May 5. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



347 



in fact. As it stands, I agree with Mr. Breen, 

 that it is not very easy to believe any body of 

 nuns to have seriously contemplated the consecra- 

 tion of the Host without a priest. But this was 

 the reason I asked the question. Possibly some 

 curious fact of history may lurk under the story. 

 For example, what if it should turn out that these 

 nuns had adopted some form of Protestantism, 

 and had celebrated amongst themselves some Pro- 

 testant religious services instead of the mass : 

 might not such a fact have given birth to the 

 story ? But the first thing is evidently to inquire, 

 where did the Voyageur en Suisse get it ? This is 

 my Query. J. H. T. 



(Vol. xi., p. 252.) 



The epitaph quoted by your correspondent 

 H". L. T. is not, I think,^quite correctly given, but 

 should rather be read as follows : 



" Beneath a sleeping infant lies ; 

 To earth whose body lent, 

 Hereafter shall more glorious rise. 

 But not more innocent. 

 " When the archangel's trump shall blow. 

 And souls to bodies join. 

 Millions shall wish their lives below 

 Had been as short as thine." 



This epitaph was seen in the old church at Clifton, 

 near Bristol, placed high up on the east wall of 

 the north transept, where, as a child, I have often 

 read it. On going for the express purpose of 

 looking for it, some years since, I found the church 

 rebuilt, and that these lines had disappeared. 

 They are printed in the Elegant Extracts. 



It is well known that much of the trash we 

 find in country churchyards finds its way there 

 through the medium of the stone-cutter's book of 

 verses, which is commonly handed to those who 

 are ordering a monument for them to choose such 

 as suit their taste; thence the universality of the 

 well-known stanza — 



" Afflictions sore long time I bore," &c. 

 On one occasion I found the first line cut thus : 



" Afflictions four, years I bore." 

 And while we were conjecturing what these four 

 afflictions could have been, a wag present observed 

 that he supposed they were plague, pestilence, 

 famine, and sudden death. 



Occasionally, however, lines of redeeming in- 

 terest occur. The following, on the tombstone of 

 an old man, in the churchyard of Garsington, 

 Oxon, are traditionally ascribed to Warton, pro- 

 bably upon no stronger evidence than that the 

 living belonged to his college. They are not, how- 

 ever, unworthy of him : 



" Time, which had silver'd o'er my aged head. 

 At length has rang'd me with the peaceful dead. 



One hint, gay j'outh, from dust and ashes borrow. 

 My days were many, — thine may end to-morrow." 



Passing on from this parish to the adjoining one, 

 Cuddesden, where is found Bishop Lowth's cele- 

 brated epitaph on his daughter, the churchyard 

 there offers the following lines, evidently the pro- 

 duction of a superior mind : 



" Why should I shrink at Thy command, 

 Whose love forbids mj' fears ? 

 Or tremble at Thj' gracious hand, 

 That wipes away mj' tears ? 



" No, let me rather freely yield 

 What most I prize to Thee, 

 Who never didst a good withhold, 

 Nor canst withhold, from me." 



The following, it is supposed, were never placed 

 on a tombstone, and may, perhaps, for that reason, 

 claim their first appearance, Mr. Editor, in your 

 pages. They were the production of a man of 

 bijusque and somewhat coarse exterior, but of 

 strong feeling : 



On a young lady. 



" Oh, sleep in peace, clos'd in thy narrow cell ; 

 Qh, sleep in peace, as thou wert wont to dwell ; 

 Oh, sleep in peace ; and oft the starting tear 

 Shall tell the loss of him who lingers here." J. K. 



I will conclude my dissertation by four lines, not 

 inappropriate to the subject, which appeared in 

 the pages of the Literary Gazette for June 16, 

 1827 : 



" memory ! thou ling'ring murmurer 

 Within joy's broken shell, 

 Why have I not, in losing all I lov'd, 

 Lost thee as well ? " R. R. 



Senex. 



THE QUEEN S REGIMENTAL GOAT. 



(Vol.x., p. 180. ; Vol. xi., p. 135.) 



The following interesting particulars on the 

 subject of this Query were communicated to the 

 St. Lucia Palladium in January, 1846 : 



" The Royal Welsh Fusiliers. — The 23rd regiment, or 

 Royal Welsh Fusiliers, of Which our Governor is Lieu- 

 tenant-Colonel, has, since its formation in 1688, been the 

 national corps of the principality of Wales, and the worthy 

 representative in the British army of that ancient race of 

 Cambrian heroes, whose stubborn valour so long held out 

 against one of our most warlike monarchs. Stout-hearted 

 Welshmen have ever been the Fusiliers. The colours 

 which now wave over their ranks show a goodly list of 

 well-fought and victorious fields. But long ere the 

 custom of inscribing victories on the banners of a corps 

 was adopted, the Welsh Fusiliers had many a time already 

 helped to vanquish England's foes, and to build up that 

 strong foundation of nobly-earned glory on which the 

 pillar of her warlike fame so firmly stands. The battle- 

 fields of the Boyne, Blenheim, Ramillies, and Marlbo- 

 rough's other glorious triumphs — those of the Seven 

 Years' War — Bunker's Hill, and many another spot where 

 the struggle between the two Anglo-Saxon races in the 

 arduous VVar of Independence was hottest — these famous 

 plains have each trembled under their firm and sturdy 



