464 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 159. 



taken in the Year 1667 to La Grande Chartreuse and 

 Alet, by Dom Claude Lancelot ; Petri Orlandi Chro- 

 nicum Carthusianum ; Mabill. Annal. Bened. torn, vi. ; 

 and Helyot's Hist, des Ordres, torn, vii.] 



Vegetable Ivory. — Is there such a substance as 

 vegetable ivory ? How is it cultivated ; and 

 ■where ? A. Judge. 



14. King Edward Street, 

 Liverpool Road, Islington. 



[Vegetable ivory is the seed of a dwarf palm-tree, 

 the Phytelephas macrocarpa. The part used by turners 

 is the hard albumen, or the part which answers to 

 what is called the flesh of the cocoa-nut. It is as 

 durable, and nearly as hard, as the ivory of the ele- 

 phant ; but, from the small size of the fruit, can never 

 come into competition with it for large articles. Some 

 beautiful productions in this new material were ex- 

 hibited by Mr. Taylor in the Great Exhibition, which, 

 with drawings of the nut itself, are engraved in the 

 second volume, page 781., of the Illustrated Catalogue.] 



Dutch Inscription. — On a flask of earthenware, 

 in my possession, is the following inscription in 

 black letter : 



«' Coept I fles van aken ter spoet 

 En hout de in heilich vuater tes goet." 



Perhaps some of your friends in the Navorscher 

 could furnish me with a correct translation. I 

 have had several interpretations given to me, 

 which do not, however, agree with each other. 



A. W. F. 



[We are informed by an accomplished Dutch scholar, 

 to whom we have submitted this Query, that the lines 

 are to be translated, — 



" Buy a bottle of Aix-la-Chapelle with speed. 

 And keep it in holy-water for good." 



As the meaning of this is not very clear, our friend 

 suggests that the proper sense of the two lines is, — 

 " Buy a bottle of Aix-la-Chapelle with speed, 

 And keep it in holy-water; it is good."] 



Antiquities of Chess. — Can your correspondents 

 refer me to some readable work on the antiquities 

 of chess ? What is the history of the celebrated 

 Indian problem printed on the cover of the Chess- 

 players Chronicle? Where is a solution of it to 

 be found ? A. A. D. 



[We believe the best and fullest account of the an- 

 tiquities of this beautiful game will be found in Twiss 

 On Chess, 2 vols. 8vo., 1787—1789. That accom- 

 plished antiquary, the late Mr. Douce, was, we believe, 

 a large contributor to this interesting work, and had 

 collected considerable additional materials, which may 

 probably be found in his copy of it in the Bodleian. 

 Considerable additions will be found also in the second 

 volume of Twiss' Miscellanies (8vo., 1805). There is, 

 besides, much valuable information in a paper by Sir 

 Frederick Madden, printed in the Archceologia, vol. xxiv. 

 p. 203.] 



"whoe'er has travell'd life's dull bound," etc. 

 (Vol. vi., p. 414.) 



The lines are by Shenstone. In a pleasing little 

 volume * by his friend, the Rev. Richard Graves 

 of Mickleton, the circumstances which gave occa- 

 sion to their composition are thus narrated : 



" About the year 1750 (notwithstanding his re- 

 luctance to leave home), Mr. Shenstone had resolution 

 enough to take a journey of near seventy miles across 

 the country to visit his friend Mr. Whistler, in the 

 southernmost part of Oxfordshire. Mr. Whistler, with 

 manly sense and a fine genius, had a delicacy of taste 

 and softness of manners bordering on effeminacy. He 

 laid a stress on trivial circumstances in his domestic 

 economy, which Mr. Shenstone affected to despise. 

 As people in small families find it difficult to retain a 

 valuable servant, Mr. Whistler made it a rule to pre- 

 vent, as much as possible, any intercourse with strange 

 servants, and, without making any apology for it, had 

 sent Mr. Shenstone's servant to a little inn in the 

 village. This was a little disgusting, but unfortunately, 

 while Mr. Shenstone was there, Mr. Whistler thought 

 proper to give a ball and supper to two or three of the 

 most respectable families in the neighbourhood." 



Mr. Shenstone (as he says in a letter on that 

 occasion) — 



" never liked that place. There was too much 

 trivial elegance, punctilio, and speculation in that 

 polite neighbourhood. They do nothing but play at 

 cards, and on account of my ignorance of any creditable 

 game, I was forced to lose my money, and two evenings 

 out of seven, at Pope Joan with Mr. P.'s children." 



This disposed him to ridicule Mr. Whistler's 

 great solicitude in preparing for his entertain- 

 ment : instead, therefore, of paying any regard to 

 the hints given him, that it was time to dress for 

 their company, Shenstone continued lolling at his 

 ease, taking snufF, and disputing rather perversely 

 on the folly and absurdity of laying a stress upou 

 such trifles : and, in short, the dispute ran so high, 

 that although Shenstone suppressed his choler that 

 evening, yet he curtailed his visit two or three 

 days, took a cool leave the next morning, and de- 

 camped. Traversing the whole county, he reached 

 Edge Hill that night, where, in a summer-house, 

 he wrote the lines in question. 



Both Shenstone and Whistler seemed after- 

 wards conscious of their childish conduct on this 

 occasion : each seemed solicitous to know how hia 

 account stood with the other. Whistler still ex- 

 pressed the highest regard for Shenstone, and 

 Shenstone retained the same warmth of affection 

 for his old friend until his death. 



Mr. Graves remarks that " there were more 

 stanzas added to this effusion afterward, which 



* Recollections of some Particulars in the Life of the 

 late William Shenstone, Esq.: London (Dodsley), 17f58, 

 12mo. 



