NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 244. 



" The course will extend to fifteen lectures, which 

 will be given on Monday and Thursday evenings suc- 

 cessively. The lecture to commence at half-past seven 

 o'clock. 



« Single Tickets for the whole course, two guineas, 

 or three guineas with the privilege of introducing a 

 lady, may be procured at J. Hatchard's, 190. Picca- 

 dilly ; J. Murray's, Fleet Street; J. & J. Arch's, 

 Booksellers and Stationers, Cornhill ; Godwin's Ju- 

 venile Library, Skinner Street ; W. Pople's, 67. Chan- 

 cery Lane ; or by letter (post paid) to Mr. S. T. Cole- 

 ridge, J. J. Morgan's, Esq., No. 7. Portland Place, 

 Hammersmith." 



The above is all the information that was given 

 anterior to the delivery of the lectures, and so far 

 it is unlike the prospectus of 1818, in which the 

 particular matters, to be treated of in fourteen 

 lectures, were especially pointed out. Thus in 

 reference to Shakspeare we are told that Lec- 

 tures IV., v., and VI. would be " On the dramatic 

 works of Shakspeare : in these lectures will be 

 comprised the substance of Mr. Coleridge's former 

 courses on the same subject, enlarged and varied 

 by subsequent study and reflection." One of 

 these former courses was that of 1812 ; but I 

 learn from a diary I kept at the time (of which 

 only fragments remain), that in the preceding 

 year Coleridge had delivered a series of lectures 

 on Poetry at the Royal Institution. I did not 

 attend them, and perhaps might not have heard of 

 them, but that Coleridge himself mentioned them 

 in a conversation at my father's on 21st of Oc- 

 tober, 1812. It was on the same occasion that he 

 announced to us his intention of giving the lec- 

 tures, of seven of which I have notes, and which 

 commenced on the 18th November following. 

 On the subject of his lectures at the Royal Insti- 

 tution, I may be excused for extracting the fol- 

 lowing passage from the daily record I then 

 wrote : 



" Coleridge said that for his first lecture at the 

 Royal Institution he prepared himself fully, and 

 when it was finished he received many high-flown 

 but frigid compliments, evidently, like his lecture, 

 studied. For his second lecture he prepared 

 himself less elaborately, and was much applauded. 

 For the third lecture, and indeed for the re- 

 mainder of the series, he made no preparation, and 

 was liked better than ever, and vociferously and 

 heartily cheered. The reason was obvious, for 

 what came warm from the heart of the speaker, 

 went warm to the heart of the hearer ; and 

 although the illustrations might not be so good, 

 yet being extemporaneous, and often from objects 

 immediately before his eyes, they made more im- 

 pression, and seemed to have more aptitude." 



The lectures of 1812 were delivered, as far as 

 my memory serves me, without notes, but I do 

 not think that the room was particularly full ; the 

 applause was general and encouraging, and among 



the auditors on one occasion I saw Mr. Canning. 

 My short-hand notes (some of which I wrote out 

 at the time) are still very legible, but as they are 

 too much in detail for your pages, I will endea- 

 vour on a future occasion to make some acceptable 

 quotations : to them this note must be considered 

 merely introductory. J. Payne Collier. 



Riverside, Maidenhead. 



NOTES ON PEPTS S DIAHT. 



Vol. i. p. 2. (note.) Sir George Downing. 

 A confirmation of Lokd Braybrooke's account 

 of Downing's birth, by Downing himself, occurs 

 in a letter i'rom T. Howard to the king, April 5, 

 1660, in Carte's Letters, ii. 319. Downing had 

 made Howard an offer of his services to the king, 

 and apologises for the past, " alleging to be en- 

 gaged in a contrary party by his father, who was 

 banished into New England, where he was brought 

 up." Ludlow, who is generally very accurate, 

 states that Downing had been a preacher and 

 chaplain to Colonel Okey's regiment (iii. 99. ori- 

 ginal edition). After the Restoration, Downing, 

 being the king's envoy at the Hague, prevailed 

 on the States to give up Okey and two other 

 regicides, Barkstead and Corbet, who were in 

 Holland. Ludlow, says Downing, behaved very 

 treacherously to Okey, whom he had assured by a 

 messenger that he had no orders to look after him. 

 Ludlow says later (iii. 237.), speaking of Down- 

 ing's mission to Holland in 166-, "I must here 

 acknowledge that though Downing had acted con- 

 trary to his faith, former pretences, and obliga- 

 tions in betraying our friends, as I mentioned 

 before, yet none of these who remained in Hol- 

 land, or afterwards retired thither, were molested 

 during his ministry, which was as much as could 

 reasonably be expected from a person in his post." 

 Downing sat for Edinburgh in Cromwell's parlia- 

 ment of 1654, and for Carlisle in the two following 

 Cromwellian parliaments. Query, What place 

 did he sit for in the Convention Parliament? His 

 name is not to be found in the list of members 

 in the Parliainentari/ History, but occurs in the 

 debates (iv. 93 ). He was a frequent speaker m 

 Oliver Cromwell's parliaments. (See Burton s 

 Dianj, vols. i. and ii.) He took a very active 

 part against Naylor, the religious enthusiast, and 

 spoke often on religious questions. On one occa- 

 sion, June 6, 1657, no minister was present to 

 read prayers when the Speaker took the chair,_and 

 after the House had waited some time, a little 

 debate arose on the minister's absence, in the 

 course of which '' Major- General Wkalley toid 

 Mr. Downing that he was a minister, and he 

 would have him to perform the work. _ iMr. 

 Downing acknowledged he was once a minister. 

 (Burtons Diary, ii. 192.) On another occasion, 



