16 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd S. No 105., Jan. 2. '58. 



glory of the wisdom of this world. True may that man 

 say I am taken out of the dunghill. I was born in a base 

 and low estate ; but I fear God. This is the highest and 

 most noble ; he hath the honour, the life, and glory that 

 is lasting.' In his controversy with the Strict Baptists, 

 he chides them for reviling his ignoble pedigree : — • You 

 closely disdain my person because of my low descent 

 among men, stigmatising me as a person of that rank 

 that need not be heeded or attended unto.' His inquiry 

 of his father — ' Whether we were of the Israelites or no? ' 

 — justifies the conclusion that his father was a Gipsy 

 tinker and brazier, that occupation being, at the time, 

 almost exclusively followed by the Gipsy tribe." 



I entirely agree witli Mr. Simson, that in pro- 

 portion to that degradation of birth over which 

 Bunyan had no control, he eminently ranks with 

 those described by the Psalmist (Ixviii. 13.) : — 



" Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye 

 be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her 

 feathers with yellow gold." 



George Offok. 



Hackney. 



THE INNER TEMPLE. 



(2°^ S. iv. 427.) 



I sympathise with Mr. Bernhard Smith in his 

 wish to preserve the traces of customs fading into 

 oblivion. In the Inner Temple, the courtesy of 

 a Bencher who dines alone inviting the Bar mess 

 to the Parliament Chamber after dinner is not ex- 

 tinct : it was exercised last term. Within living 

 memories an ante-prandial whet of oysters was ac- 

 cessible in a subterraneous apartment. The din- 

 ners, now excellent, are reported to have required 

 such aid, when a gastronomic authority said of the 

 salad, that it was " like eating a gravel walk, and 

 meeting with an occasional weed." 



I write chiefly to chronicle the cessation of a 

 custom worthy the time when Erasmus described 

 our floors. ' On certain festivals a handsome silver 

 cup, filled with mixed wine, was presented to the 

 Treasurer, who drank and gave it to his vis-d-vis. 

 So it went on to all the benchers, all the barris- 

 ters, and all the students. One panier bore it from 

 mess to mess ; another followed_with two bottles 

 to replenish it ; and, from the way in which this 

 was done, I inferred that not many were found 

 merely " to kiss the cup and pass it to the rest." 

 I have watched its course over five crowded tables 

 of our long hall, and it has been tendered to myself 

 when at the lower end of the- fifth ! For many 

 years this has ceased, and on festivals an extra 

 bottle of wine Is given to each mess. 



_ I am told that a like "practice does, or recently 

 did exist in other assemblies. I believe it to be 

 peculiarly British. In the continental churches the 

 priest who holds the relic-box to be kissed, wipes 

 it after each osculation ; and Smollett, who tra- 

 velled in 1763, after enumerating the nasty cha- 



racteristics of various nations in language too 

 coarse for reprinting, says — 



"A true-bred Frenchman dips his fingers, irabrowned 

 with snuff, into his plate filled with ragout: between 

 every three mouthfuls he produces his snuff-box, and 

 takes a fresh pinch, with the most graceful gesticulations ; 

 then he displays his handkerchief, which may be termed the 

 flag of abomination, and, in the use of both, scatters his 

 favours among those who have the happiness to sit near 

 him. It must be owned, however, that a Frenchman will 

 not drink out of a tankard, in which perhaps a dozen 

 filthy mouths have slobbered, as is the custom in England." 

 — Travels through France and Italy, i. 64., London, 1766. 



I believe the cup abovementioned is now appro- 

 priately used to hold toothpicks, which are brought 

 to those who ask for them. As no one would 

 think of asking for such an implement at a private 

 dinner-party, I trust that its use in the Inner 

 Temple Hall will soon be matter of history. The 

 supply is said to be continued only out of consi- 

 deration for the forks. An Inner Templar. 



STATE PAPER OFFICE. 



(2"'' S. iv. 467.) 



Mr. Jardine and Mr. Hopper have apparently 

 left an imputation somewhere with regard to the 

 State Paper Office. It is certain indeed that 

 papers formerly in that repository are not to be 

 found there now ; but this is the case not only 

 with regard to documents relating to the Gun- 

 powder Plot, but other subjects. In the British 

 Museum there are lists of bundles of papers in the 

 office, which show that losses have been sustained, 

 viz. Cotton, Vitell. c. xvii. 2. of the time of Eli- 

 zabeth ; Harl. 1217. and Lansd. 1051., probably 

 of a later date. I was myself very desirous of 

 finding some of the MSS. mentioned in these lists, 

 but they were not forthcoming. 



The loss, however, is probably to be accounted 

 for by the facts related in Thomas's History of the 

 State Paper Office, quoted from the Report of the 

 Commissioners prefixed to the first volume of 

 State Papers, p. 8. : 



" The office at the Gateway in Whitehall was firtind in 

 a great state of neglect when visited, in 1705, by a Com- 

 mittee of the House of Lords. An address was presented 

 to the Queen, recommending the repair and enlargement 

 of the office, and that the papers should be sorted and di- 

 gested and bound in volumes. And the upper floor of the 

 Lord Chamberlain's lodgings at the Cockpit was fitted up 

 and added to the State Paper Office. 



" In this state it remained until the old gallery was 

 pulled down, about 1750, when the contents were found 

 to have greatly suffered from vermin and wet. The 

 papers contained in the. gallery which was left standing 

 remained there, but the contents of the rest of the office 

 were removed to an old house in Scotland Yard, where 

 they remained, and suffered still further injury from wet, 

 till 1819, when it became necessary to pull down the 

 last-named house ; and the papers were again removed to 

 another old house in Great George Street, the corner of 



