tains the same tradition: "The Creator spent 6000 years in creation; 6000 more are allotted to the earth" (Quoted in Fausset's Livy). And I have met with the notion elsewhere. Where is it traced to have originated? Have any modern divines adopted it? A. A. D.

Sir Roger de Coverley (Vol. v., p. 467.).When did this dance first receive the name of Sir Roger de Coverley? "My Aunt Margery" is the name under which it is performed in Virginia, U.S. Which is the earlier name?

J. LEWELYN CURTIS. The Names and Numbers of British Regiments. Under the above title I made some inquiries through the "N. & Q." so far back as November last (Vol. iv., p. 368), with the view of eliciting certain information; but I regret the questions then put have not been responded to. Hoping that some of your military, or other readers, may yet be able to supply answers, I beg again to inquire

1. When did the present mode of numbering regiments begin; and by whom and under what circumstances was it introduced; the former practice having been to distinguish regiments by particular names, such as Barrell's, Howard's, Ligonier's, &c., without any number?

2. What is the guide now in identifying a named with a numbered regiment; and is there any particular book where this information may be had?

Glasgow.

Z.

A Delectable Discourse on Fishing. In Dyer's Privileges of the University of Cambridge, vol. i. p. 576., is mentioned a manuscript entitled A Delectable Discourse on Fishing. What is this work? Has it ever been republished amongst any of the numerous angling reprints? BONSALL.

"I'm the Laird of Windy Walls."-In a copy of Sir Francis Drake Revival (London, 1653), on the back of the portrait of Drake are a few lines in an old hand, beginning

"I'm the Laird of Windy Walls, I came here not without a cause,

And waile gotten many fawes, and yett I am not slain, Jo."

They are signed "Bartholomew Rouse."

Are these the beginning of any ballad of the time, or do they in any way refer to Sir Francis Drake? BONSALL.

Mrs. Philarmonica. - Can any musical reader give me information respecting a set of trios entitled Sonute a due Violini col Violoncello obbligato (sic) o Violone o Cimbalo di Mrs. Philarmonica. Parle Prima. A Londre Imprimé per R. Meares, a L'enseigne de la Base Viole Dor, dans le Cometeire (sic) de St. Paul. T. Cross sculpsit. This first part consists of six sonatas: then a fresh

title-page introduces six more in these words, Diuertimente da Camera á due Violini Violoncello o Cembalo. Parte Seconda. T. Cross sculpsit. AN AMATEUR.

Admiral Sir Richard I. Strachan, K. C.B.— Being a kinsman of this excellent and ill-used officer, and being engaged in collecting information regarding his life, may I request the assistance of any of the numerous readers of the "N. & Q." that can give any information on the subject? Beyond the parliamentary papers, the meagre and unsatisfactory notice in Marshall's Naval Biography, and Allan's Battles of the British Navy, I have been disappointed in my search; and can neither procure a portrait nor an engraving of one so distinguished, and who so lately passed away.

Edinburgh.

T. W.

The Ogden and Westcott Families (Vol. ii., pp. 73. 105, 106.).-TWYFORD says that a member of the Ogden family settled in America about the year 1790. I am a lineal descendant of an Ogden of New Jersey, who settled there about the year mentioned. If TWYFORD can give any particulars concerning the Ogden who emigrated to America, he would oblige me much.

Can any of your readers give me any information as to the family history of Stukely Westcott, who settled in Salem, New Jersey, in 1639, and afterwards went to Rhode Island? There are many Westcotts now about Providence, Rhode Island and the southern part of New Jersey abounds with them. There is a legend that the Jersey Westcotts are all descendants of three brothers. Stukely Westcott may have been one of the three: but it would be a matter of interest to their descendants to know from what English stock they are descended.

Philadelphia, U. S. A., June, 1852.

ख.

