Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 8.djvu/451

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s. VIIL NOV. so, low.] NOTES AND QUERIES.


443


in 1805, and his boyhood was passed partly in London, partly at Huntly in the north of Scotland, and partly at Chorley in Lancashire. It was at the last-named place that he began his medical studies, which he afterwards continued at St. Thomas's Hospital, London. He took his degree about 1827, and about a year afterwards started practice at Hackney ; but as his prospects were not very bright, he determined to emigrate to the United States. With this end in view he obtained the appointment of surgeon to the passenger ship Marquis of Wellesley, and set out for Xew York, where he arrived, after a stormy passage occupying eight weeks, in July, 1832. During a visit to Cincinnati he made the acquaintance of Mr. Walter Scott, one of the founders of what was then known as " The Reformation " and after wardvS as " Carnpbellism," of which religious body he soon became an active member. In 1833 he had certainly not founded theChristadelphian sect, as stated by the 'H.E.D.,' for a year later, in 1834, he was editing at Philadelphia the Apostolic Advocate, a paper started with the object of defending and spreading the doctrines of Campbellism.

It was at the end of 1835 or the beginning of 1836 that Dr. Thomas first began to express his doubts on inherent immortality and other matters, which gradually caused a division between himself and the Campbellites ; and in 1847 the first Christadelphian ecclesia was founded, although the name ** Christ- adelphian " was not coined until seventeen years later. In 1848 he visited England, where he stayed two years, during which he wrote 'Elpis Israel,' and also visited a number of towns, where he gave addresses, largely on the connexion between prophecy and history. He then returned to the United States and devoted the remainder of his life to the writing of a detailed exposi- tion of the Book of Revelation, which he published under the title of 'Eureka,' and to visiting and addressing the various commu- nities which held his views. He died in New York in 1871, and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery.

At first Dr. Thomas and his friends did not

t call themselves by any particular name, but

in 1864, the time of the American Civil War,

those of them in the United States found it

necessary to register themselves under some

distinctive title, and it was at this time that

the name " Christadelphian " was adopted

. believe its first appearance in print is in

the Ambassador of the Coming Kingdom for

January, 1865. BENJ. WALKER.

Gravelly Hill, Erdington.


WE must request correspondents desiring infor- mation on family matters of only private interest ,o affix their names and addresses to their queries, n order that the answers may be addressed to them direct.

LONDRES. Maurice de Londres, son of William de Londres, and John de Londres Leland calls the name Lounder) are men- tioned as holding lands and castles in Glamorganshire in the twelfth century. As the second named probably came over with

he Conqueror, can any one locate Londres

in France, as it most likely was not London 1

ALFRED HALL.

THOMAS GIBBONS OR GYBBONS. I shall be glad to know the date of death and other particulars of this Norfolk gentleman, whose collections are numbered 970-72 and 980 among the Harleian MSS. The editor of the catalogue calls him "Esq.," and elsewhere " Armiger," and he entitled No. 980 ' Legulei Supellex,' from which facts I assume that he was probably a barrister. O. O. H.

MEREDITH QUERIES. Will some one kindly explain the following allusions in George Meredith's ' Nuptials of Attila' ?

When the Green Cat pawed the globe.

Stanza ii.

Ere he passed, as, dark and still, Danube through the shouting hill.

HADJI.

MOTTO FOR DOOR OF A HOUSE. Can any reader suggest a good Scotch motto to put over the door of a house and under the old Scottish arms ? Scripture not desired.

E. P.

"THE ETERNAL LACK OF PENCE." Who is

the author and what is the context of the saying about "the eternal lack of pence which vexes public men " ? J. WILLCOCK.

[See Tennyson's ' Will Waterproof's Lyrical Mono- logue.']

MORTARA : ARRO. I have two oil paintings done about 1650 of the Marchese de Mortara and the Conte de Arro. I should like to know of what nationality these were, and if they were men of any note. F. J. NIELD.

[Some temporary celebrity, if our memory is to be trusted, was thrust, about the middle of last century, upon 4i the infant Mortara" by circum- stance and by Edrnond About in one of his romances ('Le Roi des Montagnes' ?). This is the only reference to either of these families we recall.]

" IN PETTO." May I ask whether this Italian phrase can under any circumstances properly convey the meaning of " in minia-