Feb. 10. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



101 



The Every Night Book. By the Author of The Cigar. 

 12ino. 



The Fourth Estate ; or the moral effect of the Press. 

 By a Student at Law.* Loudon, Ridgway. 8vo. 1839. 



W1U.1AM Bates. 



Birmingham. 



P. S. — The above Queries were transmitted to 

 " N. & Q." before the appearance of the paper on 

 the " Identification of Anonymous Books," VoL xi., 

 p. 59. I have only to adil that 1 entirely coincide 

 with the remarks appended by our Editor, and 

 look forward with much interest to tlie develop- 

 ment of the plan which he has iu contemplation. 



SCRAPS FROM AN OLD COMMON-PLACE BOOK. 



(Vol. xi., p. 23.) 



The Citizen of the World, letter cvi., speaks of 

 his havinnf, after long lucubration, devised a me- 

 thod " by which a man miixlit do himself and his 

 deceased patron justice, without being under the 

 hateful reproach of self-conviction," and gives his 



elegy "On the Death of the Riglit Hon ," 



as a specimen of a poem " in which the flattery is 

 perfectly fine, and yet the poet perfectly inno- 

 cent." Though Goldsmitli may be the first who 

 adopted the expedient in elegiac poetry, yet this 

 compromise between trutli and flattery had been 

 made in amatory verse before his time, as the 

 following lines will sliow. 



The terminations of two or three of the stanzas 

 seem to be taken fi'om old ballads, that of tlie 

 third especially being a part of a song, of which 

 all that I remember is, that its wit was of the very 

 coarsest kind. 



To his Mistress. 

 " love, whose power and might 

 None ever yet withstood. 

 Thou forcest mee to write, 



Come turne about Robin Hood. 

 " Sole mistress of my rest, 

 Let mee this far presume, 

 To make this bold request, 

 A black patch for the rhtime. 

 " Your tresses finely wrought, 

 Lilie to a golden snsu-e. 

 My silly heart hath caught, 

 As Moss did catch his mare. 

 " What is't I would not doe 



To purchase one good smile? 

 Bid mee to China goe. 



And I'll stand still the while. 

 " I know y' I shall dye, 



Love so my lieart bewitches ; 

 It makes mee houri}'^ cry. 

 Oh how viy elbow itches. 

 " Teares soe oreflow my sight 

 Witii waves of daily weeping, 

 Tiiat in the carefull night 

 / talie no rest for sleeping. 



[* Frederick Knight Hunt.] 



" But since my simple merrits 

 Her loving looks nmst lack, 

 Come cheer my vital spirritta 

 With claret wine and sack. 



"And since that all reliefe 



And comfort doth forsake mee, 

 I'll hang myselfe for griefe. 

 And then the DeviU take mee." 



I forbear to copy " her aunswere," which has 

 neither wit nor delicacy. 



Wlio is the author of the following graceful 

 lines ? 



" Wrong not, deare empress of my heart, 

 The merit of true passion. 

 By thinking hee can feele no smart. 

 That sues lor no compassion. 



^' For since that I doe sue to serve 

 A saint of such perfection, 

 Whome all desire, yet none deserve 

 A place in her affection, 



" I'd rather chuse to wante releife, 

 Than hazard y^ revealing ; 

 Where glory recommends y« greefe, 

 Dispare dissuades y^ healing. 



" Since mj' desires doe aime too high 

 For any mortall lover, 

 And reason cannot make them dj'e, 

 Discretion shall them cover. 



** Silence in love doth show more woe 

 Than words, though none so witty. 

 The beggar that is dumb, you kuowe, 

 Deserveth double pity." 



Polperro, Cornwall. 



T. Q. C. 



THE " ALMANACK ROYAL DE FRANCE." 



The Almanack royal de France, which has been 

 briefly described on a late occasion, deserves a 

 separate note; and our alliance with France, an 

 event at which I heartily rejoice, recommends this 

 voluminous series to the keepers of public li- 

 braries. A few stray volumes of it are as much 

 as we ever meet with in private collections. 



Brunet omits this im|)<)rtant publication, and so 

 does Ebert. I proceed to describe it in the words 

 of a well-informed writer : 



" U Almanach roi/al de France, un des plus anciens et 

 des plus utiles, remonte h I'annee 1679 oil il recjut ses 

 premii^res lettres de privilege. Son contenu se borriait 

 alors an calendrier proprement dit. a quelques observa- 

 tions sur les phases de la lune, h I'indicatioji des jours de 

 depart des courriers, des fetes du palais, des principales 

 foires et des villes oil Ton battait inonnaie. On y ajouta, 

 depuis 1699, les naissances des princes et princesses de 

 I'Europe, le clerge de France, I'epee, la robe et la finance. 

 Aujourd'hui on y trouve le tableau ofiiciel de tous les 

 principaux employes, et I'etat des gouvernemens etrangers 

 tels quils sont reconnus par la France. Suecessivement 

 agraudi, il excfede deja mille pages d'un grand format." — 

 J. H. ScnxrrzLER, 1833. 



It must be added, in proof of the alleged im- 

 portance of this publication, that the proprietors 



