"To-day thy bosom may containExulting pleasure's fleeting train,Desponding grief to-morrow!"
"To-day thy bosom may contain
Exulting pleasure's fleeting train,
Desponding grief to-morrow!"
I once thought they were Prior's, but I cannot find them. Can you assist me?
R. W. B.
—A custom, I believe, still exists in Russia for the mistress of a family to distribute on certain occasions bread or cake to her guests. Some particulars of this custom appeared either in theGlobeor theStandardnewspaper in 1837 or 1838, during the months of October, November, or December. Having lost the reference to the precise date, and only recollecting that the custom is known by the name ofPirog, I shall feel much obliged to any correspondent of the "NOTES ANDQUERIES" if he can supply me with further information on the subject.
R. M. W.
—In a biography that appeared of Dr. P. Brown in theAnthologia Hibernicafor Jan. 7, 1793, we are informed that he prepared for the press a "Fasciculus Plantarum Hibernicarum," enumerating chiefly those growing in the counties of Mayo and Galway, written in Latin, with the English and Irish names of each plant. See alsoDublin Quarterly Journal of Medical Science, i.—xxx. Where is this MS.?
Can any of your readers refer me to similar lists of plants indigenous to either England or Ireland, in which the provincial names are preserved, with any notes on their use in medicine, or their connexion with the superstitions of the district to which the list refers? Any information on this subject, however slight, will particularly oblige
S. P. H. T.
P.S. I should not be much surprised if the MS. of Dr. P. Brown existed in some of the collectanea in the Library of Trin. Coll. Dub.
—How should prints be cleaned, so as not to injure the paper?
A. G.
—What was the first work by an Italian writer on any element of political economy? and in what year did Carli, the celebrated economist, die?
ALPHA.
—Where is the earliest notice of the fable of the nightingale and the thorn? that she sings because she has a thorn in her breast? For obvious reasons, the fiction cannot be classical.
It is noticed by Byron:
"The nightingale that sings with the deep thorn,That fable places in her breast of wail,Is lighter far of heart and voice than thoseWhose headlong passions form their proper woes."
"The nightingale that sings with the deep thorn,
That fable places in her breast of wail,
Is lighter far of heart and voice than those
Whose headlong passions form their proper woes."
But an earlier mention is found in Browne's poem on the death of Mr. Thomas Manwood:—
"Not for thee these briny tears are spent,But as the nightingale against the breere,'Tis for myself I moan and do lament,Not that thou left'st the world, but left'st me here."
"Not for thee these briny tears are spent,
But as the nightingale against the breere,
'Tis for myself I moan and do lament,
Not that thou left'st the world, but left'st me here."
He seems to interpret the fable to the same effect as Homer makes Achilles' women lament Patroclus—Πατρόκλου πρόφασιν, σφῶν δ' αὐτῶν κήδε' ἑκάστη.It has been suggested that it rather implies that the spirit of music, like that of poetry and prophecy, visits chiefly the afflicted,—a comfortable doctrine to prosaic and unmusical people.
A. W. H.
—At pp. 300, 301, of this writer'sTable Talk(3rd edition) there is the following paragraph:—
"I exceedingly regret the loss of those essays on beauty, which I wrote in a Bristol newspaper. I would give much to recover them."
Can any of your readers afford information on this point? The publication of the essays in question (supposing that they have not yet beenpublished) would be a most welcome addition to the works of so eminent and original an author as S. T. Coleridge.
J. H. KERSHAW.
—MR. SINGER(Vol. iii., p. 297.) refers to Sir Francis Kinaston's Latin version of Chaucer'sTroilus and Cresseid, and of Henryson'sTestament of Cresseid. The first two books of the former are well known as having been printed at Oxford, 1635, 4to.; and the entire version was announced for publication by F. G. Waldron, in a pamphlet printed as a specimen, in 1796. Query, Who is now the possessor of Kinaston's manuscript, which MR. SINGERrecommends as worthy of the attention of the Camden Society?
In the original table of contents of a manuscript collection, written about the year 1515, one article in that portion of the volume now lost is "Mr. Robert Henderson's dreme,On fut by Forth." Can any of your readers point out where a copy of this, or any other unpublished poems by Henryson, are preserved?
D. L.
Edinburgh.
