J

יו

this poem a fantastical allegory describing the body and soul of man, but containing many rich and picturesque passages (v. his Christian Poet,' p. 163.). But there is a most excellent critique upon it in the Retrosp. Rev.' for Nov. 1820 (v. p. 351.), but see also Headley, who highly praises it.

The name of Fletcher ranks high in the list of our poets. He was born in 1584, and was the son of Dr. Giles Fletcher, who was himself a poet; the brother of Giles Fletcher, the author of Christ's Victory;' and the cousin of John Fletcher,

the celebrated dramatist."

IV. In a note on a copy of "Iter Boreale, with large additions of several other poems, being an exact collection of all hitherto extant; never before published together. The author R. Wild, D. D., printed for the booksellers in London, 1668,"- the author is described as "of Tatenill, near Burton sup Trent." The note is apparently of contemporary date, or a little later."

This edition is not noticed by Lowndes, nor is another edition (anonymous), of which I have a copy, the date of which is 1605 (printed for R.J., and are to be sold in St. Paul's Churchyard). Of course this date is a mistake, but query what is the real date? Probably 1665. volume concludes with the 70th page, being identical with the 72nd page of the edition of 1668.

The

V. Note in the handwriting of Mr. Ford, in a copy of "Waller's Poems," 1645 (after quoting -Rymer on Tragedy," pp. 2. and 79.):

The dedicatory epistle in this first and rare edition Tomy Lady,' is omitted in all the subsequent editions, even in Fenton's of 1729 (see Dibdin). I find it is inserted in Fenton's edition among the speeches and letters; but he adds, in his observations thereon, that it appears not to have been designed for a public dedication, though why or wherefore he assigns no reason; and he further adds, I never met with any tradition to what Lady it was originally directed.' It certainly has as much the appearance of having been intended for a dedication, if we may judge from internal evidence, as such sort of things generally have. This is the first genuine edition and very scarce. It is priced in the Bib. Ang. Poet.' at 2 gs. No. 851. The subsequent editions are of no particular value, excepting Fenton's elegant and complete edition in 4to., which is worth about the same sum.'

VI. Note in a handwriting of the 17th century, in a copy of Cawood's edition of the "Ship of Fools," opposite to the dedication, which is "Venerandissimo in Christo Patri ac Domino, domino Thomæ Cornissh, Tenenensis pontifici, ac diocesis Badonensis Suffraganio vigilantissimo," &c.

"Thomas Cornish, in 1421-2, was made Suffragan

Bishop to Rich. Fox, BP of Bath and Wells, under y title of Episcopus Tynensis,' by wh I suppose is meant Tyne, ye last island belonging to ye republick of Venice in ye Archipelago. See more of him in Athenæ Oxoniens.' vol. i. p. 555."

VII. Note by T. Park, in a copy of the third edition of an "Essay on Human Life," by the

author of the "Essay on Man," 1736. (Printed for J. Witford.)

By Lord Pagett. 1st edn 1734. 4to. says Lord Orford. An ed" in 8vo. was printed in 1736 for Fletcher Gyles against Grays Inn in Holbourn,' and was called (as this is) the third; but it gave no delusive intimation in the title that Pope was the author, honestly assigning it to the Right Hon. Lord Pagett. To the preface was added a short postscript."

On another page he has written:

"This is perhaps the most successful imitation of Pope's ethic poem which has been produced. Lord Paget has had the credit of composing it."

In another handwriting there is written: "From Mr. Newton, a valuable present, June 25. 1760."

Under which Mr. Park has added:

"Qu. from Newton to Cowper, whose handwriting resembles the above."

VIII. I have a little book entitled, "The Original History of Old Robin Gray; with the adventures of Jenny and Sandy: a Scotch Tale;" n. d. printed for H. Turpin. A prose narrative, apparently intended for children, but which Mr. Haslewood has enriched with a number of newspaper cuttings and other illustrations, and has added the following note: —

"Auld Robin Gray; a ballad by the Right Honourable Lady Anne Barnard, born Lady Anne Lindsay of Balcarras; Edin. printed by James Ballantyne and Co. 1825, qto. This is the first authentic edition of this beautiful Scottish ballad, and forms one of the publications by Sir Walter Scott as a member of the Bannatyne Club. The publication gives an interesting account of the authoress-of the origin of the ballad the ballad-continuation of Auld Robin Gray, all from the same hand; it is to be regretted it is not It will, it may be expublished for wider circulation. pected, find a vent for the publick at some future period, and some of the gatherings in this volume swell a note or two, if not a page.. See Cens. Lib.' vol. ix. p. 323. for another ballad called, Continuation of Auld Robin Gray.' Auld Robin Gray's Ghaist begins Right sweetly sang the nightingale,' among my Scotch songs. The sequel to Auld Robin Gray begins, Full five long years' in do."

