476 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 59. 



which " hath not wanted assertors from almost 

 every nation." (Sir T. Browne.) 



" Not in more swelling whiteness sails 

 Cayster's swan to western gales,* 

 When the ineloriious murmur sings 

 'Mid her slow-heav'd voluptuous wings." 



T.J. 

 Sir Thomas Herberts Memoirs. — In consequence 

 of the suggestion of A. (Vol. ii., p. 220.), I have 

 applied to the owner of Sir T. Herbert's MS. 

 account of the last days of Charles I., and the 

 answer which I have received is as follows : 



" I found the first part of Sir Thos. Herbert's MS. 

 (^56 pages) is not in the edition of Wood's Athena; 

 Lord W. has ; but I found a note in a pedigree book, 

 saying it was printed in 1702, 8vo. I suppose it can 

 be ascertained whether this is true." 



Perhaps some of your readers may know whether 

 there is such a volume in existence as that de- 

 scribed by my friend. Ai^fred Gatty. 



Portraits of Stevens and Cotton and Bumjan. — 

 Tiie plan of " Notes and Queries" appears well 

 adapted to record the change of hands into which 

 portraits of literary men may pass. I accordingly 

 offer two to your notice. 



The portrait of George Stevens, the celebrated 

 annotator on Shakspeare, who died in 1800, was 

 bequeathed by him to a relative, Mrs. Gomm of 

 Spital Square ; and at that lady's death, some years 

 after, it passed, I have reason to expect, into the 

 possession of her relative, Mr.Fince, of Bishopsgate 

 Street. I have no farther information of it. 



The portrait of Charles Cotton, by Sir Peter 

 Lely, was, at the time (1814) when Linnell took 

 a copy, and (in 1836) when Humphreys took a 

 copy, in the possession of John Berisford, Esq., 

 of Comptou House, Ashborne, Derbyshire ; and 

 the following extracts of letters will show who at 

 present possesses it : — 



" Leek, 14th July, 1842. 



♦' After Mr. Berisford's decease, I should think 

 the portrait of Cotton would fall into the hands of his 

 nephew Francis Wright, Esq., of Linton Hall, near 

 Nottingham. I am, &c. &c " 



" Linton Hall, Aug. 19. 1842. 



" Sir, — The Rev. J. Martin, of I'rinity College, 

 Cambridge, is the possessor of the portrait of Cotton 

 to which your letter alludes. I am, Dear Sir, 



" Yours, in haste, 



" F. Wright." 



I avail myself of the present opportunity to ask 

 the authority for the portrait of Bunyan appended 

 to his ever-fresh allegory. The engraved portrait 

 I have has not the name of the painter. O. W. 



* " It was an ancient notion that the music of the 

 swan was produced by its wings, and inspired by the 

 zephyr. See this subject, treated with his accustomed 

 erudition, by Mr. Jodrell, in his Illustrations of the Ion 

 of Euripides." — Bulwer's Siamese Twins. 



Sonnet : Attempting to prove that Black is 

 White. — 



" It has been said of many, they were quite 

 Prepared to prove ( I do not mean in fun) 

 That white was really black, and black was white ; 



But I believe it has not yet been done. 

 Black (Saxon, Blac) in any way to liken 



With candour may seem almost out of reach ; 

 Yet whiten is in kindred German bleichen. 



Undoubtedly identical with bleach : 

 This last verb's cognate adjective is bleak — 



Reverting to the Saxon, bleak is blsek.''' 

 A semivowel is, at the last squeak, 



All that remains such difference wide to make — 

 The hostile terms of keen antithesis 

 Brought to an E plus ultra all but kiss ! " 



Mezzotinto. 

 Nicholas Breton s Fantasticlts, 1626. — Mr. Heber 

 says, "Who has seen another copy ?" In Tanner's 

 Collection in the Bodleian Library is one copy, 

 and in the British Museum is another, the latter 

 from Mr. Bright's Collection. W. P. 



[Another copy is in the valuable collection of the 

 Rev. T. Corser. See that gentleman's communication 

 on Nicholas Breton, in our First Vol., p. 409.] 



caucriCiS. 



THE WISE MEN OF GOTHAM. 



An ill-starred town in England seems to have 

 enjoyed so unenviable a reputation for some cen- 

 turies for the folly and stupidity of its inhabitants, 

 that I am induced to send you the following 

 Query (with the reasons on which it is founded) 

 in the hope that some of your readers may be able 

 to help me to a solution. 



Query : Why have the men of Gotham been 

 long fitmous for their extreme folly ? 



My authorities are, — 



1. The Nursery Rhyme, — 



" Three wise men of Gotham 

 Went to sea in a bowl ; 

 If the bowl had been stronger. 

 My story would have been longer." 



2. Drunken Barnahys Journal (edit. London, 

 1822, p. 25.), originally printed 1774, London ; 



" Veni Gotham, ubi multos 



Si non omnes, vidi stultos. 



Nam scrutando reperi unam 



Salientein contra lunam, 



Alteram nitidam puellam 



Offerentem porco sellam." 

 " Thence to Gotham, where, sure am I, 

 If, though not all fouls, saw I many ; 

 Here a she-bull found I prancing. 

 And in moonlight nimbly dancing; 

 There another wanton mad one, 

 Who her hog was set astride on." 



* Pronounced (as black was anciently written) 

 blake. 



