2n«> S. No 90., Skpt. 19. '67.] 



JfOTES AND QUERIES. 



225 



versant enough in the treason and sedition laws 

 to say whether they come within the pale of 

 proscription, but at all events that is [the edi- 

 tor's] concern, and not mine." The verses, in 

 the stanza of " God save the King," are only the 

 following, and it is odd to think that men yet alive 

 can remember when such stuff would be published 

 with a fearful look towards the Attorney-General. 

 The festival took place Dec. 19, 1797. 



On hearing of the Raree Show to be exhibited at St. PauTs. 



Tune ; God save the King. 



" God bless me what a thing ! 

 Have you heard that the King 



Goes to St. Paul's ? 



Good Lord ! and when he's there, 



He'll roll his eyes in prayer, 



To make poor Johnny stare 



At this fine thing. 



" No doubt the plan is wise, 

 To blind poor Johnny's eyes 

 ^ By this grand show. 



For should he once suppose 

 That he's led by the nose, 

 Down the whole fabric goes. 

 Church, Lords, and King. 



" As he shouts Duncan's praise, 

 Mind how supplies they'll raise 



In wondrous haste. 

 For while upon the sea 

 We gain one victory, 

 John still a dupe will be 

 And taxes pay. 



« 'Till from his little store 

 Three-fourths or even more 



Goes to the Crown. 

 Ah ! John, you little think 

 How fast we downward sink, 

 And touch the fatal brink 



At which we're slaves." 



M. 

 Return of Sight, or Second Sight. — Some time 

 ago, at one of the watering places on the Firth of 

 Clyde, I met a gentleman eighty years of age, who 

 informed me that for the last forty years he had 

 been nearly totally blind; and that lately one 

 afternoon in his house, taking up accidentally a 

 newspaper, he found he could read it quite 

 plainly. So great was his surprise that for a con- 

 siderable time he could not believe his own eyes, 

 and it was only after repeated trials at reading 

 that he was confirmed as to the fact. No altera- 

 tion had in any manner taken place in the state of 

 his bodily health (usually good) to account for the 

 sudden change. When I spoke with him he was 

 able to read the smallest print as well as in the 

 early days of his life. 'Such an occurrence is 

 worth noting as curious in physiology, and impart- 

 ing hope to those similarly situated. G. N. 



Organ-tuning by Beats. — Mr. Dixon, in recom- 

 mending a mode of obtaining an artificial scale of 

 equal proportionals by tuning the fifths two beats 

 short of the truth proposes that which appears to 



me impracticable. Because every high ratio which 

 approaches closely to any simple ratio generates 

 the fundamental or beat (for the beat is merely 

 the root) answering to that simple ratio, as well as 

 the fundamental or beat answering to that high 

 ratio. Furthermore the beats in many cases would 

 come in so slowly that he would require some 

 kind of calculating niacliine to record their ap- 

 pearance. Henry John Gauntlett. 



Singular Matrimonial Alliance. — 



" It is a circumstance very remarkable, if it be true as 

 reported, that Capt. Cook was godfather to his wife; and 

 at the very time she was christened, declared that he 

 had determined on the union which, afterwards took 

 place between them." — Naval Chronicle, ix. 23. 



I was once told of a similar instance by a lady, 

 to whom the parties, who I believe are now living, 

 were known. E. H. A. 



Louisa, a Male Name. — Several instances have 

 been given in "N. & <^." of Anne having been 

 used as a male name ; it appears that the eldest 

 brother of Sir Horace Mann was named Edward- 

 Louisa. See the new edition of Horace Walpole's 

 Letters, vol. iii. pp. 101. and 295. notes. F. B. 



©uerfei. 



ANCIENT IRISH MSS. IN THE MUSEUM. 



A correspondent of the Glasgow Free Press, 

 who signs himself " A Celt," in a series of inter- 

 esting articles, is giving a description of the Irish 

 MSS. in our national library ; which are, it ap- 

 pears, numerous, and many are rare and valuable. 

 Indeed, it is asserted that Irish MSS. are the oldest 

 extant in any now spoken European language. I 

 think the inquiries made by " Celt" merit a place 

 in your columns ; and certainly, through them, 

 will more probably fall under the notice of the 

 eminent Celtic scholars to whom they are specially 

 addressed. " Celt " thus writes : — 



" Vespasian, E. ii., vellum 4°, 119. fol., comprises seven 

 difiierent Tracts. Five are Latin, written about the time 

 of Hen. 3. The sixth and seventh are Irish, and in the 

 Irish character. Prefixed to the Irish Tracts is a page 

 and a half in old English, explanatory of its contents ; 

 and stating that the ' book was written by Callyen (St. 

 Caillin), which was in tyme past Bisshopp and Legat for 

 Ireland,' and contains a portion of his life. He is stated 

 to have lived in the reign of Conall Gulban, who, the 

 Annals of Ireland state, was slain in 464, and buried at 

 Fenagh in the Barony and County Leitrim by Saint 

 Caillin. This Saint received, it is stated, from Saint 

 Patrick his bell, called Clog-na-ri, — the bell of the kings, 

 because it was used to contain the water with which the 

 Irish Kings, to the number of 19, were baptized by St. 

 Patrick. This interesting relic still exists, and is pre- 

 serve! in the Chapel of Foxhill, near Fenagh, where it is 

 regarded as sacred, and held in great veneration (O'Do- 

 novan. Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland, vol. iii. p. 311. 

 note y). There ia some considerable discrepancy between 



