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Gl. Will't hurt me if I drink too much?
Echo. Much.

Gl. Thou mock'st me, Nymph; I'll not believe it.
Echo. Believe't.

Gl. Dost thou condemn then what I do?

Echo. I do.

Gl. I grant it doth exhaust the purse.

Echo. Worse.

Gl. Is't this which dulls the sharpest wit?
Echo. Best wit.

Gl. Is't this which brings infirmities?
Echo. It is.

Gl. Whither will't bring my soul? canst tell?
Echo. T' hell.

Gl. Dost thou no gluttons virtuous know?
Echo. No.

Gl. Wouldst have me temperate till I die?
Echo. I.

Gl. Shall I therein finde ease and pleasure?
Echo. Yea sure.

Gl. But is 't a thing which profit brings?
Echo. It brings.

Gl. To minde or bodie? or to both?

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were strictly adhered to, no objection could be raised. But I have found, from careful observation for two or three years past, that some of our standard writers reverse the rule, and use the one for the former, and the other for the latter, by which I have often been completely puzzled to know what they meant in cases of importance. Now, since there is not the slightest chance of unanimity here, I think the author is right in condemning their referential usage altogether. A French grammarian says, "Ce qui n'est pas clair n'est pas Français;" but though French is far from having no ambiguities, he showed that he fully appreciated what ought to be the proudest boast of any language, clearness. There is a

notable want of it on the marble tablet under the portico of St. Paul's, Covent Garden, which says:

"The church of this parish having been destroyed by fire on the 17th day of September, A. D. 1795, was rebuilt, and opened for divine service on the 1st day of August, A. D. 1798."

The writer, no doubt, congratulated himself on avoiding the then common error, in similar cases, of "This church having," &c.; for that asserted, that the very building we were looking at was burned down! But in eschewing one manifest blunder, he fell into ambiguity and inconclusiveness equally reprehensible. For, as it never was imperative that a parish church should be always confined to a particular spot, we are left in doubt as to where the former one stood; nor, indeed, are we told whether the present building is the parish church. Better thus: "The church of this parish, which stood on the present site, having,"

&c.

Even with this change another seems necessary, for we should then be virtually informed, as we are now, that the church was rebuilt, and opened for divine service, in one day! * Such is the care requisite, when attempting comprehensive brevity, for the simplest historical record intended to go down to posterity. It is no answer to say, that every one apprehends what the inscription means, for that would sanction all kinds of obscurity and blunders. When Paddy tells us of wooden panes of glass and mile-stones; of dividing a thing into three halves; of backing a carriage straight forwards, or of a dismal solitude where nothing could be heard but silence, we all perfectly understand what he means, while we laugh at his unconscious union of sheer impossibilities. CLARUS.

*The following arrangement, which only slightly alters the text, corrects the main defects: "The church of this parish, which stood on the present site, was destroyed by fire on [date]; and, having been rebuilt, was opened for divine service on [date]."

A CAROL OF THE KINGS.

According to one legend, the three sons of Noah

were raised from the dead to represent all mankind at Bethlehem. According to another, they slept a deep sleep in a cavern on Ararat until Messias was born, and then an angel aroused and showed them The Southern Cross, then first created to be the beacon of their way. When the starry signal had fulfilled its office it went on, journeying towards the south, until it reached its place to bend above The Peaceful Sea in memorial of the Child Jesu.

I.

Three ancient men, in Bethlehem's cave,

With awful wonder stand:

A Voice had call'd them from their grave In some far Eastern land!

II.

They lived they trod the former earth,
When the old waters swell'd: —
The ark, that womb of second birth,
Their house and lineage held !

III.

Pale Japhet bows the knee with gold; Bright Shem sweet incense brings: And Ham-the myrrh his fingers holdLo! the Three Orient Kings!

IV.

Types of the total earth, they hail'd
The signal's starry frame:
Shuddering with second life, they quail'd
At the Child Jesu's name!

V.

Then slow the patriarchs turn'd and trod,
And this their parting sigh-
"Our eyes have seen the living God,
And now, once more to die!"

tune so as to be intelligible to a listener. The idea, therefore, of his making such a public exhibition of himself as to sing at a public meeting, is preposterous.

