2"* S. VIII. Oct. 1. '59.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



279 



Alexander Gordon (2"* S. vii. 514.) — In the 

 Scottish Journal of Antiquities, No. 12. for Nov. 

 20th, 1847, we find a letter of introduction ad- 

 dressed by a Rob. Simson to the Rev. Robert 

 Wodrow, recommending Mr. Gordon to his no- 

 tice. It is as follows : — 



" Glasgow, August 6, 1725. 



"My good friend Mr. Gordon having spent a great 

 dale of pains in recovering and preserving an3'thing of 

 antiquity in Scotland and the north of England, is come 

 to this country to take an exact survey of the Roman 

 Wall, and hearing that you hade several things worth 

 notice in j'our collection that may be of use to his design 

 ia very desirous of seeing them. I know I need not 

 recommend any lover of antiquity to j'ou, nor by the 

 favour of allowing Mr. Gordon of takj'ug a copy or 

 draught of what is for his purpose, &c." 



Ill the MS. Index of his letters Wodrow has 

 described this as from " Mr. R. Simson, about 

 Mr. Gordon the singer.'' It would seem from this 

 that he was an itinerant teacher of music, a class 

 of men formerly, and even still, well known in 

 Scotland for their peculiarities. According to 

 Watt he died in Carolina, about 1750. In an 

 " Ode on the Power of Music," prefixed to Alex. 

 Malcolm's Treatise of Musick, London, 1730, a 

 Mr. Gordon is referred to in the following eulo- 

 gistic terms, from which it would appear that he 

 had gone to Italy, the land of song, to perfect 

 himself in the art : — 



XII r. 

 " Who would not wish to have the skill 



Of tuning instruments at will ? 



Ye powers, who guide my actions, tell 



Why I, in whom the seeds of Music dwell, 



Who most its power and excellence admire. 



Whose ver3' breast, itselfs, a Lyre, 



Was never taught the heavenly art 

 Of modulating sounds. 



And can no more, in consort, bear a part 

 Than the wild roe, that o'er the mountains bounds ? 



Could I live o'er my j'outh again 



(But, ah ! the wisli how idly vain !) 



Instead of poor deluding rhyme 



Which like a Siren murders time, 



Instead of dull scholastic terms. 



Which made me stare and fancy charms; 



With Gordon's brave ambition tired, 



Beyond the towering Alps, untired 

 To tune luy voice to his sweet notes, I'd roam ; 



Or search the Magazines of Sound 



Where Musick's treasures lay profound 

 With M.{alcohn) here at home. 



M , the dear deserving man. 



Who, taught in Nature's laws. 



To spread his country's glory, can 

 Practise the beauties of the Art, and show its grounds 

 and cause." 



Query. Can any of your musical antiquaries 

 assist me in determining if the Gordon mentioned 

 above was ]5lonkbarns's " Sandie Gordon," author 

 of the Itinerarium Septentrionale ? 



3. A. Peethensis. 



Bibliographical Queries (2°'^ S. viii. 208.) — 

 My best thanks are due to Mr. Offob, whose 



Note has enabled me to ascertain that my copy 

 of Coverdale's Bible, 1553, wants two leaves of 

 the Kalender, and the Table at the end of the 

 text. 



The New Testament differs from Copland's 

 edition of 1549. The preliminary leaves are six- 

 teen ; the first four printed in red and black, 

 d'he title within a woodcut architectural border, 

 surmounted by the face and wings of an angel. 

 *J[The new testament in Englishe faythfuUy 

 traslated accordyng to the texte of Erasmus, 

 permitted and authorised by y* kynges maiestie 

 ^ his counsaile (: : :). 



*1I Imprinted ad London in Fletestrete at the 

 Signe of y® Rose garland by Wyllyam Copland, 

 for John Wayly. 1550. On the reverse of the 

 title is ^ An almanack for .xxviii. yeares., be- 

 ginning 1550. Then The kalender, in double 

 columns ; 6 pages, the first or signature *.ii. 

 This is followed by ^ A Table for the foure 

 Euangelistes, wherin thou mayst lyghtly fynde 

 any story contayned in the, etc. ; 17 pages. 

 ^Here foloweth the Actes of the Apostles ; 5 

 pages. After which, ^A compendious and brief 

 rehersall of all the contentes of the bokes of the 

 newe testament ; 2 pages, the second ending with 

 FINIS. The text begins on a. i., and the signa- 

 tures run on (omitting the letters d, e, j, u, and 

 w) to R in eights, the Apocalypse ending on the 

 recto of R. iiii. with ^ The ende of the newe 

 Testament. The volume is not paged. A full 

 page contains 36 lines. The book is printed in 

 black letter ; the running titles, chapters, mar- 

 ginal references and preliminary pages in the 

 same type as the text. No contents of chapters. 

 Some of the initial letters are Roman capitals, 

 cut in wood, 5 to 9 lines deep. The rest are metal 

 type, of a German character, from 2 to 4 lines 

 deep. The volume measures 5j inches by 3^, 

 and is bound in brown morocco. Joseph Rix. 



St. Neots. 



NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC. 



A List of the Books of Reference in the Reading Room 

 of the British Museum. Printed by Order of the Trtistees. 



In directing the printing of this most useful volume, 

 and causing it to be sold at the low price of 7s. 6d., the 

 Trustees of the British Museum have done a good work — 

 a work which entitles them to the best thanks of all men 

 of letters. To the frequenters of the magnificent Read- 

 ing Room now provided for them in what was once a 

 vacant quadrangle, a list of the many thousand volumes 

 arranged systematically around its walls, and to which 

 they can refer without a moment's delay, is a boon cal- 

 culated alike to add to their comfort and to facilitate 

 their researches. These books consist not only of Diction- 

 aries, Encj'clopffidias, Atlases, Gazetteers, Catalogues, 

 the leading works in Art, Science, Literature, and the 

 most important collections in the various branches of 

 fearning, but also of many works which, although not 



