NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14690, 26 May 1911, Page 6

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

DR. JOHNSON'S HOUSE.

The world' of letters, arid * indeed all who; value the heroism of human nature, owe a deep debt of gratitude to Mr. Cecil Harms-* worth for his generosity and public spirit in rescuing, from the deterioration which has long been its lot, and the destruction which must soon have been its fate, the house " in ' Gough Square, Fleet-, street, ' London, ' where Dr. John-' son compiled his immortal die-: tionary. The book is immortal, not so much by virtue of its own merits and qualities, which, surpassing as they were in their time, have now long been superseded for all practical purposes, as because the name and fame of its compiler are immortal, and because his personality is one of the best known and best beloved among men of letters of all time. It is because we know him so well that the general impulse is keen to keep his memory alive and to hallow it, with all worthy associations , in the places where he lived. There are, no doubt, other places which are richer in Johnsonian, memories and associations than the house in Gough Square—Lichfield, where he was born; Court, where he died.; and Uttoxetcr, where he did. that noble and touching penance, for his early disobedience to his father, that penance of Carlyle wrote, " the picture of Samuel Johnson standing bareheaded in the market there is one of the grandest and' saddest we can paint." Shall we add to these Chesterfield House, in the antechamber of which the ' surly'and slighted lexicographer often sat neglected and eating his heart out until. at last the porter denied him the door, and to the superfine, lord of which Johnson, when the dictionary was at last published, addressed that tremendous letter, Carlyle's "far-famed Blast of Doom," which annihilated the calling of literary patron for ever? It is natural that some at .least of the places we have mentioned, as well as others that might be named, should be more closely associated than Gough Square with the memory of Johnson. Yet'it is certainly fitting that Gough Square itself should have its due. THE HULLING OF SHIPS. Few things are more distressing to the average ocean passenger than the- excessive rolling of the ship. The prospect that movement, may be reduced to insignificant, proportions, even, in the worst of weather, is likely,.therefore, to be received with satisfaction. At the meeting of the Institution of Naval Architects, Herr Frahm described the working of anti-rolling tanks which he has developed at Messrs. Blohm and Voss's shipbuilding yard in Hamburg, and gave some interesting particulars of their achievements. These tanks were lilted to the passenger steamers Ypiranga and Corcovado, each 447 ft in length, and each said to be bad rollers, notwithstanding their bilge keels. The result was that they at once lost their character for unsteadiness, and became such quiet, comfortable vessels that the "fiddles" were no longer required, even in. the worst. weather. It , is stated, indeed, that the influence on the health of the passengers was very favourable. According to Herr Frahm, the HamburgAmerican, Hamburg-South American, German East African, and Woermann lines are all having their new... passenger ships fitted with these tanks. In England, also, the" subject is receiving attention, the statement being that negotiations are proceeding with some of the largest firms with a view of 'fitting antirolling tanks in vessels under construction and in existing ships also. The value of the invention seems very clearly established in the case of the German East African liner General. Strong winds and [a* heayy sea ip,a4_e herroU'l4deg.. when the

tanks were out of action. When the smaller tank forward was used, the heeling angles were at once reduced by 7deg. orßdeg.,and when the larger tank aft was also put in action the rolling was reduced to 3deg. in either direction. Such tests seem absolutely conclusive.

CROMWELL'S BURIAL PLACE. The Guardian contains an interesting article on the question of where Cromwell was buried, contributed by the Rev. A. J. Foster, who points out that the tradition now related by him has come down directly from Naseby itself, and through only three steps direct from one of the actors in the story himself. This narrative, the passing on of which is set forth in the article, came originally from the lips of a labourer who had lived and worked all his life close to Naseby Field, and is to the following effect : —The labourer's father occupied a cottage to the north of the village, and therefore in the direction of the battlefield. One night —he could not exactly say when it was, but he did not think that he could have been more than 10 years old—there came a coach to the cottage door, and the labourer and his family were aroused from their slumber. There seemed to be about four gentlemen with the coach, and they asked the father if he would come and do a job for them, lor which he would be well paid. They also told the boy that if he would stand by the horses and mind them he also should have something. The father was directed to bring his tools with him. • But what particularly struck the boy was that the gentlemen took out of the coach a long box. Off into the dark they went, carrying the box and accompanied by the father. They were gone a long time, and came back without the box. Lastly, the old man said that his father never cared to speak to him about the matter, so that he had apparently been well bribed to keep silence. These friends, who had somehow been able to carry out the perilous task of exploring the gallows-pit, were resolved that the last resting-place of England's great uncrowned King should be secure. And so somewhere beneath the rich cornlands of Naseby " open field " has the dust of Oliver Cromwell hnally mouldered away. And the tale has come down in this case through only a threefold descent —the aged clergyman, a Mr. Wedd, and the daughter of the last-named, herself the mother of the present writer (Mr. Foster.)