398 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[Nov. 24. 1855. 



as for thee, I will not tell thee at this distance how 

 affectionately thou art loved by thyn owne 



V. F. 



I supt too night w*** y* Dean, and too morrow 

 y" lady and family make their enti'y into towne. 

 I went this morning to see A lord, a relation of 

 mine, but he is gone out of towne. 



(In dorso.) 



For y" Lady Fane at Mereworth Castle in Kent. 

 To be left at y'^ post hous in Maidston. 



IV. 



Madam, 



It was very late before we came to Exeter, 

 being engag'd in a long and tedious course round 

 Cornwall, and then we no sooner heard of your 

 LadyP interruption of health, but heard it was 

 over. 



I hope it will engage you to a little more 

 caution, especially, now y'' weather will grow 

 more moist and cold ; and without fear of loosing 

 so good a piece of neighbourhood, 'tis but turning 

 the supper into a dinner, and enjoying your friends 

 with y" fear of less expense and detriment. 



Since I writ to my Sister Sue we have been 

 down one of y*" tin-mines in Cornwall, being let 

 down by cables some part of y"^ way, and some 

 part we went down by ladders to y" depth of (90) 

 fathoms ; at y" bottom was y" place where the 

 miners work't, and we had y*^ curiosity to take 

 some of y" ore, which we design to bring home 

 w'*" us. Afterwards we went to y'^ Landsend, and 

 now are come as far as Dorchester in y'= County 

 of Dorset in our way home, but have made such 

 hast, and have so fatigued our selves and horses, 

 that 'tis with a great deal of care that we get 'era 

 along, and perhaps some of 'em may drop by y® 

 way before we get home. 



However (thank God) we are all in good health, 

 and Brother Mildmay is far from loosing flesh 

 upon his Journey, tho' Ave rid very near three 

 hundred miles within y'= compass of fifteen days, 

 which fatigue we design to undergo no more, and 

 now with moderate speed make through Salisbury, 

 Winchester, Portsm", &c., to London, 



I often have occasion to wish our dinners at 

 Merwood, where y'' delicate fresh fish we meet 

 with upon these Coasts are better merited. AVe 

 have sometimes, too, a pint of very fine French 

 wine. I don't know where to tell you you may 

 direct a letter to us, if you design that happiness ; 

 unless you write immediately upon y'= receipt of 

 this to us at Chichester, where, however, we'll 

 wait your commands. I am, with utmost respect. 

 Madam, 



Your obedient 



Son and Servant, 



J. Fane. 



Dorchester, August v^ 9"', 170C. 



No. 317.] 



Brother M. and Mr. Lusan send their 

 Duty and service to your Lady'' and 

 Sister Sue, &c. 



I had y" happiness of a letter from Sis. ] 



Sue. 



Mr. Lusan finding it necessary to take up more 

 money than y'' 40Z. he had at y*' Bath, writ to Mr. 

 Watts, who gave him credit for 30Z. more, w'^'' he 

 accordingly receiv'd at Exeter. One thing more 

 ri add, w""^ is, that if there be a conveniency, 

 'twill be requisite that there be some fine Holland 

 bought to make B. M. some shirts ; for he has none 

 to appear in when he comes home, these being 

 almost worn to pieces : Poor I am almost in y* 

 same circumstances. 



(In dorso.) 



For the R* Hon'^'« 



The Countess of Westmorland. 



At Mr. Watts, his house in 



King- Street, near Golden-Square, 



London. 



TUNNEL FUOM DOVER TO CALAIS. 



The following is from Sir John Sinclair's Cor' 

 respondence (ii. 87.) : 



" When we came to Dover, we amused ourselves with 

 discussing the various modes of crossing from England to 

 France. That by means of ai balloon, gave rise to some 

 pleasantries. We afterwards discussed the idea of having 

 a wooden floating bridge, ten feet wide and ten feet high : 

 the passage being twenty-five miles broad, Montgolfier 

 calculated that it would require 14,000,000 feet of oak ; 

 which, at 2s. (Sd. per cubical foot (the price of oalc in 

 France at that time), would amount to 1,750,000/. Mont- 

 golfier therefore contended, that, for 3,000,000/. sterling, 

 at the utmost, a wooden floating bridge might be con- 

 structed from Dover to Calais, on a larger scale than the 

 one originally proposed, which would defy any tempest 

 that could arise. The interruption to navigation, how- 

 ever, was an insurmountable obstacle to such an attempt. 

 It was amusing, after this discussion, to hear, in a farce, 

 acted in one of the theatres at Paris, the following lines, 

 put into the mouth of a projector . 



" ' . . . . Pour dompter les Anglais, 

 II faut batir un pont sur le Pas de Calais.' 

 " ' To turn the English over, 

 And keep ourselves in clover. 

 We'll build a bridge to Dover.' 



" We likewise discussed the idea of having a subter- 

 raneous passage under the Channel ; but the procuring 

 air was a difficulty that could not easily be got the better 

 of. The only means we could contrive for getting that 

 obstacle surmounted, was, to compress air in barrels, and 

 transmit it in that state, to be let out in the centre of the 

 excavation. It was the discussion we had upon this 

 subject which has ever since made me extremely partial 

 to the idea of trying excavations, and more especially the 

 Tunnel under the Thames." 



And if the French should come — O rare, oh ! 

 We'd drown 'em as the Jews did Pharaoh. 



T. J. BUCKTON. 



Lichfield. 



