82 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd g. No 109., Jan. 30. '68. 



slie should be acquitted, yet she could never after live at 

 home with credit or peace, and was therefore weary of 

 life ; but he again assured her that if she would retract, 

 and tell him the truth, he would not only obtain her 

 libertj-, but provide for her in another part of the country. 

 This made an impression upon her; and she declared 

 that her confession was all a fiction, proceeding from the 

 motive he had guessed ; and that the good condition of 

 her and her children was owing to their feeding upon 

 snails, of which she said he might be satisfied by examin- 

 ing lier house, where he would find several barrels filled 

 with them. Mr. Fletcher had the curiosity to search her 

 house, and found a great quantity of snails stored up 

 accordingly. Upon which he not only got her dismissed 

 from prison, but settled her comfortably in another 

 county." 



As the work from -wliicb this is taken is little 

 known in Scotland, except to professional persons, 

 and probably quite unknown in England, I have 

 used the freedom to send you the above, as the 

 curious history it contains merits apparently the 

 wider channel of circulation afforded by your 

 miscellany. G. J. 



HENRY ROWLANDS (AUTHOR OF " MONA ANTIQUA 

 BESTAUKATA," ETC ). 



On the fly-leaf of, and facing the title of a small 

 4to. book, in my possession, entitled — 



" Christiani Hugenii Cosniotheoros, sive de Terris 

 Coclestibus, carumque oniatu, Conjecturaj. Ad Con- 

 stantinum Hugeiiium, fratrem : Gulielmo III. Magnaj 

 Britannia; Regi a Secretis. Ilagaj-comitum, apud Ad- 

 rianum Moetzens, Bibliopolam, 1698," — 



is the following inscription in the autograph of 

 Rowlands, the talented Welsh antiquary. As it 

 has not appeared in any of his work?, I presume 

 it will be welcome to a position in "N. & Q. :" — 



" In Auctorcm Doctissimum. 



" Sunt quibus insanit, dum sic ratione percrrat. 



His captum vulgi quod fngit error erit. 

 Ilic ubi versamur, nos instruit omnia sensus; 



Xon scnsu disees, sed ratione, polum ; 

 Conditor ex uno si tantnm traxit honorcm, 



O quantum ex mundis millibus ille trahit! 

 Si sol qnisquo suos errantes exigit orbes, 



Sidera sunt soles millia myriadum. 

 Errantes terra; si sint, habitarier iilas 



Qualiter ac sibi vult, quid A-etat ? ipse Dciis. 



" II. li." 



In a copy of Plot's Natural History of Oxford- 

 shire, 2n(l edit., at p. 144., opposite to tlie para- 

 gi'upli on " Shells having been found on the Tops 

 of Mountains," and which reads as follows : — 



"Otherwise perhaps they may have remained from the 

 Creation, when God dispersing the Seminal Virtue of 

 Animals through the Universe, where it met with an 

 Agreeable Mairix as in the Waters, there it produced 

 SheU-fif.li in their Perfection, and where it met with an 

 improper Matrix, as in tlie Earth, in Imperfection onh-: 

 however (as Gaffarell thinks), it proceeded so far forth as 

 it could, and gave the same Shape to Stones, Earths, &c., 

 as it should have done to the Shellfish ; " 



■*- the follov.'ing nota in the same autograph ap- 



pears, from which it is apparent that paragraph 

 was not written by Dr. Plot : — 



" This note was observed by Mr. Edward Lhwyd to 

 have been stoUen by y<= Editor from an Hypothesis of H. 

 K. published after y" death of Dr. Plot, and placed here 

 as Dr. Plott's opinion, as may be seen in a Letter of Mr. 

 Lhwyd to H. R.' 



J. Nixon. 



Bangor. 



THE PARADISE LOST, FIRST EDITION. 



Lowndes, in his Manual (London, 1834), p. 

 1268., describes five title-pages belonging to the 

 first edition of Paradise Lost. I have in my pos- 

 session six different title-pages to this poem : No. 

 1. having been twice set up. As Lowndes is slightly 

 inaccurate, and does not give the imprints in full, 

 I will note the titles in order. 



No. 1. " Paradise Lost, | a | Poem | Written in | Ten 

 Books I B}' John Milton. | Licensed and Entred accord- 

 ing I to Order. | London; j Printed, and are to be sold by 

 Peter Parker \ under CVefd Church, near ^Zc/^rafe; and by j- 

 Robcrt Boulter at the Turks Head in Bishopgate-street ; | 

 and Matthias Walker, under St. Dunstan's Church | in 

 Fleet Street, 1G67. | 



No. 1. A. Similar in all respects to No. 1., ex- 

 cept that the words "By john milton. " are in 

 type and capitals only half the size of those used 

 in No. 1. 



In both, the poem immediately follows the title- 

 page. Lowndes adds, " Some errata appear to have 

 been corrected In some sheets while they were 

 passing through the press, and in all probability 

 some leaves were cancelled and reprinted." I 

 wish some of your correspondents would point out 

 where these leaves occur. 



No. 2. " Paradise Lost, I A | Poem | In Ten Books. | 

 The Author J. M. | Licensed and Entred according | to 

 Order. | London | &c." 



As in No. 1. and No. 1. A., except the date, 1668. 



No. 3. " Paradise Lost, | A | Poem | in Ton Books. | 

 The Author I John Milton. | London ; | Printed by -S. 

 Simmons, and are to be sold by S. Thomson at | the 

 Bishops- Head in Duck-Lane, H. Mortlach at tlie | White 

 Hart in Westminster Hall, M. Walker under | St. Dun- 

 sta7i's Church in Fleet- Street, and R. Boulter at | the 

 Tiirh''s-Head in Bishopgate street, 1G68. | 



In No. 3., after the words " John Milton," is an 

 ornament made up of printer's stars arranged in 

 four lines. 



No. 4. "Paradise Lost, | A [ Poem | In Ten Books. [ 

 The Author [ John Milton. | London ; | Printed by S. ■ 

 Simmons, and are to be sold by | T. Helder, at the Angel 

 in Little Brittain, 1GG9. | (A comma after Brittain.') 



In Nos. 2, 3, and 4, the Address of the Printer to 

 the Reader, and the Arguments of each Book imme- 

 diately succeed the leaf the recto of which contains 

 the title. A Table of Errata also precedes the 

 poem. I cannot discover that these preliminary 

 loaves have been reprinted. 



