_The Hon. A. Erskine._--In J. Reed's Copy of _Boswell's and Hon. A.
Erskine's Correspondence_, 12mo. 1763, was the following note in Reed's
autograph:--
"The Hon. A. Erskine was fourth son of the fifth Earl of Kelley.
Mr. Boswell told me the 30th of May, 1794, that A.E., having
spent all his property, in a fit of despair threw himself from a
rock into the sea last winter, and was drowned. His body was
found five days after, when it appeared it was a deliberate act,
as he had filled his pockets with stones."
_Gloves._--The question of F.E. (Vol. i., p. 366.), "Why are gloves not
worn before royalty?" having hitherto received no answer, may probably
be as difficult of solution as another custom in which a glove figures
as a token of defiance. Perhaps, however, covered hands, as well as a
covered head, may have been considered discourteous. Indeed, we learn
frown Cobarruvias, in his _Tesoro_, that it was so considered in
Spain:--
"ENGUANTADO. El que entra con Guantes adonde se le ha de tener a
descortesia. El que sirve no los ha de tener delante de su
Senor: ni Vasallo, sea quien fuere, delante de su Rey." Fo. 453.
b. ed. 1611.
The use of gloves must be of very high antiquity. In the Middle Ages the
priest who celebrated mass always, I believe, wore them during that
ceremony; but it was just the contrary in courts of justice, where the
presiding judge, as well as the criminal, was not allowed to cover his
hands. It was anciently a popular saying, that three kingdoms must
contribute to the formation of a good glove:--Spain to prepare the
leather, France to cut them out, and England to sow them.
I think the etymology of the word _glove_ is in far from a satisfactory
state. It is a good subject for some of your learned philological
correspondents, to whom I beg leave to recommend its elucidation.
S.W. Singer.
Mickleham, July 26. 1850.
_Punishment of Death by Burning_ (Vol. ii., pp. 6, 50, 90.).--Your
correspondent E.S.S.W. gives an account of a woman burnt for the murder
of her husband in 1783, and asks whether there is any other instance of
the kind in the latter part of the last century. I cannot positively
answer this Query, but I will state a circumstance that occurred to
myself about the year 1788. Passing in a hackney-coach up the Old Bailey
to West Smithfield, I saw the unquenched embers of a fire opposite
Newgate; on my alighting I asked the coachman "What was that fire in the
Old Bailey, over which the wheel of your coach passed?" "Oh, sir," he
replied, "they have been burning a woman for murdering her husband."
Whether he spoke the truth or not I do not know, but I received it at
the time as truth, and remember the impression it made on me.
It is, perhaps, as well to state that there were some fifteen to twenty
persons standing around the smouldering embers at the time I passed.
Senex.
_India Rubber_ is now so cheap and common, that it seems worth while to
make a note of the following passage in the _Monthly Review_ for Feb.
1772. It occurs at p. 71., in the article on "A familiar Introduction to
the Theory and Practice of Perspective, by Joseph Priestly, LL.D.
F.R.S., 8vo. 5s., boards. Johnson."
"Our readers, perhaps, who employ themselves in the art of
drawing, will be pleased with a transcript of the following
advertisement:--'I have seen, says Dr. Priestly, a substance,
excellently adapted to the purpose of wiping from paper the
marks of a black lead pencil. It must, therefore, be of singular
use to those who practise drawing. It is sold by Mr. Nairne,
mathematical instrument-maker, opposite the Royal Exchange. He
sells a cubical piece, of about half an inch, for three
shillings; and, he says, it will last several years.'"