OPINIONS ON ENGLISH HISTORIANS.

II. Lord Clarendon.

J. F. M.

in fact it is questionable whether the number of books sold in that way is not greater than those sold" over the counter," but few have probably heard of books sold "by the yard." Having purchased at St. Petersburg, the library left by an old Russian nobleman of high rank, I was quite astonished to find a copy of Euvres de Frederic II. originally published in 15 vols., divided into 60, to each of which a new title had been printed; and several hundred volumes lettered outside EŒuvres de Miss Burney, Euvres de Swift, &c., but containing, in fact, all sorts of French waste paper books. These, as well as three editions of Euvres de Voltaire, were all very neatly bound in calf, gilt, and with red morocco backs. My curiosity being roused, I inquired into the origin of these circumstances, and learnt that during the reign of Catherine, every courtier who had hopes of being honoured by a visit from the Empress, was expected to have a library, the greater or smaller extent of which was to be regulated by the fortune of its possessor, and that, after Voltaire had won the favour of the Autocrat by his servile flattery, one or two copies of his works were considered indispensable. Every courtier was thus forced to have a room fitted up with mahogany shelves, and filled with books, by far the greater number of which he never read or even opened. A bookseller of the name of Klostermann, who, being of an athletic stature, was one of the innumerable favourites of the lady "who loved all things save her lord," was usually employed, not to select a library, but to fill a certain given space of so many yards, with books, at so much per volume, and Mr. Klostermann, the "Libraire de la Cour Imperiale," died worth a plum, having sold many thousand yards of books (among which I understood there were several hundred copies of Voltaire), at from 50 to 100 roubles a yard, cording to the binding."

Berlin, Dec. 1849.

64 ac

A. ASHER.

B.N.

Miry-land Town. In the Athenæum, in an article on the tradition respecting Sir Hugh of Lincoln, the Bishop of Dromore's version of the affair is thus given :

"The rain rins doun through Mirry-land toune,
Sae dois it doune the Pa';
Sae dois the lads of Mirry-land toune,
Quhan they play at the Ba'."

In explanation of part of this stanza, Dr. Percy is stated to have considered "Mirry-land toune to be "probably a corruption of Milan (called by the Dutch Meylandt) town," and that the Pa'

was "evidently the river Po, though the Adige, not the Po, runs through Milan;" and it is observed that it could not have occasioned Dr. Jamieson much trouble to conjecture as he did that "MirryAnd toune" was a corruption of "Merry Lincolne," and that, in fact, in 1783, Pinkerton commenced his version of the ballad thus

"The bonnie boys o' merry Lincoln;" and it is added, very truly, that with all his haste and petulance, Pinkerton's critical acumen was far from inconsiderable. Now, there appears to me to have been a very simple solution of the above words, so simple that perhaps it was beneath the critical acumen of the said commentators. My note on the subject is, that Mirry-land toune means nothing more than Miry-, Muddy-land Town, a designation that its situation certainly entitles it to; and Pa' is certainly not the Po, but an abbreviated form of Pall, i. e. a place to play Ba' or ball in, of which we have a well-known instance in Pall Mall.

Since writing the above, I recollect that Romsey, in Hampshire, has been designated "Romsey-inthe-Mud." J. R. F. Richard Greene of Lichfield.-H. T. E. is informed that there is a medal or token (not difficult to obtain) of this zealous antiquary. Obv. his bust, in the costume of the period; legend, "Richard Greene, collector of the Lichfield Museum, died June 4. 1793, aged 77." Rev. a Gothic indo, apparently; legend, "West Porch of Lichfield Cathedral, 1800."

B. N.

The Lobster in the Medal of the Pretender. The "Notes" by your correspondents, Mr. Edward Hawkins and Mr. J. B. Yates, relative to this medal, are very curious and interesting, and render it probable that the device of the Lobster has a religious rather than a political allusion. But it strikes us that the double introduction of this remarkable emblem has a more important signification than the mere insidious and creeping characteristics of Jesuitism. The lines beneath the curious print in Brandt's Stultifera Navis throw no light on the meaning of the Lobster. We think the difficulty yet remains unsolved. B. N.

