2'"J S. X. Sept. 8. '60.] 



NOTES AND QUEEIES. 



181 



LONDON, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8. 18G0, 



N». 245.— CONTENTS. 



NOTES : — Dr. Bliss's Selections from the Old Poets, 181— 

 Folk Lore : — Charms for the Ague — Dutch Folk Lore — 

 Children TJnbaptizcd — Whit Sunday Custom at St. Bria- 

 val's — Three Sunday Changes of the Moon — Treatment 

 of Wife-beaters in the Ahrthal — Dutch School-relics — 

 A Breaking-up in Groningerland (Netherlands), 184 — 

 Manchester Riots, 185 — Fire-place in Church Towers, 186. 



MiNOB Notes: — Dactylology foreshadowed — Fontevrault 

 Abbgr and the Royal Statues — St. James, Westminster — 

 The London Ladies' Equestrianism — Millionaire, 186. 



QUERIES : — Marquis Do Villars' " Memoires de la Cour 

 d'Espagne," 187 — Shakspeare Family — The Rev. Thomas 

 Ford's Catalogue of Musicians — Manuscripts of Irish For- 

 feitures — Cope Family — Earl of Halifax — Dr. J. B. 

 Gilchrist — Oi^n built by Father Smith — Waltham 

 Abbey — " Decry Date " : " Sureties Shoe " — Spun Glass — 

 Kent Archseological and Naturalist Society — The Taill- 

 bois Family — Threepwood, the Refuge of Deserters — 

 Haijstones in'the Dog-Day s — Crest — Greo. Keate.F.R.S. — 

 Quotation Wanted — " Cossimorus " — Speaker LenthaU 

 — Uncle Mamouc — Chiming Queries, &c., 188. 



Qtteeies with Answees: — Anecdote in Walpole's Let- 

 ters — Humphry Duke of Gloucester and Quin — Vulgar 

 Errors in Law, 191. 



REPLIES: — Ghost in the Tower, 192 — Charles II., 193 — 

 Campbell of Monzie, 76. — Date of the Crucifixion, 194— 

 Separation of Sexes in Churches — "Nancy Dawson" — 

 Coronation of Edward IV. : Feast of St. Leo — Israelitish 

 Costume — Astir — Hereditary Alias — Plan of Boulogne — 

 Hatch — Heraldic — Tyburn Gallows — Military Cente- 

 narians — "Pen and Ink Sketches" — Charsicter of St. 

 Paul's Handwriting — College Salting, &c., 195. 



Notes on Books. 



DE. BLISS'S SELECTIONS FROM THE OLD 

 POETS. 



No friend of the late Dr. Bliss, Principal of 

 Saint Mary Hall, Oxford, can be unacquainted 

 with the industry and never-ceasing pains which 

 he took to illustrate by extracts and anecdotes 

 any publication in which he was engaged. Dur- 

 ing the time he was connected with the Bodleian 

 Library, there was scarcely a manuscript or vo- 

 lume of any rarity which he did not examine. 

 Indeed there was not a library in the University 

 whose catalogue he did not consult, and whose 

 treasures he did not ransack for information. So 

 it was with the works of rarity in the Ashmolean 

 Museum, particularly those in Anthony Wood's 

 study. The doctor's edition of Wood's Alhevce 

 Oxonienses is replete with his new and valuable 

 notes. If another proof were wanting of his un- 

 tiring energy, it is to be seen in his Beliquice Hear- 

 nioTKB, which he fortunately lived to complete 

 and publish shortly before his lamented death. I 

 was one of the few sui-viving subscribers to these 

 volumes when he issued his prospectus in 1809. 



Under the name of Stanyhurst in vol. ii. p. 

 256. of the Atherue, I find the following reasons 

 assigned by the doctor for making selections from 

 our old poets : — 



"The reader of these volumes will not, it is hoped, ob- 

 ject to the introduction of the various extracts given 



from our old poets, as I have rarely suflFered them to ex- 

 tend to any length, unless the volumes from which they 

 are transcribed be of such rarity as to preclude the pos- 

 sibility of their falling in the way of the general collec- 

 tor. Stanyhurst's Virgil is one of the many instances of 

 the truth of what I advance, as I know that a copy was 

 sold not many weeks since for no less than twenty guineas, 

 and it may be doubted whether the reader of these lines 

 could procure one even at that sum, if he were inclined to 

 be the purchaser." 



Having occasion recently to consult the four 

 volumes of the Athetics^I transcribed for my amuse- 

 ment several of the doctor's selections from our 

 old poets. Had they been culled in old Anthony's 

 days, they might have been called " The Garland 

 of Bliss," and have found a place among those 

 rare Garlands and Ballads which Anthony Wood 

 was so fond of collecting, and which form so in- 

 teresting a portion of the rarities in his study. 

 I hope, however, they may now find a place in 

 " N. & Q.," and be therein perpetuated as a me- 

 mento of the taste and judgment of Dr. Bliss, who 

 was so frequent a contributor to its pages. 



I subjoin a summary of the situations and 

 offices which Dr. Bliss held in the University dur- 

 ing his long residence there. The rudiments of 

 his education he received at Merchant Tayloi-s' 

 School, and in 1806 was admitted Scholar, and in 

 1809 Law Fellow of St. John Baptist College. In 

 1822, he was appointed Sub-librarian of the Bod- 

 leian Library, to which his taste for books early 

 led him, but which he held for a very short time. 

 In 1824 he was elected Registrar of the Univer- 

 sity on the resignation of the Rev. John Gutch, 

 the father of the undersigned. The doctor held 

 the office of registrar nearly thirty years ; and by 

 the ready and cheerful manner in which he assisted 

 the inquiries of all with whom he had intercourse, 

 rendered himself universally popular. The Acts 

 of the University recorded in his minute yet dis- 

 tinct handwrituig, deposited in the archives, ex- 

 hibit a fine specimen of legible calligraphy. In 

 1826 he was elected Keeper of the Archives ; and 

 in 1831 was nominated by the Chancellor, Lord 

 Grenville, Registrar of the University Court. In 

 1848, on the resignation of Dr. Hampden, the 

 principal of St. Mary Hall, on his elevation to the 

 See of Hereford, Dr. Bliss, who during every term 

 was in correspondence on his official duties with 

 the Duke of Wellington as Chancellor, was re- 

 warded by his grace with the Headship of the Hall. 

 He very soon commenced to put it into complete 

 repair at a considerable expence, as well as the 

 lodgings ; appointed an able vice-principal, and 

 when a change in the examination statutes en- 

 larged the circle of academical studies, he strength- 

 ened him by the addition of instructors in other 

 departments. The pi-incipal was also a Commis- 

 sioner of the Markets and a Delegate of the Press. 



In all these numerous employments he showed 

 remarkable aptitude for business, and punctuality 



