Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 8.djvu/162

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NOTES .AND QUERIES. [9 th s. vm. AUG. 17, 1901.

polished - granite cenotaph with a long in- scription substituted. This inscription is now nearly illegible, the iron railing round the tomb is rusted, and the whole structure is becoming dilapidated. It is a curious fact that granite, which is practically imperish- able in the rainless climate of Egypt, rapidly deteriorates in our humid atmosphere, and the huge mass of stone which marks Foscolo's grave will probably gradually become a formless mass unless something is done to arrest the disintegrating effect of the London climate.

I have called the attention of the Italian ambassador to the condition of the cenotaph, but without avail. JNO. HEBB.

THE CORONATION STONE (9 th S. viii. 63). COL. RIVETT-CARNAC will find an account of the above stone in ' Crowns and Coronations, by William Jones. It gives not only the legendary origin, but a geological description and the dimensions. As to the marks, it says there is a rectangular groove or indent on the upper surface into which a metal plate, in- scribed with a legend, might have been fixed ; and at one corner of the groove is a small cross slightly cut. It also refers the reader to an article in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, by Dr. W. F. Skene and Dr. John Stuart, and 'The Corona- tion Stone,' by the former, published by Edmonstone & Douglas.

JOHN RADCLIFFE.

BARBICAN WATCH TOWER (9 th S. viii. 83). It does not seem quite clear from MR. WRIGHT'S note whether hois referring to the old Roman watch tower, or to the watch house, which was at a later period erected on or near to the site of the watch tower.

Stow himself, in the last edition of his 'Survey' published in his lifetime, viz., in 1603, does not mention this later watch house. He only tells us that the old Roman watch tower was destroyed by Henry III. in 1267, when he reoccupied the City of London after his struggle with the barons, and that its site was subsequently given by Edward III to Robert Ufford, Earl of Suffolk, in 1336 (Stow's 'Survey,' ed. 1603, p. 71). If this statement is correct, it is improbable that there would have come down to us any trust- worthy representation of the old Roman watch tower. Such a remark, however, does not apply to the later watch house, of which we find a description in Strype's edition of Stows 'Survey' published in 1720, vol. i, book in., p. 93. This watch house, Strype tells us, was erected on the site of -the old watch tower, fronting Red Cross Street, and

it is so marked on Roque's large map of London, 1763. Jesse, writing in 1871, in his 'London : its Celebrated Characters,' vol. iii. p. 20, says that the remains of this watch house, which stood on the site of the old Roman specula, " were visible in the latter- half of the last century." I have not, how- ever, been able to find any print or drawing of the watch house, which is represented in Roque's map as standing alone in the middle of the street at the north end of Red Cross Street, at its junction with the Barbican, and not in a line with the other houses, as shown in the engraving in Knight's ' London.'

J. G.

"ZAREBA" (9 th S. vii. 224). It may be noted that the use of this word is being revived in a curious fashion, Capt. Robert Marshall having brought it into two of his comedies, ' The Noble Lord ' and ' The Second in Command,' both produced in London in 1900. Its employment in the former, indeed, was considered by some of the "first- nighters" to furnish internal evidence that the piece had been written some years before, when, because of the long struggle against the Mahdi, " zareba " was as frequently to be seen in the newspapers as "laager" is now. ALFRED F. ROBBINS.

CHAPLAIN TO WILLIAM III. (9 th S. viii. 83). Rowland Davies, of the Hereford family, was appointed chaplain to one of the regi- ments that accompanied King William III. to Ireland, and arrived there 11 May, 1690. See his journal in the volume of the Camden Society for 1857. F. R. DAVIES.

Hawthorn, Black Rock.

AUTHORS OF QUOTATIONS WANTED (9 th S. viii. 85).

So nigh is grandeur to our dust,

So near is God to man, When Duty whispers low, " Thou must,"

The youth replies, " I can !" ' Voluntaries,' Ralph Wa

Waldo Emerson.

He is oft the wisest man Who is not wise at all.

' The Oak and the Broom,' Wordsworth. CONSTANCE RUSSELL.

Is not " Have communion with few," &c., merely an amplification of the proverb " Have but few friends, though many acquaintances," in Spanish "Conocidos muchos, amigos pocos"? But a modern Doulton "specimen" jug in my possession has this house motto in a slightly different form, namely : Have communion with all,

Be familiar with one, Deal justly with all, Speak evil of none.

J. H. MACMlCHAEL.