I5S NOTES — ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. 



/' -A Remarkable Meteor. — A meteor of great brilliance was observed at 

 Chelmsford on Sunday evening, April 22nd, at 7.35. The evening was fine and 

 clear, and it was still almost broad daylight, the sun having set at 7.5. The 

 meteor appeared near the zenith, and took a course a little to the east of south, 

 e.nitting a dazzling greenish light, and leaving behind a number of sparks. About 

 10° above the horizon it suddenl}' "went out," but for a short distance it was 

 still visible as a red hot ball before finally disappearing into space. — THOMAS S. 

 Dymond, Chelmsford, April 24th, 1894. [This meteor appears to have been seen 

 in various parts of England. The Hon. R. Russell recorded it as seen at Hasle- 

 mere, in "Nature" (April 26th), and at Williton in Somersetshire. It "broke 

 suddenly into view at thirty-seven minutes past seven, about 50" above the 

 horizon, and gradually very steadily fell towards the earth, a high range of hills, 

 the Quantocks, forming the eastern boundary. A very large elm-tree standing 

 about a quarter of a mile from us, the meteor became hidden by the tree, so that 

 we could not see its contact with the ground. It was of as bright a light as the 

 sun at midday. We should much like to know if it was seen by parties the other 

 side of the hill. It fell just as steadily as a spent rocket-stick, leaving for some 

 little distance a tail of sparks. Apparently the meteor was about two and a half 

 miles from us, the Quantocks being three miles." Another observer, writing 

 from Margate, noted it at twenty-fivef minutes to eight, its direction being "from 

 north-west to south-east, the altitude 450 to So", in view about thirty seconds ; 

 colour a brilliant green, and apparent dimensions about the volume of a Roman 

 candle." Fiom Guildford it was noticed at exactly the same time, falling " in a 

 direct line to the earth, leaving behind a magnificent train of blue. After 

 travelling to within, apparently, a very short distance of the earth, it broke into 

 three pieces, something like the bursting of a sky-rocket, the lower portions being 

 about the size of a breakfast cup. The sight was the more remarkable, there 

 being no star visible in the clear light of day." — Ed.] 



Fairmead Lodge, Epping Forest. — This lodge, sometimes known as 

 Sotheby's, has already (" Two Forest Lodges," Essex Nat., vol. vii., p. 82, and 

 see also E.N., vol. vi., p. 206) been identified with that known in former 

 ftimes as New Lodge. A reference to it probably occurs in the recently 

 published " Correspondence of Mr. Joseph Jekyll." Writing under date July i8th, 

 1826, he says: — " Poet Sotheby invites the boys to a Fete Champetre at a hovel 

 he has built in a bog on Epping Forest, where his brother the Admiral is to waltz, 

 but they have no stilts, so decIiFie it." 



A few years later on, in January, 1834, Mr. Jekyll records Mr. William 

 Sotheby's death, and says of him that " he was a man of considerable talents and 

 many virtues . . . Many of his original compositions were highly poetical, but 

 his principal fame will rest upon his translations. His '\'irgil,' his ' Wieland, 

 and I think, too, his Homer, manifest a scholar's intimacy with the-idiom of their 

 respective languages, and e.xtraordinary facility of versification." Jekyll's view of 

 the matter in 1829 was somewhat different : "Think," he says, "of Poet Sotheby 

 translating Homer after Pope " ; and in 1825 he alludes to " Botherby's " having 

 left a card on him, " which he^ has not done these seven years. It has no black 

 edges, so it is probably to shew he has not hanged himself." 



In 1822, Mr. Sotheby was involved in a dispute with the Benchers of the 

 Inner Temple, of whom Jekyll was one, and they expected a satire from him. 

 Incidentally we are told that it was Byron who christened him " Botherby," and 

 not, it is added, " without good reason." 



