2«'i s. V. 119., aprh. 10. '58.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 



303 



Aldermen in Livery (2"*^ S. v. 25.) — I know 

 not the enactment of' Philip and Mary to which 

 A. C. M. refers, but the following extract from the 

 Gentleman's Magazine (vol. xx. p. 90.) would lead 

 us to imagine that the gowns of mayors at least, 

 if not aldermen, are to be provided for them : — 



"Friday 16. At a Court of Common Council it was or- 

 dered that, for supporting the dignity of the magistracy 

 of this city (London), the Lord Mayor be desired to pro • 

 vide himself with an entertaining gown against Easter at 

 the city's expense, to be as usual a mouse colour, orna- 

 mented with gold drops and embroidery." 



J. B. Selvpood. 

 Woodhayne. 



Milton's Portraits (2°* S. v. 231.) — Mr. Jones 

 of Nantwich states, that a picture of Milton passed 

 on the death of Mrs. Milton in 1727 to one of the 

 Wilbrahams, of Townsend in Nantwich. The 

 most exquisitely finished portrait of Milton is that 

 from which the engraving was made which is pub- 

 lished in the series of portraits of The Society for 

 the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. This por- 

 trait — a painting on vellum — belonged to my 

 grandfather. He was a son of Mr. Falconer, 

 Recorder of Chester, whose wife was born in 1703, 

 and was a daughter of Mr. Wilbraham, of Towns- 

 end. I know of no fact to identify this miniature 

 with the portrait named by Mr. Jones ; nor am 

 I able to say if it were ever in the possession of 

 the Wilbraham family ; my belief is to the con- 

 trary. It is, however, as fine and beautiful a 

 miniature as any of its date, not excepting the 

 well-known miniature of Cromwell. 



Thomas Falconer, J. C. C. 

 Usk. 



Petrarch's Translators (2"'* S. v. 225.) — Mr. 

 Cuthbert Bede and F. S. A. (who kindly replied 

 to a Query respecting Petrarch's translators, in a 

 recent number) would confer a favour by lending 

 for a few days the works which they mention to 

 MR.H.G.BoHNjYork Street, Covent Garden, who 

 in return will be happy to present them with his 

 volume when published. 



Wax Seal Impressions (2"^ S. v. 225.) — Bread- 

 seals become smaller and sometimes shrink un- 

 evenly in drying ; gum-seals are tedious to make, 

 very hrittle, and spoiled by wet even more readily 

 than bread-seals. Plaster of Paris as much excels 

 these as gutta percha excels it. No doubt each 

 one's best method is that he is most expert in, but 

 if you have to learn the art altogether, then give 

 your energies to gutta percha. P. P. 



Pre-existence (2''"i S. ii. 329.).— I have recently 

 met with the following allusion to this opinion 

 (discussed*some time ago in " N. & Q."), in the 

 poems of Mrs. Elizabeth Rowe, the friend of 

 Bishop Ken and of Dr. Isaac Watts, and I think 



it so remarkable that I venture to request that it 

 may be added to the list of authorities already 

 collected in several preceding numbers of a 

 former volume. W. L. N. 



"A. Hymn on Heaven. 



" Ye starry mansions, hail ! my native skies ! 

 Here in my "happy, pre-existent state, 

 (A spotless mind) 1 led the life of gods. 

 But passing, 1 salute you, and advance 

 To yonder brighter realms, allowed access. 



Hail, splendid city of the Almighty King ! 

 Celestial Salem, situate above," &c. 



Poems on Several Occasions, by Mrs. Elizabeth 

 Rowe, pp. 60., London, D. Midwinter, 1767. 



Lucretius, Tasso, and John Barclay (2"** S. v. 

 255.) — The simile of administering medicine 

 to a sick child, so beautifully expressed in the 

 Gerusalemme Liherata, did not, it would seem, 

 originate with Tasso. I have not by me a copy 

 of Lucretius, de Rerum Natura, in the original, 

 but I may call the attention of J. H. S. to the 

 opening of the Fourth Book in Busby's Transla- 

 tion, where he will find the following : — 



" The healing tribe. 

 When bitter draughts for children they prescribe. 

 First tinge the cup's encircling verge with sweet ; 

 The lips, seduced, the brim with pleasure meet, 

 And health returning, crowns the kind deceit." 



Busby's Lucretius, Book IV. 



I shall only need, to repeat the lines from the 

 Gerusalemme Liherata, of which the above would 

 serve for a free translation : — 



" Cosi all' egro fanciull porgiamo aspersi, 

 Di soavi liquor gli orli del vaso, 

 Succo amaro, ingannato, intanto ei beve 

 E dair inganno sua vita riceve." 



Tasso, Ger. Lib. 

 1 leave it to your correspondent J. H. S. to^ 

 determine whether Tasso and Barclay were in- 

 debted to Lucretius for the idea, or not. 



Royalist. 



Lathom and Knowsley (2"^ S. v. 211.) — An- 

 other Lancashire proverb deserves recording ; 

 " There's been worse stirs than that at Lathom," 

 alluding, no doubt, to the havock made there 

 when the parliamentary forces took it in 1645. 

 This saying comes in when a flitting, a white- 

 washing, or any other domestic " stir " of an un- 

 pleasant nature, makes an apology needful on the 

 score of untidiness ayd confusion. P. P. 



Boioel Hive Grass (2°'' S. v. 42. 22.3. 266.) — 

 An Essex labourer would read hive as if written 

 heave, and say, flatulency or heaving of the bowels 

 with wind must be meant by howel hive. An 

 Essex man said lately to a friend of mine, who was 

 talking about bees, " You want a swarm heaved 

 into your own heave." He did not understand my 

 friend when he said he wanted one hived in his 

 own hive. So mice are always pronounced meece 

 by the East-Saxons. A, Holt White. 



