82 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 248. 



The uniform of George IV., when Prince of Wales, 

 was blue lined with buff, and buff waistcoats and 

 breeches. When he became Prince Regent, the 

 buttons bore G. P. R., and also the members of 

 his government wore it. There was also esta- 

 blished a kind of full dress of blue, with black 

 cape and cuffs, and gold frogs, and Brandenberg 

 embroidery ; but it did not take. 



The origin of these uniforms was a coat which 

 the court of Louis XIV. wore in that monarch's 

 visits to Marley, which was a kind of retirement, 

 and to which it was therefore a great honour to 

 be invited. The habit de Marly was therefore, at 

 one time, a great distinction. But everything 

 changes : when the Marquis of Vardes, a former 

 favourite, returned to court, after a long exile, he 

 thought it clever to appear in the old habit de 

 Marly, with which he had been formerly honoured, 

 but it was so old-fashioned that he was laughed at ; 

 on which he said to the king, " Sire, loin de V. M. on 

 n'est pas seulement malheureux, on devient en- 

 core ridicule." A few of us who had the Windsor 

 uniform under the old king, continue still to wear 

 it on some half-dress occasions, such as the 

 Speaker's dinners. Lord Mayor's Day, &c. ; but, 

 much as it was once admired, it begins to grow 

 strange. William IV. has established some official 

 uniforms with graduated degrees of splendour : 

 red velvet facings for his household, black 

 velvet for diplomatists, and white for the Admi- 

 ralty ; with deep embroideries and white-feather 

 hat trimmings for the greater officers, and lighter 

 embroideries and black hat trimmings for the sub- 

 ordinates. This kind of livery (if I may use the 

 expression), though in some respects convenient, 

 and though it gives variety to a court which much 

 wanted it, is not quite in accordance with our 

 customs and manners ; nor is, I think, the arrange- 

 ment consistent with the principles on which our 

 court dresses have been regulated ; for a century 

 and a half it has been too servilely borrowed from 

 the foreign courts, where, as everything is mili- 

 tary, these civil dresses partook of the nature of a 

 military uniform : hence the capes and cuffs of a 

 different material and colour from the coat itself. 

 It is observable, that the second Windsor uniform 

 was copied by the Emperor of Russia for his civil 

 service. We have since returned the compliment. 



C. 



" TB SEXES GIVE EAB," ETC. 



The following song, in praise of good women, 

 has been long a favourite with the peasantry of 

 this part of Cornwall, and may be worthy of pre- 

 servation in the pages of "N. & Q." It has, doubt- 

 less, become a little corrupted by oral transmission, 

 but I give it precisely as I took it down from the 

 mouth of an old man, whose boast it was that he 



could sing more songs than there were days in the 

 yeai*. Among the number were " Artur Bradley," 

 " The Six pretty Maidens," " Richard of Taunton 

 Dean," and a more modern ditty, which, for ro- 

 mantic incident, might in time have taken rank 

 with " King Henry and the Miller of Mansfield," 

 and "King Edward and the Tanner of Tamworth.'* 

 It was entitled " Duke William [William IV.] and 

 the Press-gang." 



The idea contained in verses 7 and 8 of the 

 subjoined, is found in the "Persones Tale" of 

 Chaucer {^Remedium contra luxuriam) : 



" Te sexes give ear to my fancy ; 



In the praise of good women I sing. 

 It is not of Doll, Kate, nor Nancy, 

 The mate of a clown, nor a king. 



" Old Adam, when he was created, 

 Was lord of the universe round ; 

 But his happiness was not completed. 

 Until that a help-mate was found. 



" He had all things for food that was v/^anting. 

 Which give us content in this life ; 

 He had horses and foxes for hunting. 

 Which many love more than a wife. 



" He'd a garden so planted by Nature, 

 As man can't produce in this life ; 

 But j'et the all-wise, great Creator 

 Saw still that he wanted a wnfe. 



" Old Adam was laid in a slumber, 

 And there he lost part of his side : 

 And when he awoke, in great wonder. 

 He beheld his most beautiful bride. 



" With transport he gazed all on her ; 

 His happiness then was complete. 

 And he blessed the bountiful Donor, 

 Who on him bestowed a mate. 



" She was not took out of his head. 

 To reign or triumph o'er man : 

 She was not took out of his feet, 

 Bj' man to be trampled upon. 



" But she was took out of his side, 

 His equal and partner to be : 

 Though they are united in one, 

 Still the man is the top of the tree. 

 " Then let not the fair be despised 

 By man, as she's part of himself; 

 For a woman by Adam was prized 

 More than the whole world with its pelC 



" Then man without woman's a beggar, 

 Tho' of the whole world he's possesst ; 

 And a beggar that has a good Avoman, 

 With more than the world he is blest.'' 



T. L. a 



Polperro, Cornwall. 



FRANKLIN S PARABLE. 



The editor of Franklin's Works states that he 

 got this fable from Lord Karnes's Sketches, S^-Cy 

 which were published in 1774, and quotes Lord 

 Karnes as follows : 



" The following parable against persecution was com- 

 municated to me by Dr. Franklin of Philadelphia . . ." 



