2"'! S. VI. 145., Oct. 9. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



291 



work of his superstructure, to Wotton, Jones, or 

 Wren. 



The whole trench was covered by an open floor- 

 ing, many feet above the level of the street, and 

 from that height was cast down the concretive 

 mixture, that by heat, expansion, and adhesion, 

 formed one solid rock and main foundation, the 

 entire lenjjth and breadth of this vast and pon- 

 derous edifice. As to a name for the inventor, no 

 one need desire the honour of beinjT chief mortar- 

 buffer * to such buildings as the Post Office, the 

 British Museum, and other durable works exe- 

 cuted under the care of Sir Robert Smirke. 



Another large concrement, of greater difficulty 

 even than the preceding, forms the solid base of 

 the mass of mansions and offices which extend 

 along the south mall of St. James's Park into 

 Park Street, and form the block of lofty houses 

 between the mansion of Mr. Townley, which for- 

 merly contained his collection of ancient masters, 

 and that of the late Sir David Pollock. 



The site was occupied by the old and well- 

 known Westminster Cock-pit, notified by an ad- 

 jacent public-house known by the sign of the 

 "Fighting Cocks." After the removal of this 

 famous edifice, its site was a regular Slough of 

 Despond ; green, with fetid slime, stinking from 

 dead dogs, cats, rats, and garbage, and all the 

 closest fumes of Duck Lane and Tothill Street of 

 old. It was below high-water mark, and the pu- 

 trid mass rose and fell with the tide. The ground 

 belonged to the trustees of Christ's Hospital ; and 

 the boards to let this putrid pool, " Inquire of 

 Mr. Shaw, at the Architect's Office, Christ's Hos- 

 pital," had become illegible, when IMr. Charles 

 Pearson, now City Solicitor, with the energy that 

 marks his character, liking the neighbourhood, 

 entered into a treaty for the site on a building 

 lease, on terms commensurate with the basis on 

 which he proposed to erect parliamentary offices 

 for himself, a painting room and gallery for Mrs. 

 Pearson, the distinguished portrait painter, a man- 

 sion suited for a plenipotentiary, and suites of 

 private offices for professional men, &c. I was 

 commissioned to examine the spot. As low as we 

 could bore, it was spongy peat ; no sand or gravel, 

 nor any appearance of approaching ihe London 

 blue clay. I adopted, fearlessly, the Post Office 

 plan ; excavated nothing, but, from a height of 

 twelve feet, threw in a compound of six parts of 

 washed Thames gravel to one part of hot, ground, 

 fat lime ; dry at the first, till all the moisture was 

 absorbed, and afterwards mixed with water. Two 

 yards in depth, over the whole surface, was thus 

 incorporated, and the effects were extraordinary. 

 It expanded so much that many serious cracks- in 



• The title given by bricklayers to the better sort of 

 labourerB, a grade above the hod-men and up-and-down- 

 laddcr-ruiiners, who are intrusted witli the tempering of 

 llio mortar, and have the charge of the cement cellar. 



Mr. Townley's wall, in which was built a weighty 

 stone staircase three stories high, were filled up ; 

 and the wall of Sir David Pollock, nearly new, 

 and that of a private house, subsequently pur- 

 chased to complete the pile on the eastern side, 

 were manifestly supported. Moreover, it swelled 

 or grew an inch in height over the whole surface, 

 ascertained by accurate observations ; to say 

 nothing of the downward pressure on the peat 

 moss beneath. When the builder afterwards was 

 about to erect the internal scaffolds, the architect 

 told him he would not have the concrement sunk 

 into for the poles ; and he replied, the warning 

 was unnecessary, for he could not cut into it (then 

 having been done nearly twelve months), and he 

 erected the poles on pattens. 



This indisputable information will, I hope, gra- 

 tify the inquiries of G. R. L. 



James Elmes, Architect and C. E., 



Late Surveyor of the Port of London, &c. 



20. Bm-ney Street, Greenwich. 



THE DEATH OF CLARENCE. 



(2"^ S. ii. 221.) 



On the page indicated Mr. J. Gairdner offers 

 some suggestions concerning the mysterious end 

 of the unfortunate George Duke of Clarence ; 

 and as he solicits from the readers of " N. & Q." 

 either a confirmation or refutation of them, I pre- 

 sume the following remarks, although tending 

 principally in the latter direction, will not be 

 altogether unacceptable. 



Perhaps in making them, it will be better if I 

 advert to the several points where he appears to 

 me to be in error, in the same order in which they 

 are propounded ; I shall therefore do so. Mr. 

 Gairdner conjectures that Clarence was first 

 killed, and drowned afterwards, supporting his 

 theory by adducing two passages from Shak- 

 speare, where the word drowned is applied to 

 inanimate objects, and assuming its equally per- 

 tinent application to dead bodies — and evidently 

 thinks his guess a novel one. But it is precisely 

 the story, as developed by Shakspeare in Richard 

 III., where the murderers first stab their victim, 

 and then carry him away to drown him. Witness 

 the words of one of them : — 



" 1st Murd. Take that, and that, if all this will not do, 



I'll drown you in the malmsey butt within." 

 \_Exit ivith the body. 



So that there seems no great novelty in the most 

 important part of Mr. Gairdner's paper. 



Then he tells us his theory explains the only 

 other instance that he knows of — "of a death 

 concerning which there was a similar report " — 

 that of the two young princes. Now, in Donee's 

 Illmtrntion/i of Shakspeare, vol. ii. 1807, there is a 

 statement so curiously different from this of Mb. 



