July 7. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



13 



If we put faith in Steele's statement, and I see 

 no reason for Mr. Meredith's doubt, it must have 

 been one or other of these ladies that compiled the 

 work, a very natural and becoming " labour of 

 love." From the few circumstances that can help 

 to a conjecture, I incline to an opinion in favour 

 of Lady Mary. Jeremy Taylor, if so great a 

 man may be enlisted under any mere party banner, 

 was a high churchman and a high Tory ; indeed, 

 Heber thinks it strange that any of his descend- 

 ants should be found amongst the Whigs. It is 

 fair to assume also that the secretary to the Duke 

 of Ormond was of the same high church and Tory 

 school. Taylor's daughters both in the first in- 

 stance married gentlemen of estate in Ireland, 

 and so far as appears, Ann may have continued to 

 reside there all her life. But Steele was a Whig, 

 and in 1714 a very fierce, active, and uncompro- 

 mising AVhig. It was in that year that he was 

 expelled from the then Tory House of Commons 

 for writing The Crisis and The JiJnglishman, and 

 it was in that year that the manuscript of the 

 Ladies' Library was put into his hands for pub- 

 lication. It is not unfair, therefore, to assume 

 that there was some political sympathy between 

 Steele and the compiler; for parties then ran 

 so high that Swift himself was reproved for his 

 intimacy with Steele, and Pope remonstrated 

 with because he wrote in The Guardian. Ladies' 

 political opinions are, of course, influenced by 

 their husbands, and I have shown the probability 

 that the husband of Ann was a high churchman 

 and a Tory, and in 1714, we may be sure, strong 

 both in faith and profession. Some Whig ten- 

 dencies, indeed, subsequently manifested them- 

 selves in Jeremy Taylor Harrison, one of the 

 brothers of these ladies, who won thereby from 

 Swift a place in the Legion Club : 



" There sit Clements, Dilkes, and Harrison, 

 How they swagger from their garrison ! 

 Such a triplet could j'ou tell 

 Where to find on this side hell ? " 



The Whig sympathies of Mary are, however, 

 better explained by her second marriage with Sir 

 Cecil Wray, who, and whose elder brother, were 

 zealous Whigs, and had served under King 

 William, and been present at the battle of the 

 Boyne. This marriage not only brings Mary as 

 a permanent resident into England, — and Steele 

 said she is " now in London," — but into imme- 

 diate connexion with the Whig party. Under 

 these circumstances, few and insufiicient as they 

 are, I incline to the opinion that the Ladies' 

 Library was compiled by Mary, the granddaughter 

 of Jeremy Taylor, and the wife of Sir Cecil Wray. 



S. S. L. 



No. 297.] 



ON STOCKING MARINE AQUAEIA. 



(Vol. xi., pp. 365. 410. 452.) 



For a long time prior to the publication of Mr. 

 Gosse's book, I had given my attention to the 

 management of aquaria ; bat with this departure 

 from the course pursued by Mr. Gosse and others, 

 that I cultivated fresh-icater fishes and plants. 

 My endeavours have been chiefly directed to the 

 best mode of rendering the aquarium an elegant 

 drawing-room ornament, easy of management, and 

 at all seasons engaging and instructive. "N. & Q." 

 is not a suitable medium for a lengthened com- 

 munication on the subject, or I would detail at 

 length the history of experiments from which I 

 have derived much pleasure and profit. I will 

 however embrace the opportunity aff()rded by the 

 present discussion of the question, to aff'ord those 

 interested a few hints on stocking and maintaining 

 an aquarium with fresh-water productions. 



The best form of an aquarium for ornamental 

 purposes is that adopted by painters and sculptors, 

 when they desire to render an angular object 

 graceful, viz. the double cube, in which the length 

 is exactly double that of the width, the width and 

 depth being equal. Such an object, if cut in half, 

 would form two perfect cubes, and presents the 

 most graceful outline of which an oblong angular 

 body is susceptible. Having provided the tank, 

 sprinkle in a stratum of fine sandy earth to the 

 depth of one inch. Then build up according to 

 fancy one or two masses of rockwork, for which 

 dark stones should be chosen. The clinkers pro- 

 duced at glass factories, and technically called 

 " broken pots," are the handsomest for the pur- 

 pose. There should be no gay shells about, or 

 fantastic work of any kind ; they attract the eye 

 from the more important objects, and injure by 

 contrast the fresh aspect of the vegetation. One 

 mass of rock-work should peer above the surface, 

 for the growth of some choice aquatic plants. On 

 the surface of this upper mass, a few inches of 

 sandy mould, mixed with moss, should be placed ; 

 and the crevices should be arranged to receive 

 mould above the level of the water. Now fill the 

 tank with clear river water, and insert the plants. 



In stocking with plants, Potamogeton fluitans, 

 brooklime, water ranunculus (R. aquatalis), water 

 violet, watercress, Dortinaus lobelia, the Dasmo- 

 sonium indicum, and any other small-growing 

 water plants, are suitable. The stones below 

 should be coated with fresh-water algae, of any 

 kinds easily attainable. There is a beautiful Cape 

 plant, the Aponogeton distachyon, well suited for 

 flowering on the rock- work above the surface ; 

 and if the tank affords room for three inches of 

 loam in one corner at the bottom, the yellow water- 

 lily {Nuphar lutea) may be grown. It will oc- 

 cupy a space of a foot or so in diameter, and will 

 with care flower freely within doors. If a large 



