1651. In Ashmole's Dairy there are numerous allusions to William Backhouse, of which I give the following, commencing in 1651: "April 3rd, Mr. William Backhouse, of Swallowfield, in 66 county Berks, caused me to call him father henceforward. April "26th. My father Backhouse brought me acquainted with the "Lord Ruthin who was a most ingenious person.† June 10th. Mr. "Backhouse told me I must now needs be his son because he had "communicated so many secrets to me. October 7th. My father "Backhouse and I went to see Mr. Goodier, the great Botanist, "at Petersfield.‡ February 10th. This morning my father Back"house opened himself very freely touching the great secret. "February 13th. My father Backhouse lying sick in Fleet Street, "over against St. Dunstan's Church, and not knowing whether he "should live or die, about 11 of the clock told me, in syllables, the "true matter of the Philosopher's stone, which he bequeathed to me as a legacy." William Backhouse did, however, recover from this illness, and lived for nine years after.

1662. He died at Swallowfield, May 30th, 1662, aged 69, and was buried there on June 17th. Aubrey, in his "Miscellanies," says "William Backhouse had an ugly scab that grew on the middle "of his forehead which had been there for years, and he could not "be cured; it became so nauseous that he would see none but his "intimate friends. In a journey having come to Peterboro', he "dreamt there, that he was in a church and saw a hearse, and that

one did bid him wet his scab with the drop of the marble. The "next day he went to morning service, and afterwards going about "the church, he saw the very hearse (which was of black say) for

Queen Katharine, wife of Henry VIII., and the marble stone by. "He found drop on the marble and there were some cavities, wherein he dipt his finger and wetted the scab: in seven days it was perfectly cured. This accurate and certain information I had "from my worthy friend Elias Ashmole, Esq., who called Mr. "Backhouse father, and had this account from his own mouth. May Dew is a great dissolvent."

† Sir Thomas Ruthven of Freeland, created Baron Ruthven this year by Charles II., was a great chemist.

Elias Ashmole had made a special study of Botany when living at Englefield, and became a great Botanist.

(To be continued.)

'Notes and Queries

RELATING TO BERKSHIRE.

NOTICE TO CORRESPONDENTS.

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It is requested that all MSS intended for printing should be written on foolscap paper, in an orderly manner, with REPLIES, QUERIES, and NOTES on SEPARATE SHEETS, and the name or initials of the writer appended to each communicatian.

Notes.

MONUMENT IN BINFIELD CHURCH TO MRS. MACAULAY-GRAHAM.—All visitors to Binfield Church must have been struck with the above monument, which is fastened to the south wall of the Church on the left-hand side as you enter the south door. It is a fine slab of white marble, having at the top a medallion portrait of Mrs. Macaulay-Graham, surrounded with a laurel wreath. Beneath is the following inscription :—

CATHARINA MACAULAY GRAHAM,
Obiit Junii 22, 1791.

Moerens conjux posuit.

I am ashamed to say that until I saw this tablet last year I had never heard of Mrs. Macaulay-Graham before. On my return home I looked at Lyson's Berkshire to find out who she was. But all he tells us is that she was "the celebrated female historian Catherine Macauley, who, after her marriage with a second husband, called herself Macauley-Graham." He adds that she "died, in 1791, at Binfield, where she resided during the latter part of her life." The new Dictionary of National Biography omits her life under the name Graham and promises us one under the heading Macaulay. But at present the Dictionary has only advanced midway in names beginning with the letter H.

The account of this "celebrated female historian" in the Biographe Universelle is somewhat meagre; and inaccurate in regard to the place of her death, if, as is likely, she died where she was buried, at Binfield. It does not state her maiden name, but only says that "she was born in 1733, at Ollantigh, in the county of Kent. She received a solitary, but careful education, and in 1760 married Dr. Macaulay, a London physician, and three years after she published the first volume of a History of England from James I. to the Revolution, which brought her name into prominent notice. In 1777 she made a journey to Paris, where, amongst other celebrated personages, she made the acquaintance of Franklin, Turgot, Marmontel, and Madame Dubocage. In 1788 she made a voyage to America, and resided for three weeks in Washington's house at Mount Vernon in Virginia. She had married a second time in 1778 Mr.

