LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 3, 1907.

Prince of

QUERIES:-Wilscombe Club-Defoe's 'Colonel Jacque' French Refugee Bishops in British Territory, 87"Cortel" Clocks-French Ballads-Barnaby Chronicles"Yeoman service"-Crest: Sun between Wings Arms on Chalice-Chamberlain Marriage Piccadilly: its Name -De Lhuys or Norderloose-Darcie's 'History of Elizabeth,' 89-Victor Hugo: Reference Wanted-Coffins and Shrouds Col. Howe-" Incached," 90. REPLIES:-Sir George Monoux, 90-"Devachan," 91Keble's "Thiggyng": "Fulcenale":"Warelondes' 'Christian Year'-John Horne-Tooke, 92-"Awaitful""The Pedlars' Rest"-Cemetery Consecration-"Grindy" -Irish Pedigrees: Social Condition of Ireland under the Tudors-Court Leet: Manor Court-First Russian Christian Martyr, 93-" Umbrella "-Haymarket, Westminster, 94-Bill Stumps his Mark-Rose and Gordon Families "Treats": "Mullers "-London Coaching Houses in 1680, 95-Shrewsbury Clock: "Point of war"-Musical Ser

vices on Church Towers, 96.

NOTES ON BOOKS:-The Oxford English Dictionary'The Writings of Matthew Prior: Dialogues of the Dead,

and other Works in Prose and Verse.' Booksellers' Catalogues.

Notices to Correspondents.

Notes.

JUBILEE OF THE CITY PRESS.' THE Jubilee of The City Press adds another to the list of recent Press Jubilee celebrations. Founded on the 18th of July, 1857, by William Hill Collingridge—a man desirous of working for the common good-it has from the first been imbued with his own lofty aims, and has always advocated measures having for their object the benefit of the people of London. Collingridge edited the paper from its first number, and for forty-five years it was virtually his life-work. Full of magnetic force, he inspired all who worked for him, and for them he had ever kind words of encouragement. Readers of N. & Q.' will remember that he was born in the house at Olney which for many years had been the home of the poet Cowper (9 S. v. 301). This some years back he had the pleasure to buy at an auction sale, and he describes the event as being one of the happiest moments of his life." On the occasion of the Cowper Centenary he presented the house to the town of Olney, together with valuable Cowper and Newton

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gathered from all parts of the country to take part in the service.

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On Mr. Collingridge's death, on Friday, the 31st of March, 1905, at the age of seventyeight, his friend Mr. Fielding Falconer gave in Meyer's Observer (published at Enfield) some interesting details (which had been related to him by Mr. Collingridge) about the founding of the Collingridge firm. For the father of Collingridge the sea had a strong fascination; but on the day that Waterloo was being fought he gave up the life of a sailor, returned to his home, and decided that for the future he would do the best on land." After he could for himself turning his hand to drapery and one or two other trades, the happy thought at length occurred to him that he would be a printer. The only obstacle to this was that he knew nothing about printing. A few years previously a printer named Stoner had issued The Printer's Grammar.' To this young Collingridge applied himself, and, "finding that he was master of the printing business," established himself as а printer at Olney. His son William Hill, having a liking for the work, was taken by him, at the age of seventeen, to London, where he obtained employment with Mr. Doudney in Long Lane, the premises being named The City Press." When Mr. Doudney in 1846 gave up the business in order to become a clergyman of the Church of England, he looked round among the people he employed, and duly examined the claims of each in order to decide to whom to offer the business. His choice fell on Collingridge, who purchased it of him; and when Collingridge started his paper he gave to it the name of his house. Mr. Doudney was for more than fifty years editor of The Gospel Magazine. He was described by Mr. Collingridge as a man of such open generosity that he could never keep any money in his pocket. Mr. (afterwards Dr.) Doudney, on accepting the living of Bunmahon, in the diocese of Cashel, established a printing office for the benefit of poor boys, and these waifs he made competent to print not only his parish magazine, but also the Bible Commentary in six quarto volumes of the learned Dr. Gill, who from

