466 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 159. 



For further particulars respecting Sir Robert 

 and his poems I must refer Uneda to the volume 

 before mentioned, from which my account has been 

 entirely derived. Tyeo. 



Dublin. 



The poet inquired after by Uneda is Sir Robert 

 Aytoun (not Ayrtov), whose poems, with a Me- 

 moir and Notes, were edited, "from a MS. in his 

 possession, and other authentic sources," by Charles 

 Roger, and published by A. and C. Black of Edin- 

 burgh, 1844. For further information I shall 

 refer to the work itself; and shall only add that 

 the version printed by Roger differs, in some 

 verbal respects, from that quoted by your corre- 

 spondent, which appears improved. J. D, N. 



P. S. — I find a version (" Anonymous ") in 

 Campbell's Specimens (vol. ili. p. 405.) from Select 

 Ayres and Dialogues by Lawes, 1659, which is evi- 

 dently very incorrectly given. It is also printed 

 with Aytoun's English poems in The Bannatyne 

 Miscellany, vol. i. p. 323., by Mr. David Laing, 

 with a short Memoir and Notes. There appears, 

 however, to be nothing but internal evidence for 

 ascribing the authorship to Aytoun. 



Uneda is referred to Smith's Scotish Portraits, 

 4to., 1798. In that work Sir Robert Aytoun's 

 portrait is engraved from his bust in Westminster 

 Abbey, where there is a very beautiful monument 

 with his bust in bronze. H. W. D. 



NEWSPAPEE FOLK LOBE. 



(Vol.vi., pp. 221. 338.) 



I trust that I am more felicitous than K. P. D. E. 

 in solving A Londoner's difficulty. To exclaim 

 with Theodore Hook, " Those rascally newspapers 

 will say anything," is cutting the Gordian knot 

 with a vengeance. Without imputing mendacity 

 to newspaper editors, I think I can find a rational 

 solution. I suggest that in all probability the 

 editors obtained their information through the de- 

 luded friends of some hypochondriac, or from the 

 patient himself. It is a very common delusion 

 with persons afflicted with hypochondriasis, that 

 they have swallowed reptiles in drinking ditch or 

 pond water. In other ways besides (which prurient 

 imaginations will readily suggest) does this disease 

 affect the stomach and bowels of the patient. If 

 you can find room for the following incident, I 

 think your correspondents will incline to my so- 

 lution. 



An old woman came to the General Hospital 

 here, and having been introduced to the house- 

 surgeon (Mr. F. Jukes, now a surgeon resident 

 here), she stated that she was troubled with pains 

 in the bowels caused by the contortions of a newt 

 (or nowtf as she called it), which she had swallowed 



while drinking water from a pond. The house- 

 surgeon, suspecting how the case really stood, took 

 the woman to the physician then in attendance, 

 who happened to be Dr. John Johnstone, the ce- 

 lebrated pupil of Dr. Samuel Parr. The doctor 

 being of the house-surgeon's opinion, addressed 

 the woman thus : " I see, my good woman, that 

 we shall do no good unless we kill the newt. I 

 will put up something for you that will soon de- 

 stroy him, and let me see you again in a few 



Not long afterwards she again presented herself 

 at the hospital, and was shown up to the doctor, 

 when the following colloquy ensued. 



Dr. J, " Well, my good woman, I suppose the 

 draught I gave you soon killed the reptile." 



Woman. " Lord bless you, no, Sir. The nowt 

 has had young ones since ! " 



The doctor dismissed the case as beyond his 

 skill. 



The extract furnished by K. P. D. E. confirms 

 my view. Some illusion was probably practised 

 upon the young man while in the act of vomiting, 

 which his sister, acting under medical instructions, 

 improved, with the view of persuading him that 

 the reptile was really ejected. A feigned ac- 

 couchement is often the only method of dispelling 

 one class of these extraordinary delusions. 



C. Mansfield Inglebt. 



Birmingham. 



DUTENSIANA. 



(Vol. vi., pp. 292. 376.) 



Although perhaps as much has been said of 

 M. Louis Dutens as his literary status warrants, 

 the following bibliographical remarks may perhaps 

 interest your correspondents G. and W. So far 

 as I know, he commenced his literary career by the 

 publication, in 1768, of an edition of Leibnitz 

 (G. C. Leibnitii Opera omnia, nunc primiim col- 

 lecta, in classis distributa, prafationibus et indicibus 

 exornata, studio Ludovici Dutens: Geneve, 1768, 

 6 vols. 4to.). A copy of this work elegantly bound 

 he presented to Voltaire, who acknowledged the 

 gift in two highly complimentary letters (pre- 

 served in Dutensiana, p. 97.). In 1776 appeared 

 his Recherches sur YOrigine des Decouvertes attri- 

 buees aux Modernes : Paris, 2 vols. 8vo., an edi- 

 tion of which in English was simultaneously pub- 

 lished in London by Elmsty. This is an elaborate, 

 curious, and instructive work : the abstract of its 

 contents in Hone's Table Book, vol. ii., cannot fail 

 to interest the reader, and direct him to the ori- 

 ginal. Dutens was residing in Paris about this 

 time, where, without holding the infidel opinions 

 of the Holbachian coterie, he became acquainted 

 with many of its illustrious members. Shortly, 

 without however disturbing his friendly relations 



