2nd s. N» 42., Oct. 18. '56.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



317 



wlio took the earth-baths •with the clever charla- 

 tan. Whatever the errors of Emma Hamilton 

 may have been, let us not forget that without her 

 aid, as Nelson said, the Nile would never have 

 been fought ; and that in spite of her sacrifice and 

 services, England left her to starve, because the 

 government was too virtuous to acknowledge the 

 benefits rendered to her country by a lady with 

 too loose a zone. Such pious delicacy had never 

 been displayed since the days of Phryne, who 

 offered, at her sole cost, to rebuild the walls of 

 Thebes, destroyed by Alexander, if she might be 

 permitted to inscribe on them, " Alexander dindt, 

 sed meretrix Phryne re fecit." The authorities were 

 scandalised at the idea of owing safety to the mis- 

 tress of Praxiteles, and refused the offer. We 

 accepted the services of our Phryne, and then left 

 her to die of hunger. J. Doban. 



The Old Hundredth, hy whom composed (2"'' S. 

 i. 494. ; ii. 34.) — H. J. G. in his note on this 

 subject, after remarking that the mistake of as- 

 cribing the Old Hundredth to lAither has arisen 

 from the circumstance tliat one of Luther's tunes 

 commences with the same phrase, says, "whoever 

 might have composed the Old Hundredth, it is 

 manifest he made it from this tune of Lidher's : " 

 and your correspondent seems to think that a 

 comparison of the two tunes will prove the ac- 

 curacy of his conjecture. This is rather hard 

 measure to the composer of the Old Hundredth, 

 whoever he might have been ; nothing less than a 

 charge of wholesale piracy. I have examined 

 Luther's tune in Bach's Choralgesange, the book 

 referred to, and with the exception of the first 

 passage, which is note for note the same in both 

 tunes, I cannot discover any resemblance between 

 them. I therefore regard H. J. G.'s opinion as an 

 " ad quod vult " conclusion, arising out of the 

 exceeding dislike he afterwards confesses he has 

 for the Old Hundredth, which I still venture to 

 consider a fine composition. 



There are other tunes which have the same 

 opening passage ; see the old editions. of Sternhold 

 and Hopkins, with notes, Psalms iii. and Ixviii., 

 and in the latter the identity extends to the second 

 passage also. Horsley has arranged this tune 

 (Ps. Ixviii.) for modern use ; see his Psalms, 

 No. 81. p. 74. J. W. Phillips. 



Haverfordwest. 



The Right Man in the Right Place (2°^ S. i. 

 294. 310. 401.) — Your correspondent Bolton 

 CoRNEY aptly remarks that this proverb embodies 

 no novel idea. True, yet the form of expression, 

 redundant thougli it be, has in this saying both 

 imparted novelty and secured currency. It cer- 

 tainly contains some of the essential marks of the 

 proverb. Albeit, it errs in excess. But that very 

 excess imparts an intensity which I conceive to 



be the very salt of the matter. Hence the ready 

 adoption and recognition of this adage. Strip 

 from such world-wide sayings that popular mint- 

 mark which secures them acceptance and circula- 

 tion and they are nought, and may be droppecl 

 unheeded by the way-side. The form is truly 

 wanting in the passages given by Bolton Cornet 

 and W. D. The following extract, I am inclined 

 to think, is nearer the mark : 



" You will generally see in human life the round man 

 and the angular man planted in the wrong hole ; but the 

 Bishop of being a round man has fallen into a tri- 

 angular hole, and is far better off than many triangular 

 men who have fallen into round holes." — Memoirs of the 

 Rev. Sydney Smith, bj' Lady Holland, ed. 4. p. 308. 



The contemporary congener, " red-tapeisra," has 

 probably been gathered from the same source. 

 Sydney says, speaking of Sir J. Mackintosh : 



" What a man that would be had he a particle of gall 

 or the least knowledge of the value of red tape .' As 

 Curran said of Grattan, 'he would have governed the 

 •worm,'" — Ibid., p. 245. 



F. S. 



Churchdown. 



CobhetCs Tomb (P' S. xi. p. 298.) — Extreme 

 accuracy is indispensable to " N. & Q." A peri- 

 odical destined to furnish data to future anti- 

 quaries should be scrupulously correct on all 

 points, however insignificant. Feeling this, may 

 I be allowed to state, that the " plain stone," 

 which originally covered the remains of William 

 Cobbett, has been replaced by a handsome tomb, 

 erected by his son, J. Virtue Wysen. 



Hackney. 



Encaustic Tiles, how to copy (2"'^ S. ii. 270.) — 

 Wash the whole design over with an even tint of 

 gallstone, and use the Indian red opaquely over it, 

 for the pattern. Gallstone does not " wash up " 

 in working like gamboge, and is nearer the tint 

 of old tiles. H. Owen. 



If Wilfred will reverse his process, and first 

 colour the whole tile yellow, and when that is 

 quite dry fill in the red parts, he -will find the 

 latter colour will not run at all. I find Venetian 

 red and Indian yellow the best colours to use. 



NoRKis Deck. 



Cambridge. 



Acatry (2"'* S. ii. 270.) — I well remember 

 many years ago seeing some Irish leases, in which 

 there was reserved to the lessor so much rent, and 

 it might be, so many fowls, eggs, or other agri- 

 cultural produce, by way of accates. Might not 

 the acatry be the place in which these accates were 

 stowed, or an account of them kept. In former 

 times, money being scarce, landlords were obliged 

 to receive much rent in kind, and as they resided 

 on their estates, it was not a matter of inconve- 

 nience to them to do so ; and even kings might 



