Skip to content

Chapter I: Front Matter

Text size

{57}

NOTES AND QUERIES:

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

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

* * * * *

No. 168.] SATURDAY, JANUARY 15. 1853 [With Index, price 10d. Stamped Edition 11d.

* * * * *

CONTENTS.

NOTES:-- Page

Inedited Poem by Pope 57

Southey's "Doctor:" St. Matthias' Day in Leap-year, by
P. J. Yarrum 58

Oxfordshire Legend in Stone, by B. H. Cowper 58

Lady Nevell's Music-Book 59

Bishop Burnet, by Wm. L. Nichols 59

A Monastic Kitchener's Account 60

The Fairies in New Ross, by Patrick Cody 61

MINOR NOTES:--The Duke of Wellington and Marshal Ney:
Parallel Passage in the Life of Washington and Major
André--St. Bernard _versus_ Fulke Greville--St.
Munoki's Day--Epitaph in Chesham Churchyard--Gentlemen
Pensioners--Marlborough: curious Case of Municipal
Opposition to County Magistracy--Wet Season in
1348--General Wolfe 62

QUERIES:--

Pope and the Marquis Maffei 64

The Church Catechism, by C. J. Armistead 64

A Countess of Southampton 64

MINOR QUERIES:--Hardening Steel Bars--Pierrepoint--Ceylon--
Flemish and Dutch Schools of Painting--"To talk like a
Dutch Uncle"--Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Belgium--
Charter of Waterford--Inscription on Penny of George
III.--"Shob" or "Shub," a Kentish Word--Bishop Pursglove
(Suffragan) of Hull--Stewarts of Holland--Robert Wauchope,
Archbishop of Armagh, 1543--Plum-pudding--"Whene'er I
asked"--Immoral Works--Arms at Bristol--Passage in
Thomson--"For God will be your King to-day"--"See where
the startled wild fowl"--Ascension-day--The Grogog
of a Castle 65

REPLIES:--

Canongate Marriages 67

Lady Katherine Grey 68

Howlett the Engraver, by B. Hudson 69

Chaucer 69

PHOTOGRAPHIC NOTES AND QUERIES:--Pyrogallic Acid--
Stereoscopic Pictures with One Camera--Mr. Crookes'
Wax-paper Process--India Rubber a Substitute for Yellow
Glass--Dr. Diamond's Paper Processes 70

REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES:--Ancient Timber Town-halls--
Magnetic Intensity--Monument at Wadstena--David Routh,
R. C. Bishop of Ossory--Cardinal Erskine--"Ne'er to these
chambers," &c.--The Budget--"Catching a Tartar"--The
Termination "-itis" 71

MISCELLANEOUS:--

Books and Odd Volumes wanted 73

Notices to Correspondents 73

Advertisements 74

* * * * *

Notes.

INEDITED POEM BY POPE.

In an original letter from James Boaden to Northcote the artist, I find the following passage; and I add to it the verses to which allusion is therein made:

"60. Warren Street, Fitzroy Square. "28th August, 1827.

"My dear friend,

"The verses annexed are so fine, that you should put them into your copy of Pope, among the Miscellanies. Dr. Warburton received them too late for his edition of our poet, and I find them only in a letter from the prelate to Dr. Hurd, dated 'Prior Park, June 24th, 1765.'

"I have used the freedom to mark a few of the finest touches with a pencil, to show you _my_ feeling. These you can rub out easily, and afterwards indulge your own. The style of interrogation seems to have revived in Gray's Elegy. Hurd would send the verses to Mason as soon as he got them; and Mason and Gray, as you know, were _one_ in all their studies.

"I do not forget the Fables.
"Yours, my dear friend, always,
"J. BOADEN.
"J. Northcote, Esq."

Not having by me any modern edition of Pope's _Works_, may I ask whether these verses, thus transcribed for Northcote by his friend Boaden, have yet been introduced to the public?

