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Read Ebook: Notes and Queries Vol. V Number 127 April 3 1852 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men Artists Antiquaries Genealogists etc. by Various Bell George Editor
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Ebook has 312 lines and 30370 words, and 7 pages
Now the Queries I have to make are these three:
"All this, if true, is no fault of mine."
"My father had born all offices in ye town save ye mayoralty."
"The howsing wh'ch my father dwelt in is rented at this day at thirty-three pounds a year."
"No one stick of ye cottage was pulled down by me."
The passage which concludes the notes on p. 35. is unfortunately maimed by the wearing away of the edges of the leaves; it is as follows:--
... "And as I hope for comfort in my Saviour this is true ... uncharitable conclusion, my life is in ye hands of God ... blessed be His name. But let not Mr. Pryn call for Blood...."
The writer of this notice has not the means of identifying the hand by which these more recent notes, or the transcript of those of the Archbishop, were written; but will take this occasion of suggesting what has often appeared to him a great desideratum in literature--that is, a collection of fac-similes of the autographs of distinguished people, whether literary or public characters; not merely their signatures, which are found in existing collections of autography, but passages sufficiently long to aid in identifying their ordinary writing, and, if possible, taken from writing made at different periods of their lives. With the improvements of mechanical skill which we enjoy, such works might be afforded at a much cheaper rate than formerly, and would, it is conceived, command a remunerating sale.
It remains only to add, that information on the points about which inquiry is made may be communicated through the medium of the "N. & Q.," or by letter to the Rev. James Bliss, Ogborne St. Andrew, near Marlborough, who is engaged in editing the works of Archbishop Laud; and who would be glad to receive any information with respect to unpublished letters or papers of the Archbishop.
C. R. O.
EPITAPH ON VOLTAIRE.
"Plus bel esprit que grand g?nie, Sans loi, sans moeurs, et sans vertu, Il est mort, comme il a v?cu, Couvert de gloire et d'infamie."
Version No. 1.:
"With far less intellect than wit, Lawless, immoral, and debased; His life and death each other fit, At once applauded and disgraced."
Version No. 2.:
"Much more a wit, than man of mind; Alike to law, truth, morals blind! Consistent as he lived he died, His age's scandal, and its pride."
A. B. R.
Belmont.
THE MILLER'S MELODY, FRAGMENT OF AN OLD BALLAD.
When I was a good little boy, I was a favourite visitor to an old maiden lady, whose memory retained such a store of old ballads and folk-lore as would be a treasure to many a reader of "N. & Q." were she still living and able to communicate. One ballad, parts of which, as well as the tune, still haunt my memory, I have tried to recover in its integrity but in vain; and of all the little wearers of frocks and pinafores, who had the privilege of occasionally assembling round the dear old lady's tea-table, and for whose amusement she was wont to sing it, I fear I am the sole survivor. The associations connected with this song may perhaps have invested it with an undue degree of interest to me, but I think it sufficiently curious to desire to insert as much as I can remember of it in "N. & Q." in the hope that some of your correspondents may be able to supply the deficiencies. I wish I could at the same time convey an idea of the air. It began in a slow quaint strain, with these words:--
"Oh! was it eke a pheasant cock, Or eke a pheasant hen, Or was it the bodye of a faire ladye Come swimming down the stream? Oh! it was not a pheasant cock, Nor eke a pheasant hen, But it was the bodye of a faire ladye, Came swimming down the stream."
For the next two verses I am at fault, but their purport was that the body "stopped hard by a miller's mill," and that this "miller chanced to come by," and took it out of the water "to make a melodye."
My venerable friend's tune here became a more lively one, and the time quicker; but I can only recollect a few of the couplets, and those not correctly, nor in order of sequence, in which the transformation of the lady into a viol is described:
"And what did he do with her fair bodye? Fal the lal the lal laral lody. He made it a case for his melodye, Fal, &c. And what did he do with her legs so strong? Fal, &c. He made them a stand for his violon, Fal, &c. And what did he do with her hair so fine? Fal, &c. He made of it strings for his violine, Fal, &c. And what did he do with her arms so long? Fal, &c. He made them bows for his violon, Fal, &c. And what did he do with her nose so thin? Fal, &c. He made it a bridge for his violin, Fal, &c. And what did he do with her eyes so bright? Fal, &c. He made them spectacles to put to his sight, Fal, &c. And what did he do with her petty toes? Fal, &c. He made them a nosegay to put to his nose, Fal, &c."
