J^OTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 140.. 



Paraguay in 1842, 1 procured, with great difficulty, 

 a copy of this work, which, unfortunately, I have 

 not by me so as to describe it exactly ; but, to the 

 best of my recollection, it is a very small quarto, 

 and was printed about the end of the seventeenth 

 century at one of the Misiones de Paraguay. The 

 work is doubtless, as W. B. D. surmises, very 

 scarce even in South America or Spain. 



G. J. R. G. 



Bishop Merriman (Vol. v., p. 584.).— According 

 to Harris's edition of Ware's Irish Bishops, p. 205., 

 ^ohn Merriman was consecrated Bishop of Down 

 in St. Patrick's church, Dublin, on the 19th Jan. 

 1568-9, by Thomas Lancaster, Archbishop of Dub- 

 lin, assisted by the Bishops of Kildare, Meath, and 

 Ossory ; and we find from the Ulster Inquisitions, 

 published by the Irish Record Commissioners in 

 1829, that the family existed in the county of 

 Down (in which county the diocese of Down is 

 situate) long after the bishop's death in 1572, and 

 there occupying a highly respectable position in 

 society. In 1606 William Merryman was living 

 in Bishop's Court (part of the episcopal lands of 

 Down), in the barony of Lecale ; in 1622 Robert 

 Merryman of Sheepland, another portion of the 

 same episcopal lands in same barony, was one of the 

 trustees of the estates of Arthur Magenis, Viscount 

 Iveagh ; and Nic. Maryman, of same place, is also 

 mentioned as having obtained the lands of Glyvett, 

 in same barony, from George Russell, previous to 

 1663. The name frequently occurs for some years 

 later in the local history of the same district, but 

 seems subsequently to have declined, and to 

 have been called Merryment, latterly spelling it 

 Marmion; a few farmers of which name are still 

 to be found in the baronies of Lecale and Mourne. 



J.W.H. 



Birthplace of Andrew Marvell (Vol. v., p. 597.). 



— If it be " again and again stated that he was 

 born at Hull," which Me. Kidd is " reluctantly 

 compelled to believe" was not the case, having in 

 bis possession " authorised documents " proving 

 where the patriot really was born, but which place 

 has not hitherto been disclosed, it may be well to 

 refer your correspondent and others to Poulson's 

 History of the Seigniory of Holderiiess, vol. ii. 

 p. 480. 4to. 1841, where it is stated that the entry 

 ©f his birth in the Parish Register of Winestead, 

 of which place his father, Andrew Marvell, became 

 rector, on the presentation of Sir Christopher 

 llildyard, Knight, on the 16th April, 1614, and 

 resigned the living in 1624 for the Readership of 

 the Holy Trinity Church, Hull, proves that the 

 village of Winestead claims the honour of having 

 been his birthplace. F. R. R. 



- Anstis on Seals (Vol. v., p. 610.). — The MS. in 

 question was in the Stowe Collection, and passed, 

 with all the other MSS., to the Earl of Ashburn- 

 ham In 1849. 



It was lyfo. 289. in the Sale Catalogue prepared; 

 by Leigh and Sotheby, but which was not gene- 

 rally circulated : — Aspilogia, 2 vols, folio ; the first 

 of 267 pages, and the second 233 pages. G.. 



Foundation Stones (Vol. v., p. 585.). — There 

 appeared in a weekly periodical, the Leisure Hour, 

 of May 21, 1852, the following account of the 

 foundation of Blackfriars Bridge : — 



" The first stone of Blackfriars Bridge, the work of 

 Rohert Mylne, a Scotch architect, was laid on the 

 31st October, 1760. It was originally called Pitt's 

 Bridge, in honour of William Pitt, the great Earl of 

 Chatham. If the foundations are ever disturbed, there 

 will be found beneath them a metal tablet, on which is 

 inscribed in Latin the following grateful tribute of the, 

 citizens of London to the genius and patriotism of that 

 illustrious statesman. ' On the last day of October, in 

 the year 1760, and in the beginning of the most aus- 

 picious reign of George III., Sir Thomas Chitty, Knt.< 

 Lord Mayor, laid the first stone of this bridge, under- 

 taken by the Common Council of London, during the 

 progress of a raging war (flagrante bello), for the or- 

 nament and convenience of the city ; Robert Mylne 

 being the architect. In order that there might be 

 handed down to posterity a monument of the affection 

 of the City of London for the man who, by the power 

 of his genius, by his high-mindedness and courage 

 (under the Divine favour and happy auspices of 

 George II.), restored, increased, and secured the 

 British Empire, in Asia, Africa, and America, and 

 restored the ancient reputation and power of his , 

 country amongst the nations of Europe, the citizens oP 

 London have unanimously voted this bridge to be in- 

 scribed with the name of William Pitt.' " 



As it was not stated in the above-mentioned 

 periodical whence this account was obtained, may 

 I be permitted to make the Query, — Where the 

 original account of the ceremony is to be found, 

 and also the copy, in Latin, of the inscription on 

 the said tablet ? Wilx-ow. 



Milton indebted to Tacitus (Vol. v., p. 606.). — 

 I need not remind your correspondent Mb. Gill 

 in how very many instances the illustrious author 

 of the Paradise Lost has " borrowed " the thoughts 

 of foregone classics, and, as Mr. Gill well says, 

 with " more than returned favour, lending them a 

 heightened expression." 



AVarton's edition of the Minor Poems of Milton, 

 with its formidable array of parallel passages from 

 other and elder poets, furnishes an abounding 

 example of a prevailing characteristic of Milton's 

 mind, that of reflecting (perhaps unconsciously) 

 the axioms and bright sayings of all ages of lite- 

 rature, stored in his capacious brain- treasury. 



No writer of the same rank in genius has, I 

 should suppose, to a greater extent re-fused the 

 sentences of other authors which were worth pre- 

 serving. Warton, I have heard, produced his 

 edition in no friendly spirit towards the old re- 

 publican, whom he hated for his politics, but to 



