244 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2-* S. VI. 143., Sept. 25. '58. 



Etymology of Dad. — On this familiar paternal 

 appellation Dr. Johnson sayS, " Dad is the child's 

 way of expressing father," and that it is remark- 

 able that in all parts of the world the word for 

 father, as first taught to children, is compounded 

 of a and t, or its kindred letter d, differently 

 placed: as i?«rf, Welch; ^tt«, Greek; oto, Gothic ; 

 tata, Latin. James Elmes, 



A Grand-dad. 



Inventories. — As in a few more years invento- 

 ries of a date later than the Mediasval period will 

 become valuable, will you allow me to place upon 

 record in your valuable publication, that some 

 interesting ones connected with the years 1714 to 

 1720 will be found in the 



" Lists of the Estates, Properties, &c., of the Sub-Go- 

 vernors and Directors of the South Sea Company," 2 vols. 

 folio ? 



Amongst the goods and chattels of Sir John 

 Fellowes, Bart., the then late sub-governor, are 

 mentioned " a pair of Culgee window-curtains," 

 " a Susa window-curtain," "a couch covered with 

 Caffaw." " Drugget hangings round the room " 

 are mentioned in two or more instances, as also 

 " China hangings " and " tapestry hangings," evi- 

 dently making three degrees of decorations. 

 "Brass hearths" I have not seen rioted before. 

 What were the first three above-mentioned stuffs 

 made of? S. S. C. 



Quaint " Address to the Reader." — The follow- 

 ing " address to the reader " appears on the title- 

 page of the burlesque tragedy of Htcrlothrumbo, or 

 the Supernatural, written by Samuel Johnson, and 

 which had a lengthened run at the London 

 theatres in the early part of the last century. 

 The author having acted the part of Lord Flame 

 in his own play, was ever afterwards known by 

 that name : — • 



" Ye sons of Fire, read my Hurlothrumbo, 

 Turn it betwixt your Finger and your Thnmbo, 

 And being quite outdone, be quite" struck dumbo." 



T. N". B. 



©ucrfrs. 



ROBERT NELSON S LETTEKS AND PAPERS. 



Being considerably advanced in my collections 

 for a " Memoir of the Life and Times of Robert 

 Nelson," I should feel much obliged to any of your 

 readers, who may have it in their power, i.'they 

 would communicate to me any unpublished letters, 

 to or by him. 



In particular I should be glad to learn the 

 whereabouts of the following MSS. : — 



1. A letter of Nelson to a French Prelate (Bos- 

 suet apparently), dated Feb. 3, 1703. It ap- 

 peared in the Moore Collection of Autographs, 

 sold by Puttick & Simpson in April, 1856, was pur- 



chased by Mr. Waller of Fleet Street, and was 

 sold by him shortly afterwards. 



2. The earliest MS. journals of Dr. Bray's 

 Associates. These were in the possession of the 

 society, when Todd published his edition oi Dr. 

 Bray's Life and Designs, 1808. See his Intro- 

 duction, p. viii. But they are not now to be found 

 among the papers of the Associates. 



3. The Letters of Lord Melfort to Nelson, for- 

 merly in the collection of Philip Carteret Webb, 

 Esq. See Birch's Life of Tillotson, p. 258. 



C. F. Seceetan. 

 10. Besborough Gardens, Pimlico. 



FLORENCE HENSEY, M.D. 



In the London Magazine (1758 and 1759) will 

 be found some curious statements respecting a 

 certain Dr. Florence Hensey, which remind one 

 very strongly of the Dr. Tucker, who, by pre- 

 tending to be a member of the Italian Borromeo 

 family, has lately won for himself an unenviable 

 notoriety, and — a cell in Newgate. Both indivi- 

 duals, in the course of their career, proved them- 

 selves to be rebels : the one by supplying the 

 French, then at war against England, with in- 

 formation ; the other, by openly avowing his sym- 

 pathy (as an Irish newspaper-editor) with those 

 brutal murderers of women and children — the 

 Sepoys. Not having the opportunity in this place 

 of referring to The State Trials, I wish to know, 

 first, is there any authentic record of the Trial of 

 Florence Hense}', M.D., in 1758*: and next, can 

 anything be told of him subsequent to 1759? 



Here are the main particulars connected with 

 Hensey to be collected from the London Maga- 

 zine. On the 8th February, 1758, he was com- 

 mitted to Newgate, charged with high treason. 

 On the 12th of June, same year, he was tried at 

 Westminster Hall upon the charge of " corre- 

 sponding with the king's enemies, and giving them 

 intelligence how to invade this kingdom:" — a 

 charge that was fully proved against him, as well 

 as that his salary as a spy was to be twenty-five 

 guineas a month ; but it is added, " he received 

 no more than one monthly payment, and they 

 (the French) gave for reason, that his intelligence 

 was nothing but extracts from newspapers," — a 

 fact that shows Hensey bad not the powers of in- 

 vention which distinguish the compositions of the 

 modern Dr. Borromeo-Tucker. On the 14th 

 June, 1758, sentence of death was passed iipnn 

 Hensey; but that sentence was not enforced, to 

 the great disappointment of the populace collected 



[* The trial of Dr. Florence Hensej' is printed in Cob- 

 bett's State Trials, six. 1342 ; but the best report of it 

 was published in a pamphlet entitled A Genuine Account 

 of the Proceedings on the Trial of Florence Hensey, M.J)., 

 8vo. 1758, with'a portrait. — Ed.] 