—In "A Catalogue of the Libraries of the lateWilliam Oldys, Esq., Norroy King at Arms (author of theLife of Sir Walter Raleigh), the ReverendMr. Emms, ofYarmouth, andMr. William Rush, which will begin to be sold on Monday, April 12, by Thomas Davies;" published without date, but supposed to be in 1764, I find amongst Mr. Oldys's manuscripts, lot 3613.: "Of London Libraries: with Anecdotes of Collectors of Books, Remarks on Booksellers, and on the first Publishers of Catalogues." Can any of your readers inform me if the same is still in existence, and in whose possession it is?
WILLIAMBROWN, Jun.
Old Street.
—I find in an account-book of a public company an entry dated Oct. 1720, directing the disposal of "A Sword-blade Note for One hundred ninety-two pounds ten shillings seven pence." Can any of your numerous readers, especially those cognisant of monetary transactions, favour me with an explanation of the nature of this note, and the origin of its peculiar appellation?
R. J.
Threadneedle Street, Aug. 28. 1851.
—The word ABACOT, now inserted in foreign as well as English dictionaries, was adopted by Spelman in his Glossary: the authority which he givesseemsto be the passage (stating that King Henry VI.'s "high cap of estate, calledAbacot, garnished with two rich crowns," was presented to King Edward IV. after the battle of Hexham) which is in Holinshed, (the third volume ofChronicles, fol. Lond. 1577, p. 666. col. 2. line 28.): but this appears to be copied from Grafton (A Chronicle, &c., fol. Lond. 1569), where the word standsAbococket. If this author took it from Hall (The Union, &c., fol. Lond. 1549) I think it there stands the same: but in Fabyan'sChronicle, as edited by Ellis, it is printedBycoket; and in one black-letter copy in the British Museum, it may be seenBicoket, corrected in the margin by a hand of the sixteenth century,Brioket.
Can any reader point out the right word, and give its derivation?
J. W. P.
—C. C. R. has clearly shown what is Hume's authority for the passage quoted by Mr. Christian in his edition ofBlackstone, and referred to by me in my former communication, Vol. iii., p. 477. Can he point out where the passage in Hume is found? Mr. Christian refers to Hume, iv. p. 113.; but I have not been able to find it at the place referred to in any edition of Hume which I have had the opportunity of consulting.
G.
—What is the origin of aKelso convoy,—a Scotch phrase, used to express going a little way with a person?
B.
[Jamieson, in hisDictionary of the Scottish Language, Johnstone's Abridgment, thus explains the phrase:—
"KELSOCONVOY, an escort scarcely deserving the name south of Scotland. 'A step and a half ower the door stane.' (Antiquary.) This is rather farther than aScotch Convoy, which, according to some, is only to the door. It is, however, explained by others as signifying that one goes as far as the friend whom he accompanies has to go, although to his own door."]
—In the life of Wolsey in thePenny Cyclopædiais the following:
"It is said that while he lived at Lymington, he got drunk at a neighbouring fair. For some such cause it is certain that Sir Amias Paulett put him into the stocks,—a punishment for which we find that he subsequently revenged himself."
I have been unable to find what was his revenge.
B.
[Collins, in hisPeerage of England, vol. iv. p. 3., says, "that in the reign of Henry VII., when Cardinal Wolsey was only a schoolmaster at Lymington, in Somersetshire, Sir Amias Paulett, for some misdemeanor committed by him, clapped him in the stocks; which the Cardinal, when he grew into favour with Henry VIII., so far resented, that he sought all manner of ways to give him trouble, and obliged him (as Godwin in hisAnnals, p. 28., observes) to dance attendance at London for some years, and by all manner of obsequiousness to curry favour with him. During the time of his attendance, being commanded by the Cardinal not to depart London without licence, he took up his lodging in the great gate of the Temple towards Fleet Street."]
—Why was the beer calledBrunswick Mumso named? When I was young it used to be drunk in this country, and was, I am told, extensively exported to India, &c. Is it still manufactured?
G. CREED.
[Skinner callsMuma strong kind of beer, introduced by us from Brunswick, and derived either from Germanmummeln, to mumble, or frommum(silentii index),i.e.either drink that will (ut nos dicimus) make a cat speak, or drink that will take away the power of speech.
"The clamorous crowd is hush'd with mugs of mum,Till all, tun'd equal, send a general hum."—Pope.
"The clamorous crowd is hush'd with mugs of mum,
Till all, tun'd equal, send a general hum."—Pope.
Brunswick Mum is now advertised for sale by many publicans in the metropolis.]
—What is the derivation of the wordrasher, "arasherof bacon?"
J. H. C.
Adelaide, South Australia.
[Surely from the Frenchraser, to shave—a shaving of bacon. Our correspondent will probably recollect that vessels that have beencut downare commonly known asrazees.]