Graham, and died at London in 1791. Her principal works are: History of England from the coming of James I. to the elevation of the House of Hanover, 8 vols., 4to., which appeared in 1763-1783. The French translation, of which 5 volumes have appeared under the name of Mirabeau, is by Guirandet; Remarks upon the Elements of Government and of Society, by Hobbes, appeared in 8vo., in 1767; Detached Remarks on some Assertions of Hobbes, 4to., 1769; Reflections on the Causes of Actual Discontents; History of England from the Revolution to the Present Time." So far the Biographie Universelle. In Darling's Cyclopædia of Authors I find Catherine Macaulay-Graham (p. 1299) credited with the authorship of "A Treatise on the Immutability of Moral Truth."

Mrs. Macaulay evidently formed one of that numerous circle who in the early days of George the III.'s reign adopted strong Republican views in opposition to the Court party who were ready to support the young King in his endeavours to resuscitate Personal Government in place of Constitutional Monarchy. And she is often alluded to and mentioned by name in the Political Satire of the period, which was poured forth abundantly against the King. Sir George Trevelyan quotes the following passage in his Early History of C. J. Fox (p. 137):

"Of vice the secret friend, the foe professed;

Of every talent to deceive possessed;
As mean in household savings, as profuse

In vile corruption's scandalous abuse;
Mentally blind; on whom no ray of truth

E'er glanced auspicious e'en in bloom of youth.

What though inimitable Churchill's hearse
Saved thee from all the vengeance of his verse,

Macaulay shall in nervous prose relate

Whence flows the venom that distracts the State."

Sir George does not name the author of these verses, but says they were given to the world in 1770.

Peter Pindar too in the Lonsiad describes George III.'s astonishment on seeing the Lonse as follows:

"Not more astonished look'd that King of Spain

To see his gun-boats blazing on the main ;

Not Dr. Johnson more, to hear the tale

Of vile Piozzi's marrying Madam Thrale;

Nor Doctor Wilson, child of am'rous folly,

When young MacClyster bore off Kate Macaulay.”

Peter Pindar's Works, vol. 1, p. 157.

In his Expostulatory Odes (No. xiv. Works, vol. 2, p. 78) the same author

refers to Mrs. Macaulay's Republican opinions :

"You think I loathe the name of King, no doubt-

Indeed, my lords, you never were more out :

I am not one of that envious class of elves;

Though dame M'Auley turns on Kings her tail;
With great respect the sacred names I hail,

That is, of monarchs who respect themselves."

Dr. Wolcot's allusions to Mrs. Macaulay are somewhat equivocal and scornful; but her political admirers of that day were unequivocal in her praise.

Wilkes called her a noble historian. Franklin, in a letter to the newspapers, speaks of "future Livys, Humes, Robertsons, and Macaulays, who may be inclined to furnish the world with that rara avis, a true history.” Gray thought her book "the most sensible, unaffected, and best history of England that we have had yet." (Early History of C. J. Fox, p. 138.)

Politicians of another hue thought very differently of the "celebrated female historian." In 1763 Dr. Johnson supped with Mr. Boswell one evening, in a private room at the Turk's Head Coffee-house in the Strand. Amongst other topics of the Doctor's conversation that night Bowzy has recorded that he again insisted on the duty of maintaining subordination of rank. "Sir," said the Doctor, "I would no more deprive a nobleman of his respect, than of his money. I consider myself as acting a part in the great system of society, and I do to others as I would have them to do to me Sir, there is one

Mrs. Macaulay in this town, a great republican. One day when I was at her house, I put on a very grave countenance, and said to her, 'Madam, I am now become a convert to your way of thinking. I am convinced that all mankind are upon an equal footing; and to give you an unquestionable proof, Madam, that I am in earnest, here is a very sensible, civil, well-behaved fellow citizen, your footman; I desire that he may be allowed to sit down and dine with us.' I thus, Sir, shewed her the absurdity of the levelling doctrine. She has never liked me since." (Boswell's Johnson, Vol. I. p. 425.)

The stout old Tory was never tired of recounting how he had disconcerted the fair republican by this practical test of her opinions. He told the story to Wilkes the first time he met him at dinner at Mr. Dilly's house, the bookseller in the Poultry (Vol. III. p. 79). And when in 1765 the Doctor paid a visit to the University of Cambridge, with his friend Mr. Beauclerk, we are told that "several persons got into his company the last evening at Trinity, where, about twelve, he began to be very great; stripped poor Mrs. Macaulay to the very skin, then gave her for his toast, and drank her in two bumpers." (Vol. I. p. 465.)

