June 11. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUEEIES. 



585 



necessary to add any more. Yet, if it were only 

 for the purpose of recalling your readers' attention 

 to the elegant and instructive Dissertation on the 

 State of English Poetry before the Sixteenth Cen- 

 tury, by the late Dr. Nott, of All Souls' College, 

 will you permit me to adduce that learned writer's 

 authority, in opposition to the opinion of Sir Harris 

 Nicolas, that Chaucer was not versed in Italian 

 literature ? Dr. Nott's Dissertation is entombed 

 in the two quarto volumes of his edition of the 

 Works of Surrey and Wyatt (London, 1815); and 

 it is much to be wished that it were reprinted in a 

 separate and more accessible form. J. M. 



Oxford. 



Pic Nic (Vol. vii,, p. 387.)- — The following ex- 

 tract from an Italian newspaper raises a con- 

 siderable presumption that this word is not now 

 considered in Italy as an Italian one ; the date is 

 Sept. 1841. 



" Se qualche delirante vi ha dato ad intendere clie i 

 Bagni di Lucca sono il soggiorno prediletto dell' Ita- 

 liano, ci vi ha detto una solenne bugia. 



" I Bagni dl Lucca appartengono, come tant' altre 

 cose in Italia, esclusivatnente alio straniero." 



Then follows a description of the numerous En- 

 glish arrivals, while the Italian — 



" Spera di rinvenir sulle alture di que' colli un pie di 

 patriatutto per lui, e ascende i sentieri ornati di bosco. 

 Ma abbassando gli occhi ci s' aceorge che non e solo. 

 Un' Amatore a cui forse 1' ignobile itinerario della 

 Slarke ha rivelate quella sublime veduta, sta colassu 

 scarabocchiando uno sbozzo pell' Album del suo 

 drawing room. Piu lunge, povero Italiano ! piu lunge ! 

 Ecco la scena si cambia . . . . i sentieri divengono piu 

 ardui .... in fondo, mezzo nascosto dal fitto fogliame 

 apparisce . . . . un casolare ; un villano lo invita ad 

 eiUrare .... e gli parla in Inglese, in Francese, ed in 

 Tedesco ! . . . . ci s' allontana impazientito, e corre piu 

 lunge ! . . . . I castagni divengono rari .... Aride 

 roccie annunziano il vertice dell' Apennin. Ancora 

 una breve salita, e poi ci sara sul piu alto pinacolo del 

 Prato Fiorite. Ma al pie del viattolo u un inciampo ! 

 e I'occhio sconfortato scorge la livrea di un groom e da 

 un lato una sentimentale Lady, che si e arrampiccata 

 pill lassa e prosaicamonte seduta sulla sua sedia porta- 

 tile sta scrivendo una lettera sopra un foglio a vignetta. 

 L' Italiano continua ad ascendere . . . . e giunte alia 

 vetta .... air amplissima libera vista, il cuore dell' 

 Italiano batte piu forte .... la mente s' esalta, e i piu 

 cnergici pensieri vi bollono .... Ma gli occhi ritornano 

 svegliati dei passi del Cavalli, appie del ripiane s' afFac- 

 cia una numerosa comitiva . . . . e un pique nique ! 

 Fiiggi fuggi mal capitate Italiano la straniero 1' inseque 

 anco nel nido dell aguila !" 



Here the "pique nique" is evidently the climax 

 of all that is " straniero." K. E. 



Canker or Brier Rose (Vol. vii., p. 500.). — I 

 suspect tliat this term refers to the beautiful 

 mossy gall, so commonly seen on the branches of 



the wild rose, which has been called the hedeguar 

 of the rose. This is the production of a cynips ; 

 and, from its vivid tints of crimson and green, 

 might well pass at a short distance for a flower, 

 brilliant, but scentless. Hence Shakspeare's allu- 

 sion : 



" The canker-blooms have full as deep a dye 

 As the perfumed tincture of the roses." 



W. J. Bernhaed Smith. 

 Temple. 



Cancre and cj^abe in French are synonymous, 

 meaning the same ; Anglice, crab (fsh). 



Now, we have crab-tree, a wild apple-tree ; a 

 canker rose, a wild rose ; dog rose, dog-violet, 

 horse leech, horse chestnut. In all these cases 

 the prefix denotes inferiority of species. II. F. B. 



Door-head Inscriptions ("Vol. vii., pp. 23. 190.). 

 — In Watson's History of Halifax (1775, 4to., 

 p. 257.), in describing the High Sunderland, an 

 ancient mansion near Halifax, formerly the resi- 

 dence of the Sunderlands, he notices that " over 

 the north door is written, Ne subeat Glis serdus, a 

 mistake for surdus ; and over a door on the south 

 side, Ne entret amicus hirudo." 



As some of your correspondents doubt as to the 

 proper reading, I have thought it worth while to 

 give this duplicate version. I recollect the in- 

 scription well, having been sorely puzzled, when a 

 schoolboy, in my frequent walks to High Sunder- 

 land, to understand these two inscriptions. I must 

 not omit the inscription on the south front : 



" Omnipotens faxet, stirps Sunderlandia sedcs 

 Incolet has placide, et tueatur jura parentum, 

 Lite vacans, donee fluctus formica marines 

 Ebibat et totum testudo perambulet orbem!" 



The commentary of the worthy historian is edify- 

 ing : 



" The writer of these, or his son, alienated this very 

 estate, which the then owner so earnestly wished might 

 continue in the family for ever !" 



James Crossley. 



On the portico of Arley Hall, the seat of the 

 ancient family of Warburton, and about four miles 

 from the town of Northwich, Cheshire, the follow- 

 ing " free pass " to visitors appears, carved in 

 stone : 



" This gate is free to all men, good and true ; 

 Right welcome thou, if worthy to pass through." 



T. Hughes. 



Chester. 



''Time and J," S,x. (Vol. vii., p. 181.).— Who 

 was the author of this adage ? Lord Mahon gives 

 it as a favourite saying of Mazarin (History 

 of England, vol. ii. p. 100., small edition). Mr. 

 Stirling (Cloister Life of Charles V., p. 151., 2nd 

 edition) tells us that it was a favourite adage of 



