2"^ s. VIII. Nov. 20. '59.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



429 



" Jesus, the faithful, we Thy promise claim ; 



We know where few are gather'd Thou art there, 

 Accept the humblest offer'd in Thy name, 

 Bear in Thy golden censer every prayer. 



- 6. 

 " Be with us Holj' Spirit, sacred Dove ! 

 In fire and * glory ' unrevealed to sight, 

 Kindle within the sacred flame of love ; 

 Oh ! teach us, Heavenly Guide, to think aright. 



7. 

 " ever blessed, glorious Trinity, 



Our Triune God, to whom no gift is small, 

 Help us in faith to dedicate to Thee 

 Our church, our lives, our bodies, souls, our all." 



A. L. M. 



HINTS AS TO ^OTBS, ETC., ON FLY-LEAVES. 



A good practice has recently become common 

 among some second-hand booksellers of publish- 

 ing in their catalogues the names of former pos- 

 sessors of books, and the other memoranda to be 

 found written on fly-leaves and blank spaces else- 

 where in the volumes. I wish, however, that it 

 could be made clear to all dealers in old books 

 that it would be well worth their while to' make 

 such things public. Men buy books from many 

 motives ; and not the least common or the. most 

 unwise one is the wish to have in their possession 

 volumes that once were treasured by an ancestor, 

 or by some one in whose life and actions we take 

 interest, with whose virtues we sympathise, or 

 whose errors we pity. There is many a name 

 utterly unknown to the world which yet has deep 

 interest for some remote descendant, or some 

 solitary admirer : this is proved by numerous 

 Queries in your pages. It has more than once 

 happened to me that by picking up some other- 

 wise worthless volume, I have become possessed 

 of a memorial of a former owner, whose unre- 

 corded and almost forgotten life such a relic will 

 help to keep in my memory, and it may be in 

 that of others when I myself may need as frail a 

 memorial. I would suggest to dealers in old 

 books, that in catalogueing all names and other 

 manuscript memoranda should be recorded ; and 

 that when old books are rebound, the fly-leaves 

 should on no account be removed. The Jatter 

 hint is of course addressed to the collector of 

 books as well as the vendor. The folly of re- 

 moving such things is well illustrated by the dis- 

 covery recently made at Inverpefiray, near CrieflP, 

 in an old library founded by the third Lord 

 Maderty, of the Pocket Bible and Camden's Bri- 

 tannia of the great Marquis of Montrose. There 

 are several other volumes in the collection which 

 it is almost certain have also belonged to that 

 gallant Cavalier ; but unfortunately the old bind- 

 ings of these volumes have been recently replaced, 

 and the fly-leaves removed. (See Memorials and 



Letters of Viscount Dundee, by Mark Napier, Esq., 

 vol. i. p. xxxiii.) K. P. D. E. 



Talma. — Mr. Cole, in his rambling volumes on 

 the Life and Times of Charles Kean, lately pub- 

 lished, gives many anecdotes of this eminent 

 French tragedian, but he has omitted to notice 

 his early residence in England. I transcribe the 

 following interesting note from the Catalogue of 

 the Library of Mr. James Winston, sold by 

 Messrs. Puttick & Simpson some two or three 

 years since : — 



" Talma, the most eminent Tragedian, who has con- 

 ferred honour on the French Stage, was born at Paris, 

 Jan. 15, 1760 ; his father, prior to 1773, was a dentist, at 

 55. Compton Street, and subsequently in Frith Street, 

 Soho. Young Talma was in England from his eighth to 

 his fifteenth year, and was educated at the Soho Square 

 Academy. In one of these letters, addressed to Elliston, 

 dated Paris, April 16, 1823, he writes, in reference to the 

 then state of the drama : ' The minor theatres here devour 

 the substance of the great ones. 1 have no hope but be- 

 fore that time I shall have, may be, joined poor Kemble 

 in the other world.' His surmise was verified ; he died 

 at Paris, Dec. 19, 1826." 



Edward F. Rimbault. 



Unlucky Days. — The following is from a MS. 

 temp, circa Hen. VIII. : — 



" Isti sunt dies mali et pestiferi secundum antiquos 

 Grecorum. In quibus si infans nascitur cito morietur qui 

 infirmatur nunquam convalescet qui grandem viam ar- 

 riperint ( ?) nunquam revertetur qui uxorem ducerit cito 

 ceparabuntur aut in dolore maximo vivent. Et qui 

 magnum opus inciperit nunquam ad finem optatum per- 

 ducet." 



" In January there is the first daye the ij. iiij. v. ix. 

 xi. XX. 



In February the xvi. the xvij. and the xix. daye. 



In March the xv. xvj. and xviij. 



In Aprill the vij. daye- 



In Maye the xv. and xvij. daye. 



In June the vj. daye. 



In July the xv. and xix. 



In August the xix. and the xx. 



In September the xvj. and the xvij. 



In October the vj, daye. 



In November the xj. and the xvij. 



And in December the vj. vij. and the ix*"*." 



Where is the authority here quoted " secundum 

 antiquos Grecorum" to be found ? 



Abracadabra. 



Family Vicissitude. — I have been favoured by 

 a friend with the following genealogical note of 

 unquestionable authenticity, and some interest: — 



Lewis Carpentier, a German courier, married 

 May 4, 1749, at Gretna Green, Jane, 9th daugh- 

 ter of the Duke of Gordon. This Lady Jane was 

 compelled by poverty lo support her family by 

 working as a senipstress in various farmhouses in 

 the east of England. She died at Dunwich, co. 

 Suffolk, in 1774, leaving issue one son (now de- 

 ceased), whose only surviving child, a very old 



