June 11. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



569 



not much later than that of the book. There is 

 no clue to the author. If they are thought worthy 

 of insertion in " N. & Q," I beg to inquire, through 

 the medium of your columns, whether they are to 

 be found in any collection of early English poems? 

 and whether the author is known ? 



The ungallant sentiment of the first three stanzas 

 is obvious. The fourth is not so plain ; nor is its 

 connexion with the others evident, though it is 

 written without anything to mark a separation ; 

 and the word " finis " is placed below it, as if to 

 apply to the whole. I should be obliged if some 

 one of your readers would give some explanation 

 of it. AV. H. G. 



Winchester. 



" Wen [sjcj nettylles in wynter bryngythe forthe rosses 

 red, 

 And a thorne bryngytlie figges naturally, 

 And grase berrythe appuUes in every mede. 

 And lorrel cherrys on his crope so bye, 

 And okkys berrythe datys plentyusly, 

 And kykkys gyvythe hony in superfluans. 

 Then put in women yower trust and confydenc. 



" When whythynges walke forrestys hartyse for to 

 chase, 

 And herrings in parkkys tlie hornnys boldly bloe, 

 And marlyons * . . . . liernys in morrys doo unbrace, 



■ I And gomards shut ryllyons owght of a crosc boow. 

 And goslyngs goo a howntyng the wolf to overthrow. 

 And sparlyns here sperrys and arms for defenc. 

 Then put yn women yower trust and confydenc. 



•' When sparrowes byld chorchys and styppyllys of a 

 hyght, 

 And corlewys carry tymber yn howsys for to dyght, 

 Wrennys here sakkys to the rayll. 

 And symgisf bryng butter to the market to sell, 

 And wodcokkys were wodknyffys the crane for to 



kyll, 



And gryfFyns to goslynges doo obedienc. 

 Then put in women yower trust and confydenc. 

 " O ye imps of Chynner, ye Lydgatys pene. 

 With the spryght of bookkas ye goodly iiispyrryd, 

 Ye Ynglyshe poet, excydyng other men. 

 With musyk wyne yower tong yn syrryd, 

 Ye roll in yower rellatyvys as a horse immyrryd, 

 With ooyddes penner ye are greatly in favor, 

 Ye bere boys income, God dyld yow for yower labor. 

 Finis." 



THE LETTERS OF ATTICUS. 



The editor of the Grenville Papers has alluded 

 to some " very judicious and pertinent remarks in 

 the ' N. & Q.' " respecting the Letters of Atticus, 

 and as most of your readers will probably agree 

 with him that the authenticity of these letters is 



* Merlin's hawks. 



f Doubtful ; but perhaps for syngles, an old name 

 for the finch. 



" a curious and interesting question, and one that 

 deserves very jmrticular attention" I beg to correct 

 an error into which he and others have fallen, as 

 to the date when Junius ceased to write under the 

 signature Atticus. The Atticus forwarded by 

 Junius to George Grenville on the 19th October, 

 1768, was, there is every reason to believe, the 

 last from the pen of that writer, who was then 

 preparing to come before the public in a more 

 prominent character. When another correspondent 

 adopted the signature Atticus, Woodfall gave his 

 readers warning by inserting the following notice 

 in the Public Advertiser : 



" The Address to the Freeholders of the county of 

 Middlesex, signed Atticus, in our next. Tlie Printer 

 thinks it his duty to acquaint his readers that this letter 

 is not by the same hand as some letters in this paper 

 a little time since, under the signature Atticus,'' — Fub. 

 Ad., March 19, 1769. 



The printer took the like course when writers 

 attempted to " impose upon the public" by using 

 the signatures Lucius and C, and then freely in- 

 serted their letters ; but when the same trick was 

 tried with Junius, the printer did not scruple to 

 alter the signature, or reject the contribution as 

 spurious. 



The genuine Letters of Atticus have had a 

 narrow escape lately of being laughed out of their 

 celebrity by writers in some of our most respectable 

 periodicals. The authenticity of these letters up 

 to the 19th October, 1768, is now fully established. 

 The undecided question of the authorship of Ju- 

 nius requires that every statement should be 

 carefully examined, and (as far as possible) only 

 well-authenticated facts be admitted as evidence 

 in future. William Cramp. 



iBinav 0ateS» 



Irish Bislwps as English Svffragans. — In com- 

 pliance with the suggestion of J. M. D. in your 

 last volume, p. 385., 1 abridge from The Record of 

 March 17th the following particulars : 



" At a recent meeting of the Archneological Society 

 the Rev. W. Gunner stated that from a research among 

 the archives of the bishops and of the college of Win- 

 chester, he had found that many Irish bishops, during 

 the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, were merely 

 titular bishops, bearing the titles of sees in Ireland, 

 while they acted as suffragans to bishops in England. 

 A Bishop of Achonry, for instance, appeared to have 

 been frequently deputed by William of Wykeham to 

 consecrate churches, and to perform other episcopal 

 duties, in his diocese ; and the Bishops of Achonry 

 seemed frequently to have been suffragans of those of 

 Winchester. No see exhibits more instances of this 

 expatriation than Dromore, lying as it did in an un- 

 settled and tumultuous country. Richard Messing, 

 who succeeded to Dromore bishopric in 1408, was suf- 

 fragan to the Archbishop of York ; and so died at 



