98 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No, 93. 



were Sir Robt Hopton, Sir Thomas, Sir Arthur. 

 Robt had one son, ■w'^^ was the Lord Hopton of great 

 worth, who married the Lord Lewen's widow, and had 

 no child ; so the estate went to the daughters. But 

 our Grandfather Hopton, having so good an estate, 

 thought he might live as high as he pleased, & not 

 run out : but one day he was going from home but c'' 

 not, but told his Lady she w"" be left in great trouble, 

 for the great debts he had made on his estate ; & that 

 he knew he should live but few days, & c*^ not die in 

 peace, to think what affliction he sliould leave her in : 

 so she desired him to be no way concerned for his 

 debts, for he owed not a penny to any one. So he died 

 of a gangrene in his toe in a few days. Now she had 

 set up an Iron-work, & paid all he owed, unknown to 

 him. And she married all her daughters to great 

 estates, & great families : her eldest, I think, to one 

 Smith, who was a younger son, & went factor to a 

 merchant into Spain ; he had a very severe master & 

 was very melancholy & walked one morning in Spain 

 intending to go & sell himself a galley-slave to the 

 Turks : but an old man met him, & asked him why he 

 was so melancholy ; bid him cheer up himself, & not 

 go about what he intended, for his elder brother was 

 dead, letters were coming to him to return home to 

 his estate ; bid him consider & believe what he said, 

 & that when he went for England, the first house lie 

 entered, after his landing, he would marry the gentle- 

 man's eldest daughter: which he did. The Lady 

 Ilopton's way of living was very great : she had 100 

 in her family ; all sorts of trades; and when good ser- 

 vants married she kept the families, & bred them up to 

 several trades. She rose at six of the Clock herself: 

 went to the Iron-work, & came in about 9 ; went with 

 all her family to prayers, & after dinner she & her 

 children & grand-children went to their several works 

 with her in the dining-room, where she spun the finest 

 sheets tliat are. Every year she had all her children 

 & grandchildren met together at her house ; & before 

 tliey went away, would know if any little or great 

 animosities were between any of them ; if so, she would 

 never let them go, till they >were reconciled." 



NOTES ON NEWSPAPERS --- THE TIMES. 



There were sold of TJifi Times of Tuesday, Feb. 

 lOtli, 1840, containing an accoinit ot the Eoyal nup- 

 tials, 30,000 copies, and the following curious cal- 

 culations were afterwards made respecting this 

 publication. The length of a column of The^Tincs 

 is twenty-two inches. If every copy of Tlie Times 

 then printed could be cut into forty-eight single 

 columns, and if those forty-eight columns v ere 

 tacked to each other, they would extend 494 miles 

 and 1,593 yards. To give some idea of the ex- 

 tent of that distance, it may be sufficient to say 

 that one of the wheels of the mail which runs 

 from Falmouth to London, and again from London 

 to Easingwold. a small town tv,-elve miles beyond 

 York, might run all the way on the letter-press so 

 printed, except the last 167 yards. The same 

 extent of letter-press would reach from London 



to Paris, and back again from Paris to Canter- 

 bury, and a little further. The 30,000 papers, if 

 opened out and joined together, would cover a 

 lengtli of twenty-two miles and 1,280 yards; or, 

 in other words, would reach from The Times office, 

 in Printing-house Square, to the entrance hall 

 in Windsor Castle, leaving a few yards for stair 

 carpets. It is recorded that 20,000 copies were in 

 the hands of the newsmen at eight o'clock in the 

 morning. Since 1 840, the circidation of The Times 

 has greatly increased ; and what was then deemed 

 wonderful on an extraordinary occasion, is now 

 exceeded daily by 8,000 copies — the present daily 

 circulation being about 38,000 copies, which are 

 worked by greatly improved machinery at the 

 rate of between 8,000 to 10,000 per hour. On the 

 2nd of last May, The Times containing an account 

 of the opening of the Great Exhibition by the 

 Queen, circulated to the enormous number of 

 52,000 copies, the largest number ever known of 

 one daily newspaper publication. Nothing can 

 illustrate more forcibly than these statements the 

 great utility of the machinery employed in mul- 

 tiplying with so miraculous a rapidity such an 

 immense number of copies. When we look at the 

 great talent — the extensive arrangement — the 

 vast amount of information on a variety of topics 

 — the immense circulation — the rapidity with 

 which it is thrown off, and the correctness of the 

 details of The Times paper — we are constrained 

 to pronounce it the most marvellous political 

 journal the world has ever seen. What would our 

 forefathers have said to this wonderful broad- 

 sheet, which conveys information of the world's 

 movements to the teeming population of the 

 United Kingdom, and also to the peoiile of other 

 and distant climes. H. M. Bealbt. 



North Brixton. 



FOLK LOKE. 



Devonshii-e Superstitions. — Days of the week : 

 " Born on a Sunday, a gentleman ; 



Jfonday, fair in face; 



Tuesday, full of grace ; 



Wednesday, sour and grum ; 



Thursday, welcome home ; 



Friday, free in giving ; 



Saturday, work hard for your living." 



Tuesday and Wednesday are lucky days. 

 Thursday has one lucky hour, viz. the hour 

 before the sun rises. 

 Friday is unlucky. 



It is very unlucky to turn a featherbed on a 

 Sunday ; my housemaid says she would not turn 

 my bed on a Sunday on any account. 



" To sneeze on Monday hastens anger, 

 Tuesday, kiss a stranger. 

 Wednesday. 

 Thursday. 



