534 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 214. 



former having received 2001. per nnnum for col- 

 lecting materials for the Life of King William III., 

 while he, the schoolmaster of Castle-Knock, 

 scarcely gets salt to his porridge for his Collection.^ 

 and Observations for pei'petuating the Honour and 

 Glory of the King of Kings. 

 Peter farther boasts that these his volumes 



" Contain the juice and marrow of many excellent 

 and learned authors, but compacttd after such an 

 ingenious manner, that the learned would find it a 

 great difficulty to show in what authors they are to be 

 found ! " 



A plan for which, I think, the learned would award 

 him the hirch. Mrs. Brett is no less a genius than 

 her husband ; and she takes advantage of the 

 publication of the Miscellany, to stick the follow- 

 ing little bill upon the back of the title 



" Ann Brett, wife of the said Peter, at the sign of 

 the Shroud m Ciirist Church Lane, opposite to the 

 Church, maki'S and sells all Sorts of Shrouds, draws 

 all Sorts of Patterns, does all manner of Pinking, and 

 teaches Young Misses Reading and Writing, Arith- 

 metic, and Plain Work. The Dublin Society," she 

 adds, " was jjleased to honour her with a handsome 

 Present for her Curious Performance with the Pen." 



J. o. 



KICHARD S " GUIDE THROUGH PRANCE. 



(Translated from the French on the 12th edition. 

 Paris : Audin, 25. Quai des Angustins.) 



As we are not supposed to be sensible of our 

 own failings, I should much wish to know whether 

 any Englis^h-French exists equal to some French- 

 English I know of, and inclose a specimen. Mr. 

 P. Chasles has played the critic so well with the 

 English tongue, that perhaps he can find us a few 

 specimens. Without doubt, it will be a wholesome 

 correction to the Malaprop spirit if she is shown 

 up a little ; and I regret extremely that Mr. P. 

 Chasles was not invited to correct the proofs of 

 the Itineraire de France. Here we are posting 

 with M. Richard : 



" The courier a franc-etrier cannot use bridle of 

 their own, they must not outrun the postilion who 

 leads them, and the post master if they might arrive at, 

 without their postillion, must not give them horse 

 before this last is come. The supply-horses, according 

 to the number of persons, shall be put to carriages as 

 much as the disposition of the vehicles will admit. 

 For example, three horses shall he put to cabriolets, 

 and till six to the berline, but as it should not be pos- 

 sible, to put a horse en arbalete (cross-bow) without 

 notable accidents, either to caleches with two horses or 

 to the limonieres ; they shall be obliged to pay the 

 charge for supply horse." 



Here we are in a steamer, p. 52. : 



" The sea is smooth, the sky pure, the air calm, 

 everything promises a happy navigation, our boat is in 



a very favourable position in the middle of the Seine, 

 on the right hand the hills of Honfleur, on the left the 

 coast of Ingouville, let us pause a little more on these 

 shores we are going to leave : behold on the east the 

 fortifications of Havre, small seats! clusters of trees! 

 this is the village of I'Eure threatened by the sea of an 

 entire destruction. We must not pass over this green 

 hill so delightful to view, standing on the opposite 

 shore seamen would not forgive my silence, among 

 these high trees stands a chapel dedicated to Notre- 

 Dame-de- Grace. Ingouville is of 4,800 inhabitants, 

 among which a great many Englishmen live there as 

 in their own country, having their particular church- 

 yard, physicians, and many occasions of hearing from 

 England, which they can perceive from their pavilions. 

 The traveller can go to Elbeuf by land or water. The 

 lover of the scenes of nature will enjoy very romantical 

 prospects, a new kind of view will strike his sight, a 

 long train of rocks called D'Orival, the most part steep, 

 covered with evergreen trees, which seem shoot out, 

 with difficulty, of their craggings." 



He tells U9 Soissons (p. 102.) "has a college, a 

 pretty theatre, and a bishoprick-sec, from the 

 cradle of Christianity into the Gauls." At Cou- 

 lommieres (Seine et Marne), " the sciences are not 

 cultivated, but the inhabitants know pretty well 

 how to play at nine pins." At Fontaines les Cor- 

 nues, " the inhabitants of Paris with a small ex- 

 pense can procure to himself a scenery scarecely to 

 be found in the other quarter of the globe ! " At 

 Chatillion-sur-Seine, " the streets are neat and 

 well aired." At Aries, p. 361., a head of a goddess 

 carved in marble : 



" The way in which the neck and left shoulder are 

 ended, points out that the head is related to a figure in 

 drapery cut in another block." 



" The merchant of Bordeaux is distinguished by his 

 noble easy and pompous manner, he makes himself 

 easily forgiven a sort of boasting, which is the foible of 

 the country." 



How the ladies bathe at Mont d'Or, p. 218. : 



" At five in the morning bathing begins. Two 

 hardy Highlanders go and fetch in a kind of deal 

 boxes the fashionable lady, who when in town never 

 quits her bed-down before noon, the annuitant, the rich 

 man, are all brought in the same manner in these 

 boxes. It is one of the most pleasant bathing esta- 

 blishments ; it offers a peristyle, a small resting-room, 

 a warming-place for linen, with partitions to prevent 

 its mixture." 



The work consists of 446 mortal pages, though 

 I am bound to say a portion here and there is re- 

 spectably written. Weld Taylor. 



WOMEN AND TORTOISES. 



I had intended sending you a paper on Bishop 

 Taylor's Similes, with Illustrative Notes on some 

 Passages in his Works ; but I soon found that your 

 utmost indulgence could not afford me a tithe of 



