286 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2»'i S. VIII. Oct. 8. '59. 



"VVilson (as a glee), to be found in Playford's 

 JSImlcal Companion (1672) ; one by J. C. Smith, 

 in his opera of The Fairies ; and another by no 

 less a man than Purcell himself, as Dr. Kimbault, 

 who possesses the music, has informed us (see 

 " K & Q.," 1*' S. ii. 496.) Alfred RorrB. 



Shakespeare, Sherloch, and Sterne. — In the 

 parish church of Witton, near North Walsham, 

 Norfolk, among other monuments to the memory 

 of the Norris family, who formerly resided there, 

 is one to the memory of Elizabeth, wife of Jno. 

 Norris, Esq., the founder of the Divinity Profes- 

 sorshijj at Cambridge which bears his name. This 

 monument consists of an oval marble slab, resting 

 on a Grecian moulding, supported on one side by 

 a weeping cherub, at whose feet is a shield bearing 

 Norris and Piayters ; on the other side is a pile 

 of books surmounted by a lamp kindled. The 

 volumes, which are four in number, are inscribed 

 as follows, commencing from the bottom : Sher- 

 lock, Holy Bible, Shakespeare, Sterne. The fol- 

 lowing is the inscription : — 



"ELIZABETH NORRIS, 



Wife of JOHN NORRIS, Esq"-., 



and only Daughter of 



JOHN PLATTERS of Yelverton, Esq'"''., 



Left this World on Dec 1st, 17G9, 



la the 28lh Year of her Age. 



" And 13 your poor Husband reserved to this office? 



Ah, that TRUTH now descended to save me from it. 



So beautiful, with such a character of meaning, so very 



innocent, with so much animation. She look'<^ like Nature 



in the world's first Spring. Talents inventive, discerning, 



judicious, eloquent : rare combination ! She was always 



NEW, 



enchanting with Magic all her own, by her heart I felt 



myself perpetuallj' reminded of the Picture (13. 1st Cor.) 



which 1 once drew of Charity; but there was one feature 



more properly the same than like. Seeketh not her own 



and as to her religious temper, it was exactly this, 



" resigned when ills betide. 



Patient when favors are denied. 



And pleas'd with favors giv'n, 



TRUTH, 



Now Truth if thou cmi'st add, this Prize 



of Heaven was bestowed upon a man, 



u'ho knew its Value, 



be that his Epitaph. 



JOHN NORRIS 



left this World the 5th of Janr, 



1777. ^Et43." 



The quotations which are used to describe this 

 truly " rare combination " are doubtless extracted 

 from the authors whose names are on the books, 

 the reference to 13. 1st Cor. accounting for the 

 presence of the Holy Bible. 



I shall be glad if any of your readers will in- 

 form me whereabouts in their works these quota- 

 tions are to be found ; that commencing, " And is 

 your poor husband, &c.," I imagine to be from 



tion is headed as " A Song in the Machines, bv Ariel's 

 Spirits." 



Sterne, but I do not know which part of this 

 composition must be assigned to Shakspeare and 

 Sherlock. G. W. W. M. 



" Ptit in the pilie with a vice " (2"'* S. vii. 353.) — 

 In the article on Shakspeare by Mr. Wiixiam 

 J. Thoms, as above, he finds a difficulty in the 

 passage in Much Ado about Nothing, 



"You must put in the pikes with a vice." 



I may be in error, but the allusion seems to me to 

 be plain enough. The buckler or target common 

 at the time was often furnished with a steel pike 

 in the centre, screwed into the boss or umbo. 

 In order to secure properly in its place an instru- 

 ment of this nature, sharp at the point and edges, 

 a vice or some such tool would be required ; 

 without such aid the pikes would be " dangerous 

 weapons for maids" in the literal sense of the pas- 

 sage alone. W. J. Berkhakr Smitu. 

 Temple. 



ELEGY ON nOBBES THE ATHEIST. 



The following elegy on Hobbes, the atheist, 

 may not be uninteresting to your readers. It is 

 copied from a volume of broadsides which I lately 

 had the opportunity of inspecting at the Cathe- 

 dral Library, Lincoln. At the top of this docu- 

 ment is a device, consisting of a scroll containing 

 a death's head in the centre, and the motto " me- 

 mento niori;" with cross bones, and an hour-glass 

 on either side. William Henry Hart. 



Folkestone House, Roupell Park, Streatham. 



" AN ELEGY TPOX Mlt. THOMAS HOBBES OF MAI.:M1;s- 

 BUKY, LATELY DECEASED. 



" Is he then dead at last, whom vain i-eport 

 So often had feign'd mortal in meer sport ? 

 Whom we on earth so long alive might see, 

 AVe thought he here had immortality. 

 As he, like what he wrote, could not expire, 

 Whom all that did not love, did 3-et admire. 

 For who his writings still accus'd in vain, 

 Were taught by him, of whom thej' did complain. 

 Some authors vented have more truths ; but so 

 If truths they be, 'tis more than we can know. 

 He with such art deceiv'd, that none can say 

 If his be errours, where his errour la}'. 

 If he mistakes, 'tis still with so much wit, 

 He erres more pleasingly than others hit. 

 For there are counterfeits of truth, w'hich are 

 In shew more truths than truths themselves appear. 

 As nature in meer sport hath fram'd some Apes 

 Neerer to men, than some in humane shapes ; 

 AH were by him so plausibly misled. 

 The}- chose to lose the way with such a guide. 

 And" wander pleasantly rather than be 

 In the right way with duller companie. 



With ill success, some fond disputers strove, 

 What Doctrines he had planted, to remove ; 

 And justly are they blam'd : for that Disease 

 Is ill remov'd, which more than health does please. 

 And who delightful frenzies entertain. 

 When undeceiv'd, do of their cure complain. 



