The big round tears run down his dappled face. This is an imitation of Shakspeare in 'As You Like It':

The big round tears
Coursed one another down his innocent nose.
In 'The Castle of Indolence' he has these lines :-
You cannot shut the windows of the sky,
Through which Aurora shows her brightening face.
Three very eminent poets have produced the idea
before him :-

Her looks were like beams of the morning sun,
Forth-looking through the windows of the East.

Spenser's 'Colin Clout's come Home Again.'
Madam, an hour before the worshipt sun
Peered forth the golden window of the East,
Shakspeare's 'Romeo and Juliet.'
Ere the blabbing eastern scout,
The nice morn on the Indian steep
From her cabined loop-hole peep.

Milton's 'Comus.'

Thomson in the idea, though not in the expression, seems to come nearest to Milton, who himself was remembering two passages of Shakspeare, not only the one quoted above, but also that in 'Henry VI., concerning the 'blabbing day.' There is also something similar to these ideas in Fletcher's 'Faithful Shepherdess.'

The following parallels between Thomson and other poets may also be noted :

As thikke as motès in the Sonnè beme.
Chaucer, Wif of Bathes Tale.'

As thick and numberless

As the gay motes that people the sun-beams.

Milton, 'Il Penseroso." As thick as idle motes in sunny ray. Thomson's Castle of Indolence.' If Thomson imitates others, he himself has been imitated:

'Winter.'

Or ruminate in the contiguous shade.
Cowper has borrowed this image :-

Some boundless contiguity of shade.
'Task,' Book 2.

Dr. Johnson censured Gray for using the word many-twinkling,' but he failed to notice that Gray was only reproducing a word that Thomson had used already in his Spring. Lines 342-351 of 'Summer' may be compared with the lines of Green and Gray to which I referred in my note on Gray. Perhaps in that note I extolled Gray too highly and depreciated Green too much. Thomson's poem appeared before those of Green and Gray.

66

E. YARDLEY.

"JYMIAMS."-Thomas Nash, ridiculing the antiquaries in Pierce Penniless's Supplication to the Devill,' 1592 (Shakespeare Society, 1842, p. 30), says, a thousand jymiams and toyes have they in theyr chambers"; and Mr. Payne Collier, in a note, remarks, "I do not recollect the word jymiam to have occurred in any other writer," and goes on to refer to gimmal and jemmy. Nash,

he says, seems to employ the word as an equivalent to gimcrack. I would suggest that the word should be written "jimjams," and I believe such a word is actually in use in the United States to denote d.t. In this form it ranges with knick-knacks, "auld knick-knackets," and many other trivial words formed by reduplication. JAMES HOOPER.

Norwich.

A DEVONSHIRE MAY CUSTOM.-The West of England papers are full with accounts of a sad accident arising from the custom at Loddiswell, near Kingsbridge,

"of throwing water on May 1, at horses' legs, which resulted in the death of Dr. Twining, who, when driving with a friend, was thrown out of his carriage through his horse taking fright at the treatment it received."

According to the evidence of this friend,— "They left Loddiswell about a quarter to nine in the evening, and had just got clear of the village when someone threw water from the top of a high bank. The horse but before they got ten yards a great deal more water started forward, and the coachman tried to hold him, was thrown. The horse at once bolted, and got entirely out of control." L. L. K.

MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT.-The following small items will serve as corrections and additions to the notices of the undermentioned worthies in the recently issued volume of the 'Dict. Nat. Biog.'

Major-General Sir Edward Massey did not "take his seat as member for Gloucester in July, 1646." He was elected for Wotton Basset, in Wiltshire, on June 18, 1646, for which he took his seat apto the Solemn League and Covenant. As one of the parently on Aug. 26 following, when he subscribed Presbyterian "Eleven" he was expelled the House in December, 1648, and did not sit again until the Convention Parliament of 1660, to which, and also to its successor in 1661, he was, as correctly stated, returned as M.P. for Gloucester.

