128 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd s. No 111., Feb. 13. '68. 



mand According to custom, at Christmas, the 



Governor gave a dinner to all the gentlemen in the island, 

 about two hundred and fifty, and the same on the first 

 day of the New Year, and all we English servants waited, 

 for there were a great many in Sir John Lindsay's fleet. 

 We all dined together, and each had two bottles of wine 

 allowed him. ... At this time an evil thought came into 

 the mind of General Pimble, I believe for himself as well 

 as for others. He Avanted all the officers to wear boots on 

 duty. It was against the caste or religion of the Gentoo 

 officers to eat beef, or wear their skins, even calf or sheep 

 skins. Some of the principal officers waited on the Ge- 

 neral, to tell him they could not possibly comply with 

 his order to wear boots that were made of the skins of 

 those creatures, which was entirely against their caste or 

 religion ; if they did, thej' would lose their caste, and be 

 deprived of the company of their relations. The General 

 insisted that they should wear the boots, or give up their 

 commissions. They got three days to consult with their 

 friends, and return an answer. They put up prayers to 

 God ; and hoped that God of his goodness would not im- 

 pute the sin to them or their children, but to the person 

 who was the cause of their wearing boots of skins of those 

 beasts, which was entirely against their religion. The 

 prayers were put up in the pagodas at Bombay. They 

 told him they had determined to wear the boots, accord- 

 ing to his desire. * Since,' said they, ' God has sent you 

 from Europe to give us disturbance concerning our reli- 

 gious principles, and to deprive us of our friends and 

 company, and the benefits of our religion, we will submit 

 to God and your Excellency.' So they took leave and 

 went home. In three weeks the General was smitten with 

 dropsy, and never recovered." 



Now, what will the reader of the present day 

 think of the conclusion of this statement ? John 

 Macdonald seemingly repeating it from his own 

 belief, as well as in confirmation of the belief of 

 the Hindoo himself — and thus that God had so 

 punished the general for such wanton interference 

 with the faith of others. 



And now, in conclusion, may I ask if there are 

 any of the readers of " N. & Q." who have it in 

 their power to communicate the facts of the sub- 

 sequent portion of the life of John Macdonald ? 

 the end of the volume bringing his story to the 

 year 1778, he having just got back to Madrid 

 froni England, where he had a wife and child. 



J. D. D. 



Minav Haiti, 



Merchant Taylors. — The following Note made 

 on the back of a loose sheet of MS. temp. Common- 

 wealth, gives an account of a feast at Merchant 

 Taylors' Hall: 



" There was lately held at Marchant Taylors' Hall y^ 

 cockney feast of y« better sort of citizens borne w">in y* 

 walls, at 5' a man club. It proved so great a feast by y" 

 care of y« citty cooks and caterers y' the like has not 

 beene seen in the citty. There dined 1000 in one room 

 and 300 in another." 



Cl. Hopper. 



Casts of Seals. — As a private collector of ancient 

 seals, I have already experienced the great ad- 

 vantage of exchanging gutta-percha casts of those 



I have for others, by which many an important 

 gap in my collection has been filled up, and missing 

 links in a series supplied. I have already to ac- 

 knowledge my great obligations to " N. & Q." in 

 this matter, and through its columns would now 

 express my wish to exchange gutta-percha casts 

 of old Scottish seals for similar ones connected 

 with Ireland, as I only possess one or two yet be- 

 longing to that country, and would be happy to 

 have others, to vary my collection, and render it 

 more interesting and instructive. Aliquis. 



Cocker s Arithmetic— The thirteenth edition of 

 this work is said to be " carefully corrected with 

 additions." 12mo. It is " printed at Dublin for 

 John Hamilton, at the Corner of Christ Church 

 Lane in High Street, and Sam Fuller at the Globe 

 in Meath Street." 



On the back of the title Mr. Fuller has given 

 a list of his " new " publications, consisting prin- 

 cipally of reprints of English productions, such 

 as Moll Flanders, Garth's Dispensary, &c. The 

 last paragraph but one announces that " Chap- 

 men" are " kindly used," and "furnished with 

 such things 'as they want at reasonable rates." 

 At the end is a list of these chap-books, but they 

 are almost entirely from the sister kingdom, and 

 nothing occurs in the shape of an Irish popular 

 story to excite the curiosity of modern biblio- 

 maniacs. What a subject for speculation would 

 the " Wonderful History of Fin Maccoul" in 

 verse have been ! 



The copy of Cocker in the Library of the 

 Faculty of Advocates is the fifty- third edition. 

 Its popularity down to a comparatively recent 

 period is remarkable. During the parliamentary 

 career of Joseph Hume, his political opponents 

 never failed to quote Cocker against him. Arthur 

 Murphy, in his clever farce of The Apprentice, 

 makes VVingate, the father, insist that his son, a 

 stage-struck hero, should throw aside the bard of 

 Avon. " You read Shakspere ! get Cocker's 

 Arithmetic ; you may buy it for a shilling upon a 

 stall ; the best book that ever was wrote." J. M. 



Tram-ways : — 



" In 1800, Mr. Benjamin Outram, of Little Eaton, in 

 Derbyshire, used stone props instead of timber for sup- 

 porting the ends and joinings of the rails. As this plan 

 was pretty generally adopted, the roads became known 

 as ' Outram roads,' and subsequently, for brevity's sake, 

 ' <mm-roads.'" — Life of G. Stephenson, p. 61. 



J. Eastwood. 



CromwelVs Grandson. — On looking over the 

 Historical Register for the year 1723, Iwas struck 

 with the following notice in the chronological 

 diary : — 



" Sept. 3rd, Mr. Richard Cromwell, an Attorney of 

 Clements' Inn, and Grandson of the vile Usurper Oliver 

 Cromwell, marry'd by Dr. Edmund Gibson, Bishop of 

 London, at the Chapel in the Banquetting House, White- 