I beg to send you a few remarks on the note of A. E. B., concerning the "Pendulum Demonstration of the Earth's Rotation."
Your correspondent appears to consider that the only fact asserted by the propounders of the theory, is a variation in the plane of oscillation, caused by "the difference of rotation due to the excess of velocity with which one extremity of the line of oscillation may be affected more than the other;" the probable existence of which he proves by imagining a pendulum suspended over a point half-way between London and Edinburgh, and set in motion by being drawn towards and retained over London, and thence dismissed on its course. It is clear that in such a case the pendulum would at starting be impressed with the same velocity of motion in an eastern direction which the retaining power in London had, and that its path would be the result of this force compounded with that given by gravity in its line of suspension,i.e.towards the north, and its course would therefore be one subject to easy calculation. I should imagine that this disturbing force arising from the excess of eastern velocity possessed by the starting point over that of suspension, would be inappreciable after a few oscillations; but at all events it is evident that it might readily be avoided by setting the pendulum in motion by an impulse given beneath the point of suspension, by giving to it a direction east and west as suggested by A. E. B., or by several other expedients which must occur to a mathematician.
Your correspondent proceeds by requiring that there should be shown "reasonable ground to induce the belief that the ball is really free from the attraction of each successive point of the earth's surface," and is not as "effectually a partaker in the rotation of any given point" as if it were fixed there; or that "the duration of residence" necessary to cause such effect should be stated. Now I certainly am aware of no force by which a body unconnected with the earth would have any tendency to rotate with it; gravity can only act in a direct line from the body affected to the centre of the attracting body, and the motion in the direction of the earth's rotation can only be gained by contact or connexion, however momentary, with it. The onus of proving the existence of such a force as A. E. B. alludes to, must surely rest with him, not that of disproving it with me. What the propounders of this theory claim to show is, I humbly conceive, this,—that the direction in which a pendulum oscillates isconstant, and not affected by the rotation of the earth beneath it: that as when suspended above the pole (where the point of suspension would remain fixed) the plane of each oscillation would make adifferentangle with any given meridian of longitude, returning to its original angle when the diurnal rotation of the earth was completed; and as when suspended above the equator, where the point of suspension would be moved in a right line, or, to define more accurately, where the plane made by the motion of a line joining the point of suspension and the point directly under it (over which the ball would remain if at rest) would be a flat or right plane, the angle made by each successive oscillation with any one meridian would be thesame, so, at all the intermediate stations between the pole and the equator, where the point of suspension would move in a line, commencing near the pole with an infinitely small curve, and ending near the equator with one infinitely large (i.e.where the plane as described above would be thus curved), the angle of the plane of oscillation with a given meridian would, at each station, vary in a ratio diminishing from the variation at the pole until it became extinct at the equator, which variation they believe to be capable both of mathematical proof and of ocular demonstration.
I do not profess to be one of the propounders of this theory, and it is very probable that you may have received from some other source a more lucid, and perhaps a more correct, explanation of it; but in case you have not done so, I send you the foregoing rough "Note" of what are my opinions of it.
E. H. Y.
Your correspondent MR. GATTY, in a late number, has quoted a passage of the historian Hume, which treats a certain Anglo-Saxon document as a statute of Athelstan. As your correspondent cites his author without a comment, he would appear to give his own sanction to the date which Hume has imposed upon that document. In point of fact, it bears no express date, and therefore presents a good subject for a Query, whether that or any other era is by construction applicable to it. It is an extremely interesting Anglo-Saxon remain; and as it bears for title, "be leodgethincthum and lage," it purports to give legal information upon the secular dignities and ranks of the Anglo-Saxon period. This promises well to the archæologist, but unfortunately, on a nearer inspection, the document loses much of its worth; for, independently of its lacking a date, its jurisprudence partakes more of theory than that dry law which we might imagine would proceed from the Anglo-Saxon bench. Notwithstanding this, however, its archæological interest is great. The language is pure and incorrupt West Saxon.
It has been published by all its editors (except Professor Leo) asprose, when it is clearly not only rythmical but alliterative—an obvious characteristic of Anglo-Saxon poetry. And it is this mistake which has involved the further consequence of giving to the document a legal and historical value which it would never have had if its real garb had been seen through. This has led the critics into a belief of its veracity, when a knowledge of its real character would have inspired doubts. I believe that its accidental position in the first printed edition at the end of the "Judicia" (whether it be so placed in the MS. I know not) has assisted in the delusion, and has supplied a date to the minds of those who prefer faith to disquisition. The internal evidence of the document also shows that it is not jurisprudence, but only a vision spun from the writer's own brains, of what he dreamed to be constitutional and legal characteristics of an anterior age, when there were greater liberty of action and expansion of mind. The opening words of themselves contain the character of the document:—"Hit wæs hwilum." It is not a narrative of the present, but a record of the past.