Marescautia. -Your correspondent "D. S." who asks (in No. 6.) for information upon the word "Marescautia," may consult Du Cange with advantage, s. v. "Marescallus;" the "u," which perhaps was your correspondent's difficulty, being often written for "1," upon phonotypic principles. It was anciently the practice to apportion the revenues of royal and great monastic establishments to some specific branch of the expenditure; and as the profits of certain manors, &c., are often described as belonging to the "Infirmaria," the "Camera Abbatis," &c., so, in the instance referred to by "D. S," the lands at Cumpton and Little

Ongar were apportioned to the support of the royal stable and farriery. J. B.

Macaulay's "Young Levite."-The following is an additional illustration of Mr. Macaulay's sketch, from Bishop Hall's Byting Satyres, 1599:"A gentle squire would gladly entertaine Into his house some Trencher-chapelaine; Some willing man, that might instruct his sons, And that would stand to good conditions. First, that he lie upon the truckle-bed, While his young maister lieth o'er his head; Second, that he do, upon no default, Never to sit above the salt;

Third, that he never change his trencher twise;
Fourth, that he use all common courtesies,
Sit bare at meales, and one half rise and wait;
Last, that he never his yong maister beat,
But he must aske his mother to define
How manie jerks she would his breech should line;
All these observ'd, he could contented be,
To give five markes, and winter liverie."

R.

"A. D. 1621, July the 17th, Bernart Calvart of Andover, rode from Saint George's Church in Southwark to Dover, from thence passed by Barge to Callais in France, and from thence returned back to Saint George's Church the same day. This his jourhe performed betwixt the hours of three in the morning and eight in the afternoon." This appears to me such a surprising feat, that I think some of your correspondents may be interested in it; and also may be able to append farther information. DAVID STEVENS.

ney

Warning to Watchmen. - The following Warning, addressed to the Watchmen of London on the occasion of a great fire, which destroyed nearly 100 houses in the neighbourhood of Exchange Alley, Birchin Lane, the back of George Yard, &c., among which were Garraway's, the Jerusalem Coffee House, George and Vulture, Tom's, &c. &c., is extracted from the London Magazine for 1748, and is very characteristic of the then state of the police of the metropolis:

From the Westminster Journal, April 2nd, No. 331. "Mr. Touchit's Warning to the Watchmen of London. (1748).

"Whereas it has been represented to me, Thomas Touchit, Watchman Extraordinary of the City of Westminster, that the Watchmen of London were very remiss during the dreadful Fire on Friday morning, March 25, in not giving timely Notice of that Calamity over their several Beats, whereby the Friends of many

of the unhappy Sufferers, who would have flown to their Assistance, were ignorant of their Distress till it was too late to do them Service; and also that most of the said Watchmen, on other Occasions, are very negligent, whence it happens that many Robberies, Burglaries, and other Offences, which their Care might prevent are committed; and that even some of them are in Fee with common Harlots and Streetwalkers, whom they suffer at unseasonable Hours, unmolested to prey on the Virtue, Health and Property of His Majesty's Liege Subjects: Be it known to the said Watchmen, and their Masters, that, having taken the Premises into Consideration, I intend whenever I set out from Spring Gardens with my invisible Cup, my irradiating Lanthorn, and my Oken Staff of correction, to take the City of London, under Leave of the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor, into my Rounds, and to detect, expose, and punish all Defaulters in the several Stands and Beats: Whereof this fair Warning is given, that none may be surprized in Neglect of Duty, I being determined to shew no Favour to sueh Offenders." Euston Square, 12th Dec. 1849.

Elfric's Colloquy. Permit me to correct a singular error into which the great Anglo-Saxon scholars, Messrs. Lye and B. Thorpe, have been betrayed by some careless transcriber of the curious Monastic Colloquy by the celebrated Elfric. This production of the middle ages is very distinctly written, both in the Saxon and Latin portions, in the Cotton MS. (Tiberius, A 3, fol. 58 b.) Mr. Lye frequently cites it, in his Saxon Dictionary, as "Coll. Mon.," and Mr. Thorpe gives it entire in his Analecta Anglo-Saxonica. The former loosely explains higdifatu, which occurs in the reply of the shoewright (sceowyrhta), thus "Calidilia, sc. vasa quædam.-Coll. Mon." — and Mr. Thorpe prints both higdifatu and calidilia. Higdifatu is manifestly vessels of hides,

By Hook or by Crook. You have noted the origin of Humble Pie. May I add a note of a saying, in my opinion also derived from forest customs, viz. "By hook or by crook?" Persons entitled to fuel wood in the king's forest, were only authorised to take it of the dead wood or branches of trees in the forest, "with a cart, a hook, and a ¦ crook."

