2»« S. X. JtiL-^ 14. '60.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



23 



towards the close of the last century, in Well 

 Meadows, Paisley. Mr. Dick was led to this con- 

 clusion by finding that name in a list of sub- 

 scribers appended to a copy of Knox's History of 

 the Reformation, which was published at Paisley 

 in 1791, and which had remained in his family. 

 His uncle's name was also in the list, and he re- 

 collected to have heard his mother say : — 



" There was a very clever man living in Paisley at 

 that time, that had formerly lived in Renfrew. He asked 

 my uncle, as they were acquainted, to canvass for sub- 

 scribers in Renfrew. The said clever man could light a 

 room with coal reek (smoke), and make lightning speak 

 and write upon the wall," &c. 



Mr. Dick plausibly argues that the man who 

 solicited his uncle to canvass for subscribers pro- 

 bably subscribed himself; and he says, "he thinks 

 it gives some probability to the name being Charles 

 Marshall," that he finds this to be the only name 

 in the list of about 1000 subscribers which an- 

 swers to the initials C. M. 



Mr. Dick's letter, prior to its publication, was 

 foi'warded by the editor of the Commonwealth to 

 Sir David Brewster, who seems to have given it a 

 very hasty and careless perusal ; for, instead of 

 even doubting the writer's " probabilities," he ac- 

 tually assumes in his reply, ^s facts, that "Charles 

 Marsliall was a resident in Renfrew about the time 

 when C. M.'s letter was written ;" that "Charles 

 Marshall was a clever man" — that " Charles Mar- 

 shall Avas known as a person who could make 

 lightning speak," &c. — and that he was not only 

 the inventor of the electric telegraph, but also of 

 coal gas. 



Now all this is pure assumption. Even Mr. 

 Dick says nothing of the kind. He merely finds 

 Charles Marshall's name in a list of subscribers to 

 a work published at Paisley in 1791, or nearly 

 forty years after C. M.'s letter was written ; and 

 he has reason to believe that a certain *' clever 

 man," who was conversant with chemistry and 

 electricity, and who had formerly resided in Ren- 

 frew, took a special interest in the book. But 

 then even Mr. Dick's inference, that the man 

 who asked others to canvass for a book would 

 probably subscribe himself, is little consistent with 

 our modern experience in these matters : for 

 where do we find canvassers for publications put- 

 ting down their own names as subscribers ? 



I mention these things merely to show how 

 readily even men of science and acute reasoners, 

 like Sir David Brewster, may jump at unwar- 

 rantable conclusions when they do not take the 

 trouble to study their subject attentively; and 

 the article in the Cornhill Magazine for this 

 month is sufficient proof how easily the public are 

 misled by the authority of great names in matters 

 of scientific faith. 



That the Charles Marshall who resided at Well 

 Meadows, Paisley, in 1791, was not the C. M. of 



the Scots Magazine, and therefore not the inven- 

 tor of the electric telegraph, I succeeded in ascer- 

 taining positively about a year ago, on the highest 

 possible authority. Through the kindness of a 

 venerable friend in Paisley I traced out the fact 

 that a Charles Marshall, who once resided in the 

 Well Meadows, had come from Aberdeen ; and 

 that a son of his, a clergyman, was still living. 

 Discovering the address of this gentleman, I applied 

 to him for information : and he states in his reply 

 that he had no doubt his father was the Charles 

 Marshall who appears in Mr. Dick's list; but 

 that he could not be the C. M. of the Scots^ 

 Magazine. 



About six or eight months ago an anonymous 

 letter appeared in the Glasgow Herald, the writer 

 of which pretended to state, on good authority, 

 that C. M. was a Charles Morrison — who was born 

 in Greenock, resided for some time in Renfrew, 

 and finally emigrated to America. The story was 

 plausible ; but, although the writer has been twice 

 called upon to produce either his name or autho- 

 rities, he has hitherto declined to do so. And 

 from certain inconsistencies in his alleged facts, I 

 have little or no doubt in my own mind that the 

 letter was a deliberate hoax. 



I have merely farther to state, that at the time 

 when C. M.'s letter was first disinterred from the 

 Scots' Magazine, and republished in the Reformers^ 

 Gazette in Nov. 1853, the most diligent search 

 was made by the schoolmaster of Renfrew, who is 

 also session-clerk, not only in the records of the 

 kirk-session, but also among the old people of the 

 parish, without a shadow of success : and, strange 

 as it may appear, the name of C. M. remains at 

 the present moment as great a mystery as that of 

 Junius. Geo. Bi^aih. 



Glasgow. 



STRANGE PASSAGE IN THE HISTORY OF THE 

 DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. 



The particulars of the following historical instance 

 of the supernatural being very little known, we have 

 thought it proper to supply the curious readers of 

 our publication with the account in extenso. It is 

 extracted as it appears in a veiy reverend old 

 volume now lying before the present writer, and 

 displaying the manuscript annotations of indivi- 

 duals long deposited in their final homes, though 

 their thoughts on these strange subjects, as 

 equally as ours, still live. The old paper and 

 type, the rusty ink, the traces of the little acts as 

 the reader sat and marked, and more especially 

 the vivid notions of forgotten men, over whose 

 graves more than two centuries and a half of 

 grass has waved, and whose ideas, at this moment 

 inspected, might have been those of any living 

 man among us yesterday, are striking. What- 

 ever may be thought of the absolute fact of the 



