ek.

WEDSECNARF.

_Saint Paul's Clock_ (Vol. iii., p. 40.).--In reply to MR. CAMPKIN'S Query,
I send you the following extract from Easton's _Human Longevity_ (London,
1799):

"James Hatfield died in 1770, aged 105. Was formerly a soldier: when on
duty as a centinel at Windsor, one night, at the expiration of his
guard, he heard St. Paul's clock, London, strike _thirteen_ strokes
instead of twelve, and not being relieved as he expected he fell
asleep; in which situation he was found by the succeeding guard, who
soon after came to relieve him; for such neglect he was tried by a
court-martial, but pleading that he was on duty his legal time, and
asserting, as a proof, the singular circumstance of hearing St. Paul's
clock strike thirteen strokes, which, upon inquiry, proved true--he was
in consequence acquitted."

J. B. COLMAN.

_Lunardi_ (Vol. ii., p. 469.).--I remember seeing Lunardi's balloon pass
over the town of Ware, previous to its fall at Standon. I have seen the
_moonstone_ described by your correspondent C. J. F., but all that I can
remember of an old song on the occasion is. "They thought it had been the
man in the moon," alluding to the men in the fields, who ran away
frightened. But a servant girl had {154} the courage to take the rope
thrown out by Lunardi, and was well rewarded. It caused a great sensation,
and many of the principal inhabitants of Ware and Wadesmill assembled with
Lunardi at the Feathers Inn, at the latter place.

J. TAYLOR.

Newick, Sussex.

_Outline in Painting_.--J. O. W. H. (Vol. i., p. 318.) and H. C. K. (Vol.
iii., p. 63.) are earnestly referred, for resolution of their doubts, to
the work by Mr. Ruskin, in 2 vols. large 8vo., entitled _Modern Painters_,
by a _Graduate of Oxford_, published by Smith and Elder, 1846.

ROBERT SNOW.

_Handbell before a Corpse_ (vol. iii., p. 68.).--Your correspondent
[Hebrew: B]. has too inconsiderately dismissed the Query which he has
undertaken to answer touching the custom of ringing a handbell in advance
of a funeral procession. He says, "I have never considered it as anything
but _a cast of the bell-man's office_, to add more solemnity to the
occasion."

The custom is _invariably_ observed throughout Italy, and is common in
France and Spain. I have witnessed at least some hundreds of funerals in
various cities and villages of Piedmont, Sardinia, Tuscany, the Roman
States, Naples, Elba, and Si