Transcriber's note: A few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text.

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{533}

NOTES AND QUERIES:

A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC.

"When found, make a note of."—CAPTAIN CUTTLE.

* * * * *

No. 214.] SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3. 1853. [Price Fourpence. Stamped Edition 5d.

* * * * *

CONTENTS.

NOTES:— Page

Peter Brett 533 Richard's "Guide through France," by Weld Taylor 534 Women and Tortoises 534 Weather Rules, by W. Winthrop 535 Occasional Forms of Prayer, by Rev. Thomas Lathbury 535

MINOR NOTES:—Chair Moving—Epitaph on Politian in the Church of the Annunciation at Florence— Epitaph in Torrington Churchyard, Devon—The early Delights of Philadelphia—Misapplication of Terms—"Plantin" Bibles in 1600—Ancient Gold Collar found in Staffordshire 537

QUERIES:—

Pictures in Hampton Court Palace 538

MINOR QUERIES:—Helmets—The Nursrow—City Bellmen—Pope's Elegy on An Unfortunate Lady— "Too wise to err, too good to be unkind"—Passage in the "Christian Year"—David's Mother—Emblems —"Kaminagadeyathooroosoomokanoogonagira" —"Quid facies," &c.—Will of Peter the Great— H. Neele, Editor of Shakspeare—MS. by Rubens on Painting—Peter Allan—Haschisch or Indian Hemp —Crieff Compensation—Admission to Lincoln's Inn, the Temple, and Gray's Inn—Orders for the Household of Lord Montagu 538

MINOR QUERIES WITH ANSWERS:—Cateaton Street— Portrait of Lee, Inventor of the Stocking-Frame— Cocker's Arithmetic—Lyke Porch or Litch Porch— Henry Burton—British Mathematicians—"Les Lettres Juives" 540

REPLIES:—

Attainment of Majority 541 Lord Halifax and Mrs. Catherine Barton 543 Milton's Widow, by T. Hughes 544 Anticipatory Use of the Cross, by J. W. Thomas and Eden Warwick 545 Decorative Pavement Tiles from Caen, by Albert Way and Gilbert J. French 547 Mottos of the Emperors of Germany 548

PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE:—Simplicity of Calotype Process—Albumized Paper—New Developing Mixture—Queries on the Albumenized Process 548

REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES:—Poems in connexion with Waterloo—Richard Oswald—Grammont's Marriage—Life—Muscipula—Berefellarii—Harmony of the Four Gospels—Picts' Houses and Argils —Boswell's "Johnson"—Pronunciation of "Humble" —Continuation of Robertson—Nostradamus— Quantity of Words—"Man proposes, but God disposes" —Polarised Light 549

MISCELLANEOUS:—

Notes on Books, &c. 552 Books and Odd Volumes wanted 553 Notices to Correspondents 553 Advertisements 554

* * * * *

Notes.

PETER BRETT.

Your correspondent T. K. seems to think that Scotchmen, and Scotch subjects, have an undue prominence in "N. & Q.:" let me therefore introduce to your readers a neglected Irishman, in the person of Peter Brett, the "parish clerk and schoolmaster of Castle-Knock." This worthy seems to have been a great author, and the literary oracle of the district over which he presided, and exercised the above-named important functions. His magnum opus appears to have been his Miscellany; a farrago of prose and verse, which, to distinguish it from the herd of books bearing that title, is yclept, par excellence, Brett's Miscellany. When Mr. Brett commenced to enlighten the world, and when his candle was snuffed out, I know not. My volume of the above work purports to be the fifth:

"Containing above a hundred useful and entertaining Particulars, Divine, Moral, and Historical; chiefly designed for the Improvement of Youth, and those who have not the Opportunity of reading large Volumes. Interspersed with several Entertaining Things never before printed. Dublin, 1762."

The parish clerk's bill of fares is of the most seductive kind. Under all the above heads he has something spicy to say, either in prose or verse; but the marrow of the book lies in the Preface. To say that a man, holding the important offices of parish clerk and schoolmaster, could be charged with conceit, would be somewhat rash; if, therefore, in remarking upon the rare instance of a parish clerk becoming an author, he lets out that "whatever cavillers may say about his performance, they must admit his extensive reading, and the great labour and application the concoction of these books has cost him," he is but indulging in a feeling natural to a man of genius, and a pardonable ebullition of the amour propre. Mr. Brett seems to have been twitted with the charge of taking up authorship as a commercial spec; he sullenly admits that his book-making leaves him something, but nothing like a recompense, and draws an invidious comparison between one Counsellor Harris and himself; the {534} former having received 200l. per annum for collecting materials for the Life of King William III., while he, the schoolmaster of Castle-Knock, scarcely gets salt to his porridge for his Collections and Observations for perpetuating the Honour and Glory of the King of Kings.

Peter farther boasts that these his volumes

"Contain the juice and marrow of many excellent and learned authors, but compacted after such an ingenious manner, that the learned would find it a great difficulty to show in what authors they are to be found!"

A plan for which, I think, the learned would award him the birch. Mrs. Brett is no less a genius than her husband; and she takes advantage of the publication of the Miscellany, to stick the following little bill upon the back of the title:

"Ann Brett, wife of the said Peter, at the sign of the Shroud in Christ Church Lane, opposite to the Church, makes and sells all Sorts of Shrouds, draws all Sorts of Patterns, does all manner of Pinking, and teaches Young Misses Reading and Writing, Arithmetic, and Plain Work. The Dublin Society," she adds, "was pleased to honour her with a handsome Present for her Curious Performance with the Pen."

J. O.

* * * * *

RICHARD'S "GUIDE THROUGH FRANCE."

(Translated from the French on the 12th edition. Paris: Audin, 25. Quai des Augustins.)

As we are not supposed to be sensible of our own failings, I should much wish to know whether any English-French exists equal to some French-English I know of, and inclose a specimen. MR. P. CHASLES has played the critic so well with the English tongue, that perhaps he can find us a few specimens. Without doubt, it will be a wholesome correction to the Malaprop spirit if she is shown up a little; and I regret extremely that MR. P. CHASLES was not invited to correct the proofs of the Itineraire de France. Here we are posting with M. Richard:

"The courier a franc-etrier cannot use bridle of their own, they must not outrun the postilion who leads them, and the post master if they might arrive at, without their postillion, must not give them horse before this last is come. The supply-horses, according to the number of persons, shall be put to carriages as much as the disposition of the vehicles will admit. For example, three horses shall be put to cabriolets, and till six to the berline, but as it should not be possible, to put a horse en arbalete (cross-bow) without notable accidents, either to caleches with two horses or to the limonieres; they shall be obliged to pay the charge for supply horse."

Here we are in a steamer, p. 52.:

"The sea is smooth, the sky pure, the air calm, everything promises a happy navigation, our boat is in a very favourable position in the middle of the Seine, on the right hand the hills of Honfleur, on the left the coast of Ingouville, let us pause a little more on these shores we are going to leave: behold on the east the fortifications of Havre, small seats! clusters of trees! this is the village of l'Eure threatened by the sea of an entire destruction. We must not pass over this green hill so delightful to view, standing on the opposite shore seamen would not forgive my silence, among these high trees stands a chapel dedicated to Notre-Dame-de-Grace. Ingouville is of 4,800 inhabitants, among which a great many Englishmen live there as in their own country, having their particular churchyard, physicians, and many occasions of hearing from England, which they can perceive from their pavilions. The traveller can go to Elbeuf by land or water. The lover of the scenes of nature will enjoy very romantical prospects, a new kind of view will strike his sight, a long train of rocks called D'Orival, the most part steep, covered with evergreen trees, which seem shoot out, with difficulty, of their craggings."

He tells us Soissons (p. 102.) "has a college, a pretty theatre, and a bishoprick-sec, from the Cradle of Christianity into the Gauls." At Coulommieres (Seine et Marne), "the sciences are not cultivated, but the inhabitants know pretty well how to play at nine pins." At Fontaines les Cornues, "the inhabitants of Paris with a small expense can procure to himself a scenery scarecely to be found in the other quarter of the globe!" At Chatillion-sur-Seine, "the streets are neat and well aired." At Arles, p. 361., a head of a goddess carved in marble:

"The way in which the neck and left shoulder are ended, points out that the head is related to a figure in drapery cut in another block."

"The merchant of Bordeaux is distinguished by his noble easy and pompous manner, he makes himself easily forgiven a sort of boasting, which is the foible of the country."

How the ladies bathe at Mont d'Or, p. 218.:

"At five in the morning bathing begins. Two hardy Highlanders go and fetch in a kind of deal boxes the fashionable lady, who when in town never quits her bed-down before noon, the annuitant, the rich man, are all brought in the same manner in these boxes. It is one of the most pleasant bathing establishments; it offers a peristyle, a small resting-room, a warming-place for linen, with partitions to prevent its mixture."

The work consists of 446 mortal pages though I am bound to say a portion here and there is respectably written.

WELD TAYLOR.

* * * * *

WOMEN AND TORTOISES.

I had intended sending you a paper on Bishop Taylor's Similes, with Illustrative Notes on some Passages in his Works; but I soon found that your utmost indulgence could not afford me a tithe of {535} the space I would require. Instead, therefore, send you an illustration of a single simile, as it is short, and not the least curious in the lot:

"All vertuous women, like tortoises, carry their house on their heads, and their chappel in their heart, and their danger in their eye, and their souls in their hands, and God in all their actions."—Life of Christ, Part I. s. ii. 4.

"Phidias made the statue of Venus at Elis with one foot upon the shell of a tortoise, to signify two great duties of a virtuous woman, which are to keep home and be silent."—Human Prudence, by W. De Britaine, 12th edit.: Dublin, 1726, 12mo., p. 134.

"Vertuous women should keep house, and 'twas well performed and ordered by the Greeks:

' . . . mulier ne qua in publicum Spectandam se sine arbitro praebeat viro:'

Which made Phidias, belike, at Elis paint Venus treading on a tortoise: a symbole of women's silence and housekeeping.... I know not what philosopher he was, that would have women come but thrice abroad all their time, to be baptized, married, and buried; but he was too straitlaced."—Burton's Anat. Mel., part iii. sec. 3. mem. 4. subs. 2.

