2°<i S. No 57., Jan. 81. '67.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



85 



practical illustration of his own " doctrine," when 

 at Trafalgar, he made the signal for close action, 

 with a result that fully vindicated the wisdom of 

 the procedure. 



" Merton, Sept. 3rd, 1805. 

 " My dear Lord, 

 " I feel very much obliged by the favour of 

 your letter; and although I am no judge of me- 

 chanism, yet, I dure say, your invention for 

 making cannon range their shot farther than at 

 present will answer your expectation, and on 

 Shore in particular it will be most useful. Wool- 

 wich is the only place where- such experiments 

 can be fairly tried by Scientific men ; on board 

 Slilp our Wish is to get as close as possible, by 

 which I think we suffer less and the enemy 

 [more] than by long Siiots ; and I always endea- 

 vour to inculcate the doctrine get close, and you 

 will be a Victor. 



" I rather think I shall be desired to go forth 

 before your Lordship comes to Town for the 

 Winter ; if I am not I shall take an early oppor- 

 tunity of paying you my personal respects, Being 

 your Lordship's most 



" Faithful and obedient Servant, 

 " Nbi/Son & Bronte." 



W. S. 

 Hastings. 



QUEEN ANNE 8 FAUTHINGS. 



Your observation in 2"^ S. iii. 20., respecting 

 the real small value for purchase of a Queen 

 Anne's farthing, is so just, that it cannot be too 

 extensively made known. There have been in- 

 stances to my personal knowledge of countrymen 

 who had found, or in some way come into pos- 

 session, of what was believed to be a genuine 

 Queen Anne's farthing, but which, in two cases, 

 turned out to be doubly erroneous ; the farthings 

 were counters struck in brass, forming an indif- 

 ferent imitation of a Queen Anne's sixpence. 



In one of the instances I allude to, the man had 

 travelled six hundred miles, partly on foot, in full 

 confidence that the sale of the fivrthing in London 

 would make his fortune. 



The other, who also came several hundred miles, 

 had borrowed money of his neighbours to make 

 the journey. The keenness of the disappointment 

 on both occasions cannot need a comment. 



The prevalence of the error of a Queen Anne's 

 farthing being of extreme value seems to have 

 extended even to Ireland, if we may judge from 

 the accompanying cutting from a newspaper, the 

 Morning Herald of Aug. 25, 182-3. 



"Insolvent Court. — Dublin, Aug. 16. 



" E. I. Winter opposed by Mr. Clarke, on behalf of se- 

 veral creditors. 

 " Air. M'Mahon opposed her on behalf of a poor woman 



named Mary Molony, for defrauding her of a Queen Anne 

 farthing. 



" Mary Molony examined. — Was in possession of a 

 Queen Anne farthing, which had been in her family for 

 several generations ; it was left her by her mother ; on 

 the 5th June, 1817, pawned it with the insolvent's mo- 

 ther ; witness got at sundry times U. Mrs. Winter was 

 present when witness was offered some hundreds for it. 

 Witness brought two gentlemen to Winter's house, and 

 the brother of the insolvent offered her a farthing, which 

 he alleged was her's, but which was a counterfeit. 



" Cross-examined. — Mr. Lamb, the auctioneer, offered 

 her one hundred guineas for it ; Mrs. Winter told witness 

 she pawned the farthing with her son Albert for 200/. 



" Anthony MolonJ^ — Is brother to the lust witness ; 

 his sister had a genuine Queen Anne farthing ; it was ad- 

 vertised in tlie newspaper, and Mr. Potts, of Saunders's 

 News Letter, offered lOOZ. for it ; Miss Huband, daughter 

 of Counsellor Huband, offered 150/., and other offers were 

 made ; Major Sirr offered 160/. ; his sister was in great 

 distress, and pawned it with the Winters ; witness went 

 with a friend to release the farthing for his sister, and the 

 insolvent told him a gentleman in Gloucester Street had 

 it, but would not tell his name ; he was offered 250/. by d 

 Kerry gentleman. 



" Cross-examined. — Mr. Baxter had the farthing in 

 his possession for three days, and returned it ; Mr. Baxter 

 belonged to Saunders's Office; witness was not present 

 when the counterfeit one was offered to his sister; two 

 young gentlemen of the name of Dwver were. 



" Mr. Rhody White sworn. — In consequence of an ad- 

 vertisement in the newspaper eight or nine years back, 

 witness went to Montague Court, and saw the witness, 

 Mary Molonj', who showed him what she called a Queen 

 Anne farthing, and asked 350/. for it. 



" [It was here stated, that the farthing got into tlie 

 possession of Home, of the Royal Arcade, who got 800/. 

 for it.] 



" Another gentleman, who, as well as Mr. White, hap- 

 pened to be accidentally in the Court, said he saw the 

 farthing, and thought he' would know it again. 



" It was alleged, on the part of the insolvent, that his 

 mother still had the farthing, and would give it up 

 when paid the demand of about 20/., which she had 

 against it. 



" It was directed by the Court, and agreed to by the 

 insolvent, that the farthing should be deposited with the 

 Registrar to be inspected. 



"Mr. Clarke now opposed. — The insolvent, he said, 

 had been a baker, and contracted debts with several flour 

 merchants to the amount of upwards of 800/. ; he has re- 

 turned debts due to him to about the same amount, but 

 affixed no dates to these debts ; but it has been ascer- ' 

 tained that a great number of them had been nine years 

 due ; that the persons are either out of the country or 

 dead, so that none of them are available ; he had charged 

 his house-keeping, although a single man, at the rate of 

 365 guineas a year, with other extraordinary expenses, 

 although he has returned no profit made by his business. 



" George Fearon, Esq. — He on his oath did not think 

 it was the same that he saw with Mary Molony in Mon- 

 tague Court ; it is not, according to his recollection, like 

 it. . 



" The case was ordered to stand over to Monday week, 

 to give an opportunity of inspecting the farthing, which 

 was lodged with the "Registrar in Court, and in order to 

 have the insolvent's books lodged and inspected by the 

 creditors." 



L. B. M. 



