52 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 142. 



cautrffS. 



I will be much obliged if any of your readers 

 can tell me the name of the engraver of a favourite 

 old print in my collection, it being a proof before 

 letters, without, consequently, the names of the 

 engraver and painter, which latter I should also 

 wish to know. Nor am I certain what to call the 

 subject, though I think it is probably Sterne's 

 Maria. Tiie print is an upright about sixteen 

 inches by ten, consisting of a single figure in the 

 foreground, reaching nearly the whole height of 

 the plate, of a pensive young maid in simple 

 attire, standing on the ground in sandals, a sort of 

 mantle covering the back of her head, and falling 

 around her, forming a train at her feet ; the right 

 arms and part of the breast and neck exposed, the 

 left arm round the neck of a kid or lamb lying 

 down on a flowing bank by her side at the root 

 of a tree. The background consists of a pretty 

 little distant landscape with a uniform roofed cot, 

 a shepherd and flock of sheep. The work seems 

 a good deal like Sir Robt. Strange's — the St. 

 Agnes, for instance ; but I do not see anything 

 answering this description in any of Strange's 

 catalogues in my possession. 



I have another print I should also be glad to be 

 informed about, a much older one than the above, 

 probably a lloman Catholic altar-piece. It con- 

 sists of groups of figures in the clouds, the Madonna 

 in the centre of the upper compartment, sur- 

 mounted with a number of little angels ; a female 

 in the centre of the lower compartment, kneeling 

 before a child and angel; and on both sides, below 

 and above, a number of large figures, angels, 

 monks, and friars, a pope, and a bishop, &c. 

 What appears curious, one of the ecclesiastics, in 

 the lower compartment, left-hand side, holds a 

 carbine or large pistol, having a crucifix on the 

 end of the barrel, instead of the usual sight ; above 

 his left shoulder is an angel with a bunch of keys, 

 and a monk on the opposite side holds a cross in 

 a wreath of flowers. The print is a good deal 

 mutilated, and no margin left to show the exact 

 dimensions, or the names of engraver or painter. 

 It is upright, about twenty-five inches by seven- 

 teen. Tlie execution is something like that of 

 Caracci, but rather a coarse line engraving. 



I would ascertain the subject of another fine 

 old print, which I will describe. It is an upright, 

 twenty-one inches by sixteen and a half, dated 

 1566 in the right low corner, and in the left is 

 the name "Titianus;" but I cannot say whether 

 he is the engraver, as the paper is blotted where 

 the fecit should be looked for. Near the middle 

 at the bottom are two letters like M. R. or H. R., 

 and also at a distance " Cum privilegio." In the 

 upper part of this print, in the centre, is a bird 

 with expanded wings surmounted with rays or a 



glory ; and a little lower on each side a bearded 

 figure with a glory round the head, seated in the 

 clouds, each holding a globe (apparently) in the 

 left hand, and a pencil or little ferule in the right, 

 pointing upwards. On each side of these, in the 

 background, a host of little heads and faces are 

 seen ; and the lower compartment Is filled up 

 with large figures, chiefly of men, also seated in 

 the clouds ; the one in the centre holds up with 

 both hands, towards the figures at the top, a kind 

 of close vessel, perhaps the ark, and a woman is 

 standing by him with outstretched arms, pointing 

 upwards with the right ; others in the lower group 

 hold different things, and one in the right corner 

 seems to rest his arm, with a scroll in his hand, on 

 the back of an eagle. There Is a slight sketch of 

 a landscape at the bottom, with two little arched 

 buildings among trees. 



On turning up Bryan's Dictionary, new edition, 

 for Titian's etchings, all he says is that Bartsch has 

 described eight prints attributed to hiin. Cn. Cl. 



KING MAGNUS BCEIAL-PLACE AT DOWNPATRICK. 



In the course of last December I was induced, 

 at the request of the committee of our mechanics' 

 institute here, to deliver before the members a 

 lecture on the " History and Antiquities of the 

 Town and Its Neighbourhood." It is a subject 

 which, fi'om the former importance of t!ie place 

 as an episcopal see, and being one of the strong- 

 holds of the English pale, required considerable re- 

 search, — much more. Indeed, thanlhad then either 

 opportunity or time to afford for its proper illus- 

 tration. Not least amongst the interesting series 

 of events In its history was its frequent invasions 

 by the Danes or Northmen, and the death ami 

 burial of IMagnus, king of Norway, early in t!ie 

 twelfth century, either beside the cathedral church 

 or in its immediate vicinity. To ascertain the 

 place of that king's sepulture formed a subject of 

 constant investigation ; but, as there was no tra- 

 dition pointing it out, nor any place now called 

 Slat-Manus, or any similar designation, I Avas 

 obliged to abandon the inquiry without any certain 

 conclusion, the authorities bearing on the subject 

 being so much at variance both in the description 

 of the scene of the battle and place of burial. 



I had, indeed, heard that M. "^V^orsaak, the 

 author of several Avorks on Danish antiquities, 

 had some yeai's past been in this neighbourhood, 

 and had pointed out a spot adjacent to the town, 

 remote from the cathedral, as the place of burial, 

 and which report I Introduced into the lecture. 



As I perceive M. Worsaae is a correspondent 

 of "N. & Q.," the object of this letter is to ascer- 

 tain whether he could afford any information as 

 to this matter, or the other visits of the Northmen 

 to the county of Down, and whether he is aware 