"Apelles us'd to paint a good housewife upon a snayl; which intimated that she should be as slow from gadding abroad, and when she went she shold carry her house upon her back: that is, she shold make all sure at home. Now, to a good housewife, her house shold be as the sphere to a star (I do not mean a wandring star), wherin she shold twinckle as a star in its orb."—Howell's Parly of Beasts: Lond. 1660, p. 58.

The last passage reminds us of the fine lines of Donne (addressed to both sexes):

"Be then thine own home, and in thyself dwell; Inn anywhere; And seeing the snail, which everywhere doth roam, Carrying his own home still, still is at home, Follow (for he is easy-paced) this snail: Be thine own palace, or the world's thy jail."

EIRIONNACH.

* * * * *

WEATHER RULES.

(Vol. vii., pp. 373. 522. 599. 627.)

J. A., Jun., being desirous of forming a list of weather rules, I send the following, in the hope that they may be acceptable to him, and interesting to those of your readers who have never met with the old collection from which they are taken.

English.

In April, Dove's-flood is worth a king's good. Winter thunder, a summer's wonder. March dust is worth a king's ransom. A cold May and a windy, makes a fat barn and findy.

Spanish.

April and May, the keys of the year. A cold April, much bread and little wine. A year of snow, a year of plenty. A red morning, wind or rain. The moon with a circle brings water in her beak. Bearded frost, forerunner of snow. Neither give credit to a clear winter nor cloudy spring. Clouds above, water below. When the moon is in the wane do not sow anything. A red sun has water in his eye. Red clouds in the east, rain the next day. An eastern wind carrieth water in his hand. A March sun sticks like a lock of wool. When there is a spring in winter, and a winter in spring, the year is never good. When it rains in August, it rains wine or honey. The circle of the moon never filled a pond, but the circle of the sun wets a shepherd.

Italian.

Like a March sun, which heats but doth not melt. Dearth under water, bread under snow. Young and old must go warm at Martlemas. When the cock drinks in summer, it will rain a little after. As Mars hasteneth all the humours feel it. In August, neither ask for olives, chesnuts, nor acorns. January commits the fault, and May bears the blame. A year of snow, a year of plenty.

French.

When it thunders in March, we may cry Alas! A dry year never beggars the master. An evening red, and a morning grey, makes a pilgrim sing. January or February do fill or empty the granary. A dry March, a snowy February, a moist April, and a dry May, presage a good year. To St. Valentine the spring is a neighbour. At St. Martin's winter is in his way. A cold January, a feverish February, a dusty March, a weeping April, a windy May, presage a good year and gay.

W. WINTHROP.

Malta.

* * * * *

OCCASIONAL FORMS OF PRAYER.

I now send you a list of Occasional Forms of Prayer in my own possession, in the hope that the example may be followed by other individuals.

A Fourme to be used in Common Prayer table twise a Weke, and also an Order of Publique Fast to be used every Wednesday, &c. during this time of Mortalitie, &c. London, 1563.

This was the first published occasional form of the reign of Elizabeth.

{536}

A Fourme to be used in Common Prayer every Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday throughout the whole Realme: to excite and stirre up all Godly People to pray for the Preservation of those Christians and their Countreys that are now invaded by the Turke in Hungary or elsewhere. Set fourthe by The Reverend Father in God, Matthew, Archbishop of Cantaburie. Imprinted by Richarde Jugge and John Cawood. 4to.

There is no date; but it is ascertained that this form was put forth in the year 1566.

The Order of Prayer and other Exercises upon Wednesdays and Fridays, &c. 4to. Christopher Barker. 1580.

This was put forth in consequence of an earthquake.

Prayers. 1584.

They consist of "A Prayer for all Kings," &c., "A Prayer for the Queene," &c., and "A Prayer in the Parliament onely." They are appended to Treasons of Pary, forming part of the volume.

An Order for Prayer and Thanksgiving for the Safety of Her Majesty. 1594.

Certaine Prayers set forth by Authoritie to be used for the Prosperous Successe of her Majesties Forces and Navy. 4to. The Deputies of Christopher Barker, 1597.

An Order for Prayer and Thanksgiving (necessary in these dangerous Times) for the Safety of her Majestie and the Realme. 4to. The Deputies of C. Barker. No date.

An Order for Publike Prayers within the Province of Canterbury. No date. By the Queen's Printer.

Prayers for the Queen's safe Deliverance, London, 1605.

Form of Prayer, &c. Nov. 5. London, 1605.

The original edition.

Form of Prayer, &c., Nov. 5. London, 1620.

Form, &c. for the 5th of August, being the Day of His Highnesse's happy Deliverance from the Earle of Gowry. London, 1623.

Form, &c. Fast during the Plague. 1625.

The "Prayer for the Parliament" appears for the first time in this form.

Form, &c. Fast. War and Pestilence. 1626.

Form, &c. Fast. War. 1628.

Forme of Prayer, &c. for averting God's heauy Visitation, &c. 1636.

This is the form which was attacked by Burton and Prynne, and on which a charge was raised against Laud.

Form, &c. Fast. Plague. 1640

Form, &c. Fast. War. Oxford, 1643.

This is the form authorised by Charles I. to be used at the commencement of the war. It is frequently alluded to by the Parliamentary writers of the period. The House of Commons had ordered a monthly fast, and Charles commanded that the second Friday in every month should be set apart for the same purpose. This form was to be used on such occasions.

Form, &c. Fast. Oxford, 1643.

The same as the preceding, but a different edition, one being in black-letter, the other in Roman. Both were printed in Oxford, and in the same year.

A Collection of Prayers and Thanksgivings used in His Majesties Chapel and in his Armies, upon occasion of the late Victories against the Rebels. Oxford, 1643.

This was reprinted at York in 1644.

The Cavaliers' New Common Prayer Booke, unclasp't. Reprinted at London, with some briefe and necessary Obseruations to refute the Lyes and Scandalls that are contained in it. 1644.

This is a reprint of the preceding form, with a scurrilous preface and observations. The prayers are given as they stand in the Royal form, but with parenthetical sentences of a most abusive character after almost every paragraph. Thus, after the clause, "Pity a despised Church," the authors add, "You mean the prelates and their hierarchy." After the next clause, "and a distracted State," they add, "made so by your wicked party." In one of the thanksgivings, after "Glory be to God," we have, "Your mock prayers defraud Him of His glory." Then, after the words "We praise thee, we bless thee," &c., from the Communion Office, we have, "Softly, lest you want breath, and thank the old Common Prayer Book for that."

Private Forms for these Sad Times. Oxford, 1645.

A Form of Thanksgiving, to be used the Seventh Day of September, thorowout the Diocese of Lincoln, and in the Jurisdiction of Westminster.

This remarkable form has no date, but it was put forth by Williams, then Bishop of Lincoln and Dean of Westminster, in the year 1641. The House of Commons had ordered a day of Thanksgiving; but they were greatly offended with Williams, on account of this form, and, instead of going to St. Margaret's Church as usual, where it was ordered to be read, they attended divine service, after their own fashion, in the chapel of Lincoln's Inn.

A Supply of Prayers for the Ships of this Kingdom that want Ministers to pray with them agreeable to the Directory, &c. London. Published by authority.

A Presbyterian form, and the only one ever published by men who decried all forms. It was put forth, as the preface admits, because the sailors clung to the Book of Common Prayer.

Prayers to be used in the Armies. 1648.

A Form of Prayer used at His Majesties Chapel at the Hague. 1650.

Prayers for those who mourn, &c. 1659.

Form of Common Prayer, to be used on the Thirtieth of January, &c. 1661.

This form differs materially from that subsequently put forth by Convocation, with the revised Prayer Book of 1662. There was also another form still earlier, in the year 1661, in which some singular and obnoxious petitions relative to Charles I. were found. {537}

A Form of Prayer with Thanksgiving, to be used on the 29th of May, 1661.

The original edition. It differs from that which was sanctioned by Convocation and published in 1662.

Form of Prayer, &c. June 12. Fast during a Dearth. 1661.

Form, &c. Fast during a Sickness. 1661.

Form, &c. Fast, to implore a Blessing on the Naval Forces. April 5, 1665.

Form, &c. Thanksgiving for Victory by Naval Forces. July 4, 1665.

Form, &c. Fast, on occasion of the Fire of London, 1666.

Form, &c. Thanksgiving for Victories at Sea. 1666.

Form, &c. Fast. 1674.

Form, &c. Fast. 1678.

Form, &c. Fast. Dublin, 1678.

Form, &c. Fast. Dublin, 1679. To seek Reconciliation with God, and to implore Him that he would infatuate and defeat the Counsels of the Papists our Enemies. By the Lord Lieutenant.

Form, &c. Fast. 1680.

Form, &c. Thanksgiving. 1683. For the discovery of Treason.

Form, &c. Thanksgiving. 1685.

Form of Prayer with Thanksgiving for 29th May, 1685.

First edition of this reign. It was altered by the authority of the Crown.

Form of Prayer, &c. January 30, 1685.

First edition of this reign.

Form of Prayer, &c. February 6, 1685.

The accession service of James II.

A Form or Order of Thanksgiving, to be used, &c. in behalf of the King, the Queen, and the Royal Family, upon occasion of the Queen's being with Child. 1687.

This form was the occasion of much comment at the time.

A Form of Prayer with Thanksgiving, &c., for the Birth of the Prince. 1688.

A Form, &c. Fast. 1689.

A Form, &c. Fast. 1690.

A Form, &c. Fast. 1694.

A Form, &c. Fast. 1714. Thanksgiving on the Accession of George I.

THOMAS LATHBURY.

Bristol.

* * * * *

Minor Notes.

Chair Moving.—Recent occurrences made me look back at Glanvill's Blow at Modern Sadducism, and I observed that in his account of the "Daemon of Tedworth," who was supposed to haunt the house of Mr. Mompesson, and who was the original of Addison's "drummer," it is stated that on the 5th November, 1662, "in the sight and presence of the company, the chairs walked about the room," p. 124.

