Oct. 27. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



325 



of the town (now the Bite of the Southampton and 

 Dorchester Railway Tunnel), to Blechynden ; and 

 thence (only separated from it by an embanked 

 towing-path), by the side of the Southampton 

 Water, to its junction with the Andover Canal ; 

 a distance altogether of between five and six miles. 

 It is needless to say, that as all craft could accom- 

 plish the distance between the two ends of the 

 canal gratis, by keeping in the Southampton 

 Water, they preferred adopting that course to 

 paying canal dues; and that the undertaking 

 proved a complete failure, the company never 

 having received as much even as 10/. in the shape 

 of such dues. The unfortunate shareholders na- 

 turally became the laughingstock of the neigh- 

 bourhood, and the "concern" was soon literally 

 " shut up." 



The Southampton and Dorchester Railway now 

 occupies most of the site of this memorable under- 

 taking on the shore of the Southampton Water, 

 between Blechynden and Redbridge ; but traces 

 of it still exist as a monument of the short-sight- 

 edness of its projectors. 



In commemoration of the above event, the fol- 

 lowing lines were written ; or, at all events, some- 

 thinw like them, as I quote from memory, and I 

 fear incorrectly. Can any of your readers tell me 

 where I can find them in print, and who was their 

 author ? — 



" Southampton's wise sons, found their river so large 

 Tho' 'twould carry a ship 'twould'n't carry a barge.' 

 To supply the defect, their sage noddles applied, 

 And cut a snug ditch to run close by its side ; 

 Like the man who contrived two holes in his wall, 

 To admit his two cats — one great, t'other small, 



. When the large hole was cut, for great puss to go 

 through, 

 He'd a little one cut for the little cat too ! " 



R. W. Hackwood. 



[A more correct version of these lines appeared in the 

 Gentleman's Magazine for September, 1800. We cannot 

 discover the author of them. 



"Southampton and Redbridge Canals. 



" Southampton's wise sons found the river so large, 

 Though 'twould carry a ship, 'twould not carry a barge. 

 But soon this defect their sage noddles supplied, 

 For they cut a snug ditch to run close by its side ; 

 ' Like the man who, contriving a hole through his wall, 

 To admit his two cats, the one great, t'other small. 

 Where a great hole was made for great puss to pass 



through, 

 Had a little hole cut for his little cat too."] 



MintiTc <3i\xtxiti» 



CarrutTiers' " Life of Pope:' — In a note to 

 this work (p. 4.) the author says : 



" Two modes of reckoning the year, it will be remem- 

 bered, existed up to 1753, the civil and ecclesiastical 

 year, which commenced on the 25th of March, and the 

 historical year, which began on the 1st of January, &c. 



No. 313.] 



Pope always used the civic term, and errors have arisen 

 from parties forgetting that, according to his svstem, 

 January and February followed September and October in 

 the same year." 



I cannot understand the latter part of this. 

 Surely January and February never followed 

 September and October in any year, civil, eccle- 

 siastical, or historical. I should be very glad to 

 learn upon what authority it is stated that''' Pope 

 always used the civil term," or was at all peculiar 

 m his system of dating. Opening a volume of 

 Pope's Letters at random, I find letters to Jabez 

 Hughes, dated Feb. 18, 1719-20, and Feb. 26 

 1719-20 ; and to Aaron Hill of Jan. 26, 1730-ll 

 &c. This was the usual way of dating at that 

 time for the first quarter of the year — the civil 

 year first, with the addition of the historical — 

 but as the second year may in these, or any other 

 instances, have been an addition of the editors, 

 on their own judgment of the facts, I am still in 

 doubt and perplexity. W". M. T. 



Bank Notes for a Million.— In a little pamphlet, 

 published at Boston (U. S.) in 1845 (and which I 

 have lately come across), entitled Pen and Ink 

 Sketches, hy a cosmopolitan, there appears a cu- 

 rious account of a Bank of England note for 

 1,000,000Z. sterling ; which the author states is iu 

 Mr. Rogers's (the poet) possession, and displayed 

 in a frame in his room. Can you inform me if 

 this is substantially correct ? I enclose the ex- 

 tract : 



"But there were two objects in the room, which, more 

 than any others, engrossed my attention : the one repre- 

 sented the enormous wealth of its possessor, and the other 

 indicated his keen appreciation of the value of mind. 

 These articles were simply two small pieces of paper in 

 gold frames. One of them Avas a Bank of England note 

 for one million pounds sterling ; and the other, the original 

 receipt of John Milton for five pounds (the sum he re- 

 ceived for the copyright of Paradise Lost from Simmonds, 

 the bookseller). The bank note was one of the only four 

 which were ever struck from a plate, which was after- 

 wards destroyed. The Rothschilds have one impression, 

 the late Mr. Coutts had another, the Bank of England the 

 third ; and, as I have said, Mr. Rogers decorates his par- 

 lour with the remaining one. There it hangs, within any 

 one's reach — a fortune to many, but valueless to all ex- 

 cepting its owner. No one would think of stealing it, for 

 it would be only as so much waste paper. It never could 

 be negociated without detection ; and were it destroyed 

 by fire, from its peculiar character, no loss would ensure 

 to Mr. Rogers." — From Pen and Ink Sketches, Boston 

 (U. S.), 1845, p. 25., under the head of " A Literary 

 Breakfast at Samuel Rogers's." 



7' 

 Did Edmund Burke write Sir Joshua Reynolds's 

 ^^ Lectures?" — On loooking into a Memoir of Ed- 

 mund Burke, in Walker's Hibernian Magazine for 

 1810, I was startled by the following statement, 

 and am desirous of knowing whether it has any 

 foundation to rest upon : 



" In 1769, the Royal Academy was opened ; Sir Joshua 

 Reynolds was appointed President, and Mr. Burke wrote 



