Footnote 1:[(return)]
The first number of the still existing Sincere Haarlem Courant (I give you a literal translation of the title) must have appeared before May 19, 1665, on which day its nineteenth number was printed. See the Navorscher, vol. ii. pp. 29. 96. 126.—J. H. v. L.
See Ampzing, Kronyk von Haarlem, p. 398.; and A. van den Willigen's monograph in Witsen Geysbeek's Apollineum, vol. iii. p. 59.—Constanter.
This reply was written before the publication of your last notices ("N. & Q.," Vol. vii., pp. 46. and 97.). The verses you mentioned in the last-named part are, in English, "Here one must guess To wash glasses And to p—s in them Would not be fit." I entirely agree with the poet.
Could you not acquaint me with the length, breadth, and height of the picture, and with the painter's name?
THE "PERCY ANECDOTES."
(Vol. vii., p. 134.)
I have much pleasure in replying to the inquiries of Uneda. The Percy Anecdotes, published in forty-four parts, in as many months, commencing in 1820, were compiled by "Sholto and Reuben Percy, Brothers of the Benedictine Monastery of Mont Benger." So said the title-pages, but the names and the locality were supposé. Reuben Percy was Mr. Thomas Byerley, who died in 1824: he was the brother of Sir John Byerley, and the first editor of the Mirror, commenced by John Limbird in 1822. Sholto Percy was Mr. Joseph Clinton Robertson, who died in 1852: he was the projector of the Mechanics' Magazine, which he edited from its commencement to his death. The name of the collection of Anecdotes was not taken from the popularity of the Percy Reliques, but from the Percy Coffee-house in Rathbone Place, where Byerley and Robertson were accustomed to meet to talk over their joint work. The idea was, however, claimed by my clever master and friend, Sir Richard Phillips, who stoutly maintained that it originated in a suggestion made by him to Dr. Tilloch and Mr. Mayne, to cut the anecdotes from the many years' files of the Star newspaper, of which Dr. Tilloch was then editor, and Mr. Byerley assistant editor; and to the latter overhearing the suggestion, Sir Richard contested, might the Percy Anecdotes be traced. I have not the means of ascertaining whether Sir Richard's claim is correct; and I should be equally sorry to reflect upon his statement as upon that of Mr. Byerley, my predecessor in the editorship of the Mirror. The Percy Anecdotes were among the best compilations of their day: their publisher, Mr. Thomas Boys, of Ludgate Hill, realised a large sum by the work; and no inconsiderable portion of their success must be referred to Mr. Boys's excellent taste in their production: the portrait illustrations, mostly engraved by Fry, were admirable.
John Timbs.