2nd g. No 58., Feb. 7, '57.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



109 



tion of the Bible ; and, accordingly, he resolved 

 to learn the sacred languages, although he was 

 llien by no means young. He began with He- 

 brew, which with incredible patience he contrived 

 lo master. He must have had some assistance, as 

 tiicre were then no grammars of the Hebrew and 

 Chaldee languages in English. Next he applied 

 himself to the study of Greek, and, lastly, of 

 Latin, which he learnt, probably, in order to be 

 iible to read the works of other learned authors. 

 lie then began his work of translation, which he 

 at length accomplished. He also added notes, to 

 explain obscure passages, and justify his deviations 

 from the authorised version. 



All difficulties respecting the publication of his 

 work were removed by the charity of Dr. Fother- 

 gill, who offered to pay all expenses. The trans- 

 lation was published in two volumes, folio, at a 

 cost of not less than 200/., under the title of, — 



" A New and Literal Translation of all the Books of the 

 Old and New Testaments, with Notes Critical and Ex- 

 planatory. By Anthony Purver. London, 1764." 



The work is chiefly remarkable for its close 

 adherence to the Hebrew idiom. Southey prefers 

 his " I am he who am," to " I am that I am." He 

 calls the Book of Canticles " The Poem of Solo- 

 mon," '■'■song" he says, " being of profane use." 



Tiie above particulars I have collected from the 

 life of Dr. Fothergill in the- Biog. Borealis, and 

 from Southey's Omniana. Can any of your cor- 

 res[)ondents supply any further information re- 

 specting Purver ? When, and where was he born ? 

 When did he die ? J. Cypkian Host. 



Norwich. 



[Anthony Purver was born at Up-Husborn, in Hants, 

 about the year 1702 ; and died at Andover in 1777. See 

 Chalmers's Biog. Diet, for an excellent account of him.] 



JOURNAL or A POOR VICAR IN WILTSHIRE, 

 A.D. 1764. 



As the poverty of curates and small incumbents 

 is beginning to arrest public attention, some Notes 

 and Queries on the subject suggest themselves to 

 roe. 



A very interesting narrative entitled Journal 

 of a Poor Vicar, and dated 1764, appeared some 

 years ago in Chambers's Miscellany of Useful and 

 Entertaining Tracts, vol. ii. No. 17, with the fol- 

 lowing note appended : 



" Tins singularly touching narrative of certain passages 

 in the life of a poor vicar in Wiltshire is translated from 

 the German of Zschokke, who took it from a fugitive 

 'sketch that appeared in England from 70 to 80 years ago, 

 and which probably gave Goldsmith the first hint to- 

 wards his Viear of Wakefield.* The present translation 

 from Zschokke, who has improved considerably on the 



* Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield was first published 

 in March, 176C, 



original, is by an American writer, by whom it was con- 

 tributed to 'The Gift' for 1844, published by Carey and 

 Hart, Philadelphia." 



Can any of your readers give me information 

 respecting the original " fugitive sketch " ? 



As to the title, I may remark that " Vicar " is 

 used in its obsolete sense, and coincides with the 

 French Vicaire and our Curate. 



The curious picture of clerical domestic economy 

 we get a glimpse of in the Journal, and in that 

 passage in Eacliard's Grounds and Occasions of 

 the Contempt of the Clergy and Religion inquired 

 into (Lond., 1712, p. 71.), which, I think, is quoted 

 by Macaulay, could be paralleled, I suspect, pretty 

 closely at the present day. I shall content my- 

 self, however, with giving another illustration of 

 the past. Speaking of the right of Whittle-gate^ 

 Brochett observes : 



" The income of the clergy was so very low, that ia 

 some places they were allowed a Whittle-gate — that is, 

 the Minister was privileged to go from house to house in. 

 the parish, and, for a certain number of days, enter hia 

 Whittle with the rest of the household, and live with 

 them. 'An harden sark, a guse grassing, and a Whittle- 

 gait' were all the salary of a clergyman not many yeara 

 ago in Cumberland : in other words, his entire stipend 

 consisted of a shirt of coarse linen, the right of common- 

 ing geese, and the privilege of using a knife (A.-S. 

 Whytel) and fork at the table of his parishioners." — 

 Gloss, in voe. 



The last few lines of Eachard's graphic sketch 

 I subjoin, as they contain a special allusion : 



" Oh how prettily and temperately may half a score 

 children be maintained with almost twenty pounds per 

 annum ! What a handsome shift a poor ingenious and 

 frugal Divine will make, to take it b.v turns, and wear a 

 cassock one j'ear, and a pair of breeches another ! What 

 a becoming thing is it for him that serves at the Altar, to- 

 fill the dung-cart in dry weather, and to heat the oven, 

 and pull hemp in wet I And what a pleasant sight ia 

 it, to see the Man of God fetching up his single melan- 

 choly cow, from a small rib of land that is scarce to be 

 found without a guide! Or to be seated upon a soft and 

 well grinded pouch of meal ! Or to be planted upon a 

 pannier with a pair of geese, or turkies, bobbing out their 

 heads from under his Canonical coat, as you cannot but 

 remember the Man, Sir, that was thus accomplished! Or 

 to find him raving about the yards, or keeping his chamber 

 close, because the duck lately miscarried of an egg, or 

 that the never-failing hen has unhappily forsaken her 

 wonted best ? " — Eachard, p. 77. 



Is it known to whom Eachard alludes here, an(l 

 whom he thus selects as type of a class ? 



Jarltzberg. 



;^in0r HkMtxiti. 



The Bronze Horses at Venice. — I request some 

 reader of"N. & Q." will acquaint me with the 

 height, English measure, of the four celebrated 

 bronze horses, in the gallery in front of the cathcdr<i,l 

 church of San Marco at Venice. Upon inquiring, 

 I was told they were 4 feet 7 inches Venetian 