As stated above Mrs. Macaulay's second husband-the moerens conjux— who erected the monument to her memory in Binfield Church was a Mr. Graham. I have not been able to find out anything about him, except that he was the brother of Dr. Graham, the famous quack, who in the year 1782 appeared in London and opened a mansion in Pall Mall, which he called "The Temple of Health." Here he delivered "Lectures on Health, &c.," at the extravagant rate of two guineas a lecture. And as a further attraction he hired a young female of beautiful figure to exhibit herself in poses plastiques as the "Goddess of Health." The lady who performed this singular part was afterwards well known as Emma, Lady Hamilton, for whom the great Lord Nelson subsequently formed an infatuated and discreditable attachment. (See Hone's Table Book, Vol. II. p. 562.)

I shall be very glad to hear from any correspondent further particulars of this celebrated female historian, Catherine Macaulay Graham. Is it known where she lived in Binfield? and are there any traditions of her stay in that village ?— C. W. PENNY, Wellington College.

SULHAMSTEAD.-I have been searching the Manor Deeds of Sulhamstead. In those of Banister I find a curious entry of a small yearly sum due to the Manor from the Manor of Bear. This accounts for the entry in our old lot books of the "Abbas of Bere" as having a strip of ground in the Common Field; the

most curious thing is that for the two centuries after the Dissolution the old name was retained through tradition.-E. E. THOYTS.

READING GRAMMAR SCHOOL.-In an obituary notice of General Charettie in the Field for January 20th, 1866, it is said, "On the goodness of his memory we have before remarked, and we will confirm it by stating that, for a bet, he learned the Morning Post of a particular day, and repeated every word of it, including advertisements."

In Notes and Queries, 24th March, 1866, a correspondent wrote, "I have frequently heard my old friend, General Charettie, assert that, for a bet, he had once got by heart and repeated the Morning Post, including advertisements; but I feel myself bound to observe that whenever I pressed him to relate to me 'how, when and where' this marvellous wager originated, he invariably either checked my curiosity, hastily evaded the question, or let the subject drop. I suspect, therefore, that the Field newspaper will find some difficulty in verifying their statement, especially as Mrs. Charettie, the General's widow, and his brother, Captain Charettie (an octogenarian), have no recollection whatever of the General entering into any particulars connected with the wager in question. The General, without question, was gifted with an extraordinary memory, and quoted freely; and a trifling incident which happened to him when a boy at Dr. Valpy's school at Reading, may possibly have given rise to this marvellous, and as I conceive, fabulous story of his getting by heart and repeating the contents of one impression of the Morning Post. The incident alluded to occurred at a dinner given to some friends by Dr. Valpy, when the power of memory became the topic of conversation, and the host offered to bet that he had a boy in his school who, in an hour's time could get by heart and repeat one hundred lines from any part of Virgil. The wager was accepted, young Charettie sent for, introduced to the company, and verified the Doctor's assertion by the accomplishment of the task."

I remember that during the election of Judge Talfourd as Member for Reading there was a similar story in circulation, namely that some one had read a newspaper through from memory; the Judge's name was associated with the feat, but I forget the particulars.-R. J. FYNMORE.

GUILD OF HOLY CROSS AT ABINGDON.-In an article by Mr. SparvalBayly, F.S.A., on the Parochial Guilds of Kent published in the Gravesend Journal of 25th July, 1891, I notice the following:

66

'In the Liber Niger, belonging to the Corporation of London, there is a description of the anniversary feast of the Guild of the Holy Cross at Abingdon, held on the 3rd May, 1445, when they had twelve priests to sing a dirge, for which they gave them four pence apiece. They had also twelve minstrels, who had 25. 3d. besides their diet and horsemeat; while the provisions provided consisted of six calves, valued at 2/2 apiece, 16 lambs at 12d. apiece, 80 capons at 3d. apiece, 80 geese at 2d. apiece, 800 eggs costing 5d. the hundred, with many marrow bones and much cream and flour, besides what the servants and others brought in. After the feast there were pageants and plays to amuse and captivate the senses of the zealous beholders."-R. J. FYNMore.

Queries.

What relation was Matthew Moreland, rector of Sulhamstead Banister, in 1574, to the father of Sir Samuel Morland, who was rector of Sulhamstead about 1630?-E. E. THOYTS.