436 NOTES AND QUERIES. [2nd 8, No 99,, May 81. °56, - 
nated as above, and respecting which is told the 
pecti has the arms of Abney and Gunston quarterly ona 
same legend as that which is quoted by Henry 
lozenge. 
KENsInGcToN. H. E.C, Have any of the decorations of the “ painted 
room” in the Abney House been preserved? 
Where are they ? 5. W. Rix. 
GUNSTONS OF STOKE NEWINGTON. Beccles, 
(2 S, i. 375.) 
Some information respecting this family may be 
found in Milner’s Life, Times, and Correspondence 
of the Rev. Isaac Watts, D,D. (Lond. 1834), at 
pp. 163. 167. 179. 310. 520. 524. The book is, 
unhappily, without an index.) See also Watts’s 
Works, Barfield’s edition, 4to., 1810, iv. 494.; and 
Robinson’s History of Stoke Newington, pp. 36. 
56.; and an earlier but less ample account of that 
parish in Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica, 
No. ix. Lond., 1783, pp. 25. 38. 40. The arms 
of Gunston are Or, on a bend sable 3 stars (mul- 
lets ?) of six points argent. Milner says the arms 
of Gunston and Abney were painted by Dr. Watts 
on the window shutters of an apartment in the 
mansion built by Thomas Gunston at Newington, 
the site of which now forms part of Abney Park 
Cemetery. From a private note, made at the 
time by my great-grandfather, Joseph Parker, 
who was Watts’s amanuensis, and afterwards 
steward and almoner to Lady Abney (previously 
Mary Gunston) and to her daughter, Elizabeth 
Abney, I find that her ladyship died January 12, 
1749-50, and “was interred in a vault in New- 
ington Church, under the iron rails near the pul- 
pit.” In a paragraph drawn up by Mr. Nathaniel 
Neal of the Million Bank (son of Daniel Neal the 
historian of the Puritans), and inserted in the 
Daily Advertiser of January 13, 1749-50, Lady 
Abney is described as “‘ eminent for true greatness 
of mind; in prosperity cheerful but not elated ; 
in adversity humble but not dejected ; ever stu- 
dious of her own duty and the welfare of others.” 
It is added, “ Her piety was free from supersti- 
tion, her charity from ostentation ; despising the 
vain things of this life, yet having no contempt of 
those who esteemed them; seeking and expecting 
her own happiness in*a future state, yet duly at- 
tentive to all the relations and concerns of the 
present.” Another memorandum by Mr. Parker, 
mentions that Mrs. Elizabeth Abney “ was buried, 
agreeably to her desire, by her mother, in New- 
ington Church ; and sixty-eight rings were given 
on the occasion.” The newspapers of the day 
stated that she was “ greatly and justly lamented, 
and most by those who knew her best.” A few 
years ago (I believe in connexion with some re- 
pairs or alterations) the vault containing the re- 
mains of Mrs. Abney was opened, and the brass 
coffin-plate taken away. After remaining some 
time in private hands it was fixed in the church 
asa mural tablet. It is inscribed “ Mrs. Eliza- 
beth Abney, died Aug*t 20!, 1782, aged 78,” and 
ORIGIN OF PANTOMIMES. 
(2"2 S. i. 313.) 
The following is a second-hand answer to J. D.’s 
Query, it being the reply given in a popular pe- 
riodical some years back to a similar question. 
Perhaps some of your readers will authenticate 
the information it gives : 
“Pantomime was known to the Greek and Roman 
stages, being introduced on the latter by Pylades and 
Bathyllus in the time of Augustus Cesar. From that 
time to the present different modifications of this kind of 
representation have taken place, and the lofty scenes of 
ancient pantomime are degenerated now to the adventures 
of harlequin, pantaloon, &c. The first pantomime per- 
formed by grotesque characters in this country was at 
Drury Lane Theatre in 1702; it was composed by a Mr. 
Weaver, and called ‘The Tavern Bilkers.? The next 
produced was ‘ The Loves of Mars and Venus.’ In 1717 
the first harlequinade, composed by Mr. Rich, was per- 
formed in the theatre in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, and called 
‘Harlequin Executed.’ This performer, who acted under 
the name of Lun, was so celebrated for his compositions, 
and skill as a harlequin, that they soon became established 
in public favour. The harlequin of the French stage 
differed from ours, for he had license of speech. Many of 
the witticisms of Dominique, a celebrated harlequin in 
the time of Louis XIV., are still on record. The old cha- 
racter of zany was similar to our clown. The name of 
pantaloon is said to have been derived from the watch- 
word of the Venetians, piantaleone; and that of harlequin 
has originated, as some say, from the following event: 
A young Italian actor came to Paris in the time of 
Henry III. of France, and having been received into the 
house of the President, Achilles de Harlai, his brother 
actors called him harlequine, from the name of his master. 
Others that there was a bad knight named Harlequin, 
who was saved from perdition by fighting against the 
infidels, but condemned to appear nightly.” 
R. W. Hacxwoop. 
The following brief and interesting notice of 
pantomimes appears in Dramatic Table Talh, 
vol.i. p.117.: 
“The inventors of this extraordinary art were two 
obscure Romans, named Pylades and Bathyllus, who, as 
we are told by Zosimus, were rivals in its profession, in 
the reign of Augustus Cesar, Pantomime was the name 
given to the performer, not to the piece, and the admira- 
tion bestowed on this rank and species of comedian was, 
at one time, carried beyond that given to any other per- 
former. Cassiodorns, indeed, has thus designated them: 
‘Men whose eloquent hands ‘had a tongue, as it were, on 
the top of each finger — men who spoke while they were 
silent, and knew how to make an entire recital without 
opening their mouths — men, in short, whom Polyhymnia 
had formed, in order to show there was no necessity for 
articulating, in order to convey our thoughts.’ There is 
Sees 
