524 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 270. 



-which they retain for a considerable time ; but if she has 

 but one, it has no star. This is well ascertained, and is a 

 curious fact." 



My Query is, "^^Tietber this " curious fact " is a 

 "well- authenticated one? C. de D. 



Epigram quoted by Lord Derby. — In his speech 

 on the Address, delivered in the House of Lords, 

 Dec. 12, Lord Derby said : 



" Sir C. Napier was condemned to an ignominious in- 

 action, which is onl}' paralleled by that old duel, which 

 many of your lordships no doubt remember; 



' lA>rd Chatham, with sword drawn, 

 Stood waiting for Sir Richard Strachan ; 

 Sir Richard, longing to be at him. 

 Stood waiting for the Earl of Chatham.' " 



It is strange that two personages, who figured 

 in a great naval and military expedition during 

 the late war, should already be so far forgotten as 

 to have become mythical characters. The expe- 

 dition was that to Flanders, in 1809 ; and perhaps 

 one of your correspondents could name the original 

 source of this squib, which so well describes the 

 indecision and want of co-operation which ter- 

 minated in the disasters of Walcheren. Lord 

 Derby, as reported, seems to have misunderstood 

 the allusion contained in the lines, and so to have 

 spoiled their versification by misquoting them. 

 However, the joke seems to have attained the end 

 aimed at, for it was greeted with " loud laughter." 

 The true version runs thus : 



" The Earl of Chatham, with sword drawn, 

 Was waiting for Sir Richard Strachan ; 

 Sir Richard, longing to be at 'em, 

 "Was waiting for— the Earl of Chatham." 



Jatdee. 



Druid's Circle. — About seven miles from 

 Buxton is a Druidical temple. It consists of 

 about thirty- eight large stones, all in their proper 

 order, but all prostrate on the ground ; round it 

 is a deep ditch bounded by a high earthen bank 

 turfed over. The name of the temple is Ar- 

 belon, and as it is neither mentioned in any local 

 'book that I have seen, nor in the Archceologia, I 

 am anxious to call attention to it, in the hope of 

 obtaining some information respecting it, and also 

 to guard against any destructive measures being 

 carried on, as it seems hitherto to have been pre- 

 served sacredly from the utilitarian spoliation of 

 the age, and is so perfect that it ought to be jea- 

 lously guarded by all who have the power of 

 keeping off mischievous intruders. L. M. M. R. 



*' Ridivg Bodkin." — In what custom or cir- 

 cumstance hns the above term originated, as in- 

 tended to describe a third person occupying a 

 middle seat in a travelling conveyance meant only 

 for the accommodation of two ? N. L. T. 



jKtit0r cauerte^ tuttib ^uStoeriS. 



Pope's " Modest Foster." — 



" Let Modest Foster, if he will, excel 

 Ten Metropolitans in preaching well." 



Pope's Epilogue to Satires of Donne, 

 written in 1738. 



Can any of your readers inform me who this 

 divine was, why Pope commends him so highly, 

 and whether he has left any writings or sermons 

 behind him ? W. N. R. 



Leicester. 



[The eminent and popular preacher, the Rev. James 

 Foster, D.D., was born at Exeter in 1697 ; educated for the 

 ministry among the dissenters, and began to preach in 

 1718. He was chosen minister of a congregation at Bar- 

 bican, London, 1724, and removed to Pinner's Hall, 1744. 

 He died 1753. His sermons, in four volumes, have passed 

 through several editions. See for particulars of these 

 and his other writings, Mr. Darling's useful Cyclopcedia 

 Bibliographica. ] 



Sovg on the Cuckoo. — When a child I often 

 heard a song sung which commenced, — 

 " The cuckoo is a merry bird, she sings in the spring." 

 One of the verses ended, — 

 " And when you hear cuckoo, then summer is nigh." 



This is all I recollect of it. Where is it to be 

 found ? Uneda. 



Philadelphia. 



[We are inclined to think our correspondent must have 

 heard some paraphrase of the following song, which Sir 

 John Hawkins (^Hist. of Music, vol. ii. p. 92. edit. 1776) 

 says, is " the most ancient English song with the musical 

 notes perhaps anywhere extant, copied from the Harleian 

 MS. 978." — 



" Summer is a coming in. 



Loud sing cuckow, 



Groweth seed 



And bloweth mead,* 



And spring'th the wood new. 



Ewe bleateth after lamb, 



Loweth after calf cow : 



Bullock starteth. 



Buck vertethjf 



Merry sing cuckow, 



Well sing'st thou cuckow. 



Nor cease to sing now." 



Tit for Tat. — What is the origin of the ex- 

 pression " Tit for Tat ? " I have heard it sug- 

 gested in Oxfoi'd that it may be a corruption of 

 « this for that." J- G. T. 



Oxford. 



[John Bellenden Ker, in his Essay, thus notices this 

 popular phrase : " Tit for Tat, like for like, leaving no dif- 

 ference between the two in question. Bit vor Bat ; q. e. 

 this for that ; but in the sense of word for word. Quid 

 pro quo is a phrase of the same sense."] 



* The flowers in the meadow. 



t Goeth to vert, i. e. to harbour among the fern.] 



