Jan. 31. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



103 



fearful visitation that wi'ecked his noble mind ; or 

 as it" perseverance and concentration of enerrries in 

 any pursuit were not natural gifts as much as 

 acquired, and jrifts of a high and most valuable 

 kind too. Collins did not want perseverance 

 whilst at school : he came off first on the roll of 

 whic-h Joseph Warton was second ; and his Oriental 

 Eclogues, written before his eighteenth year, are 

 not unworthy of the boyhood of any of our 

 greatest poets. Besides, he was a highly accom- 

 plished classical scholar, an accurate linguist, was 

 well read in early English poetry and black-letter 

 books, was passionately fond of music ; and some 

 of his poems, if nothing else, prove him to have 

 viewed nature witli a painter's eye. In his own 

 line of poetry, the personification of abstract 

 qualities, Collins stands unrivalled. Let us but 

 compare him v/ith all or any of his numerous 

 imitators, and we ever find him in the calm 

 dignity of genius, 



" Sitting where they durst not soar." 

 Amidst such a number of book-learned cor- 

 respondents as you have, surely I may " lay the 

 flattering unction to my soul " that some in- 

 teresting discoveries could be made. 



Collins is well worthy of all that can be done 

 for his memory, for if his Oda on the Passions and 

 his Ode to Eoeninj; be not true poetry, I fear that 

 the English language has not much poetry to 

 produce. Et. 



Warmington. 



PORTRAITS OF HENRY PURCELL. 



Being employed upon an entirely new biography 

 of Henrji Purcell, I am most anxious to procure 

 all the information in my power relative to the 

 various portraits extant of this "famous musician." 

 Granger's list is very imperfect, but having by my 

 own reseai-clies considerably extended it, I submit 

 it to your readers for perusal, in the hope that 

 tlw)se who are versed in the lore of "print" or 

 " picture collecting" may correct errors, or point 

 ooit omissions. 



Paintings and Drawings. 



1. Head of Purcell, painted by Sir Godfrey 

 Kneller. Lately in the possession of E. Bates, 

 Esq., of Somerset House. 



2. Half-length, said (but evidently erroneously) 

 to have been painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds. 

 Now in the meeting-room of the Royal Society of 

 Musicians, Lisle Sti eet, Soho. 



3. Half-length, originally used as a sign at the 

 tavern known by the name of " The Purcell's 

 Head," in Wych Street, Strand. Query, where 

 is it at present? 



4. Portrait of Purcell when a very young man, 

 formerly among Cartwright's pictures in Dulwich 

 College. Query, what has become of it ? 



5. An original portrait by Closterman. In his 

 hand is a miniature of Queen Mary. Formerly 

 in the collection of Charles Burney, Mus. Doc, at 

 whose sale it was sold, in 1814, for 18Z. I85. I 

 cannot trace this picture. 



6. Crayon drawing, by Sir Godfrey Kneller, 

 from the first-mentioned painting. Formerly in 

 Mr. Bartleman's collection. 



Engravings. 



1. An enixraving by T. Cross, prefixed as fron- 

 tispiece to his Twelve Sonatas, 1683. 



2. Ditto, by R. White, from a painting by Clos- 

 terman. Frontispiece to the Orpheus Britannicus. 



3. Ditto, engraved by W.. N. Gardiner, from a 

 drawing by S. Harding, taken from the original 

 picture in Dulwich College, 179'4. 



4. Ditto, by T. HoUoway, from the crayon 

 drawing by Sir Godfrey Kneller. 



5. An etching inscribed " Henry Purcell," but 

 without the name of painter or engraver. 



6. A small engraving, by Grignion, in Sir John 

 'B.a.viVim^ History of Music. 



7. An engraving by W. Humphries, after Sir 

 Godfrey Kneller. Frontispiece to Novelio's edit, 

 of Purcell's Sacred Music. 



Edward F. Rimbault. 



QUERY ON the CONTROVERSY ABOUT FLUXIONS. 



In the report made by the Committee of the Royal 

 Society, it is stated that the Committee had "con- 

 sulted the Letters and Letter-books in the custody 

 of the Royal Society, and those Ibund among the 

 Papers of Mr. John Collins ....;" thus leaving it 

 doubtful whether CoUins's papers then belonged to 

 the Society, or, it may be, meaning to distinguish 

 them as not so belonging. 



In the preface to the Analysis per Quantitatum 

 Series . . . by William Jones (father of his more 

 celebrated namesake), London, 1711, 4to., which 

 contains some of the matter published in 1712 in 

 the Cominerciuin Epistolicum, occurs the following 

 passage : — 



" Etenim secnnrlus jam agitur annus ex quo Scrinia 

 D. Collinsii (qui, uti notuin est, a'.nplissiinum cum sui 

 s»cuU Mathematicis commercium habuit) meas in 

 manus inciderint ; et in illis plurima reperi a cunctis 

 fere totius Europce eruditis ipsi communicata ; et 

 inter ea non pauca, quae a Viro CI. D. Ntwtorio scripta 

 fuerint." 



This is hardly language which could be used 

 with reference to pupers lodged in the custody of 

 the Society : it would seem as if Jones, in 1709 or 

 1710, became the owner or borrower of papers, 

 till then in private hands exclusively. Can any 

 evidence be brought forward as to the manner in 

 which Jones and the Royal Society, or either, ob- 

 tained these papers ? I believe the Royal Society 

 itself can give no information. A. Db Morgan. 



