Oct. 30. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



413 



signed " Collins," although, according to received 

 opinion, they were written by Steevens. Who 

 •was Collins, the professed commentator ? Not a 

 fictitious person certainly ; for Steevens requested 

 Garrick to speak in his favour to Mr. Townley. 

 (^Garr. Corr., vi. p. 511.) By some writers he is 

 said to have been a poor parson ; and this opinion 

 is strengthened by what Steevens says in reference 

 to an attack on the pruriency of the notes : do not 

 " mention his profession to any one, as that cir- 

 cumstance alone might prove a fresh source of 

 merriment." But the editor of the Garrick Cor- 

 respondence says, " a worthy harmless apothecary." 

 "Was it the llev. T. Collins, Second Master of 

 Winchester College, Rector of Graffham, to whose 

 daughter, I presume, " Miss Collins of Graffham," 

 Steevens bequeathed 500^. ? C. S. 



Sir Robert Ayrton, loho was he ? — Upwards of 

 twenty years ago I copied the following verses, 

 ■which I think very beautiful, from a volume of 

 poems by various authors. They were there 

 ascribed to Sir Robert Ayrton. Can any of your 

 readers furnish any account of him ? 



" I do confess thou'rt smooth and fair, 

 And I might have gone near to love thee, 

 Had I not found the slightest prayer 

 That lips can speak had power to move thee ; - 

 But I can let thee now alone, 

 As worthy to be loved by none. 



" I do confess thee sweet, but find 

 Thee such an unthrift of thy sweets ; 

 Thy favours are but like the wind, 

 That kisseth everything it meets : 

 And since thou canst with more than one, 

 Thou'rt worthy to be kiss'd by none. 



" Tlie morning rose that untouch'd stands, 

 Arm'd with lier briers, doth sweetly smell, 

 But pluck'd and strain'd through ruder hands 

 Her sweets no longer with her dwell, 

 But scent and beauty both are gone, 

 And leaves fall from her one by one. 



" Such fate ere long will thee betide, 

 When thou hast handled been awhile — 

 Like sere flowers to be thrown aside ; 

 And I shall sigh, while some will smile, 

 To see thy love to every one. 

 Hath caused thee to be loved by none." 



Uneda. 

 Philadelphia. 



^'■All Alive and Merry" (date of). — I have in my 

 possession a London newspaper, printed on half a 

 sheet of paper about eight inches broad by thir- 

 teen inches in length, entitled All Alive and 

 Merry ; or, the London Daily Post. It was 

 " Printed for A. Merryman, and sold by the 

 Hawkers." The only date to it is Saturday, 

 March 7. I wish to know the year of its pub- 

 lication. Cardinal Fleury, Count de Montijo, the 



ambassador from Spain to the Diet at Frankfort, 

 Admiral Vernon, and Sir Chaloner Ogle, are 

 mentioned in it as living persons. The death at 

 Exeter of Mrs. Gilbert," aunt to the Bishop of 

 Llandaff, is announced ; and a notice is given of 

 Lord Sundon's falling down stairs going from the 

 House of Commons. The last article in the paper 

 is the following : 



" It is a question which would puzzle an arithme- 

 tician, should you ask him, whether the Bible saves 

 more souls in Westminster Abbey, or damns more in 

 Westminster Hall." < 



Uneda. 



Philadelphia. 



" Inter cuncta micans." — Some years ago I took 

 a copy of a fine specimen of monkish verse with 

 which I chanced to meet in a quaint book of 

 scraps, the title of which I forget. The merit of 

 the lines will be seen to be in their being at once 

 acrostic, mesostic, and telestic. Being ignorant of 

 their origin or authorship, I shall be glad of in- 

 formation on these heads : 



"Inter cuncta micans Egniti sidera coell 

 Bxpellit tenebras E toto Phoebus ut orbB ; 



Sic cseeas removet J E S U S caligmis umbraS, 

 Vivificansque simul Vero praecordia motV, 

 Solem justitiaj Sese probat esse beatiS." 



W. T. M. 



Hong Kong. 



Ferguson's Letter to Sir John Trenchard. — 

 In the year 1694 some Lancashire gentlemen were 

 tried at Manchester for an alleged plot. Robert 

 Ferguson published in the same year a pamphlet 

 on the subject, in the shape of a letter to Sir John 

 Trenchard. If any of your readers has the 

 pamphlet, and would lend it for a literary purpose 

 for a few days, he would greatly oblige your 

 humble servant William Beamont. 



Warrington. 



Biographical Queries. — I shall be obliged by 

 answers to the following Queries : 



Is there any portrait of Dr. Richard Holdsworth, 

 Dean of Worcester in the reign of Charles I. ? 



Is anything known of his father, of the same 

 name, who was vicar of Newcastle-upon-Tyne 

 from 1585 to 1594 ? 



At what school were educated Dr. John Arrow- 

 smith, the Puritan master of St. John's College, 

 Cambridge, author of Tactica Sacra, and Dr. 

 Robert Clavering, Bishop of Peterborough, who 

 died in 1747? E. H. A. 



The first Book printed in Birmingham. — In a 

 little volume just published, Allen's Pictorial 

 Guide to Birmingham, which by the way seems, in 

 condensation, method, and variety of antiquarian 

 and illustrative anecdote, to be greatly superior to 