_Verses by Mr. Pope, on the late Dean of Carlisle's (Dr. Bolton) having
written and published a Paper to the Memory of Mrs. Butler, of Sussex,
Mother to old Lady Blount of Twickenham._

[They are supposed to be spoken by the deceased lady to the author of
that paper, which drew her character.]

"Stript to the naked soul, escaped from clay,
From doubts unfetter'd, and dissolved in day;
Unwarm'd by vanity, unreach'd by strife,
And all my hopes and fears thrown off with life;
Why am I charm'd by Friendship's fond essays,
And tho' unbodied, conscious of thy praise?
{58}
Has pride a portion in the parted soul?
Does passion still the formless mind control?
Can gratitude outpant the silent breath,
Or a friend's sorrow pierce the glooms of death?
No, 'tis a spirit's nobler taste of bliss,
That feels the worth it left, in proofs like this;
That not its own applause but thine approves,
Whose practice praises, and whose virtue loves;
Who liv'st to crown departed friends with fame;
Then dying, late, shalt all thou gav'st reclaim.
MR. POPE."

A. F. W.

* * * * *

SOUTHEY'S "DOCTOR;" ST. MATTHIAS' DAY IN LEAP-YEAR.

In looking over the 1848 edition of Southey's book, _The Doctor_, I observe an error which has escaped the care and revision of the editor, the Rev. J. W. Warter, B.D. At p. 199., where Southey is referring to the advantages of almanacs, he writes:

"Who is there that has not sometimes had occasion to consult the
almanac? Maximilian I., by neglecting to do this, failed in an
enterprise against Bruges. It had been concerted with his adherents in
that turbulent city, that he should appear before it at a certain time,
and they would be ready to rise in his behalf, and open the gates for
him. He forgot that it was leap-year, and came a day too soon; and this
error on his part cost many of the most zealous of his friends their
lives. It is remarkable that neither the historian who relates this,
nor the writers who have followed him, should have looked into the
almanac to guard against any inaccuracy in the relation; _for they have
fixed the appointed day on the eve of St. Matthias, which being the
23rd of February, could not be put out of its course by leap-year_."

The words in Italics show Southey's mistake. This historian was quite correct: as, according to the calendar of the Roman Catholic Church, although the regular festival of St. Matthias is celebrated upon the 24th of February, yet, "in anno bissextili Februarius est dierum 29, et Festum S. Mathiæ celebratur 25 Februarii." Thus it will be seen, that the year when Maximilian was to have appeared before Bruges being leap-year, and the day appointed being the eve of St. Matthias, he should have come upon the 24th, not the 23rd of February: the leap-year making all the difference.

P. J. YARRUM.

Dublin.

* * * * *

OXFORDSHIRE LEGEND IN STONE.

A few miles from Chipping-Norton, by the side of a road which divides Oxfordshire from Warwickshire, and on the brow of a hill overlooking Long Compton, stand the remains of a Druidical temple. Leland speaks of them as "Rollright stones," from their being in the parish of Rollright. The temple consists of a single circle of stones, from fifty to sixty in number, of various sizes and in different positions, but all of them rough, time-worn, and mutilated. The peasantry say that it is impossible to count these stones, and certainly it is a difficult task, though not because there is any witchcraft in the matter, but owing to the peculiar position of some of them. You will hear of a certain baker who resolved not to be outwitted, so hied to the spot with a basketful of small loaves, one of which he placed on every stone. In vain he tried; either his loaves were not sufficiently numerous, or some sorcery displaced them, and he gave up in despair. Of course no one expects to succeed now.

In a field adjoining are the remains of a cromlech, the altar where, at a distance from the people, the priests performed their mystic rites. The superimposed stone has slipped off, and rests against the others. These are the "Whispering Knights," and this their history:--In days of yore, when rival princes debated their claims to England's crown by dint of arms, the hostile forces were encamped hard by. Certain traitor-knights went forth to parley with others from the foe. While thus plotting, a great magician, whose power they unaccountably overlooked, transformed them all into stone, and there they stand to this day.

