2"^ S. N« 81., July 18. '57.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



55 



amination previous to the inquest, to entrust the 

 body to a person in London, and have it conveyed 

 at his charge in the way mentioned ? Indeed, it 

 seems to me most unlikely that Barrett would 

 have allowed the youth to whom he was so at- 

 tached, and who had so materially added to his 

 stock of Antiquities of Bristol, to have been laid 

 or remained in this loathsome "pit," if money and 

 influence could have rescued him from it. 



Again : Me. Gutcii says the stage waggon would 

 have taken " at least three or four days," in tiiose 

 times, to have travelled from London to Bristol 

 (a distance of 120 miles) ; but on inquiry, I have 

 been told that goods by it, if dispatched, say on 

 a Monday evening at seven o'clock, would have 

 reached their destination here about the same 

 hour on the following Wednesday, thus taking 

 forty-eight hours only en route. And on arrival, 

 I should suppose the appearance of the body would 

 have been precisely as described. With regard to 

 arsenic, is not Mr. Gdtch wrong ? I have un- 

 derstood it preserves, rather than rapidly decora- 

 poses the dead : and Mr. Gutch cannot forget 

 Mrs. Burdock's case in this city, some twenty 

 years ago. 



Finally, I would remark it is very improbable 

 any party would have mentioned the interment in 

 RedclifF, — much more unlikely have written " a 

 notice of it in the newspapers of the day," — because 

 the consequence would have been the immediate 

 exhumation of the body from its "consecrated 

 ground " at the instance of the vicar and parochial 

 authorities. Indeed, only a few years ago, the 

 late vicar refused to permit the erection even of a 

 monument to the unhappy youth within that por- 

 tion of the churchyard. 



If I were then one of the "jury" to decide upon 

 the whole question, my verdict would be, that 

 while it is "not proven" Chatterton was interred 

 in the Shoe Lane burying-ground, there is some 

 evidence, and no improbability, that his Jinal rest- 

 ing-place was in St. Mary Redcliff churchyard, 

 where we all should wish him to have been. 



Perhaps I may be permitted to add, a monu- 

 ment is at last about to be immediately erected to 

 the memory of this wonderful genius ; and any 

 contributions from your readers would be most 

 welcome if addressed to Mr. Geo. Gardiner, the 

 senior churchwarden of St. Mary Redcliff, or his 

 worthy colleague, Mr. C. T. Jefferies. 



Bristoliensis. 



T.1EUT. JOSHUA PICKERSGILL, 



(2"'' S. iv. 8.) 



Inquiry is made regarding the authorship of the 

 novel called Three Brothers. Lieut. Pickersgill 

 was an ensign in my regiment (his date of rank 

 July 21, 1806). He was in H. M.'s 22nd foot as 



ensign ; and left that corps, and became an en- 

 sign in my regiment. His brother William was a 

 cadet of 1803, and died as captain in 1827. 

 Joshua died of fever on March 8, 1818, at San- 

 gar. He told me himself, in 1812, that he wrote 

 the novel, Three Brothers, before he entered the 

 army. He must have been born in 1780, and 

 said he was nine years older than myself (born 

 1789). He was immediately above me in the 

 regiment, which I joined at Delhi, in 1807. 



He was in the Quarter- Master-General's de- 

 partment (Assistant Quarter-Master-General), 

 and in the Nepal war, in 1816, led Gen. Sir D. 

 Ochterlony's force up the Cheeria Ghatee Pass (a 

 secret pass). He was thanked personally by Sir 

 D. Ochterlony, who declined {ungraciously *) to 

 mention him in the despatch he wrote of his suc- 

 cess ! ! It was a night operation. Lieut. Pickers- 

 gill had, while surveying the frontier, obtained 

 good intelligence of the Pass. 



Thornton, (1843) History of British Empire 

 in India (vol. iv. p. 536.), states, a.d. 1818, siege 

 of Mundela : " Lieut. Pickersgill, with great gal- 

 lantry, proceeded to ascertain, by personal inspec- 

 tion, the effect produced (by the batteries), 

 mounting, with the assistance of his hircarralisf, 

 to the top of the breach ;" "he returned with so 

 favourable a report, as induced Gen. Marshall to 

 make immediate preparations for storming the 

 works." J 



Had he lived, he would have been Quarter- 

 Master-General. He was well-read and talented. 

 Whether he was related to Mr. Pickersgill, the 

 celebrated portrait painter, I know not. I know 

 no better informed officer. He yearly had the 

 best military works sent to him from England. 

 He induced all the young officers (myself among 

 them) to study ; and I owe to him, originally, the 

 humble efforts I made in my professional publica- 

 tions. W. Hough, Lieut.-Colonel, Bengal 

 retired Officer (late of, first of 

 24th Native Infantry, and last, 

 of 48th Native Infantry.) 



Oriental Club, July 8, 1857. 



GALLON or BREAD. 



(2">' S. iii. 427. 517.) 



Previous to the passing of 3rd Geo. IV". c. 106., 

 the standard for bread made for sale in England, 

 was the peck loaf, weighing 17 lbs. 6 oz., the gal- 

 lon and quartern being respectively the half and a 

 quarter of the same ; and the penny loaf varying 

 in weight according to the assize for the time 



* Unless an officer be named in a despatch, verbal 

 thanks are useless ! 



t Guides, &c. Lieut. Pickersgill was a rather heavy 

 man, and required assistance. 



J The place was stormed and captured ! 



