94 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd p. No lOD., Jan. 30. '68. 



than those forced out b}' the Press, which gives them the 

 roughness of the husk and the stone ; so are those Doc- 

 trines best and wliolesomcst which flow from a gentle 

 pressure of tlic Scripture, and are not wrung into Contro- 

 versies and Common-place. And this Treatise we set 

 down as wanting, under the title of The Fip.st Flow- 

 INGS OF THK ScnirTuiiKs." — B. ix. 



It is much to be regretted that the same age, 

 the same plan, the same hands, which gave us ovir 

 noble version of the Bible, did not also furnish 

 us with a Commentary. There is not a book de- 

 serving that name In the English language; nor 

 is this age likely to produce one. 1 think the 

 experience of all thoughtful well-read men will 

 bear me out when I say that professed Commen- 

 taries and Bible Dictionaries, &c. are most un- 

 satisfactory ; while wealth untold lies scattered 

 lierc and there, often in books wheie we should 

 least expect to find it. Professed works invari- 

 ably leave you in the lurch when you most want 

 help, and deluge you with useless details and 

 common-place moralising. Thus we have long 

 dissertations to prove that the Satyr was a goat, 

 and that Nazareth was in this place and not in 

 the other place ; if you come to such a word as 

 Olives (say, the Mount of Olives), there is grand 

 scope for dissertations on olives in general, — on 

 olive oil, the process for making it and all other 

 oils, — and so on. Few things are more abused 

 and less understood than Notes and Comments. 

 A good book given up to the tender mercies of 

 an uncongenial and incompetent annotator is like 

 a palace let to a pedlar. I shall pass over the 

 case of Shakspearo, though few have better cause 

 to cry, Save me from my friends ! and give as an 

 instance an attractive-looking edition of Thom- 

 son's Seasons, annotated by a certain Dr. Thomp- 

 son, which I once purchased : in tliis extraordinary 

 book, every peg that ingenuity could spy was 

 laid hold of to hang thereon the most incongruous 

 notes : thus the poet in an evil hour casually men- 

 tions " October " ale, and accordingly his Seasons 

 are decked with a note several pages long on beer, 

 ale, and porter, and the various processes by 

 which they are made ! Truly, not merely a Note, 

 but a most instructive Book might be written on 

 Notes and Comments. 



Though a Commentary on the Bible is scarcely 

 to be looked for at the present day, yet a Common- 

 place Book to the Bible seems a feasible project. 

 Suppose an Association for the purpose w^ere 

 formed, with a comm.ittee of editors, and that 

 all students, scholars, reading and thoughtful men 

 in general, were invited to send in to the Associ- 

 ation reference to such passages in books they 

 have met with in the course of their reading, as 

 most strikingly illustrate corresponding passages 

 in Scripture : if the Association were happily 

 organised, I have little doubt but that their call 

 would be well responded to. With regard to 

 detail, I would make these few guggestiops : 



That the References be full, but choice. That 

 the Notes be terse, pregnant, suggestive. That 

 subordinate matters, such as Geography, Natural 

 History, &c. be kept in subordination. That the 

 great object and paramount aim be to throw light 

 on the primary meaning of the text, and illustrate 

 the great Truths, mental and moral, contained in 

 the Bible. That the Symbolical, Lyrical, Mystical, 

 and Esoteric meaning of Holy Scripture be espe- 

 cially kept in mind and illustrated all through. 

 That the Analogies of Holy Scripture and its Unity 

 in Variety be not lost sight of: also, that the trans- 

 lation of Objective into Subjective truth, and the 

 reproduction of the former in the latter, be carefully 

 attended to. In short, that throughout there be 

 a free passage and a close connection maintained 

 between the Head and the Heart, and between 

 God, Man, and Nature. History and Biography, 

 judiciously used, would afford many valuable il- 

 lustrations of great Scripture truths. 



If such an Association could be formed, a spe-. 

 cimen should be printed giving an example of 

 each clause in the design. Eirionnach. 



P.S. In Stewart's Catalogue of Bibles and Bib- 

 lical Literature, London, 1849, under the title of 

 "Commonplace Books of the Bible," at p. 193., 

 are given the titles of seventeen works ; of these 

 I subjoin three : — 



" MAnLOiJATi (Aug.) Prophetica) ct Apostolica?, i. e. 

 totius Divinaj ac Canonicas Scripturse Thesaurus in locos 

 communes ordine alpliabetico digestus. Land. : T. Van- 

 troUerius, 1574. Folio, liepr. Gencvw, 1624. Folio." 



" ScHjiiDT (Scb.) Collegium Biblicum, in quo dicta S. 

 Scripturcc, juxta seriem locorum communium disposita, 

 explicantur. Argent. 1C7G. 2 vols. 4to." 



" Binucus I^'DKX. Ardverp. 1671. 18mo." 



IIAXEY HOOD. 



(•2"" S. iv. 486.) 



I having been present at the throwing the 

 hood at Ilaxey, Lincolnshire, several times, have 

 pleasure in giving your querist A. E. what in- 

 formation I gathered from time to time on the 

 spot. The custom arose from the following cir- 

 cumstance : — Anciently the Mowbrays had great 

 possessions in and about the Isle of Axholme, and 

 a seat at which they principally resided, and were 

 considered the greatest folks in that part of the 

 country. It so happened that on old Christmas 

 Day a young lady (the daughter of the then 

 Mowbray) was riding across the Meeres (an old 

 road, at that time the principal one across the 

 village) to the church, a gale of wind blew off her 

 hood. Twelve farming men who were working 

 in the field saw the occurrence, and ran to gather 

 up the hood, and in such earnest were they that 

 the lady took so much amusement at the scene, 

 she forbade her own attendants joining in the 

 pursuit. The hood being captured, returned, and 



