428 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd s. No 100., Nov. 28. '57. 



many. Prirate collections would also help. We 

 recommend this investigation to the learned cor- 

 respondents of Notes and Queries. What is now 

 popularly known of the State Trials is not in 

 favour of their credit. Some of them — for ex- 

 ample, the reports of the trials of Essex, of Raleigh, 

 of the Gunpowder Conspirators, are mere minis- 

 terial versions of these transactions, cooked and 

 arranged to deceive the public. Others again, — 

 to name only the trial of Bushel in the famous 

 Jury Case — are the laborious and one-sided de- 

 fence of the parties charged. A barrister's speech 

 for his client might be cited in evidence with as 

 much justice as any of these. The sartie must be 

 said of the trials of the Earl and Countess of 

 Somerset. When an Amos or a Jardine opens a 

 page of the State Trials, it is to show that the 

 facts are falsely stated. Until the State Trials are 

 subjected to critical inquiry— individually or col- 

 lectively — they will remain of slight value to the 

 historian, and the facts they assert can never be 

 received without due corroboration." 



INSCHIPTION8. 



At White Waltham. — The following lines seem 

 deserving of a record in your museum of literary 

 curiosities. The subject of them, who was probably 

 also their author, has long been gathered to his rest, 

 but they existed in the memory of others than 

 that respected individual, our "oldest inhabi- 

 tant." 



"Lines copied from a hoard over the door of John Grove, 

 White Waltham, Berkshire. 



" John Grove, Grocer, and Dealer in Tea, 

 Sells the finest of Congou, and best of Bohea ; 

 A Dealer in Coppices, and Measurer of Land ; 

 Sells the finest of Snuff, and fine lily-white Sand ; 

 A Singer of Psalms, and a Scrivener of Money ; 

 Collects the Land Tax, and sells fine Virgin Honey ; 

 A Ragman, a Carrier, a Baker of Bread ; 

 He's Clerk to the Living as well as the Dead ; 

 Vestry Clerk, Petty Constable ; sells Scissors and Knives, 

 Best Vinegar and Buckles; and Collects the Small 



Tythes. 

 He's a Treasurer to Clubs ; A Maker of Wills ; 

 He surveys Men's Estates, and vends Henderson's Pills ; 

 Woollen Draper and Hosier ; sells all sorts of Shoes, 

 With the best Earthen-ware ; also takes in the News ; 

 Deals in Hurdles and Eggs, sells the best of Small Beer, 

 The finest Sea-Coals ; and Elected Overseer. 

 He's Deputy Surveyor, sells fine Writing Paper, 

 Has a Vote for the County, and a Linen-Draper ; 

 A Dealer in Cheese, sells fine Hampshire Bacon, 

 Plays the Fiddle divinely, if I'm not mistaken." 



I am not aware that they have appeared else- 

 where. White Waltham boasts of being the birth- 

 place of Thomas Hearne, and few villages can 

 claim such an honour : but how many have pro- 

 duced a man so useful to his generation as John 

 Grove? RicHABD Hooper. 



White Waltham. 



Door Inscription. — Joshua Ward put over his 

 hospital, in Pimlico, 1761, the motto — "Miseris 

 succurrere disco." 



o 



On the Gates of Bologna. — 



" Si tibi pulchra domus, si splendida mensa;^ 

 Si species auri, argenti quoque massa ; 

 Si tibi sponsa decens, si sit generosa ; 

 Si tibi sint nati, si praedia magna ; 

 Si fueris pnlchet, fortis, divesque ; 

 Si doceas alios qusilibet arte ; 

 Si longus servorum inserviat ordo ; 

 Si faveat mundus, si prospera cuncta ; 

 Si prior, aut abbas, si dux, si papa ; 

 Si felix annos regnes per raille ; 

 Si rota fortunse se toUit ad astra ; 

 Tkm cith, tamque cito fugiunt hagc ut nihil indfe, 

 Sola manet virtus, nos glorificabimur inde, 

 Ergb Deo pare, benb nam tibi provenit indfe." * 



Over the door of the Temple at Stow : " Quo 

 tempore salus eorum in ultimas angustias deducta 

 nullum ambitioni locum relinquebat." 



The brigands of Metz, in 1763, wrote on the 

 gate of the Grand Chatelet : " We are 500, but 

 are not afraid of 1000." 



Mackenzie Walcott, M.A. 



!- 



The following is extracted from Nash's TFor- 

 cestershire, vol. i. p. 158. : — 



'* At Grafton was a famous old manor-house belonging 

 to the Talbots, and more anciently to the Staffords. It 

 was burnt down about 1710, except the doorway and 

 entrance, with part of the hall. Over, in a window in 

 the hall, is this inscription ; 



" Plenti and grase 

 Bi in this place. 

 Wile every man is pleased in his degree, 

 There is both peace and uniti. 

 Solomon saith there is none accord 

 When every man would be a lord." 



CUTHBEET BeDB, B.A. 



My schoolmaster had the following v/ ell-known 

 inscription over the school-room door: "aut disce 

 AUT DiscEDE." And I find, from The Builder of 

 Sept. 19, 1857, that it appears to figure also in 

 Winchester College. T. Lampkay. 



On the Fleet Prison Poor- Box, 1812.— 



" Da obolum insolventibus, 

 Qui in hoc carcere, sine pane, sine pecuni^, sine amicis, 

 et oh ! sine libertate, 

 Vitam miserrimam trahunt." 



Mackenzie "Walcott, M.A. 



Over a Chimney-piece at Cohham Hall. — 

 " Sibi quisque naufragium facit" 



Mackenzie Walcott, M.A. 



[• For a translation of these lines, see Annual Register, 

 iv. 288.— Ed.] 



