2-iS.no 31., Aug. 2. '56.] N^TES AND QUERIES. 



95 



a jury. This was called at the time a merciful 

 alteration : but the present law on this subject is 

 much more in accordance with the spirit of justice 

 and humanity ; for if a prisoner refuses to plead, 

 he is tried as he would be had he pleaded " not 

 guilty " to the charge. The old law of pressing to 

 death never became obsolete, but was enforced 

 almost up to the very year of its repeal. 



John Bawtree Haevey. 

 Colchester. 



MR. BATHUR3T S DISAPPEARANCE. 



(2"'i S. ii. 48.) 



The following account is from the Biographic 

 Unioerselle, Ancienne et Moderne, Supplement, 

 tome 57^""% Paris, 1834 : 



"Bathurst (Lord Benjamin?), n^en 1784 k Londres, 

 d'une famille illustre (voy. Bathurst, iii. 516.), re(;ut 

 une brillaute» education, et fut d^s sa jeuaesse destine h la 

 diplomatie. Une mission lui ayant ete confiee auprfes de 

 la Cour de Vienne, en 1809, il revenait de cette capitale 

 avec des de'peches d'une grande importance, l|rsqu'il dis- 

 parut tout k coup, h. son passage prfes de Hambourg, an 

 moment ou il allait s'embarquer pour I'Angleterre. Tout 

 annonce qu'il fut assassine par suite d'un crime h, peu 

 prfes semblable h celui dont le Major Sinclair avait ^t^ 

 victime. On ne trouva d'autres traces de sa disparution 

 q'une partie de ses vetements restee sur les bords de 

 I'Elbe. Cette perte causa en Angleterre de trfes-vifs re- 

 grets, et Ton h, fait long-temps d'inutiles recherches pour 

 connaitre les auteurs du crime. Lorsqu'en 1815 I'ex- 

 ministre de la police imperiale, Savary, tomba dans les 

 mains des Anglais, il lui fut address^ sur cette ^vfenement, 

 par le ministre Bathurst, beaucoup de questions qui 

 n'eurent point de resultat." 



From this it would appear that nothing certain, 

 up to 1834, had been ascertained on this distress- 

 mg subject. The Major Sinclair alluded to in 

 the above extract was an officer in the Swedish 

 service, who had been sent, in 1739, to negociate 

 a treaty at Constantinople, and was assassinated 

 on his return, near Naumburgh, in Silesia. The 

 Biog. Univ. (tome 42.) says that the evident ob- 

 ject of this crime was to obtain possession of his 

 dispatches, the secret of which could only interest 

 Russia. J. Macray. 



Oxford. 



Nothing certain is known of Mr. Bathurst's fate. 

 In the life of his father, the late Bishop of Nor- 

 wich, by Mrs. Thistelthwaite, any person inter- 

 ested in this strange story may see all that is 

 known. His eldest daughter was drowned in the 

 Tiber, the other is living. Mrs. Bathurst was a 

 sister of Sir W. P. Call, Bart., and a cousin of my 

 mother's. She died at an advanced age, in Italy, 

 about a year since. 



Would A Bookworm be so kind as to let me 

 see Mrs. Bathurst's MS. journal ? 



A. Holt White. 



Southend, Essex. 



I think your correspondent A Bookworm is 

 under a mistake in saying Mrs. Benjamin Bathurst 

 was a sister of Sir G. P. Call's ; she was sister to 

 Lord Aylmer. Her surviving daughter is Dow- 

 ager Countess of Castle Stuart. Bookworm 

 would find the information he seeks in the Life of 

 Bishop Bathurst, written by his son the late Arch- 

 deacon Bathurst. 



A Reader of " Notes and Queries " from 

 ITS Commencement, 



songs on tobacco. 



(2"'» S. i. 182. 258.) 



I have a version of the old song " Think of that, 

 when you smoke tobacco," differing in words 

 from the versions inserted in "N. & Q.," but 

 similar in sentiment and metre, for which reason 

 I shall not ask you to insert it. I send, however, 

 one which is headed " a translation " in my note- 

 book, and which differs in metre from those that 

 have been embalmed in the classic pages of your 

 invaluable journal. 



" The leaves of tobacco which come from afar. 



For better or worse to the smoker. 

 Their colour so green in the morn seems to be. 



In the evening they 're livid — they wither ; 

 This constantly shews to us pilgrims on earth 

 That we are but strangers on this stage, from birth, 

 In worldly enjoyments there 's always a dearth ; 



These morals at once touch the smoker. 



" The pipe, through this habit, it blackens in time, 

 The ashes and smoke make it blacken ; 



Before it be cleansfed, or whiten'd, 'tis put 

 In the fire, when it turns to its colour. 



So we are, all of us, without and within, 



Uncleanly and full of dire hatred and sin, 



Before he is purified, grace must begin 

 To work on the mind of the smoker. 



" The white chalky pipe has the colour of them 

 Whom we call our fair maidens and beauties ; 

 When once it is broken, it is put aside. 

 And wholly dispensed with its uses ; 

 And thus we are, all of us, seemingly strong, 

 But a light stroke of Fate may cast us along 

 The stream of adversity — both th' old and the young 

 Should muse as the smoke them infuses. 



" The ashes or dross in the pipe they remain, 

 It must be remember'd with wonder ; 

 But the smoke it ascends to the regions above, 



Most surelj', as on it we ponder : 

 From this earth to that earth we soon must return, 

 From ashes to ashes — though the thought we maj' 



spurn ; 

 Our life it decays, as tobacco doth burn, 

 Consider thy exit, then, Smoker." 



JUVERNA, M.A. 

 Pemb. Coll., Oxon. 



Your correspondent Dr. Rimbault remarks on 

 the old phrase, "drinking tobacco." _ May I add a 

 parallel case of the natives of India, who call it 



