264 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



[No. 284. 



THE POETICAL A KEMPM. 



Everybody knows The Christian Pattern of tlie 

 ascetic Thomas k Kempis, but its metrical para- 

 phrases in Enjjlish are of rarer occurrence. The 

 Imitation of Christ has certainly few attractions 

 for the poet; yet, in 1694, it found an enthusiastic 

 admirer, who, thinking to render it more accept- 

 able to the world at large, put forth in that year 

 A Paraphrase in English on the Following of 

 Christ: " Here, reader," says the poet, " thou hast 

 Thomas "k Kempis in a new dress, his work cobled 

 into rhime" — with certain depreciatory remarks 

 upon his ability to do justice to his subject, and 

 certain invectives upon the depravity of the times 

 which could not afford him the aid of a charitable 

 hand to correct it. Rather, however, than sup- 

 press his essay, or submit it to critical malice, the 

 author pitches it into the world with all its faults : 



" Goe, but ungamish'd, as an exile should," 



exclaims he : " And indeed," he adds, " it was the 

 product of an imprison'd exile, when royalty in 

 Cromwell's days was a crime ; and I fear it comes 

 out when the following of Christ is a greater." 

 This serves the author as a key-note to indulge in 

 twenty-two pages of bitterness upon the existing 

 state of affairs in morals, church and state, in the 

 course of which he quotes largely from "that 

 great royalist and excellent penman L'Estrange." 

 To those who have been accustomed to consider 

 the Revolution as an event by which Englishmen 

 acquired a fresh charter for their religious and 

 political rights (sometime in abeyance), the pic- 

 tures of the times, as drawn by this anonymous 

 scribe, will be startling. Instead of the glorious 

 liberty enjoyed under the reign of William, ac- 

 cording to this authority, the land was full of men 

 " daily conversant in the Bible," yet given to prac- 

 tices unheard of even among Indians and Turks, 

 Jews or atheists ! — the royal ear monopolised by 

 "irreligious knaves;" and honesty, patriotism, or 

 charity debarred approach to the throne: — the 

 Church a pack of " hireling Levites," who, like the 

 wolf in the fable, are intent upon destroying harm- 

 less lambs for drinking below them in the stream; 

 carping at other men's religion, not with a view 

 to saving their souls, but damning their estates, 

 which they procure by every species of fraud and 

 corruption ; rogues, indeed, who stand at nothing, 

 and find it but a pleasant quarry to compass, by 

 every means, the destruction of their neighbours 

 both in estates and reputation ; and " whose sway 

 had been dismally evident in these three nations 

 from the year 16JJ7." Doubtless, this strain of 

 invective would have been found personally ap- 

 plicable, and collectively unpalatable to the ruling 

 powers ; to screen "himself therefore from the 



consequences, our Romanist thus concludes his 

 diatribe : 



" To proceed any farther in particularising the guilty, 

 were to tread too near ou the iieels of truth, and liave my 

 brains dash'd out for a reward ; or hinder, at least, many 

 to read this little book whereunto I invite them with the 

 great attractive of Kempis his name, that famous vir- 

 tuous follower of Christ's life ; mine, for the printer's sake, 

 shall be conceal'd. However, reader," continues he, " if 

 anything here content thine ears, afford me, a wretched 

 sinner, for my requital thy prayers, not thy praise : these 

 may prejudice, those cannot ! " 



Can you, or any of the correspondents of " N". 

 & Q.," throw light upon this mysterious man ? 

 I knew of the existence of this book before it 

 lately fell into my hands, and had come to the 

 conclusion that the title had been tampered with, 

 and that it was identical with The Christian Pat- 

 tern paraphrased, of Luke Milbourne ; but the 

 two are now before me, and are totally different 

 in every respect except the introductory matter ; 

 and although the nonjuring Milbourne deals 

 equally in the abusive, he confines it to " some 

 gentlemen who, by the religion they profess, claim 

 kindred with heathens, Jews, and Mahometans;" 

 these are the wits, with Dryden at their head, who 

 were such thorns in the flesh of the worthy Pres- 

 byter. " I have," he adds, " some obligations to 

 these, which in due time, God willing, I shall 

 faithfully discharge." My reason for naming the 

 version of Milbourne is however to remark, that 

 although the anonymous paraphrase was pub- 

 lished in 1694, and that of the translator of Virgil 

 in 1697 ; the former was unknown to the latter; 

 and Milbourne seems to be under the impression, 

 that, with the exception of Corneille's, up to that 

 period his was the only poetical version of Thomas 

 h, Kempis. J. O. 



Artificial Teeth. — What is the date of the in- 

 troduction of artificial teeth Into England or 

 Europe? I have an almanac for 1709 which 

 contains an advertisement by "John Watts, ope- 

 rator, who applies himself wholly to the said busi- 

 ness, and lives in Racket Court, Fleet Street." 



T. WiLsow. 



Halifax. 



New Silkworm. — In Piedmont they have for 

 the last four years a new silkworm, which lives, 

 not on the mulberry leaves, but on the Ricinus 

 Communis, from the leaves of which castor oil 

 (Oglio de Ricino) is extracted. Of course, this is 

 a great advantage, as the plant is easy to culti- 

 tivate; and there is no plague with it as with the 

 mulberry, and the silk is much better It is 

 called Bombex Cynthia, and is a native of Bengal, 

 from whence they have imported it into the south 

 of France, and use the silk at Lyons. Now I 



