Dec. 10. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



559 



And thinke them happy, when may be shew'd for a 



penny 

 The Fleet-streete Mandrakes, that heavenly motion 



of Eltham, 

 Westminster Monuments, and Guildhall huge Co- 



rinaeus, 

 That home of Windsor (of an Unicorne very likely), 

 The cave of Merlin, the skirts of Old Tom a Liii- 



colne, 

 King John's sword at Linne, with the cup the Fra- 

 ternity drinke in, 

 The toinbe of Beauchampe, and sword of Sir Guy a 



Warwicke, 

 The great long Dutchman, and roaring Marget a 



Barwicke, 

 The mummied Princes, and Caesar's wine yet i' 



Dover, 

 Saint James his ginney-hens, the Cassawarway* 



moreover. 

 The Beaver 1' the Parke (strange Beast as e'er any 



man saw), 

 Do«-ne-shearing Willowes with teeth as sharpe as a 



hand -saw. 

 The lance of John a Gaunt, and Brandon's still i' 



the Tower, 

 The fall of Ninive, with Norwich built in an hower. 

 King Henries slip-shoes, the sword of valiant Ed- 

 ward, 

 Tlie Coventry Boares-shield, and fire-workes seen 



but to bedward, 

 Drake's ship at Detford, King Richard's bed-sted 



i* Leyster, 

 The White Hall Whale-bones, the silver Bason i' 



Chester ; 

 The live-caught Dog-fish, the Wolfe, and Harry the 



Lyon, 

 Hunks of the Beare Garden to be feared, if he be 



nigh on. 

 All these are nothing, were a thousand more to be 



scanned, 

 (Coryate) unto thy shoes so artificially tanned." 



In explanation of the last line, Tom went no 

 less than 900 miles on one pair of soles, and on 

 his return he hunj; up these remarkable siioes for 

 a nieiiiorial in Odcombe Cliurch, Somersetshire, 

 ■where tliey remained till 1702. 



Another " penny " sight was a trip to the top 

 of St. Paul's. (See Dekker's Gvis Home Book, 

 1609.) A. GRAyAN. 



THE IMPOSSIBILITIES OF OUR FOBETATHERS. 



In turning over the pages of old authors, it is 

 amusing to note how the mountains of our primi- 

 tive ancestors have become mole-hills in the hands 

 of the present generation ! A few instances would, 

 I think, be very instructive ; and, to set the ex- 



* " An East Indian bird at Saint James, in the 

 keeping of Mr. Walker, that will carry no coales, but 

 eate tbum as whot as you wilL" 



ample, I give you the following from my own 

 note-book. 



I'he Overland Journey to India. — From the 

 days of Sir John Mandeville, until a comparatively 

 recent period, how portentous of danger, diffi- 

 culty, and daring has been the " Waye to Ynde 

 wyth the Maruelyes thereof!" 



In Lingua, or the Combat of the Tongue^ by 

 Brewer, London, 1657, originally published m 

 1607, Heursis complains that Piiantases had inter- 

 rupted his cogitations u[)on three things which 

 had troubled his brain for many a day ; 



" Pliant. Some great matters questionless; what were 

 they? 



Heur. The quadrature of the circle, the philosopher^ 

 stone, and the next way to the Indies. 



Phant. Thou dost well to meditate on these things 

 all at once, for they'll be found out altogether, ad 

 gracas culendas." 



Dr. Robertson's Disquisition on the Knowledge 

 the Ancients had of India, shows that communi- 

 cations overland existed from a remote period ; 

 and we know that the East India Company had 

 always a route open for their dispatches on 

 emergent occasions ; but let the reader consult 

 the Meminiscences of Dr. Dibdin, and he will find 

 an exiim[)le of its utter uselessness when resorted 

 to in 1776 to apprize the Home Government of 

 hostile movements on the part of an enemy. To 

 show, however, in a more striking light, the dif- 

 ference between the "overland route" a century 

 back, and that of 1853, I turn up the Journal of 

 Bartholomew Plaisted: London, 1757. This gen- 

 tleman, wiio was a servant of the East India Com- 

 pany, tells us that he embarked at Calcutta in 

 1749 for England; and, after encountering many 

 difficulties, reached Dover via Bussorah, Aleppo, 

 and Marseilles in twelve months ! Bearing this 

 in mind, let the reader refer to the London daily 

 papers of this eighth day of November, 1853, an<J 

 he will find that intelligence reached the city on 

 that afternoon of the arrival at Trieste of the 

 Calcutta steamer, furnishing us with telegraph 

 advices from — 



Bengal, Oct. 3. - - 36 days ! 

 Bombay, Oct. 14. - ' - 25 days ! ! 

 Hong Kong, Sept. 27. - 46 days ! ! ! 



Rapid as this is, and strikingly as it exemplifies 

 the gigantic appliances of our day, the cry of 

 Heuisis in the play is still for the next, or a nearer 

 way to India ; and, besides the Ocean Mail, the 

 magnificent sailing vessels, and the steamers of 

 fabulous dimensions sai<l to be building for the 

 Cape route to perform the passage from London 

 to Calcutta in thirty days, we ate {)rotnised the 

 electric telegraph to furnish us with news from the 

 above-named ports in a less number oi hours than 

 rfM?/.v now occupied ! 



