July 7. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Proverb. — Is the following proverb known and 

 registered in any collection of rural philosophy ? 

 I heard it the other day from an old herd. I was 

 deploring the wetness of the month (May), when he 

 replied : 



" A leaky May and a dry June 

 Keeps the puir man's head abune." 



e. D. L. 



Greenock. 



" DidrorCs Christian Iconography" — As four 

 years have now elapsed since Mr. Bohn published 

 in his Illust. Library the first volume of Didron's 

 Christian Iconography, may I venture to ask that 

 gentleman when the second volume, which he has 

 promised, may be expected ? 



It will be a great pleasure to many readers of 

 " N. & Q.," besides myself, to learn that the con- 

 clusion of the work will not be much longer de- 

 layed. F. D. 

 Beverley. 



Marvellous Music. — Among the Howard Papers, 

 Lady Arabella Stuart, writing to the Earl of 

 Shrewsbury from Broad Street, June 17, 1609, 



" But now from doctrine to miracles : I assure you 

 w">in these few dayes I saw a paire of virginalles make 

 good musick w*out helpe of any hand, but of one, that 

 did nothing but warme, not move, a glass some five or 

 six foote from them. And if I thought, thus great folkes 

 invisibly and farre off worke in matters to tune them, as 

 they please, I pray yo"" Lop forgive me ; and I hope God 

 will, to whose holy protection I humbly recomend y 

 Lop," &c. 



Can any of the readers in " N. & Q." divine any 

 explanation how this curious experiment was con- 

 trived ? Electricity or galvanism has been sug- 

 gested. Cl. Hopper. 



Bankers' Cheques. — A difficulty in one case, a 

 loss in another, and a doubt in the third — all of 

 •which have happened during the last few days — 

 make it of great importance that there should be 

 a better understanding in these matters than seems 

 at present to prevail. Some would, probably, 

 think the city article of The Times the most ap- 

 propriate place for these inquiries. I believe 

 there are many readers of " N. & Q." who can 

 enlighten us on the subject. 



1. Can a banker lawfully refuse to pay a cheque 

 drawn on himself, although it be crossed in blank ; 

 that is, the words " & Co." written upon it ? 



2. Is there any specific time in which a country 

 banker becomes liable for a cheque which he has 

 changed, or received in account, supposing it be 

 not paid by the person on whom it is drawn ? 



3. Is it lawful, or necessary, or of any utility, 

 to cross a stamped cheque made payable to order ? 



N. H. L. E. 

 No. 297.] 



Renown. — Where shall I meet with the piecOi 

 of which the following is a verse ? 



" I think the thing you call renown. 

 That unsubstantial vapour, 

 For which the soldier burns a town, 



The sonnateer a taper. 

 Is like the mist, which as he flies 



The horseman leaves behind him, 

 He cannot mark its wreaths arise. 

 Or if he can, they blind him." 



R. Y. T. 

 " Struggles for Life." — Could any of your 

 readers tell me who is the author of Struggles for 

 Life, or the Autobiography of a Dissenting Minister, 

 published in 1853, by VV.&F. G. Cash, 5. Bishops- 

 gate Street. Fueur-de-XiIS. 



George Fox foretold : Query, By what Prophet ? — 

 That "good hater" after Dr. Johnson's own heart, 

 worthy Francis Bugg, mentions in his Pilgrim's Pro- 

 gress from Quakerism to Christianity, p. 259., the 

 following long-winded title of one of Fox's works : 



" News coming up out of the North, sounding towards 

 the South, written from the Mouth of the Lord, from one 

 who is naked, &c., and cloathed with Righteousness ; whose 

 Name is not known in the World, risen out of the North, 

 which was prophesied of, and now fulfilled." 



To which our friend with the unsavoury patrony- 

 mic dryly adds in the margin : " Query, By what 

 prophet ?" I am pretty well acquainted with the 

 controversial literature of the time, but I don't 

 remember to have seen this answered. Will some 

 one state the grounds for the assumed Messiah- 

 ship. The marked locality of expression forbids 

 the idea of a mere generality. 



C. Clifton Barht. 



" Pollards." — Trees with their heads cut oflF 

 are called pollards, and disfigure the landscape in 

 many parts of England. They are all old and 

 ugly ; and as tenants are not allowed to cut the 

 timber, how came these trees into existence ? H. T. 



Providence. — Written upon a fly-leaf of a little 

 pocket Goldsmith's Almanac of 1679, I found the 

 following lines. Are they from any known au- 

 thor ? There is a striking similarity in idea to 

 some portions of Pope's Essay on Man : 



" Did we not know, there's an adorfed will 

 In all that happs to men, or good or ill, 

 Suffer'd or sent, and what is man to pry 

 Into th' abyss of such a mystery ? 

 How man}' dangers on best actions wait. 

 Right check'd by wrong, and ill men fortunate, 

 Those mov'd effects from an unmoved cause, 

 Might shake an easie faith ; Heav'n's sacred laws 

 Might casual seem, and o^ irregular sense 

 Spurne at just order, and blame Providence." 



Cl. Hopper. 



" Nine hundred and three doors out of the world." 

 — Can any of your readers inform me in what 

 Jewish author can be found an enumeration of 



