July 22. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



61 



mutual hostility, of the secular and regular 

 clerjjy. 



There is another edition of this book printed at 

 Leipsio, 1683. (Fysher, Catal. impr. Libb. in 

 Bibl. BodL, sub voce " Moriuus.") 



The original edition is noticed by the Leipsic 

 reviewers {A. A. ErudrL, 1682, p. 176.), but they 

 •do not remark any omission or mutilation ; is it 

 not likely that they would have animadverted on 

 such a defect did it appear in their copy ? 



Arterus. 



Dublin. 



Sir William Hamilton. — Mr. Burton, in his 

 History o/ Scotland, vol. i. pp. 40, 41., after no- 

 ticing Sir Robert Hamilton of Preston, observes 

 in a note, — 



" The name of this fierce and eloquent fanatic may re- 

 call that of an eminent descendant, who applies a like 

 energy of mind and resoluteness of purpose to a domination 

 over the empire of tliought and knowledge." 



The descendant is evidently meant for Sir William 

 Hamilton, whose eminence is unquestionable, but 

 who would not, we think, consider it as any com- 

 pliment to be compared to this puddle-headed 

 Puritan. But Sir William was not the descendant 

 of Sir Robert, the fourth baronet, who died on the 

 5th September, 1701, without lawful issue, never 

 having been married. The baronetcy remained 

 in abeyance until claimed by the present Sir 

 William, who had to go back to 1505 to prove he 

 was the heir male of the body of John Hamilton 

 of Airdrie, the second son of Sir Robert Hamilton, 

 Knight, in the male descendant of whose eldest 

 son the baronetcy was created, 5th November, 

 1673. Tlie immediate ancestor of Sir William 

 was called Methusalem. J. M. 



Edinburgh. 



Epigram on two Contractors. — A friend lately 

 repeated to me the epigram of which I inclose a 

 copy. It was, as he told me, made during the 

 first American war, and was in the newspapers at 

 that time. Can any of your correspondents state in 

 what newspaper it is to be found, and who was 

 the author ? It may amuse your readers in re- 

 ference to the late much-talked-of topic regarding 

 military contracts : 



" To cheat the publick two contractors come, 

 One deals in corn, the other deals in rum : 

 Which is the greatest rogue, I pray explain ? 

 The rogue in spirit, or the rogue in grain ? " 



A. 



To ''thou" or to " fAee." — Whatever may be 

 said as to the necessity of coining new words, 

 there can be but one opinion as to the propriety 

 of determining at once the form in which such 



words should be employed. For instance, Thorpe, 

 in his Northern Mythology, vol. iii. p. 81., has the 

 verb " to thou : " 



" In his master's absence he always thoued him." 



While Southey, in The Doctor, ch. ccxlii., uses the 

 verb " to thee : " 



" When this excitement had spent itself, he sought for 

 quietness among the Quakers, thee'd his neiglibours, wore 

 drab, and would not have pulled off his hat to the king." 



Can there be any doubt that the form used by 

 Thorpe is the more correct one ? 



Henry H. Bbeeit. 



St. Lucia. 



Curious Entries. — Extracts from the accounts 

 of the constables of the parish of Great Staughton, 

 Huntingdonshire : 



s. d. 



"[1647, Dec] Itm, paid for charges spent 

 upon the man tiiat watched John Pickle all night 

 and the next daie till he was married - - 1 



"[1648, Nov.] Itm, paid to a stranger for 

 helpinge to carry the corps to burj'al that dyed at 

 the highewaie, and was laid in the street by some 

 of the end - - - - - - -04 



"Itm, paid for bread and beire for the com- 

 panie then - - - - - - -10 



" Itm, given to a woman that was bereaved of 

 her Witts the 26 of April!, 1645 - - - -06" 



Joseph Rix. 



St. Neots. 



Ebullition of Feeling. — Your correspondent (Vol. 

 vii., p. 593.) who describes the influence of rage 

 or anger upon Lord Tyrconnel on being refused 

 an entrance into the city of Londonderry by 

 burning his wig, will find many equally sin- 

 gular manifestations in other generals. Tims, it 

 is recorded, on learning the fall of Badajos, in 

 Spain, Marshal Soult broke the plates and dishes 

 he was then using. And our own Wellington, on 

 hearing that Marmont was crossing the Douro, 

 rose hastily from his seat, overturned his table, 

 and broke the utensils thereon arranged for his 

 own repast. The three events evidently produced 

 different ebullitions of feeling : the first was de- 

 cidedly disappointment, the second rage, and the 

 third pleasurable excitement on the certainty of 

 victory. 



The tale of doing violence to the " wig" brings 

 to my mind a familiar ruralism, perhaps peculiar to 

 Norfolk, where we have a condemnatory impre- 

 cation used in cases of doubt : the rustic con- 

 templating physical defeat on the advantages of 

 an opponent, concludes his resolve to encounter 

 the difficulty by exclaiming, — 



" I will try, don't dash my wig." 



There may be some connexicm between the 

 "incendiarism" and swearing by the "wig," 

 wliich may be made amusing and instructive, 

 without entering upon every " saying" from the 