Serjeant John Maynard did not "sit for Beeralston, Devonshire, in the Convention Parliament" of 1660. He represented Exeter. The following is, I think, the full list of the Parliamentary returns of this ultimately octogenarian member. He was elected by both Totness and Newport to the Short and Long Parliaments of 1640, upon each occasion preferring Totness, until secluded in 1648. Plymouth, 1656-58. Elected by three constituences in 1659, namely, Beeralston, Camelford, and Newtown, I. W., and sat for Newtown. Returned by

Plymouth and Exeter in 1660, and preferred Exeter. Beeralston, 1661-78. Elected by Beeralson and Plymouth (preferred Plymouth) 1678-9. Sat for Plymouth in 1679-81 and 1681. Beeralston 16851687. Elected by Plymouth and Beeralston (sat for Plymouth), 1689-90. Plymouth, 1690, till decease in October of the same year. Either he or his namesake, John Maynard, of Essex, was M.P. for Chippenham 1624–5‍ and 1625.

Sir Philip Meadows, Junior, was M.P. for Tregony 1698-1700. Truro, 1702-1705. Tregony, 1705-1708. Although he lived until 1757 he seems not to have sought further Parliamentary honours. Sir Walter Mildmay, Elizabeth's Chancellor of the Exchequer, was returned to at least two Parliaments before his election for Malden in 1553. He sat for Lostwithiel in 1545-47, and for Lewes in 1547-52. His son, Sir Anthony Mildmay, also sat in one Parliament, being M.P. for Wiltshire in 1584-85. W. D. PINK.

AN ANACHRONISM.-Subjoined is a cutting from a second-hand bookseller's catalogue published this month: "Aristotle on the American Constitution, translated by Kenyon." R.

"IN APPLE-PIE ORDER."-As several of your correspondents have lately referred to "an applepie bed" as one in disorder, it may, perhaps, be curious to note the opposite sense of the words when employed as above, i. e., I have made everything tidy; put everything into "apple-pie order." R. B.

Upton.

MERKS, BISHOP OF CARLISLE. (See 4th S. vii. 85, 190.)-There is in my collection of pamphlets a speech of this bishop, alleged to have been made in defence of his fallen master, Richard II., in the first Parliament of Henry IV. It is a small quarto, of four leaves, without pagination, and looks of date about the middle of the seventeenth century. There is no subjective evidence of date of printing except what may be gathered from the title-page, which is as follows:

"A pious and learned Speech delivered in the High Court of Parliament, 1 H. 4, by Thomas Mercks then Bishop of Carlile, wherein hee gravely and judiciously declares his opinion concerning the Question, What should be done with the deposed King Richard the Second? London, printed for N. V. and J. B."

It should be mentioned that above the imprint there is a device with the motto "veritas viressit

"

vulnere in the legend, and with a representation of the expulsion of Adam from Paradise (as I take it) on the field. I am very anxious to know the date when this pamphlet was printed.

JAMES WILSON.

has not, I think, been hitherto recorded, and may be added to Dr. Ferriar's indictment. In 'Tristram Shandy,' vol. i. chap. xii., is the following well-known passage :

"When, to gratify a private appetite, it is once resolved upon that an innocent and a helpless creature shall be sacrificed, 'tis an easy matter to pick up sticks enough from any thicket where it has strayed, to make a fire to offer it up with."

In the Introduction to 'Baconiana,' London, 1679, T. T. (i. e. Dr. Thomas Tenison), in comment on Bacon's words to King James "I wish that as I am the first so I may be the last of sacrifices in your times," writes as follows (page 16):—

"And when from private Appetite, it is resolv'd that a Creature shall be sacrificed; it is easie to pick up sticks enough, from any Thicket whither it hath straied, to made a Fire to offer it with."

There could not be a more audacious example of literary theft. C. M. TENISON. Hobart.

