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the poetry of Horace or Virgil or the prose of Cicero. This was the function of men like Petrarch, who collected, copied, or restored the ancient manuscripts, and but for whose loving care some of the most precious models of antiquity would have been lost. Indeed, Petrarch became so enamoured of the Latin tongue that he censured Dante for having written his great poem in the vernacular language of Italy, and lamented that his own Italian poems should be degraded by being sung in the streets, a degradation which a modern poet would welcome as a true mark of appreciation of his muse. Many of Petrarch's poems and an unfinished epic on Africa are in Latin, and are read by nobody, while his exquisite Italian sonnets and canzoni take rank among the most highly prized examples of modern literature. But while this literature was slowly growing into form and substance, Latin was the language of intercommunication between the learned of different countries. Not only epistolary correspondence, but scientific and other memoirs, and even ponderous volumes were written in Latin, and Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam, was so satisfied that the English language could not endure the wear and tear of ages, that he left instructions for translating into Latin such of his works as were not already in that tongue. And this was at the time when Shakspere, Spenser, Ben Jonson, Sydney, and others were erecting the marvellous pile of English literature on the foundation that had been already laid by Chaucer and others.

purity as to have given rise to a well-known proverb connoting the perfection of style, and everywhere in Italy the peasant will lend an intelligent ear to the music of Tasso's or Ariosto's verse. Contrasting these examples with our loose mode of speaking English, we pay a high price for a little Latin and Greek, which a boy is apt to forget as soon as he leaves school. Of course the public schools send up every year successful classical scholars to the universities; but this comparatively small minority does not justify the attempt to teach all boys alike. For, as the author of 'The Mill on the Floss' well remarks: "For getting a fair flourishing growth of stupidity, there is nothing like pouring out on the mind a good amount of subjects in which it feels no interest." If boys left school with a taste for their native literature, or, indeed, for any literature, school education would be a great success, since such an amount of culture would be to a great extent a means of resisting many temptations to which young people are exposed.

Some laudable endeavours have been made of late years to introduce science into the courses of study in our public schools, and also better methods of teaching the modern languages. But, somehow or other, the English boy does not take kindly to the languages of the Continent, either because he inherits some of the prejudices of his ancestors of the time of Nelson, when they sang so glibly, We scorned the Gallic yoke, Our ships were hearts of oak, And hearts of oak our men ;

When our grammar schools were founded it was or because he regards modern languages as not for the teaching of Latin, not English, grammar; being a gentlemanly basis of education, which, and it was held that a boy who had been well according to him or his tutor, can only be supplied drilled in Latin would be sure to speak English by the classics. But the result is that the English correctly, if, indeed, it mattered whether he did so boy, being shy of expressing himself in a foreign or no. At the university the path to profit and tongue, acquires only an imperfect knowledge of honour lay through the classics, and the man who the same, not sufficient to give him an interest in could write good Latin prose was highly esteemed its literature or its people, and he soon forgets, and rewarded, while the man who wrote the Eng- after he has left school, the little that he knew; lish that still continues to instruct and delight us whereas the German boy will acquire a practical had to depend on the smiles of a patron who was knowledge of three or four languages, and will often the subject of a fulsome dedication. Al- come to England and occupy a post which, in the though since the time of Dr. Johnson literature nature of things, ought to be filled by one of our has been more or less free from the yoke of patron- own people. The fact is, the English boy's age, the classical yoke still continues to a great sympathies are not in the schoolroom, but in the extent to impede the course of education. Hence playground; and here he is really in earnest, and it seems to me that, owing to our public schools developes into the man of action and practical and universities having so long neglected the culti-intelligence, whose influence is felt in our army vation of the English language, it has not become and navy, in colonial life, and in various kinds of a subject of interest to the masses, and hence the adventure. slovenly mode in which it is spoken, and often written and read. In this respect our practice differs from that of the French of both sexes, who take an affectionate pride in their language. The Germans also speak their language well, and the peasant leaves the primary school with a correct appreciation of his mother tongue. The Tuscan peasant speaks his or her native Italian with such

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I must apologize for the length of this note, and defer some further illustrative remarks.

