Aleppo in the seventeenth century was the emporium of the Indian trade: Venetian, French, Dutch, and English merchants constituted a large community within its walls, and in the reign of Charles II. upwards of fifty English houses formed the “nation under the British Consul, and inhabited the English “Factory" or Khan. glimpses of his comparatively dull, un-young merchant of 200 years ago would eventful life: his days devoted to business, very possibly have commissioned in Larnaca his evening walk to Dulwich or Hampstead, bazaar. and, returning to the old City home, his nightly relaxation at some neighbouring tavern. Such a course of existence would hardly fit him for the adventurous life in the Turkish Empire of those days, and yet, although we have but few souvenirs remaining of the Turkey merchants in England, the number of young men who embarked at Wapping or Blackwall on "levanters" for Cyprus or Alexandretta must have been considerable in the eighteenth century. Some few of the old City houses still linger in out-of-the-way nooks, mute monuments of unrecorded lives, with their neatlooking red-brick fronts and classic doorways entering into marble-paved halls. From such homes the young men whose graves are in the Levant went to pass years of weary exile in a Khan at Aleppo, or to found a Levantine family in Larnaca or Smyrna. The majority of the merchants whose monuments remain in the Levant died in their youth. Extreme youth must have been a recommendation, if not imperative, in all aspirants to a position in the Factory, and as a rule merchants sent their sons, and not their clerks, to act as their factors, as they in their turn had been sent by their fathers. The Levant was regarded as a pernicious station. Moryson, a traveller of about 1600, says that European merchants or factors established at Aleppo seldom returned home, "the twentieth man scarcely living till, his prentiship being out, he may trade here for himself." A hundred years later the conditions of life were somewhat better, to judge by Dr. Russell's account of the Factory. more The colony of Englishmen at Larnaca and Ormidhia differed from the older Aleppo Factory in that it consisted of merchants living a family life. The semicollegiate "Khan," with its unmarried young men,* was not known in Cyprus. Apropos of this, a curious souvenir of long ago was recently picked up at Larnaca: it is an old posy-ring or betrothal token, a "Baffo diamond," on which is engraved within an oval the representation of a fantastic altar supporting two hearts. Around the margin are the words LOVE VNIGHT VS (sic). It looks like native workmanship, such as some * Vide Maundrell's 'Journey.' Aleppo was the centre of the business operations of the "Levant Company," or Company of Merchants trading in the Seas of the Levant," founded by Queen Elizabeth in 1581, which remained in the enjoyment of its profitable privileges until 1825. Cyprus rose into importance as a factory of the Company during the eighteenth century. Smyrna also belongs to the later period, and continues as the centre of the Levant trade of modern days. The consular district of Aleppo embraced various Vice-Consulates, not necessarily permanent, of which Cyprus (Larnaca) was perhaps one of the most important. The Cyprus Vice-Consulate may be traced back to 1626, but the actual English Colony and Factory of Larnaca can only be said to synchronize with the course of the eighteenth century. There are no records preserved separately of the Cyprus ViceConsulate, but many stray documents referring to it are to be found amongst the Letter-Books, &c., of the Aleppo Consulate removed, as mentioned above, to the Public Record Office, London, in 1910. The oldest of these books contains a reference under the date 22 July, 1626, to "Petro Savioni, Nro V. Consolo in Cipro." As was frequently the case at that period, the entries are in the Italian language. The first record of a regular consular appointment in Cyprus is: At the Court of Assistants of 19 May, 1636, a letter was read from Mr. Glover, "who hath taken upon him the Consulship of Cyprus," asking for the Levant Company's approbation. At the General Court of 2 June, 1636, Glover was appointed Vice-Consul, subordinate to the Consul of Aleppo (vide Epstein's 'Early History' of Levant Company, p. 216). 66 M. D'Arvieux (Mémoires '), going out to Grand Aleppo as the representative of the Monarque" in 1675, describes the seas of Cyprus as infested by Tripoli (Africa) and Majorcan corsairs. Whilst anchored in Larnaca Bay he was fêted by all the resident Europeans in the island with sumptuous feastings, and on his arrival and departure was honoured with the customary salvos of artillery. At this period Cyprus appears to have been colonized chiefly by merchants of the French Levant Company. M. D'Arvieux had many hostile encounters with the English Consul of the district of Aleppo, Mr. Gamaliel Nightingale disputes in which the English Factor Marine at Alexandretta, named Thomas Jenkins, was mixed up. M. D'Arvieux retired from Aleppo in 1685. The poor Consul got into trouble about the way in which young Frenchmen paraded the bazaars of Aleppo dressed up in women's clothes at carnival time. How difficult to imagine such things possible in 1680 ! 