Queries.
We must request correspondents desiring information on family matters of only private interest, to affix their names and ad to their queries, in order that the answers may be addressed to them direct.
The ‘Brussels Gazette.’—Those who have read in ‘Eliana’ Lamb’s touching letter headed ‘A Deathbed’ will remember how his old friend Norris used to sing on Christmas night about the flat bottoms of our foes coming over in darkness. “How his eyes would sparkle when he came to the passage,
We’ll still make ’em run, and we’ll still make ’em sweat,
In spite of the Devil and Brussels Gazette.”
“Where is the Brussels Gazette now?” asks Lamb. And we may still ask about it. The flat-bottomed boats seemed to be the Boulogne flotilla, prepared by Napoleon for the invasion of England; but what had any Brussels Gazette to do with that? There is still a puzzle to come. In the ‘Annual Register’ for 1782, p. 199, I find another mention of a Brussels Gazette, and this, like Mr. Parker’s speech, makes that darker that was dark enough without. A play entitled ‘Variety’ was acted in London, to which R. Tickell wrote a prologue. Its diction is rather confused, but its chief point seems to be the repudiation of puffing, and a wish to let the play rest on its own merits:—
No fostering paragraphs our muse can boast,
To slip young laurels in the Morning Post;
Or cull the seedling puffs, at random set,
To thrive transplanted in the Noon Gazette.
Such bankrupt tricks let false ambition play,
And live on paper-credit, day by day.
Variety disdains to trust her cause
To selfish flatt’ry or to bought applause.
What says the town?—do more—reform enough
That Brusselles Gazette stop the prompter’s puff.
Was there in 1782 a journal published in London styled, either seriously or jocosely, the Brussels Gazette? J. Dixon.
Monuments in Westminster Abbey.—Brayley, in his ‘History and Antiquities of Westminster Abbey,’ printed in 1823, narrates the great number of monuments removed to dark places or lost altogether, which till recently existed in the abbey. Inter alia, he names “a small monument, displaying a sarcophagus ornamented with the family arms, records the valour and accomplishments of Lieut.-Col. Richmond Webb, who died on May 27, 1785, aged seventy, and Sarah, his widow, ob. June 8, 1789, aged sixty-six.” There is a long description of the quartered arms of (1) Webb, (2) Richmond, (3) Pulleyne, (4) Arg. on a bend sa., three annulets or, a crescent for difference (Whose coat is No. 4?), impaling the quartered arms of Griffiths of Downton, co. Radnor, viz. 1 and 4, Gu., a lion rampant regardant or; 2 and 3, Arg., three boars’ heads, erased ppr. langued az. (Whose arms are the second and third quarters?).
What has become of this monument? Is it still to be found amongst the rubbish in the vaults below the Cloisters? C. T. J. Moore.
Albemarle Street.—Where in this street was the tavern, erected by one Wildman, at which the Opposition used to hold their weekly meetings in the early days of George III.? According to the note in Sir Denis Le Marchant’s edition of Walpole’s ‘Memoirs of the Reign of George III.,’ vol. i. p. 353, “This house, in which James Earl Waldegrave died, has again become famous by a club created there in 1769 by several ladies of first rank; the first public female club ever known,” &c. What was the name of the club; and how long did it last? G. F. R. B.
Ranken Family.—Can any of your readers kindly give me information concerning the following? (1) John Ranken, Presbyterian minister, of Antrim, died circa 1784 (v. Europ. Mag.), his marriage, career, birth, and extraction. (2) Lynd, his wife, her family, &c. (3) Charles Ranken, H.E.I.C.S., buried at Hornsey. He married daughter of Rev. Moses Grant, of Notton and Roch, Prebendary of St. David’s (query, when and where?). Birthplace also unknown (Belfast, Antrim?). (4) Rev. George Elliot Ranken, formerly R.E., his son and my grandfather, died circa 1827–8–9 at Clifton (? birthplace). Here I am thousands of miles away from all genealogical facilities for compiling my family memoranda, and my only resource and hope is in the courtesy and good will of your readers. B. Elliot Ranken.
‘The Cigar.’ London, T. Richardson, 98, High Holborn. 16mo. 2 vols., pp. 382 each.—This work appears to have been published in numbers, according to the article in the ‘Dictionary of National Biography’ under “W. Clarke,” but the copies I have inspected have never had the original covers. At the time I wrote my note (5th S. ix. 330) there was no copy in the British Museum. In 1882 the first volume only was purchased, but some one has scraped out the words “vol. i.” from the title-page, so as to make it look complete in one volume. The illustrations are nicely done. I should like to know whether any copy is known with the original covers to the periodical parts; and how many parts made a volume; and who besides W. Clarke contributed to it. Ralph Thomas.
Hibgame: Thurlow.—Can any of your readers kindly inform me how I can find out the date of the marriage of John Hibgame with Catherine Thurlow? The last-named lady was the daughter