The legal poet then breaks freely into the darling ornament of Anglo-Saxon song, alliteration: "On Engla lagum thæt leod and lagum," and so on to the end. As its contents are so well known and accessible, I will not quote them, but will merely give a running comment upon parts. "Gif ceorl getheah," &c. It may bedoubtedwhether, even in occasional instances, theceorlat any time possessed under the Anglo-Saxon system the power of equalising himself by means of the acquisition of property, with the class of theguas or gentils-hommes. But in the broad way in which the poet states it, it may be absolutely denied, inasmuch as the acquisition of wealth is made of itself to transform theceorlinto athegn: a singular coincidence of idea with the vulgar modern theory, but incompatible with fact in an age when a dominant caste ofgentlemenobtained.
It is not until the reign of Edward III. that any man, not born a gentleman, can be distinctly traced in possession of the honours and dignities of the country; an air of improbability is thus given which is increased by a verbal scrutiny. In the words "gif thegen getheah thæt be wearth to eorle," &c., the use of the wordeorlis most suspicious. This is not theeorlof antiquity—the Teutonicnobilis; it is the officialeorlof the Danish andquasi-Danish periods. This anachronism betrays the real date of the production, and carries us to the times succeeding the reign of Ethelred II., when the disordered and transitional state of the country may have excited in the mind of the disquieted writer a fond aspiration which he clothed in the fanciful garb of his own wishes, rather than that of the gloomy reality which he saw before him.
The use of thecræft, for a vessel, like the modern, is to be found in theAndreas(v. 500.), a composition probably of the eleventh century.
The conclusion points to troubled and late times of the Anglo-Saxon rule, when the church missed the reverence which had been paid to it in periods of peace and prosperity.
I have said enough to show that this document cannot rank in accuracy or truthful value with the Rectitudines or the LL. of Hen. I.
One word more. What is the meaning ofburh-geat?BurhI can understand; authorities abound for its use as expressing themanoirof the Anglo-Saxonthegn. The "geneates riht" (Rectitudines) is "bytlian and burh hegegian." Theceorlsof Dyddanham were bound to dyke the hedge of their lords'burh("Consuetudines in Dyddanhamme,"Kemb, vol. iii. App. p. 450.): "And dicie gyrde burh heges."
H. C. C.
Eichhorn (Einleitung in das Alte Testament, iii. 249.) in a note refers to a passage of Müller's translations of Linnæus, narrating the following remarkable accident:—
"In the year 1758, a seaman, in consequence of stormy weather, unluckily fell overboard from a frigate into the Mediterranean. A seal (Seehund, notHai, a shark) immediately took the man, swimming and crying for help, into it wide jaws. Other seamen sprang into a boat to help their swimming comrade; and their captain, noticing the accident, had the presenceof mind to direct a gun to be fired from the deck at the fish, whereby he was fortunately so far struck (so getroffen wurde) that hespitout directly the seaman previously seized in his jaws, who was taken into the boat alive, and apparently little hurt.
"The seal was taken by harpoons and ropes, and hauled into the frigate, and hung to dry in the cross-trees (quære). The captain gave the fish to the seaman who, by God's providence, had been so wonderfully preserved; and he made the circuit of Europe with it as an exhibition, and from France it came to Erlangen, Nuremburg, and other places, where it was openly shown. The fish was twenty feet long, with fins nine feet broad, and weighed 3,924 lbs., and is illustrated in tab. 9. fig. 5.; from all which it is very probably concluded, that this kind was the true Jonas-fish."
Bochart concurs in this opinion.
Herman de Hardt (Programma de rebus Jonæ, Helmst. 1719) considers that Jonah stopt at a tavern bearing the sign of the whale.
Lesz (Vermischte Schriften, Th. i. S. 16.) thinks that a ship with a figure-head (Zeichen) of a whale took Jonah on board, and in three days put him ashore; from which it was reported that the ship-whale had vomited (discharged) him.
Eichhorn has noticed the above in his Introduction to the Old Testament (iii. 250.).
An anonymous writer says thatdagmeans a fish-boat; and that the word which is translatedwhale, should have beenpreserver; a criticism inconsistent with itself, and void of authority.
