May 4. 1850.] 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
445 
12,430. is contained a narrative, by Sir William 
Beeston, of the descent by the French on Jamaica, 
in June, 1694; as also the copy of a Journal kept 
by Col. William Beeston from his first coming to 
Jamaica, 1655-1680. @ 
Shrew (No. 24. p.381.).—I know not whether 
it will at all help the inquiry of “ W.R.F.” to re- 
mind him that the local Dorsetshire name of the 
shrew-mouse is “ shocrop” or “shrocrop.” ‘The 
latter is the word given in Mr. Barnes’s excellent 
Glossary, but I have just applied for its name to 
two labourers, and their pronunciation of it is 
clearly the former. 
Ishould be glad to hear any conjecture as to 
the final syllable. The only folk-lore connected 
with it in this part of the country seems to be that 
long ago reported by Pennant and others, viz. 
“ Cats will kill, but not eat it.” CW. B. 
Trunck Breeches.— “ X.Y .Z.” (No. 24. p. 384) 
will also find the following in Dryden’s Transla- 
tion of Perseus: — 
“ There on the walls by Polynotu’s hand, 
The conquered Medians in ¢runk-breeches stand.” 
Certainly a very free translation. See the original, 
Sat. 3. Trunck is from the Latin truncus, cut 
short, maimed, imperfect. In the preface to 
Johnson's Dictionary we have the following :— 
*« The examples are too often injudicious truncated.” 
Vide also Shaw, Museum Liverianum, or rather 
examples given in Richardson's Dictionary. Shaw, 
in speaking of the feathers of certain birds, says, 
« They appear as if cut off transversely towards their 
ends with scissors. ‘This is a mode of termination which 
in the language of natural history is called truncated.” 
The word trunck-hose is often met with. 
Wrepsip Kooez. 
Queen's Messengers. — “ J.U.G.G.,” who in- 
quires about Queen’s messengers (No. 12. p. 186.), 
will, I think, find some such information as he 
wants in a parliamentary paper about King’s 
messengers, printed by the House of Commons in 
1845 or 1846, on the motion of Mr. Warburton. 
Something, I think, also occurs on the subject in 
the Report of the Commons’ Committee of 1844 
on the Opening of Letters in the Post-office. I am 
unable to refer to either of these documents at. 
1 
present. 
Dissenting Ministers (No. 24. p. 383.). — The 
verses representing the distinctive characteristics 
of many ministers, by allegorical resemblance to 
flowers, were written by the lady whose paternal 
name is given by your correspondent. She 
married the Rey. Joseph Brooksbank. I think 
it quite improbable that those verses were ever 
published. It seems that two of the three names 
mentioned in your description of this “ nosegay” 
are erroneous. ‘The first is indisputable, Rrcwarp 
Winter, a man of distinguished excellence, who 
died in 1799.“ Hugh Washington” is certainly 
a mistake for HugH Worruineton; but for 
“ James Jouyce” I can offer no conjecture. 
J.P.S. 
Ballad of “The Wars in France” (No. 20. 
p- 318.).— Your correspondent “‘ Nemo ” will find 
two versions of the ballad commencing, 
«“ As our king lay musing on his bed,” 
in appendices 20 and 21 to Sir Harris Nicolas’s 
History of the Battle of Agincourt, 2nd edit. They 
are not, I believe, in the first edition. I have a 
copy of the ballad myself, which I took down a 
few years ago, together with the quaint air to 
which it is sung, from the lips of an old miner in 
Derbyshire. My copy does not differ very much 
from the first of those given by Sir H, Nicolas. 
C. W.G. 
[« J. W.” (Norwich), and “ A. R.” (Kenilworth), 
have each kindly sent us a copy of the ballad. “ F.M.” 
informs us that it exists asa broadside, printed and 
sold in Aldermary Church. yard, Bow Lane, London, 
under the title of “ King Henry V., his Conquest of 
France, in Revenge for the Affront offered him by the 
French King, in sending him (instead of the tribute 
due) a ton of tennis balls.” And, lastly, the “ Rev. 
J. R. Wrerorn” has called our attention to the fact 
that it is printed in the collection of Ancient Poems, 
Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of England, edited 
ty Mr. Dixon for the Perey Society in 1846. 
Mr. Dixon’s version was taken down from the sing- 
ing of an eccentric character, known as the “ Skipton 
Minstrel,” and who used to sing it to the tune of 
“ The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood.” | 
Monody on the Death of Sir John Moore (No. 20. 
p. 820.). —This Query has brought us a number 
of communications from “ A.G.,” “J.R. W.,” 
“@. W.B.,” “R.S.,” and “ The Rev. L. Coopsr,” 
who writes as follows :— 
“The undoubted author is the late Rev. Charles 
Wolfe, a young Irishman, curate of Donoughmore, 
diocese of Armagh, who died 1823, in the 32d 
year of his age. His Life and Remains were 
edited by the Archdeacon of Clogher ; and a fifth 
edition of the vol., which is an 8vo., was published 
in 1832 by Hamilton, Adams, and Co., Paternoster 
Row. At the 25th page of the Memoir there is 
the narration of an interesting discussion between 
Lord Byron, Shelley, and others, as to the most 
perfect ode that had ever been produced. Shelley 
contended for Coleridge’s on Switzerland ; others 
named Campbell’s Hohenlinden and Lord Byron's 
Invocation in Manfred. But Lord Byron left the 
dinner-table before the cloth was removed, and 
returned with a magazine, from which he read 
this monody, which just then appeared anony- 
mously. After he had read it, he repeated the 
third stanza, and pronounced it perfect, and espe- 
cially the lines : — 
