574 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 137. 



doubt not your correspondent will see the force. 

 He says, " the demonstrative pronoun that, refers 

 to the commission which the Duke holds in his 

 Land;" but is this the language we in England 

 use ? Until the Duke presented the commission, 

 — the act indicated by the words "there is our 

 commission," — there cannot indeed be much doubt 

 that he held it in his hand ; and while he did so, 

 he would as certainly have said this, as I speak of 

 this pen with which I write. 



Your correspondent challenges comment in as- 

 suming that his explanation was satisfactory enough 

 to predude all correction. At the same time I 

 must confess I am altogether sceptical with regard 

 to Mr. Halliweirs vei-b. As, however, he has 

 excited our curiosity, he will doubtless not object 

 to satisfy it. Me. Singer's suggestion seems to 

 me worthy of consideration ; but, after all, I feel 

 that there is a degree of incoherency in the pas- 

 sage, and so unsatisfixctory a connexion between 

 the words " and let them 'work" and that which 

 precedes, that I cannot help recurring to the idea 

 that a line has been lost, — an accident of not very 

 uncommon occurrence. Samuel Hickson. 



St. John's Wood. 



" Stunt with false care," SfC. (Vol. v., p. 538.).— 

 The lines alluded to, though the first of them is 

 incorrectly quoted, are from George Cox's bril- 

 liant satire, Black Gowns and Red Coats ; or, 

 Oxford in 1834, respecting which some informa- 

 tion was recently furnished by your correspon- 

 dents S. F. C. (Vol. v., p. 297.) and C. W. B. 

 {Vol. v., p. 332.) in reply. The work is perhaps 

 sufBciently scarce to warrant the citation of the 

 whole passage, which occurs at the commence- 

 ment of Part V. : 



*' When Philip's son, in all a monarch's pride, 

 With tempting boons approach'd the barrel's side. 

 Full in the sun his glitt'ring trains display'd, 

 And sought to cumber with officious aid, 

 The Cynic snoer'd, and only begg'd in spite 

 The free enjoyment of the beams of light. 

 Such were the humble prayer, the meek request 

 That Oxford's sons might ask their tyrants best ; 

 The full out-pouring on their blinded youth 

 Of Nature's sunbeams, and the light of truth, 

 Rest from the burking systems of the sect, 

 Who kill with care more fatal than neglect, 

 Who twist with force unnatural aside 

 The straight young branches in their heaven-ward 



pride, 

 9Fith culture spoil what else would flourish wild. 

 And rock the cradle till they bruise the child." 



The poem in question, which is equal in talent 

 to anything that has appeared since the days of 

 Pope, was published by Ridgway in 1834, but is 

 now rarely to be met with, though J never heard 

 of its being suppressed. G. T. D. 



TTie Lines on Chaucer (Vol. v., p. 536.). — ■ 

 The lines about which Ei.izA. inquires are not 

 quoted by her quite correctly. They are by Mr. 

 W. J. Pox, and may be found in the little volume 

 entitled Hymns and Anthems (published by Chas. 

 Fox, 1845), used at the Unitarian Chapel in 

 South Place, Finsbury. No. CXXIH. begins 

 thus : 



" Britain's first poet, 



Famous old Chaucer, 



Swan-like in dying, 



Sang his last song. 



When at his heart-strings 



Death's hand was strong," &c. 



Jaydee. 



Will O' the Wisp (Vol. v., p. 511.). — Will O' 

 the Wisp still lives by the banks of Trent ; but, 

 alas ! his reign is almost over. Fifty years ago he 

 might be seen nightly dancing over bog and 

 brake ; but since the process of warping has been 

 discovered, which has made valuable property of 

 what was before a morass, nearly the whole of 

 the commons between Gainsborough and the 

 Humber have been brought into cultivation, and 

 the drainage consequent thereon has nearly ba- 

 nished poor Will. 



Any person wishing to make his acquaintance 

 would probably succeed, if he were to pass a night 

 next November on Brumby or Scotton common. 



K. P. D. E. 



iHt^ct:IIaiiC0uS. 



NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC. 



A late eminent scholar was in the habit of advising 

 his friends, when in doubt which of two books to buy : 

 " Jf one of them is a Dictionary, always buy the Dic- 

 tionary : " — and the noble library which he bequeathed 

 to the public shows that he himself always acted upon 

 this principle. What he said of Dictionaries generally, 

 will apply with particular force to the very admirable 

 Dictionary of Science, LHeraiure., and Art ; comprising 

 the History, Description, and Scientific Principles of 

 every Branch of Human Knowledge, with the Derivation 

 and Definition of all the Terms in General Use, edited 

 by Professor Brande and Dr. Cauvin, with the assist- 

 ance of many eminent literary and scientific gentlemen, 

 of which the second edition is now before us. Our 

 impression on opening it was, that Notes & Qceriks 

 would find its occupation gone : and, although it is 

 obvious that such cannot be the case, we feel sure that 

 if all Querists upon ordinary subjects would turn to 

 this excellent compendium of general information be- 

 fore transmitting to us many such inquiries as we now 

 receive, they would at once be put in possession of the 

 information of which they are in search ; and we 

 should be spared a very considerable amount of labour. 

 The ob>ect which the proprietors proposed to them- 

 selves in the one closely printed volume of which the 