Highgate, N.

C. TOMLINSON, F.R.S.

It may amuse your readers (apart from any religious considerations) to hear that, when I was eighteen or thereabouts, I was gently reproved by a High Churchman for saying that some one was

"in the Church." My friend said, "I am in the Church," which, knowing him to be a layman, considerably astonished me. I thought he meant that he had been ordained, but had "jeté son froc aux orties" (not that I knew this phrase in those days). He then said, "You are in the Church"; when I think I gathered his meaning. I believe I ought to have said "So and so is in orders," or "has taken orders." Horace speaks of

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URIAN (8th S. iii. 169).-The name of Urian in Cheshire would probably come from the St. Pierre family, in which it was a favourite name. Urian de St. Pierre, who died in 23 Edward I., was succeeded by a grandson of the same name; he died two years after. A daughter of John de St. Pierre, perhaps sister of the later Urian (whose father was John), married Sir Philip de Malpas, whose daughter and ultimate heiress married Sir William Brereton. Her brother is called Philip Egerton in the Brereton pedigree, and is said to have died s.p. In the Egerton stemmata David de Egerton, who would be probably cousin of Philip de Malpas, has a son Urgan Egerton, doubtless Urian. Whence the name came into the St. Pierre family I know not. The Urien of Gray could be no other than Urien Rheged, the friend and lieutenant of King Arthur, the hero of twelve battles, whose son Owain killed the great Saxon chief Ida, and who was himself killed at Aberllew, near Dumbarton, assassinated by Llovan Llawdino says a Triad.

The tribe of Urien is still of some fame in Pembrokeshire; one of his descendants was Sir Rhys ap Thomas, who did so much to seat Henry VII. on the throne. One of the offences which made up the treason of his grandson and cost him his head was calling himself Fitzurien. Gray puts the grave of Urien in North Wales, perhaps because his cousin, the great chief Llywarch, lies there.

ASTON CLINTON.

Under "Urania" (the heavenly) Miss Yonge says (Hist. of Christian Names,' 1884, p. 72):—

"Uranius was not uncommon among the later Greeks, especially in Christian names; a Gaulish author was so called, and it was left by the Romans as a legacy to the British. It makes its appearance among the Welsh as Urien."

Lady Charlotte Guest, in the 'Mabinogion' (notes to 'Taliesin'), gives incidentally some information respecting Urien Rheged, Taliesin's patron, but says nothing of his death; of which, however, a note to 'The Bard' in the Aldine edition of Gray

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I am obliged to MR. EDWARD PEACOCK for his note. Will he further favour me by saying how he obtained the reeds he used? C. A. WARD. Chingford Hatch, E.

OLDEST TREES IN THE WORLD (8th S. iii. 207). 'Trees Remarkable for their Age' formed the subject of twenty-three communications to ' N. &Q.,' and will be found in 1st S. iv. v. vi. vii. xii., also four articles in 2nd S. vi. vii. The Sunderland Times of Oct. 19 and 26, 1877, contained two chapters on this subject, including the Bo Tree of Ceylon, the Cypress of Soma, Mammoth Trees

of Calaveras, the Dragon Tree of Orotava, the Father of the Maori Forest, the Largest Pine in Polynesia, the Cedars of Lebanon, the Chestnut of Mount Etna, and many other aged trees. The Standard for Sept. 28, 1889, gave a leading article on the growth of trees, which was followed by six letters from correspondents on the same subject, which may be of interest to M. J. T.

71, Brecknock Road.

42 B.C.

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN.

