330
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. vm. OCT. 19, 1901.
Journal of George Fox ' (first Quaker, 1624-
1690) was published. Charles Lloyd, of the
well-known Quaker family of Lloyd, is given
as such in the text, but he is indexed under
'Floyd.' In the first edition (1694) he appears
as " Floid " ; in the third (1765) as "Floyd" ;
in the 1827 edition as " Floid " ; and in the
1836, 1852, and 1891 editions as " Lloyd."
Morgan Floyd, " a priest of Wrexhain," is given uniformly in all editions as "Floyd." NORMAN PENNEY.
Friends' Institute, Bishopsgate, E.G.
THE PORTLAND VASE (9 th S. viii. 225). The Penny Magazine for 29 September, 1832, commences with a full-size, full-page illus- tration of ' The Portland or Barberini Vase.' The article, ' British Museum, No. 6 ' (No. 31, vol. i. pp. 249-50), concludes thus :
"A mould of the Barberini vase was taken at Rome, before it came into the possession of Sir William Hamilton, by the gem engraver Pechler, and from this the late Mr. Tassie, the celebrated modeller, took sixty casts in plaster of Paris, and then broke the mould. Some very beautiful imitations of it have also been fabricated by the Wedgwoods, in which not only the shape but the colour of the original has been attempted to be preserved. Modern art, however, cannot imitate the vitrified appearance of the material in the ancient vase."
I have a rough, damaged model of it, in what appears to have been a hot- water jug for table use. The material is a slightly glazed biscuit ware of a cream colour.
THOMAS J. JEAKES.
The collection of the late Mr. W. Johnston Stuart, sold at Christie's in February last, included (lot 299) a fine example of Wedg- wood's copy of the Portland or Barberini vase. It fetched ninety guineas.
47, Lansdowne Gardens, S.W.
W. ROBERTS.
THE BIRTHPLACE OF OLIVER GOLDSMITH
(9 th S. viii. 244). It may interest your corre-
spondent to know that Dr. M. F. Cox
delivered a lecture recently on ' The Country
and Kindred of Oliver Goldsmith,' which was
published in the Journal of the National
Literary Society of Ireland. He investigated
the question of the birthplace, and adduces
strong evidence in favour of Smith-Hill,
hlpnin. He quotes the following two letters :
Smith-Hill, 24th Den , 1807
DEAR SiE,-The Rev Oliver Jones was curate of Elphin, and also had the diocesan school of that town ; he lived where I now live, a little more than half a mile from the church. He had four daughters and no son. My grandfather George Hicks was married to one of these daughters, and consequently knew every circumstance relatingto that family ; and has often told me that Rev. Charles Goldsmith/who
was married to another of Mr. Jones's daughters'
had a curacy somewhere near Athlone; and that
Mrs. Goldsmith spent much of her time with her
mother Mrs. Jones, then a widow, and living at
Smith-Hill ; that Oliver Goldsmith was born here,
in his grandfather's house ; that he was nursed and
reared here, and got the early part of his education
at the school of Elphin. My mother, the only child
of the above George Hicks and Miss Jones, was
contemporary with Oliver Goldsmith, and brought
up in her grandfather's house. She also has often
told me the foregoing circumstances, and has
shown me the very spot where the bed stood in
which Goldsmith was born. From what I have
always heard and understood, I never had a doubt
in my mind that Goldsmith was born here.
I am, &c.,
ROBERT JONES LLOYD.
5, Brighton's Vale, Monkstown, 6 February, 1899. DEAR SIR, As the birth of Goldsmith has always been an unsettled question, it may be interesting to you to know that my father, who lived near Elphin, was shown by Parson Lloyd, at Smith Hill House, Elphin, the room in which the poet was born. The parson said the poet's mother rode from Pallas to Elphin on a horse and pillion, and that Goldsmith was born there, somewhat sooner than he was expected, consequent on his mother's long ride. Parson Lloyd also stated that the one - story thatched building, which adjoins and communicates with the modern house at Smith Hill, was allowed to stand, owing to its being the room in which the poet was born. Faithfully yours,
THOMAS J. KENNY.
Dr. Cox, who has made a searching and minute inquiry into the question, notes that "Goldsmith's sister, in her account of the poet, stated that Oliver was born, prema- turely, at seven months"; that "Campbell believed that Elphin was really the birth- place of Goldsmith." "This county" (Ros- common), he writes, " boasts of a still greater honour, the birth of the much - lamented Oliver Goldsmith." Dr. Percy, afterwards Bishop of Dromore, with whom Campbell was associated in a literary fellowship, also believed it. So did Edmund Malone ; and considering Malone's intimate association with Maurice Goldsmith whom he so helped and befriended and the fact that Malone's brother Lord Sunderlin had a residence at Oran, of which the Rev. Mr. Contarine was prebendary, and remembering the persistent tradition which has obtained for more than a century in the neighbour- hood of Elphin, and also the peculiarly cordial relationship which Goldsmith had with Roscommon at Kilmore, at Ballyoughter,and at Ernlaghmore I do not think I shall be accused of rash judgment in asserting that the great weight of evidence and the balance of probability are in favour of ascribing Goldsmith's bir "
Dublin,
birthplace to Elphin.
W. A. HENDEKSON*