6 There is no mention in these Mémoires' of any English settlement in Cyprus at this period; we must therefore suppose that, although an English Vice-Consul was appointed at Larnaca from time to time during the seventeenth century, the English trade with Cyprus was comparatively insignificant. In 1693 Van Bruyn, a Dutchman, visited Larnaca and found all the European merchants there to be Frenchmen, but an Englishman came to settle during his stay. M. Baldassar Sovran, French Consul, was acting for the English nation. Mr. Deleau, whose tombstone remains at Larnaca, was at this time just dead, and perhaps the newly arrived Englishman may have been Mr. Ion (or John) Ken, who must have died almost at the time of Van Bruyn's visit. The two Kens, relatives of the famous Bishop Ken, the Nonjuror, were doubtless brothers. Ion Ken, buried at Larnaca in 1693, was the son of Ion Ken, elder brother of the Bishop, and brother-in-law of Isaac Walton (the "Fisherman "). Ion Ken, sen., was also Treasurer of the East India Company (vide notices of this family in N. & Q' for 1912, 11 S. vi. 145, 289, 373). or 66 At the beginning of the eighteenth century the Levant Company was immersed in troubles, not only with the Turks, who were constantly demanding “avanie backsheesh under various pretexts, but also with interloping traders. The setting up of a factory of the Company at Larnaca seems to have been accompanied with difficulties occasioned by such interlopers. A rival society of Englishmen built a great house or khan, which was of such dimensions and importance that the natives protested it was meant for a fort. The representatives of the Levant Company in Larnaca were naturally indignant at their chartered rights being infringed, and a great deal of trouble ensued. The Consul was accused of bribing the Governor of Cyprus and the people to create the uproar for the destruction of the rival establishment, and the Ambassador in Constantinople had much difficulty in settling the matter amongst the different intriguing parties. These troubles in Cyprus are referred to in John Heyman's Travels,' 1715. At this time the Consul and merchants in Larnaca occupied the position of bankers, without whom the natives would have found it difficult to carry on much trade. One of the English merchants of the early eighteenth century in Cyprus has left a few records behind him. A certain Mr. Treadway is referred to by several of the travellers of the period as a rich man who built the finest house in the Levant, at Larnaca, and many other houses on the road between Larnaca and Famagusta, eventually becoming a bankrupt in 1724. Mr. Treadway's house in Larnaca still exists, and is now the property of Mr. C. D. Cobham, a former Commissioner of Larnaca. It possesses a very large room or hall, in which, it is said, a banquet was prepared for a large party of Mr. Treadway's friends and creditors in 1732, at the very hour when that gentleman was decamping from Cyprus in a Venetian ship. It is not recorded whether the guests much enjoyed the feast when they discovered the absence of the host under such circumstances. A letter in the Public Record Office referring to this matter is of interest in giving the names of a consul and merchants at Larnaca at that period : Cyprus, 10 Jan., 1732 3. To the Worshipfull Nevil Coxe Esqre., and Gentlemen of the British Nation off Aleppo. Disturbance is to transmitt you minutes of an GENTLEMEN,-The occasion off your Immediate Assembly held 5th Inst. whereby You'll Please to observe Mr. Stiles Lupart is not Content Demitry Constantin Should act any longer as Druggerman under a false Seal by which I apprehend its to say & Cancellaria having given Mr. Treadway a Patent a forged one, for a Patent would be of no value or Service to Mr. Treadway iff not Signed by the Consul, besides he run away by a Venetian Ship under French Protection. So Consequently had no manner off one from the English...... The Minutes are signed by the whole Court at "Larnicha, 5 Jan., 1732/3. WILLIAM PURNELL, Consul. GEORGE BARTON. STILES LUPART. EDWARD LEE.' patched about the same date to express the Another letter seems to have been disConsul's private opinion in this matter. He says he would not base an Action, this man having served the Nation "lett a man serve the Nation near 8 years after so Inca 28 years and for my part never found him Guilty any dishonesty. My Predecessor Mr. Consul Barton gave him a very good Character." It will be noticed that the above documents appear to be the result of a commission of inquiry by a Mr. Purnell, acting as Consul in Cyprus. Presumably this Mr. "William Purnell was a relation of the John Purnell who acted as Consul in Aleppo and Alexandretta between the years 1717 and (about) 1750. Mr. George Barton had evidently retired for a time from the Consulship of Cyprus, although he did not die until 1739. district of Aleppo and Cyprus under one Alexander Drummond united the whole the island was considered as only a ViceConsulate, and from this time onwards (1750) Consulate, as it had been at first. Baldwin of Cyprus, dated 1 April, 1771, An interesting copy of the will of John exists amongst the Miscellaneous Correspondence at the Public Record Office. It is attested by William Bashley Turner, who "Pro-Consul for his Majesty the King of Great styles himself Britain, &c. &c. Pro-V.