I do not myself know anything of Mr. Bertram, the editor of Richard of Cirencester De Situ Britanniæ; but one of the most learned men in the north, Mr. E. C. Werlauff, the chief librarian of the Royal Library here, and Professor of History at our University, has communicated to me the following Notes containing some particulars of the life and writings of Mr. Bertram:

"C. J. Bertram was, according to Worm, Forfatter Lexicon (Dictionary of Authors), born in 1723. In 1747, he petitioned the consistorium, or

the Senate at the University of Copenhagen, to be made a student, notwithstanding his belonging to the Church of England. He declared his intention to study especially history, antiquities, philosophy, and mathematics. In 1748, he petitioned the King of Denmark for permission to give public lectures upon the English language; he had at that time been ten years in Denmark, and had indirectly been called to this country by King Christian VI. He died the 8th of January, 1765. In the years 1749-1753, he published some papers on the subject of the English grammar. In the last of these, Grundig Anvisning tit det engelshe Sprogs Kundskab, 1753 (True directions for a perfect knowledge of the English language), he gives several favorable opinions of the professors Holberg, Mollmann, Anchersen, &c., as well of this work as of his literary essays in general.

"Of his English Scriptores no manuscript exists at the Royal Library of Copenhagen. Neither are any testamentary dispositions as to his manuscripts known. But at the said Royal Library is preserved an English MS. containing critical notes and observations to the history of Canute the Great, taken from Old English and Icelandic writings. This fragment must have been copied The by some one who did not know English. Catalogue, however, supposes that it originally has been written by Mr. Bertram.

"The historian Suhm mentions Bertram's Ricardus Corinensis among the works he has made use of for his book upon the origin of the Scandinavian people Om de Nordiske Folks Oprindelse, 1770; but perhaps it must be regarded as more important that Lappenberg, in his Geschichte Englans, pp. 16. 41. 57., quotes the books as genuine." J. J. A. WORSAAE.

Copenhagen,

ROBERT FORBES.

(Vol. v., p. 510.)

The Query of HYPADIDASCULUS reminds me of one of my own, viz.: What had become of the Bib. Scot. Poetica of Chalmers and Ritson? When Ritson's MS. fell into the hands of the former, there were great hopes that a work worthy the fame of both these eminent bibliographers would be the result: but whatever were the plans entertained by either, they did not live to carry them out. If it however be true, that these precious MSS. have got into the good hands of a gentleman on the other side the Tweed, remarkable for his enthusiasm for all that appertains to the Antient Popular Poetry of his country, we may probably yet look for a standard work of reference upon all subjects connected with the poetical or dramatic literature of Scotland.

With respect to Robert Forbes, it appears to me that your correspondent has asked for the

Narrating as it does, not very decently, the "intrigues," drouthy habits," and their consequence to the hero, the "Dominie Deposed" had a good circulation as a kind of Scot's Chap until a better species of literature for the million sprang up.

Peter Buchan, the Aberdeenshire ballad collector, notices another poet of this name, the Rev. Jno. Forbes, A.M., of Pitnacalder, and minister of Deer; who is, curiously enough, the author of a piece bearing some resemblance both in name and style to that of the Peterculter schoolmaster. The "Dominie Deposed" shows how severely the Kirk-session handled its author, but we do not hear what ecclesiastical censure the minister of Deer was subjected to for such improprieties as the following extract from "Nae Dominies for me Laddie" exhibits:

"But for your sake [sings the Rev. John] I'll fleece the flock,

Grow rich as I grow auld, lassie; If I be spared, I'll be a laird,

And thou be Madam called, lassie."

I ought, however, to note that these were the sentiments of the minister before he took orders; and, although one would think the Presbytery should have paused before entrusting" the flock" to a shepherd with such antecedents, the pastor of Deer turned out a very worthy character. J. O.

This startling title is succeeded by an excellent sermon, in no wise alluding to the announcement by hint or innuendo. This sermon, or sermons, is simply an earnest call to repentance for sin, and a declaration of the better grounds for happiness, both in this world and the next, for those who live a godly life here. The "Epistle to the Reader" begins as follows:

"Reader, when I preached the following sermons, I had not the least thought of publishing them; they were taken from my mouth by a dexterous and nimble hand, that wrote almost every word I uttered: I was very much solicited to print them, and the notes being written out fair, and brought to me, I have looked them over, and now they are presented to thee, with a design that they may be beneficial, and not without hope they will be so. The subjects here handled are awakening; and in this secure age, what need is there of startling sermons," &c.

I do not see (from a hasty glance) that either Lowndes or Watt allude to this work.

