18 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2°-i S. No 79., July 4. '5v. 



Generally speaking, the surnames only are given. 

 WitU this exception, there is not any printed 

 register of Cambridge degrees before 1659. 



C. H. & Thompson Cooper. 

 Cambridge. 



*' Raining Cats and Dogs" (2"'* S. iil. 328. 519.) 

 — It were needless to dwell further on this phrase, 

 already discussed and elucidated by two of your 

 learned correspondents, were it not that the words 

 have a civic significance, and throw light on the 

 " sanitary " condition of our metropolis at the 

 commencement of the last century. 



By Swift's " Description of a City Shower " 

 (1710), we are made acquainted with certain con- 

 comitants of a rain-storm in the city as he knew 

 it, and became cognisant of a state of things 

 which might very naturally lead the observer to 

 exclaim, when caught in a London shower, "It 

 rains cats and dogs ! " — dead, however, not living 

 dogs and cats. 



The poet with his usual felicity describes how, 

 on the falling of a heavy shower, torrents of water 

 form and unite, carrying along with them the rie- 

 fuse of the streets, 'specially from Smithfield and 

 "St. Pulchre's," down Snow Hill to Holborn 

 bridge : 



*' Now from all parts the swelling kennels flow. 

 And bear their trophies with them as they go." 



The enumeration of these "trophies," for the 

 sake of your readers, we may as well omit. Let 

 the last two lines suffice : 



" Drown' d puppies, stinking sprats, all drench'd in mud, 

 Dead cats,. and. turnip -tops, come tumbling down the 

 flood." 



Viewing the " drown'd puppies " and " dead 

 cats " as they tumble on in the torrent caused by 

 the shower, observant childhood asks an explana- 

 tion of the phenomenon, and receives the very 

 satisfactory, though marvellous reply, " It is rain- 

 ing cats and dogs ! " Thomas Boys. 



Passage in Hegel (2""^ S. iii. 487.) — 



" Le nombre des ^toiles fixes n'a pas plus d'importance 

 que le nombre de pustules qu'ofire une Eruption de la 

 peau." 



This is ascribed to Hegel by Bartholmess, in 

 his Histoire Critique des Doctrines Religieuses de 

 la Philosophie Moderne, ii. 284. Perhaps some 

 one better read in Hegel than myself will help 

 us to the German. There is a similarity in the 

 style of thinking ; each thought may be original ; 

 and we can say to both, " Et vitula tu dignus et 

 hie." H. B. C. 



U. U. Club. 



Bell Gables (2''^ S. iii. 339.) — Gosforth Church, 

 Cumberland, is another example of a three -bell 



Aboue. H. 



t Blwe. H. 



turret at the west end. This arrangement, how- 

 ever, is modern, as in " Jefferson's AUerdule- 

 above-Derwent " it is described as carrying only 

 two bells. R. L. 



RaphaeVs ^^ Madonna della Sedia'' (2°'^ S. iii. 

 483.) — Mr. Cuthbert Bede might have added 

 to his notice of this beautiful and well known 

 work, a curious illustration of what strange things 

 there are in the history of Art. Raphael was 

 so pleased with his original circular picture, 

 which is still preserved in the Pitti Palace at 

 Florence (see Easllake's Italian Schools, ii. 375.), 

 that he afterwards painted it of a larger size with 

 some few alterations. This larger picture is lost ; 

 but a fine copy of it in Gobelin Tapestry is in the 

 possession of Lord Brougham, and forms one of 

 the Art Treasures at Brougham. From this copy 

 of Raphael it is that Baxter has produced that 

 very excellent specimen of his colour-printing 

 which is no doubt familiar to most of the readers 

 of " N. & Q." T. 



Tall Men and Women (2"'' S. iii. 347. 436.) — 

 A remarkable instance of unusual stature, if not 

 of gigantic height, was to have been found in tlie 

 family of a gentleman residing in this county some 

 years ago. The family consisted of father, mother, 

 and nine children — six sons and three daughters ; 

 and their aggregate height was sixty-eight feet. 

 The father and mother measured respectively, 6 ft. 

 and 5 ft. 11 in. The height of the eldest son was 

 6 ft. 8 J in. ; that of the second, 6 ft. 5 in. ; that of 

 the third, 6 ft. 4 in. ; that of the fourth, 6 ft. 6 in. ; 

 that of the fifth, 6 ft. 5 in. ; the other was not so 

 tall. The eldest sou is still living, and is the 

 finest and most symmetrically proportioned man 

 I ever beheld. John Pavin Phillips. 



Haverfordwest. 



"Dramatic Poems "(1" S. xii. 264.) — The 

 author of the volume entitled, Dramatic Poems, 

 published 1801, was Dr. R. Chenevix. He also 

 wrote two plays, published iu 1812, but is perhaps 

 best known for his attainments in the science of 

 chemistry. I believe he was a student at the 

 University of Glasgow about 1785-6 ; although 

 that circumstance is not mentioned in the sketch 

 of his life given in the Gentlemans Magazine, 

 June, 1830. 



During a great part of his life he resided in 

 France, in which country he died (at Paris), on 

 April 5, 1830. 



The dramas in the volume are, " Leonora," a 

 tragedy, and "Etha and Aidallo," a dramatic 

 pastoral. In a paragraph at the end of the work 

 the author says : 



"If the circumstances were known under which the 

 dramatic pastoral of ' Etha and Aidallo ' was written, 

 they would plead in excuse of its many imperfections. 

 It was wholly composed in a French prison, under the 

 goverament of Robespierre, early in July, 1794, in that 



