372 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 80. 



be satisfactorily made out to tliose best capable 

 of judging, I cannot readily conceive of an experi- 

 ment less likely than the above to carry conviction 

 to the minds of the wholly unlearned of the rota- 

 tion of the earth. 



I perceive that B. A. C., in the Times of April 24, 

 avows his determined scepticism as to the virtue 

 of the experiment. IIobert Snow. 



jlfltnar ^ucrte^. 



William ap Jevans Descendants. — \n Burke's 

 Landed Gentry, p. 1465., mention is made of Wil- 

 liam ap Jevan, "an attendant upon Jasper Dulie of 

 Bedford, and afterwards upon Hen. VII. ; " and 

 of a son, Morgan Williams, ancestor of the Crom- 

 wells. Will some correspondent oblige by giving 

 a reference to where any account may be met with 

 of any other son, or children, to such AVilliam ap 

 Jevan, and his or their descendants ? W. P. A. 



" Geographers on Afric Downs." — Can any of 

 your correspondents tell me where these lines are 

 to be found ? — 



" So geographers on Afric downs, 

 Plant elephants instead of towns." 



They sound Hudibrastic, but I cannot find them 

 in Hudibras. A. S. 



Irish Brigade. — Can any of your correspon- 

 dents furnish any account of what were called 

 " The Capitulations of the Irish Brigades ? " These 

 Capitulations (to prevent mistakes) were simply 

 the agreements under which foreign regiments 

 entered the French service. The Swiss regiments 

 had their special "capitulations" until 1830, when 

 they ceased to be employed in France. They 

 appear to have differed in almost every regiment 

 of the Irish brigade ; the pi'ivileges of some being 

 greater than those of others. One was common 

 to all, namely, the right of trial by their officers 

 or comrades solely, and according to the laws of 

 their own country. 



Also, is there any history of the brigades pub- 

 lished ? I have heard that a Colonel Dromgoole 

 published one. Can any information be afforded 

 on that head ? K. 



Passage in Oldham. — The following lines, on 

 the virtues of " impudence," occur in that exqui- 

 site satirist, Oldham, described by Dryden as " too 

 little and too lately known : " 



" Get that great gift and talent, impudence, 

 Accomplisli'd mankind's liigliest excellence : 

 ' Tis that alone prefers, alone makes great. 

 Confers alone wealth, titles, and estate ; 

 Gains place at court, can make a fool a peer; 

 An ass a bishop ; can vil'st l)lockhead rear 

 To wear red hats, and sit in porph'ry chair : 

 'Tis learning, parts, and skill, and wit, and sense. 

 Worth, merit, honour, virtue, innocence." 



I quote this passage chiefly with reference to the 

 " porphyry chair," and with the view of ascertain- 

 ing whether the allusion has been explained in any 

 edition of Oldiiam's Poems, Does the expression 

 refer to any established use of sucli chairs by the 

 weai-ers of "red hats?" or is it intended merely 

 to convey a general idea of the suinptuousness and 

 splendour of their style of living ? 



Henry H. Breen. 



St. Lucia, March, 1851. 



Monl-de-Piete. — Can any of your readers fur- 

 nish information as to the connexion between these 

 words and the thing wliich they are used to 

 denote ? Mrs. Jameson says, in her Legends of 

 the Monastic Orders, p. 307. : 



" Another attribute of St. Bernardin's of Siena, is 

 the Monte-di-Picta, a little green hill composed of three 

 mounds, and on the top either across or a standard, on 

 which is the figure of tlie dead Saviour, usually called 

 in Italy a Pictd. St. B. is said to have been the 

 founder of the charitable institutions still called in 

 France Mnnts-de-Piete, originally for the purpose of 

 lending to the poor small sums on trifling pledges — 

 what we should now call a loan society, — and which, 

 in their commencement, were purely disinterested and 

 beneficial. In every city which he visited as a preacher, 

 he founded a Monte-di-Pieta ; and before his death, 

 these institutions had spread all over Italy and through 

 a great part of France." 



It is added in a note : 



" Although the figures holding the M. di P. are, 

 in Italian prints and pictures, styled ' San Bernardino da 

 Siena,' there is reason to presume that the honour is 

 at least shared by another worthy of the same order, 

 ' II Beato Bernardino da Feltri,' a celebrated preacher 

 at the end of the fifteenth century. Mention is made 

 of his preaching against the Jews and usurers, on the 

 miseries of the poor, and on the necessity of having a 

 Monte-di-Pietd at Florence, in a sermon delivered in 

 the church of Santa Croce in the year 1488." 



On p. 308. is a representation of the Monte-di- 

 Pieta, borne in the saint's hand. I need not 

 specify the points on which the foregoing extract 

 still leaves information to be desired. W- B. H. 



Manchester. 



Poem upon the Grave. — A. D. would be obliged 

 by being informed where to find a poem upon 

 The Grave. Two voices speak in it, and it com- 

 mences — 



" How peaceful the grave ; its quiet how deep ! 

 Its zephyrs breathe calmly, and soft is its sleep. 

 And flowerets perfume it with ether." 



The second voice replies — 

 " How lonesome the grave; how deserted and drear," 

 &c. &c 



Clocks : lichen self-striking Clocks first invented. 

 — In Bolingbroke's Ze//ers on the Study of History 