In my copy there is a loose print inserted of the following character: a long bodied dragon, whose carcase is shaped like a cannon, is discharging serpents, daggers, scourges, &c., at a divine of the Church of England, who holds in his hand an open Bible, on which is the text: "On this rock I will build my church," &c. On the forked tail of this monster is seated a female figure playing on a fiddle, and inscribed "the whore of Babylon." The beast has seven heads, with a label on each; on one of which is written, "A Shove to ye Heavy Arst Christian." A devil is applying (with evident caution against the recoil) a long red-hot rod to the touch-hole. Underneath this precious print are twenty-one lines of verse. The print is headed "Faction display'd."

JOHN HOPE.

BONSALL.

(Vol. v., p. 581.; Vol. vi., p. 18.) Your interesting Notes tend greatly to bring one better acquainted with his own library.

On reading that of your correspondent F. R. A. (p. 581.) I reached me down my copy of Hope's Thoughts, and began to turn it over with increased interest; coming upon his "Northern Pastoral," it occurred to me that I had seen it elsewhere, and drawing forth another volume from my shelf of "Anonymes," I found it to be the original stem of Mr. H.'s Thoughts, under the title of Occasional Attempts at Sentimental Poetry, by a Man in Business; with some Miscellaneous Compositions by his Friends, 8vo., London, 1769.* Besides

• The discovery, if one at all, is unimportant, except in so far as it affords an example of the practical application of the capital hint of your correspondent M. (Vol. v., p. 271.), that you may sometimes find at home what you may seek for in vain farther a-field.

these, Mr. H. wrote The New Brighthelmstone Guide; or, Sketches in Miniature of the British Shore, London, 1770, in the style of Anstey; and Watt assigns him Letters on Certain Proceedings in Parliament during the Session of 1769 and 70, London, 1772.

The bibliography of Hope's Thoughts is curious, inasmuch as the same publication seems to have issued from three different places, with new titles, the same year; that of F. R. A. bearing London; another Edinburgh, C. Elliott, 1780; while mine in Prose and Verse, started in his Walks, by J. H. has the following title and imprint, viz., Thoughts

"Together let us beat this ample field," &c. Stockton, printed by R. Christopher, and sold at London by W. Goldsmith, &c., 1780, 8vo., pp. 349, dedicated to "the officers of the Northamptonshire militia," by way of return for the "infinite pleasure" he had enjoyed in their company. As the London publishers have few friends at the moment, one hit at them, more or less, will do no harm; here, then, is Mr. H.'s opinion of them seventy years ago, in explanation of his provincial imprint:

If my book should not meet with a ready sale, I have, to those of the critics, two reasons to add, which will save my vanity some little pain. The first is, that my printer could not provide me with as good a for it than I meant to remain at Stockton. paper as I wished for, without waiting a longer time deserves to be generally known: there is in London The second a certain combination of booksellers who discourage willingly make a monopoly of their own. everything that comes from a country press, and would But though I would always show a proper respect to polite company by introducing myself to them in my best suit, I am never displeased at obtruding myself on a parcel of purse-proud fellows with my rusty coat on."

As an extract from the poetical part of Mr. H.'s amusing volume will afford at once a sample thereof, and a peg upon which to hang a biograto your readers the following phical note for F. R. A., allow me to introduce "Picture of my Family in 1767:"

"When daub d and bespatter'd with mud and with mire,

In riding from town to my own country fire,
I enter the house (in like dirty condition
As was fatty Slop, the Shandyan physician,
When he fell from his poney, with projectile force, *.
At the terrible sight of Ob'dial's coach-horse) —
My two stoutest lads, with a thundering din,
Come galloping to me, to welcome me in.
In each hand a prattler, I march to the parlour;
There Madam sits suckling her dear little snarler;
The youngest, I mean, who's got snuffling his nose,
Where I my dull noddle would gladly repose.
Tho' dirty I look'd as the Doctor 'foresaid,
Pray, let not the simile farther be read ;
For, in grandeur, I seem'd as the arms of this land,
That tween two supporters illustriously stand;

A fierce, noble lion, and his unicorn mate,
Prance, proudly erect, and attend them in state.
A kind kiss having had (a sweet welcome to home!)
I forthwith begin to disorder the room.
I pull off my boots ;-but not such as sly Trim,
To please uncle Toby, in humorous whim,
Converted to mortars ;-but such as he might
Make field-pieces of,-full as dread in a fight.
Yet not such as Hudibras stuff'd bread and cheese'
in