TRIPLETS ATTAINING THEIR MAJORITY.-The following cutting-taken from the Birmingham Daily Post of Nov. 14, 1893, but mislaid until now seems remarkable enough to deserve preservation in 'N. & Q.':

"Coming-of-age festivities of a remarkable kind were celebrated at Whitnash, near Leamington, yesterday. Twenty-one years ago the wife of a cattleman, the mother of thirteen children in all, gave birth to triplets. All three lived, and yesterday attained their majority. The medical authorities who have been consulted state that a case of triplets reaching the age of twenty-one is unprecedented in England." R. HUDSON.

'WISE WOMEN IN NORFOLK.'-Under this heading, in the Diss Express, March 23, there is a letter from a Mr. W. H. Berry, of Kenninghall, sent to a Norwich contemporary, in which the following passage occurs:—

"About two years ago, on a calm Sabbath noon, a fire was seen smouldering in the midst of a cottage garden at South Lopham, and the fumes from the smoke are the fact was elicited that an old lady was engaged in said to have been extremely disagreeable. On inquiry, 'burning a witch.' Two days afterwards I saw the old dame and spoke to her about the event. She then told me that her neighbour had bewitched her hens, and that she had been told by a woman-she wouldn't give her name-to burn one of the fowls on a Sunday at noon and she would have no more trouble."

F. C. BIRKBECK TERRY.

'THE IMITATION OF CHRIST.'- Mr. Percy the saying of Dr. Johnson that this work "had Fitzgerald, writing in the Month for May, quotes been printed in one language or other as many

DICTIONARIES PUBLISHED IN PARTS."Homer was the first inventor of the art which hath so long lain dormant, of publishing by numbers; an art now brought to such perfection, that even dictionaries are divided and exhibited piecemeal to the public; nay, one bookseller hath (to encourage learning and ease the public) contrived to give them a dictionary in this divided manner for only fifteen shillings more than it would have cost entire."-Fielding, Joseph Andrews,' bk. ii. ch. i., vol. i. p. 84 (ed. 1893).

To what dictionary does Fielding allude?
A. L. MAYHEW.
Oxford.

ISABELLA OF FRANCE.-I shall be grateful to any reader of 'N. & Q.' who will kindly explain which Isabella of France gave her name to a peculiar yellow colour. G. L. S.

66

"PIN."-When I order a small cask of ale, it is charged in the bill as one pin." I thought that probably the word was a provincialism; but in Goldsmith's 'Almanack' it appears at the head of beer measure, meaning four gallons and a half, and it has so appeared for the last twenty-five years. Whitaker takes no notice of " pin." What is the origin of the term? J. DIXON.

'THE OATH OF VARGES.'-A friend has a picture called 'The Oath of Varges.' The oath is being sworn by a man in dark velvet, with the order of the Golden Fleece. Ecclesiastics are on

either side, some tonsured, and a figure is seated in a high chair, on a dais in the centre, in a red tight-fitting jerkin (?) and green light nether garments. A few people are pressing forward, with looks of awe and astonishment, on the extreme left. The sanguinary Sir John de Vargas was appointed president of the Bloody Council, which was established by Duke Alva of Spain, who presided until he appointed Vargas. To what does E. R. the picture refer?

HAYMARKET.-With regard to the search I have been making concerning my family history, how could I obtain the name of the ground landlord of the property which adjoined the Opera House in the Haymaket? The Opera House was destroyed by fire in 1789, and I believe it was part of the same property. This information is wanted to determine the exact position of the business place of my ancestor Joseph Hill in the Haymarket. ARTHUR F. HILL.

ROLLAND. Is there any record of the marriage of a Miss Rolland (Christian name and place of residence unknown) with George Haig, who was born at Alloa in 1712? He went to South Carolina, and married Elizabeth Watson, of St. John's (Mrs.) A. STUart. parish there, in 1742.

19, Regent Terrace, Edinburgh.

"MORPHIL."-What is the meaning of this word? It is not to be found in Littré, Tarver, or It occurs in an ordinary French dictionaries. early poem by Léon Gozlan, L'Ennui du Sultan,' contributed about 1830 to Le Keepsake Americain,' an annual conducted by the engraver Galadon. Here is the context :

Les almées à travers leur voile,
En voyant ton mâle profil,
Disent tes dents de pur morphil,
Et ton œil si doux une étoile.

