4"64 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 184.: 



lerpeiuai green, 

 li'd sight, "1 



elight, 5- 



ling still at night, J 



J 



author of the original, that I trust you will deem 

 it worthy of insertion in your journal. 



" A place I here describe, how gay the scene ! 

 Fresh, bright, and vivid with perpetual green, 

 Verdure attractive to the ravish'd sight. 

 Perennial joys, and ever new del 

 Charming at noon, more charmi 

 Fair pools where fish in forms pellucid play; 

 Smooth lies the lawn, swift glide the hours away. 

 No mean dependance here on summer skies. 

 This spot rough winter's roughest blast defies. 

 Yet here the government is curs'd with change, 

 Knaves openly on either party range. 

 Assault their monarch, and avow the deed. 

 While honour fails, and tricks alone succeed ; 

 For bold decemvirs here usurp the sway ; 

 Now all some single demagogue obey. 

 False lights prefer, and hate the intruding day. 

 Oh, shun the tempting shore, the dangerous coast. 

 Youth, fame, and fortune, stranded here, are lost ! " 



J. S. S. 

 Bath. 



Oesmas and Desmas (Vol. vii., pp. 238. 342.). — 

 The names of the two thieves crucified with our 

 blessed Saviour are variously written. In the 

 verses quoted by A. B. R. (p. 238.) they are writ- 

 ten Gesmas and Desmas. In the edition of the 

 Gospel of Nicodemus, quoted by W. C. H. 

 (p. 342.), i. e. the edition of " William Hone, Lud- 



fate Hill, 1820," the names are written Gestas and 

 )imas. He also gives an authority for the spelling 

 " Dismas and Gestas." I find them written in the 

 edition I have of the Gospel of Nicodemus, i. e. 

 "Hutman's, London, 1818," Dismas and Gesmas 

 (pp. 87, 88.). Elsewhere I have met with them 

 written as in the following verse, Gistas and 

 Dismas : 



" Gistas damnatur, Dismas ad astra levatur," 



which I have ventured to translate : 



*' Gistas to hell — with Dismas all goes well ;" 

 or perhaps better thus : 



" Gistas goes down, Dismas receives a crown." 



The names of these two men in early life is said 

 to have been Titus and Dumachus : see the Evan- 

 gelium Infantice, quoted by Hutman (p. 13.). 



Ceybep. 



Lode (Vol. v., pp.345. 350.). — There is in 

 Gloucester a church and parish called Saint Mary 

 de Lode, touching which Mr. Fosbroke (History of 

 City of Gloucester, p. 341.) observes : 



" This parish is said to have derived the adjunct of 

 Lode from the Severn formerly running near it ; and 

 this may have been the fact, but it is not easy to give a 

 satisfactory explanation of the term." 



I would remark, that as the term Lode may be 

 considered a general name for any navigable river, 



that if it be a fact that the river Severn did 

 formerly run near the parish in question, it ap- 

 pears to me not difficult to give a satisfactory 

 explanation of the term by which such parish is 

 distinguished from St. Mary de Crypt and St. Mary 

 de Grace. C. H. Coopeb. 



Cambridge. 



Epitaphs imprecatory (Vol. vii., p. 256.). — I 

 have no doubt that the churchyards of Scotland 

 will furnish many examples of the embittered 

 feelings which religious persecution produced, 

 during the latter half of the seventeenth century ; 

 and as a specimen I forward the following, which 

 is found in the churchyard of Dalgarnock, in Dum- 

 friesshire. The Duke of York alluded to was 

 afterwards James II. ; and the descendants of 

 Mr. Harkness are still most respectable inhabitants 

 of the parish of Closeburn, which has been united 

 to Dalgarnock : 



" Here Lyes the body of James Harkness, in 

 Locherben, who died 6th Dec, 1723, aged 72 years. 

 " Belo this stone his dust doth ly, 

 Wlio indured 28 years 

 Persecution by tirrany 

 Did him pursue with echo and cry 

 Through many a lonesome place. 

 At last by Clavers he was taen 



Sentenced for to dy ; 

 But God, who for his soul took care, 

 Did him from prison bring. 

 Because no other Cause they had 

 But that he ould not give up 

 With Christ his Glorious King. 

 And swear allegence to that beast, 

 The duke of York I mean. 

 In spite of all there hellish rage 

 A natural death he died 

 In full assurance of his rest 

 With Christ ieternalie." 



The following may be given as an example of a 

 punning epitaph. It is found in St. Anne's church- 

 yard, in the Isle of Man, and is said to have been 

 written by Sir Wadsworth Busk, who was for 

 many years attorney-general of the island : 



" Here, Friend, is little Daniel's Tomb, 

 To Joseph's age he did arrive ; 

 Sloth killing thousands in their bloom, 



While labour kept poor Dan alive. 

 Tliough strange yet true, full seventy years 

 Was his wife happy in her Tears. 

 Daniel Tear died December 9th, 1787, aged 110 

 years." 



C. T. R. 



Straw-hail (Vol. vii., pp. 85. 342.).— The origin 

 of the expression " a man of straw " may be traced 

 to those mannikins or effigies representing the 

 human figure, which are (or used to be) paraded 

 in the streets during the Carnival in most con- 

 tinental countries. These mannikins were gene- 