-Consul for their I.M., for Duke of Tuscany, and for their High Mightinesses his Majesty the King of Denmark, for the Grand the States General of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, in this Island and Kingdom of Cyprus." Seal of the British Chancery of Cyprus is attached. This Mr. W. B. Turner would presumably be the son or some relative of Mr. Timothy Turner, the Consul who seems to have died in 1768. the interior title-page; but two notes of exclamation have been inserted in this line in two places, perhaps to call attention to the two cryptograms about to follow in the next two numbers. (The previous number-55-contained one dagger inserted in like fashion.) In the two following numbers the head-line consisted of a composition of signs-asterisks, daggers, &c. (still in use)-in lieu of the flower. Numb. 58" (sic) for 25 Sept.-2 Oct., attainment as ever. 1648, commenced as follows: "Numb. 59" for 2-9 Oct., 1648, com- misapplied, I forget; not to its legitimate purpose, menced : [** * * The next number of Mercurius Melancholicus was marked Num. 58, 59, 60, 61, 62," but contains nothing else noticeable. The periodical then seems to have ceased until 1 Jan., 1649, when it recommenced with No. 1. Probably all three writers had been caught, and a new writer then took up the periodical. I do not think that any other cryptograms ever appeared in it. Can any one explain them? They may have been messages from the printer to the writer. J. B. WILLIAMS. DICKENSIANA : YORKSHIRE SCHOOLS.A friend at Carlisle recently sent me a MS. volume of reminiscences, written in 1839 by a local solicitor. Referring to the incidents of his schooldays (1818-19), he writes : "Yorkshire, I believe, is the place where schools are kept after the Squeers fashion. Where it had been learned is more than I know, but in some respects, especially the starving department, had been well conned (? cond). The quality of our victuals was not to be complained of, but the quantity was something less than very short allowance. I have seen the greater part of a leg of mutton go out after serving twenty hungry lads, the master, and two of his sisters, who were not stinted, of course. Rice puddings-or, rather, rice baked in milk, in which even currants at milestone distances were not-were standing dishes but of these we were not allowed a sufficiency. They used to be served after the old fashionbefore meat-for an intelligible reason enough, for without their aid a solitary leg of mutton must have become a very skeleton. "Indifferent, or insipid rather, as they were, we devoured our portions ravenously enough. I apprehend the rapid disappearance of two small dishes of this mess had put our feeder on his mettle, for one day he issued the following as a standing rule : 'Those boys who will have a small piece first shall not be helped twice.' He "At this time the master was so ill of consumption that all the boys were sent home to their friends excepting myself. I had my liberty, and ranged about wherever I liked. Had I had enough to eat I should not have been so ill off, but a sufficiency was just as difficult of I have a vivid recollection of picking out from among (the) pig's meat some baked potatoes which had been thrown amongst it. To do such a thing as this a lad must have been pretty well pinched. Our pocket-money was taken from us, and how applied, or rather one may safely swear. My friends had given me certainly more than enough-I had upwards of three pounds. I was ten years old, and eighteenpence is all I had the spending of. We dared not ask for it. How ill off we were kept in this parthat we could not muster a penny to buy a sheet ticular may be known from the circumstance of paper which was for a boy to write a letter to his friends to let them know how ill-used we were. Some boys ran away. I wrote a few lines on a bit of paper torn from a book with a pencil, and sealed (it) with cobbler's wax, which I dispatched to an old servant whom [sic] I knew lived in London. By some strange fatality it reached its destination, but somehow or other the information never reached home in time to do any good. When, however, I was packed off, my appearance and starvation I endured had (a) most serious proved the truth of my complaints. The hunger effect on my growth. I was very small for my age, I grew none, and for some years after I continued to be nothing but skin and bone." The writer was, I infer, born at Whitehaven, and the school described apparently existed at St. Bees. ALECK ABRAHAMS. SUMPTUARY LAW IN 1736.