July 10. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



35?. 



So, as some knave to grant the loan of this my Book 



may wish me, 

 I thus my hook-plate here display, lest some such 



' fry • should ' dish ' me ! — 

 But hold, — though I again declare wiTH-holding 



I'll not brook. 

 And 'a sea of trouble' still shall take to bring 



book- worms ' to book ! ' " 



Bookworm. 



Lord Goring. — The memory of his wild warfare 

 still survives in Cornwall, where a rude rough 

 roisterer is culled to this day a Goring. 



Berg. Morwenstow. 



Banquo's Ghost. — It is said, I know not on wliat 

 authority, that John Kemble attempted to play 

 the banquet scene in Macbeth without the visible 

 appearance of the ghost of Banquo ; but the "Tid- 

 ier ies look offence, and roared "Ghost! ghost!" 

 till Banqiio was obliged to come on, and take the 

 chair. I have heard the late " Thomas Ingoldsby " 

 praise Kemble highly for the improvement, and 

 regret that he was not allowed to free the stage 

 from Banquo's ghost, as Garrick did from those of 

 Jiiffier and Pierre. In his own tale of Hamilton 

 TIghe " Ingoldsby " made the ghost a phantom of 

 the mind, with good effect : 

 " 'Tis ever the same, in hall or bower, 

 Wherever the place, whatever the hour, 

 The iafly mutters, and talks to the air. 

 And her eye is fixed on an empty chair. 

 And the mealy-faced boy still whispers with dread, 

 • She talks to a man with never a head.' " 



No man was less disposed than Ingoldsby to 

 borrow a thought without acknowledgment: but 

 though the omission of the ghost might have been 

 suguested by Kemble, I think the peculiar epithet 

 mealy-faced traces it back to Lloyd : 



"When chilling horrors shake th' affrighted king, 

 And guilt torments him with her scorpion's sting; 

 When keenest feelings at his bosom pull. 

 And fancy tells him that the seat is full ; 

 Why need the ghost usurp the monarch's place. 

 To frighten children with his mealy face. 

 The king alone should form the phantom there, 

 And talk and tremble at the vacant chair." 



The Poetical Works of Robert Lloyd, A. M. 

 London, 1774. 



H. B. C. 

 Garrick Club. 



Reverence to the Altar. — The Huntingdonshire 

 country-folks in this neighbourhood have the fol- 

 lowing custom. When they come into churcii, if 

 the cli-rgyman is already in the desk, they curt^;ey 

 or bow, as they turn from the aisle into their 

 places. They thus bow towards the east ; and 

 wiien I first saw this done, I imagined tliem to be 

 keeping up the ancient ceremony of "reverence 



to the altar." I sorm discovered, however, that' 

 tlieir obeisance was meant for the clergyman alone,- 

 and was made oidy by those that entered the 

 church after the service had conui ence I. But 

 may not this mark of respect have been transferred 

 to the tleigynjan, and be a trace of that originally 

 paid to the altar ? Cuthbert Bede, B.A. 



Woman executed hy Burning at Dublin. — A 

 gentleman is still alive, or was so very recently, 

 who saw the hist woman who was burnt-d in Dub- 

 lin at the place of public execution, which was 

 where the handsome and fashioii.able street called 

 Fitzwilliam Street now is: and I am acquainted 

 with a gentleman who«e kitchen fireplace was a»- 

 nearly as possible on the spot. Ginieta. 



" The proper study of mankind is man.'" — This 

 sentiment is fairly due to Socrates, being his cha- 

 racteristic doctrine. Mr. Grote says {History of 

 Greece, vol. ix. p. 573.), " That ' the proper study 

 ofuiankind is man' Sorrates was the first to pro- 

 chiim," referring especially to Xenophon, who in 

 Memor. i. 1. says, " Man, and what related to 

 man, were the only subjects on which he chose to 

 employ hiniseir," as distinguished from the other 

 ])hilos()j.hers of iiis day, who engaged in fruitless 

 piiysical speculations. J« !*• 



funics. 



the royal new ENGLAND REGIMENT. 



The father of a neighbour of mine, who was aa 

 officer under General Winlield Scott, of the Ame- 

 rican army upim the Canadian frontier, during 

 what, we call in the United States "the last war 

 witii Great Britain." or " the war of 1812," as- 

 sisted at the battle of Brandywine, <n- some other 

 of the engagements of that <"onte>t, in capturing 

 an English officer of rank. The latter hail a con- 

 siderable <|uaniity of plate among his baggage, 

 which was taken jmssession of by his captors. This 

 spoil was not held long, for the American officer 

 to whom I refer was himself taken prisoner, and 

 the plate taken from him. One silver mustard 

 spoon, however, iscaped the search to which he 

 was sulijectfd, ami remained in his possession, and 

 is now preserved as a trophy. It is concerning 

 that spoon that I make this Query. It is ratlier 

 heavy, the bowl gilt upon the inside. There is 

 engraved upon it a crown surmounting a garter, 

 encircling a lion's head passant gardant ; upon the 

 garter is engraved "royal n e (here the rim of 

 the crown interferes with letters, as I suppose) 

 LAND REGT.," being according to my notion an 

 abbreviation of the words " Uoval New England 

 Regiment." The Goldsmiths' Hall marks upon 

 the'^bavk are a lion passant, the letter I, a head, 

 the hair in a bag-wig, and bust, which though small 

 bears a resembhmcc to those of (ieorge 11. or HI., 

 and the letters J. B. I have given these marks, 