It may be an Arabic word, from the vocabulary of
the author of Les Orientales' or 'Lalla Rookh.'
J. H.

Willesden Green.

RIDING OF ECCLESIASTICS.-In 'S. P. Dom.' (ed. Gairdner), xiii. i. 1205, sub anno 1538, occurs the following, from Edward, Bishop of Meath, to Ant. St. Leger: "As my disease of stranguillion gets worse, I desire licence to ride on a pillion, if I am to attend Parliament and the like as I have done." Does this refer to a dispensation from

The fierce

the wood which grides and clangs Its leafless ribs and iron horns Together.

I have not elsewhere seen grides used in this sense, and after consulting Richardson and Skeat feel somewhat doubtful whether it is one the word will bear. But as no wise man lightly charges Tennyson with inaccuracy, I submit the question to your expert readers. J. D. C.

TRANSLATION WANTED.

readers take compassion on ignorance, and kindly Will one of your send to me direct a translation of the following, which is inscribed round the bowl of a silver-gilt spoon in my possession ?-"Froúkie en Doúwe S. Obbema Zyn [? Lyn] geboren de 13 Sept 1812." GILBERT H. F. VANE.

High Ercall Vicarage, Wellington, Salop. "N.C.P.""-I have recently come into possession of a book published in 1726, by Thomas Lediard, N.C.P., Philos. Cult. The writer was well acquainted with German, as the book in question is an English-German grammar. May I ask you to tell me the signification of the letters N.C.P., which follow the name?

H. A. LEDIARD, M.D. PRUSIAS.-Victor Hugo, in 'Les Misérables,' partie iv. livre i. chap. i., says that, after great convulsions, like the French Revolution and the wars of Napoleon,

"La nation ne demande que le repos; on n'a qu'une soif, la paix; on n'a qu'une ambition, être petit. Ce qui est la traduction de rester tranquille. Les grands événements, les grands hasards, les grandes aventures, les grands hommes, Dieu merci, on en a assez vu, on en a par-dessus la tête. On donnerait César pour Prusias et Napoléon pour le roi d'Yvetot."

Who is Prusias-a real or fictitious character? JONATHAN BOUCHIER. EPISTOLARY CHRISTMAS GREETINGS.-When did it first become the custom to wish "A Merry Christmas" by letter? In James Howell's' Familiar Letters' there is an instance: "Till then I bid you farewell, and, as the Season invites me, 1 wish you a Merry Christmas letter x., 1622). Surely there are many earlier. (bk. i. sec. ii. W. A. HENDERSON.

'MACBETH.'-Can any reader of 'N. & Q.' tell Macbeth, written within the last few years, is to me where an article on the Third Murderer in be found? Nothing later than the discussion in 'N. & Q.'in 1869 is quoted by Mr. Furness ; attempted since to connect this unexplained perbut I am under the impression that some one has sonage with the requirements of stage craft in Shakspeare's day.

R. F. CHOLMELEY.

The High House, Brook Green.

NAMES OF OLYMPIC VICTORS.-In 'L'Art de Vérifier les Dates,' vol. iii. pp. 172-227, I find in their order the names of the victors who gave name each to his Olympiad. But one would like to In the Parian or Arundelian Chronicle in Boeckh, know from what source this list was drawn up. ii. 293, No. 2374, I find no Olympian names. Whence, then, did the Benedictines obtain their Olympic table? JAMES D. BUTLER.

Madison, Wis., U.S.

Manse of Arbuthnott, N.B.

R. M. SPENCE, M.A.

Manchester.

J. B. S.

PRINCE OF WALES, 1805.—I have a small coloured print of George Augustus, Prince of Wales, drawn by E. Scott, engraved by W. Evans, engraved from a drawing in the collection of the Prince of Wales, and published by his Royal Highness's permission by W. Walker, 48, Albemarle Street, Piccadilly, July 8, 1805. H.R. H. is in uniform. I should like to ascertain of what corps. The tunic is a light blue. R. J. F.

