56 



NOTES AND QUERIES. ca-* s. vi. iss., July 17. '58. 



thirteen hundred thousand pounds had been in this way- 

 intrusted to the state. On a sudden it was announced 

 that it was not convenient to repay the principal, and 

 that the lenders must content themselves with interest. 

 They were consequently unable to meet their own en- 

 gagements. The Exchange was in an uproar. Great 

 mercantile houses broke, and dismay spread through so- 

 ciety." 



This, I suppose, is what J. K. refers to when 

 he says that " Backwell was one of the bankers 

 robbed by Charles the Second on his shutting up 

 the Exchequer." So that there is much historical 

 interest attached to this bank. Possibly some 

 of your correspondents may be able to give more 

 information than I can respecting it ; perhaps 

 some may be able to say " who were Backwell's 

 partners in his lifetime, and who immediately 

 succeeded to him after his flight to Holland ; and 

 whether he resumed banking on his return ? "* 



H. C. Hart, M.A. 



Seals (2'"^ S. v. 512.) — Mr. French's judicious 

 suggestion, if generally acted upon, would not 

 only be an encouragement to what he properly 

 styles "an useful and elegant art," but greater 

 authenticity would be given to legal proceedings 

 by persons using their own seals, rather than 

 adopting, as he states, " unmeaning and ugly 

 seals" affixed by the law stationer — a practice so 

 perfectly absurd and contradictory, that a man 

 whose name is John Jones may perhaps place that 

 name before a seal bearing the initials O. N. 



From age or infirmity, or from both causes, a 

 great change may have occurred in the hand- 

 writing of a person whose signature is to be de- 

 posed to, and a witness may from that change feel 

 some hesitation in swearing to the signature; but 

 if he should find it followed liy an impression of 

 the seal, constantly worn and used by the de- 

 ceased, additional evidence would be afforded, 

 and his belief, as to the authenticity of the signa- 

 ture, would be materially strengthened. True it 

 is that the forger of the runne may for the better 

 accomplishment of his object, either privately ob- 



[* Our attention has been called to the following pas- 

 sages in Pennant's London, pp. 638-9. (ed. 1813), which 

 illustrate this subject : — 



" Mr. Granger (vol. iii. 410.) mentions Mr. Child as 

 successor to the shop of Alderman Backwel, a banker in 

 the time of Charles II., noted for his integrity, abilities, 

 and industry; wlio was ruined by the shutting up of the 

 Exchequer in 1G72. His books were placed in the hands 

 of Mr. Child, and still remain in the family." 



" From the west of Temple Bar (Middleton and Camp- 

 bell, now CoLitts,) to the extremitj- of Ihe western end of 

 the town, there was none till the year 1756, whei the 

 respectable name of Backwel rose again, conjoined to those 

 of Darel, Hart, and Croft, who with great reputation 

 opened their shop in Pall Mall." And to the name Back- 

 wel, Pennant adds the following note : " Of the same 

 family with the great Mr. Backwel. He favoured me 

 with a beautiful print of his worthy relation, which had 

 been engraven in Holland, after his flight from bis pro- 

 fligate country." — Ed. "N. & Q."] 



tain or steal the use of the seal; but to place 

 a double difficulty in the commission of a fraud is 

 not unimportant. 



My excellent friend, the late Sir R. Inglis, one 

 of the most correct and accurate of men in all the 

 transactions of life, was very particular on this 

 point. His example I have tbllowed. J. H. M. 



Earthquake at Lisbon, 1755 (2"«S. v. 895. 524.) 

 — On this event Bishop Warburton's remarks 

 are very striking. They were pointed out to nie, 

 half a century ago, by the late Mr. Maltby of the 

 London Institution : — 



" To suppose," says the bishop, "these desolations the 

 scourge of Heaven for human impieties, is a dreadful re- 

 flection ; and yet to sujjpose ourselves in a forlorn and 

 fatherless world, is ten times a more frightful considera- 

 tion. In the first case, we may reasonal)ly hope to avoid 

 our destruction by the amendment of our manners ; in 

 the latter we are kept incessantly alarmed by the blind 

 rage of warring elements. 



" The relation of the captain of a vessel to the Ad- 

 miralty, as Mr. Yorke told me the story, has something 

 very striking in it. He lay o(f Lisbon on the fatal 1st 

 Nov. preparing to hoist sail for England. He looked 

 towards the city in the morning, which gave the promise 

 of a tine day, and saw that proud metropolis rise above 

 the waves, flourishing in wealth and plenty, and founded 

 on a rock that promised a poet's eternity, at least to its 

 grandeur. He looked an hour after, and saw the city in- 

 volved in flames, and sinking in thunder. A sight more 

 awful mortal eyes could not behold on this side the day 

 of doom." * 



A Constant Reader (2'"^ S. v. 395.) states that 

 he had heard the water in Loch Ness at the time 

 of the earthquake "rose some seven or eight feet 

 higher than it was ever known to do before or 

 since," and asks for information on this point. 

 Tradition may have handed down the fact on the 

 spot, and it may be expressly noticed in some con- 

 temporary works. Warburton says it made men 

 tremble from one end of Europe to another; from 

 Gibraltar to the Highlands of Scotland. Charles 

 Emily, who wrote a poem on " Death " for the 

 Seatonian prize, in the year when Bp. Porteus 

 was the successful candidate, (1759,) alludes to 

 the earthquake at Lisbon, and in the 14th stanza 

 we have the following lines : — 



" Many a palace fair, 



With millions sinks ingulpht, and pillar'd fane; 



Old Ocean's farthest waves confess the shock ; 



Even Albion trembled conscious on his stedfast rock." f 



J. H. M. 



Bramhull Arms (2'"' S. v. 478.) — Burke in his 

 Armory gives. as the arms of Bramhall, Ches. and 

 Lond. (confirmed Nov. 21, 1628), " Sa. a lion 

 ramp, or." 



The fact of a seal with an heraldic device being 

 attached to a letter is not always a criterion that 



* Bishop Warburton's Letters, p. 204. (not dated, but 

 probably written in Dec. 1755.) 

 t Pearch's Coll. of Poems, i. 22. 



