Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 9.djvu/325

 g<- s. ix. APRIL 19, 1902.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

317

house belonging to the church. The quitrent was collected by Alexander Colston at this time ; so that this " post fine " does not appear to have been paid to the king. The house mentioned in the above extract was bought with a bequest of 501. by Mrs. Tyroe.

LIBRARIAN. Wandsworth.

HOUR OF SUNDAY MORNING SERVICE (9 th S. ix. 67, 155). James Paterson's 'Pietas Lon- dinensis,' 1714, gives the fullest information as to the practice in London at that time. For the benefit of those to whom the book may not be known I have taken about twenty churches at random, and find the greatest possible diversity as to times of services. A very large percentage had no morning prayer on Sunday ; five of them held it at 11 o'clock. St. Andrew's (Hoi- born), St. Andrew Undershaft, St. Anne's (Soho), and St. John's (Walbrook) had those services at 6 or 7 and 11 o'clock ; St. Clement Danes at 7 and 11 ; St. Christopher's (Threadneedle Street) at 6 ; whilst two others were at 10 and one at 8. I find that on weekdays eighteen held the service at 11 and two at 10 o'clock.

WM. NORMAN.

Plumstead.

THE LOCOMOTIVE AND GAS (9 th S. vi. 227, 358 ; ix. 118). Murdock's model locomotive is in the Birmingham Art Gallery, and there is an exact reproduction in the Machinery and Inventions Department of the Victoria and Albert Museum at South Kensington. My grandfather was a Soho man, and he knew Murdock well. I was acquainted with the late Mr. William Murdock, a great-grand- son of the engineer, who died 31 October, 1895. I mention these facts in order to show that prima facie I am not likely to belittle any of Murdock's claims as an inventor. But I cannot allow it to go forth without a pro- test that Murdock is to be regarded as the inventor of the locomotive. This is not the place to discuss questions of priority of invention, and I refer your readers to the labours of Trevithick, as set out in his ' Life ' by his son, and to the collection of old loco- motives at South Kensington.

I do not remember to nave seen the snuff- box alluded to by W. G. D. F. (ante, p. 118), though Mr. W. Murdock showed me several interesting memorials of his great-grand- father. Your correspondent asserts at the above reference, on the authority of Mr. John Murdock, that the snuffbox in question was " the only reward his father ever received for his invention of gas." It should, however, be

remembered that the Royal Society awarded the Rumford Medal to Murdock for a paper on the manufacture of gas, which will be found in the Phil. Trans, for 1808. The manufacture of gas-lighting plant subse- quently became an important Soho industry, and Murdock, no doubt, profited directly or ndirectly by it. It is quite right that a tablet should have been placed on Murdock's louse at Redruth, but it must not be inferred styled by some of your correspondents, was aerfected there. It was, moreover, known ong before that an inflammable gas was given off during the dry distillation of coal, and what Murdock did in Cornwall was to demonstrating its practical usefulness.
 * hat "the invention of gas," as it is oddly
 * ry the experiment on a large scale, thus

I am sending you with this a copy of the reprint of a tract on gas-lighting, originally published by Murdock in 1809, which per- haps you will be good enough to transmit to your correspondent W. G. D. F. with my compliments. It will be seen that Murdock makes no reference whatever to his early experiments at Redruth. R. B. P.

[The pamphlet has been forwarded.]

BRISTOW FAMILY (9 th S. viii. 404 : ix. 171). MR. RADCLIFFE gives valuable information regarding the Bristow family very complete so far as it goes. Can he tell me if any of the family are living 1 John Bristow had at least six grandsons. Surely there must be some descendants alive. OWEN Ross.

"A MAD WORLD, MY MASTERS" (9 th S. ix.

68). Confirming the Editor's statement that the expression appears to have been pro- verbial, it may be mentioned that "Tis a mad world, my masters," occurs as the first line of Taylor's * Western Voyage,' written by the Water Poet (1580-1654).

ARTHUR MAYALL.

CELTIC (9 th S. ix. 246). The Athenaeum reviewer says, in the passage quoted, that Sir Lewis Morris is "Celtic to the marrow." Grant Allen, however, used to contend that there is not a pure-blooded Celt in Wales, and I fancy he was right. Judging by ray own experience, I should say that neither of Welsh nor English families is it safe to say that they are pure-blooded. My wife's father was proud of his " pure " Welsh descent, and each of his first two wives was as Welsh as he. He was tall and dark; they also were dark, but not so tall. The only child of the first wife was very dark, short, and stout. Most of the children of the second marriage were also dark, but inclined to be tall. Three