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Read Ebook: Notes and Queries Number 170 January 29 1853 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men Artists Antiquaries Genealogists etc. by Various Bell George Editor
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Ebook has 456 lines and 29402 words, and 10 pages
First, Steevens came loaded with black-letter books, Of fame more desirous than pelf; Such reading, observers might read in his looks, As no one e'er read but himself.
Then Warner, by Plautus and Glossary known, And Hawkins, historian of sound; Then Warton and Collins together came on, For Greek and potatoes renown'd.
With songs on his pontificalibus pinn'd, Next, Percy the Great did appear; And Farmer, who twice in a pamphlet had sinn'd, Brought up the empirical rear.
"The cooks the more num'rous the worse is the broth," Says a proverb I well can believe; And yet to condemn them untried I am loth, So at present shall laugh in my sleeve. RIGDUM FUNNIDOS.
JAMES CORNISH.
Falmouth.
FOLK LORE.
T. B. WHITBORNE.
Minor Notes.
"Wha lies here? Pate Watt, gin ye speer. Poor Pate! is that thou? Ay, by my soul, is't; But I's dead now."
J. MN.
"Under this stone lies Bobbity John, Who, when alive, to the world was a wonder; And would have been so yet, had not Death in a fit Cut his soul and his body asunder."
J. MN.
"Las, qu'on verra grand peuple tourment? Et la loy sainte en totale ruine, Par autres Loix toute la Christianit?, Quand d'or, d'argent trouve nouvelle mine."
Garenci?res translates thus:
AGRICOLA DE MONTE.
WHIMSICAL BEQUEST.--On Saturday last, the unmarried of whatever age and sex, numbering between 800 and 900 residents in the parish of St. Leonard's, Colchester, received their new year's gift in the shape of 'a penny roll,' bequeathed to them in days of yore, under the following singular circumstances:--Many years ago, a piece of waste land, called 'Knave's Acre,' in the parish of St. Leonard's, was used as a playground by the boys of this and the adjacent parish of St. Mary Magdalen; but one day, the young gentlemen falling out, the affair ended in a regular 'fight;' and the result was that the boys of St. Leonard's vanquished their opponents, and ever after remained victors of the field. The ground was subsequently let for gardening purposes; but the owner, in perpetual remembrance of the juvenile victory, whimsically bequeathed its annual rent of 4l. to be appropriated in the manner above mentioned."
J. B. COLMAN.
KIRKWALLENSIS.
"LORD DUFF'S TOAST A.D. '45.
S. WMSON.
Queries.
THE METEORIC STONE OF THE THRACIAN CHERSONESUS.
A great degree of interest is attached to the recorded fall of aerolites in times past, and the most remarkable and authentic record of antiquity on this subject is that of the massive stone which fell in the 78th Olympiad , at AEgospotamos , on the Hellespont,--the place soon afterwards the scene of that naval victory of Lysander, in the last year of the Peloponnesian war, which subjected Athens and Greece for a time to the Spartan power. The fall of this stone, says the reviewer, is expressly mentioned by Aristotle; by the author of the Parian Chronicle; by Diogenes of Apollonia; and most fully by Plutarch and Pliny, both of whom distinctly state it to be shown in their time--the sixth century after its fall. Pliny's description is well marked. "Qui lapis etiam nunc ostenditur, magnitudine vehis, colore adusto;" and he adds the fact that a burning comet accompanied its descent. Plutarch explicitly states that it was still held in much veneration by the inhabitants of the Chersonesus. He also speaks of its vast size. If the mass remained visible, and of such magnitude as described, down to Pliny's time, it is far from impossible that it may even now be re-discovered, with the aid, perchance, of some stray tradition attached to the place, surviving, as often happens, the lapse of ages, the changes of human dominion, and even the change of race itself, upon the spot. The locality, indeed, is not further indicated than by the statement of its fall at AEgospotamos; but the invariable manner in which it is thus described defines tolerably well the district to be examined. We learn from the old geographers, that there was a town called AEgospotami on the Thracian side of the Hellespont, and we may infer a stream from which its name was derived. The description of the naval fight, and the situation relatively to Lampsacus , further define the locality within certain limits. The reviewer then adds some practical suggestions of importance. The traveller devoting himself to this research should make his head-quarters at various places near the spot in question. He should render himself previously familiar with the aspect of meteoric stones, as now seen in European cabinets, and should study the character of rocks and fragmentary masses in the vicinity, to appreciate the differences of aspect. A small part only of the mass may now appear above the surface, and may even be wholly concealed by alluvial deposits, in which case the research would, of course, be in vain, unless happily aided by local tradition, which at the outset should be sedulously sought for. The research, if successful, would be of interest enough, both for history and science, to perpetuate a man's name. In the hope that some of the correspondents of "N. & Q.," now sojourning in, or likely to visit the locality, may be tempted to undertake it, I send you these suggestions, extracted from an article of no small scientific interest and value; and I will conclude with the Query, whether the "sacred black stone," which is mentioned by Colonel Williams to be regarded by the Seids inhabiting Despool as their palladium, has any legend of meteoric origin connected with its history?
WM. SIDNEY GIBSON.
Newcastle on Tyne.
BANBURY CAKES AND ZEAL.
"To complete the experiment, I prevailed upon a friend of mine, who works under me in the occult sciences, to make a progress with my glass through the whole island of Great Britain; and after his return, to present me with a register of his observations. I guessed beforehand at the temper of several places be passed through by the characters they have had time out of mind. Thus that facetious divine, Dr. Fuller, speaking of the town of Banbury near a hundred years ago, tells us, it was a place famous for cakes and zeal, which I find by my glass is true to this day as to the latter part of this description; though I must confess it is not in the same reputation for cakes that it was in the time of that learned author."
And Ray gives as a proverbial saying:
"Banbury veal, cheese, and cakes."
ERICA.
Warwick.
Minor Queries.
I could cite numerous instances of the same kind of trick having been practised, and may trouble you with further inquiries on a future occasion. At present I am anxious to ascertain whether I have got a genuine or spurious portrait in my portfolio of artists.
J. BURTON.
SELEUCUS.
JAMES GRAVES.
Kilkenny.
Query, In what year was this act passed, and has the permission then granted ever been annulled?
W. W.
Malta.
Can any reader of your valuable Notes give any further explanation of the word, or of its origin at Bury?
C. G.
"During the administration of Spencer Perceval, on the 8th of May, 1811, the Honourable A. W. Hodge, a member of his Britannic Majesty's council at Tortola, was executed for the murder of one of his negroes by excessive flogging."
Might I ask if there is any other instance known of a gentleman's having suffered similar punishment for the same crime, during the period the West India islands were held as slave colonies of England?
W. W.
Malta.
FROM THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF BOGNIE BRAE.
The date when chains and bars were first erected for levying toll into the City of London.
The date of the erection of the first Temple Bar, its architect's name, and when pulled down or destroyed, and if burnt during the Great Fire.
The authority for the present gate having been built after designs of Sir Christopher Wren.
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