198 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2»d S. X. Sept. 8. 'GO. 



may mention that the late Mr. Lawford, the 

 bookseller of Savile Passage, told me that he had 

 been informed by a very old gentleman who fre- 

 quented his shop that the Tyburn Tree stood as 

 nearly as possible opposite to the public-house 

 in the Edgeware Road, now known by the sign of 

 the Hop Poles, which is at the corner of Upper 

 Seymour Street, he having several times witnessed 

 executions there : amongst them Dr. Dodd's, which 

 had made a strong impression on his memory on 

 account of the celebrity of the culprit, and be- 

 cause, when the hangman was going to put the 

 halter round the doctor's neck, the latter removed 

 his wig, showing his bald shaved head ; and a 

 shower of rain coming on at the same time, some 

 one on the platform hastily put up an umbrella, 

 and held it over the head of the man who had but 

 a minute to live, as if in fear that he might catch 

 cold. James Ksowles. 



Military Centenarians (2"'^ S. ix. 439.) — I 

 beg to hand you the following, thinking it may be 

 one addition to the list contributed by M. S. R. 



Colonel Cromwell Massey entered the service 

 of the East India Company on the Madras esta- 

 blishment in early life, and rose through every 

 successive grade to the rank of colonel. During 

 the course of his career he saw and shared in 

 much hard service. He was on the 10th Septem- 

 ber, 1780, at the sanguinary battle of Perim- 

 bancum, In Mysore, against the forces of Hyder 

 Ali. There he, Colonel Bailie, Captain (afterwards 

 Sir David) Baird, and about 200 British officers 

 were taken prisoners. 



Their capture is thus described. Being without 

 ammunition, their waggons having accidentally 

 blown up, they formed themselves into a square 

 under the fire of the enemy's numerous artillery, 

 and resisted and repelled thirteen different at- 

 tacks, until, borne down and trampled upon under 

 the feet of the elephants and horses, they yielded 

 to numbers, and (though still fighting) were over- 

 powered, and on being seized they were chained 

 together, two and two, and were thus cast into 

 Hyder's dungeons at Seringapatam. In this state, 

 suffering from wounds that had no surgical aid, 

 scarcely clad, and exposed to ill-treatment and 

 indignities, and numerous privations, they lin- 

 gered on as captives for three years and nine 

 months, when the death of Hyder led to their 

 release. 



Colonel Cromwell Massey retired from the army 

 the 1st October, 1800, and died on the 8th Sep- 

 tember, 1845, at St. Lawrence, Ramsgate, com- 

 pleting the patriarchal age of 103. (^Illustrated 

 London News, Sept. 20, 1845.) T. C. N. 



"Pen and Ink Sketches" (2""^ S. ix. 123.) — 

 I am not surprised at the I'emarks of Parathina 

 on the statements about Crabbe the poet in that 

 mendacious book entitled Pen and Ink Sketches, 



&c. ; nor is this the first time I have had to lament 

 the effect of the egregious falsehoods therein pub- 

 lished. If the reader should wish for a glaring 

 example of grave outrage to literary and moral 

 integrity, let him turn to the example cited in 

 Memoirs of Montgomery, vol. vi. p. 253., where 

 the name of the Sheffield poet is passed through 

 the same "limbo of lies." To draw a line be- 

 tween the exact boundaries of fact and fiction in 

 avowed story-telling is not always either easy or 

 necessary : but in biographical sketches of what- 

 ever character, and especially where no warning 

 of romance is given or implied, the case is very 

 different ; and no terms of reprehension can be 

 too severe upon an offender in this way. I make 

 these remarks on this case, because it is not only 

 the most flagrant I ever met with, but because 

 the coinages of the unprincipled writei"'s mischief 

 are being unsuspiciously adopted by the authors 

 of Memoirs, &c., and thus vitiating some of our 

 most delightful literature. If I were to add that 

 I kqow the offender in this instance, I might be 

 saluted with "Name! name!" But I am afraid 

 there are other not less painful secrets allied to 

 this anonymous authorship — I hope not affecting 

 the genuineness of an interesting biography — 

 with a name. I may mention that the Sketches in 

 question first appeared in an American newspaper ; 

 and I shall not soon forget the amazement with 

 which one of the celebrities named read the "say- 

 ings and doings " so gravely attributed to him ! I 

 believe, in some instances, the fabricator of these 

 fictions had seen, and possibly talked with, the 

 parties; but that the bulk of his Boswellising gos- 

 sip is pure and dishonest invention may be proved 

 by any one who will take the trouble, as Para- 

 thina has done, and as I have had occasion to do, 

 to investigate a particular case. D. 



Character of St. Paul's Handwriting (2""* 

 S. ix. 482.)— Will Galatians iv. 15., "If it liad 

 been possible, ye would have plucked out your 

 own eyes, and have given them to me," bear the 

 inference that when St. Paul wrote this epistle his 

 sight was failing or defective ? If so, the use of 

 the larger or uncial Greek character would be a 

 necessity. U. O. N. 



CoLLEOE Salting (2"^ S. x. 10.) — That this 

 practice was recognised by the authorities at 

 Cambridge in the reign of James I. appears from 

 a Diary of Sir Symonds D'Ewes. See College 

 Life in the Time of James the First, p. ix. H. M. 



Paintings (2"'* S. x. 145.) — The following 

 particulars respecting Herman Swaneveldt are 

 gathered from Pilklngton. 



Born at Woerden, in Holland, in 1620, he is 

 said to have been the disciple of Gerard Douw ; 

 but he went very young to Italy, and studied 

 under Claude, frequently with his master ob- 

 serving natural^ effects. He spent all his leisure 