Not far from the temple, but on the opposite side of the road, is a solitary stone, probably the last of two rows which flanked the approach to the sacred circle. This stone was once a prince who claimed the British throne. On this spot he inquired of the magician above named what would be his destiny:

"If Long Compton you can see,
King of England you shall be,"

answered the wise man. But he could not see it, and at once shared the fate of the "Whispering Knights." This is called the "King's stone," and so stands that, while you cannot see Long Compton from it, you can if you go forward a very little way. On some future day an armed warrior will issue from this very stone, to conquer and govern our land!

It is said that a farmer, who wished to bridge over a small stream at the foot of the hill, resolved to press the "Whispering Knights" into the service; but it was almost too much for all the horse power at his command to bring them down. At length they were placed, but all they could do was not sufficient to keep them in their place. It was therefore resolved to restore them to their original post, when, lo! they who required so much to bring them down, and defied all attempts to keep them quiet, were taken back almost without an effort by a single horse! So there they stand, {59} till they and the rest (for I believe the large circle was once composed of living men) shall return to their proper manhood.

Other legends respecting this curious relic might, I doubt not, be obtained on the spot. I obtained the above in answer to inquiries, when making a pilgrimage to the place.

B. H. COWPER.

* * * * *

LADY NEVELL'S MUSIC-BOOK.

The following contents of the Lady Nevell's music-book (1591) may be interesting to many of your readers:

"1. My Ladye Nevell's Grownde.
2. Que passe, for my Ladye Nevell.
3. The March before the Battell.
4. The Battell.
The March of Footemen.
The March of Horsemen.
The Trumpetts.
The Irishe Marche.
The Bagpipe and Drone.
The Flute and Dromme.
The Marche to Fight.
Tantara.
The Battells be ioyned.
The Retreat.
5. The Galliarde for the Victorie.
6. The Barley Breake.
7. The Galliarde Gygg.
8. The Hunt's upp.
9. Ut re mi fa sol la.
10. The first Pauian.
11. The Galliard to the same.
12. The seconde Pauian.
13. The Galliarde to the same.
14. The third Pauian.
15. The Galliarde to the same.
16. The fourth Pauian.
17. The Galliarde to the same.
18. The fifte Pauian.
19. The Galliarde to the same.
20. The sixte Pauian.
21. The Galliarde to the same.
22. The seventh Pauian.
23. The eighte Pauian.
The passinge mesurs is,
24. The nynthe Pauian.
25. The Galliarde to the same.
26. The Voluntarie Lesson.
27. Will you walk the Woods soe wylde.
28. The Mayden's Song.
29. A Lesson of Voluntarie.
30. The second Grownde.
31. Have w^t you to Walsingame.
32. All in a Garden greene.
33. The lo. Willobie's welcome home.
34. The Carman's Whistle.
35. Hughe Ashton's Grownde.
36. A Fancie, for my Ladye Nevell.
37. Sellinger's Rownde.
38. Munser's Almaine.
39. The tenth Pauian, Mr. W. Peter.
40. The Galliarde to the same.
41. A Fancie.
42. A Voluntarie.
Finis.

Ffinished and ended the Leventh of September, in the yeare of our Lorde
God 1591, and in the 33 yeare of the raigne of our sofferaine ladie
Elizabeth, by the grace of God Queen of England, &c., by me, Jo.
Baldwine of Windsore.

Laudes Deo."

The songs have no words to them. Most of the airs are signed "Mr. William Birde."

A modern MS. note in the book states that the book is "Lady Nevell's Music-book," and that she seems "to have been the scholar of Birde, who professedly composed several of the pieces for her ladyship's use;" and that sixteen of the forty-two pieces are "in the Virginal Book of Queen Elizabeth," and that "Jo. Baldwine was a singing-man at Windsor." The music is written on four-staved paper of six lines, in large bold characters, with great neatness. The notes are lozenge-shape. Can any of your correspondents furnish rules for transposing these six-line staves into the five-line staves of modern notations?

Comments

Log in to leave a comment.

Notes and Queries, Number 168, January 15, 1853Chapter I: Front Matter

0%8 min left in chapter