2"dS. VIII. Sept. 10. '50.1 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



2Ci 



Lowndes gives no list of the plates. My copy has 

 two brilliant mezzotinto portraits — one of Wiclif, 

 the other anonymous, but I suppose of the editor; 

 and a facsimile of the title-page to Cranmer's 

 Bible, 1539. Are these all ? 



A MS. note on the fly-leaf informs me that 

 "200 copies only were printed;" but Lowndes 

 gives the number as 150. Which is the correct 

 statement? Bristoliensis, Minor. 



[ Wiclif 's Testament by Lewis, with his history of the 

 translations of the Bible into English (1731, folio), is 

 scarce, but not high priced ; still a very interesting book. 

 It was published at one guinea. The directions for plac- 

 ing the three plates describe the anonymous portrait as 

 "the Editor's picture." The frontispiece to Cranmer's 

 Bible is not a facsimile; it omits the sentences on the 

 scrolls, and both the armorial bearings of Cranmer and 

 Cromwell, instead of which their portraits are completed. 

 It was copied, not from the original wood block, but from 

 the painted frontispiece to the copy of the great Bible, 

 printed on vellum, presented to Heniy VIII., now in the 

 British Museum. The third plate is a portrait of Wiclif, 

 very different from the original published by Bishop 

 Bale in 1548, the difference being between a handsome 

 bishop and a poor hard-worked curate. These are all the 

 copper-plates that were published with the book: the 

 number of copies printed was very limited : about one 

 hundred were subscribed for. The advertisement states 

 that there were but few copies remaining beyond those 

 that were delivered to the subscribers. The text is in- 

 correct, but the reprint by Baber in 4to. is much more 

 so. The only accurate text of this revised version by 

 Wiclif is in Baxter's Hexapla, in editing which I used 

 twenty-nine ancient MSS., and was zealouslv aided by 

 the late Lea Wilson and other friends. The earlier, and 

 probably the first version by Wiclif, was admirably pub- 

 lished by my late friend Mr. Pickering from Mr. Wilson's 

 manuscript, and is just now selling cheap. — Geoege 

 Offois, Hackney.] 



'■^Hallow e'en": the Wren Song. — 31st Oct. 

 is a remarkable night in Ireland among all classes 

 of society. Rich and poor have their evening's 

 amusement in burning nuts, apple snapping, 

 melting lead, and a hundred incantations to saints, 

 angels, and devils, as to the future husband 

 or wife of the young person desirous of such a 

 consummation of happiness. In the west of Ire- 

 land (the county of Galway in particular) the 

 youth go about dressed in fantastic shapes, like 

 our mumraers, carrying a dead wren, and so- 

 liciting money from house to house in a chorus, 

 of which the following is part first : — 



" The wran (^sio), the wran, the king of all birds, 

 St. Stephen's Day was cocht {sic) in the lurch ; 

 God bless the mistriss of this house, 

 And if she dies, her soxol in heaven may rest." 

 The second part I could never learn, as it was 

 a sorry doggrel composed of English and Irish ; 

 complimentary, I believe, to the householder, who, 

 if he was liberal enough to bestow a trifle, was 

 abundantly rewarded with flattery and a shout ; 

 but if the deputation was sent away empty, he 

 was covered with expletives in Irish which made 

 all the company roar with laughter, and which I 

 understood was anything but polite. 



Can any of your readers give the Eccoml part 

 of the first song, and state the origin of thig 

 "wran" expedition? Geokge Lloyd. 



[Mr. Halliwell, in his Nursenj Rhymes (2nd ed. 1843), 

 gives, at p. 180., the English version of the " Hunting of 

 the Wren ; " and at p. 249., the Isle of Man " Hunting 

 of the Wran." But this used to take place iu the Isle of 

 Man on the 24th Dec. ; but formerly St. Stephen's Day 

 was the day for this observance, as is shown too by the 

 lines quoted by our correspondent.] 



Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia. — Where is the 

 best information to be procured about the family 

 of the Queen of Bohemia, daughter of our James 

 I. ? Her daughter, the Princess Elizabeth, ap- 

 pears to have been living in England, at Hertford, 

 in 1662 or 1664. W. C. 



[Mrs. Green's interesting Life of Elizabeth, Queen of 

 Bohemia {Princesses of England, vols. v. and vi.), con- 

 tains some particulars of her family. The notes, too, will 

 probably afford a clue to the biography of her children.] 



Lyric Works of Horace. — There was published, 

 in 1786, a translation into English of The Lyric 

 Works of Horace., with other Original Poems, by 

 an American. Can you give me any particulars 

 of the translator ? A. Z. 



[The translator was John Parke, of whom we learn 

 from Fisher's notice of the Early Poets of Pennsylvania 

 {Mems. Hist. Soc. Penns., vol. ii. p. 100.) that he was 

 probably a native of Delaware, and born about the j-ear 

 1769, since he was in the college at Philadelphia in 1768 ; 

 that at the commencement of the war he entered the 

 American army, and was attached, it is supposed, to 

 Washington's division, for some of his pieces are dated at 

 camp, in the neighbourhood of Boston, and others at 

 Whitemarsh and Valley Forge. After the peace he was 

 for some time in Philadelphia, and is last heard of in 

 Arundel County, Virginia. Vide Duj'ckinck's Cyclo. of 

 American Literature, i. 805.] 



THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM'S YORK HOUSE. 



(2°« S.viii. 121.195.) 



I am greatly indebted to Mr. Foss for cor- 

 recting my mistake respecting York House. How 

 I came to confuse the two York Houses could be 

 explained, but it is not worth while to trouble 

 you upon the subject. 



Mr. Foss remarks that York House in the 

 Strand " was purchased by Archbishop Heath in 

 the reign of Queen Mary, in substitution for White- 

 hall This is not quite accurate. The history 

 of the transaction appears in Stow and other 

 writers ; and those who have not access to the 

 original authors may see the passages from them 

 extracted in Mr. Peter Cunningham's Handbook 

 of London. The Archbishops of York being 

 without a town residence (in consequence of their 

 loss of the first York House, afterwards White- 

 hall), Queen Mary gave Archbishop Heath " a 



