Dec. 8. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



447 



racensis ac ceteris regni nostri Angliaj Episcopis, Decanis, 

 Archidiaconis, et universe Clero, salutem. Egerunt apud 

 nos regni nostri proceres et populus, ut, cum nuper 

 quaBdam emerserunt, quse, ut illi putant, ad nos regnique 

 nostri successionein pertineant, inter quse pracipua est 

 causa et condicio matrimonij quod cum illustri et nobili 

 feniina domina Anna Clivensi propter externam quidem 

 conjugij speciem perplexum, alioqui eciam multis et 

 variis modis ambiguum vident ; Nos ad cjusdein matri- 

 monij disquisicionem ita procedere dignaremur ut opi- 

 nionem vestram qui in ecclesia nostra Auglicana scienciam 

 verbi Dei et doctrinam profitemini, exquiramus vobisque 

 discuciendi auctoritatem ita demandemus ut si animis 

 vestris fuerit persuasum matrimonium cum prasfata do- 

 mina Annaminime consistere aut coherere debere, Nos ad 

 matrimonium contrahendum cum alia liberos esse vestro 

 primum ac relique deinde ecclesiiB suffragio pronuncietur 

 et confirmetur. Nos autem, qui vestrum in reliquis ec- 

 clesise hujus Anglicana; negociis gravioribus, quae eccle- 

 siasticam oeconoriiiam et religionem spectent, judicium 

 amplecti solemus, ad veritatis explicandte testimonium 

 omnino necessarium rati sumus causae liujus matrimoni- 

 alis seriem et circumstancias vobisexponi et communicari 

 curare, ut quod vos per Dei leges licere decreveritis, id 

 demum, tocius ecelesiae nostras auctoritate innixi, licite 

 facere et exequi publice audeamus ; vos itaque convocari 

 et in synodum universalem nostra auctoritate convenire 

 volentes, vobis conjunctim et divisira committimus atque 

 mandamus, ut, inspecta negocij hujus veritate, ac solum 

 Deum prae oculis habentes, quod verum, quod justum, 

 quod honestum, quod sanctum est, id nobis de communi 

 consilio scripto authentico renuncietis, et de communi 

 consensu licere difBniatis : Nempe unum hoc a vobis 

 nostro jure postulamus ut tamquam fida et proba ecele- 

 siae membra causa; huic ecclesiasticte qute maxima est, in 

 justicia et veritate adesse velitis, et earn maturime juxta 

 Commissionem vobis in hac parte factam ;ibsolvere et ex- 

 pedire. In cujus rei, etc. Teste Rege a^.ud Westmonas- 

 terium, vj die Julij." 



James Gairdner. 



[Mr. Gairdner will perceive that we have printed 

 this document in extenso. We have two reasons for this. 

 First, because we have not a fount of Record type ; second 

 (if a second reason can be necessary), because such docu- 

 ments are more generally intelligible when so printed. 



We take the opportunity afforded by this explanation 

 of requesting that correspondents who transcribe for us 

 documents of this character, will be good enough to tran- 

 scribe them in extetiso. — Ed. " N. & Q."] 



HEXAMETERS IN " MATID." 



Several persons have animadverted on the 

 harshness and irreguhirity of some of Mr. Tenny- 

 son's metres in his Maud; especially the first 

 sections. It will throw some light on this matter, 

 if we "make a Note," and as those lines are not 

 only hexameters (which is incontestable, for they 

 have six accents in each line), but hexameters of the 

 ordinary modern kind, namely, consisting of dac- 

 tyles and trochees, pretty nearly indiscriminately 

 mixed. This may be shown by taking any ex- 

 ample ; for instance the celebrated denimciation 

 of Peace. It only requires to be observed that 

 Mr. Tennyson often ends the line with a single 

 syllable, instead of a dissyllabic foot. I have 



No. 319.] 



added, in Italics, a syllable to complete the line in 

 those cases, merely to illustrate my remark ; not, 

 of course, to improve the poetry : 



" Why do they prate of the blessings of Peace? we have 

 made them a cursing, 

 Pickpockets, each hand lusting for all that is not ita 

 own thing. 



* Lust of gain, in the spirit of Cain, is it better or worse 

 than the 



Heart of the citizen hissing in war ou his own hearth's 



flagstone ? 

 These are the days of advance, the works of the men of 



mind, when 

 Who but a fool would ha's'e faith in a tradesman's ware 



or his promise f 

 Peace this or war? Civil war, as I think, and that of 



the tvorst kind ; 

 Viler, as underhand, not openly bearing the war-Watfe. 



* Sooner or later I too may passively take the print of 

 the 



Golden age ; — why not ? I have neither hope nor 



trust; — may 

 JIake my heart as a millstone, set my face as a flint- 



stnne, 

 Cheat and be cheated, and die: who knows? — we 



are ashes and dast-heaps. 

 Peace sitting under her olive, and slurring the days 



gone by, when 

 Poor men are hovell'd and hustled together, each sex, 



like swine ; when 

 Onlv the ledger lives, and when we, not all men, lie. 



What! 

 Peace in her vineyard — yes! — but a company forges 



the vflne-juice." 



I have made one or two slight alterations in the 

 unaccented syllables ; which, however, are not 

 essential to the proof of my remark. In two 

 lines (*) there is a dactyle in the sixth place, which 

 might easily be avoided. It would cost very 

 little trouble to arrange In this way all that part 

 of Maud which is In this measure. - X. 



Miliar ^atei. 



ITie late James Frederick Ferguson. — 

 [The deep regret with which we read the following an- 

 nouncement in 77(6 Times of December 1, will, we feel 

 assured, be also felt by many of our readers. The co- 

 lumns of " N. & Q." have often been enriched by the 

 contributions of this able and most disinterested anti- 

 quary; and the Gentleman's Magazine for the present 

 month contains a valuable communication from him on 

 the subject of the Poet Spenser and his family. It ap- 

 pears from the Dublin Weekly Telegraph, that Mr. Per* 

 GUSON was in his forty-ninth year at the time of his 

 decease, which took place at Eathmines on November 26. 

 — Ed. «N. &Q."] 



"The Dublin papers announce the death of Mr. James 

 Frederick Ferguson, of the Exchequer Record Oflace, 

 whose extensive knowledge of the antiquities of Ireland, 

 partly derived from his intimate acquaintance with the 

 ancient manuscripts which came under his inspection 

 during the last twenty vears, acquired for him a reputa- 

 tion that time will not easily obliterate. Mu. Ferguson 

 was quite an enthusiast in his profession, and worked, it 

 may be said, without hope of fee or reward. As an in- 

 stance of his devotion to the public service, it may be 