The rats and the mice with the scent so well
pleasing,

That oft they their noses attempted to squeeze in ;
But, not with comparisons longer to tire,
These boots, as they are, I set up at the fire.
Quick, arch-looking John pops the dog into one,
As the dwarf thrust Gulliver into the bone;
And Charles, who is ever as keen at a joke,
With matter combustible makes t'other smoke.
Having, farther, my surtout thrown down on a chair,
And haul'd out my slippers from under the stair,
I'm challeng'd by Madam to walk out and play
With the sweet little Cupids, while yet it is day.
Then out we all sally, with loud-shouting noise,
And joyful acclaim from the two elder boys;
With her suckling Maria trips lightly along;
Leads, smiling, the van, as she hums us a song.
Next follows the kitten, pursu'd by the dog

(For teazing poor kitten there's ne'er such a rogue),
She squalling and mewing, he barking before us,
Assist in our music, to fill up the chorus.
But how you would laugh, to behold in the rear,
The scene we exhibit (a scene the most queer!)
In Holland, I doubt not, with wonder you've seen,
Trail'd on by one nag, needy doctor's machine;
A carriage have we, full as light to the feel,
That runs without horse, and that has but one wheel;
With pompous big phrase I e'er scorn to beguile,
A barrow 'tis call'd in plain, vulgar style;
In which having stowed my two shouting boys,
And fill'd up the bottom with hay and with toys,
I put to my hand, and on wheeling the barrow,
Cry, Who'll buy my puddings? nice puddings of

marrow!'

As the children then chuckle, I surely am pleas'd: Thus see by how little from care I am eas'd; Hence learn to contain, in a space full as narrow, And carry your wishes all -- in a wheel-barrow." The actors in this pleasant domestic sketch were John Hope, our author, nephew of the Earl of Hopetoun, and Marq. of Annandale, being the son of the Honourable Charles Hope and Lady Henrietta Johnstone, and born in 1739; a London merchant, and M.P. at one period for West Lothian. The lady-his "lov'd Maria,"-the daughter of E. Breton, Esq., of Forty Hill, Enfield, who, the same year this happy picture was drawn by the fond husband and father, and then only twentyfive, committed suicide!-her death, on the 25th of June, 1767, is recorded on a marble slab in Westminster Abbey. The contents of the barrow, Charles and John Hope, were the future Lord President of the Court of Session, and General

Your correspondent C. B. (Vol. v., p. 523.) in reply to a question (Vol. v., p. 441.) relating to an "optical phenomenon," gives a solution which is partly satisfactory. The screen, used to intercept a portion of the rays, doubtless assists vision on that account, but not to the extent we have in this instance.

In the first place, the phenomenon in question can happen only to a short-sighted person, whereas intercepting the unnecessary rays by a diaphragm, assists all varieties of vision equally, or nearly so. The cause of the phenomenon I believe to be the following:

Every spherical lens produces, as is well known, a certain amount of "aberration," on its bringing rays to a focus after passing through it, i. e. the rays passing through, near its outside edges, are brought to a shorter focus than those which pass through nearer to the centre of the lens. The interval between the two extreme foci, measured It will be obvious that the formation of so many on the axis of the lens, is the amount of aberration. images at so many distinct foci must produce confusion.

Now it is well known also that the lens in a short-sighted eye, being too convex, or having too great refractive power, brings its rays to a focus too soon, i. e. before they reach the retina; it is also (being a spherical lens) subject to the "aberration" above mentioned; if then you cut off the outside rays, which are brought to the shorter focus, and allow only the centre rays to pass, which converge to the more distant focus, you thereby destroy the indistinct images; leaving only that one which is formed nearest the retina, to which the short-sighted eye can more readily adapt itself, and, consequently, vision is rendered more distinct

Another instance of the very same phenomenon is the practice of cutting off the outside rays from the aperture of an astronomical telescope, by an opaque ring placed before the object-glass; a practice which is familiar to those accustomed to use telescopes of large apertures on difficult double stars.

