368 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 289. 



" Are we, in the name of the gods, wrapped into a trance 

 or ecstasy ? " See « N. & Q.," Vol. ix., p. 543.] 



Meti-icul Versions of the Book •of Psalms. — 

 Archdeacon Churton, in the preface to his Cleve- 

 land Psalter, asserts that 



" It is said that there have beea between sixty and 

 seventy metrical versions of the Book of Psalms produce'd 

 in England during the last three centuries, without 

 reckoning those translations of select portions of the book 

 or of single Psalms made by writers who never undertook 

 the task of a complete version." 



Can you or any of your correspondents refer me 

 to a list of the authors of these versions, or assist 

 in collecting their names ? Geo. E. Freke. 



[Oar correspondent may consult with advantage the 

 following useful work : The Psalmists of Great Britcdn. 

 Records, Biographical and Literary, of upwards of One 

 Hundred and Fifty Authors, who have rendered the 

 Whole or Parts of the Book of Psalms into English 

 Verse, with Specimens of the Different Versions, and a 

 General Introduction. By John Holland, 2 vols. 8vo. 

 1843.] 



Goldsmith's ^^ Deserted Village." — Can you in- 

 form me the name of the village supposed to be 

 made the subject of Goldsmith's beautiful poem, 

 the Deserted Village f Argo. 



[Lissoy (or Lishoy) near Ballymahon, where the poet's 

 brother, a clergyman, had his living, claims the honour 

 of being the spot from which the localities of the Deserted 

 Village were derived. The church which tops the neigh- 

 bouring hill, the mill, and the brook, are still pointed 

 out ; and a hawthorn has suffered the penalty of poetical 

 celebrit}', being cut to pieces by those admirers of the 

 bard, who desired to have classical tooth-pick cases and 

 tobacco-stoppers. Much of this supposed locality may be 

 fanciful ; but it is a pleasing tribute to tlie poet in the 

 land of his fathers. — Sir Walter Scott, Misc. Prose Works, 

 vol. iii. p. 2.50., edit. 1834; and vol. i. p. 293., edit. 1841.] 



Quotation wanted. — 



" Incest ! O name it not ! 

 The very mention shakes my inmost soul ; 

 The gods are startled in their peaceful mansions, 

 And nature sickens at the shocking sound." 



Smith. 



A friend has sent me the above quotation, which 

 is so given in Johnson's Dictionary under " Startle." 

 He inquired of me who this Smith was, and in 

 what work of his the lines occur. Being unable 

 to answer his question, I forward it to the Editor 

 of " N. & Q.," who will probably be able to 

 answer it at once. Should he not, some of his 

 correspondents no doubt will. E. II. D. D. 



[The p>assage is quoted from Edmund Smith's tragedy, 

 Phadra and Hippolitus, 4to. [1709] p. 55. See a notice 

 of the author in Baker's Biographia Dramatica.'} 



" The Apostate Protestant," ^c. — 



"The Apostate Protestant, a Letter to a Friend, oc- 

 casioned by the late reprinting of a Jesuites Book about 

 Succession to the Crown of England, pretended to have 

 be^n written by R. Doleman, &c. 1682." 



Is the author of this antidote to Father Parsons 



known ? The conference had fallen into the hands 

 of the writer's friend, who, startled by its horrid 

 and traitorous assertions, submits it for the critical 

 inspection of the author. 



" I am apt to mistrust," writes the Protestant advocate, 

 " that you parted with the book chiefly out of fear of 

 keeping such a lewd and dangerous companion in your 

 closet, especially since you confess that 'twas brought to 

 your hands as it were by stealth, being happily seized on 

 by one of his Majesty's officers. 'Tis a dangerous book 

 indeeil, and without doubt is published and handed up 

 and down to serve a turn in these ticklish times, whea 

 some ambitious men have taken pepper in the nose, and to 

 be revenged for their disappointments endeavour to make 

 another strong pass at our government, and would fain 

 hurl the world into confusion. Since you have lodged 

 the knave with me, I'll take care that for me he shall not 

 go abroad to do mischief. But yet I cannot answer your 

 commands unless I give you some account both of the 

 author and the book." 



J. o. 



[Attributed to the celebrated Roger L'Estrange in 

 Watt's Bibliotheca.'] 



MeplteiJ. 



MANZONl's ODE AND I.ORI) DERBY. 



(Vol. xi., pp. 62. 108.) 



The anecdote of B. (1), Vol. xi., p. 108., is most 

 Interesting, especially to admirers of Italian poetry, 

 and still more so to those who have attempted 

 a translation of the matchless ode referred to, 

 amongst whom I take some humble rank. The 

 feat recorded of his lordship is astounding, and 

 your correspondent's memory almost equally so, 

 in retaining line for line and word for word, two 

 stanzas delivered in company thirty -four years 

 ago ; unless, indeed, B. (1) wrote them down at 

 the time, which can scarcely be inferred from his 

 letter. For myself, I have little faith in these so- 

 called impromptus. The impromptu speeches of 

 men in parliament and at public meetings, and the 

 extempore sermons of popular preachers, are most 

 frequently prepared carefully beforehand and 

 committed to memory ; and perhaps it is not un- 

 charitable to suppose that, during the fresh popu- 

 larity of the Napoleon ode at Rome, an Englishman 

 of genius, enthusiastic in his admiration of it, 

 might have closely studied the composition and 

 diligently attempted a version of it in his own 

 language, before he produced it ore rotunda on the 

 occasion in question. The two stanzas given by 

 B. (1) are spirited and faithful; but the smooth- 

 ness of rhythm, and the correct rhymes in addi- 

 tion, make one rather sceptical about their haying 

 been dashed off at the moment without previous 

 preparation. 



Several English translations of this ode have 

 been published ; one by that accomplished scholar 

 and poet Archdeacon Wrangham ; another by 



