s. m. JAN. 21, ion.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 57
M. Le Fort & Co. had a "Mechanical and Picturesque Cabinet" at 35, Piccadilly, circa 1814. "The performance" concluded with "A Storm at Sea":—
"This view is accompanied with all the characteristic phenomena, an agitated sea .... clouds which, by degrees, obscure the sky … lightning, thunder, &c. … Vessels beating against the tempest struck by a thunderbolt, and engulphed in the waves; in fine, the seamen, endeavouring to save themselves from the neighbouring rocks, offer a faithful representation of nature."
Marshall's panoramas, exhibited (1823) at The Great Room, Spring Gardens, moved. His "Grand Historical Perestrephic Panorama of the Coronation Procession" was accompanied by a full military band, "finger organ, &c." There must have been many similar efforts to give reality by motion to panoramas and their predecessors, and careful research between 1780 and 1830 should produce some interesting additional data. Aleck Abrahams.
Mr. Tom Jones gives the date of Philipstal's Phantasmagoria as about 1848 (11 S. ii. 503, col. 2); but it would seem that the invention should have been dated nearly half a century earlier, as the 'N.E.D.' under 'Phantasmagoria' has the following quotation from Brewster's 'Natural Magic,' iv. 80, published in 1831: "An exhibition depending on these principles was brought out by M. Philipstal in 1802, under the name of the Phantasmagoria." A description follows similar to that supplied by Mr. Jones. J. R. Thorne.
The meaning of the first correction at the second reference is far from clear. It is said to apply to "the last sentence in col. 1, p. 503." Possibly it is meant to apply to the end of the fourth paragraph of that column. Robert Pierpoint.
[Mr. Pierpoint is right. The words "of the fourth paragraph" should have followed "the last sentence."]
Corn and Dishonesty: an Honest Miller (11 S. ii. 508; iii. 12). In Rotherham Churchyard, Yorkshire, is a recumbent stone bearing inter alia the following inscription:—
In
memory of
Edward Swair
who departed this
life June 16th 1781
aged 50 years.
Here lies a man which farmers lov'd
Who always to them constant proved
Dealt with freedom just and fair
An honest miller all declare.
The epitaph quoted by Mr. Leonard Hodson (ante, p. 13) as American and possibly apocryphal is neither the one nor the other. A diarist in 1787 saw it in the churchyard of Calne, co. Wilts.
In the old gleaning days, when the result of a month's gleanings had been "rubbed out" by hand, or in some cases "flailed" on a bedroom floor, the grain was sent to the mill for grinding. Often there was wondering how it would turn out, for there was a saying that the Miller stood with one hand on his hopper, the other in your sack. There was also another saying which ran: "Take an honest butcher's hat, throw it in an honest miller's dam, and dry it in an honest baker's oven." If such a combination could be found, the hat would cure a toothache.
R's of Sailors (11 S. ii. 527).—In the muster-book R, meaning "run," was placed against the names of deserters: see 'N.E.D.,' viii. 81, where a quotation of 1706 gives the very phrase "have their R's taken off."
[Mr. Tom Jones and W. S. S. also thanked for replies.]
Authors of Quotations Wanted (11 S. ii. 488; iii. 15).—The passage referred to by Mr. G. W. E. Russell occurs in Charles Kingsley's 'Two Years Ago,' at the end of the second chapter.
I do not think it was so much a misquotation by Kingsley as a purposed adaptation of the Laureate's lines to suit his own prose text. W. B. H.
[Mr. R. A. Potts also refers to ' Two Years Ago.']
Inscriptions in Churches and Churchyards (11 S. ii. 389, 453, 492, 537).—Some remarks made on this subject are very much to the point. I have for long been interested in churchyard inscriptions, thinking they have been too much neglected.
I collected all those in the churchyard of High Halden, Kent, and they were printed in 1895 (noticed in 'N. & Q.').
I transcribed all those in the churchyard of Hailsham, Sussex, and gave the volume to a resident interested in local history.
I also transcribed all in the churchyard of West Putford, Devonshire, and a fair copy of them was placed in the church chest.
I did the same for the old churchyard beyond Ore, Sussex, and the Rector placed the collection in the parish chest.
