180 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 199. 



well painted find sanded ; so that it now looks 

 almost as well as stone. At the same time, the 

 marks by which Blomefield thought to identify it 

 are necessarily obliterated. T. B. B. H. 



"William de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, who 

 was slain at Bayonne in 1296, — his effigy in wood 

 is in St. Edmund's Chapel in Westminster Abbey, 

 covered with enamelled brass. There is also in 

 Abergavenny Church, amongst the general wreck 

 of monumental remains there, a cross-legged effigy 

 in wood, represented in chain mail ; which the 

 late Sir Samuel Meyrick supposed to have been 

 that of William de Valence. It is mentioned in 

 Coxe's Monmouthshire, p. 192. 



The effigy of Aymer de Valence referred to in 

 "Whitaker (" N. & Q.," Vol. vii., p. 528.) is not of 

 wood ; he evidently refers to that of William de 

 Valence. 



In Gloucester Cathedral there is the wooden 

 monument of a cross-legged knight attributed to 

 Robert Duke of Normandy, the eldest son of the 

 Conqueror ; but it is probably of a little later 

 period. Thomas W. King (York Herald). 



College of Arms. 



In the Cathedral of Gloucester, there is a 

 wooden e^gy of the unfortunate Robert Duke of 

 Normandy, eldest son of the Conqueror, It is so 

 many years since I saw it, that I do not offiir any 

 description : but, if my memory be correct, it has 

 the legs crossed, and (what is curious) is loose, 

 and can be turned about on the tomb. A. C. M. 



Exeter. 



On the south side of the chancel of St. Giles' 

 Church, Durham, is a wooden effigy in full armour; 

 the head resting on a helmet, and the hands raised 

 as in prayer. It is supposed to be the tomb of 

 John Heath, who became possessed of the Hospital 

 of St. Giles Kepyer, and is known to have been 

 buried in the chancel of St. Giles' Church. He 

 died' in 1590. At the feet of the wooden Q^^gy, 

 are the words " hodie michi." The figure was 

 restored in colours about ten years ago. 



CUTHBEET BeDE, B. A. 



"could we with ink," &c. 

 (Vol.viii., p. 127.) 

 The 'bond fide author of the following lines — 

 *' Could we with ink the ocean fill. 



And were the heavens of parchment made, 

 Were every stalk on earth a quill, 



And every man a scribe by trade ; 

 To write the love of God above, 



Would drain the ocean dry ; 

 Nor could the scroll contain the whole, 

 Though stretch'd from sky to sky." 



is Rabbi Mayir ben Isaac. The above eight lines 

 are almost a literal translation of four Chaldee 



ones, which form part of a beautiful ode on the 

 attributes of God, not unmixed with a considerable 

 proportion of the fabulous, which is sung in every 

 synagogue during the service of the first day of 

 the feast of Pentecost. 



May I now be permitted to ask you, or any of 

 your numerous correspondents, to inform me who 

 was the hond fide translator of Rabbi Mayir ben 

 Isaac's lines ? The English lines are often quoted 

 by itinerant advocates of charity societies as hav- 

 ing been found insci'ibed, according to some, on 

 the walls of a lunatic asylum, according to others, 

 on the walls of a prison, as occasion requires ; but 

 extempore quotations on platforms are sometimes 

 vague. MosES Makgoliouth. 



Wybunbury. 



The verses arc in Grose's Olio (p. 292.), and 

 are there said to be written by nearly an idiot, 

 then living (March 16, 1779) at Cirencester. It 

 happens, however, that long before the supposed 

 idiot was born, one Geoffrey Chaucer made use of 

 the same idea, and the same expressions, although 

 ap])lied to a totally different subject, viz. in his 

 "Balade warnynge men to beware of deceitful 

 women : " — 



" In soth to saie though all the yerth so wanne 

 Wer parchment smoth, white and scribbabell, ' ] 

 And the gret see, that called is th' Ocean, 

 Were tourned into ynke blackir than sabell. 

 Echo sticke a pen, oche man a scrivener able. 

 Not coud thei writin woman's treacherie. 

 Beware, therefore, the blind eteth many a flie." 



Again in the " Remedie of Love," the same lines 

 occur with a few slight alterations. 



In vol. X. of the Modern Universal History., 

 p. 430. note, I meet with this sentence : 



" He was succeeded by Jochanan ; not in right of 

 descent, but of his extraordinary merits ; which the 

 Rabbles, according to custom, have raised to so sur- 

 prising a height, that, according to them, if the whole 

 heavens were paper, all the trees in the world pens, 

 and all the men writers, they would not suffice to pen 

 down all his lessons." 



In later times, in Miss C. Sinclair's Hill and 

 Valley, p. 25., we have : 



" If the lake could be transformed into an ink-stand, 

 the mountains into, paper ; and if all the birds that 

 hover on high were to subscribe their wings for quills, 

 it would be still insufficient to write half the praise and 

 admiration that are justly due." 



C. I. R. 



These lines are by Dr. Watts. I cannot jus6 

 now distinctly recollect lohere they are to be found, 

 but I think in Milner's Life of Watts. My recol- 

 lection of them is that they were impromptu, given 

 at an evening party. H. S. S. 