The Soma Cypress of Lombardy is, I believe, the oldest tree of which there is any authentic record. It is known to have been in existence in There are, however, many trees for which a vastly greater antiquity is claimed. The Senegal Baobabs-some of them-are said to be five thousand years old. The Bo Tree of Anurâdhapura, in Ceylon, is perhaps the oldest specimen of another very long-lived species; it is held sacred upon the ground that it sprang from a branch of the identical tree under which Buddha reclined for seven years whilst undergoing his apotheosis. The oak is well known to be a long liver, and there are specimens still standing in Palestine of which the tradition goes that they grew out of Cain's staff. The hawthorn, again, sometimes lives to be very old; there is said to be one inside Cawdor Castle of an "immemorial age." The cedars of Lebanon may also be mentioned, and there are, according to Dean Stanley, still eight of the olives of Gethsemane standing, whose gnarled trunks and scanty foliage will always be regarded as the most affecting of the sacred memorials in or about Jerusalem." For further information on the subject your correspondent should consult Mr. Folkard's Plant Lore,' from which most of the above is taken.

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C. C. B.

was such an interfusion of blood that no class or order could claim to be independent of any other class or order." Is it of any interest to mention that in Charles Lever's 'Life' (Ward & Lock, p. 28) there is some notice "of three distinct Celtic races intermixed with the representatives of the successive conquerors of Ireland"? CIVIS.

RECORDER OF SALISBURY IN 1642 (8th S. iii. 68). -Robert Hyde, serjeant-at-law, held this office in 1642. He was the second son of Sir Lawrence Hyde; educated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford; called to the Bar at the Middle Temple, 1617; appointed Recorder of Salisbury, June 26, 1635; removed from the office, May 11, 1646; and afterwards replaced in it by mandamus, June 14, 1660. His removal was due to Puritan influence, he being a zealous Royalist and Churchman. He was first cousin to Sir Edward Hyde and nine years his senior in age. The Chancellor had not, so far as I am aware, any official connexion with Salisbury. For further particulars as to Robert Hyde's connexion with Salisbury consult Benson and Hatcher's History of Salisbury,' 1843, pages 390-93, &c. C. W. HOLGATE.

The Palace, Salisbnry.

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TANANARIVO (8th S. ii. 527; iii. 77).-This question was incorrectly answered at the last reference. Antananarivo, the name of the capital of Madagascar, means literally "at the town of a thousand." The prefix an, which becomes am before certain consonants, forms the first syllable of an immense number of Malagasy names. a preposition, meaning "at," and gives a localizing sense to the word it precedes, a usage found in many Anglo-Saxon names, such as Yetminster, Dorset, which means at the minster," or Ockford, JUDGES' ROBES: COUNSELS' Gowns (8th S. iii. The second 127, 193).—I have read with much interest the element, tana, signifies a town, as An-tana-malaga, Dorset, meaning "at the ford." article by MR. TEMPANY on judges' robes, &c., "at the famous town"; and the third element is pp. 193-4. Can any of your readers give me any arivo, "a thousand," which we have in Nosi-arivo, information on the subject of notaries' robes? I" the thousand isles," or the hill called Tsinjo-arivo, have a rubbing, taken several years ago from a brass in one of the Ipswich churches, showing a notary in his robes, with ink-born and pen-case attached to his girdle, but there is no date on the rubbing. Also, if your readers could direct me to any books in English on the subject of notaries in bygone ages I shall feel obliged.

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called either because it contained a thousand "overlooking a thousand." Antananarivo is so houses, or, according to the popular belief, because it includes within its circuit a thousand hamlets.

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ISAAC TAYLOR.

JOHN NEWTON (8th S. iii. 125, 250).-Cowper's 'Negro's Complaint,' Pity for Poor Africans," and Morning Dream' were published in his 'Poems' of 1803. See Aldine edition of Cowper's Works' (the reissue), i. 246. Cowper's own estimate of the comparative merits of the three slave poems, as expressed in his letter on the subject to General Cowper, is apposite and interesting. It is curious to find that the immediately preceding letter, in Southey's 'Cowper's Works,' iv. 7, addressed to Lady Hesketh, and dated from The

Lodge, March 12, 1788, opens with two paragraphs on the slave trade. The second refers to Wilberforce, and begins thus:—

"Mr. Wilberforce's little book (if he was the author of it) has also charmed me. It must, I should imagine, engage the notice of those to whom it is addressed. In that case one may say to them, Either answer it or be set down by it! They will do neither. They will approve, condemn, and forget it. Such has been the fate of all exhortations to reform, whether in verse or prose, and however closely pressed upon the conscience in all ages."

