2"«» S. VII. Fkb. 5. '69.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



103 



Sir Isaac Newton. — In the Life of Dr. Za- 

 chary Pearce, Bishop of Rochester, prefixed to 

 his Commentary on the Four Evangelists, 2 vols. 

 4to., 1777, occurs the following interesting pic- 

 ture of Sir Isaac Newton in his extreme old age, 

 which seems to have escaped the notice of the 

 biographers of the great philosopher. The Bishop 

 8.aj8 : — 



"A few days before Sir Isaac died, I made him a visit 

 at Kensington, where he was then for his health, and 

 where I found Mr. Innys tlio bookseller with him ; he 

 withdrew as soon as I came in, and went aw.iy. I dined 

 with Sir Isaac on that day, and we were alone all the 

 time of my stay with him. I found him writing over his 

 Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms, without the aid of spec- 

 tacles, at the greatest distance in the room from the 

 windows, and with a parcel of books on the table casting 

 a shade upon his paper. Seeing this, on my entering the 

 room, I said to him, ' Sir, you seem to be writing in a 

 place where you cannot so well see.' His answer was, 

 ' A little light serves me.' He then told me, ♦ that he 

 was preparing his Chronology for the press, and that he 

 had written the greatest part of it over again for that 

 purpose.' He read to me two or three sheets of what he 

 had written (about the middle, I think, of the work), on 

 occasion of some points of Chronology which had been 

 mentioned in our conversation. I believe that he con- 

 tinued reading to me, and talking about what he had 

 read, for near an hour before the dinner was brought up. 

 And one particular I well remember, viz., that speaking 

 of some fact, he could not recollect the name of the King 

 in whose reign it had happened, and therefore he com- 

 plained of his memory's beginning to fail him ; but he 

 added immediately, that it was in such a year of such an 

 Olympiad, naming them both very exactly. A circum- 

 stance which I thought very observable, as the ready 

 mention of such chronological dates seemed to me a 

 greater proof of his memory's not failing him, than the 

 naming of the King would have been." 



W. J. T. 



Pretender''s Blue llibbon. — The following has 

 appeared in several newspapers. The discovery 

 should not pass without a record in " N. & Q." 

 Perhaps some one will tell us more of the facts of 

 the case, or if there be no facts to tell, will ex- 

 pose the fiction : — 



" The ribbon of the Order of the Bath belonging to 

 the Pretender, which has just been discovered as forming 

 the bourse or cover of the cup which contains the Host at 

 Nonancourt, has been sent up to Paris to be examined by 

 antiquaries, in order to decide upon its genuine origin, 

 before being admitted to the Alusee des Souverains at 

 the Louvre. The inscription found in the lining is the 

 onlj' proof of its authenticity. This declares that the silk 

 of which the bourse is made once formed the ribbon of the 

 Bath worn by the Pretender when he visited Nonan- 

 court, and was forced to fly thence, in consequence of an 

 attempt at assassination made upon his person at the in- 

 stigation of the English ambassador. The ribbon was 

 given to Mdme. I'Hopital, who saved his life, and who 

 was postmistress at the time.' — Court Journal."- — The 

 Standard, January 10, 1859, 



K. P. D. E. 



A Lincolnshire Exclamation. — If any one, among 

 the peasantry of Lincolnshire, tells another any 



bad news, it invariably elicits the exclamation 

 " worst art ! " Is this a corruption of " woe is 

 that ? " or what does it mean ? Will any of your 

 correspondents enlighten me ? 



John Pavin Phillips. 

 Haverfordwest. 



Mazer Bowl, — May not the word " Mazer " 

 be derived from nilf^, niazzaroth, (zodiac) ? 

 {Job, xxxviii. 32.) 



I lately saw a Burmese platina bowl, of antique 

 and beautiful work, bearing the twelve signs in a 

 circle on the outside ; a somewhat similar one is 

 figured in Raffles' Java. The English mazer- 

 bowls generally bore some sacred words or signs 

 on them, and were used as loving-cups. I be- 

 lieve that the signs of the zodiac are acknow- 

 ledged nniversally to have a deep and sacred 

 meaning ; and this seems to give colour to the 

 suggestion, for in all probability we owe the early 

 introduction of the signs of the zodiac to the 

 Phoenicians, who may also have introduced the use 

 and the name of these bowls. Taking this view 

 of " the loving cup," we feel the full meaning of 

 the name, and regard it as the type of universal 

 brotherhood, whether we look at the zodiac en- 

 circling the globe, or drink the world-wide Sa- 

 lopian toast of " All friends round the Wrekin " 

 from the old family tankard. M. G. 



Epigram on the French Revolutionists. — The 

 model, — not the original, for that probably some 

 of your learned correspondents could trace to 

 Martial, perhaps to Cicero, considering what a 

 fine subject he had, — but the model of the some- 

 what vapid epigram upon George III.'s physicians 

 (" N. k Q." 2"" S. vii. 68.), may be found in the 

 following upon the three notorious ultra-revolu- 

 tionists, whose histories are but too well known to 

 the students of that dismal epoch of " the record 

 of the crimes and follies of mankind :" — 

 " Connoissez vous rien de plus sot 



Que Merlin, Bazire et Chabot ? 



Non, je ne connois rien de pire. 



Que Chabot, Merlin et Bazire ; 



Et personne n'est plus coquin. 



Que Bazire, Chabot et Merlin." <^. 



Lord Bacon. — I have lately seen Bacon's Worhs 

 advertised as the Worhs of " Lo7-d Bacon, Baron 

 of Verulam, Viscount St. Alban's." This induces 

 me to ask insertion for the following sentence 

 from M. Ch. de Remusat's Bacon (p. 93. n., edit. 

 1857): — 



" Meme en Angleterre, on appelle encore quelquefois le 

 Chaucelier lord Bacon ; mais cela n'est pas plus r^gulier 

 que si I'on donnait h. lord Chatham le nom de lord Pitt. 

 Bacon s'est appelle successivement Bacon, Sir Francis, 

 Lord Verulam, Lord Saint-Alban." 



I should mention that, in a subsequent page 

 (102. n.), M. de Remusat defends his mode of 

 writing " Saint-Alban " by Bacon's own practice. 



S. C. 



