364 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nas.N»45.,mv. 8. '5$. 



But Wesley was not the only one who cele- 

 brated Curll's misfortunes in verse. One of the 

 authors of the Carmina Quadragesimalia, as has 

 already been shown (ante, p. 21.), made them his 

 theme, and one of the writers of The Grub Street 

 Journal translated it into English. In plain prose 

 he was often reproached by allusion to these in- 

 dignities. Thus in The Theatre Royal Turn'd 

 into a Mountebank Stage. In some Remarks upon 

 Mr. Gibbers Quack- Dramatical Performance called 

 Th6 Non- Juror. By a N on- Juror, London, Mor- 

 phew, 1718, the author says, p. 33. : 



" Were I to follow the Example of him that has pub- 

 lish'd a Key to Mr. Gibber's Nonjuror, that has no such 

 thing as a Lock to it, I should take leave of the Reader 

 here, and moie Curleano, after I had accus'd others of 

 Plagiarism, at the same time as no one breathing was 

 more guilty of making bold with other men's Works than 

 himself. Though how he came to overlook his Author's 

 Tossing St. Bartholomew in a Blanket, before a Mob- 

 Audience in a Theatre, without some retrospection upon 

 the late treatment of a near acquaintance of his at West- 

 minster College, or for what reason he suffer'd Mr. Jo- 

 seph Gay to fall foul upon the Obscenity of the Play, 

 without, asking pardon of God and the World for his 

 Bookseller's Cases of Impotency, and other surreptitious 

 Ribaldry, that I suppose is to himself or will remain to 

 others a secret." 



And years afterwards (1745) the author of the 

 Remarks on Squire Ay re's Memoirs of Pope twits 

 Curll by relating that, — 



«* One of the first Things that made him talk'd of among 

 the learned World, was that in 1716, soon after the Fune- 

 ral of Doctor South, he having by some means procured 

 an imperfect Copy of the Funeral Oration spoken by one 

 of the King's Scholars publisli'd it ; upon which the rest 

 of that Fraternity, under pretence of helping him to a 

 more perfect Copy, decoy'd him to their Hall, where they 

 amused themselves some time with tossing him in a 

 Blanket ; and afterwards Conducting him to the School, 

 gave him the discipline of the Rod till that very Instru- 

 ment of Vengeance wept, as Shakspear has it, for the poor 

 Bookseller's Sufferings." 



Lastly, to prove that the story is a fact, and not, 

 as might be supposed, a fiction, we have Curll's 

 own confession; who, remarking upon Pope's 

 note on The Dunciad, bk. ii. lines 143-4., where 

 the poet speaks of " Curll's being toss'd in a 

 Blanket," thus acknowledges in The Gurliad, 

 p. 25., the general truth of the story : 



" To pursue thee, Scriblerus, to p. 35., thou continuest in 

 leesing, for what thou assertest in the second column of 

 thy remarks upon that page, concerning a blanket, &c. 

 was a rugg, and the whole controversy relating thereunto 

 shall one day see the light." 



Can any reader of " N. & Q." say whether 

 Curll kept his promise, and whether " the whole 

 controversy" ever did see the light? S. N. M. 



ORIENTAL L,1TBBATURE. 



The enclosed communication has been for- 

 warded to me, and as I consider the project very 



important I hope you will kindly give it pub- 

 licity : 



" To Orientalists. — Dr. F. Boettcher of Dresden has 

 been engaged for several years in preparing a work en- 

 titled ' Bibliotheca Semitica,' which is to contain bio- 

 graphical notices of all scholars who have contributed in 

 any way to the advancement of Biblical or other Oriental 

 studies, with lists of their writings. To render the work 

 as complete as possible, he earnestly requests information 

 on the following points, from such British scholars as 

 have written on the grammar, literature, history, geo- 

 graphy, antiquities, &c., of the Hebrew, Phoenician, 

 Chaldee, Syriac, Samaritan, Arabic, Assyrian (cuneiform 

 inscriptions), Egyptian, and Ethiopic : — name in full, 

 date and place of birth, to what religious denomination 

 they belong ; the positions they hold, or have held, with 

 date of appointment to each; complete lists of their writ- 

 ings, including articles in reviews, enc5xlopaedias, &c. 

 (specifying in these cases the number, or volume, and 

 page). 



" Various orientalists have agreed to aid Dr. B. in his 

 publication, — such as Doru, Fleischer, De Gayangos, 

 Juynboll, Renau, Robinson, and Sprenger. British scho- 

 lars who maj' be inclined to comply with the above re- 

 quest, are desired to communicate by letter (prepaid), 

 before the 20th of December, with Wm. Wright, Professor 

 of Arabic, Trinity College, Dublin." 



If you can print the above you will promote a 

 very desirable literary undertaking, and yet not 

 needlessly burden your pages with communica- 

 tions on the subject. B. H. Cowpeb. 



ILLUSTEAtlONS OF MACAULAT. 



The Fall of Nnmur. — In reference to the fall 

 of Namur, Mr. Macaulay says {History of Eng- 

 land, vol. iv. p. 600) : 



" The joy of the conquerors was heightened bj' the re- 

 collection of the discomfiture which they had suffered 

 three years before on the same spot, and of the insolence 

 with which their enemy had then triumphed over them. 

 They now triumphed in their turn. The Dutch struck 

 medals — the Spaniards sang Te Deums. Many poems, 

 serious and sportive, appeared, of which one only has 

 lived. Prior burlesqued with admirable spirit and plea- 

 santry the bombastic verses in which Boileau had cele- 

 brated the first taking of Namur. The two odes printed 

 side by side were read with delight in London, and the 

 critics at Wills pronounced that in wit as in arms Eng- 

 land had been victorious." 



A curious piece of the day of 120 pages, 18mo. 

 (in my possession) may not have come under the 

 notice of Mr. Macaulay, notwithstanding his inde- 

 fatigable researches. It is entitled Entretien Du 

 Marechal de Luxembourg et de Francois de Chart- 

 vallon Archveque de Paris Dans les Champs Elizees 

 sur la Prise de Namur VAn 1695, printed "Chez 

 les Heretiers de Pierre Marteau, 1695," under- 

 stood to be from the press of the Elzevirs of Hol- 

 land in that feigned name. It is an entertaining 

 and gossiping dialogue on the siege and fall ot 

 Namur, and of the opinion of the parties as to the 

 political prospects of both France and England in 

 relation to this great event, which had just signal- 



