2'«» S. No 66., April 4. '57,] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



279 



the regard or obseruation of all the moones, and here 

 hence is deriued the name of almanac." 



R. W. Hackwood. 



Paraphrase on the " !Ze Beum " (2°'^ S. iii, 145.) 

 — J. B. will excuse me when I say that this is no 

 paraphrase, but a parody, much more deserving 

 the name of Te Deam than Te Deum ; for it is a 

 glorification of the Holy Virgin in each of twenty- 

 nine consecutive lines, and in no way connected 

 with the doctrine of the Te Deum, which is a di- 

 vine hymn founded upon the Apostles' Creed. 



CUSTOS. 



P.S. Nox vicit is inadmissible in the transla- 

 tion from Gray's Elegy sent you by Oxoniensis. 



Sensations in Droiiming (P' S. xii. 87. 153. 2-36. 

 500. ; 2°'> S. iii. 236.) —Thanks to H. H, J. for 

 reviving by his reply the subject of my query. 

 I believe there is yet much curious information 

 to be gleaned on the subject. Can some of your 

 readers refer me to, or give the substance of, a 

 paper either written on the subject, or contain- 

 ing some information respecting it, which appeared 

 in the Christian Observer during, I think, either 

 the year 1854 or 1855 ? R, W. Hackwood. 



Eldridge, Heame, Booker, Sf-c. (2°'' S. iii. 70.) 

 — A very extensive collection of the water-colour 

 drawings of these artists, and their contemporaries, 

 was formed by my late father. Many were dis- 

 posed of privately, during his lifetime, and the 

 remainder by public sale at Messrs. Christie and 

 Manson's after his decease. Dr. Burney of Green- 

 wich (since Archdeacon Burney) was the largest 

 purchaser ; and indeed his collection of water- 

 colour drawings (some few years back) was con- 

 sidered one of the choicest in England. 



Edward F. Rimbault. 



The White- breastedr Bird of the Oxenham Fa- 

 mily (2°'' S. iii. 213.) —Howell's statement on 

 this subject is referred to by Prince in his Wor- 

 thies of Devon, ed. 1810. p. 624. Other instances 

 besides those mentioned by your correspondent 

 have been recorded of this remarkable apparition ; 

 but though the particulars related are curious and 

 circumstantial, their authenticity must remain 

 matter of opinion. 



In the libraries of the British Museum, the Bod- 

 leian, and of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, are 

 copies of a tract, entitled 



" A True Relation of an Apparition in the Likenesse of 

 a Bird with a White Breast, that appeared hovering over 

 the Death-bed of some of the Children of Mr. James Ox- 

 enham, &c. 4to. London, 1641, with an illustrative fron- 

 tispiece." 



And in Dr. Mogridge's Descriptive Sketch of 

 Sidmouth, at p. 48., is a remarkable statement of 

 a similar appearance on the death of one of the 

 family of Oxenham, in that parish. 



No trace of the inscribed stone mentioned by 

 Howell has been found among the monuments at 

 South Tawton, the parish in which the Oxenham 

 family was seated ; nor is any reference to the 

 apparition made in either of the several inscrip- 

 tions to individuals of the name in other parts of 

 the couptry. The inscription on the floor of the 

 south aisle of the choir of Exeter cathedral, to 

 the memory of Stephen Weston, and Elizabeth, 

 his wife, daughter of William and Mary Oxenham 

 (the individual referred to in the Gent.^s Mag.) 

 makes no mention of the subject. J. D. S. 



Effect of the Touch of the Rainbow (2"'^ S. iii. 

 226.) — Mr. M. Walcott quotes the remark of 

 Lord Bacon that, according . to the ancients, 

 " where a rainbow seemeth to hang over, or to 

 touch, there breaketh forth a sweet smell." John 

 Lilly, in his Epilogue to Campaspe, says, " where 

 the rainbow toucheth the trees, no caterpillars 

 will hang on the leaves ; " and he adds, (hat 

 " where the glow-worm creepeth in the night, no 

 adder will go in the day." J. Doran. 



Painting on Leather (2"'^ S. iii. 229.) — The 

 drawing-room of a house called Crooke, near 

 Chorley, contained till about thirtj#years since a 

 curious set of painted leather hangings, which at 

 first sight resembled tapestry. The subjects were 

 from the history of Antony and Cleopatra, and 

 the figures nearly as large as life. A well-mean- 

 ing tenant unfortunately varnished it, which 

 caused it to contract and split, and it is now re- 

 moved. 



Another Lancashire family have a miniature of 

 Mary Queen of Scots, on leather, said to have 

 belonged to an ancestor who had been one of her 

 maids of honour. P. P. 



NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC. 



Our readers will doubtless remember that we some 

 time since called their attention to the Catalogue of the 

 Manuscripts preserved in the Library of the University of 

 Cambridge, edited for the Syndics of the University Press. 

 The second volume, we are happy to say, is now before us, 

 edited by Mr. Hardwick, who himself describes the Anglo- 

 Saxon, Anglo-Norman, and Early English MSS. ; and 

 with the same able band of gentlemen working in their 

 several divisions, and occasional additional assistance 

 from Mr. J. E. B. Mayor of St. John's College, and Mr. J. 

 F. A. Hart of Trinity. In the present volume the par- 

 ticulars of upwards of five hundred manuscripts are care- 

 fully and minutely detailed ; but the great value of the 

 work, obvious as it is in its present stage, will not bo 

 fully apparent until the whole is before us, with those 

 indices, &c., which we are promised shall accompany the 

 last volume. 



We are by no means sorry that Mr. Maclean, when he 

 found in the library at Lambeth a MS. Life of Sir Peter 



