Jan. 21. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



53 



A CAEOL OF THE KINGS. 



According to one legend, the three sons of Noah 

 were raised from the dead to represent all mankind at 

 Bethlehem. According to another, they slept a deep 

 sleep in a cavern on Ararat until Messias was born, and 

 then an angel aroused and showed them The Southern 

 Cross, then first created to be the beacon of their way. 

 When the starry signal had fulfilled its office it went 

 on, journeying towards the south, until it reached its 

 place to bend above The Peaceful Sea in memorial of 

 the Child Jesu. 



I. 

 Three ancient men, in Bethlehem's cave, 



With awful wonder stand : 

 A Voice had call'd them from their grave 

 In some far Eastern land ! 



They lived : they trod the former earth, 

 When the old waters swell'd : — 



The ark, that womb of second birth, 

 Their house and lineage held ! 



in. 



Pale Japhet bows the knee with gold ; 



Bright Shem sweet incense brings : 

 And Ham — the myrrh his fingers hold— 



Lo ! the Three Orient Kings ! 



IV. 



Types of the total earth, they hail'd 



The signal's starry frame : — 

 Shuddering with second life, they quailM 



At the Child Jesu's name ! 



v. 



Then slow the patriarchs turn'd and trod, 



And this their parting sigh — 

 " Our eyes have seen the living God, 



And now, once more to die ! " 



H. of M. 



SIR W. SCOTT AND 5IR W. NAPIER. 



Some short time ago there appeared in The 

 Times certain letters relative to a song of Sir 

 Walter Scott in disparagement of Fox, said to have 

 been sung at the dinner given in Edinburgh on 

 the acquittal of Viscount Melville. In one letter, 

 signed " W. Napier," it is asserted, on the au- 

 thority of a lady, that Scott sang the song, which 

 gave great offence to the Whig party at the time. 



Now, I must take the liberty of declaring this 

 assertion to be incorrect. I had the honour of 

 knowing pretty intimately Sir Walter from the 

 year 1817 down to the period of his departure for 

 the_ Continent. I have been present at many con- 

 vivial meetings with him, and conversed with him 

 times without number, and he has repeatedly de- 

 clared that, although fond of music, he could not 

 sing from his boyhood, and could not even hum a 



tune so as to be intelligible to a listener. The 

 idea, therefore, of his making such a public ex- 

 hibition of himself as to sing at a public meeting, 

 is preposterous. 



But in the next place the cotemporary evidence 

 on the subject is conclusive. An account of the 

 dinner was published in the Courant newspaper, 

 and it is there stated " that one song was sung, 

 the poetry of which was said to come from the 

 muse of ' the last lay,' and was sung with ad- 

 mirable effect by the proprietor of the Ballantyne 

 Press.''' 



It is perhaps unnecessary to explain that the 

 singer was the late John Ballantyne, and I have 

 my doubts if the song referred to in the contro- 

 versy was the one sung upon the occasion. This, 

 however, is merely a|speculation arising from the 

 fact, that this was a song not included in Sir 

 Walter Scott's works, whichf upon the very highest 

 authority I have been informed was sung there, 

 but of which Lord Ellenborough, and not Charles 

 Fox, was the hero. It is entitled " Justice Law," 

 and is highly laudatory of the Archbishop of Can- 

 terbury. It has been printed in the Supplement 

 to the Court of Session Garland, p. 10., and the 

 concluding verse is as follows : 



" Then here's to the prelate of wisdom and fame, 

 Tho' true Presbyterians we'll drink to his name ; 

 Long, long may he live to teach prejudice awe, 

 And since Melville's got justice, the devil take law." 



Again I repeat this conjecture may be erroneous ; 

 but that Sir Walter never sung any song at all 

 at the meeting is, I think, beyond dispute. J. M. 



Sign of Rain. — Not far from Weobley, co. 

 Hereford, is a high hill, on the top of which is a 

 clump of trees called " Ladylift Clump," and thus 

 named in the Oi'dnance map : it is a proverbial 

 expression in the surrounding neighbourhood, that 

 when this clump is obscured with clouds, wet 

 weather soon follows ; connected with which, many 

 years since I met with the following lines, which 

 may prove interesting to many of your readers : 



« When Ladie Lift 

 Puts on her shift, 

 Shee feares a downright raine; 

 But when she dofFs it, you will finde 

 The raine is o'er, and still the winde, 

 And Phcebus shine againe." 



What is the origin of this name having been given 

 to the said clump of trees ? J. B. Whitborne. 



Communications with Iceland. — In the summer 

 of 1 851 1 directed attention to the communications 

 with Iceland. I am just informed that the Danish 

 government will send a war steamer twice next 

 summer to the Faroe Islands and to Iceland, 



