Jan. 28. 1854.] 



NOTES Ato QUERIES. 



73 



will perceive the remains of a very good camp." 

 "Yes, Sir," said I, in the words of Lovel, "I do 

 see something like a ditch indistinctly marked" 

 Sir Walter burst into a hearty fit of laughter, 

 saying, "Ay, my friends do call it the Kuirn of 

 Kitnprunes." 



I trust your readers will forgive me for record- 

 ing these trivialities ; but Mr. Dtjnkin's Query 

 recalled them to my mind so forcibly after the 

 lapse of many years, that I venture to obtrude 

 them upon your notice. 



Before I conclude this paper, I may be per-" 

 mitted to make reference to a series of letters 

 addressed to Richard Heber, Esq., M.P., by Mr. 

 Adolphus, son of the historian of the reign of 

 George III. In the conversation referred to, Sir 

 Walter Scott mentioned these letters in terms of 

 high approbation, — terms not undeserved ; for 

 a more elegant, ingenious, and convincing piece of 

 literary criticism never issued from the press. 



At that time I had not seen it ; but in reference 

 to the passage in question, the coincidence of 

 which in the poem and the romance has not es- 

 caped the critic's acuteness, Mr. Adolphus makes 

 the following remarks : 



" A refined speculator might perhaps conceive that 

 so glaring a repetition could not be the effect of inad- 

 vertence, but that the novelist, induced by some tran- 

 sient whim or caprice, had intentionally appropriated 

 the verses of his great cotemporary. I cannot, how- 

 ever, imagine any motive for such a proceeding, more 

 especially as it must appear somewhat unhandsome to 

 take possession of another man's lines for the mere 

 purpose of exhibiting them in a ridiculous light. Nor 

 does it seem to me at all unlikely that the author of 

 Marmion, supposing him to be also the author of Rob 

 Roy, should have unconsciously repeated himself in this 

 instance, for we find him more than once apologising 

 in his avowed works for having, in the haste of com- 

 position, snatched up expressions, and even whole lines, 

 of other writers." 



The anecdote above recorded proves the justice 

 and refinement of the critic's speculation. 



A BoRDERER. 



THOMAS CAMPBELL. 



In a small 8vo. volume before me, entitled The 

 History of the Stage : in ivhich is included the 

 Theatrical Characters of the most celebrated Actors 

 who have adorned the Theatre, §-c. ; with the The- 

 atrical Life of Mr. Colly Cibber (Lond. 1742), I 

 notice a very remarkable similarity of thought and 

 expression between its author and the late Thomas 

 Campbell. The dramatic author writes thus : 



" But with whatever strength of nature we see the 

 poet show at once the philosopher and the hero, yet 

 the image of the actor's excellence will still he imper- 

 fect to you, unless language could put colours into 

 words to paint the voice with. 



" The most that a Vandyke can arrive at is to make 

 his portraits of great persons seem to think ; a Shak- 

 speare goes farther yet, and tells you what his picture 

 thought ; a Betterton steps beyond them both, and 

 calls them from the grave to breathe and be themselves 

 again, in feature, speech, and motion. When the skil- 

 ful actor shows you all these powers at once united, 

 and gratifies at once your eye, your ear, your under- 

 standing, — to conceive the pleasure arising from such 

 harmony you must have been present at it ; 'tis not to 

 be told you." 



Now compare this passage with the following 

 lines from Mr. Campbell's " Valedictory Stanzas 

 to J. P. Kemble, Esq.," composed for a public 

 meeting held June, 1817 : 



" His was the spell o'er hearts 

 Which only acting lends, 

 The youngest of the Sister Arts, 

 Where all their beauty blends : 

 For ill can Poetry express 



Full many a tone of thought sublime ; 

 And Painting, mute and motionless, 



Steals but a glance of time. 

 But by the mighty actor brought, 

 Illusion's perfect triumphs come, — 

 ■ Verse ceases to be airy thought, 

 And Sculpture to be dumb." 



Serviens. 



FOLK LORE. 



Legends of the Co. Clare (Vol. viii., p. 436.). — 

 The Lake of Inchiquin, one legend of which has 

 been already published in "N. & Q.," is said to 

 have been once a populous and nourishing city, 

 and still on a calm night you may see the towers 

 and 3pires gleaming through the clear wave. But 

 for some dreadful and unabsolved crime, a holy 

 man of those days whelmed all beneath the deep 

 waters. The " dark spirit " of its king, who ruled 

 also over the surrounding country, resides in a 

 cavern in one of the hills which border the lake, 

 and once every seven years at midnight he issues 

 forth mounted on his white charger, and urges 

 him at full speed over hill and crag, until he has 

 completed the circuit of the lake ; and thus he is 

 to continue, till the silver hoofs of his steed are 

 worn out, when the curse will be removed, and the 

 city reappear in all its splendour. The cave ex- 

 tends nearly a mile under the hill ; the entrance is 

 low and gloomy, but the roof rises to a consider- 

 able height for about half the distance, and then 

 sinks down to a narrow passage, which leads into 

 a somewhat lower division of the cave. The 

 darkness, and the numbers of bats which flap their 

 wings in the face of the explorer, and whirl round 

 his taper, fail not to impress him with a sensation 

 of awe. Erancis Robert Davies. 



Slow-icorm Superstition (Vol. viii., pp. 33. 479.). 

 — I believe that the superstition alluded to is 



