Feb. 21. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



ir« 



remember another case made out to the entire 

 satisfaction of some benevolent ladies, by, as after- 

 wards appeared, the baptismal register of John 

 the father being made to do duty as the register 

 of John the son. I mention these things as a 

 ■warning ; I protest, too, at starting against flooding 

 " N. & Q." with evidence brought from Russia or 

 America, or any of the back settlements of the 

 world, and against all evidence of people with 

 impossible memories. What I want is good legal 

 evidence ; the greatest age of the oldest members 

 of the Equitable, Amicable, and other Insurance 

 offices — lives certainly beyond the average ; the 

 greatest age of a member of the House of Peers 

 coming within the eye of proof. When these 

 preliminary questions, and reasonable inferences, 

 shall have been determined, it will, I think, be 

 quite time enough to raise questions about the 

 old Countess, old Parr, old Jenkins, and other 

 like ante-register longevities. O. C. D. 



Laud^s Letters and Papers. — Can any of your 

 <;orrespondents inform me where any unpublished 

 letters or papers of Archbishop Laud are to be 

 met with, besides those at Lambeth or in the 

 British Museum ? 



Anthony a Wood mentions his speech against 

 IQ'athanael Fiennes ; and Wanley, in his Catalogue 

 of English and Irish MSS., states that many of 

 his writings, both political and theological, were 

 -extant at that time in private libraries. B. J. 



[Archbishop Laud's Works are now in the course of 

 publication in the Library of Anglo- Catholic Theology, 

 and from the editor's valuable bibliographical prefaces 

 to vols. i. and ii., we think it probable that some notices 

 of these MSS. will be given in the subsequent volumes. 

 Our correspondent may also consult Catalogi Librorum 

 Manuscriptorum Anglim et Hibernice, Oxon. 1697.] 



Scof» Philomythie. — Philomythie, or Philomy- 

 thologie, loherein Outlandish Sirds, Beasts, and 

 Fishes are taught to speak true English plainlie, ^c. 



The same volume, a small quarto unpaged, con- 

 tains " The Merrie American Philosopher, or Wise 

 Man of the New World," and " Certaine Pieces of 

 this Age Parabolized, viz. Duellum Britannicum ; 

 Regalis Justitia Jacobi ; Aquignispicium ; Anti- 

 dotum Cecillianum ; by Thomas Scot, Gentleman, 

 1616, with illustrative woodcuts." 



Query : Is the book rare, and who was Thomas 

 Scot ? L. S. 



[But little appears to be known of the personal his- 

 tory of Thomas Scot. Sir S. Egerton Brydges, in his 

 Centura Literaria, vol. iii, pp. 381 — 386., and vol. iv. 

 p. 32., has given some account of his works, but no 

 biograpliical notice of tlie author. The dedications to 

 his poems being principally to the Norfolk and Suffolk 

 gentry, it is probable he belonged to one of those 

 counties. The first edition of Philomythie was pub- 



lished in 1610; the second in 1616; but some copies 

 of the second edition, according to Lowndes, are dated 

 1622, others 1640. There is a third portion which 

 oiir correspondent does not appear to possess, entitled 

 The Second Part of Philomythie, or Philomyihologie, 

 containing Certaine Tales of true libertie, false friend- 

 ship, power united, faction and ambition. By Taomas 

 Scot, Gent. London, 1616, 1625. Thomas Park 

 thought that, from the great disparity of merit between 

 this and the preceding part, there is little reason to 

 suppose them to be by the same author, though they 

 bear the same name. Scot's works are considered rare, 

 especially his first, entitled Four Paradoxes of Arte, of 

 Lawe, of Warre, of Seruice : London, 1602, consisting 

 of twenty-four leaves, in verse, dedicated to Ladie 

 Helena, Marquesse of Northampton, which is marked 

 in Bibl. Anglo. Poet, at 25/., and resold for 11. 12s. 

 (Hibbert, 7243.)] 



Robin of Doncaster. — Give me leave to ask for 

 an explanation of the following enigmatical epitaph, 

 which will be found in the History of Doncaster.^ 

 by Dr. Edward Miller, p. 74. : 



" Howe, Howe, who is heare ? 

 I Robin of Doncaster and Margaret my feare. 



That I spent, that I had, 



That I gave, that I have, 



That I left, that I lost. a.d. 1579. 

 Quoth Robertus Byrkes, who in this world did 



reign 

 Three score years and seven, and yet liv'd not one." 



Dr. Johnson latinized a part of it thus : 



" Habeo, dedi quod alteri ; 

 Habuique, quod dedi mihi ; 

 Sed quod reliqui, perdidi." .: 



See Works of English Poets, vol. Ixxii. 

 Lond. 1790, small 8vo. Poemata, 

 p. 99. 



In Magna Britannia et Hibernia, antiqua et 

 nova, vol. vi. p. 429., it is stated that Robin of 

 Doncaster gave Rossington Wood to that corpora- 

 tion. Perhaps some reader may be able to supply 

 more of his biography. i^F. 



[A similar epitaph to the above will be found on the 

 tomb of William Lambe, in the church of St. Faith 

 under Paul : see Strype's Stow, book iii. p. 146. Dr. 

 Miller does not appear to have given any biographical 

 notices of Robert Byrkes, except that he was Mayor 

 of Doncaster during the years 1569, 1573, and 1577. 

 The following explanation of this inscription is given 

 by Bland in his Proverbs, vol. i. p. 23. : — " By 

 prudence in the distribution of his benevolence, by 

 giving only to good and deserving persons, he procured 

 to himself friends, on whose advice and assistance he 

 might depend whenever occasion should desire it ; and 

 by expending only what he could conveniently spare, 

 and laying it out on such things as administered to his 

 comfort, he enjoyed, and therefore had what he ex- 

 pended ; but what he left, not being enjoyed by himself, 

 nor going perhaps to persons of his choice, or being 

 used in the manner he would have preferred, that 

 portion might be truly said to be lost."] 



