318 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



f 2nd s. YII. ApBtt 16. '59. 



Sword-blade Company of London, as connected 

 with Ireland ? Abhba. 



:Ptnar €mtvU^ toitl) ^niiotvg. 



Railways in Great Britain and Ireland. — In 

 what years were the leading railways in Great 

 Britain and Ireland opened to the public ? Which 

 was the earliest railway on the atmospheric prin- 

 ciple ? and is there any such railway at present 

 in operation ? Abhba. 



[The first experiment with a locomotive steam-engine, 

 on an ordinary tramway, was made by Richard Trevethic 

 in 1804, in the neighbourhood of Merthyr Tydvil, Gla- 

 morganshire. The engine succeeded in dragging after it 

 several waggons containing ten tons of bar-iron, at the 

 rate of about five miles an hour. It was never emploj'ed 

 to do regular work, but was abandoned after a few expe- 

 riments. The next projector of a railway steain engine 

 was Mr. Blenkinsop of Leeds, who, 12 Aug. 1812, began 

 running his patent engines on the tramway extending 

 from the Middleton Collieries to his native town, a dis- 

 tance of about 3^ miles. Jrlis engines continued for many 

 3'ears to be employed in the haulage of coal, and fur- 

 nished the first instance of locomotive power for com- 

 mercial purposes. On the 25 July, 1814, an improved 

 locomotive engine, constructed bj' George Stephenson, 

 commenced running upon the Killingworth Railway, and 

 proved to be the most successful engine of its kind that 

 had j'et been invented. On an ascending gradient of 1 in 

 450, the engine succeeded in drawing after it eight loaded 

 carriages of thirt3' tons weight, at about four miles an 

 hour. In the same year (1814) Mr. Wm. James con- 

 structed a railway from Stratford-on-Avon to Moreton- 

 in-the-Marsh, for the special purpose of being worked 

 by locomotive power. A much more important under- 

 taking about the same time, however, was that of Mr. 

 Edw. Pease of Darlington (a man of whom it was 

 said, " he could look a hundred years a-head," and) 

 •who, with the assistance of Stephenson, established the 

 Stockton and Darlington Railway, which was opened 

 for traffic 27 Sept. 1825. That was the first public 

 highway on which locomotive engines were exclusively 

 employed. Its success led to the construction of the 

 Liverpool and Manchester Line, opened 15 Sept. 1830. 

 On the last-mentioned occasion Mr. Huskisson, whilst in 

 the act of shaking hands with " The Iron Duke," was 

 thrown down and run over by the " Rocket " engine, 

 when the wounded body of the unfortunate gentleman 

 was convej'ed a distance of fifteen miles in twenty-five 

 minutes, or at the rate of thirty-six miles an hour, — an 

 incredible speed at that time. The Liverpool and Bir- 

 mingham Line was opened 4 Jul}', 1837 ; the London and 

 Birmingham, 17 Sept. 1838 ; the London and Southamp- 

 ton, 11 May, 1840; London and Bristol, 30 June, 1841; 

 South-Eastern, 1849; Dublin and Kingstown, 17 Dec. 

 1834; Belfast and Portadown, 1842; Dublin and Drog- 

 heda, 26 May, 1844 ; Dublin and Carlow, 10 Aug. 1846 ; 

 Belfast and Count}' Down, April, 1850 ; Cork and Ban- 

 don, Dec. 1851 ; Tipperarj- and Clonmel, April, 1852. 



A railway on the atmospheric principle was first patented 

 by Messrs. Clegg and Samuda, who publicly tested its 

 working in 1840, on an unfinished portion of the West 

 London Railwaj'. The results of tlie experiment were 

 80 satisfactory that the Dublin and Kingston Company 

 adopted it between Kingston and Dalkey, Sept. 1843 ; and 

 the London and Croydon Company in 1845. The South 

 Devon Company also adopted it for a while, on a portion 

 of their line (i. e. from Exeter to Starcross). The atmo- 



spheric mode of traction, however, has been, we believe, 

 everywhere abandoned, and the prediction of George 

 Stephenson fulfilled : " It won't do : it is only the fixed 

 engines and ropes over again, in another form."] 



Fontibus ex Grcccis. — Dr. Dibdin observes of 

 a copy of the Vulgate in the Spencer Library, 

 that it is chiefly valuable as being an edition 

 Fontibus ex Oracis ; and he then proceeds to 

 quote the colophon of the book at length. I 

 should be much obliged to any of your corre- 

 spondents who would inform me what is the first 

 edition to which this colophon is annexed, and 

 why its presence increases the value of an edition. 

 I have it in an edition of the Vulgate as late as 

 1520, printed at Lyons by Gueynard, alias Pinet. 



[We are indebted to the kindness of Geo. Offor, Esq., 

 for the following reply to this Query : — " Dr. Dibdin in his 

 Library Companion (p. 15.) states, that 'It is almost es- 

 sential to the character of a well-chosen biblical collection 

 to have the first Latin version from the Hebrew Text, and 

 a first similar version from the Greek Text ; each in con- 

 tradistinction to the Latin Vulgate. These impressions 

 are called Fontibus ex Greeds, and Fontibus ex Hebrais. 

 The former first appeared in 1479, the latter in 1696.' 

 The Doctor is wrong in both these dates ; the second edi- 

 tion of the Fontibus ex Greeds was 1479 ; the first not 

 having a date. The Fontibus ex Hebrais was published, 

 I believe, for the first time in Rome, 1688. Le Long de- 

 scribes nine editions of the Fontibus ex Greeds, 1. witiiout 

 date; 2.1479; 3.1481; 4. 1483; 5. 1485; 6. 1486; 7. 

 1486 ; 8. 1487 ; 9. 1489. None of these editions have the 

 name of the printer or the place of publication. They 

 have the following lines : — 



' Fontibus ex grsecis hebraeorum quoque libris 



Emendata satis et decorata simul 

 Biblia sum prsesens superos ego testor et astra 



Est impressa nee in orbe mihi similis. 

 Singula qureque loca cum Concordantibus extant 



Orthographia simul quam bene pressa manet." 

 And fifteen lines, beginning with — 



' Biblia quem retinet sequitur nunc metricus ordo.' 

 The value of these editions is much greater than that of 

 ordinary Latin Bibles, on account of their rarity, and of 

 their containing the 151st Psalm of David on slaying Go- 

 liath. I possess a beautilul manuscript copy in folio on 

 vellum and two printed copies. — George Offoe."] 



St. Barbara. — Is St. Barbe the patron saint of 

 artillerymen, as commonly reported ? and, if so, 

 what is the origin of the idea. H. M. H. 



[In Mrs. Jameson's Sacred and Legendary Art, edit. 

 1857, vol. ii. p. 492., is an interesting account of St. Bar- 

 bara, Fr. Sainte Barbe, the patron saint of armourers and 

 gunsmiths; of fire-arms and fortifications; and who is 

 invoked against thunder and lightning, and all accidents 

 arising from explosions of gunpowder. " The legend of 

 St. Barbara," says Mrs. Jameson, " was introduced from 

 the East, about the same time with that of St. Catherine. 

 She is the armed Pallas or Bellona of the antique mytho- 

 logy, reproduced under the aspect of a Christian martyr. 

 As patroness of fire-arms and against sudden death, the 

 effigy of St. Barbara is a frequent ornament on shields, 

 armour, and particularly great guns and fieldpieces. Iler 

 whole histor}' is found on a suit of armour which the 

 Emperor Maximilian sent as a present to Henry VIII. in 

 1509, now preserved in the Tower."] 



