July 20. 1850.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



117 



" 'H 56 Tov avBpwKov ^uxv "^ore Srjrrov flfioTOT?) Kara- 

 (patverai, Kai Tore ti TUf ixeWoyrwu irpoopa." * 



Diodorus Siculus, again, has produced great 

 authorities on this subject: — 



" Hudayopai & SojUios, Kai rives frepot twv iraKataiv 

 <l>v(TiK<iii', aTTf<pr]vavTo ras i^^x"^ ''^^'' "■vdpoiiriDV vTvap\(iu 

 aBavaroxis, aKo\ovOws Se Tif toffxari rovTcp Kai irpoyi- 

 yvoKTKeiv avTas to ^eWovra, Kad' bv av Kaipov ev tj) t«- 

 \fvTTi TOV euro rou aw/jtaros x<«'P'<''/*<"' 'itoiwyTai."'\ 



From the ancient writers I yet wish to add one 

 more authority ; and I do so especially, because the 

 doctrine of the Stagirite is therein recorded. 

 Sextus Empiricus writes, — 



" 'H if uxi; 'pil(rtu ApicTTOTeAris, iTpofj.avTevfTai Kai irpoa- 

 yupevei to fifWuvra — ef rif Kara Oavarov x'<'/"r60'floi ruv 

 <Ttt)fiaTWV. " J 



Without encroaching further upon the space of 

 this periodical by multiplying evidence corrobora- 

 tive of the same fact, 1 will content myself by 

 drawing the attention of the reader to our own 

 great poet and philosopher, Shakspeare, whose 

 subtle genius and intuitive knmvledge of human 

 nature render his opinions on all such subjects of 

 peculiar value. Thus in Richard II., Act ii. sc. 1., 

 the dying Gaunt, alluding to his nepliew, the young 

 and self-willed king, exclaims, — 



" Methinks I am a prophet new inspired ; 

 And thus, expiring, do foretel of lilm." 



Again, in Henry IV., Part I., Act v. sc. 4., the 

 brave Percy, when in the agonies of death, conveys 

 the same idea in the following words : — 

 " O, I could prophesy, 

 But that the earthy and cold hand of death 

 Lies on my tongue." 



Reckoning, therefore, from the time of Jacob, 

 this belief, whether with or without foundation, 

 has been maintained upwards of 3500 years. It 

 was grounded on the assumed fact, that the soul 

 became divine in the same ratio as its connection 

 with the body was loosened or destroyed. In 

 sleep, the unity is weakened but not ended : 

 hence, in sleep, the material being dead, tlie im- 

 material, or divine principle, wanders unguided, 

 like a gentle breeze over the unconscious strings 

 of an iEolian harp ; and according to the health or 

 disease of the body are pleasing visions or horrid 

 phantoms (agri somiiia, as Horace) present to the 



* That time, indeed, tlie soul of man appears to be in 

 a manner divine, for to a certain extent it foresees 

 things which are about to happen. 



f Pythagoras the Sainian, and some others of the an- 

 cient philoso[)licrs, showed that the souls of men were 

 immortal, and that, when they were on the point of 

 separating from the body, they possessed a knowledge 

 of futurity. 



t 'I'he soul, says Aristotle, when on the point of tak- 

 ing its dep.'irture from the body, foretells and prophesies 

 things about to haiipen. 



mind of the sleeper. Before death, the soul, or 

 immaterial principle, is, as it were, on the confines 

 of two worlds, and may possess at the same moment 

 a power which is both prospective and retrospec- 

 tive. At that time its connection with the body 

 being merely nominal, it partakes of that perfectly 

 pure, ethereal, and exalted nature {quod nuilto 

 magis faciei post 7nortem quum omnino corpora ex- 

 cesserit) which is designed for it hereafter. 



As the question is an interesting one, I conclude 

 by asking, through the medium of the " Notes 

 AND Queries," if a belief in this power of pro- 

 phesy before death be known to exist at the pre- 

 sent day ? Augustus Gubst. 



London, July 8. 



Divination at 3Iarriages. — The following prac- 

 tices are very prevalent at marriages in these dis- 

 tricts ; and as 1 do not find them noticed by Brand 

 in the last edition of his Popular Antiquities, they 

 may perhaps be thought worthy a place in the 

 " Notes and Queries." 



1. Put a wedding ring into the joosse^, and after 

 serving it out, the unmarried person whose cup 

 contains the ring will be the first of the company 

 to be married. 



2. Make a common flat cake of flour, water, 

 currants, &c., and put therein a wedding ring and 

 a sixpence. When the company is about to retire 

 on the wedding-day, the cake must be broken and 

 distributed amongst ihe unmarried females. She 

 who gets the ring in her portion of the cake will 

 shortly be married, and the one who gets the six- 

 pence will die an old maid. T. T. W. 



liuruley, July 9. 1850. 



FRANCIS LENTON THE POET. 



In a MS. obituary of the seventeenth century, 

 preserved at Staunton Hall, Leicestershire, I 

 found the following : — 



" May 12. 1642. This day died Francis Lenton, of 

 Lincoln's Inn, Gent." 



This entry undoubtedly relates to the author of 

 three very rare poetical tracts: 1. The Young 

 Gallant sWhirligigg, 16"29 ; 2. The Lines of Court 

 Anagi-ammatist, 1G34; 3. Gi-eat Brittain' s Beauties, 

 1638. In the dedication to Sir Julius Cfesar, pre- 

 fixed to the first-named work, the writer speaks 

 of having " once belonged to the Lines of Court" 

 and says he was " no usuall poetizer, but, to barre 

 idlenesse, imployed that little talent the Muses 

 conferr d upon him in this little tract." Sir 

 Egerton Brydges supi)Oscd the copy of The 

 Young Gallant's Whi?-ligigg preserved in the 

 library of Sion College to be unique; but this is 

 not the case, as the writer knows of two others, — 

 one at Staunton Hall, and another at Tixall Priory 

 in Stailbrdshire. It has been reprinted by Mr. 