But in the next place the cotemporary evidence on the subject is conclusive. An account of the dinner was published in the Courant newspaper, and it is there stated "that one song was sung, the poetry of which was said to come from the muse of the last lay,' and was sung with admirable effect by the proprietor of the Ballantyne

Press."

It is perhaps unnecessary to explain that the singer was the late John Ballantyne, and I have my doubts if the song referred to in the controversy was the one sung upon the occasion. This, however, is merely a speculation arising from the fact, that this was a song not included in Sir Walter Scott's works, which upon the very highest authority I have been informed was sung there, but of which Lord Ellenborough, and not Charles Fox, was the hero. It is entitled "Justice Law," and is highly laudatory of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It has been printed in the Supplement to the Court of Session Garland, p. 10., and the concluding verse is as follows:

"Then here's to the prelate of wisdom and fame, Tho' true Presbyterians we'll drink to his name ; Long, long may he live to teach prejudice awe, And since Melville's got justice, the devil take law." Again I repeat this conjecture may be erroneous; but that Sir Walter never sung any song at all at the meeting is, I think, beyond dispute. J. M.

Minor Notes.

Sign of Rain. - Not far from Weobley, co. Hereford, is a high hill, on the top of which is a H. or M. clump of trees called "Ladylift Clump," and thus

SIR W. SCOTT AND SIR W. NAPIER.

Some short time ago there appeared in The Times certain letters relative to a song of Sir Walter Scott in disparagement of Fox, said to have been sung at the dinner given in Edinburgh on the acquittal of Viscount Melville. In one letter, signed "W. Napier," it is asserted, on the authority of a lady, that Scott sang the song, which gave great offence to the Whig party at the time.

Now, I must take the liberty of declaring this assertion to be incorrect. I had the honour of knowing pretty intimately Sir Walter from the year 1817 down to the period of his departure for the Continent. I have been present at many convivial meetings with him, and conversed with him times without number, and he has repeatedly declared that, although fond of music, he could not sing from his boyhood, and could not even hum a

named in the Ordnance map: it is a proverbial expression in the surrounding neighbourhood, that when this clump is obscured with clouds, wet weather soon follows; connected with which, many years since I met with the following lines, which may prove interesting to many of your readers:

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calling at Leith both ways for passengers. The times of sailing will probably be announced towards spring in the public prints. This opportunity of visiting that strange and remarkable island in so advantageous a manner is worthy of notice, as desirable modes of getting there very rarely occur.

The observing traveller, in addition to the wonders of nature, should not fail to note there the social and physical condition, and diseases of the inhabitants. He will there find still lingering, fostered by dirt, bad food, and a squalid way of living, the true leprosy (in Icelandic, spetalska) which prevailed throughout Europe in the Middle Ages; and which now survives only there, in Norway, and in some secluded districts in central and southern Europe. He will also note the remarkable exemption of the Icelanders from pulmonary consumption; a fact which seems extraordinary, considering the extreme dampness, inclemency, and variability of the climate. But the consumptive tendency is always found to cease north of a certain parallel of latitude.

WM. E. C. NOURSE.

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8. Burwood Place, Hyde Park. Starvation, an Americanism. Strange as it may appear, it is nevertheless quite true that this word, now unhappily so common on every tongue, | as representing the condition of so many of the sons and daughters of the sister lands of Great Britain and Ireland, is not to be found in our own English dictionaries; neither in Todd's Johnson, published in 1826, nor in Richardson's, published ten years later, nor in Smart's Walker remodelled-published about the same time as Richardson's. It is Webster who has the credit of importing it from his country into this; and in a supplement issued a few years ago, Mr. Smart adopted it as "a trivial word, but in very common, and at present good use."

What a lesson might Mr. Trench read us, that it should be so !