The answer to the query respecting the meaning of "per serjantiam Marescautiæ," is the Serjeantry of Farriery, i. e. shoeing the king's horses. In Maddox, vol. i. p. 43. you will find a very full account of the office of Marescallus. J.R. F.

Tho' it each earthly clime denies,
Shall never bathe thy name.
"Ye azure tribes that rule the sea,
And rise at my command,
Bid Vernon mix a draught for me

To toast his native land.'
"Swift o'er the waves the Nereids flew,
Where Vernon's flag appear'd;
Around the shores they sung True Blue,
And Britain's hero cheer'd.

"A mighty bowl on deck he drew,
And filled it to the brink;
Such drank the Burford's gallant crew,
And such the gods shall drink.
"The sacred robe which Vernon wore
Was drenched within the same;
And hence his virtues guard our shore,
And Grog derives its name."

W. H.S.

[The gallant correspondent to whom we are indebted for the foregoing satisfactory, because early and documentary, evidence of the etymology of the now familiar ballad on the subject. term GROG, informs us that there is a still earlier We trust that he will be enabled to recover that also, and put it on record in our columns.]

Flag-ship at the taking of Porto-Bello.

1

14

Barnacles.In a Chorographical Description of West, or Il-Jar Connaught, by Rhoderic O'Flaherty, Esq., 1684, published by the Irish Archæological Society in 1846, the bernacle goose is thus mentioned:

"There is the bird engendered by the sea out of timber long lying in the sea. Some call them clakes, and soland geese, and some puffins; others bernacles, because they resemble them. We call them girrinn.

Martin, in his Western Isles of Scotland, says:— "There are also the cleek geese. The shells in which this fowl is said to be produced, are found in several isles sticking to trees by the bill; of this kind I have seen many, the fowl was covered by a shell, and the head stuck to the tree by the bill, but never saw any of them with life in them upon the tree; but the natives told me that they had observed them to move with the heat of the sun.". - See also Gratianus, Lucius, Ware's Antiquities, &c.

author of a Dutch History of Dr. Faustus, without either author's name or date, and illustrated by very rude engravings? There is no mention of where it was printed, but at the bottom of the title-page is the following notice :

in

"Compared with the high Dutch copy, and corrected many places, and ornamented with beautiful copper plates."

There is also a promise of a Latin copy soon to follow. HERMES.

[The first German chap-book upon Faust appeared in 1587. A translation of it into Dutch was published as early as 1592, at Emmerich. It was again printed

at Delft in 1607; and there have been several editions

since that date. The curious history of this romance has been well investigated by H. Düntzer, Die Sage von Doctor Johannes Faust, in the 5th volume of Das Kloster; and even more fully by the Freiherr v. Reichlien Meldegg, in the 11th volume of the same work.]

To Fettle.-Your correspondent L. C. R. (p. Cheshire Glossary, or (as he modestly termed it) 142.) is referred to the late Mr. Roger Wilbraham's An Attempt, &c. This work, privately printed in 1820, is the republication, but with very considerable additions, of a paper in the Archæologia, vol.

xix.

The explanation of the present word is an instance of this expansion.

Your correspondent and Mr. W. agree as to the meaning of this verb, viz. "to mend, to put in order any thing which is broken or defective." Being used in this sense, Mr. W. differs from Johnson and Todd, and he is inclined to derive Fettle from some deflection of the word Faire, which comes from the Latin Facere. I must not crowd your columns further, but refer to the Glossary.

May I point out rather a ludicrous misprint, (doubtless owing to an illegible MS.) at p. 120. For Mr. Pickering's Lives, read Series of Aldine Poets. J. H. M.

To Fetyl, v. n. To join closely. See G. factil. ligamen.-Wyntown.

Fettil, Fettle, s. Energy, power. - S. B.
To Fettle, v. a. To tie up.-S.

Fettle, adj. 1. Neat, tight.-S. B. 2. Low in stature, but well-knit.-S. B.

Fetous, adj. Neat, trim.

Fetusly, adv. Featly.

Jamieson's Dictionary, abridged 8vo. edition. Fettle, v. To put in order, to repair or mend any thing that is broken or defective.

I am inclined to consider it as from the same root as Feat, viz. Sue Got. futt, apt, ready. Swed. fatt, disposed, inclined; fatta, to comprehend. -Brockett's Glossary.