G. A. C.
Minor Notes.
"Ah!" exclaimed the Doctor, after a pause, and giving utterance to his thoughts, "Ah! one of these days the streets of London will be lighted by smoke!" It is needless to add that in the succeeding century the prediction was verified.
M. W. B.
"On seraph wing I'd float a dream by night, To soothe my love with shadows of delight; Or soar aloft to be the spangled skies. And gaze upon her with a thousand eyes."
Plato had written :
??????? ????????? ????? ????? ???? ???????? ??????? ?? ??????? ??????? ??? ?? ?????.
I cannot withhold Shelley's exquisite version:
"Fair star of life and love, my soul's delight! Why lookest thou on the crystalline skies? O that my spirit were yon heaven of night, Which gazes on thee with its thousand eyes!"
"ELIZABETHA BEDINGFIELD, Sorori Francisce Sve S. R. Q. P.
"My name speaks what I was, and am, and have, A Bedding field, a piece of earth, a grave, Where I expect, untill my soule shall bring Unto the field an everlasting spring; For rayse and rayse out of the earth and slime, God did the first, and will the second time. Obiit Die 10 Maii 1637."
The above epitaph is curious; but what is the meaning of the letters "S. R. Q. P.?"
NEDLAM.
J. SANSOM.
A PRECISIAN.
Queries.
ALGERNON SYDNEY.
In no way, perhaps, has "N. & Q." been so useful to the literary public as in making itself the ready means of concentrating on any given point the various readings of many persons; unless, indeed, it should be considered more useful to have proved how courteous, how willing to oblige--even at some personal sacrifices--men of reading are in this day and generation. The information recently sent from so many quarters in relation to General Wolfe is a good example of what may be done in other cases; that about Sterne in Paris is another. The latter instance suggests to me a way in which some of your correspondents, whose private communications I have had to acknowledge in reference to other inquiries, might do me a real service at no great inconvenience perhaps to themselves.
I am collecting materials for a volume on Algernon Sydney. A great part of this illustrious patriot's life was spent abroad; in many parts of the continent, France, Holland, Denmark, Italy, Germany, &c. This part of his history has been so far veiled in considerable obscurity, and incidents of it misrepresented. Some better knowledge of it than we now possess, must be, I think, recoverable. A man of Sydney's birth, active temperament, and distinguished abilities, must have been spoken of in many letters and memoirs of that time. No doubt anecdotes and traits of character may be found in cotemporary French, Italian, German, and Scandinavian literature.
But with a library so vast to examine, no single man could ever feel sure that nothing was overlooked. Other explorers, working for themselves, may have hit upon statements or anecdotes of the greatest value to me. May I ask any such to oblige me by references to any works in which the information that I seek is to be found; sent either to "N. & Q.," or to my address as under?
OLD IRISH TALES.
"As Irish as O'Hanlan's breech;"
they "matched with the Kavanaghs of Carlow, and held with them," and thus became involved in the interminable feuds of the native tribes, and, like them, they left their estates to their bastards.
"The fashion of the Irish wars at that time" is there described, but probably not more graphically than in Derrick's quaint doggrel verses. "The Irish Churle's Tale" is next told; the churl was the husbandman, the "Protectionist" of the day, who doubtless could tell many piteous tales of oppression, rapine, and ravishment, whose only hope of protection lay in acting as a sort of sponge to some "wild lord" , and whose "tenant-right" cry of that day was "spend me, but defend me."
"They ben chaste, and sayen many prayers, and done great abstinence a-day, and drinketh all night."
"I cannot eat but little meat, My stomach is not good; But I do think that I can drink With him that wears a hood!"
Can any of your readers say in whose possession this book is now? I was informed that it was purchased by a dignitary of Cambridge University.
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