2-1 S. V. 127., June 5. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



459 



I-IGHTING WITH GAS. 

 (2''<i S. V. 111.) 



The following notes may possibly be worth 

 adding to those already given : — 



" The town of Sydney was for the first time lighted up 

 with gas on May 25th, 1841, it being the first city in 

 Australia, or in fact in the Asiatic world, to which this 

 important invention has been applied." 



In France : — 



" The mode of adapting gas to the lighting of streets 

 and houses was discovered by a Frenchman, an Engineer, 

 named Lebon. In 1799, he conceived the idea of adapt- 

 ing the carburetted hj'drogen disengaged from coal in the 

 metal retorts used to calcine it by M. de Limbourg, to a 

 useful purpose, and realised it in the same year at Paris 

 by exhibiting the interior of his house and' garden illu- 

 minated by it issuing from a large reservoir. He set up 

 one of his apparatus, which he called Thermo-lamps, at 

 the Theatre de Loervois. It was the same apparatus as 

 now employed; the only difference being, that Lebon 

 obtained his gas by the calcination of wood, we from 

 coal" 



The following, in connexion with the editorial 

 reply to Abhba, will be interesting ; it occurs in 

 Jerdan's Autobiography^ ii. 32. : — 



" Among the most attractive sights [at the peace Jubi- 

 lee] were the mimic Fleet on the Serpentine Kiver, and 

 the Chinese Bridge and Pagoda on the Canal in St. 

 James's park. My friend David Pollock, who was about 

 the earliest efficient promoter of the introduction of gas 

 from the invention of Mr. Winsor, — the first successful 

 Experimentalist with it in his own dwelling, — and for 

 30 years Governor of the Chartered Gas Light and Coke 

 Co , was So concerned in the application that he hastened 

 to London from the Circuit to be present at the lighting 

 of the bridge and pagoda with this new flame. Mortifj'- 

 ing to relate, it will be remembered that the bridge 

 caught fire ; the gas was put out happily without explo- 

 sion, and every part thrown into smouldering darkness. 

 The much-grieved Governor hurried back in a chaise to 

 theCountrv; and on appearing in Court next morning, 

 very cast down, one of his confreres wrote as follows : — 

 " • When all the Park was into darkness cast. 



The mob lost nothing — Pollock looked aghast,' (agast). 



" On another occasion, on his asking a friend (Dr. 

 Masham, the present [1856-7] Warden of Merton Col- 

 lege, Oxford, I believe), to take some shares in the Char- 

 tered Gas Co., then in its infancy, he wrote in answer : — 



" * Believe me. Dear Pollock, I am not such an ass, 

 As to think that Gaza's the Latin for Gas.' 



" On another occasion, either the late Mr. Baron Bol- 

 land, or the late J. Adolphus, wrote : — 



" ' Little David of old with a sling and a stone, 

 Slew Goliath the Giant, alas! 

 If on our little David this task had been thrown, 

 He'd have poisoned the giant with gas.' " 



The Haymarket was the last of the London 

 theatres into which gas was introduced, in conse- 

 quence of some absurd prejudice of the proprietor 

 of the theatre, the late Mrs. Morris, who bound the 

 lessee to adhere to the old-fashioned mode of light- 

 ing with oil. The change took place on April 15, 

 1853, whilst the theati'e was under the manage- 

 ment of Mr. B. Webster. R. W, Hackwood. 



STONBHENGE A BCBIAL-PIiACE. 



(2°'> S. V. 395.) 



Whatever may be the opinion of our antiquaries, 

 mediaeval chroniclers confirm the tradition of the 

 Welsh, that Stonehenge was formerly used by the 

 Britons as a place of sepulture for their kings and 

 priests. Those last-mentioned worthies, " after 

 life's fitful fever," were buried, like their Egyp- 

 tian prototypes, within the most sacred precincts 

 of the kingdom, and with no small pomp and cere- 

 mony. Of the obsequies of Aurelius Ambrocius, 

 old Hardyng thus sings : — 



" Within the Giautes Caroll, that so then hight, 

 The Stone Hengles, that howe so named bene, 

 Where prelates and dukes, erles and lordes of might, 

 His sepulture to worship there were sene. 

 Thus this worthy kyng was buryed by dene, 

 That reygned had that tyme but thirten yere, 

 When he was dedde and laide so on here." 



Ambrocius was of the royal line of Cornwall, 

 and king of Wilts and part of Hants, where the 

 place of his residence (Urbs Ambrosci) is still in- 

 dicated by the little town of Ambresbury or 

 Amesbury, in the first-named county. He fell 

 towards the close of the fifth century in defend- 

 ing his states against the attacks of the Saxon 

 chief Cerdic, and was buried as described by 

 Hardyng. The old chronicler inclines to the 

 opinion of his fraternity, that Ambrocius was the 

 contriver of Stonehenge ; which was erected at 

 the instigation of Merlyn as a sepulchral monu- 

 ment for the British chiefs slain by Hengist ! 



The same rude poet likewise alludes to the in- 

 terment of Uthyr Pendragon : — 



" This Constantine set all his londe in peace, 

 And reygned well foure yere in great noblesse, 

 And dyed then, bur3-ed at Caroll ne lesse, 

 Besyde Vterpendragon full expresse, 

 Arthures fader, of great worthynesse ; 

 Whiche called is the Stone Hengles certayne, 

 Besyde Salysbury vpon the playne." 



. According to Rowlands, Uthyr Pendragon was 

 the third son of Constantine, who was son of 

 Solomon, king of Armorica (Brittany). He died 

 A.D. 516, and was buried as above related. 



I think there must be a mistake in the name of 

 the third king mentioned by Mr. Phillips, as in- 

 cluded in the inscription on the walls of the Hotel 

 de Ville at Constance. Instead of Constaunce, it 

 should have been Constantine (ap Cadwr), iden- 

 tical with the first-named in the above lines. 

 Geoffrey of Monmouth dignifies him with the title 

 of King of Britain ; but most probably his sove- 

 reignty did not extend beyond the limits of Corn- 

 wall, which was conferred upon him by his kins- 

 man Arthur. It is certain that he reigned only 

 " foure yere ;" but whether, as Cressy affirms, he 

 then resigned his crown and assumed the cowl, or 

 whether, as the poet has it, he " dyed then," I am 

 unable to determine. Borlase, however, dates his 