N. B.

Epitaph on Politian in the Church of the Annunciation at Florence.—

"Politianus in hoc tumulo jacet Angelus, unum Qui caput, et linguas (res nova) tres habuit."—From Travels of Sir John Reresby.

Y. B. N. J.

[The following translation of this epitaph is given in the Ency. Britannica, but it is there stated to be in St. Mark's, Florence:

"Here lies Politian, who, things strange indeed, Had, when alive, three tongues, and but one head."]

Epitaph in Torrington Churchyard, Devon.—

"She was—my words are wanting to say what. Think what a woman should be—she was that."

Which provoked the following reply:

"A woman should be both a wife and mother, But Jenny Jones was neither one nor t'other."

BALLIOLENSIS.

The early Delights of Philadelphia.—In Gabriel Thomas's Description of the Settlement of Philadelphia occurs the following passage:

"In the said city are several good schools of learning for youth, for the attainment of arts and sciences, also reading and writing. Here is to be had, on any day in the week, cakes, tarts, and pies; we have also several cook-shops, both roasting and boiling, as in the city of London: happy blessings, for which we owe the highest gratitude to our plentiful Provider, the great Creator of heaven and earth."

Is not this a superb jumble?

A LEGULEIAN.

Misapplication of Terms.—Legend is a thing "to be read" (legendum), but it is often improperly applied to traditions and oral communications. Of this there have been some instances in "N. & Q." One has just turned up, Vol. v., p. 196.: "I send you these legends as I have heard them from the lips of my nurse, a native of the parish."

J. W. THOMAS.

Dewsbury.

"Plantin" Bibles in 1600.—While looking over the "Stackhouse Library" (see "N. & Q.," Vol. viii., p. 327.), I observed on the fly-leaf of an Hebrew Bible, 1600 (A. 100 in catalogue), a short MS. memorandum, which I think worth preserving. It ran as follows:

L s. d. "Plantin Heb. Bible, interlineing costes 2 10 0 Plantin in octavo 1 0 0 Buxtorf's Biblia in two vols. 2 10 0 Hebw Bible, 4to. 2 vols. 2 0 0 Inne 16^o 8 vols. 2 0 0"

R. C. WARDE.

Kidderminster.

Ancient Gold Collar found in Staffordshire.—It may probably interest some of your readers to {538} know that a very ancient golden collar was lately found in the village of Stanton, Staffordshire, which is about three miles north of Ashbourne.

A labourer digging up a field, which had not been ploughed or dug up in the memory of man, turned up the collar, which, being curled up at the time, sprang up, and the labourer taking it for a snake, struck it out of his way with his spade: the next morning it was discovered not to be a snake. Unfortunately the blow had broken off a small piece at one end. The collar is now in the possession of the person with whom the curate of Stanton lodges. The description given to me is, that it is about two feet long, and formed of three pieces of gold twined together, and, with the above exception, in a very good state of preservation.

I hear that there is a similar collar in the British Museum, that was found in Ireland, but none that was found in England; and that the authorities of the Museum have been informed of this collar, but have taken no steps to obtain possession of it.

S. G. C.

[Our correspondent is under an erroneous impression as to gold torques not being found in England. Several are figured in the Archaeologia, and we have some reason to believe that the torque now described, and of which we should be glad to receive any farther particulars, resembles one which formed part of the celebrated Polden find described by Mr. Harford in the fourteenth volume of the Archaeologia, and figured at p. 90.; and also that found at Boyton in Suffolk in 1835, and engraved in the Archaeologia, vol. xxvi. p. 471.—ED.]

* * * * *

Queries.

PICTURES IN HAMPTON COURT PALACE.

There are two or three of these concerning which I should be obliged to any reader of your publication who would satisfy my Queries.

No. 119., "The Battle of Forty," by P. Snayers. This seems a kind of combat a outrance of knights armes de pied en cap. Where can I find any account or detail of it?

No. 314., "Mary of Lorraine, mother of Mary Queen of Scots." This is a very pleasing picture, in good preservation, and as it was not in its present position two years ago, I conclude it has recently been added. She was ninth child of Claude de Lorraine, first Duc de Guise, born in 1515, and married in 1538 to James V. of Scotland, and she died in the forty-fifth year of her age, 10th June, 1560. There are the arms of the Guise family in the right-hand corner, with a date of 1611. Pray by whom was it painted, and where can find any notices respecting it?

No. 166., "George III. reviewing the 10th Light Dragoons, commanded by the Prince of Wales." This picture was considered the chef d'oeuvre of Sir William Beechey, and was painted in 1798; and it has been supposed the likeness of the Duke of York was the best taken of that Prince. Could any reader inform me on what day this review took place?[1]

When one sees a picture of Shakspeare, No. 276., and more especially in the palace of his cotemporary sovereigns, one is naturally led to inquire into its authenticity. I am therefore desirous to obtain some information relative to it.

In "N. & Q.," vol. vi., p. 197., you had several correspondents inquiring concerning the custom of royalty dining in public: perhaps it may interest them to know that there are two very attractive pictures of this ceremony in this collection, numbered 293 and 294: the first is of Charles I. and Henrietta Maria; the other Frederick V., Count Palatine and King of Bohemia, who married Elizabeth, daughter of James I. These two pictures are by Van Bassen, of whom, perhaps, some correspondent may be enabled to give an account.

[Phi].

Richmond, Surrey.

[Footnote 1: George III. had one or two copies of this picture taken for him; and there is a curious circumstance relative to one of these, which Lady Chatterton mentions in her Home Sketches, published in three vols. 8vo., 1841: "In one respect the picture (which George III. gave to Lord Sidmouth, and which the latter had put up at the stone lodge in Richmond New Park) differs from the original at Hampton Court: it is singular enough that in this copy the figure of the Prince is omitted, which was done by the King's desire, and is a striking and rather comical proof of the dislike which he felt towards his son. When the Prince became King, he dined here, and remarked to Lord Sidmouth that his portrait had been omitted, and hinted that it ought to be restored. This, however, was evaded, and the copy remains in its original state."—Vol. i. pp. 18, 19.]

* * * * *

Minor Queries.

Helmets.—What is the antiquity of the practice of placing helmets over the shields of armorial bearings; and what are the varieties of helmets in regard to the rank or degree of persons?

S. N.

The Nursrow.—What is the origin of the word Nursrow, a name applied by Plott, in his History of Staffordshire, to the shrew mouse, and by the common people in Cheshire at the present day to the field-mouse; or rather, perhaps, indiscriminately to field and shrew mice?

N. R.

City Bellmen.—When were city bellmen first established? By whom appointed? What were their duties? What and how were they paid? What have been their employment and duties down to the present day?

CRITO.

{539}

Pope's Elegy on an Unfortunate Lady.—In the new editions of Pope's Works, in course of publication, edited by Mr. Carruthers, Inverness, it is conjectured that the poet threw "ideal circumstances" into his most pathetic and melodious elegy, and "when he came to publish his letters, put wrong initials, as in other instances, to conceal the real names" (Pope's Poet. Works, Ingram, Cook, and Co., vol. ii. p. 184.). The initials are Mrs. W., niece of Lady A. I have always thought that a clue might be obtained to the name of this lady, by following up the hints in Pope's printed correspondence. Mrs. or Miss W. is mentioned or alluded to by Craggs and Pope, in connexion with the characters in the Rape of the Lock. One suggests the other. Inquiry should be directed to the families of Fernor of Tusmore, Lord Petre, and Sir George Brown. But I have heard a tradition in a Catholic family in the north of England that the lady was a Blount; probably one of the Blounts of Soddington, or of some one of the numerous branches of that ancient family.

AN INQUIRER.

"Too wise to err, too good to be unkind."—In what author may this passage be found?

"Too wise to err, too good to be unkind."

E. P. H.

Clapham.

Passage in the "Christian Year."—In the beautiful lines on Confirmation in this work, the following verse occurs:

"Steady and pure as stars that beam In middle heaven, all mist above, Seen deepest in the frozen stream:— Such is their high courageous love."

I should be grateful for an explanation of the third line.

A. A. D.

David's Mother.—I used to think it was impossible to ascertain from the Old Testament the name of David's mother. In the Genealogies recorded in the Sacred Scriptures, by J. S. (usually assumed to stand for John Speed, the historian and geographer), the name of the Psalmist's mother is given "Nahash." Can this be made out satisfactorily? Will the text 2 Sam. xvii. 25., as compared with 1 Chron. ii. 15., warrant it?

Y. B. N. J.

Emblems.—Can any of your readers inform me what are the emblematic meanings of the different precious stones, or of any of them? or in what work I shall find them described?

N. D.

"Kaminagadeyathooroosoomokanoogonagira."—In an appeal to the Privy Council from Madras, the above unparalleled long word occurs as the descriptions of an estate. I believe that its extreme length and unpronounceable appearance is without an equal. Can any of your readers acquainted with Indian literature translate it? if so, it would greatly oblige

F. J. G.

"Quid facies," &c.—I have lately met with the following curious play on words in an old MS. book. Can any of your correspondents give any account of it?

"Quid facies, facies Veneris si veneris ante? Ne pereas, per eas; ne sedeas, sed eas!"

BALLIOLENSIS.

Will of Peter the Great.—M. Lamartiniere, in a French pamphlet on the Eastern question, gives a document in several articles containing advice with respect to the policy of his successors on the throne of Russia, in which he advises her to make great advances in the direction of Constantinople, India, &c., and advocates the partition of Poland. Upon what authority does this document rest? and who is M. Lamartiniere?

R. J. ALLEN.

H. Neele, Editor of Shakspeare.—In the preface to Lectures on English Poetry, being the Remains of the late Henry Neele (Lond. 1830), mention is made of a new edition of Shakspeare's dramatic works, "under the superintendence of Mr. Neele as editor, for which his enthusiastic reverence for the poet of 'all time' peculiarly fitted him, but which, from the want of patronage, terminated after the publication of a very few numbers." These very few numbers must have appeared about 1824-1827; yet the answer to my repeated inquiries after them in London is always "We cannot hear of them." Can any one give me farther information?—From the Navorscher.

