438
NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. XL JUNE 5, 1915.
January, 1811. There is no copy of it in
the B.M. Library. King sued the publisher
for libel, and was awarded 50Z. damages.
Parsons published an account of the case :
"The Trial Of Mr. John Parsons, Bookseller, of Paternoster-Row, For A Libel Against John King, Of York-Place, Portman-Square, In A Publication Entitled Authentic Memoirs, &c. Taken From The Journal of the King of the Swindlers. Wherein The Speeches Of Both Counsel Are Fully Stated ; As Also The Evidence, And Lord Kenyoti's Charge To The Jury. London : Printed For J. Parsons No. 21, Paternoster-Row. 1799." 8vo 2 11.+46 pp'
In the ' Authenic Memoirs ' King's asso- ciation with " Perdita " is referred to, and his threat to publish the salacious corre- spondence that passed between them unless she satisfied his demands. This he appa- rently did, for a quarto volume (2 11. + 43 pp.) appeared, entitled
"Letters From Perdita To A Certain Israelite, And His Answers to them. London : Printed for J. Fielding, No. 23, Paternoster-Row; W. Kent No. 116, High-Holborn ; J. Stockdale, Piccadilly ; and J. Sewell, Cornhill. M.DCC.LXXXI.
Lady Lanesborough is described as a most abandoned and profligate woman, who already had two illegitimate children before living with King. He evidently divorced his first wife, Deborah Lara, at Leghorn, as she testifies in the case
" Ganer v. Lady Lanesborough, Dec. 6, 1790- (Cases determined at Nisi Prius in the Court of
King's Bench By Thomas Peake)," p. 17, second
edition, 1810.
His son, in ' Characteristic Portrait of a Modern Apostate,' refers to a third marriage to a. Scotchwoman, by whom King had three children ; probably this was the Miss Mackay ^referred to in the ' Authentic Memoirs,' but he was not married to her.
King was no doubt an extraordinary character, and his calling of "moneylender,'" or financial agent, as he would be dubbed in our days, caused an amount of enmity and vindictive ness out of all proportion to his shortcomings and offences.
Thomas Paine, author of the ' Rights of Man,' in a letter to King, New Burling- ton Street, dated from Paris, 3 Jan., 1793, writes :
"!)EAK KINO When Ifirst knewyou in Ailiffe
street, an obscure part of the City, a child, without fortune or friends, I noticed you ; because I thought I saw m you, young as you was, a bluntness of temper, a boldness of opinion, and an originality Of thought that portend some future good. I was pleased to discuss, with you, under our friend Oliver s lime-tree, those political notions, which I a <\ e / lnce Klven the world in my 'Rights of Man.'" Mr. King's Speech at Egham, with Thomas i'aine s Letter to him on it,' p. 8, third edition.
In 1783 Kir>e addressed 'Thoughts on the
Difficulties and Distresses in which the Peace
of 1783 has involved the People of England '
to Charles James Fox, whom he charges
with " Profligacy, Extravagance and
Avarice." Interesting also are his ' Letters
from France,' in the months of August,
September, October, and November, 1802.
He was interested in theology, and pub- lished at his own expense
" Dissertations on the Prophecies of the Old Testament by D. Levi. .. .revised and amended, with a dedication and introduction by J. King, Esq. (of Fitzroy Square*. 1817."
He addressed a letter on decorum in the Synagogue to the authorities of the Bevis Marks Congregation, of which I have recently had a copy made from the communal archives. ISBAEL SOLOMONS.
MEDICINAL MUMMIES (11 S. ix. 67, 70, 115, 157, 195, 316 ; x. 176, 234, 476 ; xi. 35). Allow me to add the following quotations to my reply at the last reference :
"Momiai, Pers This name is applied in Persia
and Central Asia to several forms of asphalte,
mineral pitch, Jew's pitch, maltha The Persian
momiai is deemed a certain specific in fractured bones. It is a solid, hard, heavy, black, glistening mass, without any particular odour. In all eastern bazars may be found, under the name of Persian mumiai, a compound resembling the genuine in appearance. According to Dr. Seligman, Mum in Persia signifies wax ; Isi or Ayu is the name of the village in the vicinity of which the spring of water containing mumiai or mumiajin is found." Balfour, ' The Cyclopedia of India,' 1885, vol. ii. p. 971.
" Baghan walla.* Sungif Momiai is the local name of coal in this district, and is used extensively by the hakims as a medicine, administered intern- ally along with milk in all bruises, wounds, or external injuries, and it is said with wonderful effect." Andrew Fleming, 'Trip to Paid Dadud Khan and the Salt Range,' Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. xviii. p. 674, 1849.
KUMAGUSU MlNAKATA.
Tanabe, Kii, Japan.
NAPOLEON AND THE BELLEROPHON (11 S. xi. 339). I am able to reply to some of MR. E. HAVILAND HILLMAN'S inquiries from a manuscript given me by my cousin, the late Harriet E. Lethbridge.
"My father, the late Commander Robert Leth- bridge, R.N., gave me the following interesting particulars of the arrival of Napoleon in Plymouth Sound on board H.M.S. Bellerophon :
"My father, then a lieutenant, was dining with Admiral King, the Commander-in-Chief, at
- This is a town in the Salt Range in the Pan jab,
and has the principal seam of tertiary coal, accord- ing to Balfour, op. cit., vol. ii. p. 228.
f "Sung-i. Chin. A substance resembling tar, used in China in skin diseases." Id., vol.iii. p. 771.
