at Tottenham the 6th of November,

A.D. 1842. And of his wife

Sarah Hone,

who was born in Southwark the 30th of November, 1781,

and

died at Stoke-Newington

the 26th of September, 1864.

Here lie also two infant grandchildren,

Alice Romola Lovati, aged 3 years and 8 mos.

Arthur Frankly n Hemsley, aged 1 year and 10 mos.

Also, Matilda,

third daughter of the above,

born on the 26th of July, 1805,

died on the 10th of September, 1884.

With respect to the Dickens episode at Hone's funeral, may I be allowed to ask a question 1 ? I have an article dealing fully with this subject, which was published in the Evangelical Magazine for January, 1873. It appears under the heading ' Short Essays by J. S. E.,' and the writer states that he was one of those present in the room whenBinney denounced the writer of a recently published