What "little book" of Wilberforce's may have furnished the occasion for this despondent view of the reception given to reformers? It is not in Lowndes. THOMAS BAYNE.

Helensburgh, N.B.

This question will be best answered by Newton himself. In his autobiography, written in 1764, he says:

66 During the time I was engaged in the slave-trade, I never had the least scruple as to its lawfulness. I was, upon the whole, satisfied with it, as the appointment Providence had marked out for me; yet it was, in many respects, far from eligible. It is, indeed, accounted a genteel employment......However, I considered myself as a sort of gaoler or turnkey; and I was sometimes shocked with an employment that was perpetually conversant with chains, bolts, and shackles." Preaching twenty years later, he says:—

"I should be inexcusable, considering the share I have formerly had in that unhappy business, if upon this occasion [a public fast] I should omit to mention the African slave-trade. I do not rank this amongst our national sins, because I hope and believe a very great majority of the nation earnestly long for its suppression; but hitherto, petty and partial interests prevail against the voice of justice, humanity, and truth."

Nearly four years afterwards, on a similar occasion, he speaks thus :—

"I have more than once confessed with shame in this pulpit the concern I had too long in the African slave

he points out its fearful political and moral evils—its injury alike to the slaves and those who traffic in them. 'If,' he says,'' my testimony should not be necessary or serviceable, yet, perhaps, I am bound in conscience to take shame to myself by a public confession, which, however sincere, comes too late to prevent or repair the misery and mischief to which I have formerly been accessory. I hope it will always be a subject of humiliating reflection to me that I was once an active instrument in a business at which my heart now shudders.''

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trade......I fear the African slave-trade is a national sin, Your correspondent should consult 'History for the enormities which accompany it are now generally and Mystery of Precious Stones,' by William known."-Newton's Works,' ed. Rev. R. Cecil, Edin-Jones, wherein the romance and poetry and super

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burgh Univ. Press, 1831, pp. 30, 860, 869.

It is evident that Newton was slow to perceive the evil and wrong of slavery, but that he did see them in the end. That Cowper, the spectator, should have perceived this far more quickly, and more warmly denounced it, than Newton, who had been engaged in the trade and had been brought up to regard it as a genteel employment," will least surprise those who have most studied human HERMENTRUDE.

nature.

66

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stitions are treated on; also The Mirror of
Stones,' by Camillus Leonardus, physician at
Pesaro, dedicated to Cæsar Borgia, London, 1750.
EVERARD HOME COLEMAN.

71, Brecknock Road.

See introduction to 'Magyar Folk-Tales' (ed. Kropf and Turner), p. lxiv, from which I take the following, all that there is on the subject of "Superstitions about Stones ":

thousands of snakes in caves, who bury them in the sand. "The diamond is blown, like glass, by thousands and The carbuncle glows in the dark. The garnet: while the person who wears these stones is healthy the garnet is of a beautiful red colour; when the wearer ails the stones turu pale. The opal is an unlucky stone.”

The following is from the St. Louis Republic, March 18, part ii. p. 16, c. 2. It may be of some service to your correspondent :—

"The girl born in January should wear a garnet, for that will win friends for her wherever she goes. The girl born in February must have an amethyst, because that will make her sincere, protect her from poison, and from slanderous tongues. The girl born in March must have a bloodstone, because that will make her wise, and

give her patience to bear all trouble. The girl born in April must have a diamond, because that will keep her innocent and pure, happy and generous. The girl born in May must have an emerald, for that will make her a happy and a healthy wife. The girl born in June must have a topaz, for that will make her truthful, and protect her from fairies and ghosts. The girl born in July must have a ruby, because they will make her get great love, and keep her free from jealousy. The girl born in August must have a sardonyx, because that will make her a happy mother. The girl born in September must have a sapphire, for then she will never quarrel with her sweetheart. The girl born in October must have a carbuncle, for that will make her love her home. The girl born in November must have an opal, for that will bring her luck in money matters and in love. The girl born in December must have a turquoise, for that will bring her friends, health, happiness and riches. Every word of it is true, every word of it; and my belief in it is proved from the fact that, having been born in September, a band of sapphires encircles the hand of BAB." PAUL BIERLey.

