264 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[Oct. 6. 1855. 



deposited in the British Museum, they were, I 

 believe, kept in boxes, — an obvious and very satlS' 

 factory arrangment, where there is library room 

 enough. They have now, I hear, been separately 

 bound, — a still better arrangement to those to 

 whom the question of expense is no object. But 

 it is obvious that the former system requires an 

 amount of space, and the latter an amount of out- 

 lay, beyond the reach of many lovers of literature. 

 To bind, and not bind separately, is most incon- 

 venient. The writer recently bound up as a 

 volume what he believed to be a complete col- 

 lection upon the particular subject to which they 

 referred. But it had scarcely been sent home 

 from the binders, •syhen a tract, not known to be 

 in existence upon the subject, was found. The 

 volume is consequently incomplete, and there is a 

 ragged companion to it waiting to be put into a 

 coi'responding binding. 



Before writing to " N. k Q.," I have made some 

 inquiries upon the point, of parties likely, as I 

 thought, to give useful hints. Almost all have 

 said, hind separately ; but, as I have before re- 

 marked, this involves a very considerable expense, 

 unless some such scheme as the following could 

 be adopted, and, if practicable, its adoption by any 

 working bookbinder, would, I think, very ^well 

 repay him. 



Books are now, almost as a rule, issued to the 

 public in cloth boards. Those boards are all pre- 

 pared before the book is stitched. The books 

 when stitched are glued into the covers. The 

 cost of such covers depends of course upon their 

 size, material, and lettering. It is stated that 

 plain cloth covers for 8vo. pamphlets, without any 

 lettering, might be sold at about three shillings a 

 dozen ; if so, something like a remedy for the evil 

 complained of is at hand, for it is obvious that the 

 fixing a pamphlet into a cover, either by glueing 

 or stiching, is a work which may be done at home. 

 The plain man may place a neatly written label 

 on the back of the cover ; while he who can afford 

 it, may send his pamphlets to be properly labelled 

 by his bookbinder. 



This is certainly the most practical suggestion, 

 which has reached me privately. If you kindly 

 give insertion to this Query — What are we to 

 do with our pamphlets ? — it may be the means 

 perhaps of calling fortli better suggestions, and of 

 confirming or contradicting the statement which 

 has been made as to the prices at which such 

 covers as I have described might be sold to col- 

 lectors. A Lover of Pamphlets. 



Verses in French Patois. — I saw signs of print 

 on the lining of a box purchased at Poictiers, and 

 rubbing off the outer pap er, came to some verse?, 



No. 310.] 



which I send in the hope that you will insert the 

 following lines, and that I may be told in what dia- 

 lect of French is the language. Has it dictionary 

 and grammar ? What are the accessible works in 

 it? 



" PlERB. 



On molin a I'liiw tott I'annaie, 

 Nutt h jou, vo I'lei tourn(^, 

 Sfe todi I'minm kantite d'fleur 

 Et a minin tin I'minm kalite, 



" Paul. 



Ta raison, Pierr, min to I'maleur, 

 Sfe ki costrfe de meie di pu. 



" PlERR. 



I n'coss nin tan si t'considbrr 

 Le zak'sidin e le dis'du 

 Kon molin-a-vin r'su to ferr. 



" Paul. 



No n'toum'ron nin d'akoer, vale ! 

 Et pui clial, ji n'veu noul bell plinn. 



" PlEPvE, 



Si s'ne ki I'plinn, (;a se po d'choe. 

 Ka mi ji n'veii nin n'routt ki jinn." 



W. W. H. 



" An angel now, and little less before." — A line 

 has been adopted for epitaph on a lady : 



" An angel now, and little less before." 



Can any of your readers inform me whence it is 

 taken ? HENEr Grainger. 



Dramatic Poems. — Who is the author of a 

 volume published under the title of Dramatic 

 Poems, 8vo., 1801 ? The names of the poems are 

 " Eitha and Aidallo," and " Leonora." There are 

 also some remarks on tragedy and pastoral in the 

 volume. R. J. 



Glasgow. 



Mytens the Painter. — I shall feel obliged if any 

 of your readers can inform me of the date of the 

 death of Daniel Mytens the elder, which is omitted 

 in various notices of this eminent portrait painter 

 to which I have referred. Horace Walpole 

 (Anecdotes of Painting, vol. ii.), who appears to be 

 the chief authority made use of in the biographical 

 notices, mentions that none of his works are found 

 in England after 1630, but that there is a painting 

 by him at the Hague, dated 1656. I have a por- 

 trait inscribed " a.d. 1 663, Mytens F.," and am 

 trying to ascertain if he was still living in that 

 year. If not, the picture is the work of his son, 

 also Daniel Mytens, who was a painter of some 

 reputation in Holland. A Subscriber, 



" Erte7iki Mani." — It is said that the founder 

 of Manicheanism painted symbolical pictures to set 

 forth his theosophic views, and that these pictures 

 were long known in Persia under the name of 

 Ertenki Mani. What is the meaning of Ertenhi f 



