On Wednesday Mr. Holbein began what he previously declared to be his last attempt to emulate and better Captain Webb's famous Channel swim. But yesterday, when success seemed almost in his grasp, when he was within a mile of the English coast, he was compelled to abandon the task. He had missed the tide, and was being carried further and further from his goal. But he may nevertheless claim to have beaten Captain Webb's record in 2 double sense. In the first place he remained in the water for twenty-two hours and swam some fifty-three miles—a feat of endurance which has never been equalled; and in the second place he reached a point—so it is claimed—nearer to the English coast than Captain Webb did to the French coast by actual swimming. Captain Webb certainly received some assistance from friendly swimmers towards the end of his swim, though the extent of this assistance has never been authoritatively recorded. Simultaneously with this last attempt of Holbein's an attempt was made by Franke Holmes, the Birmingham Amateur Champion, to cross in the opposite direction. He had to give up at the end of some four and a-half hours.He had, however, made so much progress that it is believed that if Holbein had adopted the same course he would have succeeded in his task. There is little doubt that he is a finer swimmer, with greater powers of endurance, than' Captain Webb.
The Ancestral Home of the Washingtons. excited over a report that Sulgrave Hall, The neighbourhood of Banbury
the home of some of George Washington's ancestors, has been sold to some Americans and is to be carted over in pieces to the United States and re-erected. Up to the present, however, it has not been possible to trace the report to any very reliable source. All that is known on the spot.is that some Americans recently visited the house and informed the occupants that such a bargain had been struck with its owner. It is hoped, however, that in any case the negotiations have not gone too far to be stayed. The most patriotic of Americans must surely admit that the building would lose the greater part of its historic interest by removal from its original site; and I have no doubt that a good many Americans would be glad to assist the National Trust. or some other body which looks after our ancient monuments and places of historic interest to buy the house and grounds and ensure its preservation. Sulgravo Hall was only in the possession of the Washingtons for a couple of generations, but the older part was almost certainly built by Lawrence Washington, George's direct ancestor in the sixth generation, for the family arms from which the celebrated "Stars and Stripes" were devolved are still to be seen carved in the spandrils of its gabled porch. This Lawrence lies buried in Sulgrave Church, and his tomb is visited every year by innumerable American pilgrims.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.