POINTS FROM LETTERS

GoLnszuru'a EPITAPH.

MT. W. E. Gunn is in error in saying that Dr. Johnson, wrote on the tomb of Goldsmith, " Let not his fraildies be remembered ; he was a very great man." These words occur in a letter written by Dr. Johnson to his friend, Bennet Langton. The inscription en the memorial to Goldsmith in Westminster Abbey is by Dr. Johnson and contains these oft quoted words: " Qui nullum fern scribendi genus non tctigit, nullum quod tetigit non ornavit."

Several of Goldsmith's friends desired that the epitaph should be in English ; but Johnson resolutely refused. " CoAsider, Sir," he said, " how you should feel were you to find at :totter- dam an epitaph upon Erasmus in Dutch. Goldsmith's tomb lies close to the Temple Church, just off Fleet Street, for Mr. Gunn to .go and see "to witness if I lie." At the same time, I should be glad if any of your readers could inform me what is the evidence that this is the actual spot where he lies buried. Macaulay wrote in his essay, " He was laid in the Churchyard of the Temple, but the spot was not marked by an inscription, and is now forgotten." When was this tombstone erected ? —C. It. COOKE-TAYLOR, Grafton Hotel, London, W.I.

WATER-POWER MILLS.

Some letters which appeared in the Times about three years ago, deploring the passing of old water-power mills in the South, induced me to undertake an exhaustive survey of the water mills in my own district, South Westmorland. A study of old county records showed many manorial corn and fulling mills, some of which had existed from Norman times, many of them the property of distant northern abbeys. Most of these I was able to identify and in many cases the mills on the old sites are still doing useful work on water power. I visited the mills in the district which are now working and many others falling into decay—bringing the total for three small rivers to 121, and obtained useful information from managers and old inhabitants also from directories covering the last hundred years. From these I was able to identity forty different trades. I understand from the British Museum Library that they can trace no similar enquiry during recent years, and should like to suggest to other septuagenarians that there is a delightful piece of work to be done on these lines in their own districts, by which they would enable future generations to realise the enormous debt which our country owes to water power.—JOHN SOMERVELL, Broom Close, Kendal.

LORD CARSON.

I am engaged upon a Life of Lord Carson with the full consent of my subject himself. IN'hereas I have at my disposal a great amount of letters written to him, there are naturally very few of his own letters among his papers. I should be very grateful for any of his own letters, and also for personal reminiscences of him, especially of his professional career at the Irish and the English Bar and of his early years.—EDWARD MARJORIDANKS, 1 Victoria Square, S.W.I.

" THE WipEns TimEs."

With reference to the final quotation that you give from The Wipers Times, on page 169 of your issue of August 2nd, another version was sung by the rank and file—and officers too, on occasions—of one, if not more, of the many Fusilier Battalions that sprang into being in 1914. The tune was that quoted in The Wipers Times ; the words were as follows :— " We are the Rag-time Fusiliers, „.

As everybody knows ; Wo cannot fight, we cannot shoot, We only clean ou• clo'es, And when we get to Berlin, The Kaiser, through his tears, Will shout, Mein Gott !

What is b—y rotten lot, These Rag-time Fusiliers ! ' "

—Ituatemmy BOWMAN, Jerusalem.

CLICK MA DOODLE.

I have a self-recording barometer, and on it are the words " Click ma doodle." I always thought this was simply a family joke till I found in various seaside towns such baro- meters with the same words. Can any of your readers explain this to me ?—Mrs. KATHERINE SPRINGETT, 7 Ethelbert Road, Canterbury.

MR. LANSBURY'S LIDO.

Referring to the letter of " An Office Worker," in your issue of July 12th, and to your note thereto, are you aware that bathing from the Thames banks is prohibited between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m., that is, practically altogether ? I do not know how far up the river this regulation is in force ; it is so five miles above Marlow, in country which is almost deserted. In London, with the Thames debarred, the poor and those who work long hours, and who feel repelled from swimming in baths literally " crawling" with people, must " go without," as they put it—RAMBLER.