108 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 67. 



to take an observation -n-ith his astrolabe, to ascer- 

 tain it he were operating in a liu'ky hour. By his 

 astrolabe, therefore, the barber could find the time 

 of day; this, however, I confess I could not pre- 

 tend to find with the astrolabe in question. Ring 

 dials, as I am informed, are in demand to go out 

 to India, where they are in use among surveyors 

 and military men ; and, no doubt, such instruments 

 as the astrolabe above-mentioned, which, though 

 pretty old, does not pretend to be an antique, are 

 in use among the educated of the natives all over 

 the East. Robert Snow. 



I send you the particulars'of twojbrass ring dials, 

 seeing they are claiming some notice from your 

 learned correspondents, and having recently 

 bought them of a dealer in old metals. 



7-16ths of an inch wide, 1 and 7-16tbs over, 



1-3 



3-8ths wide, and 11 orer, 



5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 S 

 12 H 

 8 7 6 5 W 4 3 2 1 12 W. 



J. Clarke. 

 Easton, Jan. 27. 1851. 



WTNIFREDA. 



(Vol. ii., p. 519. Vol. iii., p. 27.) 



Subjoined is a brief notice of the various 

 printed forms in which the old song called " Wini- 

 Ireda" has, from time to time, been brought be- 

 fore the public. I am indebted for these particu- 

 lars to a kind friend in the British Museum, but 

 we have hitherto failed in discovering the author. 



1. The song first occurs as a translation from 

 the ancient British language in D.Lewis's Collec- 

 tion of Miscellaneous Poems, 8vo. 1726, vol. i., 

 p. 53., pointed out by your correspondent, Mr. 

 HiCKSON. (Vol. ii., p. 519.) 



2ndly. In \Yatts' Musical Miscellany, vol. vi., 

 p. 198. Lond. 1731 ; it is with the tune, "Eveillez 

 vous ma belle Endormie," and is called " Winifreda, 

 from the ancient language." 



3dly. As an engraved song entitled " Colin's 

 Address;" the words by the Earl of Chesterfield, 

 set by W. Yates, 1752. The air begins "Away, 

 &c." 



4thly. In 1755, 8 vo., appeared Ze^fers concerning 

 Taste, anonymously, but by John Gilbert Cooper; 

 in Letter XIV. pp. 95, 96, he says, — 



" It was not in my power then to amuse you with 

 any poetry of my own composition, I shall now lake 

 the liberty to send you, without any apology, an old 

 son;? wrote above a hundred years ago by the happy 

 bridegroom himself." 



Cooper then praises the poem, and prints it at 

 length. 



5thly. In 1765, Dr. Percy first published his 

 Reliques, with the song, as copied from Lewis. 



6thly. We find an engraved song, entitled 

 " Winifreda, an Address to Conjugal Love," trans- 

 lated from the ancient British language; set to 

 music by Signor Giordani, 1780. The air begins, 

 " Away, &c." 



7thly. In Ritson's printed Songs as by Gilbert 

 Cooper, Park's edition, 1813, vol. i., p. 281., with a 

 note by the editor referring to Aikin's Vocal Bio- 

 graphy, p. 152. ; and mentioning that in the Edin- 

 burgh Review, vol. xi., p. 37. " Winifreda" is attri- 

 buted to the late Mr. Stephens, meaning George 

 Steevens. 



8thly. In Campbell's British Poems, 1819, 

 vol. vi., p. 93., with a Life of John Gilbert Cooper, 

 to whom Campbell attributes the authorship, 

 stating that he was born in 1723, and died in 

 1769 ; he was, consequently, only three years old 

 when the poem was printed, which would settle 

 the question, even if his disclaimer had been 

 merely a trick to deceive his friend. 



Lord Chesterfield's claim is hardly worth notice ; 

 his name seems to have been used to promote the 

 sale of the "Engraven old Song;" and no one can 

 doubt that he would gladly have avowed a pro- 

 duction which would have added to his literary 

 fame. 



Whether the problem will ever be solved, 

 seems very doubtful ; but I am disposed to think 

 that the song belongs to a much earlier period, 

 and that it should be looked for amongst the 

 works of those poets of whom Izaak Walton has 

 left us such agreeable reminiscences; ami whose 

 siin])licity and moral tone are in keeping with 

 those sentiments of good feeling to which " AVini- 

 freda" owes its principal attraction. 



Bratbrooke. 



Audley End. 



Winifreda (Vol.iii., p. 27.). — LordBratbrooke 



has revived a Query which I instituted above 

 forty years ago (see Gent.^s Magazine for 1808, 

 vol. Ixxviii., Part i. p. 129.). The corres]>ondent, 

 C. K., who replied to my letter in the same 

 magazine, mentioned 1;he appearance of this song 

 in Dodsley's Letters on Taste (3rd edition, 1757.) 

 These letters, being edited by John Gilbert Cooper, 

 doubtless led Aikin, in his collection of songs, and 

 Park, in his edition of Ritson's English Songs, to 

 ascribe it to Cooper. That writer speaks of it as 

 an " old song," and with such warm praise, that 

 we may fixirly suppose it was not his own produc- 

 tion. C. K. adds, from his own knowledge, that 

 about the middle of the eighteenth century, he well 

 remembered a Welsh clergyman repeating the 

 lines with spirit and pathos, and asserting that 

 they were written by a native of Wales. The 

 name of Winifreda gives countenance to this ; and 

 the publicati(jn by David Lewis, in 1726, referred 

 to by Bishop Percy, as that in which it first ap- 