Our older poets, to the time of Dryden, used the compound "hunger-starved." We now say, starved with cold. Chaucer speaks of Christ as "He that starf for our redemption," of Creseide "which well nigh starf for feare;" Spenser, of arms "which doe men in bale to sterve." (See Starve in Richardson.) In the Pardoneres Tale, v. 12799:

"Ye (yea), sterve he shall, and that in lesse while
Than thou wilt gon a pas not but a mile;
This poison is so strong and violent."

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Strange Epitaphs. The following combined "bull" and epitaph may amuse your readers. I copied it in April, 1850, whilst on an excursion to explore the gigantic tumuli of New Grange, Dowth, &c.

Passing through the village of Monknewtown, about four miles from Drogheda, I entered a burial-ground surrounding the ivy-clad ruins of a chapel. In the midst of a group of dozen or more tombstones, some very old, all bearing the name of "Kelly," was a modern upright slab, well executed, inscribed,

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A gentleman living in the neighbourhood of London bought a table five or six years ago at Wilkinson's, an old established upholsterer on Ludgate Hill.

In a concealed part of the leg of the table he found a brass plate, on which was the following inscription:

"Le Cinq d'Avril, dix-huit cent quatorze, Napoléon Buonaparte signa son abdication sur cette table dans le cabinet de travail du Roi, le 2me après la chambre à coucher, à Fontainebleau."

The people at Wilkinson's could give no account of the table: they said it had been a long time in the shop; they did not remember of whom it had

been bought, and were surprised when the brass plate was pointed out to them.

The table is a round one, and rather pretty looking, about two feet and a half in diameter, and supported on one leg. It does not look like a table used for writing, but rather resembles a lady's work-table. The wood with which it is veneered has something the appearance of beef wood.

Wilkinson's shop does not now exist: he used to deal in curiosities, and was employed as an auctioneer.

The gentleman who bought this table is desirous of ascertaining at what time the table still shown at Fontainebleau, as that on which the abdication was signed, was first exhibited whether immediately after the restoration of the Bourbons, or later, in consequence of a demand for shows of that sort? Whether it is a fact that the Bourbons turned out the imperial furniture from Fontainebleau and other palaces after their return?

The date, "cinq d'Avril," is wrong; the abdication was signed on the 4th. This error, however, leads one to suspect that the table is genuine : as any one preparing a sham table would have been careful in referring to printed documents. From the tenor of the inscription, we may infer that it is the work of a Royalist.

The Marshals present with Napoleon when he signed his abdication were Ney, Oudinot, and Lefevre; and perhaps Caulincourt. A CANTAB.

University Club.

DEATH WARNINGS IN ANCIENT FAMILIES.

I marvel much that none of your contributors in this line have touched upon a very interesting branch of legendary family folk lore, namely, the supernatural appearances, and other circumstances of a ghostly nature, that are said to invariably precede a death in many time-honoured families of the united kingdoms.

We have all heard of the mysterious "White Ladye," that heralds the approach of death, or dire calamity, to the royal house of Hohenzollern. In like manner, the apparition of two gigantic owls upon the battlements of Wardour is said to give sad warning to the noble race of Arundel. The ancient Catholic family of Middleton have the same fatal announcement made to them by the spectral visitation of a Benedictine nun; while a Cheshire house of note, I believe that of Brereton, are prepared for the last sad hour by the appearance of large trunks of trees floating in a lake in the immediate vicinity of their family mansion. To two families of venerable antiquity, and both, if I remember right, of the county of Lancashire, the approaching death of a relative is made known in one case by loud and continued

knockings at the hall door at the solemn hour of midnight; and in the other, by strains of wild and unearthly music floating in the air.

The "Banshee," well known in Ireland, and in the highlands of Scotland, is, I believe, attached exclusively to families of Celtic origin, and is never heard of below the Grampian range; although the ancient border house of Kirkpatrick of Closeburn (of Celtic blood by the way) is said to be attended by a familiar of this kind.

Again, many old manor-houses are known to have been haunted by a friendly, good-natured sprite, ycelpt a "Brownie," whose constant care it was to save the household domestics as much trouble as possible, by doing all their drudgery for them during the silent hours of repose. Who has not heard, for instance, of the "Boy of Hilton?" Of this kindly race, I have no doubt, many interesting anecdotes might be rescued from the dust of time and oblivion, and preserved for us in the pages of "N. & Q."