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1720 till his death was pastor of the Southwark Baptist Church, now meeting at the Metropolitan Tabernacle. Toplady said of him, This age has not produced a more learned, pious, and profound divine"; and Spurgeon wrote of him as one of the most learned men that the Baptist denomination has ever produced." On the publication of his commentary the title of D.D. was received by him from Aberdeen; and on his deacons congratulating him, he thanked them pleasantly, adding, "I neither thought it, nor bought it, nor sought it." He was full of quiet humour, and, on one of his hearers expressing dissatisfaction with his preaching, said, pointing him to the pulpit, "Go up and do better; go up and do better." Dr. Gill's pulpit is still preserved at the Spurgeon Pastors' College, and made use of by the students. Gill died on the 14th of October, 1771, and was buried in Bunhill Fields.

When The City Press was started there was no paper devoted to the interests of the City, and the proceedings of the Corporation were not reported adequately or systematically. The City Press was intended to be, and it has been, loyal to the Corporation, but has criticized where and when it thought fit, and the result has been to bring about reforms from within rather than from without. The paper has been identified with many of the forward movements which, in the course of years, the Corporation has initiated and carried through. At the time The City Press was founded, the voice of “reform was in the air, and would-be despoilers of the Corporation were to be found in all directions. Half a century has passed, and in the Jubilee number of The City Press it is claimed that

"the City more than maintains its ground. Other authorities have sprung into existence, but the Corporation remains at the head of the municipal life of London, and is still the body which is called upon, at times of national rejoicing and emergency, to take its place in the van, and to formulate and direct public opinion."

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The Corporation is described as a most democratic body in constitution, as its members have to be elected annually, no matter what their position may be, and yet it is so ancient a body that its origin goes back beyond legal memory, and it enjoys privileges and franchises which can neither be lost by forfeiture nor voluntarily surrendered." The government of the City has always borne a strong analogy to that of a county or shire; indeed, the City is a county in itself. Just as the shires were ruled by aldermen, so

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did the City receive from King Alfred an alderman as its first municipal governor in the person of Ethelred in A.D. 886."

A valuable and concise résumé of the work of the Corporation since 1857 is given. In that year, as many will remember, the old shambles near Newgate Street still existed; cattle were driven in crowds every Monday through the streets, to the terror of the ladies, though our friend Punch could not refrain from using his pencil to depict some of the humorous scenes. Now there are three large markets, including the Foreign Cattle Market at Deptford; while to facilitate the supply of fish two millions have been spent in improving Billingsgate.

To the work of the Commissioners of Sewers (whose powers were transferred to the Corporation in January, 1898) high praise is accorded. The Commission was appointed, under an Act of Parliament of Charles II., by the Corporation on the 12th of February, 1668/9. Although it had a distinct constitution, and possessed far wider powers of civic government than the Court of Common Council, it was to all intents and purposes part and parcel of the Corporation. Under the Burial Act it purchased in 1852 ground at Ilford, and laid out the City of London Cemetery at a cost of 82,000l. By this purchase the Commissioners acquired rights in Wanstead Flats and Epping Forest, which are now preserved to the public for ever.

Another good work of the Commissioners was the erection of artisans' dwellings at Houndsditch; and they spent 88,000l. on acquiring depots in connexion with the cleansing department, so that the City of London has for years enjoyed the reputation of being one of the cleanest in the world.

When the Commission ceased to exist it possessed a rating margin of sixpence in the pound, while the liabilities on loans were less than 1,400,000l. It collected and paid over to the School Board 3,014,9741., and to the Metropolitan Board of Works, until this was superseded by the London County Council, 1,704,9047.

As to the street improvements carried out by the Commissioners, their name is legion." The Commissioners were ever ready to set back lines of frontage. I may mention the widening of Ludgate Hill, the Poultry, Queen Street, Great Tower Street, Eastcheap, Threadneedle Street, Upper Thames Street, and Liverpool Street. The Commission of Sewers was also the pioneer body in bringing forward electric lighting, and as far back as 1878 experi

ments were made on Holborn Viaduct with the Jablochkoff system.

