Sept. 10. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



257 



Every-day Book, 1827, p. 963. ; Yarrell's British 

 Birds ; Jardine's Nat. Lib. ; Penny Cyclop., art. 

 " Swan.") It is to be noted, however, that Hone 

 is in error in sajing the two nicks are the roycd 

 swan-mark. Eden Warwick. 



Birmingham. 



Limerick, Dublin, and Cork (Vol. viii., p. 102.). 

 — I should think the author of this doggrel couplet, 

 if we are to consider it as a fair specimen of his 

 poetic genius, may safely be permitted to remain 

 in obscurity. Be that as it may, the lines are by 

 no means new, nor are they confined to the sister 

 isle alone. In the Prophecies of Nixon, the Che- 

 shire Merlin, who lived nobody knows when, 

 except that it was certainly a " long time ago," we 

 are given to understand that : 



" London streets shall run with blood, 

 And at last shall sink ; 

 So that it shall be fulfilled, 



That Lincoln was, London is, and York shall be 

 The finest city of the three." 



As I have just stated, the original date of these 

 Prophecies is somewhat involved in mystery ; but 

 I myself possess copies of three different editions 

 published during the last century, tlie first of the 

 three, purporting to be the sixth edition, bearing 

 date London, 1719. A Life of Nixon, affixed to 

 this edition, states him to have lived and prophe- 

 sied in the reign of King James I. ; at whose court, 

 we are farther told, he was, in conformity with 

 his own prediction, starved to death. His Pro- 

 phecies are, by the learned, held to be apocryphal ; 

 the country folk of Cheshire, on the contrary, 

 have as much faith in them and their author as 

 they have in the fact of their own existence. 



T. Hughes. 



Chester. 



" Coidd we with ink," S^c. (Vol. viii., pp. 127. 

 180.). — I am surprised that none of your corre- 

 spondents has referred to Smart, the translator of 

 Horace, who has been frequently stated to be the 

 writer of these lines, and 1 believe with truth. 



E. H. D. D. 



Character of the Song of the Nightingale 

 (Vol. vii., p. 397. ; Vol. viii., p. 112.).— Although 

 Milton seems to have generally used the epithet 

 solemn in its classical sense (as cleverly pointed 

 out by Mr. Sydney Gedge), and meant to repre- 

 sent the nightingale as the customary attendant of 

 "in^i^ y<^fc there, is at least one passage where the 

 epithet appears to me not to have this meaning ; 

 but to express that the song of the nightingale 

 caused " a holy joy," and was heard not only in 

 the day-time, but all through the night. For 

 although Milton calls the nightingale ""the night- 

 warbling bird," and so makes it " the customary 

 attendant of the night," yet he also elsewhere as 

 truly speaks of it as a day singer. The passage I 



referred to is in Paradise Lost, book vii., and 

 seems to me to bear the meaning above spoken of: 

 though Mr. Gedge may perhaps make " solemn" 

 refer back to the last noun " even." And I con- 

 fess that the meaning seems dubious : 



" From branch to brand), the smaller birds with song 

 Solac'd the woods, and spread their painted wings 

 Till even ; nor then the solemn nightingale 

 Ceas'd warbling, but all night tun'd her soft lays." 



I can add one other epithet to the one hundred, 

 and nine which I have already given of the night- 

 ingale's song : 



Wond/ring. Dryden (" Palaraon and Arcite"). 



I may add, that Otway and Grainger (errone- 

 ously printed Graingle) appear to have used 

 " solemn" in the ordinary meaning of the v/ord. 



CUTHBERT BeDE, B.A. 



Adamsons '■'• Lusitania Illustrata" (Vol. viii., 

 p. 10-1.), — Your correspondent W. M. M. may 

 consult the following works with great advantage : 



" Resume de I'Histoire Littoraire du Portugal, suivi 

 du Resume de I'Histoire Litteraire du Bresil, 12mo. : 

 Paris, 1826." 



" Parnaso Lusitano, ou Poesias selectas dos auctores 

 Portuguezos antigos e modernos, illustrados cum notas, 

 percedido de una Tlistoria abreviada da lingua e 

 poesia Portugueza, tom. v., 18mo. : Paris, 1826." 



The destruction by fire of Mr. Adamson's 

 library, which was so rich in Portuguese litera- 

 ture, has, with other circumstances, hitherto pre- 

 vented the continuation of the Lusitania Illustrata ; 

 but the appearance of future parts, In furtherance 

 of the original plan, is by no means abandoned. 



E. H. A. 



Adamsoniana (Vol. vii., p. 500. ; Vol. viii., 

 p. 135.). — I was aware of the way in which the 

 fiimous naturalist spelt his name, but supposed 

 that Michel Ada7ison and Llichael Adamson were 

 the same, the former being merely the French 

 mode of writing according to their pronunciation. 

 I was also aware of the leading events in the 

 naturalist's own career, but was desirous if pos- 

 sible of identifying his father : " the gentleman 

 who, after firmly attaching himself to the Stuarts, 

 left Scotland, and entered the service of the 

 Archbishop of Aix." 



Perhaps I may be more fortunate In obtaining 

 some information respecting another Scot of the 

 same name : James Adamson, for thirty-one years 

 rector of Tigh, in Rutlandshire, who is described 

 in the inscription upon his tombstone as "natu 

 Scotus, Anglus vita, moribus antiquis, cum rege 

 suo in prosperis et adversis." I believe he was 

 the father of John Adamson, M.A., Rector of 

 Burton Goggles, in Lincolnshire : the author of 

 two sermons; one published in 1698, and entitled 

 The Duty of Daily frequenting the Public Service 