J. M.

MS. by Rubens on Painting.—May I inquire of M. PHILARETE CHASLES whether he ever saw or heard of a manuscript said to be written in Latin by Rubens, and existing in the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris? One or two fragments have occasionally been quoted: I think one may be found in Sir Joshua Reynolds' Discourses, and the same is used by Burnet in his work on painting; but no authority is given as to the source of the information.[2]

If such a work can be found, it would confer a great boon upon the profession of the fine arts, if it were brought to light without delay.

WELD TAYLOR.

[Footnote 2: [This may probably be Rubens's MS. Album, of which an account is given in Vertue's Anecdotes of Painting, vol. ii. pp. 185, 186.—ED.]]

Peter Allan.—Will some correspondent of "N. & Q." afford information as to the exact date and place of birth of the celebrated Peter Allan, whose cave at Sunderland is regarded as one of the principal curiosities of the north of England? {540} What is known of his general history; and is any member of his family now living?

E. C.

Haschisch or Indian Hemp.—I have been for some time trying to procure some of the Haschisch, or Indian hemp, about which Dr. Moreau has published such an amusing book, Du Haschisch et de l'Alienation Mentale, Par. 1845.—Can any of your readers tell me where I can get any? The narcotic effects of the common hemp plant are well known in our country districts: where, under its ironical alias Honesty, the dried stalk is often smoked, but the tropical variety appears to be infinitely more powerful in its operation.

V. T. STERNBERG.

Crieff Compensation.—During the rebellion in 1715, the village of Crieff, Perthshire, was burnt by the Highland army, on account of the attachment of its inhabitants to the royal cause. It has been stated that, some years ago, the descendants of the sufferers received from government a sum equivalent to a certain proportion of the loss which had been sustained.

Is there any official record in reference to this compensation?

D.

Admission to Lincoln's Inn, the Temple, and Gray's Inn.—Have there ever been published, or do there exist anywhere in MSS., lists of the persons who have been from time to time matriculated as students of those inns of court?

A publication of them would be of the greatest value to the biographical department of literature.

G.

Orders for the Household of Lord Montagu.—The second Viscount Montagu, grandson and heir of Anthony Browne, created Viscount in 1554, ob. 1592, compiled a detailed code of regulations for his family, thus entitled:

"A Booke of Orders and Rules established by me, Anthony, Viscount Mountague, for the better direction and government of my howsholde and family, together with the generall dutyes and charges apperteyninge to myne officers and other servantes. Anno Dni 1595."

Has this curious illustration of ancient domestic manners ever been published?

ALBERT WAY.

* * * * *

Minor Queries with Answers.

Cateaton Street.—I am anxious to ascertain the meaning and derivation of this word: the London Cateaton Street, I believe, is changed into Gresham Street. I have lately learnt that there is a Cateaton Street in Liverpool also.

ETYMO.

[Cateaton Street, or "Catteten Street," says Stow, "is a corruption of Catte Street, which beginneth at the north end of Ironmonger Lane, and runneth to the west end of St. Lawrence Church." In 1845, this street was renamed Gresham Street.]

Portrait of Lee, Inventor of the Stocking-frame.—In Hatton's History of London (published in 1708), it is stated that a picture (by Balderston) of Lee, the inventor of the stocking-frame, hung in the hall of the Framework Knitters' Company. The inquirer wishes to ascertain whether the picture is yet in existence or not; and, if still in existence, where it can be seen.

M. E.

[In Cunningham's Handbook of London, p. 527., s. v. Weavers' Hall, Basinghall Street, is a quotation from the Quarterly Review for January, 1816, in which the picture is spoken of as then existing in the Stocking Weavers' Hall.]

Cocker's Arithmetic (Vol. iv., pp. 102. 149.).—Some correspondence appears in "N. & Q." about the first edition of "Old Cocker." I should be glad to ascertain the date of the latest edition.

TYRO.

[The British Museum contains the following editions of Cocker's Arithmetic:—the 20th, Lond. 1700; the 37th, perused and published by John Hawkins (with MS. notes), Lond. 1720; 41st, Lond. 1724; 50th, corrected by Geo. Fisher, Lond. 1746. Watt notices one revised by J. Mair, Edinb. 1751. In Professor de Morgan's Arithmetical Books, p. 56., where a full history of Cocker's book is given, mention is made of an Edinburgh edition, 1765, and a Glasgow edition of 1777.]

Lyke Porch or Litch Porch.—What is the proper name for the porch found, not unfrequently, at the churchyard gate under which the body was, I believe, supposed to rest before the funeral? Is it lyke or litch? The derivation may be different in different parts of England, as they were originally Saxon or Danish. Lueg Dan., lyk Dutch, and leiche Ger., are all different forms of the same word. The first two approach nearer to lyke, the latter to litch.

J. H. L.

[In most works on ecclesiastical architecture it is called lich-gate, from Anglo-Saxon lich, a corpse: hence Lich-field, the field of dead bodies. In the Glossary of Architecture we read "Lich-gate, or corpse-gate, leichengang, Germ., from the Ang.-Sax. lich, a corpse, and geat, a gate; a shed over the entrance of a churchyard, beneath which the bearers sometimes paused when bringing a corpse for interment. The term is also used in some parts of the country for the path by which a corpse is usually conveyed to the church."]

Henry Burton.—Henry Burton was born in 1579; studied at Oxford, and was at one time minister of St. Matthew, Friday Street. In 1636, he drew upon himself the vengeance of the Star-Chamber, by two discourses in which he severely inveighed against the bishops. For this offence he was fined, deprived of his ears, and sentenced to imprisonment for life. He was liberated by {541} the parliament in 1640, and died in 1648. What theological works did he write?—From the Navorscher.

DIONYSIUS.

[Burton's pen was so prolific, that we cannot find room for a list of his works; and must refer DIONYSIUS to the Bodleian Catalogue, where they fill nearly a column, and to Watt's Bibliotheca, s.v.]

British Mathematicians.—I am anxious to learn if there is any book which contains an account of the lives and works of eminent British arithmeticians and mathematicians?

EUCLID.

[Consult the following:—Biographia Philosophica: being an Account of the Lives, Writings, and Inventions of the most eminent Philosophers and Mathematicians, by Benjamin Martin: London, 1764, 8vo. There is also a Chronological Table of the most eminent Mathematicians affixed to John Bossut's General History of Mathematics, translated from the French by John Bonnycastle: London, 1803, 8vo. Some notices of our early English mathematicians will also be found in the Companion to the Almanac for 1837, and in the Magazine of Popular Science, Nos. 18. 20. and 22.]

"Les Lettres Juives."—Will any of your correspondents inform me who is the author of Lettres Juives? The first volume of my edition, in eight volumes 12mo., has the portrait of Jean Batiste B., Marquis de ——, ne le 29 Juin, 1704.

J. R.

Sunderland.

["Par le Marquis D'Argens," says Barbier.]

* * * * *

Replies.

ATTAINMENT OF MAJORITY.

(Vol. viii., pp. 198. 250.)

In replying to Professor DE MORGAN'S last communication on this subject, it may be as well, in order to avoid future misunderstanding, to revert briefly to my original question. I pointed out Ben Jonson's assertion, through a character in one of his plays, that about the beginning of the seventeenth century, it was the custom to regard the legal rights of majority as commencing with six o'clock A.M., and I asked to have that assertion reconciled with our present commencement at midnight, and with the statement that the latter is in accordance with the old reckoning.

Thus I started with the production of affirmative evidence, to rebut which I cannot find, in the replies of PROFESSOR DE MORGAN, any negative evidence stronger than his individual opinion, which, however eminent in other respects, has undoubtedly the disadvantage of being two hundred years later than the contemporary evidence produced by me. I afterwards cited Arthur Hopton as authority that lawyers in England, in his time, did make use of a day which he classifies as that of the Babylonians; but inasmuch as he apparently restricts its duration to twelve hours, whereas all ancient writers concur in assigning to the Babylonians a day of twenty-four hours, there is evidently a mistake somewhere, attributable either to Hopton or his printers.

This mistake may have arisen either from a misprint, or from a transposition of a portion of the sentence.

The supposition of a misprint is favoured by the circumstance that Hopton was, at the time, professing to describe natural days of twenty-four hours; of these there are four great classes of commencement, from the four principal quarters of the day; viz. from midnight, from mid-day, from sun-setting and from sun-rising. Hopton had already assigned three of them to different nations, and the fourth he had properly assigned, so far as its commencement at sunrise was concerned, to the Babylonians. What, then, can be more probable than that he intended this day also, like the rest, to be of twenty-four hours' duration; and that the words "holding till sun-setting" ought, perhaps, to have been printed "holding till sun-rising?"

This way of reconciling seeming anomalies, by the supposition of probable misprints, receives great encouragement in the occasional occurrence of similar mistakes in the most carefully printed modern books. I lately noticed, while reading Sir James Ross's Southern Voyage of Discovery, a work printed by the Admiralty, and on which extraordinary typographical care had been bestowed, the following, at page 121. of vol. ii.:

"It was full moon on the 15th of September, at 5.38 A.M."

But the context shows that "full moon" ought to have been printed new moon, and that "5.38 A.M." outlet to be 5.38 P.M.: and what renders these two mistakes the more remarkable is, that they have no sort of connexion, nor is the occurrence of the one in any way explanatory of the other.

Now, the misprint of "sun-setting" for sun-rising, which I am supposing in Hopton's book, would be much more likely of occurrence than these, because these form part of a series of carefully examined data from which a scientific deduction is to be drawn, while Hopton's is a mere loose description. And, moreover, a twenty-four hour day, commencing and ending with sunrise, does not, after all, appear to be so wholly unknown to English law as PROF. DE MORGAN supposes, since Sir Edward Coke, to whom the professor especially refers, describes such a day in these words:

"Dies naturalis constat ea 24 horis et continet diem solarem et noctem; and therefore in Inditements for Burglary and the like, we say in nocte ejusdem diei. Iste dies naturalis est spatium in quo sol progreditur ab oriente in occidentem et ab occidente iterum in orientem."