The above four instances are the only hypotheses at variance with the received text and interpretation worthy of notice: if indeed the case of the shark can be deemed at all at variance, as the termκῆτοςwas used to designate many different fishes.
Jebb (Sacred Literature, p. 178.) says that the whale's stomach is not a safe and practicable asylum; but—
"The throat is large, and provided with a bag or intestine so considerable in size that whales frequently take into ittwoof their young, when weak, especially during a tempest. In this vessel there are two vents, which serve for inspiration and expiration; there, in all probability, Jonas was preserved."
John Hunter compares the whale's tongue to a feather bed; and says that the baleen (whalebone) and tongue together fill up the whole space of the jaws.
Josephus describes the fish of Jonah as aκῆτος,and fixes on the Euxine for the locality as anon dit(ὁ λόγος).The same word in reference to the same event is used by Epiphanius, Cedrenus, Zanarus, and Nicephorus.
The Arabic version has the word حُوْتا (choono), translated in Walton's Polyglottcetus; but the word, according to Castell, means "a tavern," or "merchants' office." This may have led to Herman de Hardt's whim.
The Targum of Jonathan, and the Syriac of Jonah, have both the identical word which was most probably used by our Lord,Noono, fish, the root signifyingto be prolific, for which fishes are eminently remarkable.Dag, the Hebrew word, has the same original signification.
The word used by our Lord, in adverting to His descent to Hades, was most probably that of the Syriac version,
[Syriac: noono]
[Syriac](noono), which meansfishin Chaldee and Arabic, as well as in Syriac; and corresponds to the Hebrew word דַג, (dag),fish, in Jonah i. 17., ii. 1., 10. The Greek of Matthew xii. 40., instead ofἰχθὺς, hasκῆτος,a whale. The Septuagint has the same wordκῆτοςfor (1)dagin Jonah, as well as for (2)leviathanin Job iii. 8., and for (3)tanninimin Genesis i. 21. The error appears to be in the Septuagint of Jonah, where the particular fish,the whale, is mentioned instead of the general termfish. Possibly the disciples of Christ knew that the fish was aκῆτος, and the habits of such of them as were fishermen might have familiarised them with its description or form. It is certain that theκῆτοςof Aristotle, andcetusof Pliny, was one of the genusCetacea, without gills, but with blow-holes communicating with the lungs. The disciples may also have heard the mythological story of Hercules being three days in the belly of theκῆτος, the word used by Æneas Gazæus, although Lycophron describes the animal as a shark,κάρχαρος κύων.
"Τριεσπέρου λέοντος, ὅν ποτε γνάθοιςΤρίτωνος ἠμάλαψε κάρχαρος κύων."
"Τριεσπέρου λέοντος, ὅν ποτε γνάθοις
Τρίτωνος ἠμάλαψε κάρχαρος κύων."
The remarkable event recorded of Jonah occurred just about 300 years before Lycophron wrote; who, having doubtless heard the true story, thought it right to attribute it to Hercules, to whom all other marvellous feats of power, strength, and dexterity were appropriated by the mythologists.
T. J. BUCKTON.
Lichfield.
Your "NOTES ANDQUERIES" form the best specimen of a Conversations-Lexicon that I have yet met with; and I regret that it was not in existence some years ago, having long felt the want of some such special and ready medium of communication.
In the old enclosures to the west of the town of Barton we had a spring of clear water called St. Trunnian's Spring; and in our open field we had an old thorn tree called St. Trunnian's Tree,—names that imply a familiar acquaintance with St. Trunnian here; but I have no indication toshow who St. Trunnian was. I am happy, however, to find that your indefatigable correspondent DR. RIMBAULT, like myself, has had his attention called to the same unsatisfied Query.
