400 



NOTES AND QUERIES. [2"^ s. v. i24., may 15. '68. 



Marvel, sufficiently panegyrical throughout ; who, 

 after likening him to Samson, proceeds to say — • 



" That Majesty which through thy work doth Reign 

 Draws the Devout, deterring the Profane, 



Where could'st thou words of such a compass find? 

 Whence furnish such a vast expense of mind? 

 Just Heav'n thee like Tiresias to requite. 

 Rewards with Prophesie thy loss of sight." 



We should remember, too, that in putting forth 

 his Minor Poems in 1645, Milton prefixed the 

 laudatory encomiums of Sir Henry Wotton, of 

 Manso, Franciosini, and Carlo DatI; and in his 

 apology for doing so says, " Judicium interim ho- 

 minum cordatorura atque illustrium quin suramo 

 sibi honori ducat, negare non potest." 



Nor was this a youthful feeling only, for th'ey 

 were all retained with just pride when these his 

 early blossoms were reprinted in 1673, six years 

 after the first publication of Paradise Lost. It is 

 remarkable, too, that in Humphrey Moseley's ad- 

 dress to the reader prefixed to the first edition of 

 the poems, which no doubt had Milton's concur- 

 rence, these encomiums are thus noticed : — 



" It's the worth of these, both English and Latin Poems, 

 not the flourish of any prefixed encomions that can invite 

 thee to buy them, though these are not without the 

 highest commendations and applause of the learned Aca- 

 demicks, both domestick and forrein : And amongst those 

 of our own countrej', the unparallel'd attestation of that 

 renowned Provost of Eton, Sir Henry Wootton." 



In the age in which Milton lived it would have 

 been false delicacy to have suppressed them. 



It may be agreeable to your correspondent if I 

 state that in my copy of the first edition of Para- 

 dise Lost, which has the title-page of 1668, with 

 the Argument and Errata, preceded by the Ad- 

 dress of the Printer to the Reader, the last line 

 but one of book iii. is numbered 760, and reads — 



" Throws his steep flight with many an Aerie wheel," 



and that the line which should have been numbered 

 600 is numbered 610, but line 60 is rightly num- 

 bered; so that the verses in that book are 751, 

 and not 761 as the numbering indicates. 



It is remarkable that neither the second nor the 

 third edition have the lines numbered. That 

 Capel Lofft did not continue the publication of 

 his book is to be regretted, for it was a step in the 

 right way toward a desirable text, which is not 

 yet what one would desire to see it. Waldron 

 seems to have contemplated a revision, for I find 

 in his copy of the second edition, besides some 

 marginal collations, the following note : — 



"When the pronouns mee, &;c. are spelled with a double 

 c, as mee, &c. it denotes the word to be emphatick. Their 

 is frequently spelt Thir, B. v., v. 630, /anting, this erra- 

 tum is corrected in ed. 1678. In the l»t ed. it is ' Their 

 fainted.'' V. 727, suttle is subtle in ed. 1678. V. 739, 

 Ausonian, ed. 1678, Avgean. V. 573, Haralds, Heralds. 

 V. 414, for we r. wee, then for than passim. V. 485, clos, 

 close ; o'rmatcht, orematchd, 1" ed. Unfast'ns, op'n. The 



eliaion's improper, but op'n for open plsewhere. ' As from 

 her outmost works a brok'd foe,' brok'n, l" ed." 



s.w. s. 



PEARLS FOUND IN BRITAIN. 

 (2"'» S. v. 258.) 



Imagining that many readers of" N. & Q.," like 

 A. A., and (until recently) myself, might be un- 

 aware of the production of pearls in Great Britain 

 at the present day, it has occurred to me that the 

 following information as to their existence, de- 

 rived from personal knowledge — and that of late 

 date — may not be unacceptable. 



My attention was first directed to the subject 

 by some notices in that excellent tourist's guide. 

 Parry's Camhnan Mirror, of the mention made of 

 British pearls by classical authors, and by the 

 statement that Conway in Norfh Wales had been 

 celebrated for them in former times. Great was 

 my surprise, when staying at that charming place 

 last summer, at ascertaining the fact that pearls 

 are still abundant there, and form ari article of 

 regular traffic. 



The average size of the Conway pearl is very 

 small, somewhat that of the comfits on that well- 

 known article a Pontefract Cake. Indeed the 

 term " seed pearls " may be well applied to them, 

 but here and there a ievr may be picked out of 

 handsomer dimensions. As to hue, many coincide 

 curiously enough with the description of Tacitus, 

 that is, they are " brownish or dusky," or, to tise 

 a less respectful term, dirty white ; but others are 

 found of a pure silvery tint. That they are tolerably 

 abundant may be safely inferred from the fact 

 that the London dealers have their regular agents 

 at Conway, with orders to buy them up at a fixed 

 price. Last year the wholesale market price was 

 4s. or 4s. Qd. per o?. 



As to the Conway pearls I speak of my own 

 knowledge ; but I know from undoubted authority 

 that there are other places in Great Britain where 

 pearls are still found, and by no means rarely. 

 I refer to rivers in the West of Scotland. The 

 Scotch pearls are generally of larger size than 

 those at Conway, not uncommonly about the size 

 of a pea, and of good colour, occasionally having a 

 beautiful pink tint. Scotch ladies of rank sometimes 

 collect the better sort, and have them set in their 

 ornaments. 



So much for the pearls themselves; and now 

 for their production. Should your correspondent 

 A. A. be desirous of finding them in Britain, he 

 may spare himself the trouble of making further 

 search for them in oysters. Whatever may be the 

 cause, the fact is as undoubted as curious that, 

 while Oriental pearls are found in oysters, our oc- 

 cidental pearls are found in mtiscles (mussels ?), 

 and in them only. 



In the estuary at Conway the common marine 



