98 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



[No. 144. 



I have in my library a folio copy of the Historie 

 of the Church, by "the famous and worthy Preacher 

 of God's word, Master Patrick Symson, late 

 Minister of Stirling in Scotland, 1634." This 

 book has formerly been possessed by two individuals 

 who have read it with great care, as is evident 

 from the numerous annotations with which the 

 margin and blank pages are filled. The writers of 

 these notes seem, from the character of the hand- 

 writing, to have lived, the former about 1650, the 

 other a hundred years later. The notes them- 

 selves, though generally short, display a very com- 

 petent knowledge of classical learning ; quota- 

 tions from Virgil, Horace, Juvenal, &c. being 

 frequent : but they are chiefly remarkable for 

 their anti-papistical and anti-prelatical spirit, 

 which would satisfy the most devoted adherent of 

 Exeter Hall theology. But among all this abuse 

 of Popes and Bishops there occurs, singularly 

 enough, the following " Riddle," copied, as I con- 

 ceive, from some well-known work then in vogue. 

 The Riddle bears the date " Sept. y^ 30. 1744 :" 



" Before creating Nature will'd 



That attorns into form should jar, 

 The boundless space by me was fill'd, 



On me was built y'' first made star. 

 For me a Saint will break his word. 



By y" proud Atheist I am rever'd, 

 At me tlie Coward draws his sword, 



And by the Hero I am fear'd. 

 Than Wisdom's sacred self I'm wiser. 



And yet by every blockhead known, 

 I'm freely given by y' Miser, 



Kept by y" Prodigiil alone. 

 Scorn'd by y* meek and humble mind, 



But often by y' vain possest. 

 Heard by y" deaf, seen by y» blind. 



And to the troubled Conscience rest. 

 The King, God bless him, as 'tis said. 



Is seldom with me in a passion, 

 Tho' him I often can persuade 



To act against his inclination. 

 Deform'd as vice, as virtue fair, 



The Courtier's loss, the Patriot's gains, 

 The Poet's purse, the Coxcomb's care. 



Read, you'll have me for your pains." 



The answer, which is plain enough, is then 

 given in Greek thus, ov^ev. My Query is, who is 

 the author of the foregoing ? 1 am strongly im- 

 pressed that I have seen the riddle before, for its 

 language seems familiar to my mind, but I cannot 

 recall where. Perhaps some of your correspon- 

 dents will kindly inform me. R. Bn. 



Ashington Rectory, Sussex. 



WAS DANTE EVER AT OXFORD T 



Giovanni di Serravalle, prince and bishop of 

 Fermo says, in his Latin version of the Divina 

 Commedia, that Dante went also to Oxford, to 



pursue his studies in that celebrated school. 

 A MS. copy of tliis version (which has never 

 been printed), with a commentary, is in the 

 Vatican Library. As Serravalle lived in the 

 century in which Dante died, he might have heard 

 from some contemporary that Dante had been 

 at Oxford ; and in fact, Tiraboschi says it was at 

 the request of Cardinal Amadeo di Saluzzo, and 

 two P^nglish bishops, Nicholas Bubwich, bishop 

 of Bath, and Robert Halm, bishop of Salisbury, 

 who were at the Council of Constance with Serra- 

 valle, tliat he undertook the translation, and after- 

 wards wrote a commentary upon Dante. It is not 

 improbable that these English bishops knew that 

 Dante had studied at Oxford, and communicated 

 the fact to their fellow-bishop at tlie Council. 

 Boccaccio, in the Latin poem which he sent to 

 Petrarch, when he presented that poet with a copy 

 of the Divina Commedia, states that Dante visited 

 Britain. Tiraboschi mentions the statement of 

 Serravalle, as deserving of being recorded, but 

 seems to doubt the sufficiency of his evidence. 

 Dante certainly studied at Paris ; and to a mind 

 so eager in the pursuit of all the divine and human 

 knowledge of his time, it seems natural that he 

 should have been desirous of visiting the great 

 rival of Paris, the University of Oxford, then so 

 renowned through the fame of Roger Bacon and 

 Duns Scotus, not to mention a host of other names, 

 of lesser but enduring celebrity. J. M, 



At what period was a regular system of tra- 

 velling by public vehicles first established be- 

 tween London and the provinces ? when did 

 such vehicles first obtain the popular denomina- 

 tion of stage-coach ? and when did the practice of 

 placing the luggage on the roof, instead of in a • 

 basket fastened behind, commence ? The incon- 

 venience and delay of the latter system gave rise 

 to a well-known saying : " If the coach starts at 

 six, when starts the basket ? " 



Beckman's Histoi'y of Inventions, vol. i. p. 81., 

 edition 1846, gives a detailed history of hackney 

 carriages, fiacres, berlins, and cabriolets ; but his 

 work has no particulars relative to the establish- 

 ment of public vehicles between the metropolis and 

 the country. 



The term coach appears to be of modern date. 

 In the Hereford Journal of January, 1775, I find 

 two advertisements from which it appears that 

 stages were then known as machines, which did not 

 ply, but fly on their journeys. If we consider the 

 state of the roads, the size of the vehicles, and the 

 pace at which they travelled, the word flying (lucus 

 a 7ion luceiidii) seems singularly inappropriate. 

 When travelling by coaches had reached a state 

 of perfection, proprietors modestly announced their 

 vehicles to run. 



