April 14. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



295 



Temptation and Selfishness (Vol. x., p. 385.). — 

 F. S. R. inquires who is the author, and what the 

 meaning of the saying : 



" Never comes temptation in so plausible a form as 

 •when the resistance to it may be attributed to selfish- 

 ness." 



The author I am unable to name. It will probably 

 be found among the maxims of La Rochefoucauld, 

 or Pascal. The meaning may be explained thus : 



" Selfishness is so odious a thing, that a man will 

 sooner yield to temptation, than have it said that he re- 

 sists from selfish motives." 



Henry H. Breen. 

 ; St. Lucia. 



Epitaph on an Infant (Vol. xi., p. 190.). — 

 The following version of this very beautiful 

 epitaph is inscribed on a stone, by the south 

 porch, in Brasted churchyard, Kent : 



" Bold Infidelity, turn pale and die. 

 Beneath this stone five infants' ashes lie ; 



Say, are thej' lost •r saved ? 

 If death's' by sin, they've sinn'd because they are not 



here, 

 If heaven's by works, in heaven they can't appear. 



Reason ! oh, how depraved ! 

 Revere the sacred page, the knot's untied ; 

 ' They died, for Adam sinn'd ; they live, for Jesus died." 



Brasted Church has other inscriptions, all in- 

 teresting, some old, and one remarkable, viz. to 

 Margaret, daughter of Sir John Mennes, whose 

 second husband was the well-known judge, Sir 

 John Heath, which informs the reader she was 

 sold hy her guardians to her husband on that 

 occasion ! 



All the churches in this part of the valley of 

 Holmsdale are particularly interesting : Wester- 

 ham for brasses, Sundridge for relics, &c. ; Che- 

 vening too is near ; and Brasted, a church of great 

 antiquity, has a remarkable feature in its archi- 

 tecture by its western entrance through a massive 

 stone buttress. Saltmarsh and Franklin in former 

 times were its rectors ; and in our own, the late 

 Professor Jones was once curate, and Dr. Mill, 

 till lately, rector. H. G. D. 



In the Monthly Mag.^ Sept. 1804, p. 131., this 

 epitaph is said to be in a churchyard in Norfolk. 

 The first line should read : " Ere sin could blight, 

 or sorrow fade." J. Y. 



Blind Mackerel (Vol. ix., p. 245.). — I cannot 

 answer the particular case above ; but I know if 

 you put trout into a pool, fed with water strongly 

 impregnated with lime, and having no bushes on 

 its banks, or broad-leaved lilies or plants of any 

 kind to give shade, that they go blind. Might not 

 the miickerel go blind, because of coming from 

 the cold and sunless north to the warmer and 

 brighter waters of the south ? Anon. 



Arthur Moore (Vol. xi., p. 195.). — In confirm- 

 ation of the opinion of your correspondent, that 



Moore did not accompany Prior to France, I for- 

 wai-d an extract from a cotemporary pamphlet, 

 generally believed to have been written by Swift, 

 entitled A New Journey to Paris, which professes 

 to be a translation of a letter written by one Du 

 Baudrier, who had been engaged by Prior as secre- 

 tary or servant, in which he gives minute particu- 

 lars of all Prior's proceedings. Whether authentic 

 or not is of little consequence ; in indifferent matters 

 the writer probably told the truth, or what was 

 popularly believed to be true. 



" Monsieur P having received his instructions from 



the E h Court, under pretence of taking a short 



journey of pleasure, and visiting the Chevalier de H— — 

 in the province of Sufiblk, left his house on Sunday night, 

 the 11th of July, N. S., taking none of his servants with 

 him. Monsieur M e [Moore], who had already pre- 

 pared a bark, with all necessaries, on the coast of Dover, 



took Monsieur P disguised in his chariot. They lay 



on Monday night, the 12th July, at the Count de J y's 



house in Kent, arrived in good time the next day at 

 Dover, drove directly to the shoar, made the sign by 

 waving their hats, which was answered by the vessel; 

 and the boat was immediately sent to take him in, which 

 he entered, wrapt in his cloak, and soon got aboard." 



A. R. M. 



Quotation from St. Augustine (Vol. xi., pp. 125. 

 251.). — If Mr. Williams considers the remark 

 to have originated with Quesnel, he is in error. 

 Quesnel was born in 1634, died in 1719. Henry 

 Delaune published in 1651 TlarpiKov Aaipov, wherein 

 will be found these lines : 



" Cheat not yourselves, as most ; who then prepare 

 For death, when life is almost turn'd to fume : 

 One thief was sav'd that no man might despair; 

 And but one thief, that no man might presume." 

 Ellis, Spec, of early Eng. Poets, 

 1803, vol. iii. p. 271. 



By the way, is a copy of this work of Delaune's 

 ever to be met with now ? Or has it ever been 

 reprinted since 1657 ? Geo. E. Fbebe. 



Yarmouth. 



Thames Water (Vol. x., p. 402.).— That Thames 

 water was once esteemed preferable to any other 

 for a voyage, I believe is true. It usually under- 

 went several changes or fermentations, after which 

 it became perfectly limpid. I have drunk it in 

 the southern hemisphere after being six months 

 certainly — more perhaps — on board, clear and de- 

 licious, as if fresh from the " Seven Springs." 



Whether it still maintains its character among 

 the skippers, I know not; but this much I can say, 

 viz., in 1827 I made a voyage of about nine weeks 

 in a vessel that had taken in her water from the 

 Thames, and such poisonous stuff I never before 

 tasted, nor did it ever improve. This was said to 

 arise from the numerous gas and other works, &c., 

 discharging their abominations into the river. It 

 might, however, have arisen from some carelessness 

 of the mate's in putting it into foul casks. Be 