Paulinus, the first Bishop of York, was the first who preached Christianity in Lindsey; yet St. Chad was the patron saint of Barton and its immediate neighbourhood, and at times I have fancied that St. Trunnian might have been one of his coadjutors; at other times I have thought he may have been some sainted person, posted here with the allied force under Anlaff, previous to the great battle of Brunannburg, which was fought in the adjoining parish in the time of Athelstan: but I never could meet with any conclusive notice, of St. Trunnian, or any particular account of him. Some years ago I was dining with a clerical friend in London, and then made known my anxiety, when he at once referred to the quotation made by DR. RIMBAULTfromAppius and Virginia, as in Vol. iii., p. 187.; and my friend has since referred me to Heywoods's play ofThe Four P's(Collier's edition of Dodsley's Old Plays, vol. i. p. 55.), where the Palmer is introduced narrating his pilgrimage:
"At Saynt Toncumber and Saynt Tronion,At Saynt Bothulph and Saynt Ann of Buckston;"
"At Saynt Toncumber and Saynt Tronion,
At Saynt Bothulph and Saynt Ann of Buckston;"
inferring a locality for St. Tronion as well as St. Botulph, in Lincolnshire: and subsequently my friend notes that—
"Mr. Stephens, in a letter to the printer of theSt. James's Chronicle, points out the following mention of St. Tronion in Geoffrey Fenton'sTragical Discourses, 4to., 1567, fol. 114. b.:—'He (referring to some one in his narrative not named) returned in Haste to his Lodgynge, where he attended the approche of his Hower of appointment wyth no lesse Devocyon than the papystes in France perform their ydolatrous Pilgrimage to the ydol Saynt Tronyon upon the Mount Avyon besides Roan.'"
Should these minutes lead to further information, it will give me great pleasure, as I am anxious to elucidate, as far as I can, the antiquities of my native place.
Mr. Jaques lives at a place called St. Trinnians, near to Richmond in Yorkshire; but I have not theHistory of Richmondshireto refer to, so as to see whether any notice of our saint is there taken under this evident variation of the same appellation.
WM. S. HESLEDEN.
Barton-upon-Humber, Aug. 29. 1851.
—L. M. says that the precedent of Mr. Harley being sworn of the Privy Council does not prove the argument advanced by C., and "for this simple reason, that the individual who held the office isnotRight Honorable, but the officeris." What he means by theoffice(of privy councillor) is not clear; but surely he does not mean to say that it is not the rank of privy councillor which gives the courtesy style of Right Honorable? If so, can a man be a member of the Council till he isswornat the board?
Is the Lord Mayor a member of the Board, not having been sworn? Is he ever summoned to any Council? When he attends a meeting on the occasion of the accession, is hesummoned? and if so, by whom, and in what manner? The Lord Mayor is certainlynota privy councillor by reason of his courtesystyleof Lord, any more than the Lord Mayor of York.
The question is, whether the style of Right Honorable was given to the Lord Mayor from the supposition that he was a privy councillor, or from the fact that formerly the Lord Mayor was considered as holding the rank of aBaron; for if he died during his mayoralty, he was buried with the rank, state, and degree ofBaron.
When does it appear that the style of Right Honorable was first given to the Lord Mayor of London?
E.
—In the Life of the Rev. Isaac Kimber, prefixed to hisSermons, London, 1756, 8vo., it is stated that—
"One of the first productions he gave to the world was theLife of Oliver Cromwellin 8vo., printed for Messrs. Brotherton and Cox. This piece met with a very good reception from the public, and has passed through several editions, universally esteemed for its style and its impartiality; and as the author's name was not made public, though it was always known to his friends, it was at first very confidently ascribed to Dr. Gibson, Bishop of London."—P. 10.
The Life of Kimber appears to have been written by Edward Kimber, his son, and therefore the claim of Bishop Gibson to this work may very fairly be set aside.
TheShort Critical Review of the life of Oliver Cromwell, by a Gentleman of the Middle Temple, has always been attributed to John Bankes, an account of whom will be found in Chalmers'sBiog. Dict., vol. iii. p. 422., where it is confidently stated to be his. It was first published in 1739, 8vo. I have two copies of a third edition, Lond. 1747. 12mo. "Carefully revised and greatly enlarged in every chapter by the author." In one of the copies the title-page states it to be "by a gentleman of the Middle Temple;" and in the other "by Mr. Bankes." Bishop Gibson did not die till 1748, and there seems little probability that, if he were the author, another man's name would be put to it during his lifetime.
I conclude therefore that neither of these two works are by Bishop Gibson.
JAS. CROSSLEY.
—In theGentleman's Mag.(Suppl. for 1768, p. 621.), the reviewer of a work entitled "Cobleriana, or the Cobler's Miscellany, being a choice collection of the miscellaneous pieces in prose and verse, serious and comic, by Jobson the Cobler, of Drury Lane, 2 vols.," gives the following extract; but does not state whether it belongs to the "new" pieces, or to those which had been previously "published in the newspapers," the volume being avowedly composed of both sorts:—
"An Epigram on the Lamb and Horse, the two insigniaof the Societies of the Temple."The Lamb theLawyers'innocence declares,The Horsetheirexpedition in affairs;Hail, happy men! for chusing two such typesAs plainly shewtheygive the world no wipes;For who dares say that suits are at a stand,Whentwosuch virtues both go hand in hand?No more letChanc'ry Lanebe endless counted,Since they're by Lamb and Horse so nobly mounted."
