316 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
[No. 20. 
[This remarkable superstition forms the subject of 
a communication to the Atheneum (No. 990.) of 17th 
Oct. 4186: in a comment upon which it is there stated 
“that it originates from the belief which fermerly pre- 
vailed that the soul flew out of the mouth of the dying 
in the likeness of a bird.” ] 
—_$—_—_—___——— 
PASSAGE IN L’ALLEGRO — NOTES ON MILTON’S 
MINOR POEMS. 
The suggestion of your correspondent B. H. K. 
(No. 18. p. 286.) has been anticipated by Mr. 
Warton, who, in his Ist edition of Mi/ton’s Poems, 
notices a similar interpretation of the passage, as 
the suggestion of an unknown correspondent... In 
the 2nd edition this correspondent is mentioned 
to have been Mr. Headley; and the editor discusses 
the point in a note of upwards of a page, illus- 
trating it with parallel passages, and an analysis 
of the context. As the book is one of ready access, 
Ineed not trouble you with a quotation; but I 
may mention that Mr. Gilchrist has added, in a 
MS. note in my copy, that “ Among the poems 
appended to those of Lord Surrey and Sir Thomas 
Wyatt, is one of considerable elegance in the same 
measure as those of Milton, nor is it unlike in its 
subject : the following lines may throw some light 
on the present inquiry (p. 200. ed. 1717) :— 
£ On hills then shewe the ewe and lambe 
And every young one with his damme; 
Then lovers walke and tell their tale 
Both of their bliss and of their bale.’ ” 
[The passage is at p. 57. of the Ist vol. of Dr. Nott’s 
edition. | 
Tam glad of the present opportunity of men- 
tioning, for the benefit of all whom it may concern, 
that my copy of the Ist edition of Warton’s Milton 
is enriched with numerous notes and parallel pas- 
sages by Mr. Gilchrist; and a copy of the 2nd 
edition has been similarly, but less copiously, 
illustrated by Mr. Dunston. I shall be glad if 
my mention of them should lead to their being 
made useful — or, if you wish it, I shall be happy 
to transcribe the notes for occasional insertion in 
our Journal. 
May I be allowed to suggest that similar notifi- 
cations fo intending editors would have some 
tendency to the same good results which may be 
expected from the announcements by intending 
editors suggested by your correspondent R. R. at 
p- 243? There must be hundreds of volumes en- 
riched by the notes of scholars, such as those I 
have had occasion to mention, which are dispersed 
in private libraries, and might, by means of similar 
announcements, be made available to the cause of 
literature. J. F. M. 
{We are mueh indebted to our valued correspondent 
for the offer he has so kindly made us of the MS. 
Notes in question, which we shall gladly receive; and 
also for his extremely useful suggestion of the ad- 
vantage of such notifications to intending editors, as he 
describes. } 
Milton's L’ Allegro. — Your correspondent (No. 
18. p. 286.) has been anticipated by Headley, 
who suggested, long ago, that the word tale here 
implied the numbering sheep. When Handel 
composed his beautiful air, “ Let me wander not 
unseen,” he plainly regarded this word in the 
more poetical sense. The song breathes the 
shepherd's tale of dove (perhaps addressed to 
“the milkmaid singing blithe”) far more than it 
conveys a dull computation of the number of 
“his fleecy care.” Despite of that excellent com- 
mentator, Tom Warton, who adopted Headley’s 
suggestion, it is to be hoped that readers will 
continue, though it may be in error, to under- 
stand the line as your correspondent used to do; 
an amatory téte-a-téte is surely better suited to 
“the hawthorn in the dale,” than either mental 
arithmetic, or the study of Cocker. J.H. M. 
DOCTOR DANIEL DOVE OF DONCASTER AND HIS 
HORSE NOBS—GOLDEN AGE OF MAGAZINES. 
It appears from the preface to the last edition 
of The Doctor, &e. that the story of Dr. Daniel 
Dove and his horse was one well known in 
Southey’s domestic circle. 
A letter is there quoted from Mrs. Southey 
(then Miss Caroline Bowles), in which she says: — 
“ There is a story of Dr. D. D. of D. and of his 
horse Nobs, which has I believe been made into a 
Hawker’s Book. Coleridge used to tell it, and the 
humour lay in making it as long-winded as possible ; 
it suited, however, my long-windedness better than his, 
and I was frequently called upon for it by those who 
enjoyed it, and sometimes I volunteered it, when Cole- 
ridge protested against its being told.” 
While upon the subject of the Doctor may I 
direct your attention to the following passage on 
p- 269. of the one volume edition, which you will 
admit in many respects accurately describes your 
“ Nores AND QueRIEs”? 
“ Our Doctor flourished in the golden age of maga- 
zines, when their pages were filled with voluntary 
contributions from men who never aimed at dazzling 
the public, but each came with his serap of information 
or his humble question, or his hard problem, or his 
attempt in verse. 
“ In those days A was an antiquary, and wrote 
articles upon altars and abbeys, and architecture. B 
made a blunder, which C eorrected. D demonstrated 
that E was in error, and that F was wrong in philo- 
logy, and neither philosopher nor physician, though he 
affected to be both. G was a genealogist. H was an 
herald who helped him. I was an inquisitive inquirer 
who found reason for suspecting J to be a Jesuit. M 
was a mathematician. N noted the weather, O ob- 
served the stars. P was a poet who peddled in pas- 