{542}

But there is another way of reconciling the discrepancy—Hopton may not have intended the words "holding till sun-setting" to apply to the Babylonians, but only to "the lawyers in England," whose day, he says, commenced at the same time as the Babylonian day. The transposition of the words in question to the end of the sentence would give such a meaning, viz. "The Babylonians begin their day at sun-rising, and so do our lawyers count it in England, holding till sun-setting." Altered in this way, the latter clause does not necessarily apply to the Babylonians.

Here again we have a lawyers' day almost verbally identical with one assigned to them by Sir Edward Coke: "Dies artificialis sive solaris incipit in ortu solis et desinit in occasu, and of this the law of England takes hold in many cases."

Nor does Lord Coke strengthen or vary his description in the least, when speaking of the day commencing at midnight; he uses again the same expression with regard to it, "The Egyptians and Romans from midnight, and so doth the law of England in many cases."

Hence the authority of Chief Justice Coke, is at best only neutral; for who will undertake to prove to which of these classes of "many cases" Lord Coke meant to assign the attainment of majority?

In support of Ben Jonson's testimony, it may be urged that the midnight initial of the day was itself derived by us from the Romans; and it is nearly certain that they did not perform any legal act, connected with birthday, until the commencement of the dies solis.

A proof of this may be observed in the discussion by Aulus Gellius (Noct. Attic., iii. 2.) as to which day, the preceding or the following, a person's birth, happening in the night, was to be attributed. He quotes a fragment from Varro,—

"Homines qui ex media nocte ad proximam mediam noctem his horis XXIV nati sunt, uno die nati dicuntur."

On which Gellius remarks:

"From these words it may be observed that the arrangement of (birth) days was such, that to any person born after sunset, and before midnight, the day from which that night had proceeded should be the birthday; but to any person born during the last six hours of the night, the day which should succeed that night must be the birthday."

This explanation might seem almost purposely written in reply to some such difficulty as occurred to PROFESSOR DE MORGAN (ante, p. 250.), when he remarks that, if birthday were to be confined to daylight, "a child not born by daylight would have no birthday at all!" But since it was notorious amongst the Romans that the civil day began at midnight, such a quaeri solitum as this could never have been mooted, if the birthday observance had not been known and acknowledged to have a different commencement. In continuation of the same subject, Gellius proceeds to quote another passage from Varro, which I shall also repeat, not only as furnishing still farther proof that the Romans did not regard the night as forming any part of the birthday, but also as affording an opportunity of recording an opinion as to the interpretation of Varro's words, which, in this passage, do not appear to have ever been properly understood.

After stating that many persons in Umbria reckon from noon to noon as one and the same day, Varro remarks:

"Quod quidem nimis absurdum est; nam qui calendarum hora sexta natus est apud Umbros, dies ejus natalis videri debebit et calendarum dimidiatus, et qui est post calendas dies ante horam ejusdem diei sextam."

Now why should beginning one's birthday at noon appear so absurd to Varro? Simply because the hours of the night were not then supposed to be included in the birthday at all, and therefore Varro could not realize the idea of a birthday continued through the night.

He says that, according to the Umbrian reckoning, a person born on any day after the point of noon, would have only half a birthday on that day; and for the other half, he would have to take the forenoon of the following day. Varro had no notion of joining the afternoon of one day to the forenoon of another, because he looked upon the unbroken presence of the sun as the very essence of a natal day.

Nothing can be plainer than that this was the true nature of the absurdity alluded to; but it would not suit the prejudices of the commentators, because it would compel them to admit that sexta hora must have been in the afternoon, in opposition to their favourite dogma that it was always in the forenoon.

For if Varro had intended to represent sexta hora in the forenoon, he would have said that the other half-day must be taken from the afternoon of the pridie, instead of saying, as he does say, that it must be taken from the forenoon of the postridie of the Calends.

Consequently, Varro means by "qui Calendarum hora sexta natus est," a person born in the sixth hour of the day of the Calends; the sixth hour being that which immediately succeeded noon—the media hora of Ovid. But what Varro more immediately means by it is, not any particular point of time, but generally any time after noon on the day of the Calends.

That the true position of sexta hora, when implying duration, was in the afternoon, has long been a conviction of mine; and I have elsewhere produced undeniable evidence that it was so {543} considered by ancient authors. But this passage from Varro is a new and hitherto unnoticed proof, and certainly it ought to be a most convincing one, because it seems impossible to give Varro's words a rational meaning without the admission of this hypothesis, while with it everything is clear and consistent.

The commentators, driven by the necessity I have just pointed out, either to admit the afternoon position of sexta hora, or to abstain from reading it as a space of time, have attempted to force a meaning by reading sexta hora in its other sense, an absolute mathematical point, the punctus ipse of noon.

In so doing they have not scrupled to libel Varro's common sense; they represent his idea of the absurd to consist in the embarrassment that would be caused by the birth occurring at the critical moment of change,—split as it were upon the knife-edge of noon; so that, in the doubt that would arise as to which day it should belong, it must be attributed partly to both!

This interpretation is so monstrous, and so evidently wide of the meaning of the words, that its serious imputation would scarcely be believed, if it were not embalmed in the Delphin edition of Aulus Gellius, where we read the following footnote referring to the argumentum ad absurdum of Varro:

"Infirmum omnino argumentum, et quod perinde potest in ipsum Varronem retorqueri. Quid enim? Si quis apud Romanos Calendis hora vi. noctis fuerit natus, nonne pariter dies ejus natalis videri debebit, et partim Calendarum, et partim ejus dici qui sequetur?"

It is not worth while to inquire what may have been the precise dilemma contemplated by the writer of this note, since most certainly it is not a reflex of Varro's meaning. The word dimidiatus is completely cushioned, although Gellius himself has a chapter upon it a little farther on in the same volume.

The anomaly that amused Varro was the necessity of piecing together two halves not belonging to the same individual day and with the hiatus of a night between them; a necessity that would assuredly appear most absurd to one who had no other idea of birthday than the twelve consecutive hours of artificial day, which he would call "the natural day."

This proneness of the Romans to look upon the dies solis as the only effective part of the twenty-four hours, is again apparent in their commencement of horary notation at sunrise, six hours later than the actual commencement of the day. And in our own anomalous repetition of twice twelve, we may still trace the remains of the twelve-hour day; we have changed the initial point, but we have retained the measure of duration.

It is, however, certain that the two methods of reckoning time continued for a long time to exist contemporaneously. Hence it became necessary to distinguish one from the other by name, and thus the notation from midnight gave rise, as I have remarked in one of my papers on Chaucer, to the English idiomatic phrase "of the clock;" or the reckoning of the clock, commencing at midnight, as distinguished from Roman equinoctial hours, commencing at six o'clock A.M. This was what Ben Jonson was meaning by attainment of majority at six o'clock, and not, as PROFESSOR DE MORGAN supposes, "probably a certain sunrise." Actual sunrise had certainly nothing to do with the technical commencement of the day in Ben Jonson's time. For convenience sake, six o'clock had long been taken as conventional sunrise all the year round; and even amongst the Romans themselves, equinoctial hours were frequently used at all seasons. Actual sunrise, in after times, had only to do with "hours inequall," which are said to have fallen into disuse, in common life, so early as the fifth or sixth century.

I trust I may now have shown reasonable grounds for the belief that Ben Jonson may, after all, have had better authority than his license as a dramatic poet, for dating the attainment of majority at six o'clock A.M.; and that nothing short of contemporary evidence directly contradictory of the custom so circumstantially alluded to by him, ought to be held sufficient to throw discredit upon it. It is one of the singular coincidences attending the discussion of this matter by Gellius, that, at the conclusion of the chapter I have been expatiating upon, he should cite the authority of Virgil; observing that the testimony of poets is very valuable upon such subjects, even when veiled in the obscurity of poetic imagery.

A. E. B.

Leeds.

* * * * *

LORD HALIFAX AND MRS. CATHERINE BARTON.

(Vol. viii., p 429.)

Your Correspondent PROF. DE MORGAN has so ingeniously analysed the facts, which he already possesses, bearing on the connexion of Sir Isaac Newton's niece with Lord Halifax, and her designation in the Biographia Britannica, that I am tempted to furnish him with some additional evidence. This question of Mrs. Catherine Barton's widowhood has often been canvassed by that portion of her relatives who do not possess the custody of Sir Isaac Newton's private letters.

The Montagues had a residence in the village of Bregstock in Northamptonshire, where the Bartons lived. The Bartons were a family of good descent, and had long been lessees of the crown with the Montagues for lands near Braystock.

There were several Colonel Bartons, whose respective ages and relationship can best be {544} exhibited by a short pedigree. Thomas Barton had two sons, Thomas and Robert.

Robert (born in 1630, and who died in 1693) married Hannah Smith, Newton's half-sister, by whom he had Hannah (born 1678), Catherine (born 1679, died 1739), Colonel Robert (born 1684).

Thomas (born in 1619, died in 1704) married Alice Palmer, by whom he had Thomas, who married Mary Dale, by whom he had Thomas (d. s. p.), Colonel Matthew (born 1672), Colonel Noel (born 1674, died 1714). Thomas had a second son, Geoffrey, who married Elizabeth ——, by whom he had Charles (born 1700), Cutts (born 1706), Catherine (born 1709), Montague (born 1717), and others.

In a family paper written by a granddaughter of Colonel Noel Barton, at her mother's dictation, it is stated that Colonel Matthew married a relative of Sir Isaac Newton, and was Comptroller of the Mint; but this paper is not very correct in its other statements.

On the other hand, a connexion of the family who signs himself H. in an old number of the Gentleman's Magazine, says of Newton:

"He had a half-sister, who had a daughter, to whom he gave the best of educations, the famous witty Miss Barton, who married Mr. Conduit of the Mint."

Mr. Conduit writes, that his wife lived twenty years before and after her marriage with Sir Issac.

I had always thought that Catherine Barton's brother Robert had died too early to attain the rank of Colonel. In the British Museum, in the Register, there is an account of a sermon preached at the funeral of Robert Barton in the year 1703. I could not find the sermon.

