184 



NOTES AND QUEEIES. 



[2nd s. NO 62., Mar. 7. '67. 



sical library of the most renowned editions, which, 

 though not large in number of volumes, was sold, 

 in cumulo, to a bookseller in London for 800Z. 

 He was chiefly occupied as a tutor of the Greek 

 and Latin languages, in which he educated many 

 of the young gentlemen of Glasgow of the first 

 families. His qualifications and learning are men- 

 tioned by some of his old pupils as deep and ex- 

 tensive. At a black-stone examination in the 

 University of Glasgow, he made his appearance 

 followed by two porters sweating under some pon- 

 derous volumes, and when the usual question was 

 put to him by the examining professor, his 

 haughty reply was " Quid non profiteer ? " For 

 the teaching of Greek he said he had a divine 

 mission. During his lifetime he had made la- 

 borious researches in the Greek language, and at 

 his death his MSS. consisted of a number of 

 quarto volumes, which he termed his Adversaria, 

 in which he had noted materials for a work on the 

 etymology of the Greek language, and in explana- 

 tion of the manner in which its various dialects 

 had arisen, and which comprised also an exposition 

 of the Greek prepositions based on Professor 

 Moor's essay on that part of speech. Unfortu- 

 nately, after his death these volumes fell into the 

 hands of some of his relations, and it is appre- 

 hended that they disappeared through the medium 

 of tlie snufF or grocers' shops, as with the most 

 diligent search for several years afterwards they 

 were not recovered : a few of his loose jottings 

 and papers alone were preserved by his esteemed 

 friend Mr. Robert Hall, of whom see "N. & Q." 

 (2°" S. i. 389., " The Dechamp Families.") 



Mr. Reekie, in pursuing his plan, could not per- 

 fect it without a dictionary of the Greek language, 

 constructed something on the method of Walkei-'s 

 English Rhyming Dictionary, in which the words 

 should be classed according to their terminations. 

 Mr. Hall undertook this irksome task for his 

 friend, and in the mode prescribed by him, of 

 copying out with his own hand the whole of He- 

 dericus Lexicon, &c. It was only in part accom' 

 plished at Mr. Reekie's death, but Mr. Hall had 

 the patience and perseverance to complete it. He 

 told me that it had altogether occupied him many 

 years. It may be about twenty-five years since I 

 saw the MS. : it was unbound, and embraced, I 

 am satisfied, nearly a ream of folio writing paper ; 

 a fine specimen of beautiful, clear, Greek chiro- 

 graphy, for which Mr. Hall was particularly qua- 

 lified, and from his abilities also as a Greek 

 scholar, I have no doubt it is equally correct. I 

 think the MS. will yet be quite in safe keeping, 

 and if the printing of it was to be an acquisition 

 to Greek literature, it may be said to be ready for 

 the press. As I am not well informed on the sub- 

 ject, perhaps some of your learned correspondents 

 will be so good as to say whether such a work 

 would be useful, and if wanted ? G. N". 



flfttnor ^0tfi. 



^^ Good-bye." — The derivation of this familiar 

 expression is generally acknowledged, " God be 

 with you." Your readers may have met with many 

 instances of this. But one now before me is very 

 striking. It occurs in a curious book. The Mirrour 

 vjhich Flatters not, by Le Sieur de la Serre, histo- 

 riographer of France ; translated by Thos. Gary, 

 London, printed for R. Thrale, 1639. 



The passage (p. 73.), which is addressed to 

 " Absolute Kings, and Puissant Sovereigns," is as 

 follows : — 



" You never seate your-selves upon these thrones of 

 magnificence, but, as it were, to take leave of the assem- 

 bly ; continuing still to give your last God-bwyes, like a 

 man who is upon point to depart," &c. 



A word more about this book. It contains five 

 beautiful engraved illustrations, most of them 

 bearing the initials J. P. (probably John Payne). 



These very plates were afterwards used to 

 illustrate a book of about the same size, Fair 

 Warnings to a Careless World, by Josiah Wood- 

 ward, D.D., London, 1707. 



Woodward, who was the author of several re- 

 ligious tracts, and wrote a neat little history of 

 the Religious Societies of about that date, has 

 added to the above cuts one of Lord Rochester on 

 his sick bed, with Bishop Burnet praying with 

 him at the bed-side. T. B. M. 



Ill-assorted Marriages. — 



"Marriages: Anno 1621. Francis Fawcett, of the age 

 of 93 years, marryed to Anne Hemidge, of the age of 21 

 years, upon Sater Daie the 27th Daie of January, 1621." 



It appears, however, that the bliss of the vener- 

 able bridegroom was but of short duration. By 

 the next entry : 



"Burialls: Anno 1621. Francis Fawcett, the above- 

 named, was buryed the 8th day of February, 1621 ; 

 having been but 12 daies married." 



NOTSA. 



Introduction of Christmas Trees into England. — 



" We remember a German of the household of the late 

 Queen Caroline making what he termed a Christmns tree, 

 for a juvenile party at that festive season. The tree was 

 a branch of some evergreen fastened on a board. Its 

 boughs bent under the weight of gilt oranges, almonds, 

 &c., and under it was a neat model of a farm-house, 

 surrounded by figures of animals, &c., and all due accom- 

 paniments. The forming Christmas trees is, we believe, 

 a common custom in Germany, evidently a remain of the 

 pageants constructed at that season in ancient daj's." 



In the description of a pageant in the reign of 

 King Henry VIII., a tree appears to have been a 

 prominent feature : — 



" Agajmste the xii daye, or the day of the Epiphanie, 

 at nighte before the banket in the Hall at Richemonde, 

 was a pageaunt devised like a mountajme glisteringe by 

 night, as tho' it had bene all of golde and set with stones ; 

 on the top of whiche mountayne was a tree of golde, the 



