Kov. 30. 1850.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



451 



Kttle " Miscellancons Poems" .itfaclied fo the 

 volume entitled Dramatic Scenes. The quotation 

 is not quite accurate, the last two words of the 

 first lino, " ami look'd," beinp; carried into tlie 

 second, and thus destroying the metre of both. 

 The Dr. Armstrong alluiled to by J. JM. B. is, I 

 suppose, a modern celebrity of whom I must plead 

 guilty of being ignorant. The lines could, of 

 course, only occur in the writings of the Dr. Arm- 

 strong who wrote The Art of Preserving Healthy 

 and who was the friend of the poet Thomson, 

 through the interpolation of some modern editor, 

 within the last thirty years. Barry Cornwall's 

 poems have never been collected, in this country 

 at least ; and as the volume which cfintaiiis the one 

 in question is to be met with only occasionally, on 

 the book stalls, I send you the entire poem : — 



THE MAGDALEN. 



" Ant) woman who had wept her loveliest dower 

 There hid her broken heart. 



Pints. " I do rememher it. Twas such a face 

 As Guido would have loved to dwell upon; 

 But oh ! the touches of his pencil never 

 Could paint her perfect beauty. In her home 

 (Which once she did desert) I saw licr last ; 

 Propp'd up by pillows, swelling round her like 

 Soft heaps of snow, yielding, and fit to bear ■ 

 Her faded figure. I observed lier well : 

 Her brow was fair, but very pale, and look'd 

 Like stainless marble ; a touch methought would soil 

 Its whiteness. O'er her temple one blue vein 

 Ran like a tendril ; one through her shadowy hand 

 Branch'd like the fibre of a leaf — away. 

 Her mouth was tremulous, and her check wore then 

 A flush of i)eautlful vermilion. 

 But more like art than nature ; and her eye 

 Spoke as became the youthful Magdalen, 

 Dying and broken-hearted." 



G. J. De "Wilde. 



DodcTs Church History (Yn\. ii., p. 347).— G. R., 



who is good enou'.;h to speak of my edition of this 

 work in a very llattering manner, presumes, and 

 not unnaturally, from the lengthened period which 

 has elapsed since the appeaj-ance of the last, or 

 fifth volume, that its continuation "has for some 

 reason or other been abandoned." I am glad, 

 however, to inform him that such is not the case. 

 Health, and other uncontrollable circumstances, 

 have unfortunately interfered to impede the pro- 

 gress of the work ; but that it is not abandoned, 

 1 hope, ere long, to give to him and to the public 

 a practical evidence. !M. A. TiEKNEr. 



Arundel, Nov. 1850. 



Blachwall Dochs (Vol. i., i)p. 141. 220.).— These, 

 111 Pepy.s' time, probably includeil more than the 

 dry docks, known as Wigram's aiul (i recti's; e. ^., 

 ill Sir Tiioiiias Braine's Letler-i, dated 2DLh Sept. 

 IGGG, we reail : 



" Ulackwall Iialli the largest wet dock la England, 



and belongs chiefly to the East India Company." — 

 Sir Thos. Brame's Letters, edit. Wilkin, t. i. p. 135. 



W. Dn. 



Wives of Ecclesiastics (Vol. i., p. 149.). — In 

 Archdeacon Hale's Curious Precedents in Ci-iminal 

 Causes, p. 23., under 1490, and in the parish of 

 S. jSicholas, Coldharbour, London, we read : 



" Nichohii Colde.-^Johannes Warwick quondam cle- 

 ricus parochie ibidem adnlteravit cum Kosa Williamson 

 et ob amorem illius mutilavit et quasi interfecit uxo- 

 rem propriam." 



We may remark that the'delinqnent is not called 

 Dominus, but " clericus parochie." 



W. Dn. 



Stephens' Sermons (Vol. i., p. 334.). — The ser- 

 mons referred to by BAi.i.iojr,iE>(siS, with a sugges- 

 tion that they maybe those of the Rev. W. Stephens, 

 were ijreached by Rev. Samuel Johnson, vicar of 

 Great, and rector of Little Torrington. Stephens 

 was subseqtiently vicar of St. Andrew's, Plymouth, 

 a living then in the gift of the corporation. 



W. Dn. 



Saying of Montaigne (Vol. ii., p. 278.). — I have 

 seen this attributed to Fenelon, and, I think, to an 

 English divine ; but have no " Note," and regret I 

 cannot recollect the name. Este. 



Scala Cceli (Vol. ii., p. 285.). — They are not m 

 the church of St. John Lateran, but in a separate 

 portico-like building. They form the middle flight, 

 up which the faithful ascend on their knees, and 

 descend by ordinary stairs on each side. These 

 stairs are of stone (or marble), and are covered 

 with boards, so that only parts are visible. They 

 are said to have formed part of Pilate's house at 

 Jerusalem ; but I believe there are other claimants 

 for the honour. One or two brass sUirs, inlaid in 

 the stone, are said to mark the spots where Christ's 

 tears fell. Este, 



Birmingham, Nov. 1.3. 1850. 



Red Hand — Holt Famihj — Aston Church 

 (Vol. ii., p. 241.). — The tradition is not, I be- 

 live, of very ancient date. It is stated that one of 

 the Holt family murdered his cook, and was after- 

 wards coni[)elled to adopt the red hand in his arms. 

 It is, however, obviously only the "Ulster badge" 

 of baronetcy. I have never heard any further 

 particulars of the tradition. Este. 



Swearing by Swans (Vol. ii., p. 392.). — 

 " Toison d'or parut ensuitc ; il apportait im faisan 

 vivant, orne d'un collier d'or; alors le due Plulippe, 

 suivant I'ancien usage qu'avaicnt les seigneurs de prefer 

 leurs serments sur (jnelque noble oiscau, jura (|u'il 

 irait en |)ersonne dans I'Oi ient combnttre le chef dcs 

 S;irr.;sins." iSrc, &c. — Ilistiyire des Dues ite llourgcgne, 

 par I''. Valentin, troisieme edition, p. '2;55. 8vo. Tour's, 

 IS'IG. 



E. J. M. 



O-xford. 