The famous Duchess of Marlborough thus satirises Mouse Montague:

"He was a frightful figure, and yet pretended to be a lover; and followed several beauties, who laughed at him for it."

It is worth mentioning that Colonel Noel Barton died in London in 1714, while in attendance on his patron Lord Gainsborough, soon after he had been appointed Governor of the Leeward Islands. This was the year before Lord Halifax's Life was written, and possibly might have been the cause of the designation "Widow" being applied to Catherine Barton by mistake. Whatever the connexion of this lady with Lord Halifax may have been, it does not seem to have given any offence to her relatives. You will observe that Geoffrey Barton names his sons Charles and Montague, and his daughter Catherine. Charles afterwards received the rectory of St. Andrew's Holborn from the family of Montague; and Cutts was Dean of Bristol under Bishop Montague. And Montague obtained preferment from Mr. Conduit. Neither the family of Montague, nor that of Barton, seem to have thought the connexion discreditable. Moreover, the births of these children of Geoffrey Barton, a clergyman, occurred at the very period when the name of Catherine should have been most distasteful, had the intimacy been dishonourable.

Mr. Conduit died in the year 1738, and Mrs. Conduit in the year 1739; and Catherine Conduit did not become Lady Lymington till 1740. Probably both Mr. and Mrs. Conduit made wills. Have they been examined at Doctors' Commons?

J. W. J.

* * * * *

MILTON'S WIDOW.

(Vol. viii., pp. 12. 134. 200. 375. 452. 471.)

It is pleasing to find so much interest excited among the readers of "N. & Q." relative to the parentage of this lady; and we may fairly hope that the spirit of research which has thus been awakened, will not die away until the last spark of error and mystery has been extinguished.

T. L. P. has favoured us with quotations from a little pamphlet, entitled Historical Facts connected with Nantwich and its Neighbourhood. Now, after giving this work a most careful perusal, I cannot but think that the title of the book is, in this instance at least, a misnomer. The authoress, for it was written by a lady long resident in the vicinity, has evidently wrought upon the foundations of others; and taking the veteran Ormerod as a sufficient authority, has given full vent to her imagination, and pictured, with "no 'prentice hand," the welcome visits of Milton to Stoke Hall, a place which, in all probability, was never once honoured with the presence of this great man. There is no evidence whatever adduced to give even the semblance of colour to this unfortunate error; whereas, on the side of the Wistaston family, the proofs of its identity as the family of Mrs. Milton are numerous and, to my notion, incontrovertible.

As if, indeed, to give us "confirmation sure" of the truth of this position, our old friend CRANMORE starts up, "like a spirit from the vasty deep," and, after an absence of many months from our ranks, pays off his ancient score by producing the evidence he so long ago promised us. From it we gather that Thomas Paget, the father, named his cousin Minshull, apothecary in Manchester, overseer of his will; and that his son, Nathan Paget, eighteen years afterwards, names in his will John Goldsmith and Elizabeth Milton as his cousins, and makes bequests to them accordingly. Now, it so happens that Thomas, son of Richard Minshull of Wistaston, was an apothecary, and that he settled in Manchester, and thereupon founded the family of Minshull of Manchester. This {545} gentleman was doubtless the cousin referred to in the will of the elder Paget. It farther happens, that Thomas Minshull, the grandfather of this Manchester apothecary, married a daughter of Goldsmith of Nantwich. The John Goldsmith of the Middle Temple would then doubtless be the nephew or grand-nephew of this lady, and in either case a cousin of Thomas Minshull of Manchester, and of Elizabeth Minshull of Wistaston. This is another, if not a completing link in the genealogical chain, and convinces me, now more than ever, of the correctness of my conclusions.

I may add that the whole of the deeds referred to by MR. SINGER are now in the safe and worthy keeping of Mr. J. Fitchett Marsh of Warrington; and that they are published in extenso, together with a valuable essay on their historical importance by their present possessor, in the first volume of Miscellanies issued by the Chetham Society.

T. HUGHES.

* * * * *

ANTICIPATORY USE OF THE CROSS.

(Vol. viii., pp. 132. 417.)

I am not sure that any of your correspondents have noticed the resemblance between the letter T t, especially in some of its ancient forms, and the form of the cross. In the Greek, Etruscan, and Samaritan forms of this letter, we have representations of the three principal forms which the cross has assumed: [Tau cross], +, x. It is also remarkable that in Ezekiel ix. 4. 6.: "Set a mark on the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry," &c., the word rendered "mark" is [Hebrew: TdageshW] (Tau), the name of the Hebrew letter answering to the above: and as the Samaritan alphabet, which the present Hebrew characters have superseded, was then in use, it is highly probable that the "mark" referred to in Ezekiel's vision was the Samaritan Tau, as seen on ancient Hebrew shekels, resembling a St. Andrew's cross.

A circumstance relating to the Paschal sacrifice mentioned by Justin Martyr, in his conference with Trypho the Jew, and which he asserts without contradiction from his learned opponent, is worthy of a note:

"This lamb, which was to be roasted whole, was a symbol of the punishment of the cross, which was inflicted on Christ, [Greek: To gar optomenon probaton, k.t.l.] For the lamb which was roasted was so placed as to resemble the figure of a cross; with one spit it was pierced longitudinally, from the tail to the head; with another it was transfixed through the shoulders, so that the forelegs became extended."—Vid. Just. Martyri Opera, edit. Oberther, vol. ii. p. 106.

Your correspondent H. N. appears to have fallen into several errors, which (having appeared in "N. & Q.") ought not to pass unnoticed.

1. He confounds the basilica with the cruciform cathedral, and with "the plan of the Roman forum."

Basilica (from Gr. [Greek: Basilike], a royal dwelling) was the name given by the Romans to those public edifices in which justice was administered and mercantile business transacted. Several of these buildings, or the remains of them, still exist in Rome, each forum probably having had its basilica. Vitruvius, who constructed one at Fanum, says it ought to be built "on the warm side of the forum, that those whose affairs call them thither might confer without being incommoded by the weather." Yet H. N. says: "The basilica seems to have originally been the architectural plan of the Roman forum." The most perfect specimen of the antique basilica is that discovered at Pompeii, on the south side of the form and at right angles with it. By consulting a good plan of Pompeii, or glancing at a plan of its basilica, any one may see that it was not cruciform, but "in the form of a long parallelogram," with a central space and side porticoes, answering to the nave and aisles of a church. The early Christians adopted the basilica form for their churches: those built in the form of a Greek or Latin cross are of much later date. Yet H. N.'s learned friend exclaims, when viewing the temple of Muttra, "Here is the cross! the basilica carried out with more correctness of order and symmetry than in Italy!"

2. H. N. assumes that the Jews practised crucifixion as a punishment, and "may have imitated the Assyrians, as crucifixion may have been adopted long before that of Christ and the two thieves (Qy. robbers)." Crucifixion appears to have been in use from a very remote period, but was never adopted by the Jews. The Romans, who with all their greatness were an atrociously cruel people, employed it as the peculiar and appropriate punishment of delinquent slaves. Christ was "crucified under Pontius Pilate," the Roman Procurator of Judea, at a time when that country had become subject to the Romans, and its rulers could say, "It is not lawful for us to put any man to death."

3. When H. N. refers to "the advocates of conversion and their itinerant agents," it is difficult to perceive exactly what he intends, except "to hint a fault and hesitate dislike." But before a writer undertakes to cast a reflection on those great societies who have been labouring—not by coercion, but by instruction and persuasion, by the circulation of the scriptures and the preaching of the Gospel—to substitute Christianity for idolatry among those who are under the government of Great Britain, he should well understand the grounds of his censures, so as to be able "to explain to the conversionists that, unless this doctrine be openly refuted, the missionaries may in truth be fighting their own shadow." {546}

How then has H. N. explained the doctrine which they are to refute—the meaning of the "cross and basilica" in India? The only witness in proof of it has disappeared "by falling into a volcanic crater." He himself professes to be quite ignorant of cathedral architecture and the English government, and English gentlemen generally, who have shamefully secreted such a treasure, are equally ignorant. Why had they not consulted the living Church of Hindooism, and shown it a little sympathy and respect with a view to getting enlightened? Whereas "the little they do know is derived from books." Farther, "the elder civilians, men of ability, classical scholars, and first-rate Asiatic linguists," when assembled in that very building, though they descanted on the sanctity of the place, "not one of them knew nor remarked the 'cross and basilica.'" And when visiting the great temple of Benares, H. N. does not recollect that the cross was either noticed to him or by him.

It may be true that when the Hindoo "system of government existed in efficiency, there was neither crime nor punishment"—a shadowy tradition, I presume, of the state of innocence! It may also be true that "the mythology of the Nile agrees with that of the Ganges." But it would not follow that the cross is a myth derived from the mysteries of Egypt or the astronomy of India. It would still remain an unquestionable fact, that the cross, for ages an instrument of ignominious torture under Pagan Rome, only ceased to be so when Christianity had won its way through all ranks of society up to the imperial throne; then its employment was abolished by Constantine, partly from the humanising influence of the new faith, and partly out of reverence to Him who had suffered on it for the world's redemption.

The anticipations of Christianity supplied by Paganism, of which Krishna "burnishing the head of the serpent" is a striking example, may be easily accounted for, and their source pointed out. As a corruption of the earliest revelation, Paganism contains, as might be expected, a portion of truth blended with much error. Indeed, it would be no difficult task to prove that classical and oriental mythology is in some sense, and to a great extent, the shadow of biblical truth. What then? In endeavouring to supplant idolatry in the Roman empire, were the Apostles and first preachers of Christianity merely "fighting their own shadow?" They recognised those truths which even heathens admit, but opposed and overthrew the accumulated errors of ages. Yet there were some even then who condemned the preaching of the cross as "foolishness," till success demonstrated its wisdom.

Lastly, H. N., having "travelled much in this country and on the Continent," is convinced "that superstition prevails comparatively less in Asia than in Europe," and that "the pages of 'N. & Q.' abundantly corroborate the opinion."

