138 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 119. 



Filius, from a tripod, a three-legged stool, in 

 humble imitation of the Delphic oracle. It is men- 

 tioned in the statute De tollendis ineptiis in pub- 

 licis disputationibus*, an 1626 — ut prasvaricatores, 

 tripodes, alii que omnes disputantes veterum aca- 

 demia formam, &c. James Cobnish. 



Monody on the Death of Sir John Moore (Vol. i., 

 p. 445.). — If any person entertains a doubt that 

 the Rev. Charles Wolfe was the author, I trust 

 that the following statement will have the effect of 

 removing it. in the October number of the Dub- 

 lin University Magazine, 1851, there is a short 

 biographical notice of the late much lamented 

 Rev. Samuel O'Sullivan, which contains the fol- 

 lowing passage : 



" One of his intimate acquaintances was Charles 

 Wolfe. The exquisite lines on the l)urial of Sir John 

 Moore were suggested by O'Sullivan readir-g to him 

 the description m the Annual Register of the retreat 

 from Corunna. Immediately after, the two friends went 

 out to wander in the fields. During their ramble 

 Wolfe was silent and moody. On their return to their 

 College chambers he repeated the first and last stanzas 

 of the ode that has made his name immortal." 



Knowing the source from which this assertion 

 emanates, I have no reason to suspect the veracity 

 of the writer. 



There is an additional proof, which is well 

 ■worthy of being recorded in your pages, and of 

 which I have had ocular demonstration. In the 

 Royal Irish Academy there is an original letter, 

 framed, in the handwriting of Wolfe, of which I 

 send you an e.x.act fac-similc. You will perceive 

 that it contains a copy of the poem, and that his 

 signature is attached to it. I need not add any 

 more. Clericus. 



Dublin. 



* The following, from the facetious Fuller, will serve 

 to show to what lengths they went formerly in ineptiis 

 (See his Worthies, edit. 1684): — "When Morton, 

 afterwards Bishop of Durham, stood for the degree of 

 D. D. at Cambridge, he advanced something which was 

 displeasing to the professor, who exclaimed, with some 

 warmth, ' Commosti mihi stomachum.' To whom Mor- 

 ton replied, ' Gratulor tibi, lleverende Professor, de 

 bono tuo stomacho, coenabis apud me hac nocte.' The 

 English word stomach formerly signified ' passion, 

 indignation.' Archbishop Cranmer appointed one 

 Travers to a fellowsliip at Trinity College, who had 

 been before rejected (says my author) on account of 

 his ♦ intolerable stomach.' This would be thought a 

 singular discommendation in the present day." To add 

 another story from Fuller relating to Publicis Disputa- 

 tionibus : — "When a professor of logic pressed an 

 answerer with a hard argument, ' lleverende Professor,' 

 said he, ' ingenue contiteor me non posse respondere 

 huic argumento.' To whom the Professor, ' Recte 

 respondis.'" — Holy and Profane Slate. Vide Gradus 

 ted Cantahrigiam, a little book published by VV. J, and 

 J. Richardson, 1803. 



Many Children at a Birth (Vol. iii., pp. 64. 

 347.). — In The Natural History of Wiltshire : by 

 John Aubrey, F.R.S., edited by John Britton, 

 Esq., is the following passage : 



" At Wishford Magna is an inscription to Thomas 

 Bonham and Edith his wife, who died 1473 and 1469. 

 Mrs. Bonham had two children at one birth the first 

 time ; and he being troubled at it, travelled, and was 

 absent seven years. After his returne, she was deli- 

 vered of seven children at one birth. In this parish is a 

 confident tradition that these seven children were all 

 baptized at the font in this church, and that they were 

 brought thither in a kind of chardger, which was dedi- 

 cated to this church, and hung on two nailes, which 

 are to be seen there yet, neer the belfree on the south 

 side. Some old men are yet living that doe remember 

 the chardger. This tradition isentred into the llegis- 

 ter-booke there, from whence I have taken this nar- 

 rative," 1659. — See Hoare's Modern Wilts, p. 49. 

 J. B. 



The following is also from t^e same book : 

 " Dr. Win. Harvey, author of The Circulation of the 

 Blood, told me that one Mr. Palmer's wife, in Kent, 

 did beare a child every day for five dales together." 



C. DE D. 



" O Leoline" Sj'c. (Vol. v., p. 78.). — If no one 

 sends in better information, I beg to inform 

 H. B. C. that I have had the lines he alludes to 

 for many years in MS. as the composition of 

 Aaron Hill. He was a dramatist, but I observe 

 that the Cyclopcedia says only two of his dramatic 

 pieces are now remembered, Algira and Zara, 

 both of them adaptations from Voltaire. He was 

 born 1684, and died 1750. My verses differ 

 slightly from the version of H. B. C. 



" Let never man be bold enough to say, 

 Thus, and no fartiier, shall my footsteps stray. 

 The first crime past compels us into more, 

 And guilt grows fate, that was but choice before." 



Hermes. 



[O. P. W^. has forwarded a similar reference to 

 Aaron Hill.] 



The Ballad on the Rising of the Vendee (Vol.iv., 

 p. 473.). — It is by Smythe, the member for Can- 

 terbury, and was published in his Historic Fancies. 



R. D. H. 



House at Welling (Vol. iv., p. 502.). — Your 

 correspondent appears to have tnade a confusion 

 between Welling in Kent and Welwyn in Herts. 

 Of this latter place Young, the autiior of the 

 Night Thoughts, was rector, and the house in 

 which he resided is now standing. A. W. H. 



Pharetram dc Tuteshit (Vol. iv., p. 316.). — 

 Pharetram de Tutesbit must be a quiver manu- 

 factured by a person of the name of Tutesbit. 

 This indeed is conjecture, as I have not been able 

 to find any allusion to the word ; but it does not 

 appear that there is any place of that name. 



