2nd §, No 18, May 3. °56.] 
Replies to Minor Queries. 
The Danube (2° S. i. 310.) — The following 
paragraph appeared in “N. & Q.:” 
“ A canal has been projected, and is in course of con- 
struction, from Dietfurth near the Danube, to Bamberg- 
on-the-Mein, whereby a line of communication would be 
continued from the Black Sea, by the Danube, Mein, and 
» Rhine, to the German Ocean.” © 
The following paragraph is extracted from Mur- 
ray's Handbook of Southern Germany, published 
in 1853: 
“This small town (Kelheim) is likely to acquire im- 
prise from its situation at the mouth of the Ludwig’s- 
anal, a canal recently formed to unite the Danube with 
the Main, through the Altmiihl and the Regnitz. The 
Altmiihl has been rendered navigable as far as Dietfurth, 
where the excavated canal begins, and is continued as far 
as Bamberg on the Main, a distance from Kelheim of 
about 107 (Eng.) miles. The summit level is at Neu- 
markt-on-the-Sulz, where the canal is 300 feet above the 
level of the Danube at Kelheim, and 360 feet above that 
of the Regnitz at Bamberg. It has ninety-four locks, 
and near Nieder-(Elsbach traverses a tunnel 900 feet long. 
The dimensions of the canal are fifty-four feet in width at 
top, and thirty-four feet at bottom; the estimated cost 
817,5002. It is calculated that a barge may be tracked 
through it in six or seven days. It was begun in 1837. 
Its construction is due to the instigation of the King of 
Bavaria, who thus realised, after the lapse of 1000 years, 
the favourite scheme of Charlemagne, of connecting.the 
Black Sea with the German Ocean.” 
In addition to the above, a friend now present 
informs me that two or three years since two 
friends of his rowed from the Main, up the 
Ludwigs Canal, and down the Danube to Vienna. 
R. S. CHarnocg. 
George Manners (2° S. i. 314.)—I can sup- 
ly X. (1.) with a slight reminiscence of George 
anners, but I fear it will be considered a very 
slight one. 
About forty years ago, when Albinia Dowager 
Lady Buckinghamshire inhabited, near Grosvenor 
Place, a suburban villa, which has now disap- 
peared among the buildings of Belgravia, I met at 
one of her celebrated masquerade breakfasts, Mr. 
Manners, the editor of The Satirist. He came in 
the character (which he admirably supported) of 
an itinerant preacher. He was, if my memory 
serves me right, a remarkably tall distinguished- 
looking man, but he disguised his person thus: 
standing inside of a tub, which hid his own legs, 
he had short false ones attached before him, that 
appeared to stand upon the top of the barrel, and 
he concealed the disproportion of his figure by 
a clerical gown. He could lift up the tub by 
handles at the sides, and thus shuffle about the 
grounds; but in support of the character he as- 
sumed, he placed himself for the most part near 
the refreshment table, where he held forth with a 
=, deal of wit on the fashionable follies of the 
; Seasoning his discourse with some personal 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
361 
allusions that were caustic, but good-humoured. 
He occasionally paused in his tirade against luxury 
and gluttony, for the purpose of stretching his 
hand behind him to the refreshments, and help- 
ing himself to wine and dainties,—an act which in 
itself formed a satirical commentary to the Puritan 
harangue. Monson, 
Gatton Park. 
Gainsborough the Painter (24 §, i. 281.) — Mr. 
Funcuer will find in the Garrick Correspondence 
four letters by Gainsborough; and in the Life 
and Times of Nollekens, by Antiquity Smith, are 
many very interesting particulars of the painter. 
Dulwich Gallery contains four works by Gains- 
borough, being portraits of J. P. Loutherbourg, 
R.A., Thomas Linley, Esq., Mrs. Moody and 
children (whole length), Mrs. Sheridan and Mrs. 
Tickle (whole length). The latter picture is one 
of the very finest of Gainsborough’s portrait pieces, 
and more than justifies the high encomiums passed 
upon him as a painter by Sir Joshua Reynolds 
in his ‘“ Fourteenth Discourse,” which is entirely 
devoted to the artistic abilities of Gainsborough. 
The Catalogues of the annual Exhibitions of 
Ancient Masters at the British Institution will 
furnish much information concerning the works of 
Gainsborough, as the name of the owner is always 
given. Epwin Rorre. 
Grey Beards (2™ §. i. 293.) — Your corre- 
spondent may see two of these on sale at a shop in 
Holborn; if he does not find them there, he is 
welcome to inspect several specimens in my pos- 
session at No. 1. Lovell’s Court. Cuarres Ruep. 
Jugs may be seen at the Museum of Aicono- 
mic Geology, and also at the Marlborough House 
collection: they are very common. CENTURION. 
Insecure Envelopes (2™ S. i. 292.) —I can give 
H. B. C. no other information about the “‘ metallic 
safety” envelope, than that I never considered it 
safe; that is, in the sense in which H. B. C. em- 
ploys the word, and which I suppose to be as 
equivalent to security against any curious or dis- 
honest attempt to open the letter. To describe a 
process by which an adhesive or sealed envelope 
may be opened, without risk of detection, is, to 
say the least of it, not very prudent. I think it ig 
just as bad as delivering public lectures on pol- 
sons, of which there have been too many examples 
during the last few months. 
Of the hundreds of thousands of letters dis- 
patched through the Post Office every day, per- 
haps there are not five per cent. of the whole 
number which are of the least value, or of the 
slightest interest, to any other persons than the 
writers or those addressed. For convenience, 
cheapness, and comparative security, adhesive en- 
velopes may, therefore, be used—say for nineteen 
