Nov. 24. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



403 



not supply them, some one else would, so it wonld 

 be a pity to lose the order ; and if the enemies 

 with whom we are engaged in a righteous war 

 require 'its materials, we " wing the shaft," or 

 rather give speed and precision to the bullet, by 

 supplying them with arms, and of more efficient 

 construction, too, than our own soldiers are fur- 

 nished withal. 



A new horror, akin to the preceding, has re- 

 cently come to light. It is not long since the 

 religious public was frightened from its propriety 

 by an announcement in the pages of The Record 

 of the awful fact, that the British manufacturer, 

 who gives with one hand so liberally to the mis- 

 sionary-box, had till then kept that member in 

 happy ignorance, that its correlative was busily 

 and profitably employed in the fabrication of the 

 very idols whom the missionaries were sent forth 

 at such expense and danger to demolish ! Incon- 

 tinently appeared in Punch a " Trade Circular," 

 characterized by such happy vraisemblance, that 

 our friends on the other side of the Channel, most 

 ludicrously mystified, have translated it as an 

 actual prix-courant of the firm engaged in the un- 

 righteous manufacture. I extract this translation, 

 together with the edifying comments to which it 

 has given rise, from the Revue des Deux Mondes, 

 Octobre 1, 1855: 



" L'Angleterie est, comme on sait, le pays des con- 

 trastes par excellence. Ainsi elle enverra, d'une part, des 

 niissionaires qui rivaliseront d'efforts et de sacrifices pour 

 faire penetrer la lumifere de la foi au sein des tenfebres du 

 paganisme, et, d'une autre part, elle n'hesitera pas h 

 fabriquer elle-meme des idoles pour les paiens. Oui, en 

 Angleterre, h Birmingham, vous trouverez une fabrique 

 (Vidoles ; bien plus, voici mi extrait de son pri.r-courant 

 que nous empruntons aux Archives du Christianisme : 



" ' Yamen (dieu de la mort) en cuivre fin, fabrique avec 

 beaucoup de gout. Nirondi (roi des demons), modules 

 trcs-varl&. Le ge'ant qu'il monte est du plus hardi 

 dessein, et son sabre de module moderne. Varronin (dieu 

 du Soleil), pleine de vie. Son crocodile est en airain, et 

 son fouet en argent. Conberen (dieu des richesses) ; ce 

 dieu est d'un travail admirable, le fabricant y a mis tout 

 son art, et tout son talent. On trouve des demi-dieux, et 

 des demons inferieures de toute espfece. On ne fait pas de 

 credit. Escompte sur paiement comptant.' 



" Le marchand a oublie de nous dire si on trouvait che/5 

 lui des idoles d'occasion." — P. 354. 



It is much to be regretted that we are not put 

 in possession of the " style " of the firm engaged 

 in this singular traffic. Some details, too, of the 

 manufacturing processes would not be unaccept- 

 able : and, altogether, I may venture to suggest 

 to Mr. Dod, that a " Day at an Idol Manufactory " 

 would not be ill spent, when he contemplates a 

 new edition of his Curiosities of Industry. 



William Bates. 



Birmingham. 



No. 317.] 



ODD TITLES OP BOOKS IN FORMEB TIMES. 



In 1686 a pamphlet was published in London, 

 entitled A Most Delectable Sweet Perfumed Nose- 

 gay for God's Saints to Smell at. About the year 

 1649, there was published a work entitled A Pair 

 of Bellows to blow off the Dust cast upon John 

 Fry, and another, called The Snuffers of Di- 

 vine Love. Cromwell's time was particularly 

 famous for title-pages. The author of a work 

 on charity entitles his book Hooks and Eyes for 

 Believers' Breeches. Another, who professed a 

 wish to exalt poor human nature, calls his labours 

 High-heeled Shoes for Dwarfs in Holiness. And 

 another. Crumbs of Comfort for the Chickens of 

 the Covenant. A Quaker, whose outward man 

 the powers that were thought proper to imprison, 

 published A Sigh of Sorrow for the Sinners 

 of Zion, breathed out of a Hole in the Wall 

 of an earthly Vessel, known among Men by the 

 Name of Samuel Fish. About the same time there 

 was also published. The Spiritual Mustard-pot, to 

 make the Soul sneeze with Devotion ; Salvation's 

 Vantage Ground, or a Louping , Sand for Heavy 

 Believers. Another, A Shot aimed at the DeviVs 

 Head-quarters through the Tube of the Cannon of 

 the Covenant. This is an author who speaks plain 

 language, which the most illiterate reprobate can- 

 not fail to understand. Another, A Reaping-hook 

 well tempered, for the Stubborn Ears of the coming 

 Crop ; or Biscuits baked in the Oven of Charity 

 carefully conserved for the Chickens of the Church, 

 the Sparrows of the Spirit, and the Sweet Swallows 

 of Salvation. To another we have the foUowino- 

 copious description of its contents : 



" Seven Sobs of a Sorrowful Soul for Sin, or the Seven 

 Penitential Psalms of the princely Prophet David ; where- 

 unto are also added, William Humius's Handful of Honey- 

 suckles, and divers Godly and Pithy Ditties now newly 

 augmented." 



G.B. 



Mixint ^attg, 



Speke's " Secret History." — The readers of 

 Macaulay will remember the use whicfi he makes 

 of this book, and the note upon it (vol. ii. p. 528.), 

 in which he says : " In the London Library is a 

 copy of this rare work, with a manuscript note, 

 which seems to be in Speke's own hand." As the 

 book is rare, its precise title, and a copy of the 

 note referred to, will probably be acceptable : 



" The Secret History of the Happy Revolution of 1 688. 

 Humbly dedicated to His Most Gracious Majesty King 

 George by the principal Transactor in it. London: 

 printed for the Author, by S. Keimer, at the ' Printing 

 Press,' in Pater- Noster-Row, 1715." 



The author's name is subscribed to the Dedica- 

 tion, which occupies two pages (iii. and iv.) ; and 

 is followed by a Preface of similar length (pp. v. 



