126 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd S. No 33^ Aug. 16. '56, 



ment, according to the antient usage of 

 the said Citty before the surrender of 

 Charters made in the time of King 

 Cliarles the Second." 



Copy of the return : 



" Wells Civit. sive Burgus in Com. Somersett. 



" We, the Mayor, Masters, and Burgesses of the said 

 City or Borough do hereby humbU'- Certify, That in per- 

 formance and obedience to' the Letter hereunto annexed 

 from His Highness tlie Prince of Orange, this 11th day of 

 January, 1688, have truly and rightfully, without favour 

 or affection to any person, or indirect practice or proceed- 

 ing, elected and chosen Edward Berkeley and Thomas 

 Wyndliam, Esquires, two of the discreetest and fittest of 

 the Burgesses of the City aforesaid to represent us in the 

 Convencon appointed to be held at Westminster the two 

 and twentieth day of this instant January, the said Elec- 

 tion being made according to the antient usage and cus- 

 tomo for elections for Parliament within the said City, 

 and after due notice of the time and place of such election 

 given to all parties therein concerned." 



VAUGHAN AND KOGEBS. 



The exquisite little poem called The Retreate 

 has ever been my favourite among Henry 

 Vaughan's compositions. I was sorry, therefore, 

 the other day to find one of the most beautiful 

 ideas in it contradicted by the alleged experience 

 of another poet, Samuel Rogers. 



" The Retreate. 



" Happy those early daj'es when I 

 Shined in'my angell-infancy ! 

 Before I understood this place 

 Appointed for ray second race. 

 Or taught my soul to fancy ought 

 But a white, celestiall thought ; 

 When yet I had not walked above 

 A mile or two from my first love. 

 And looking back, at that short space 

 Could see a glimpse of His bright face ; 

 When on some gilded cloud or jiowre 

 My gazing soul would dwell an houre. 

 And in those weaker glories spy 

 Some shadows of eternity I 



Oh ! how I long to travel back 

 And tread again that ancient track ! 

 That I might once more reach that plaine 

 Where first I left ray glorious traine ; 

 From whence the Inlightened Spirit sees 

 That shady City of Palme trees ! " 



« Table-Talk of Samuel Rogers. 



" One afternoon, at court, I was standing beside two 

 intimate acquaintances of mine, an old nobleman and a 

 middle-aged lady of rank, when the former remarked to 

 the latter that he thought a certain j'oung lady near us 

 ver3' beautiful. The middle-aged lady replied, ' I cannot 

 see any particular beauty in her.' ' Ah, madam,' he re- 

 joined, ' to us old men youth always appears beautiful ! ' 

 — a speech with which Wordsworth, when I repeated it to 

 him, was greatly struck. The fact is, till we are about to 

 leave the world we do not perceive how much it contains 

 to excite our interest and admiration ; the sunsets appear 



to me far lovelier now than they were in other years ; and the 

 bee upon the flower is now an object of curiosity to me, which 

 it was not in my early days." — P. 138. 



Both Vaughan's and Rogers's sentiments here 

 are so striking one hardly knows which to be- 

 lieve. Perliaps both are true, old age being se- 

 cond childhood. Wordsworth is here mentioned 

 by Rogers, and this reminds me to notice the 

 strong parallel between The Retreate and his Ode 

 to Infancy. Is it known if Wordsworth admired 

 Vaughan ? A. A. D. 



COACH MISEBIES. 



There being persons who seriously lament the 

 good old time of coaches, when they could travel 

 leisurely and securely, see the counti'y and con- 

 verse with the natives, it may be well to register 

 some of the miseries before they are altogether 

 effaced from the memory. Antony remarks 

 that — 



" The evil that men do lives after them ; 

 The good is oft interred with their bones." 



It is certainly not desirable that the good of 

 coaches should be interred with their bones : 

 neither is it by any means to be wished that the 

 evil should entirely cease to live after them, so as to 

 render us indifferent, and thankless, and insensible 

 to the superior advantages of modern locomotion. 



First Misery. — Although your place has been 

 contingently secured days before, and you have 

 risen with the lark, yet you see the ponderous 

 vehicle arrive full — full — full. And this, not 

 unlikely, more than once. 



2. At the end of a stage, beholding the four 

 panting, reeking, foamy animals, which have 

 dragged you twelve miles : and the stiff, galled, 

 scraggy relay crawling and limping out of the 

 yard. 



3. Being politely requested, at the foot of a 

 tremendous hill, to ease the horses. Mackintoshes, 

 vulcanised Indian rubber, gutta percha, and gos- 

 samer dust-coats, then unknown. 



4. An outside passenger resolving to endure no 

 longer " the pelting of the pitiless storm," takes 

 refuge, to your consternation, within with drip- 

 ping hat, saturated cloak, and soaked umbrella. 



5. Set down with a promiscuous party to a 

 meal bearing no resemblance to that of a good 

 hotel, except in the charge : and no time to enjoy it. 



6. Closely packed in a box, " cabin'd, crib'd, 

 confined, bound in," with five companions morally 

 or physically obnoxious, for two or three com- 

 fortless nights and days. 



7. During a halt overhearing the coarse lan- 

 guage of the ostlers and tipplers at the road- side 

 pot-house : and besieged by beggars exposing their 

 mutilations. 



8. Roused from your nocturnal slumber by the 



