Sept. 8. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



193 



" The pertinent Anecdote'" (Vol. xli., p. 164.). — I 

 will not waste space by not/icing the circumstan- 

 tialities by which Canning's anecdote is attempted 

 to be supported, nor the physical impossibilities 

 overcome ; enough to observe that all the " per- 

 tinents " occurred within from twelve to sixteen 

 hours ! Within, say sixteen hours, Garrick's 

 letter to Ramus was shown to the king, the fact 

 made known to Junius, who wrote that " very 

 night" to Garrick, and threatened vengeance. 

 Junius was silenced ; no more letters were pub- 

 lished, and next morning Francis embarked for 

 India. All, observe, within sixteen hours ! 



Now for a few " pertinents " about which there 

 can be no dispute, and which have been known 

 and notorious for nearly half a century. 



Junius's letter to Garrick was dated Nov. 10, 

 1771. Garrick tells us that it was not received 

 until " nearly a month after the supposed crime 

 was committed." Junius's last letter was pub- 

 lished Jan. 21, 1772; his last private letter to 

 Woodfall is dated Jan. 19, 1773. Francis was 

 appointed member of the Council of Fort William 

 by act of parliament, June, 1773, and he embarked 

 for India in April, 1774. 



So much for Mb. Rush's " pertinent " anecdote, 

 and the " proof almost direct," &c. T. P. A. 



Method of taking out Ink (Vol. xil., pp. 29. 133.). 

 — The method stated will only succeed with 

 inks formed in the ordinary manner of copperas 

 and nutgalls. There are now several inks in use, 

 for which this process will be as ineffectual as for 

 the carbonaceous ink of the printer. For those 

 cases to which it is applicable the oxalic acid is to 

 be preferred, as it does not destroy the texture of 

 the paper as the muriatic acid does : it should be 

 used as a nearly saturated solution in distilled 

 water ; the spot to which it is to be applied should 

 be first cautiously moistened with cold distilled 

 water ; and the acid, after the writing has disap- 

 peared completely, should be washed off with good 

 soft water, or with lime-water. The wetted leaf 

 should be dried within folds of bibulous paper, 

 and afterwards moistened with pure sulphuric 

 ether, which will obviate much of the discoloration. 



Abteeus. 



Tusser's Will (Vol. xli., p. 119.). —Mr. Br.EN- 

 cowE says that the will of Tusser was discovered 

 " through the instrumentality of researches made 

 at the instance of Mr. Clark." This is incorrect. 

 Tusser's will was discovered by myself quite inde- 

 pendently of Mr. Clark, and a copy of it was fur- 

 nished to that gentleman by me through the 

 Cambridge Antiquarian Society. I obtained it 

 from the registry of the Bishop of Ely at Cam- 

 bridge, which contains copies of the wills of many 

 persons in this neighbourhood, although proved in 



No. 306.] 



tke Prerogative Court of Canterbury, as does also 

 the rt'gis,try of the university. The copy in " N. 

 & Q." is not a verbatim copy, as it professes to be, 

 although the variations are unimportant. Tusser's 

 name is written at length six times in the body of 

 the will, at the end of the more important clauses. 

 All these subscriptions are omitted in the verbatim 

 copy supplied by Mk. Blencowb. 



Although Tusser was born in Essex, as himself 

 tells us, there is some evidence that his f.unily 

 were previously living in the neighbourhood of 

 Cambridge ; for in the accounts of the treasurer 

 of this borough I find the following entries : 



" 1515. Item for the ferme of another tent [tenement] 

 sett and buj'lded in the said butterrowe ia the tenure of 

 Willin Tossor, xxvis. viiirf. 



" 1525-6. Item of Thorns Tussor for the ferme of ano- 

 ther teiit buylded in the said butfrowe, xvis. viiid. 



" 1530-31. Item of Thorns Tussor for the ferme of ano- 

 ther teiit in the butfrowe, xxvis. \md." 



E. Ventkis. 



Cambridge. 



" Maud,'" hy Alfred Tennyson — Drexelii Auri- 

 fodina (Vol. xii., p. 125.). — An explanation of the 

 line in Maud, referred to above, is, I think, sup- 

 plied by the accompanying extract from Bishop 

 Home's Abridgment of the Aurifodina of Drexe- 

 lius, in "The Scholar Armed" (vol. ii. p. 291.), a 

 very rare tract, w^hich well deserves the perusal of 

 all interested in notation or taking notes in writing, 

 in order to profit by what we read. 



The supposed difficulty vanishes, if the context 

 is added after the lines quoted, pp. 220, 221., viz, 



" And most of all would I flee from the cruel madness of 

 love, 

 The hone}' of poison-flowers, and all the measureless ill." 



"The ant collects in summer for her food in winter. 

 This is beautifully described and applied : ♦ Itioiiibus atque 

 reditionibus eandem viam redegit millies, fatigari nescia — 

 brumae injurias non metuit, infaicundam hiemem non 

 aegre tolerat,' &c. The happy industry of the bee is de- 

 scribed with the same poetical elegance : ' Omnes apicul» 

 flores delibant, et velut judicio excerpunt — violarum 

 suaves divitias — nee extrahunt nisi quod melioris succi 

 est ; venenum quod in flore deterius, araneis relmquunt. 

 Haec apum sedulitas, et in excerpendo studium, meilis et 

 ceras tliesauris orbem opulentat.' Let us be as wise as 

 they in our studies ; let us take the best authors, and out 

 of them the best things; otherwise, like summer flies, 

 we have neither honey nor wax ; our conversation and 

 writings are poor and emptj-." 



BiBLIOTJIECAB, ChETUAM. 



Passage in Tennyson (Vol. xii., p. 125.). — 

 " Where each man walks with his head in a cloud of 

 poisonous flies." 



Has W. H, never fiiihed of a warm evening in 

 some birch- befringed highland stream, or shot 

 grouse on a low-lying moor, with Lis head sur- 

 rounded by a cloud of flies and gnats, humming, 

 buzzing, piping, stinging, getting into his eyes, 

 tickling his ears, walking boldly up his nose, and 



