July 9. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



33 



Two letters addressed by Thomas Lyttelton to his 

 father ; and a third to » Dear George," probably his 

 cousin George Edward Ayscough. 



Some Latin lines, not remarkable for their deli- 

 cacy. 



Political letter, written from Milan, by Thomas 

 Lyttelton ; in which indignant notice is taken of the 

 commital of Brass Crossby, Lord Mayor, which took 

 place in March, 1771. 



Fragment of a poem on Superstition, and various 

 other unfinished poetical scraps. 



Private memoranda of expenses. 

 ► A page of writing in a fictitious or short-hand 

 character, of which I can make nothing. 



Remarks, in prose, on the polypus, priestcraft, &c. 



Poem in French, of an amatory character. 



Portion of a remarkable political letter, containing 

 some bitter remarks by Thomas Lyttelton on the 

 "first minister." He ends thus: "The play now 

 draws to a conclusion. I am guilty of a breach of 

 trust in telling him so, but I shall [not] suffer by my 

 indiscretion, for it is an absolute impossibility any 

 man should divine who is the author of the letter 

 signed Aruspex." 



It would appear from tbe water-mark in the 

 paper of which this MS. is composed, that it was 

 procured in Italy ; and there can be little or no 

 doubt it was used by Thomas Lyttelton as a 

 draught-book, during his travels there in 1769 — 

 1771 ; during which period, nearly the whole of 

 the contents seem to have been written. The 

 evidence afforded therefore by this volume, coij;ies 

 peculiarly in support of the dates and other cir- 

 cumstances put forth in the printed volume of 

 Poems ; and leads us inevitably to the conclusion, 

 that it was utterly impossible for Thomas Lyttelton 

 to have had any share in the Letters of Junius. He 

 has enough to answer for on the score of his early 

 profligacy and scepticism, without being dragged 

 from the grave to be arraigned for the crime of 

 deceit. His heart need not, according to the re- 

 viewer, be " stripped bare" by the scalpel of any 

 literary anatomist; but he may be left to that 

 quiet and oblivion which a sepulchre in general 

 bestows. Before I conclude these remarks (which 

 I fear are too diffuse), I will venture to add a few 

 words in regard to the signature of Thomas Lord 

 Lyttelton. In the Chatham Cor7-espondence, a 

 letter from him to Earl Temple is printed, vol. iv. 

 p. 348., the signature to which is printed Lyt- 

 TLETON, and the editors point out in a note the 

 " alteration adopted" in the spelling of the name ; 

 but it is altogether an error, for the fac-simile of 

 this signature in vol. iv. p. 29., as well as his will 

 in the Prerogative Court, prove that he wrote his 

 name Lyttelton, in the same manner as his father 

 and uncle. As to the resemblance pointed out by 

 the author of the Revieio between the handwrit- 

 ing of Thomas Lyttelton and that of Junius, it 

 exists only in imagination, since there is really no 

 similitude whatever between them. 



Some Queries are now annexed, in reference to 

 what has been above discussed : 



1. In what publication or in what form did the 

 executors of Thomas Lord Lyttelton disown the 

 Letters and Poems ? 



2. Is it known who was the editor of the Poems 

 published in 1780? 



3. Can the present representative of the family 

 of Roberts give any farther information respecting 

 Thomas Lord Lyttelton's manuscripts ? 



4. Lastly, Is any letter known to exist in the. 

 public journals of the years 1770, 1771, under the 

 signature of Aruspjsx '? F. Madden. 



British Museum. 



:^tnar caticrtc^. 



Lord Chatham. — I would suggest as a Query, 

 whether Lord Chatham's famous comparison of the 

 Fox and Newcastle ministry to the confluence of 

 tbe Rhone and Saone at Lyons {Speech, Nov. 13, 

 1755), was not adapted from a passage in Lord 

 Roscommon's Essay on translated Verse. Possibly 

 Lord Chatham may have merely quoted the lines 

 of Roscommon, and reporters may have converted 

 his quotation into prose. Lord Chatham (then of 

 course Mr. Pitt) is represented to have said : 



" / remember at Lyons to have been carried to the 

 conflux of the Rhone and the Soane : the one a gentle, 

 feeble, laiigijid stream, and, though languid, of no 

 depth ; the other, a boisterous and impetuous torrent." 



Lord Roscommon says : 



" Thus have I seen a. rapid headlong tide, 

 With foaming waves the passive Saone divide, 

 Whose lazy waters without motion lay. 

 While he, with eager force, urg'd his impetuous way." 



W. EWAHT. 

 University Club. 



Sloio-ivorm Superstition. — Could any of your 

 correspondents kindly inform me whether there is 

 any foundation for the superstition, that if a slow- 

 worm be divided into two or more parts, those 

 parts will continue to live till sunset (life I sup- 

 pose to mean that ti'emulous motion which the 

 divided parts, for some time after the cruel ope- 

 ration, continue to have), and whether it exists In 

 any other country or county besides Sussex, in 

 which county I first heard of it ? Toweb. 



Tavgiers (Vol. vli., p. 12.). — I have not seen 

 any opinion as to these Queries. A. C. 



Snail Gardens. — What are the continental en- 

 closures called snail gardens ? C. M. T. 

 Oare. 



Naples and the Campagna Felice. — Who was 

 the author of letters beai-ing this title, which on- 



