2»d S. X. Oct. 13. '60.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



281 



LONDON, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13. 1860. 



SO. 250.— CONTENTS. 



NOTES — Dr. Gowin Knight, 281 —A Relic of the Chatter- 

 ton Controversy: Dr. Glynn and George Steevens, 282— 

 Eeligion of the Druses, 284 — Coronation and Proclama- 

 tion of the " Queen of the Gleaners," 285. 



MiNOE Notes : — Servants' Wages in the last Century- 

 Dog-collar Inscription — Aged Brido and Bridegroom — 

 Mountain Ash, Etymology of Names of —Unintentional 

 Puns, 286. 



QUERIE S : — Ruggle's " Ignoramus " — George Aungier ~ 

 German Heroine — Earl of Fife — Charter of Charles II. — 

 Bibliographical Query — Round Robin — Paraphernalia — 

 Meaning of "Lun" — John Aylmer, iElraer, or Elmer, 

 Bishop of London— The Gleaners' Bell — Bishop Wilson's 

 MS. Instrvictions to Candidates for Orders — Battle of 

 Baug6 — A Reputed Holbein — Historical [Medals— Stuart 

 Adherents, 280. ,. .. 



Qtjeeies with Answees : — Thomas Betton — Lists of Non- 

 jurors— Marriage with the Church Key — Double Sur- 

 names—Gainsborough's Chef-d'OSuvre— Baptismal Names, 

 289. 



REPLIES: — Ghost in the Tower, 291 — Maurice Greene, 

 Mus. Doc, 292 — Lawrence of Studley and Kirkby Fleet- 

 ham, /6. — Sayers the Caricaturist, 293— Trade Marks, &c., 

 294— Slang Names of Coins — Cockney — Tavern Signs — 

 Celtic Surnames — Csesar's Dialogue : God and the King 

 — Burial in an Upright Postui'e — Stone Coffins — Autho- 

 rised Version— Longevity — Longevity of Clerical Incum- 

 bents — Ferrandine or Ferrandeen — John a Lasco — 

 Hereditary Alias — Ale and Beer: Barm and Yeast — 

 Fire-places in Church Towers — Suffragan Bishop of Ips- 

 wich — Miss as a Title — " Pitadise of the Soul," &c., 295. 



Notes on Books. 



DR. GOWIN KNIGHT. 



In Mr. Charles Knight's English Cyclopedia 

 of Arts and Sciences, is an article, " British Mu- 

 seum," written, I have never doubted, by Mr. 

 Watts of that Institution, and occupying thirty- 

 five columns. It is a remarkable specimen of care- 

 ful method and condensation, and, with the article 

 "Libraries" in the same work, is one of the best 

 models of an historical Cyclopaedia article which I 

 have ever seen. I should hope it would be the 

 nucleus of a volume ; and I think that many of 

 your contributors would be able to furnish some- 

 thing towards the additional materials. I will not 

 venture upon a general title, number one, because 

 number two may not follow : and as, according to 

 the proverb, the second blow makes a fray, so the 

 second number makes a series. But if I find a 

 seconder, you may take care of number one in the 

 Index. 



Of the six librarians — Knight, Maty (Dutch), 

 Morton, Planta (Swiss), Ellis, Panizzi (Italian) — 

 every other one has been a foreigner. It may be 

 hoped that this alternation will continue : though 

 so far accidental, there are solid reasons in favour 

 of it, which will not fail to suggest themselves. 

 More on this subject would be out of place : my 

 present affair is with Dr. Gowin Knight, the first 



of the principal librarians, who held his office from 

 1756 to his death in 1772. 



Of him the article states as follows : — 



" Little is known of Dr. Gowin Knight, the first chief 

 officer, whose claims to the appointment prevailed over 

 those of Sir John Hill, the botanist, an eager candidate 

 for the post. Some notices of him [Knight] are to be 

 found in Nichols's Literary Anecdotes." 



The notices of Gowin Knight (of Magdalen 

 College, Oxford, M. B. in 1742) to be found in 

 Nichols's account, are — the date of his death ; an 

 account of his friend Dr. Fothergill giving him at 

 once a thousand guineas, when in some pecuniary 

 difficulty ; and his discovery, at a lodging he oc- 

 cupied in Crane Court, of the letter of Warburton 

 to Concanen, which Malone printed in the supple- 

 ment to his Shakspeare. But he was known in 

 his day by his artificial magnets, and by his trea- 

 tise on attraction. 



There is no doubt that G. Knight was the first 

 who contrived methods of making very powerful 

 artificial magnets : but he concealed his methods, 

 Und disposed of his magnets for subsistence. Mi- 

 chell and Canton, who severally discovered and 

 published methods, both imply that Knight's mag- 

 nets were on sale before they commenced their 

 experiments. Mountaine and Dodson, in their 

 tract on the magnetic lines, published in 1758, 

 speak as follows : — 



" It is certainly a matter of great Importance to be fur- 

 nished with good Needles or Compasses, without which 

 all other Methods will but little avail, and yet this very 

 material Object of Consideration has been egregiously 

 neglected, until of late Years, when the Judicious Dr. 

 Gowen Knight, F.R.S., examined into their Fabric and 

 Construction, employ'd his Magnetic Knowledge towards 

 their Improvement, and has now reduced them to a con- 

 siderable degree of Perfection, as Experience has suffi- 

 ciently evinced, more especially since they have been 

 approved of by Commissioners of the Navy, and ordered 

 into Use on Board all his Majesties Ships of War : These 

 Compasses are not only fitted for Steering, but also for 

 taking the Sun's Amplitude and Azimuth, by adding a 

 simple and easy Apparatus for these purposes ; and are 

 made by George Adams, Mathematical Instrument-Mak€r 

 to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, and before 

 the}- pass out of his Hands, are examined and attested by 

 the said Doctor Knight, whose Certificate is fixed to the 

 Cover of the Box; without which they are not to be 

 depended on." 



The great magnet which Knight used now be- 

 longs to the Eoyal Society ; and though injured 

 by a former fire at the house in which it wns 

 placed, still supports more than a hundred weight. 



It appears that Canton was first induced to ex- 

 periment on the subject by finding that Knight's 

 magnets were too high in price for his pocket. 

 On this point see the account of the Canton pa- 

 pers in the Athenceum for 1849, Nos. 1106. for 

 Jan. 6, 1112. for Feb. 17, 1120. for April 14. 

 The records of the Admiralty, or of Greenwich 

 Observatory, may possibly furnish additional in- 

 formation. Watt gives references to the papers 



