452 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 184. 



and the line runs more smoothly; while the altered 

 line is prosaic in comparison, and the metre is not 

 correct. 



My dwindling space warns me that I must very 

 soon pause ; but these examples can be extended 

 ad infinitum, should another opportunity be afforded 

 me. 



The instances of alterations simply unnecessary 

 are too numerous to be recorded here. I have 

 already a list of forty odd, selected from only eight 

 plays. Cecil Harbottle. 



Local Rhymes, Norfolk. — 



" Halvergate hares, Reedham rats, 

 Soutlnvood swine, and Cantley cats; 

 Acle asses, Moulton mules, 

 Beighton bears, and Freethorpe fools." 



Z. E. R. 



*' Hobson's Choice.'^ — I, the other day, In a paper 

 of 1737, came upon the inclosed, if of interest suf- 

 ficient for insertion in " N. & Q. : " 



" Upon the mention of Mr. Freeman being appointed 

 one of the four horse carriers to the university of Cam- 

 bridge, we had the following paragraph : — ' This was 

 the office that old Hobson enjoyed, in which he acquired 

 so large a fortune as enabled him to leave the town that 

 ever-memorable legacy the conduit, that stands on the 

 Market Hill, with an estate to keep it perpetually in 

 repair. The same person gave rise to the well-known 

 adage, ' Hobson's choice — this or none;' founded 

 upon his management in business. He used to keep, 

 it seems, hackney horses, that he let out to youfig gen- 

 tlemen of the university, with whose characters being 

 well acquainted, he suited his beast to its rider, who 

 upon a dislike was sure to receive that answer from 

 him, ' This or none.'" 



J. W. G. G. 



Khond Fable. — The following is a free version 

 of a fable current among the Khonds of Oriosa, of 

 whom a very interesting account is given by Cap- 

 tain Macpherson in the Journal of the Royal 

 Asiatic Society for 1852 : 



" A mosquito was seated on the horn of a bull, and 

 fearing that his weight might be oppressive to the 

 quadruped, he politely accosted him, begging that, if 

 he felt any inconvenience, he would mention it, and 

 professing himself ready, in that case, to remove to 

 some other position. The bull replied, ' O mosquito, 

 so far are you from oppressing me with your weight, 

 that I was not even aware of your existence.' " 



The moral of this is common enough, but is the 

 fable found elsewhere in a similar /orm ? J, C. R. 



Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, Bart. — As those who 

 have read the deeply interesting memoirs of Sir 

 Thomas Fowell Buxton are aware, he was placed 

 at a school in Donny brook, in the year 1802, and 



shortly after " entered " the University of Dublin. 

 His success in that seat of learning, where able 

 competitors were many in number, was brilliant ; 

 for " on the 14th of April in the same year [1807], 

 he received his thirteenth premium, and also the 

 highest honour of the university, — the gold medal. 

 With these distinctions, and the four silver medals 

 from the Historical Society, he prepared to return 

 to England." In fact, so high did his character 

 stand, that a proposal was made to him by the 

 electors (which, however, he deemed it prudent to 

 decline) to come forward as a candidate for the 

 representation of the university in the imperial 

 parliament, and good grounds were given him to 

 expect a triumphant return. 



Now, this man was doubtless an honour to the 

 " silent (?) sister " in Ireland ; and, as an Irish- 

 man, I feel some little degree of pride in our having 

 educated him so Avell for his subsequent career. 

 With surprise, then, do I find, on referring to the 

 Dublin University Calendar for the present year, 

 the name of a " Mr. John Powell Buxton " in the 

 list of gold medallists. The editor appears to be 

 sadly ignorant of the proper person, and cannot 

 lay the blunder at the printer s door, having very 

 unaccountably repeated it from year to year. I 

 have taken the trouble of examining many volumes 

 of the Calendar. Abhba. 



Anagrams. — I beg to forward the following : 

 " Antonius B. Magllabechius " 



(He was the librarian at Florence, about the end 

 of the sixteenth century). This name makes — 

 *' Is unus Bibliotheca magna." 



In the poems of some Jesuit father (Bacchusius, 

 I think) the following rather offensive one is men- 

 tioned, on the celebrated father Costerus : 



" Petrus Costerus Jesuita ! " 

 i.e. 



" Vere tu es asinus ; ita ! " 



Philobiblion. 



^utxiti. 



SEAL OF tVILLIAM d'aLBINI. 



A few years since there was published a Ilistoi'y 

 of the Parish of Attlebu7-gh, in Norfolk, by the then 

 rector. Dr. Barrett. It is a very handsome volume 

 in quarto, and reflects great credit upon the learn- 

 ing and taste of the reverend editor. 



What I wish more particularly to allude to is 

 an engraving of the seal of William de Albini, who 

 was called " William with the Strong Hand ; " of 

 whom Dugdale records, that having distinguished 

 himself at a tournament appointed by a queen of 

 France, then a widow, she became so enamoured 

 of him that she offered him marriage. But he, 

 having plighted his troth to Adeliza, widow to 