I hope that the hints I have ventured to throw out may induce some of your talented contributors to follow up the subject. JOHN O' THE FORD.

Malta.

THE SCARLET REGIMENTALS OF THE ENGLISH ARMY.

When was the English soldier first dressed in red? It has been said the yeomen of the guard (vulgo Beef-eaters) were the company which originally wore that coloured uniform; but, seventy years before they were established, viz. temp. Henry V., it appears the military uniform of his army was red:

"Rex vestit suos rubro, et parat transire in Normaniam.". ·Archæolog. Soc. Antiquar., Lond., vol. xxi.

p. 292.

William III. not only preferred that colour, but he thought it degrading to the dignity of his soldiers that the colour should be adopted for the dress of any inferior class of persons; and there is an order now extant, signed by Henry, sixth Duke of Norfolk, as Earl Marshal, dated Dec. 20, 1698,

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Forbidding any persons to use for their liveries scarlet or red cloth, or stuff; except his Majesty's servants and guards, and those belonging to the royal family or foreign ministers."

William IV., who had as much of true old English feeling as any monarch who ever swayed the English sceptre, ordered scarlet to be the universal colour of our Light Dragoons; but two or three years afterwards he was prevailed upon, from some fancy of those about him, to return to the blue again. Still, it is well known that dressing our Light Dragoons in the colour prevailing

with other nations has led to serious mistakes in time of action.

Minor Queries.

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Λ.

Berkhampstead Records. Where are the records of the now extinct corporation of Great Berkhampstead, co. Herts, incorporated 1618? And when did it cease to exercise corporate rights, and why? J. K.

"The secunde personne of the Trinetee" (Vol. viii., p. 131.).—What does the "old English Homily" mean by "a womanne who was the secunde personne of the Trinetee ?" J. P. S.

St. John's, Oxford, and Emmanuel, Cambridge.Can your readers give me any information respecting Thomas Collis, B.A., of St. John's College, Oxford, ordained priest by Richard (Reynolds), Bishop of Lincoln, at Buckden, 29th May, 1743? What church preferment did he hold, where did he die, and where was he buried ?

Also of John Clendon, B.D., Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, who was presented to the vicarage of Brompton-Regis, Somerset, by his College, in or about the year 1752? His correspondence with the Fellows of Emmanuel is amusing, as giving an insight into the every-day life of Cambridge a century ago. You shall have a letter or two ere long as a specimen.

Boston.

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THOMAS COLLIS.

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Malbrough s'en va-t-en guerre.". Some years ago, at a book-stall in Paris, I met with a work in one volume, being a dissertation in French on the origin and early history of the once popular song, "Malbrough s'en va-t-en guerre." It seemed to contain much information of a curious and interesting character; and the author's name, if I remember rightly, is Blanchard. I have since made several attempts to discover the title of the book, with the view of procuring a copy of it, but without success. Can any of your readers assist me in this matter? HENRY H. BREEN.

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Portrait of Plowden. - Is any portrait of Edmund Plowden the lawyer known to exist? and if so, where ? P. P. P.

Temperature of Cathedrals.-Can any of your readers favour me with a report from observation of the greatest and least heights of the thermometer in the course of a year, in one of our large cathedrals?

I am informed that Professor Phillips, in a geological work, has stated that the highest and lowest temperatures in York Minster occur about five weeks after the solstices; but it does not appear that the altitudes are named. T.

Dr. Eleazar Duncon. Dr. Eleazar Duncon was of Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, D.D., anno 1633, Rector of Houghton Regis same year, Chaplain to King Charles I., Prebendary of Durham. He is supposed to have died during the interregnum. Can any of your correspondents say when or where? D. D.

The Duke of Buckingham. Do the books of the Honorable Society of the Middle Temple disclose any particulars relating to a "scandalous letter," believed to have been written by "a Templar" to George Villiers, the Great Duke of Buckingham, in 1626, the year before his grace was assassinated by Felton; which letter was found by a servant of the inn in a Temple drinking-pot, by

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