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page 5 note 1 See Entry in the Diary of February 6, 1734–5.
page 5 note 2 Dalton, Army Lists and Commission Registers, 1661–1714, v. 242; Commissions at the Public Record Office. It will be noticed that the date of the commission as Lieutenant does not agree with Williamson's Memorandum. Perhaps he was ensign from 1702 to 1706.
page 5 note 3 See p. 7 infra.
page 5 note 4 In the Diary Williamson refers to himself as “Captain of Carisbrooke Castle ” (Entry, May 10, 1742). In the Commission Register at the Public Record Office he is described as “Governor.” As to this post see note to entry of May 10, 1742.
page 5 note 5 See note to entry of May 10, 1742.
page 6 note 1 Calendar of Treasury Papers 1714–1719, 159, 348. London Gazette, Nov. 12–15 (O.S.), 1715. Goertz, the Minister of Charles XII, was formulating his plot to restore the Stuarts to the English throne when he was arrested at Arnhem, February 22, 1716–7, by the British Resident at the Hague with the sanction of the States-General. (The Swedish Plot of 1716–7, 18 English Hist. Rev. 104).
page 6 note 2 On April 3, 1740, the General had the honour of presenting copies of the work to the King and the Duke of Cumberland in person (entry in the Diary Ap. 3, 1740).
page 7 note 1 The account of this officer in Dalton, George I; Army (i. 160, ii. 153), taken in connection with the above passage and some phrases in the Diary, suggests that Williamson was of Irish extraction.
page 8 note 1 See entry in the Diary, March 26, 1727, et passim.
page 8 note 2 See Dalton's Army Lists, etc., vi, 347, and George I's Army 1714–1727, by the same author.
page 8 note 3 British Museum Maps, K XXIV (23-d-1).
page 8 note 4 See Dict. Nat. Biog. sub nom. Sir Adam Williamson. The wills of father and son are at Somerset House (P.C.C. Webster 621, Walpole 752). See a reference to George Williamson in the Diary under April 2, 1728.
page 8 note 5 See entry in the Diary, December, 1729.
page 9 note 1 The General's will referred to below contains a devise to “West Diggs and his brother Dudley Diggs.” West Diggs, or Digges, is identical with the actor of that name (1720–1786) about whose parentage a doubt is expressed in the Dictionary of National Biography. There is no doubt that West and Dudley were the sons of Colonel Thomas Digges, a great grandson of Sir Dudley Digges, Master of the Rolls 1636–1639. Colonel Digges was brother to the second Mrs. Williamson. He served in the First Life Guards and afterwards in the Third Regiment of Foot Guards, General Williamson's Regiment (Dict. Nat. Biog. sub nom. West Digges; Harris's History of Kent (1719) 370; Dalton's, Army Lists, etc., vi, 21Google Scholar; the following wills proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury : Leonard Digges, Mrs. Williamson's father (Tenison 76); John Digges (Browning 207); Elizabeth Digges, Mrs. Williamson's mother (Henchman 209); Colonel Thomas Digges (Boycott 195)).
page 9 note 2 Registers of St. Peter ad Vincula in the Tower. As to the daughter Mary see entry in the Diary February 23, 1732–3.
page 9 note 3 Gentleman's Magazine, 1747.
page 9 note 4 P.C.C. Potter 299.
page 10 note 1 P.R.O. Chancery Proceedings 1758–1800, bundle 1144.
page 12 note 1 ‘Goodman's Fields ’ was an open space lying between the Minories and Church Lane, Whitechapel, but in 1761 it was no longer recognizable as fields. The name is still preserved in “Great Alie Street, Goodman's Fields ”—see the Post Office Guide. There were two theatres in Goodman's Fields in the eighteenth century; one stood on the north side of Great Alie (then Ayliffe) Street by the site now occupied by Zoar Baptist Chapel, and was known as “Goodman's Fields Theatre.” In 1737 Gifford, the Manager of this theatre, waited on Sir Robert Walpole with the manuscript of a piece named “The Golden Rump ” sent to him for performance by an anonymous author. It was of so revolutionary a character that Sir Robert, by its means, succeeded in carrying the Licensing Act of 1736. The piece was never acted. (Doran, , London in the Jacobite Times, ii, 71)Google Scholar. At this theatre in 1741 Garrick first made a name, appearing in the part of Richard III and other characters. The Patent Houses were deserted, and a string of carriages thronged the route from Temple Bar to Goodman's Fields, sometimes a dozen Dukes of a night forming part of the audience. This theatre was erected by Thomas Odell in 1729, and was pulled down in 1746. The following is a play bill issued in 1746 of the other theatre in Goodman's Fields, erected in 1703 : “At the New Wells the bottom of Lemon Street, Goodman's Fields, this present evening will be several new exercises of rope-dancing, tumbling, singing, and dancing, with several new scenes in grotesque characters call'd Harlequin a captive in France or the Frenchman trapt at last. The whole to conclude with an exact view painted on canvas of our gallant army under the command of their Glorious Hero passing the River Spey, giving the rebels battle and gaining a complete victory near Culloden House, with the Horse in pursuit of the Pretender.” In 1744 the Grand Jury of Middlesex present “as places riotous, of great extravagance, luxury, idleness and ill-fame, the several houses places and persons following within this County, to wit : …. The proprietors of a place called New Wells in Goodman's Fields at the bottom of Lemon Street within this County where are daily meetings of disorderly idle people.” There is some confusion in the accounts of the two theatres, but it seems probable that it was in that firstly described that Williamson held shares (Dict. Nat. Biog. sub “ David Garrick ” and “Thomas Odell ”; Horace Walpole's Letters, ed. 1903, i, 228; Wheatley, , London Past and Present, ii, 126–8Google Scholar; Doran, , London in the Jacobite Times, ii, 149Google Scholar; Besant, London in the Eighteenth Century, 494–5).
page 13 note 1 This list does not seem to contain all the rooms in the Deputy-Lieutenant's house. Perhaps it includes only those containing furniture belonging to the Testator at the time of making the inventory.
page 13 note 2 Matthew Skinner 1689–1749 : see Dict. Nat. Biog. sub nom. He was one of the Crown counsel on the trial of Lord Balmerino : “Then the King's Counsel opened and Sergeant Skinner pronounced the most absurd speech imaginable.” (Horace Walpole's Letters, ed. 1903, ii, 217, 218. See the speech in the State Trials).
page 14 note 1 P.C.C. Major 64.
page 14 note 2 The original letter is in the present writer's possession. Either it was never despatched or it was returned to the sender.
page 16 note 1 Diary, entry June 17, 1723.