2»'» S. VIII. July 30, '69.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



9t 



BoydeWs ShaAspeare Gallery (2"^ S. viii. 50.)— 

 With reference to the observations and inquiry of 

 V. H. Q. (p. 50.), I have before me : — 



" A Catalogue of that Magnificent and truly Valuable 

 Collection of Pictures, the Productions of the Great 

 Artists of the British School, known as the Collection of 

 the Shakspeare Gallery, formed under the spirited Di- 

 rections, and with unbounded Expence, by those dis- 

 tinguished Promoters of the Fine Arts the Messrs. 

 Boydells," &c. 



" The whole will be sold by Auction by Mr. Christie 

 on the Premises, on Friday 17th May, 1805, and 

 two following days (Sunday excepted) at 12 

 o'clock. By order of the Pi'oprietor,, without 

 reserve." 



Tlie prices at which the pictures, &c., were 

 severally sold, are inserted in figures, evidently by 

 an attendant of and purchaser at the sale : — 



Guineas. 



Total, 1st day's sale, added up as - - 1,135^ 



„ 2nd day's sale .... 1,633^ 



„ 3rd day's sale . - - . 3,068^ 



5,837i 

 Premises . . - - 4,400 



10,287i 

 Two of the pictures, viz. " Richard the Second's 

 Return from Ireland" (2 ft. 7iin. by 1 ft. 9J in.), 

 by Hamilton, and "Falstaff in Disguise led out 

 by Mrs. Page" (Merry Wives of Windsor, Act IV. 

 Sc. 2.), (7 ft. by 5 ft. 2^ in.), by J. Durno, are 

 now in the collection at Sir John Soane's Museum, 

 where they and the catalogue referred to may be 

 seen by V. H. Q. whenever it may siiit his con- 

 venience to call there for the purpose. 



George Bailey, Curator, 

 Sir John Soane's Museum. 



The required list of this gallery, pictures and 

 engravings, with the names of engravers as well as 

 of painters, may be seen by your correspondent at 

 p. xix., &c., of Boydell's Catalogue of Plates, SfC, 

 J 803, a copy of which is in the library of the 

 British Museum. 



Your correspondent has opened an interesting 

 subject. Hideous reproductions of some of Boy- 

 dell's pictures are to be seen occasionally in Lon- 

 don shop-windows; but I well remember the 

 profound veneration with which in my younger 

 days I more than once visited the gallery itself. 

 The Boydells resolved to publish an edition of 

 Shakspeare, illustrated by our best artists. It 

 was a spirited undertaking, and their list includes 

 many distinguished names: — Opie, Fuseli, Sir J. 

 Reynolds, &c. Surely the original paintings are 

 not all lost. Ought we not to have a Shakspeare 

 Gallery now ? Thomas Boys. 



William Kennet (2"« S. viii. 46.) — William 

 Kennet of Kent was admitted of Corpus Christi 

 College, Cambridge, 1610, proceeded B. A. 1614-5, 

 and commenced M.A. 1618. 



C. H. & Thompson Cooper. 



Longevity (2°'^ S. viii. 23. 39.) — In the week 

 ending July 2nd {Vide Registrar- General's Re- 

 port, and Lloyd's Newspaper abstract, July 17, 

 1859, p. 11.): — 



"A widow died at the age of 95, and a man, formerlj' a 

 private in the Scots Grej's, died on the 2nd inst., whose 

 age is stated to have been 104 j-ears. 



" Dr. Winterbottom, father of the Doctor, died on 

 Thursday evening the 5th, aged 95 j-ears. 



"On the 28th ult., at Daneliy, aged 104, William 

 Kirby. He was a Scotchman, and a gardener by trade. 

 He was married at Daneliy Church last year, being 103 

 on his wedding day. (Vide Swansea Cambrian.y 



T. C. Akdebson, 

 H. M.'s 12th Regt., Bengal Army, 



CromwelTs Head (2"* S. vii. 495.) — My con- 

 nexion with the county of Kent and Kentish 

 matters during a third of a century, exhibited tt) 

 me the mistakes in the names and details made 

 by the Parisian correspondent of the New York 

 Express in his account of Cromwell's head. Im- 

 mediately after perusing it I commenced a corre- 

 spondence with one of the gentlemen named 

 therein, and a friend likely to be acquainted with 

 the subject, and I am happy to furnish " N. & Q." 

 with the result. The Rev. Geo. Verrall (jiot Ver- 

 rill), who had the Bromley Chapel, Kent, built 

 A.D. 1835 by Mr. Bromley, in Widmore Lane, 

 writes to me, that " a head which had been em- 

 balmed and afterwards placed on a halbert on 

 Westminster Hall, is in the possession of A. 

 Wilkinson, Esq.*, Shortlands, Beckenham, late 

 member for Lambeth." Mr. Verrall farther says 

 that he has " seen it more than once, and that its 

 appearance and the history given of it satisfies " 

 him " that it is the head of Oliver Cromwell." 



Alfred John I>unkin. 

 Dartford. 



Cromwell's Children (2"* S. viii, 17.5.6.) — Your 

 correspondent Libya is referred to Bihliotheca 

 Topographica Britannica, No. XXXI., where he 

 will find a genealogical view of the family of Oli- 

 ver Cromwell, with a copious tabular pedigree. 

 The entry of Oliver, the second son, runs thus : — 

 " Oliver, ba. Febru. 6, 1622, di. young of the small 

 pox during the Civil War." Cl. Hopper. 



" To sleep like a Top" (2"^ S. viii. 53.) — The 

 answer appended to this Query, though ingenious, 

 is not satisfactory. The expression seems to be 

 quite intelligible without having recourse to any 

 language but the English. Every one who has 

 spun a top has seen it sleeping, and in this fami- 

 liar object I find the origin of the phrase in ques- 

 tion. I am all the more satisfied that I am right 



* The title of " Hon." is a pure Americanism, whilst 

 the substitution of " Buckenham " was, evidently, be- 

 cause " Shortlands," the name of the seat of Mr. Wilkin- 

 son, is equidistant from Bromley and Beckeuham. 



