254 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2n<i S. No 39., Sept. 27, '56. 



Lord Patierboard. Lord Peterborough. 

 Dick Merriman. R. Brinsley Sheridan. 

 A Little Linnet. Miss Linley. 

 Cercle Le Bas. Mr. Le Bas, M.C. Old Rooms. 

 3Iiss Speakplain. Miss Stamer. 

 Br. Mixall. Rev. Dr. Maxwell. 

 iMdy Nettle. Mrs. Leslie. 

 Mrs. Broadbottom. Mrs. VV. Prideaux. 

 Old Hircus. Rev. Mr. Moreshead. 

 Madame de Villarois. Mrs. Villiers. 

 Ladi/ Carmine. Lady Burton. 

 I>r. 'Borecat. Dr. Burkitt. 

 Ur. Sourcrout. Dr. Crawford. 

 Ladij Orange. Mrs. Lemon. 

 Dr. Turbot. Dr. Murray. 

 Dr. Fatus. Dr. Perry. 

 3Ir. Gripes. Mr. Foster. 

 Dr. Vellum. Dr. Falconer. 

 Dr. Harmony. Dr. Ilariington. 



A Worthy Citizen. Mr. Dawson, compounder of "Daw- 

 son's Lozenges." 

 Mr. Type. Mr. Meyler, printer of the Bath Herald. 

 Dr. Fleecem. Dr. Jloysey. 

 Sir Timothy Humbug. Unknown, 

 Lord Ghastly. Unknown. 

 Besiii. Rauzzini. 

 Catsgnalli. Madame CatalanL 

 Col. Mitten. Col. Glover. 

 Squintum. Mr. Sabatier. 

 Billy Sonnet. Rev. W. Bowles. 

 3Ieed. Blr. Mead. 

 Dr. Vineyards. Dr. Haweis. 

 His Lordship of the Fens. The Bishop of Lincoln. 



With one exception (the Rev. R. Warner) all 

 the above are dead. Anon, 



DEATH AT WILL. 



(2"'^ S. ii. 147.) 



An account of the case of Colonel Townshend 

 may be found in A Dissertation on the Disorder of 

 Death ; or that State of the Frame under the Signs 

 of Death called suspended Animation, ^c, hy the 

 Rev. Walter Wither, Rector of Hardingham, 

 Norfolk, 1819, 8vo., p. 179., where it is quoted 

 from Dr. Cheyne's English Malady, p. 307. The 

 latter work I have not seen, but Mr. Wither gives 

 Dr. Chejne's own words, and from the manner in 

 which the story is told there seems no reason to 

 doubt its truthfulness. Another instance of the 

 power of dying at will is given in the same book : 



" There is a curious story of a French girl, Mary Isa- 

 bcau by name, who had acquired the art of dying to such 

 a pitch of dexterity, and was so addicted to its exhibition 

 in the most perfect state, that she suffered herself to be 

 carried from her home three times, in order to be interred, 

 before she could persuade herself to exert her craft in the 

 process of her own revival. Nay, so determined was she 

 in doing justice to the perfection of her art, that at the 

 third time of the exhibition she remained under the 

 semblance of death till the bearers were actually letting 

 her down into her grave. According to the sequel of the 

 story, when she really died, as it is expressed, her friends 

 kept her unburicd for the space of six days, a most ex- 

 traordinary lime in the customs of France, that the de- 



lu!«ion, if any such should be then practised, might flatter 

 as little as possible the vanity of the artist, and that her 

 recovery might take place under circumstances which 

 would afford her the least cause for laughing at their 

 mistake." 



The reference at the foot of the page is to 

 " the English work on the Uncertainty of Death, 

 p. 95." Mr. Wither is never very clear in his 

 references, but the book he means in this case is, 

 I doubt not, The Uncertainty of the Signs of 

 Death, and the Danger of Precipitate Interments 

 and Dissections demonstrated, S^c., a second edition 

 of which was published in 1751.* 



A friend of mine who has long been resident in 

 India, has assured me that he has heard from the 

 most credible witnesses of a person there who has 

 not only simulated death, but permitted himself 

 to be buried for a considerable period. I do not 

 remember the exact circumstances of the case, 

 but believe full details may be found in any of the 

 principal Indian papers of about four years ago. 

 The heads of the case were, if I mistake not, 

 quoted into several of our own. 



Dr. Herbert Mayo, in his work on Popular Su- 

 pe?\stitions, explains the horrible stories that are 

 current concerning Vampyrism, by the supposi- 

 tion that the persons whose bodies were considered 

 vampyres had, in fact, been buried alive while in 

 a (ranee sleep. 



Members of the medical profession usually 

 speak of premature interment as if such an acci- 

 dent were almost, if not altogether, impossible ; 

 it therefore does not become one who has no pre- 

 tension to a scientific knowledge of the subject to 

 maintain a contrary opinion. It may, however, 

 be remarked that the matters connected with it 

 are so frightful, that most persons, even those best 

 qualified for its investigation, have been deterred 

 from giving it the consideration which so serious 

 a matter requires. K. P. D. E. 



Dr. Cheyne (2"'^ S. ii. 148.) — Dr. George 

 Cheyne, in 1733, published a well-known book 

 called The English Malady, or a T'reatise of 

 Nervous Di.^eases of all Kinds, &c. &c. Among 

 the cases in the third part (p. 307. &c.) is that of 

 the Hon. Colonel Townshend, which has been fre- 

 quently quoted, and may be found at length in 

 the Life of George Cheyne, M.D., Oxford, 1846, 

 small 8vo. M. D. 



PORTRAIT OF SWIFT. 



(2"-^ S. ii. 21. 96. 158. 199.) 



P. O. S. says that " C. inferred very naturally 

 from G. N.'s statement, that there was an edition 

 of Swift's Worhs prior to that of 1735 ;" but it is 



• See " N. & Q.," 2»<i S. ii. 103. 



