Jan. 27. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



59 



But the game I am fond of is courting 

 A smile, from my dear Molly Rowe. 



By Thovias Dundon, Esq. 



4. 

 " In the dance, through the couples a scudding, 

 How graceful and light does she go I 

 No Englishman ever lov'd pudding 

 As 1 love my sweet Molly Kowe. 



By Mr. T. Amory. 

 5. 

 " In the dumps, when my friend says, 'How goes it? ' 

 I answer him surly, ' So, so.' 

 I'm sad, and I care not who knows it ; 

 I suffer from charming Moll Rowe. 



By William Bingham, Esq. 



C. 

 " The' formerlj- 1 was a sloven, 



For her I will turn a great beau ; 

 I'll buy a green coat to make love in, 

 And dress at my tempting Moll Rowe. 



By John O'Bourhe, Esq. 

 7. 

 " She's witty, she's lovely and airj', 

 Her bright eyes as black as a sloe ; 

 Sweet's the county of sweet Tipperary, 

 The sweetest nymph in it's Moll Kowe. 



By Oliever St. George, Esq. 



8. 

 ■ " So great and so true is my passion, 

 I kindle just like fire and tow; 

 Who's the pearl of the whole Irish nation ? 

 Arra ! who should it be but Moll Rowe ? 



By Popham, Stevens, Esq. 



9. 

 " Your shafts I have stood, Mr. Cupid, 

 And oft cry'd, ' A fig for your bow : ' 

 But the man who escapes must be stupid. 

 When you shoot from the eyes of Moll Rowe. 



By Thomas Mollinetix, Esq. 

 10. 

 " Come, fill up in bumpers your glasses, 

 And let the brown bowl overflow ; 

 Here's a health to the brightest of lasses, 

 The queen of all toasts, ]\Iolly Rowe. 



By Thomas Butler, Esq. 



" Xota bene. — When by our mutual contributions we 

 had finished our song, we all drank bumpers to Miss 

 Rowe's health, and sang the last verse in grand chorus. 



" I do not remember, in all my reading or acquaintance, 

 that such a thing was ever done before, and, perhaps, will 

 never be again. 



" All the composers of this song (except Amory) and 

 Miss Rowe are now in the grave. Here I am, round and 

 sound, by the order of Providence, for some of God's 

 adorable decrees. 



"Newton in Yorkshire, July th'8, 1773." 



IDENTIFICATION OF ANONYMOUS BOOKS. 



By one of those coincidences which are often so 

 suggestive, it has happened that shortly after 

 reading your address on the commencement of the 

 Eleventh Volume, I have had occasion to refer 

 to Mr. Bogue's useful but imperfect little volume, 



Men of the Time. In doing so I was reminded of 

 what has been objected to it as a defect, the 

 number of " unknown " names which it contains, 

 by which I mean names of men active and influ- 

 ential in their generation, but to a great part of 

 that generation almost unknown — the writers on 

 the public press. Writers of this class are too 

 much disregarded by their cotemporaries, and too 

 soon forgotten by their successors ; and the con- 

 sequence is, that of no body of men have we so 

 little knowledge as of political writers. What 

 would we not give for a succession of volumes of 

 Men of the Time, say from the commencement of 

 the last century, or even from 1760? What a 

 flood of light might occasionally be thrown upon 

 an obscure page of history by a knowledge, not 

 only of what was written upon that subject, but 

 of those by whom it had been written. If we 

 cannot now hope to discover all that we desire to 

 know, we may yet do something to supply that 

 deficiency. Let no reader of " N. & Q." think any 

 fact tliat bears upon this subject — any hint of 

 authorship, or any discovery of this kind, in any out 

 of the way corner of his reading — too insignificant 

 to be recorded, but throw it as a mite into the 

 common treasury. More especially, let him not dis- 

 regard any scrap of information tending to identify 

 the author of any pamphlet. It may be a link in 

 a chain of evidence the most important. What 

 might not Mb. Crossley, Mb. Cobney, Mr. 

 Cunningham, Db. Maitland, and many other of 

 your recognised correspondents, furnish in this 



manner ; to say nothing of Mr. , Mr, , and 



Mr. , whose pens it is not difljcult to recog- 

 nise* in your columns without their signatures, 

 and to whom the men of the last century are 

 as familiar as household words. Pray, Mr. Editor, 

 excuse this suggestion, hastily thrown out and im- 

 perfectly developed. Open your columns to this 

 important subject, and, my word for it, generations 

 yet imborn will thank me for the suggestion, and 

 " N. & Q." for having adopted and carried it out. 



Anon. 



[If we rightly understand the object of our corre- 

 spondent, viz., that we should invite contributions of all 

 facts which serve to identify the authors of political pamph- 

 lets, we readily accede to his proposal. But we desire to 

 do far more. We would not confine ourselves either to the 

 period or class of works to which our correspondent alludes. 

 VVe hope every reader of " N. & Q." who can identify the 

 author of any anonymous work upon any subject will record 

 his discovery in our columns as a contribution towards 

 that great desideratum in English literature, a Dictionary 

 of Anonymous Books. 



We may take this opportunity of stating that we have 



* We have struck out the names given by our cor- 

 respondent for the very obvious reason, that if he be right 

 in his conjectures there can be no necessity for disturbing 

 the incognito of the gentlemen to whom he alludes ; 

 while the doing so would be a manifest discourtesv. — Ed. 

 "N.&Q." 