"An Epigram on the Lamb and Horse, the two insigniaof the Societies of the Temple.
"An Epigram on the Lamb and Horse, the two insignia
of the Societies of the Temple.
"The Lamb theLawyers'innocence declares,The Horsetheirexpedition in affairs;Hail, happy men! for chusing two such typesAs plainly shewtheygive the world no wipes;For who dares say that suits are at a stand,Whentwosuch virtues both go hand in hand?No more letChanc'ry Lanebe endless counted,Since they're by Lamb and Horse so nobly mounted."
"The Lamb theLawyers'innocence declares,
The Horsetheirexpedition in affairs;
Hail, happy men! for chusing two such types
As plainly shewtheygive the world no wipes;
For who dares say that suits are at a stand,
Whentwosuch virtues both go hand in hand?
No more letChanc'ry Lanebe endless counted,
Since they're by Lamb and Horse so nobly mounted."
TheItalics, which I have copied, were, I suppose, put in by the reviewer, who adds, "Q. Whether the Lamb and Horse are mounted upon Chancery Lane, or two virtues, or happy men?" Poor man! I am afraid his Query has never been answered; for that age was not adorned and illustrated by any work like one in which we rejoice,—a work of which, lest a more unguarded expression of our feelings should be indelicate, and subject us to the suspicion of flattery, we will be content to say boldly, that, though less in size and cost, it is cotemporaneous with the Great Exhibition.
A TEMPLAR.
These lines are printed (probably for the first time) in the sixth number ofThe Foundling Hospital for Wit, 8vo.: Printed for W. Webb, near St. Paul's, 1749 (p. 73.). The learned author ofHeraldic Anomalies(2nd edit. vol. i. p. 310.) says they werechalkedupon one of the public gates of the Temple; but from the following note, preceding the lines in question, inThe Foundling Hospital for Wit, this statement is probably erroneous:
"The Inner Temple Gate, London, being lately repaired, and curiously decorated, the following inscription, in honour of both the Temples, isintendedto be put over it."
A MS. note, in a cotemporary hand, in my copy ofThe Foundling Hospital for Wit, states the author of the original lines to have been the "Rev. William Dunkin, D.D." The answer which follows it, is said to be by "Sir Charles Hanbury Williams."
EDWARDF. RIMBAULT.
—E. B. PRICE styles "Henry Headley, B.A., of Norwich, anow forgotten critic." He might have added, "but who deserved to be remembered, as one whoseSelect Beauties of Ancient English Poetry, with Remarks, &c., in 2 vols., 1787, contributed something towards the revival of a taste for that species of literature which Percy'sReliquesexalted into a fashion, if not a passion, never to be discountenanced again." The work of course is become scarce, and not the less valuable, though that recommendation constitutes its least value.
J. M. G.
Hallamshire.
—Without reflecting much on the matter, I have always supposed the "cycle" in Tennyson's line—
"Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay"—
"Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay"—
to be the Platonic cycle, or great year, the space of time in which all the stars and constellations return to their former places in respect of the equinoxes; which space of time is calculated by Tycho Brahe at 25,816 years, and by Riccioli at 25,920: and I understood the passage (whether rightly or wrongly I shall be glad to be informed) to mean, that fifty years of life in Europe were better than any amount of existence, however extended, in the Celestial Empire.
W. FRASER.
—Without wishing to detract from the merits of an invention, which probably is superior in its effects to old modes of testing sword blades, I object to the termefficientbeing applied tomachine-proved swords.
Because, after such proof, they frequently break by ordinary cutting; even those which have been made doubly strong and heavy—and hence unfit and useless for actual engagement—have so failed. And because machine-tried swords are liable to, and do, break in the handle.
For many reasons I should condemn the machine in question as inapplicable to its purposes. By analogous reasoning, it would not be wrong to call a candle a good thrusting instrument, because a machine may be made to force it through a deal plank.
The subject of testing sword blades is a very important one, although it has not received that degree of attention from those whom it more nearly concerns which it seems to demand.
The writer's experience has been onlyen amateur; but it has satisfied him how much yet remains to be effected before swords proved by a machine are to be relied upon.
E. M. M.
Thornhill Square, August 16. 1851.