"A BOOK CALLED 'CENE'" (8th S. iii. 228).— La Cène, French, the Lord's Supper, and Faire la Cène, the ceremony of serving the poor after washing their feet on Holy Thursday.

Swallowfield Park, Reading.

CONSTANCE RUSSELL.

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FLOWERS ON GRAVES (8th S. iii. 165).-Spenser, in A Pastorall Aeglogue upon the Death of Sir Phillip Sidney, Knight, &c., alludes to the custom of laying flowers on graves :

Behold these flowres which on thy grave we strew;
Which faded, shew the givers faded state,
(Though else they shew their fervent zeale and pure)
Whose onely comfort on thy welfare grew.
Whose praiers importune shall the heav'ns for ay,
That to thy ashes rest they may assure:
That learnedst shepherds honor may thy name
With yearly praises, and the Nymphs alway
Thy tomb may deck with fresh and sweetest flowers.
Phineas Fletcher, in 'The Purple Island,' has
the following reference to the practice :-
And when the dead by cruel tyrant's spite,
Lie out to rav'nous birds and beasts expos'd,

His yearning heart pitying that wretched sight,

In decent graves their weary flesh enclos'd,
And strew'd with fragrant flowers the lowly hearse.
Canto ix. st. 46.
Then there is the famous passage in Milton's
Lycidas,' beginning "Ye valleys low," and end-

Probably the book called 'Cene' was a collection of Italian tales, similar to Boccaccio's 'Decameron.' ing :At that date authors were fond of titles such as Days, Nights, Suppers (Cene), &c. The date given, 1398-9, is, however, too early for it to refer to the 'Cene' of Il Lasca. A. COLLINGWOOD LEE. Waltham Abbey, Essex.

TITHE-BARNS (8th S. ii. 246, 330, 397, 475; iii. 16). I have not seen the splendid old tithe-barn of St. Lawrence, near Beaulieu, in Hampshire, mentioned by any correspondent. It is in good preservation, and is a remarkably picturesque old building. Local tradition calls it the largest barn in England. Y. T.

There is half (or thereabouts) of an old tithebarn at Horbury, near Wakefield, the other part having been converted into cottages some years ago. M. H. P.

There is a large tithe-barn at Bredon, on the Warwickshire Avon, described and sketched ("with a chamber over its doorway, doubtless for the accountant") in Harper's Magazine, vol. xxii. p. 271, 1891. R. HUDSON. Lapworth.

Bid amarantus all his beauty shed,
And daffadillies fill their cups with tears,
To strew the laureat herse where Lycid lies.
F. B. BIRKBECK TERRY.

There seems to be an allusion to the practice of strewing graves with flowers, and perhaps to the custom of lining them with moss, in the following beautiful passage in Shakspeare:

Arv.

With fairest flowers,
Whilst summer lasts, and I live here, Fidele,
'll sweeten thy sad grave; thou shalt not lack
The flower that's like thy face, pale primrose; nor
The azur'd hare-bell, like thy veins; no, nor
The leaf of eglantine, whom not to slander,
Out-sweeten'd not thy breath: the ruddock would,
With charitable bill-O bill sore-shaming
Those rich-left heirs that let their fathers lie
Without a monument!-bring thee all this;
Yea, and furr'd moss besides, when flowers are none,
To winter-ground thy corse. 'Cymbeline,' IV. ii.

An appended note in 'Shakspeare' (vol. ii. P. 748), edited by Howard Staunton, adds: "Mr. &c., but to winter-ground appears to have been a Collier's annotator would read To winter guard,' technical term for protecting a plant from the frost, by laying straw or moss over it."

CHARLES, LORD STURTON (8th S. iii. 188).JOHN PICKFORD, M.A. MR. G. J. GRAY will find a full account of this It is impossible, I should imagine, to refer back Lord Sturton, or more correctly "Stourton, into a time when the custom of decking graves with

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