Aug. 5. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



99 



Vol. III. 



Page 634. b, QuiNTiLiANUS,/or "Mart. xi. 90," 

 read " ii. 90." 



Page 736. b, Scaurus, for " consulship," read 

 " censorship." 



Page 815. a, SiBTLLA,/or "Plut.," read "Plat." 



Page 1191. a, Tullus, Volcatius, 3, for "Cic. 

 ad Fam. xiii. 41.," read " xiii. 14." 



Page 1195. b, note, Ttphon, for "716.," read 

 "713." 



Page 926. a, heading, for " Stattis," read " Strat- 

 tis." 



Dictionary of Geography. 

 Vol.1. 



Page 384. b, Bai^, for "Tac. Ann. xii. 21.," 

 read " xiii. 21." 



Page 502. b, Canthaeis, for "Attica," read 

 " Athense." 



Page 781. b, Dodona (in the third quotation), 

 for " AoSwMjj/," read " AwStiyijy." 



P. J. F. GAHTILLOIir. 



40. London Soad. Leicester. 



NAUTICAL FOLK JLOEE : NAMES OP 8HIPS. 



It has been often observed that our Admiralty 

 are not very fortunate in their selection of names 

 for men of war ; and it is well known that there is 

 something in a name which attracts seamen to 

 enter for a particular ship. Two of our new 

 90 gun screw line of battle ships have been named 

 the Caesar and the Hannibal, although the re- 

 putation of either name is not traditionally high 

 in the British navy. 



The former Caesar, a ship of 80 guns, was com- 

 manded at Lord Howe's victory, the battle of the 

 1st of June, 1794, by Anthony James Pye MoUoy, 

 who was brought to a court-martial for miscon- 

 duct on that day, and in some naval movements 

 which followed it. Although, perhaps, acquitted 

 of actual cowardice, Captain MoUoy was disgraced 

 and dismissed the Cassar. I remember that a sin- 

 gular story was very current in naval circles in 

 my early days, that Captain MoUoy had acted 

 dishonourably towards a young lady whom he had 

 contracted to marry on his return from sea. 

 Having violated his engagement, she brought an 

 action against him for breach of the promise, and 

 failed ; but it was said that she indignantly re- 

 proached him in open court, and exclaimed, 

 *' MoUoy, you are a bad man ; may your heart fail 

 you in the day of battle ! " It was believed that 

 her expressions produced their effect, and his 

 subsequent conduct and fate proved a singular 

 realisation of her prayer. Perhaps some of your 

 correspondents could supply more full details. 



Captain MoUoy was brought to court-martial 

 by his captain of marines, whose name was Hopper, 

 a native of Cork ; and it is not a little remarkable 



that the same Captain Hopper brought a second 

 of his captains, John WiUiamson of the Agincourt, 

 of 64 guns, to a court-martial, also for cowardice 

 at Duncan's victory, the battle of Camperdown, 

 in 1797. WiUiamson was broken for his conduct 

 on that day, and declared incapable of ever serving 

 again in the navy. 



The Hannibal, of 74 guns, was one of the few 

 British line of battle ships which were taken by 

 the enemy during the last war. She grounded 

 under the batteries in Algeziras Bay, in 1801, and 

 although gallantly defended by her captain, Solo- 

 mon Ferris, and her crew, she ultimately struck 

 her colours under circumstances somewhat re- 

 sembling the recent capture of the ill-fated steam 

 frigate. Tiger, near Odessa, in the Black Sea. 

 Seamen are strange beings ; they preserve amongst 

 themselves traditions of unfortunate ships, and 

 rarely reason very accurately as to causes. 



W.B. 



SUPPOSED EARLY PLAT-BILL. 



In Mr. Collier's History of Dramatic Poetry, 

 vol. iii. p. 384., he gives the following copy of a 

 play-bill (the original of which, he says, was sold 

 among the books of the late Mr. Bindley), for the 

 purpose of showing that Malone was " decidedly 

 wrong " in affirming that " the practice of insert- 

 ing the names of the characters and of the players 

 did not commence tUl the beginning of the 

 eighteenth century : " 



" By His Majesty's Company of Comedians, 



At the New Theatre in Dniry Lane. 



This Day, being Thursday, April 8, 1663, will be acted, 



A Comedy called 



The Humokous Lieutenant. 

 The King - - - Mr. Wintersel. 



Demetrius - - - Mr. Hart. 



Selevers {Seleucus) - - Mr. Burt. 



Leontius - - - Major Mohun. 



Lieutenant . - - Mr.Clun. 



Celia - - - - Mrs. Marshall. 



The Play will begin at three o'clock exactly. 



Boxes, 4s. ; Pit, 2s. 6d. ; Middle Gallery, Is. 6rf. ; 

 Upper Gallery, Is." 



There can hardly be a doubt, however, that this 

 document, the only one adduced to prove Ma- 

 lone's conjecture untenable, is altogether spurious. 

 In the first place the date of the year is given, a 

 point which may well excite suspicion, as it is no- 

 torious to all who are familiar with old play-bills, 

 that it was not usual for them to bear the date of 

 the year until as late as 1767. In the next place, 

 April 8th, 1663, did not fall upon a Thursday, but 

 upon a Wednesday in Lent, when, with rare ex- 

 ception, the theatres were closed. And lastly, we* 

 find in the new edition of Pepys's Diary, the fol- 

 lowing entry : 

 " May 8. (Friday). — Took my wife andAshwell to the 