—Is it too much to suppose that the learned "Secretary for Forreigne Tongues" was acquainted with theParaphrasis poetica Genesios ac præcipuarum sacræ Paginæ Historiarum, abhinc Annos MLXX. Anglo-Saxonicè conscripta, et nunc primum edita a Francisco Junius, published at Amsterdam in 1655, at least two years before hecommenced his immortal poem? Hear Mr. Turner on the subject:
"Milton could not be wholly unacquainted with Junius; and if he conversed with him, Junius was very likely to have made Cædmon the topic of his discourse, and may have read enough in English to Milton, to have fastened upon his imagination, without his being a Saxon scholar."—Turner'sAnglo-Saxons, vol. iii., p. 316.
Both Mr. Turner and Mr. Todd, however, appear to lean to the opinion that Milton was not unskilled in Saxon literature, and mention, as an argument in its favour, the frequent quotations from theAnglo-Saxon Chroniclewhich occur in the History. It is also worthy of note that Alexander Gill, his schoolmaster, and whose friendship Milton possessed in no small degree, had pursued his researches somewhat deep into the "well of English undefiled," as appears from that extremely curious, though little known work, theLogonomia Anglica.
SAXONICUS.
—I admired the verses quoted by H. E. H. (Vol. iii., p. 525.) so much that I have had them printed, but unfortunately have no copy by me to send you. I quote them from memory:
"PSALM CXXXVII.By a Schoolboy."Fast by thy stream, O Babylon! reclining,Woe-begone exile, to the gale of eveningOnly responsive, my forsaken harp IHung on the willows."Gush'd the big tear-drops as my soul remember'dZion, thy mountain-paradise, my country!When the fierce bands Assyrian who led usCaptive from Salem"Claim'd in our mournful bitterness of anguishSongs and unseason'd madrigals of joyance—'Sing the sweet-temper'd carols that ye wont toWarble in Zion.'"Dumb be my tuneful eloquence, if everStrange echoes answer to a song of Zion,Blasted this right hand, if I should forget thee,Land of my fathers!"
"PSALM CXXXVII.By a Schoolboy.
"PSALM CXXXVII.
By a Schoolboy.
"Fast by thy stream, O Babylon! reclining,Woe-begone exile, to the gale of eveningOnly responsive, my forsaken harp IHung on the willows.
"Fast by thy stream, O Babylon! reclining,
Woe-begone exile, to the gale of evening
Only responsive, my forsaken harp I
Hung on the willows.
"Gush'd the big tear-drops as my soul remember'dZion, thy mountain-paradise, my country!When the fierce bands Assyrian who led usCaptive from Salem
"Gush'd the big tear-drops as my soul remember'd
Zion, thy mountain-paradise, my country!
When the fierce bands Assyrian who led us
Captive from Salem
"Claim'd in our mournful bitterness of anguishSongs and unseason'd madrigals of joyance—'Sing the sweet-temper'd carols that ye wont toWarble in Zion.'
"Claim'd in our mournful bitterness of anguish
Songs and unseason'd madrigals of joyance—
'Sing the sweet-temper'd carols that ye wont to
Warble in Zion.'
"Dumb be my tuneful eloquence, if everStrange echoes answer to a song of Zion,Blasted this right hand, if I should forget thee,Land of my fathers!"
"Dumb be my tuneful eloquence, if ever
Strange echoes answer to a song of Zion,
Blasted this right hand, if I should forget thee,
Land of my fathers!"
O. T. DOBBIN.
Hull College.
—It is to be hoped that the discovery by C. C. R. of Dr. Ducarel's note may yet lead to the obtaining further information concerning the elder Tradescant. It may go for something to prove beyond doubt that he was nearly connected with the county of Kent, which has not been proved yet. Parkinson says that "he sometimes belonged to ... Salisbury.... And then unto the Right Honorable the Lord Wotton at Canterbury in Kent." See Parkinson'sParadisus Terrestris, p. 152. (This must be the same with DR. RIMBAULT'SLord Weston, p. 353., which should have been "Wotton.") We may therefore, in the words of Dr. Ducarel's note, "consult (with certainty of finding information concerning the Tradescants) the registers of ——apham, Kent." I should give the preference to any place near Canterbury approaching that name.
It is worth noticing that the deed of gift of John Tradescant (2) to Elias Ashmole was dated in true astrological form, being "December 16, 1657, 5 hor. 30 minutes post merid." See Ashmole'sDiary, p. 36.
BLOWEN.
—I have a Note on this very epitaph, made several years since, from whence extracted I know not; but there is an English version attached, which may prove interesting to some readers, as it exactly imitates the style of the Latin: