462 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 58. 



but this has been abstracted from the only copy I 

 have seen. 



This conversion appears to have been effected 

 by the instrumentality of a dream ; and the Narra- 

 tive contains an interesting essay of some length 

 on the subject of visions, and gives an interpreta- 

 tion of the dream in (piestion. J. Sansom. 



cattrri'CiS. 



GRAY. 



■DRTDEN. — PLAYING CARDS. 



Although my question regarding Gray ar.d 

 Dodsley's Collection of Poems has only been half 

 answered, and my two Queries respecting Drydeu's 

 Absalom and Achitophel and Essay on Satire not 

 answered as all, I am not discouraged i'roni putting 

 interrogatories on other matters, in the hoi)e that 

 I may be more fortunate hereafter. On each of 

 my former inquiries I have still a word or two to 

 say, and I do not know why I should not say them 

 now. 



First, as to Gray and Dodsley : — Is the epithet 

 droning, or drony, in the first edition of the Elegy? 

 and, as my copy of Dodsley's Collection is dated 

 1748, and is said (on the half title, preceding the 

 whole title) to be " the second edition," was tiiere 

 ajirst edition in the same year, or in an earlier 

 year, or was there, in fact, no Jii-.st edition at all ? 

 This question is important, because several poeti- 

 cal productions, of undisputed excellence, originally 

 made their appearance in Dodsley's Collection. 



Next, as to Dryden's Ahsolom and Achitophel : 

 Is it known, or anywhere stated, that it was printed 

 early iu the eighteenth century as a penny or two- 

 penny chap-book, and why was it so printed ? 

 Observe, too, that it was unaccomj)anied by Tate's 

 Continuation, which, as far as a lesson to tlie lower 

 orders is concerned, was of more consequence than 

 Drydeu's portiim. It is a circumstance I did not 

 niention, but it is, nevertheless, worth a Note, that 

 in lite Key which follows the Address " to the 

 Reader," in my edition of 1708, the character of 

 Zimri (which was given by Dryden himself to the 

 Duke of Buckingham) is assigned to Lord Gray, 

 who was in truth the Caleb of the performance. 

 Is it to be taken that the publication of this chap- 

 book edition is merely a proof of the extreme popu- 

 larity of Dryden's half of the poem ? 



lyiy third unanswered Query referred to the 

 Essay on Satire, commonly attributed to LordMul- 

 grave and Dryden, but with which, as it seems to 

 me, for reasons thei-e assigned. Lord Mularave 

 could have nothing to do. Asa farther proof of 

 Dryden's sole authorship, I may here add, what I 

 have since found, that the Addendum to the first 

 volume of State Poems consists of one thus en- 

 titled: "In opposition to Mr. Dryden's £w«y ore 

 Satyr," treating it as only his : it begins, 



" Now the reformer of the court and stage, 

 The common beadle of this wilful a^e, 

 Hns with impartial hand wbipp'd sovereign sin, 

 In me it is but manners to begin." 



It sounds drolly, in our day, to hear Dryden 

 calli-d " the reformer of the court and stage," 

 especially recollecting the attack upon him made 

 just afterwards by Jeremy Collier. Then, what 

 are we to say to the std)scquent lines, attributed to 

 Prior, which advert to the cudgelling Dryden re- 

 ceived in Hose Street for his attack upon Roches- 

 ter. Prior calls his own jn'oduction A Satire on 

 the Modern Translators, where he thus speaks of 

 Dryden under his name of Bayes : — 



" But what excuse, wliat preface can atone 



For crimes wliich guilty Bayes has siiiijli/ done — 

 Bayes, whose liose Alley ambuscade enjoin'd 

 To be to vices, which he practised, kind?" 



All the contemporary evidence, with which I am 

 accjuainted, tends to establish that Lord Mulgrave, 

 instead of being the author of a satire which Dry- 

 don improved and polished, had nothing in the 

 world to do with it. Is there any evidence, not 

 contemporary, which shows the contrary ? Surely 

 this, and the other two matters to which I have 

 above adverted, are interesting literary Queries. 



Now to a sul ject tliat I care less about, and 

 upon which I am entitled, from his jniblished 

 works, to appeal to your correspondent, I\Ir. S. W. 

 Singer. It is a mere trifle, but upon a curious 

 point — the history of playing cards, which may, 

 however, attract more attention than topics that 

 relate only to such insignificant men as Thomas 

 Gray and John Dryden. 



I have before me only four, out of what I pre- 

 sunre originally consisted of fifty-two playing 

 cards, unlike any I have hitherto heard of. Each 

 of them illustrates a proverb, which is engraved at 

 the bottom of a pictorial representaticm of figures 

 and objects, and the cards consist of the ten of 

 diamonds, the ace of hearts, the seven of hearts, 

 and the eight of spades : the number is in Iloman 

 figures at the left-hand corner, and the subject, 

 a diamond, heart, and spade, at the right-hand 

 corner. I will briefly describe them sepaiately. 



The i:)roverb illustrated by the ten of diamonds 

 is " Ilee's in an ill case y' can finde no hole to 

 creepe out at;" and the engraving (upon copper) 

 represents two men, with grey heads and in black 

 gowns, in the pillory, surrounded by soldiers armed 

 \mi\\ halberds, partisans, spears, &c., of various 

 shapes, and by a crowd of men in dresses of the 

 seventeenth century. The ace of hearts illustrates 

 the proverb " Look before you leap ; " a man in a 

 hat turned up at the sides is about to leap from a 

 high bank into the waters, wherein two others are 

 already swimming : in the background is a fifth 

 man looking over the fence of a cottage. The 

 seven of hearts has engraved at the bottom of it, 



