2»'» s. No 39,, Sept. 27. '56.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



243 



yeares. Signor Alberto may thanke me, but not 

 you. I did verily tliinke you had seen him daily, 

 and do really beg your pardon. Notwithstanding 

 the zeal, as well as punctuality, you have kindly 

 shown herein, doth and ought much to oblige me. 

 As an assurance whereof, I will again, as you ad- 

 monish, renew your care and trouble, when these 

 same bottles are on the rack, to refill them, and 

 me, with such wholesome liquor of the like sort 

 as to your judgment shall seem good, I paying 

 the just price for the same.* I desire very truly 

 to have some occasion of serving you, and that 

 you will require it whenever opportunity shall 

 offer, being sincerely, 

 " Sir, 

 " Your very affectionate faithful Servant 

 " and well-wisher, 



" A. Pope. 

 « Twickenham, July 31, 1725," 



Marldand's Verses on Pope's Satire on Addison. 

 — As these lines, which Curll has printed in The 

 Progress op Dulness (see ante, p. 203.), do not 

 appear to be generally known, it may be well to 

 preserve them in the columns of " N. & Q." They 

 will not occupy much space, and may be useful to 

 future writers on this subject. 



William J. Thoms. 

 " Verses presented to the Countess of Warwick. 



"Occasioned by Mr. Pope's impudent Satire on Mr. 

 Addison. 

 " WHEN soft Expressions Covert-Malice hide, 

 And pitying Satire cloaks o'er-weening Pride, 

 When Ironies revers'd right Virtue show, 

 And point which Way true Merit we may know : 

 When Self-Conceit just hints indignant Rage, 

 Shewing its wary Caution to engage ; 

 In mazy Wonder we astonish'd stand, 

 Perceive the Stroke, but miss th' emittent Hand. 

 Thus, if old Homer's Credit may avail, 

 (And when was Homer's Credit known to fail ?) 

 When stipulative Terms were form'd for Peace, 

 And Foes agreed all Hostile Acts should cease, 

 Sly Pandarus, the Battle to renew, 

 Amongst the adverse Ranks a Javelin threw : 

 The Greeks saw Sparta's injur'd Monarch bleed, 

 But saw not who perform'd the perjur'd Deed. 

 So the skill'd Snarler pens his angry Lines, 

 Grins lowly fawning, biting as he whines ; 

 Traducing with false Friendship's formal Face, 

 And Scandalizing with the Mouth of Praise : 

 Shews his Intention, but his Weakness too. 

 And what he would, yet what he dare not do ; 

 While launching forth into a Depth of Praise, 

 Whose kind Attempts the Mind attentive raise, 

 When suddenly the Pyr ate- Colours show, 

 Beneath the Friend's Disguise, the lurking Foe. 



" O Pope ! forbear, henceforth, to vex the Muse, 

 Whilst forc'd, a Task so hateful, she pursues ; 



* It would appear that Humphrey Wanley combined 

 an agency for wine and spirits with literary pursuits ; for 

 in a letter from Dr. Hickes to him, the Doctor savs, " I 

 am provided with wine, and so retract my commission." 



No more let empty Words to Rhimes be brought, 

 And fluent Sounds atone for want of Thought : 

 Still Addison shall live, and pregnant Fame 

 Teem with eternal Triumphs of his Name; 

 Still sliall his Country hold him more endear'd, 

 Lov'd by this Age, and by the next Rever'd. 

 Or, if from good Advice you turn your Ear, 

 Nor friendly Words, imparted timely, hear; 

 Exert your utmost Energy of Spite, 

 And as each envious Hint arises, write : 

 So shall his deathless Glory never cease. 

 And you, by lessening, will his Fame increase. 



" J. Markland." 



BARON VON REICHENBACH AND REV. DR. MAITLAND. 



Having recently taken up the Rev. Dr. Mait- 

 land's Essay on Superstition and Science, I learn 

 from it, that in 1851 he propounded a question 

 through your columns, to which he informs us he 

 never received a satisfactory reply. 



The question arose out of Baron von Reichen- 

 bach's assertion that " thousands of ghost stories 

 would now receive a natural explanation from 

 the spectral and luminous emanations from grave- 

 yards, or other spots containing decomposed ani- 

 mal matter, as seen by Billing, Mile. Reichel, and 

 other sensitives." 



Dr. Maitland writes to ask, if any correspon- 

 dent is aware of any ghost stories that will bear 

 out the Baron's assertion ? 



Surely the nurseries of England, Ireland, Scot- 

 land, and Wales abound in them. Has the Doctor 

 never heard of ghosts in churchyards, and of those 

 ghosts being invariably in white ? Now if the 

 luminous phenomena do actually occur, as the 

 Baron asserts, we have at once a solution of 

 the white ; for, according to the description of the 

 luminous appearances as seen by Mile. Reichel, 

 they resembled "a dense vaprous mass of fire, 

 holding a middle place between mist and flame ;" 

 which we take it, if visible at all, must produce 

 the effect of white, and possibly of shining white, 

 which latter is the usual popular accompaniment 

 of an apparition. It is evident, therefore, that 

 the Baron, from his point of view, had a right to 

 assert that " thousands of ghost stories had re- 

 ceived their solution." 



Moreover, I have recollections of tales of ghosts 

 with flaming eyes appearing in churchyards. 

 And doubtless tlie flesh of many an Irishman has 

 some day crept at thrilling stories of fires from 

 ghostly eyes, gravely described as strong enough 

 for Paddy to light his dbubeen with, 



Theophilus, 



HOPS a wicked WEED. 



Fuller, in his Worthies (Art. Essex), mentions 

 a petition to parliament in the reign of Henry VI. 

 against that " wicked weed called hops." He says, 



