Oct. 27. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



323 



reports. As any edition of Coleridge's works 

 would be incomplete without his discourses on 

 fiilse criticism, the Shakspearean drama, &c., I 

 would respectfully suggest to the editor of the 

 forthcoming edition, the propriety of referring to 

 the journiil from whence Mr. Fitzpatrick ex- 

 tracted the two reports I speak of, and see if 

 there be not several others. Indeed, it is evident 

 from the wording, that one or more lectures in- 

 tervened between the two which were published 

 in p. 80. of the present volume. 



Florence G. Edgeworth. 

 Dunmore, Ireland. 



Note for London Topographers. — Cole has 

 preserved the following epigram on the removal 

 of the London sign-posts : " On the back of a 

 scrap of paper which I found In the register-book 

 of my parish of Burnham, in Buckinghamshire, 

 written in my brother Apthorp's hand, and pro- 

 bably composed by him, as I know he had a turn 

 for epigrammatic writing, is the following punning 

 epigram on new paving London streets with 

 Scotch marble or rock stone, at which time all the 

 sign-posts, and other posts to divide the coach 

 way from the common walking way, were removed : 



" 'Epigram on the New Pavement in London, 1764, 



"'The Scottish new pavement deserves well our praise; 

 To the Scots we're obliged, too, for mending our ways ; 

 But this we can never forgive, for they say, 

 As that they have taken our posts all away.' " 



J. Yeowell. 



The Prince of Wales and Mrs. BoMnson. — 



" Letter of George the Third to iMrd North. 



«' ' 20 August, 1781. 

 " ' My eldest son got last year into an improper con- 

 nexion w"» an actress and woman of indiff' character, 

 through the friendly assistance of L** Maiden. He sent 

 her letters and very foolish promises, which undoubtedly 

 by her conduct she has cancelled. Col. Hotham has set- 

 tled to pay the enormous sum of 5000Z. for the letters, &c., 

 being returned. You will, therefore, settle w"> him.' 



" Then followed the open shame and scandal on break- 

 ing up this intrigue with Mrs. Robinson," &c. — Review 

 on " Letters of George the Third to Lord North," Appen- 

 dix to Historical Sketches, by Henry Lord Brougham, in 

 Athenaeum, Oct. 6, 1855, p. 1144. 



As a curiosity, to be placed by tlie side of this, I 

 send you the following abstract from the parish 

 register of St. Mary-le-Bone : 



" Georgiana Augusta Frederica Elliott, daughter of 

 H.R.H. George, Prince of Wales, and Grace Elliott ; born 

 30 March, and baptized 30 July, 1782." 



ChattertorCs Oral Writings. — Chatterton, in the 

 notes to his pedigree of the De Bergham family, 

 frequently makes use of the word oral, as applied 

 to deeds and writings. Mr. Wilcox, one of his 

 editors, supposes that Chatterton, having heard of 

 oral tradition, thought there might be also such 



No. 313.] 



things as oral deeds, as if the poet were ignorant 

 of English ! 



It seems to me that 07'al is nothing more than 

 an abbreviation of oi'iginal. Taken in this sense, 

 the phrases "oral deeds," "oral in Cottonian li- 

 brary," do not appear very imintelligible. It may 

 be remarked, that the contraction ft-equently oc- 

 curs in modern law writings. 



It is with some diffidence that I hazard the 

 above conjecture, because that which appears evi- 

 dent at first sight, does not always prove to be 

 correct. A remarkable instance occurred not long 

 since, when, upon seeing a Query as to the origin 

 of the saying " full fig," as applied to a person 

 well dressed, I rashly imagined, it to be merely a 

 contraction of " full figure." The answers of two 

 correspondents, however, convinced me of my 

 error ; and I learnt, much to my surprise, that the 

 phrase took its origin from the fig-leaves with 

 which Adam and Eve concealed their nudity. 



Thompson Coopeb. 



Cambridge. 



Exaggeration of Travellers. — In the second 

 chapter of Mr. Macaulay's History of England^ 

 there occurs this passage : 



" Even after the accession of George TIL, the path over 

 the fells from Borrowdale to Ravenglass, was still a secret 

 carefully kept by the dalesmen, some of whom had pro- 

 bably escaped from the pursuit of justice by that road." 



And the historian refers, in confirmation of this 

 statement, to Gray's Journal, Oct. 3, 1769. The 

 only passage in the Journal which bears upon this 

 subject, is this : 



" The dale (Borrowdale) opens about four miles higher 

 till you come to Scathwaite ; all farther access is here 

 barred to prying mortals, only there is a little path wind- 

 ing over the fells, and for some weeks in the year pas- 

 sable to the dalesmen : but the mountains know well 

 that these innocent people will not reveal the m3'steries 

 of their ancient kingdom — 'the reign of chaos and old 

 night.' Only I learned that this dreadful road, dividing 

 again, leads one branch to Ravenglass, and the other to 

 Hawkshead." 



This passage, compounded of romance, exag- 

 geration, and credulity, should not have been 

 pressed into the service of history. Every one 

 who knows the country, will smile at Gray's de- 

 scription of the pass from Borrowdale to Wast 

 Water, and imagine it is copied from one of 

 Mrs. iladclilFe's novels, or extracted from some 

 narrative of a journey across the Himalayas or 

 the Andes. It could never have been true of a 

 path over the mountains of Cumberland. Another 

 instance of similar exaggeration relating to the 

 same place, is to be found in the Gleanings of a 

 Wanderer in various Parts of England, Scotland, 

 and Wales, made during an Excursion in the Year 

 1804: 



" The entrance (saj-s the Wanderer') into a deep and 

 dismal valley, called Borrowdale, is beyond conception 