DOMRÉMY.-Twice over in the notes to Lamartine's 'Jeanne d'Arc,' in the Pitt Press series of University Local Examination Aids, does a careful editor tell us that, at the request of La Pucelle, her birthplace was set free by Charles VII. from any kind of impost. "This privilege was granted by the king in an Ordinance dated July 31, 1429, and confirmed by another in 1459. It continued in force for more than three centuries." When and why was Domrémy delivered again into the power of the tax-gatherers? Am I right in thinking that Domrémy Remichurch? I want to see a book on French place-names. ST. SWITHIN.

BATTLE OF NASEBY.-Can any one refer me to a good bibliography of the above battle? MORRIS PAYNE.

3, Forest Villas, South Woodford. SIMON DE MONTFORT.-Where can I find the best account of the life and work of this great man? Has any monograph or separate biography -ever been published?

W. FLETCHER.

HERALDRY OF MATTHEW PARIS.-Does he give the correct coat of arms, as illustrated in the Rolls Series of his 'History of England.' He gives the same shield-a lion rampant, with double tail-for Wm. Mareschal, who died 1219; Simon Montfort, 1219; Earl of Arundel, 1221; Richard, Earl of Cornwall, 1225. In the original (according to the editor's notes) the colouring was different. Later on in the same work Matthew Paris gives to the sons of the above the lion with ordinary tail. ARTHUR HUSSEY.

Wingeham, near Dover.

AN EARLY POSTAL COVER.-I have a pamphlet of ninety-seven pages, by Rowland Hill, on Post Office reform, published by Charles Knight, 1837; and on p. 93 he gives a description of a postal

cover :

"The covers are manufactured upon a highly ingenious plan of Mr. Dickinson's, the blue lines, which are, in fact, formed by silken threads enwoven in the texture of the paper, being intended as a security against forgery." Inserted in the pamphlet is a specimen of the cover. It is nine inches by seven when open, covered with buff chequered lines, an ornamental circle, with white centre, for the direction. There are four oval medallions on the circle, with "London District Post, V.R." and crown on each. One has "One ounce one penny"; another, "Not exceeding one ounce." There are ten blue threads at irregular distances passing through it. Can any of your readers inform me if this cover was in general use; and is it uncommon?

Eastbourne.

months

Beylies.

JAS. B. MORRIS.

LAMB'S RESIDENCE AT DALSTON. (8th S. iii. 88; v. 18, 114, 194, 477.) COL. PRIDEAUX's notice of my identification of the site of Lamb's lodging-place at Dalston induces me to remind such of your readers as are interested in the subject that the few remaining houses of Kingsland Row (20 to 23, Market Row), being, as I believe, the property of the railway company, are likely to disappear at any time should the ground whereon they stand be required for extension purposes. They might meanwhile be photographed or sketched: an engraving of them would be an interesting appendage to a future edition of the 'Essays.' Miss Pollard wrote to me some pilgrimage to the place, and in reply I gave her ago, saying that she intended to make a the names and addresses of old inhabitants who might be able to describe Kingsland Row as it was before it fell a sacrifice to the railway navvy. One of these persons is Mr. Peter Basham, bootmaker, who in 1860 (to choose a year for example) carried on business at la, Kingsland Row, according to Kelly's London directory, and at 1[a], Market Row, according to the same publisher's suburban directory as well as according to Mr. Basham himself, but whose present address is 51, Stamford Road, within two minutes' walk of his old abode, and immediately facing the shop of a rival cobbler who owns the wonderfully apt name of Charles Sowter. I have had a chat with Mr. Basham, whose acquaintance with the Row dates back nearly fifty years, he having served his apprenticeship to the "gentle craft" at a house therein; yet, strange to say, he has no recollection of the name Kingsland Row. "It has always," he says, been