360 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 52. 



stronjj wish to possess it, 1 gaA'e it to him, and I 

 presume tliiit it remained in his library at his 

 death. What I speak of happened full twenty 

 yenrs ago. 



The ''Critical Eevieir of the date I refer to (I 

 am pretty confident that it was of the early part 

 of 1817) confained a good deal of information re- 

 garding Fairfax and his productions ; but it did 

 not mention one fiict of importance to show the 

 early estimation and popularity of his translation 

 of the Germalemme Liherota, viz., that although 

 it was published in 1600, it is repeatedly quoted 

 in England's Ptn-iiassus, printed in the same year, 

 and containing extracts, as most people are aware, 

 from all the distinguished poets of that day, and 

 somewhat earlier. Tliis circumstance ascertains 

 also that Fairfax's Tasso came out before Eng- 

 land'}! Pariias.ws, although both bear the date of 

 1600 on the title-pages. 



The Hermit of Holtpobt. 



Fair-fax's Tasso. — In my copy of the second 

 edition, 1624, the first stanza of the first book is 

 given precisely as in Mr. Knight's reprint. But in 

 the very beautiful edition published by Bensley, 

 1817, and edited by Mr. Singer, that stanza which 

 T. N. terms an " elegant variation," introduces the 

 canto. The editor's preface states that the ^rst 

 edition, 1600, had been followed in that re-im- 

 pression, " admitting some few corrections of errors, 

 and emendations of orthography, from the second, 

 printed in 1624." Of this second edition it is re- 

 marked that " it appears to have been revised by 

 some careful corrector of the press ; yet nothing 

 material is changed but the orthography of par- 

 ticular words." No notice is taken of the difference 

 between the first stanza of the second edition, and 

 that of the first edition, identical with the cancel 

 in T. X.'s copy. Possibly, both the copies of these 

 two editions, which happened to come under the 

 editor's notice, had this cancel, and so presented 

 no variation from each other. If, however, all the 

 copies of the second edition contained the stanza 

 as given by Mr. Knight, and JMr. Singei-'s opinion 

 (drawn from the dedicatory verses to Prince 

 Charles, prefixed to some copies of the second 

 edition) that this edition was seen, and probably 

 corrected, bj' the author, be well-founded, it would 

 seem to follow that Fairfax finally preferred the 

 stanza in this its first and later state, and as it 

 appears in Mr. Knight's edition. If the "cancel- 

 slip" be an "elegant" variation, may not the 

 original stanza be regarded as more vigorous ? 



G. A.S. 



Fairfax's Tasso. — In the elegant edition pub- 

 lished by Mr. Singer in 1817, tiie first stanza is 

 printed according to the variation noticed by your 

 correspondent T^ N. (Vol. ii,, p. 325.), "I sing the 

 warre," &.C., and the original stanza is printed at 

 the end ,of the first book, with a note stating that 



the pasted slip is found " in most copies " of the 

 first edition. My copy contains no such pecu- 

 liarity, but it is of course possible that the pasted 

 slip may have been removed. The second edition 

 (folio, London, 1624) has tlie stanza in the form 

 in which it originally stood in the first, beginning 

 " The sacred armies," &c. J. F. M. 



ALE-DKA-KEE. — EUGENE ABAM. 

 (Vol. ii,, p. 310.) 



Your correspondent D. asks whether the word 

 ale-diaper was ever in " good use." The only 

 place in which I can find it is Bailey's Dictimtary, 

 where it occiu-s thus : 



" Ale-draper (a humorous name), a seller of malt 

 liquors ; an alehouse-keeper or victualler." 



The humour, I suppose, consists in applying to 

 one kind of occupatif)n ttat which was commonly 

 given to another ; in taking draper from the ser- 

 vice of cloth, and pressing it by force into that of oZe. 

 That it was ever considered as a word of respect- 

 able standing, can hardly be imagined. In such 

 writers as Tom Brown it is most likely to occur. 



1. With reference to Eugene Aram, D.'s re- 

 mark about the over-ingeniousness of Jiis defence 

 has been anticipated by Paley, who was present 

 at the trial, and said that Aram would not have 

 been hanged had he less studiously defended him- 

 self. That laboiu'ed address to the jury must 

 have employed his thoughts fi)r years. I should 

 like very much to know whether any one has ever 

 attempted to verify the references which he gives 

 to the cases in which he says that bones have been 

 found. The style of the speech has been much 

 praised, but is surely not very surprising when it 

 is considered that Johi>son l>ad previously written 

 the Humbler. The comj)osition wants ease. 



2. Ever since I began to i-ead about Eugene 

 Aram, and that is some years ago, I have had a 

 settled opinion that his attainments, and perhaps 

 his abilities, had been greatly overrated. He was 

 doubtless a man of considerable mental powers; 

 but we cannot but suspect that had he acquired 

 all the learning which is attributed to him, he 

 would have attracted more notice than it was his 

 fortune to obtain. 



3. Mr. Scatchard's attempts, and all other 

 attempts, to clear him from "blood-guilty stain," 

 must be equally futile, for he himself confessed 

 his guilt while he was in priscai. 



Some time ago, a dozen years or more, there 

 appeared in the Literary Gazette, as a communi- 

 cation from a correspondent, an anecdote c<^)n- 

 cerning Aram, which well deserves to be repeated. 

 Din-ing the time that he was in the school of 

 Lynn, it was the custom for the head-master, at 

 the termination of every half-year, to invite the 

 parents,, of the boys to an entertainment, and all 



