2°<' S. X. Dec. 15. '60.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



473 



is celebrated ia the tract. Perhaps some one 

 learned in Essex history may be able to tell me 

 the circumstances, as the references are all to that 

 county. The poem consists of 142_^verses, of 

 which the following is a specimen : — ] 



" Heere valiant James with Billy met ; 

 At juice of Bacchus both were set, 

 Till Jocky's pot sows't braine was soking wet] 

 With liquor. 

 " With more good fellows in that throng, " 

 They quafft, and troul'd the wine bowls strong," 

 When joviall Jockev grew in wit and tongue* 



The quicker." 



At the end occurs the signature, *' Johannes 

 Gower." Was he the author ? And if so, is there 

 any account of him to be found ? At the end of 

 the volume are verses to the Author, &c., by W. 

 Bramston, Edm. Bramston, Drugo Tindale, Edm. 

 Johnson, &c. Lowndes gives an edition of 1635, 

 and that is probably correct, as the copy which I 

 have is evidently supplied with a cancel title.* 



F. S. Ellis. 



33. King Street, Covent Garden. 



A Relic of Old Times. — Can any reader of 

 "N. & Q." throw light upon the curious memorial 

 of an old worthy, recorded in the Army and Navy 

 Gazette of Saturday last ? 



" Some few weeks ago an advertisement appeared in 

 the Times from a fisiierman in Cornwall, who offered for 

 sale an old buckle which he had taken in his net, while 

 out trawling off the Lizard. On examination he found 

 that the buckle bore the name, arms, and portrait of Ad- 

 miral of the White, Sir George Brydges Rodney, and the 

 metal of which it was made was silver, gilded on the 

 upper surface. He parted with his prize, no doubt for a 

 consideration, to the Hon. Sarah Mundj-, the only sur- 

 viving daughter of the famous Admiral ; and an examin- 

 ation of the relic has excited a good deal of interest and 

 discussion. The letters are moulded, not cut, and are as 

 fresh and perfect as on the day in which thej' were first 

 cast. The question however has been mooted, how it was 

 possible that, supposing this was a shoe-buckle of the 

 admiral's, he should have worn his own crest, name, and 

 portrait, so conspicuously on his own person. It has been 

 stated by old sailors still living, that in former days, cap- 

 tains and admirals had badges for the use of their gig's 

 crew ; still this is not altogether satisfactorj', nor is an- 

 other idea which has been started, that it was the collar 

 of a favourite dog who was accidentally drowned, for in 

 this case it would hardly have been of silver. That this is 

 a genuine article there can be no doubt, but in what way 

 it was used, in 1778, when Lord Rodney was Admiral of 

 the While, is still wrapt in mystery. Perhaps some 



[* The title-page of the edition of 1635 of this rare 

 work is as follows : " Pyrgomachia, velpotius, Pygomachia, 

 or, in cleane English, The Castle Combat, performed by 

 lames Fencer and William Wrastler, at nine of the clock 

 of the night of the ninth day of the ninth moneth of the 

 ninth Yeare of the reigne of our Soveraigne Lord King 

 Charles. Recorded by the ninth of the nine Muses, in 

 the ninth part of nine weekcs : and devided into nine 

 Files. London, Printed for Robert Milbovrne. 1635." 

 4to. At George Steevens's sale this edition fetched 1/. As. ; 

 whereas at Bindley's, the edition of 1645 sold for 1/. 19s. 

 — Ed.1 



of our readers may be able to throw a light upon the 

 subject." 



Let me add that it is also engraved in last 

 week's Illustrated London News. A. R. 



CBucries* tottlj ^nibitrS. 



Morning Conversation : Miss Sophia Howe. — 

 " The General found a lucky minute now 



To speak — 'Ah! Ma'am, you did not know Miss 

 Howe ; 



I'll tell you all her history,' he cried ; 



At this Charles Stanhope gaped extremelj' wide ; 



Dick Bateman hung his head ; her Grace turn'd pale. 



And Lovell trembled at th' impending tale. 



'Poor girl ! faith, she was once supremely fair, 



Till, worn by Love, and tortured by despair, 



Her pining face betrayed her inward smart. 



Her breaking looks foretold her breaking heart. 



At Leicester House her passion first began. 



And Nanty Lowther was a pretty man ; 



But whenthe Princess did to Kew remove, 



She could not bear the absence of her Love : 



Away she flew.' — [Interrupted by a footman's knock."] 

 New Foundling Hospital fur Wit, vol. iii. p. 43. 



A short and unsatisfactory note says — " Miss 

 Sophy Howe left town on a love-affair with An- 

 thony Lowther, Esq." It does not say where she 

 went, how long she stayed, or what sort of a re- 

 ception she met with on her return ; if she returned 

 at all. This note is not in the edition at the British 

 Museum. 



Miss Howe was one of the Maids of Honour to 

 the Princess Dowager of Wales. 1 wish to learn 

 the parentage, education, and subsequent fate, of 

 the young lady. I think of writing Memoirs of 

 the Maids of Honour during the reign of George 

 in. on the plan of Dr. Doran's Lives of Queens of 

 the House of Hanover. 



" The General " was Brigadier-General Church- 

 ill, a person " extremely long in narration." 



" Her Grace" means Isabella, Duchess of Man- 

 chester, whose house was the daily rendezvous of 

 a number of danglers. She was afterwards, on her 

 second marriage, the subject of Sir Charles Han- 

 bury Williams's celebrated ode, "The Conquered 

 Duchess." W. D. 



[Sophia Howe was the daughter of Gen. Emanuel 

 (fourth brother of the first Viscount) Howe, by Ruperta, 

 a natural daughter of Prince Rup'ert, by Margaret Hughes, 

 an actress at the King's House. Miss Sophia Howe was 

 maid of honour to Queen Caroline, while Princess of 

 Wales, but must not be confounded with her cousin Mary 

 Howe, who afterwards held the same office, and who was 

 married, in 1725, to Lord Pembroke, and secondly to 

 Mr. Mordaunt. It is now matter of history that poor 

 Sophia left court upon an intrigue with Anthonj' Lowther, 

 brother of Henry Viscount Lonsdale, and that she died 

 with a blemished reputation and a broken heart on April 

 4, 1726. Of Lord Hervey's celebrated Epistle of 3Ioni- 

 mia and Phihdes, Miss Howe is the heroine. (Dodsley's 

 Col. of Poems, ed. 1782, iv. 86.) In Gay's Welconie her 

 heedlessness is touched upon — 

 " Perhaps Miss Howe came there by chance. 



Nor knows with whom, nor why she comes along.' 