This is far more startling than the discovery of the "cross and basilica" at Muttra. To admit it, however, would require us to disregard the testimony of a cloud of witnesses, and to ignore all our former reading. The vast systems of Asiatic superstition, it seems, are less objectionable than our own folk lore; the tremendous shades of Brahma and Budhu, of Juggernaut and the goddess Kali, with their uncouth images and horrid worship, are harmless when compared with Puck, the Pixies, and Robin Goodfellow; and Caste, Suttee, and Devil-worship[3] are evils of less magnitude than cairns, kist-vaens, and cromlechs. The mental balance must be peculiarly constructed that could lead to such a decision. Certainly H. N. is no Rhadamanthus. "Dat veniam corvis, vexat censure columbas."

The appeal to "N. & Q." in corroboration of his opinion forms a pleasant and suitable conclusion of the whole: for while in India superstition still undeniably lives and "prevails," it is one special object of "N. & Q." to embalm the remains of local superstitions in Great Britain that have either breathed their last, or are in extremis; to collect the relics of long-departed superstitions that were once vigorous and rampant in our island, but are now in danger of being lost and forgotten. Their very remnants and vestiges have become so rare that they are unknown to the great mass of the community; and the learned, therefore, especially those versed in ethology, are urged to hunt them out wherever they exist in the different districts of the country, before they fall into utter oblivion.

J. W. THOMAS.

Dewsbury.

[Footnote 3: For proof of the existence of Devil-worship, see Yakkun Nottanawa, a Cingalese poem, translated by John Callaway, printed for the Oriental Translation Fund: J. Murray, 1829.]

I would beg to suggest to H. N. that if his friend Count Venua saw in the Hindoo temple at Muttra both the form of a perfect cross and of a "basilica, carried out with more correctness of order and symmetry than in Italy," he must have been so totally ignorant of early architecture as to make his observations quite worthless, since there is no more similitude between the cruciform church and the basilica than there is between two parallel lines (=) and two lines crossing each other at right angles (+).

"The precise shape of the cross on the Temple of Serapis" can only be inferred from the words of the historian cited, and the inference therefrom is strong that it was the crux ansata.

EDEN WARWICK

Birmingham.

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{547}

DECORATIVE PAVEMENT TILES FROM CAEN.

(Vol. viii., p. 493.)

The tiles presented, in 1786, to Mr. Charles Chadwick, of Mavesyn-Ridware, Staffordshire, are preserved in the church at that place. They form two tablets affixed to the wall in the remarkable sepulchral chapel arranged and decorated, at a great cost, by the directions of that gentleman towards the close of the last century, when the greater portion of the church was rebuilt. The north chapel, or aisle, containing the tombs of the Mavesyns and the Ridwares, the ancient lords of the estates which descended to Mr. Chadwick, was preserved; and here are to be seen two cross-legged effigies, a curious incised portraiture on an altar-tomb, representing Sir Robert Mavesyn, 1403, with other incised slabs and interesting memorials; to which were added, by Mr. Chadwick, a series of large incised figures, which surround the chapel. These last are not shown in the view given in Shaw's History of Staffordshire, vol. ii. p. 191., having been executed since the publication of that work; and it is stated that they were engraved by the parish clerk under Mr. Chadwick's direction, being intended to pourtray the successive lords of the place from the Norman times to the sixteenth century, each in the costume of his period. There are also numerous atchievements and other decorations attached to the walls; amongst these are the pavement tiles from Caen, one of which bore the same arms as are assigned to the family of Malvoisin-Rosny, and on that account probably Mr. Chadwick placed these relics from Normandy amongst the enrichments of his mausoleum.

In regard to MR. BOASE'S first inquiry, "Who was Charles Chadwick, Esq.?" it may suffice to cite the detailed account of the family given by Shaw, and the short notice of that gentleman which will be found in the History of Staffordshire, vol. ii. p. 185.

On a visit to Mavesyn-Ridware in 1839, I was struck with the appearance of these tiles; their design and fashion at once recalled those from Caen with which I had been familiar in Normandy. Having ascertained their origin, I took occasion to state the fact of their preservation at this church in the "Notes on Decorative Tiles," communicated to Mr. Parker by me, and given in the fourth edition of his useful Glossary of Architecture, in 1845: see p. 367.

It should be observed that the number of tiles composing the two tablets now to be seen is forty; whilst the number, as stated Gent. Mag., vol. lix. part i. p. 211., and in a second letter from Mr. Barrett, in vol. lx. part ii. p. 710., not cited by MR. BOASE in his Query, is twenty. MR. BOASE is probably aware that the sixteen tiles from the Great Guard Chamber at Caen, which supplied the subject of Mr. J. Major Henniker's memoir, were presented by him to the Society of Antiquaries of London, and are now in their museum, as noticed in the catalogue, compiled by myself, p. 30.

A coloured drawing of an heraldic pavement at Caen, taken about 1700, is preserved in a volume of the great collection formed by M. de Gaignieres, and bequeathed by Gough to the Bodleian Library. It comprises chiefly drawings of French sepulchral monuments, arranged by localities; and there is one volume, entitled Recueil de Tapisseries, d'Armoiries et de Devises, in which may be found the interesting memorial of this decorative pavement of tiles, which was destroyed during the fury of the Revolution.

ALBERT WAY.

Charles Chadwick, Esq., of Healy Hall, Lancashire, and Mavesyn-Ridware, in the county of Stafford, to whom the monks of St. Stephen, at Caen, presented, in the year 1786, a series of encaustic tiles with heraldic devices taken from the floor of the (so called) "Great Guard Chamber of the Palace of the Dukes of Normandy," died in 1829. I infer that the tiles were brought to the Lancashire residence of Mr. Chadwick because the description and the drawing for the engraving were both supplied to the Gentleman's Magazine by a Lancashire antiquary, Thomas Barnett, of Hydes Cross, Manchester: but as the descendants of Mr. Chadwick no longer reside in Lancashire, the hall being occupied by a woollen manufacturer, I have been unable to obtain any information respecting the tiles, though long desirous to do so.

I direct attention to another series of the same tiles, sixteen in number, which were presented to the Society of Antiquaries through the president, the Earl of Leicester, in 1788, by John Henniker, Esq., M.A., F.R.S., S.A., and M.P., who afterwards took the additional name of Major. This gentleman received the tiles from his brother, Captain Henniker, then resident at Caen; and in 1794 he published an interesting account of them with engravings, entitled Two Letters on the Origin, Antiquity, and History of Norman Tiles stained with Armorial Bearings (London, John Bell, Strand). The engravings both in this volume and in the Gentleman's Magazine are indifferently executed, and too small in scale to be of use. Mr. Henniker describes the colours of his tiles to be "yellow and brown," while Mr. Barnett states that the tiles in Mr. Chadwick's possession were "light grey and black;" a curious discrepancy, seeing that in all other respects they were exactly similar. These tiles are of so much heraldic and antiquarian interest that if either set could be made available for the purpose, it is very desirable that they be engraved of full size, and printed by the modern easy process to imitate the colours.

GILBERT J. FRENCH.

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{548}

MOTTOS OF THE EMPERORS OF GERMANY.

(Vol. viii., p. 170.)

With your permission I shall enlarge the list of mottos of the German emperors, as well by commencing with the Germano-Frankish era as by supplying those omitted in the series given by MR. JOSHUA G. FITCH. My authorities are Reusneri Symbola Imperatoria tribus classibus Caes. Rom. Italic., C. R. Graecorum, C. R. Germanico; and Sadeler, Symbola divina et humana Pontificum, Imperatorum, Regum, &c.:

Caroli Magni. 752. Christus regnat, vincit, triumphat.

Ludovici Pii. 814. Omnium rerum vicissitudo.

Lotharii I. 840. Ubi mel, ibi fel.

Ludovici II. 855. Par sit fortuna labori.

Caroli II. (Calvi.) 875. Justitiam injustitia parit.

Caroli III. (Crassi.) 881. Os garrulum intricat omnia.

Arnulphi. 888. Facilis descensus Averni.

Ludovici III. 899. Multorum manus, paucorum consilium.

Othonis Magni. Aut mors aut vita decora.

Othonis III. Unita virtus valet.

Henrici II. (Claudi.) Ne quid nimis.

Friderici I. (AEnobarbi.) Aliud. Qui nescit dissimulare nescit imperare.

Friderici II. Minarum strepitus, asinorum crepitus. The following is the correct reading of the words given in Vol. viii., p. 170.: Cumplurium triariorum ego strepitum audivi.

Adolphi. Animus est qui divites facit.

Alberti I. Aliud. Quod optimum idem jucundissimum.

Henrici VII. Aliud. Fide et consilio.

Ludovici IV. Sola bona quae honesta. Aliud. Deo et Caesari.[4]

Caroli IV. Optimum aliena insania frui. Aliud. Nullius pavet occursum.

Wenceslai. Morosophi moriones pessimi. Aliud. Tempestati parendum.

Sigismundi. Aliud. Sic cedunt munera fatis.

Alberti II. Aliud. Fugam victoria nescit.

Friderici III. Rerum irrecuperabilium foelix oblivio. Aliud. A. E. I. O. U.

That these vowels are supposed to signify "Austriae est imperare orbi universo" has already been communicated in "N. & Q." Reusner has given then another interpretation "Aquila electa iuste vincit omnia."

"Aliud. Hic regit, ille tuetur. Leges et arma in promptu habes, illae regunt, haec tuentur imperium. A Justiniano habet," &c.—Sadeler, p. 43.

Maximiliani I. Aliud. In manu Dei Regis est [cor]. Aliud. Per tot discrimina.

Caroli V. Aliud. Nondum in auge [Sol]. Aliud. Fundatori quietis [laurea].

Ferdinandi. Fiat justitia aut pereat mundus. Aliud. A. I. P. Q. N. S. I. A.

"Accidit in puncto quod non speratur in anno; Temporis in puncto qui sapit, ille sapit."

Maximiliani II. Comminuam vel extinguam. (Puta semiplenam Turcarum lunulam.)

Rudolphi II. Aliud. Ex voluntate Dei omnia. Aliud. Sic ad astra. Aliud. Tu ne cede malis.