If in a brass plate a hole be made of the diameter of 033 in., a short-sighted person will, or

looking through it, find his vision greatly assisted. If another be made 025 in., the advantage will be still greater; and with one 0166 in. greater still, indeed almost equal to that derived from a concave lens. Beyond this there does not appear to be any advantage, on account of the loss of light.

Now this circumstance leads us to infer, either that "aberration" is destroyed by limiting the aperture of vision to so small a point in the centre of the lens of the eye, or that the diffraction of the rays, as they pass the edges of the hole, assists short-sighted vision on the principle of the concave lens, i. e. by changing parallel rays into divergent; but, as far as we know anything of diffraction, its effect is the direct opposite.

I do not, therefore, see how we can avoid accepting the former as the preferable solution of this phenomenon, though, on so difficult a subject, it behoves one to speak with great diffidence. Rectory, Hereford.

H. C. K.

ORIGIN OF THE STARS AND STRIPES.

(Vol. ii., p. 135.)

JARLTZBERG wishes to know the origin of the stars and stripes in the American flag. His Query might be answered briefly by stating that the American Congress, on the 14th of June, 1777, "Resolved that the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternately red and white; that the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation." But your correspondent wishes to know the origin of the combination, and who first suggested the idea. Some have supposed that it might have been derived from the arms of General Washington, which contains three stars in the upper portion, and three bars running across the escutcheon. There is no means of knowing at this day whether this conjecture is correct, but the coincidence is rather striking. There were several flags used before the striped flag by the Americans. In March 1775 “a union flag with a red field" was hoisted at New York upon the liberty pole, bearing the inscription "George Rex and the liberties of America," and upon the reverse "No Popery." On the 18th of July, 1778, Gen. Putnam raised, at Prospect Hill, a flag bearing on one side the Massachusetts motto "Qui transtulit sustinet," on the other "An appeal to Heaven." In October of the same year the floating batteries at Boston had a flag with the latter motto, the field white with a pine-tree upon it. This was the Massachusetts emblem. Another flag, used during 1775 in some of the colonies, had upon it a rattlesnake coiled as if about to strike, with the motto "Don't tread on me." The

grand union flag of thirteen stripes was raised on the heights near Boston, January 2, 1776. Letters from there say that the regulars in Boston did not understand it; and as the king's speech had just been sent to the Americans, they thought the new flag was a token of submission. The British Annual Register of 1776 says: "They burnt the king's speech and changed their colours from a plain red ground, which they had hitherto used, to a flag with thirteen stripes, as a symbol of the number and union of the colonies." A letter from Boston about the same time, published in the Penna Gazette for January, 1776, says: "The grand union flag was raised on the 2nd, in compliment to the united colonies." The idea of making each stripe for a state was adopted from the first; and the fact goes far to negative the supposition that the private arms of General Washington had anything to do with the subject. The pine tree, rattlesnake, and striped flag were used indiscriminately until July, 1777, when the blue union with the stars was added to the stripes, and the flag established by law. Formerly a new stripe was added for each new state admitted to the union, until the flag became too large, when by act of Congress the stripes were reduced to the old thirteen; and now a star is added to the union at the accession of each new state.

T. WESTCOTT. Philadelphia, U. S. A., June 5, 1852.

ONE OR TWO PASSAGES IN KING LEAR." In the last "N. & Q.," in an article on "Printer's Errors in the Inseparable Particles in Shakspeare," MR. SINGER, unconsciously I am sure, does me a slight injustice, when he states that in Sc. 1., I have followed the Variorum Edit. I a passage which he quotes from King Lear, Act II. but I do not begin the word "dispatch" with a certainly print it as if the sense was interrupted," capital letter, as he erroneously represents, and I put a period after it, which he omits, circumthat "dispatch" had reference rather to what went stances which render it clear, that I was of opinion

66

before it than to what came after it. You must

allow me to subjoin the very words in the very way they appear in my edition: "Glo. Let him fly far: Not in this land shall he remain uncaught; And found-dispatch.—The noble Duke my mas

ter," &c.

To print "Dispatch" with a capital letter, and to omit the period after it, makes some difference, though I am as far as any body from pretending that I fully conveyed the meaning of the poet by my mode of giving the quotation. I apprehend that MR. SINGER supposes that "Dispatch" refers to what follows it, and that Gloster wishes to im