June 17. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



577 



a binomial pentameter corresponding to "Per- 

 turbabantur Constantinopolitani." The Cantabs 

 immediately returned the challenge by sending 

 " Innumerabilibus sollicitudinibus." Perhaps it 

 is worthy of remark, though not evident except to 

 a Greek scholar, that the first line contains at least 

 one false quantity, for "Constantinopolitani" must 

 have the antepenultima long, as being derived 

 from iroAiTYis. The lengthening of the fourth syl- 

 lable may perhaps have been considered as a com- 

 pensation, though rather a pra-posterous one. 



Charles De la Prtme. 



I remember to have heard that the history of 

 these two lines is as follows : — The head of one of 

 our public schools having a talent for composing 

 extraordinary verses, sent the first line, " Pertur- 

 babantur Constantinopolitani," to a friend of his, 

 who was at the time the captain of another public 

 school, asking him at the same time whether he 

 could compose anything like it. The answer re- 

 turned was the second line, " Innumerabilibus 

 sollicitudinibus," — a line, in my opinion, much 

 superior to the former, as well for other reasons as 

 that it is free from any false quantity ; while, as 

 any Greek scholar will at once find out, the ante- 

 penultimate syllable of " Constantinopolitani " 

 must be long, being derived from the Greek word 

 iroKiTi\s. 



I never heard of any more lines of the same 

 description. P. A. H. 



I have always understood that once upon a 

 time the Eton boys, or those of some other public 

 school, sent the hexameter verse, " Perturbabantur 

 Constantinopolitani," to the Winchester boys, 

 challenging them to produce a pentameter verse 

 consisting of only two words, and making sense. 

 The Winchester boys added, " Innumerabilibus 

 sollicitudinibus." Wicc amicus. 



Edition of " Othello " (Vol. ix., p. 375.). — The 

 work inquired for, with the astrological (the editor 

 would have called them hieroglyphic) notes, forms 

 part of the third volume of the lunatic production 

 of Mr. Robert Deverell, which I described in 

 " Ni & Q.," Vol. ii., p. 61., entitled Discoveries in 

 Hieroglyphics and other Antiquities, 6 vols. 8vo., 

 Lond. 1813. J. P. M. 



In case it would be of any use to M. A., Mr. 

 Cole, the late lessee of the Theatre Royal, Dublin, 

 is now reader of plays (I think) to Mr. Kean at 

 the Princesses Theatre ; at all events he is con- 

 nected with that establishment. L.M.N. 



Dublin. 



Perspective (Vol. ix., pp. 300. 378.).— I shall be 

 glad of a reference to any work on Perspective 

 which treats satisfactorily of that part of the sub- 

 ject on which I made my Note. I think if Mr. 

 Ferrey will draw a lofty building on either side of 



a landscape, he will not be satisfied with its ap- 

 pearance, if he makes that side of it which is in 

 the plane of the picture perfectly rectangular. I 

 often meet with instances in which it is so drawn, 

 and they produce the effect on me of a note out of 

 time. Mr. Stilwell's observation is only par- 

 tially correct. There is one position of the eye, at 

 a fixed distance from the picture, at which all the 

 lines subtend equal angles at the eye with the 

 corresponding lines of the original landscape. But 

 a picture is not to be looked at from one point, 

 and that at, probably, an inconvenient proximity 

 to the eye. I have before me a print (in the HI. 

 Lond. News) of the interior of St. Paul's, of which 

 the dome gives about as good an idea of proportion 

 to the building, as the north part of Mercator's 

 projection of the World. The whole building is 

 depressed and top-heavy, simply because the per- 

 spective of lines in the plane of the picture is rect- 

 angular throughout. I have another interior (of 

 Winchester Cathedral, by Owen Carter), which, 

 being drawn on the same plan, gives the idea of a 

 squat tunnel, unless looked at from one point of 

 view, about eight inches from the picture. I feel 

 that drawing these interiors so as not to offend the 

 eye by either the excess or deficiency of perspec- 

 tive, is a great difficulty. But I think something 

 may be done in the way of "humouring" the per- 

 spective, and approximating in our drawing to that 

 which we know we see. The camera has thrown 

 light upon the subject. We ought not to despise 

 altogether the hints it gives us by its perhaps 

 exaggerated perspective, in the case of parallel 

 lines in the plane of the picture. I hope I may at 

 least be able to draw out some more remarks upon, 

 a subject which I cannot help thinking, with Mr. 

 Inglebt, is in an unsatisfactory and defective 

 state. G. T. Hoare. 



Tandridge. 



" Go to Bath" (Vol. ix., p. 421.).— I have little 

 doubt but that this phrase is connected with the 

 fact of Bath's being proverbially the resort of 

 beggars ; and what more natural, to one ac- 

 quainted with this fact, than to bid an importu- 

 nate applicant betake himself thither to join his 

 fellows ? See also Fuller's Worthies (co. Somer- 

 set). 



I transcribe the passage for the benefit of those 

 who have not the book at hand : 



" Beggars of Bath. — Many in that place ; some 

 natives there, others repairing thither from all parts of 

 the land ; the poor for alms, the pained for ease. 

 Whither should fowl flock in a hard frost, but to the 

 barn-door ? Here, all the two seasons, being the 

 general confluence of gentry. Indeed laws are daily 

 made to restrain beggars, and daily broken by the 

 connivance of those who make them ; it being impos- 

 sible when the hungry belly barks, and bowels sound, 

 to keep the tongue silent. And although oil of whip 



