Notes and Queries | Page 3

ago, by the same engineer. General rumour has, however, attributed the design to his gracious Majesty George III; and its being so closely in keeping with the known spirit of espionage of that monarch certainly gave countenance to the rumour. It may be as well to state, however, that, so designed and so built, it has never yet been so used.
P. 428.--_Benbow_, not a native of Wapping, but of Shrewsbury. A life of him was published nearly forty years ago, by that veteran of local and county history, Mr. Charles Hulbert, in the Salopian Magazine.
P. 499. _Whitfield._--Certainly not the founder of the Methodists, in the ordinary or recognised acceptation of the term. John Wesley was at the head of that movement from the very first, and George Whitfield and Charles Wesley were altogether subordinate to him. Wesley and Whitfield parted company on the ground of Arminianism versus Calvinism. For a while the two sects kept the titles of "Arminian Methodists" and "Calvinistic Methodists." The latter made but little ground afterwards, and the distinctive adjective was dropped by the Wesleyans when the Whitfieldites had ceased to be a prominent body.
P. 515. _Doctor Dodd._--The great interest excited in favour of a commutation of his sentence, led to the belief at the time, that his life had not been really sacrificed. Many plausible stories respecting the Doctor having been subsequently seen alive, were current; and as they may possibly in some future age be revived, and again pass into general currency, it may be as well to state that the most positive evidence to the contrary exists, in a letter of Dr. Hutton's before referred to. The _attempt to resuscitate him was actually made_, by a no less distinguished surgeon than John Hunter. He seemed then to attribute the failure to his having received the body too late. Wonderful effects were at that time expected to result from the discovery of galvanism; but it would have been wonderful indeed if any restoration had taken place after more than two hours of suspended animation. John Hunter, according to the account, does not seem to have been very communicative on the subject, even to his philosophical friends at Slaughter's Oyster Rooms.
T.S.D.
Shooter's Hill.
[Footnote 1: It may not be out of place here to mention one fine feature in the character of "Tom Hurst;" his deep reverence for men of ability, whether in literature, science, or art. Take one instance:
Fourteen or fifteen years ago, I called one morning at his place of business (then 65. St. Paul's Church Yard, which has been subsequently absorbed into the "Religious Tract Depository"); and, as was my custom, I walked through the shop to his private room. He was "not in;" but a gentleman, who first looked at me and then at a portrait of me on the wall, accosted me by my surname as familiarly as an intimate acquaintance of twenty years would have done. He and Hurst, it appeared, had been speaking of me, suggested by the picture, before Hurst went out. The familiar stranger did not keep me long in suspense--he intimated that I had "probably heard our friend speak of Ben Haydon." Of course I had; and we soon got into an easy chat. Hurst was naturally a common subject with us. Amongst the remarks he made were the following, and in almost the words:--
"When my troubles came on, I owed Hurst a large sum of money; and the circumstances under which I became his debtor rendered this peculiarly a debt of honour. He lent it me when he could ill spare it; yet he is the only one of all my creditors who has not in one way or other persecuted me to the present hour. When he first knew of my wreck, he called upon me--_not to reproach but to encourage me_--and he would not leave me till he felt sure that he had changed the moody current of my thoughts. If there be any change in him since then, it is in his increased kindness of manner and his assiduity to serve me. He is now gone out to try to sell 'a bit of daub' for me."
Hurst came in, and this conversation dropped; but it had been well had Hurst been by his side on the day his last picture was opened to view at the Egyptian Hall. The catastrophe of that night might have been averted, notwithstanding Mr. Barnum and his Tom Thumb show in the adjoining room.]
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SATIRICAL SONG UPON GEORGE VILLIERS, DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.
In turning over some old bundles of papers of the early part of the seventeenth century, I met with the following satirical effusion upon "James's infamous prime minister," George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. As an echo of the popular feelings of the people at