In Reusner's work the mottos are accompanied by copious and erudite comments; and in Sadeler's by engravings also; the devices or achievements of distinguished men, denominated in the Italian language Imprese, and in the Latin Symbola Heroica.

BIBLIOTHECAR. CHETHAM.

[Footnote 4: "Symbolum [aquila solem contra tuens] quo jam se non tantum adversario opponit sed cum Deo parum modeste ponit. Est quidem aquila Jovi sacra ut ad fabulas rem revolvamus. Sed absit mihi omnis cum Deo comparatio."—Sadeler, p. 39.]

* * * * *

PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE.

Simplicity of Calotype Process.—The session of the Photographic Society was commenced with a paper from our original correspondent, DR. DIAMOND, under the above title. Our journal having led to such facilities of question and answer, has induced many of our readers to ask upon several points additional instructions, some of which we have ourselves thought might have been made more clear and having written to DR. DIAMOND he has promised us a revised copy for our next Number. Replying to some of our Querists, he says, "The plain photographic facts are correct; but I wrote the paper on the morning of the day on which the Society met, and was not aware it was to be printed in the Journal until I received my copy."

Albumenized Paper.—As my only object writing on this subject was to communicate to others the plan which I had found in practice most successful, I think it necessary to correct some points of misapprehension which it is evident your correspondent K. N. M. has fallen into, Vol. viii., p. 501.

In the process I recommended, the paper, if cockled up, readily becomes flat and even if kept in a portfolio or any similar receptacle; and as I never float my paper to sensitize it, I have not the inconvenience of the silver solution becoming spoiled by particles of the albumen. The 100 grains to the ounce for the solution I do not find more extravagant when applied, as I have indicated, with a glass rod, than one of 30 grains to the ounce when the paper is floated, because in the former case I use only just enough to cover the paper, viz. forty-five minims to a half-sheet of {549} Canson's paper, and there is no loss from any portion adhering to the dishes, evaporation, or filtering. This is far more than would be imagined when only a sheet or two of paper is required at one time. Lastly, with regard to the strokes being visible after printing the positive, I do not find them so in general, though occasionally such a thing does happen when sufficient care has not been taken in the preparation; but I find striae quite as visible on two positives prepared by DR. DIAMOND himself, which he kindly gave me: however, I will forward a sample of my paper for your judgment, and also a portion for K. N. M. if he will take the trouble of trying the same.

GEO. SHADBOLT.

New Developing Mixture.—Having for some months past used the following developing mixture, and finding it very bright and easily applied, I beg to offer it to your notice. It does not cost more than three farthings per ounce, and therefore may be worth the consideration of beginners. I do not know a better where the metallic appearance is not desired.

No. 1. Pyrogallic acid 2 grains. Glacial acetic acid 1 drachm. Water 1 oz.

No. 2. Protosulphate of iron 10 grains. Nitric acid 2 drops. Water 1 oz.

To six drachms of No. 2. add two of No. 1.

I pour it on, but do not return it to the bottle, as it is apt to spoil if so used.

T. L. MERRITT.

Queries on the Albumenized Process.—Allow me to put a few questions through your valued paper.

In the albumen process on glass, Messrs. Ross and Thomson, in Thornthwaite's Guide, recommend 10 drops of sat. solution of iodized potassa to each egg. Now is it meant ten drops, or ten minims? If the former, a drop varies with the bottle and quantity of liquid in it; and ten drops are nearly half the bulk of ten minims, generally speaking. Then as to the egg: an egg in this country is only at most 6 [drachm]; in England an egg appears twice as large.—Could you state the general bulk of an egg in England, and to what quantity by bulk or weight of albumen the 10 drops or minims are to be applied? When I say an egg is only 6 [drachm], I mean the white of one.

A SUBSCRIBER.

Bombay.

* * * * *

Replies to Minor Queries.

Poems in connection with Waterloo (Vol. vii., p. 6.).—A correspondent of the Naval and Military Gazette of November 19, 1853, signing himself "M.A., Pem. Coll., Oxford," has pointed out an error into which I had fallen "respecting the elm-trees at and connected with Waterloo."

I certainly was given to understand, when I received the monody, that it was written by the public orator on the death of his son who fell at Waterloo: whereas it clearly appears by the obituary in the Gentleman's Magazine, that Ensign William Crowe, first battalion, 4th foot, son of the public orator at Oxford, was killed at the attack upon New Orleans Jan. 8, 1815.

I hasten to acknowledge my mistake, though I am glad that the two copies of verses found place in your columns.

BRAYBROOKE.

Richard Oswald (Vol. viii., p. 442.)—Your Querist will find many letters to and from him in Franklin's Memoirs. He was for some years a merchant in the city of London. In 1759 he purchased the estate of Auchincruive, in the county of Ayr, and died there in 1783. No memoir of him has ever been published. He was for many years an intimate friend of Lord Shelbourne, who sent him to Paris in 1782, and again in 1783, to negotiate with Franklin, with whom he had been for some time acquainted. During the Seven Years' War he acted as commissary-general to the allied armies under the Duke of Brunswick, who said of him in the official despatches, that "England had sent him commissaries fit to be generals, and generals not fit to be commissaries."

J. H. E.

Grammont's Marriage (Vol. viii., p. 461.).—In one of the notes to Grammont, originally, I believe, introduced by Sir W. Scott in his edition, but which appears at p. 415. of Bohn's reprint, we are told on the authority of the Biographia Gallica, vol. i. p. 202.:

"The famous Count Grammont was thought to be the original of The Forced Marriage. This nobleman, during his stay at the court of England, had made love to Miss Hamilton, but was coming away from France without bringing matters to a proper conclusion. The young lady's brothers pursued him, and came up with him near Dover, in order to exchange some pistol shot with him. They called out, 'Count Grammont, have you forgot nothing at London?' 'Excuse me,' answered the Court guessing their errand, 'I forgot to marry your sister; so lead on, and let us finish that affair.'"

My object in this communication is to supply an omission in MR. STEINMAN'S very interesting Notes, who does not show, as he might have done, how the letters of M. de Comminges prove the truth of this story. For, from the passage quoted by MR. STEINMAN from the letter to the king, dated Dec. 20-24, 1663, it is evident that the count was about on that day to leave England "without bringing matters to a proper conclusion;" while that he married the lady within a day or {550} two of that date may fairly be inferred from the announcement on Aug. 29-Sept. 8, 1664, that "Madame la Comtesse de Grammont accoucha hier au soir d'un fils." MR. STEINMAN'S omission was probably intentional; I have supplied it in the hope that the date and place of the marriage may now be ascertained, and for the purpose of expressing my hope that we shall soon be favoured by MR. STEINMAN'S return to this subject.

HORACE WALPOLE, Jun.

Life (Vol. vii., p. 429.).—Let me give A. C. the testimony of two poets and a philosopher in support of the "general feeling" about the renewal of life, which will surely bear down the authority of three writers mentioned by him.

Cowper's notion may be gathered from the couplet:

"So numerous are the follies that annoy The mind and heart of every sprightly boy."

Kirke White must have had a similar idea:

"There are who think that childhood does not share With age the cup, the bitter cup, of care; Alas! they know not this unhappy truth, That every age and rank is born to ruth."

The next four lines may also be attentively considered. I quote from his "Childhood," one of his earliest productions by the way—but what production of his was not early?

Still more decidedly, however, on the point speaks Cicero (de Senectute):

"Si quis Deus mihi largiatur ut ea hac aetate repuerescam, et in cunis vagiam, valde recusem."

The following passage is also at A. C.'s service, provided you can find space for it, and there are "no questions asked" as to its whereabouts:

"I have heard them say that our childhood's hours are the happiest time of our earthly race; and they speak with regret of their summer bowers, and the mirth they knew in the butterfly chase; and they sorrow to think that those days are past, when their young hearts bounded with lightsome glee, when, by none of the clouds of care o'ercast, the sun of their joy shone cheerily. But, oh! they surely forget that the boy may have grief of his own that strikes deep in his heart; that an angry frown, or a broken toy, may inflict for a time a cureless smart; and that little pain is as great to him as a weightier woe to an older mind. Aye! the harsh reproof, or unfavoured whim, may be sharp as a pang of a graver kind. Then, how dim-sighted and thoughtless are those, who would they were frolicsome children and free; they should rather rejoice to have fled from the woes that hung o'er them once so heavily. In misfortune's rude shocks the practised art of the man may perchance disclose relief; but the child, in his innocence of heart, will bow 'neath the stroke of a trifling grief."

W. T. M.

Hong Kong.

Muscipula (Vol. viii., p. 229.—The Name Lloyd.—Besides the translation of this poem by Dr. Hoadly, of which a note in Dodsley informs us that the author, Holdsworth, said it was "exceedingly well done," I have before me another, printed in London for R. Gosling, 1715, with an engraved frontispiece, illustrative of the triumphant reception of Taffy's invention. The depredations of the mouse are illustrated in the various figures around, as cheeses burrowed through, even the invasion of a sleeping Welshman's very [Greek: erkos odonton], &c. The title is, The Mouse-Trap, a Poem done from the original Latin in Milton's Stile:

"Ludus animo debet aliquando dari, Ad cogitandum melior ut redeat tibi"—Phaed.

Both translations are in blank verse, but that of the latter is very blank indeed, and possesses little in common with Milton's style, except the absence of rhyme. It thus begins:

"The British mountaineer, who first uprear'd A mouse-trap, and engoal'd the little thief, The deadly wiles and fate inextricable, Rehearse, my Muse, and, oh! thy presence deign, Auxiliar Phoebus, mortal foe to mice: Whence bards in ancient times thee Smintheus term'd," &c.

Muscipula must have made some sensation to have been translated by two different persons. Welsh rabbits, and their supposed general fondness for cheese, have furnished many a joke at the expense of the inhabitants of the principality. Among others the following quiz may not be out of place on the famous Cambro-Britannic name of Lloyd:

"Two gibbets dejected, LL A cheese in full view, O A toaster erected Y And a cheese cut in two, D."