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During the past fifty years the tide of traffic has been ever on the rise, and proposals for tube" railways had been long foreshadowed. The first step in this direction was the construction of the City and South London Railway, followed by that of the Central London, and the excavation of the Bank Station beneath the space in front of the Mansion House. The City Press article rightly praises the manner in which all difficulties were surmounted in the construction of that huge underground station in the busiest spot in the world.

Although the majority of the City improvements were until ten years ago effected by the Commissioners of Sewers, the City Corporation has since the year 1760 spent over 11,000,000l. in public improvements, and in addition applied the net proceeds, between 1862 and 1890, of the 4d. coal duty, which during those years produced 3,100,000l. Since the abolition of the duty the Corporation has contributed nearly 300,000l. towards the discharge of debt and interest on the Holborn Valley improvement __and the widening of streets. JOHN C. FRANCIS.

(To be continued.)

PRINCE OF MONACO'S LETTERS. THE following is a translation of an inedited French MS. of 4 pp. 4to in my possession. It consists of copies of letters written by Honoré III., Prince of Monaco, when a prisoner in Paris in 1794, under Robespierre's reign of blood. Carnot had the investigation of the Monaco claims and property. In a report to the Diplomatic Committee he decided on the union of Monaco with the French Republic, 1793; but he gave his word for the safety of the Prince, who nevertheless was imprisoned.

These copies of the letters sent may have been made, not only for reference, but as evidence, if necessary, to prove to the tyrannical Government that his correspondence was not political. The sum in the first letter seems to be in louis d'or. These letters are by the Prince who wrote the petition and letter at 10S. vii. 125 and 244. The granddaughters mentioned were children of the Prince's second son, Prince Joseph Marie Jérôme Honoré Grimaldi of Monaco, and his beautiful wife Thérèse Stainville, who, returning to France to see these children, was executed at. 26, after having cut off her luxuriant hair, with glass broken from her prison window, to prevent its pollution

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by the executioner, as the only souvenir she could give her children. When she was taken by her husband out of France, she left her daughters in charge of Madame Chenevoi, a loyal Swiss lady. Four days. after her death, Robespierre himself was guillotined, so that had she pleaded, as she was advised, she would doubtless have been saved; the Duchess of St. Aignan was arrested at the same time, put in her plea, and, surviving the tyrant, was saved. fourth letter is to this Princess Joseph, and the Prince was no doubt about to write the familiar "de Monaco," when he remembered, and erased the "de," for she was then in prison. In the eighth letter the omissions. denote a few lines I have not been able to read. The names Albin and Albini evidently refer to the same person. The home where the girls were to go was probably the Prince's house in the Rue Varennes, where he died after his liberation. His wife owned a magnificent hotel in the Rue St. Dominique, where the Deaf and Dumb School is established (the mansion having been presented by the nation to Abbé Sieyes, the excellent founder); but this princess had left the country, so her possessions were confiscated. She was a great beauty, and having fled to England, after Honoré III.'s death, married in London Louis Bourbon, Prince de Condé, in 1798, and they lived at Wimbledon.

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28 Prairial (June). The Citizen Mounier. If by you, or by your friends, you could, Citizen, borrow for me 2 or 300 or, you would render me an essential service by sending this sum to the Citizeness Chenevoy, to give food to my poor granddaughters, who are dying of hunger, and have no means of living but asking alms. I will return this sum as soon as I shall be at liberty to sell some furniture. You have announced to me the judgment of my cause for the 4th; I beg you to send me immediately what has been the issue.

6 Messidor (July). The Citizen Mounier. I beg you to inform me, Citizen Mounier, of a decree which grants a provision to the children of those confined, and to give my granddaughters the benefit of it, they having no other resources. I am waiting for news of the cause which the Citizen Petan will give me.

6 Messidor. The Citizeness Chenevoi. What sorrow your letter has caused me, Citizeness! Embrace my two grandchildren, whom I love