-In bygone days a paternal Government prescribed what garments we might or might not wear while we were alive, and what material we might or might not be buried in after we were dead. An instance of the former is afforded by the following paragraph, which I have copied from The London Daily Post and General Advertiser for the above year : "On Tuesday last an Information upon_Oath was made by Mr. Morris, Linnen Draper in Fetter Lane, before Col. De Veil in Leicester - Fields, against the Wife of Mr. Benjamin Field of Piccadilly, Vintner, for having worn within the space of six days last past, an India Chintz Callicoe Gown; which is prohibited by Act of Parliament; whereupon she was summoned by Mr. De Veil to come and make her Defence against the Accusation; instead of which she confess'd the Fact, and was convicted, pursuant to the Statute in that Case made and provided; which makes the Offender forfeit five Pound for every such Offence 125, Helix Road, Brixton Hill. 66 In an inventory of Lord Howard of Cherbury's house in Westminster, taken in 1641, there is mention of a billiard table and three bearers." 66 An early instance of a smoaking room occurs in the inventory of Shirburn Castle, taken in 1734. At Howard House was the following item: "Twoe plomets of lead for my lo [Lord] his exercise of his armes.' and Pilgrims,' 1873; Lost for Love,' 1874; Taken at the Flood,' 1874; 'Dead Men's Shoes,' 1875; 'Vixen,' 1879; 'Ishmael,' 1884; Wyllard's Weird,' 1885; Thou Art the Man,' 1894; London Pride,' 1896; 'In High Places,' 1898; His Darling Sin,' 1899; 'The Infidel,' 1900; The Conflict,' 1903; 'A Lost Eden,' 1904; 'The Rose of Life,' 1905; The White House,' 1906; 'Dead Love has Chains,' 1907; 'During Her Majesty's Pleasure,' 1908; Our Adversary,' 1909; Beyond These Voices,' 1910. Miss Braddon conducted Belgravia, a monthly magazine, to which she contributed Birds of Prey,' 'Charlotte's Inheritance,' 'Dead Sea Fruit,' Fenton's Quest.' I believe this list is not complete, for, in addition to various newspaper articles, Miss Braddon published many anonymous works. FRED E. BOLT. Penge Public Library. ['Miranda,' by Miss Braddon, was published in October, 1913.] list of inscriptions in the Old Cemetery at INSCRIPTIONS AT HYÈRES.—The following Hyères has been sent me by a correspondent, who says that at the time they were taken down (1907-8) the cemetery had fallen into total neglect. Though meagre in detail, they seem worth preserving request PERCY D. MUNDY. MARY ELIZABETH BRADDON : BIBLIOGRAPHY. (See ante, p. 175.)—At the of your correspondent SIR WILLIAM BULL, I give hereunder a bibliography of the late Mary Elizabeth Braddon. I find her writings still attract a large circle of readers of both sexes. 'Gari She contributed to the old Sporting Magazine under the noms de plume of 66 Gilbert Forrester and "A Member of the Burton Hunt." She wrote sentimental verses, political squibs, and parodies for the Poets' Corner of provincial newspapers. In 1860 'Loves of Arcadia,' a comedietta, was produced at the Royal Strand Theatre. baldi, and Other Poems,' were published in 1861. ‘Lady Lisle,' 'Captain of the Vulture,' Ralph'the Bailiff,' and other sketches, have been reprinted from Temple Bar, St. James's Magazine, &c. 'Griselda,' a drama in four acts, was brought out at the Princess's Theatre in November, 1873. Here follow the novels, dates of publication being given if known: Lady Audley's Secret,' 1862; Aurora Floyd,'' Eleanor's Victory,' 'John Marchmont's Legacy,' 'Henry Dunbar,' 'The Doctor's Wife,'' Only a Clod,' 'Sir Jasper's Tenant,' 'The Lady's Mile,' 'Rupert Godwin,' 'Run to Earth'; 'To the Bitter End,' 1872; 'Lucius Davoren,' 1873; Strangers 1. Emily Smith. : 2. Jane Atkin, wife of .... Liverpool, 1875. 3. Wm. J. G. Green, Toronto. 4. Edward St. Lorens Rividus. 5. Fredk. Ramsay Robinson, Islington. 7. Francis M. Sivewright, 1829. 8. Thos. Graham Traquair, M.D., 1868. 9. Hester Lomax, 1833. 10. Henrietta Cronyn....Newtown, Kilkenny, 1836. 11. Mary Ryley, Lee, Kent, 1865. 14. Louisa Jane Kelly, Armagh, 1819. 17, Ashley Mansions, S.W. WATERLO0 AND THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR. (See 11 S. x. 489.)-The Rev. N. Kynaston Gaskell, writing in The Times of 11 Jan., states that the French General Gudin, who was killed in the Franco-German War of 1870-71, had been page d'honneur in waiting on Napoleon at Waterloo. It is related, he says, of Gudin that, in helping the Emperor to mount his horse, the boy gave him such a vigorous hoist as almost to push him over on the other side. "Petit imbécile," snarled the Emperor, " va-t-en à tous les diables," and galloped off angrily. A few minutes later Napoleon rode back and, |