232 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd s, jfo 88., Sept. 20, '5G. 



with the monogram of H. J. = Henry Johnson, 

 has inscribed upon it, "Built Anno 1612, rebuilt 

 1678." The natural inference from this would 

 be, that the dockyard took its rise in 1612 ; but 

 Mr. S. states that he knows the dock to have 

 been in existence before the house. I for one 

 should take it as a special favour if he would 

 communicate the facts. In preparing some time 

 since a History of Millwall, I endeavoured to 

 obtain information about these premises. A map 

 of 1588 is without the dock; but in 1593, War- 

 den, under the head of Blackwall, says : " neere 

 which is a harbour in the Thamis for shipping ; 

 the place taketh name of the blacknes or darke- 

 nes of the water bankes or wall at that place." 

 This reference is evidently to the river, and the 

 natural conclusion is, that the dock was originally 

 constructed for the use of the shipping there. 

 Mr. Pepys speaks of the place under date Sept. 22, 

 1665, at Blackwall: "Here is observable what 

 Johnson tells us, that in digging the late doch" Sec. 

 It would appear from this, that a dock was con- 

 structed at Blackwall about 1665. The pedigree 

 of Johnson's family will be found in tlie Harleian 

 MS. 1468, in the Visitation of Middlesex, 1664, 

 by W. Ryley and Henry Dethicke ; the latter of 

 whom resided at Poplar, in a house which stood 

 on the ground now occupied by that in which 

 Mr. Westhorpe lives. 



On the exterior of the building to which your 

 correspondent refers, there is a coat of arms 

 carved in wood. Mr. Wigram informed me that 

 these were the arms of the old East India Com- 

 pany. In the offices is preserved a painting by 

 Hillman, representing these docks as they ap- 

 peared in 1784. I believe there is a coloured 

 engraving of this picture, a copy of which may be 

 seen in the King's Library at the British Museum, 

 vol. xxi. It would not be very difficult to fur- 

 nish a few particulars of the history of these docks. 

 I shall be happy to assist Mr. Sinister if he will 

 communicate with me. B. H. Cowper. 



East India Road. 



GREAT EVENTS FROM SMALL CAUSES. 



(2°'i S. ii. 43.) 



" The Mission of Augustine is one of the most striking 

 instances in all historj' of the vast results which may 

 flow from a very small beginning, — of the immense 

 effects produced by a single thought in the heart of a 

 single man, carried out conscientiously, deliberately, and 

 fearlessly. Nothing in itself could seem more trivial than 

 the meeting of Gregory with the three Yorkshire boys in 

 the market -pli^ce at Rome: yet this I'oused a feeling in 

 his mind which he never lost; and through all the ob- 

 stacles which were thrown first in his own way, and then 

 in tliat of Augustine, his highest desire concerning it was 



more than realised Let any one sit on the hill 



of the little church of St. Maytin and look on the view 



which is there spread before his eyes. Immediately 

 below are the towers of the great Abbey of St. Augustine, 

 where Christian learning and civilisation first struck 

 root in the Anglo-Saxon race; and within which now, 

 after a lapse of many centuries, a new institution has' 

 arisen, intended to carry far and wide, to countries of 

 which Gregory and Augustine never heard, the blessings 

 which they gave to us. Carry your view on, — and there 

 rises high above all the magnificent pile of Canterbury 

 Cathedral, equal in splendour and state to any the noblest 

 temple or church that Augustine could have seen in an- 

 cient Rome, rising on the very ground which derives its 

 consecration from him. And still more than the grandeur 

 of outward buildings that rose from the little church of 

 Augustine and the little palace of Ethelbert have been 

 the institutions of all kinds of which these were the 

 earliest cradle. From Canterbury, the tirst English 

 Christian city — from Kent the first English Christian 

 kingdom — has by degrees arisen the whole constitution 

 of Church and State in England, which now binds together 

 the whole British empire. And from the Christianity' 

 here established has flowed, by direct consequence, first, 

 the Christianity of Germany, — then, after a long interval, 

 of North America, — and lastly we may trust, in time, of 

 all India and all Australasia." The view from St. Mar- 

 tin's church is indeed one of the most inspiriting that can 

 be found in the world ; there ^ none to which I would 

 more willingly take any one who doubted whether a 

 small beginning could lead to a great and lasting good,— 

 none which carries us back more vividly into the past, or 

 more hopefully to the future." — Stanley's Historical 

 Memorials of Chnterhury, p. 33, 



A. A. D. 



PREMATURE INTERMENTS. 

 (2"'l S. ii. 103.) 



To the curious list of works on this subject 

 given by Mr. Bates may be added a very sin- 

 gular sermon, preached in the Presbyterian 

 Chapel of Lancaster, July 17, 1803, by the Rev. 

 S. Girle, and subsequently printed, entitled The 

 Duty of the Relations of those who are in Dan- 

 gerous Illnesses, and the Hazard of hasty Inter' 

 ments. It is dedicated to Dr. Wm. Hawes, by 

 whose encouragement it appeared in print. The 

 preacher quotes the passage that follows from an 

 address issued by Dr. Hawes as a member of the 

 Royal Humane Society : 



" The custom of laying out the bodies of persons supposed 

 to he dead, as soon as respiration ceases, and the interment 

 of them before the signs of putrefaction appear, has been 

 frequently opposed by men of learning and humanity ja 

 this and other countries. Mons. Bruhier in particular, 

 a phj'sician of great eminence in Paris, published a piece, 

 about 30 years ago, entitled The Uncertainty of the Signs 

 of Death; in which he plearly proved from the testi- 

 monies of various authors, and the attestations of unex- 

 ceptionable witnesses, that many persons who have been 

 buried alive, an4 were providentially discovered in that 

 state, had been rescued from the grave, and enjoyed the 

 pleasures of society for several years after. But notwith- 

 standing the numerous and well authenticated facts of this 

 kind, the custom above mentioned remains in full force. 

 As soon as the semblance of death appears, the bed clothes 

 are removed, and the body is exposed to the air ; which, 

 when cold, must extinguish the little spark of life that inay 



