356 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd s, No u., Nov. 1. 'Sa 



Langford, 129. 

 Geast. 132. 182. 191. 

 Newton. 139. 

 Wright. 144 

 Harrington. 152. 

 Fowlkes. 153. 

 Kimberly. 154. 

 Dowdeswell. 167. 186. 

 Frescott. 168. 198. 

 S<o«e. 175. 211. 

 J?MSie/Z. 180. 

 ZewjD. 212. 



In the followin;^ instances my copy varies from 

 Mr. Gunner's list in vol. ii. : 



Wilcocks. 14. 88. 143. 

 Bruce. 14. 85, 86. 89. 99. 

 Stormont. 16. 89. 121. 128. 137. 

 Impey. 17. 94. 109. 112. 132. 145, 14G. 160. 

 Sharpe. 29. 161. 

 Hay. 30. 36. 



Keith. 49. 62, 63. 65, 6G. 72. 

 Lewis. 64. 152. 

 Bale. 78. 

 Skynner. 102. 

 Harley. 110. 

 Bedingfield. 114. 

 Varnan. 135. 



There is another variation, viz. : my copy gives 

 Juhh, instead of Tubb, as the name of the author 

 of several, 38, &c. Jubb is probably the correct 

 name, as I find by the Ahimni Westmonasterienses, 

 George Jubb was at Christ Church at this time. 



B. N. C. 



SARAH ISDELL. 



(2"" S. ii. 288.) 



1 perfectly recollect this lady, about whom R. J. 

 inquires. It would be much to say I knew her, 

 inasmuch as I was a child of some six or seven 

 years old, when, " about fifty years since," she 

 lived as governess in the family of my uncle, a 

 baronet in the South of Ireland. She had then 

 the (to us children awful) repute of having written 

 a hook ! and the prestige of being the " niece of 

 Oliver Goldsmith" (whose "Deserted Village," 

 be sure, formed part of our best-loved recitation 

 tasks). Altogether she was an exalted and won- 

 derful personage in our little eyes ; and yet after- 

 reflection inclines me to doubt if her learning or 

 abilities were of a superior order, and to suspect 

 that her own education had not been very com- 

 plete or systematic. She was, however, very 

 sprightly and witty ; and htid a measure of the 

 Goldsmith-eaw facility in rhyming, of which I 

 possess some specimens. I remember, that during 

 one severe winter a mock poetic warfare was 

 carried on in a daily interchange of notes be- 

 tween Miss Isdell and my own father, who pos- 

 sessed a very pleasant poetic taste and style. In 

 a severe season, every alternate day a missive was 

 sent through sludge and snow, and read aloud to 



the after-dinner circles of two houses, to the great 

 delight of large and small folk, — concerning most 

 of whom, when I ask now "Where are they all ?" 

 an echo answers, "Where?" I keep this poetic 

 correspondence, abounding in local family and 

 temporary allusions ; all very pungent and plea- 

 sant when written, but most of them by lapse of 

 time become now vapid and pointless. Miss Is- 

 dell's share of the correspondence was sprightly 

 enough, but here and there shows traces of the 

 then not uncommon feminine failing of an early 

 neglect of the spelling-book. And in no par- 

 tiality I say, that her poetry was but of mediocre 

 quality, and my father's far bettei*. 



Miss Isdell had left this situation before the 

 year 1811, and did not, I think, long survive the 

 last date mentioned by R. J., namely, 1825, In 

 this, however, I may be mistaken. We used to 

 hear of her at intervals, as making fresh literary 

 ventures in novels of the " Minerva press" stamp, 

 but she never achieved a "success." "Scott's" 

 and Sarah Austin's style of novel came to throw 

 poor Sarah Isdell's books into the shade ; and, 

 except for the curious in such works, they have 

 probably long since gone to — 



" Wrap the tart — or feed the moth." 



A. B. R. 

 Belmont. 



Bensley the Actor (P' S. iv. 115.) — Your cor- 

 respondent Tee Bee, amongst other inquiries re- 

 specting the Bensley family, inquires whether 

 Bensley the actor was any relation of Sir William 

 Bensley, Bart., a Director of the East India 

 Company, who died in 1809 ? I can inform Tee 

 Bee (unless you think too long a time has elapsed 

 since his Query, which I only noticed lately) that 

 Sir William was the uncle of the actor, and left 

 him the bulk of his property. Teagde. 



Largesse (P' S. ix. 408.) — So recently as 1826, 

 it was the custom at Croydon, when a grand or 

 special jury was discharged, for the mob to follow 

 the jurymen, shouting largesse, in expectation of 

 a scramble for silver. Henry T. Riley. 



Saguntum Sword Blades (2"^ S. ii. 172.) — Only 

 the other day I noticed that an inquirer, assuming 

 the signature of Cacadore, asks " when Sahagun 

 was celebrated as a manufactory of swords ?" The 

 reason for this Query, he thus explains : 



" I recently became possessed of an apparently very 

 old blade, of admirable temper, very narrow and long, 

 something like a claymore. On the blade is engraved 

 ' Sahaovn,' with several flourishes round it, and two or 

 three stars." 



And adds : 



" I believe Sahagun to be the ancient Saguntum, where 



