Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 1.djvu/462

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454


NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. i. JUNE 4, 1910.


BORROW IN THE ISLE OF MAN (11 S. i. 307). It may be of value to MR. CUBBON in con- nexion with his query concerning the present whereabouts of Borrow MSS., to know that the Collection of Borrowana made by the late Prof. S. P. Langley of this city con- tained a number of Borrow's MSS., and that these are now owned by the Hispanic Society of America, whose address is 156 Street, West of Broadway, New York City.

JOHN T. LOOMIS.

1726, Corcoran Street, Washington, D.C.

INITIAL LETTERS FOR NAMES (11 S. i. 346, 432). MR. PIERPOINT is in error in supposing that Richard and Edward Atkyns were the authors of the book. They had a " privi- legium " from the king for the sole printing of common-law books, and their names accordingly appear on many such books of that age ; see ' D.N.B./ ii. 231-2. The initials are those of a " Syndicate " (as it would now be called) of booksellers who made a bargain with the assigns of the Atkyns family. W. C. B.

NOTTINGHAM EARTHENWARE TOMBSTONES: COADE AND ARTIFICIAL STONE (11 S. i. 189, 255, 312, 356, 409). Like MR. W. P. COURTNEY, I take a great interest in the subject of Coade's artificial stone. In my case this is partly owing to the fact that in the house where I was born, at Bromley, Kent, the library, built in the time of my great-grandfather, contains among other adornments a statue of a female figure draped in classic style,, and having on its base the inscription " Coade fecit. n These two words, in rny childish days when first able to spell them out, I took to be the Chris- tian name and surname of the lady. I afterwards learnt that the statue was intended or supposed to represent " Con- templation," that it was designed by John Bacon, R.A., and that it came from the establishment formerly in Lambeth. '

I have an old water-colour drawing of the entrance to ' Mrs. Coade's Factory in Narrow Wall l (there is another in the Fauntleroy Pennant), and also an engraving from The European Magazine, vol. xli., entitled ' The Entrance to Coade & Sealy's Gallery of Sculpture of Artificial Stone, Westminster Bridge,'- 1802. This show- place, which was some distance from the factory, had a side entrance at the corner of Westminster Bridge Road and Narrow Wall (now Belvedere Road). Over the door- way were figures in relief of boys (amorini) holding up a curtain, the material doubtless


being artificial stone. They disappeared not much more than two years ago, with the comparatively modern house to which the doorway latterly gave access.

MR. COURTNEY quotes Brayley to the effect that " about 1827 [1837 ?] the manu- facture was removed by Croggan & Co., who had succeeded to the business, to the New Road, near Tottenham Court.' 1 In Kelly's 'Directory' for 1838 I observe " Croggon Thomas John (son of the late Wm. Croggon), Imperishable Stone, Scag- liola, and Marble Works, College Wharf, Belvedere Road, Lambeth, ?? so apparently he had not yet crossed over the water. In a recent advertisement I notice that Messrs. Sanders, 365, Euston Road, claim to be " successors to Austin & Seeley, inventors of the artificial stone." According to a note in The Builder for 22 Aug., 1891, the Crog- gon or Croggan business " latterly passed to Messrs. Austin & Seeley.' 4 They already had it in 1867, when Timbs wrote his ' Curiosities of London.'

I have a long list of designs still in exist- ence the material of which is Coade's artificial stone. PHILIP NORMAN.

The following items may be of interest as far as Coade of Lambeth is concerned, gleaned from old inhabitants.

The works were on the site now occupied by Messrs. Hampton & Co., and they had an elaborate tablet outside, ' ' Marble and Scagliola Works." The houses in West- minster Bridge Road from Belvedere Road to York Road were known as Coade's Row, and on the corner house, recently pulled down in connexion with the improvements consequent on the building of the County Hall, was a tablet with " Coade Row, 1797,'* on it ; it was formerly larger and more elaborate. There was another on a house at the corner of Stangate opposite, with ' ' Amphitheatre Row M and the figure of a flying horse. This reminds me that many years ago one of the pantomimes at Astley's had for one of its titles ' The Flying Horses of Lambeth, ? perhaps suggested by the proximity of this tablet to the stage -door. These tablets were made of the artificial stone which was a speciality of Coade. specimen can still be seen on a house nexl door to the Capital and Labour shop, on which is "Tunbridge Terrace, 1823, n within a raised square border.

These subsidiary names were absorbed years ago, but it may be worth while t< mention the numerous titles now included in Westminster Bridge Road. From the