May 31. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



423 



The Curse of Scotland (Vol. i., pp. 61. 9 0.; 

 Vol. iii., p. 22.).— 



" The queen of clubs is called in Northamptonshire 

 Queen Bess, perhaps, because that queen, history says, 

 was of a swarthy complexion ; the four of spades, Ned 

 Stokes, but why I know not ; the nine of diamonds, 

 the curse of Scotland, because every ninth monarch of 

 that nation was a bad king to his subjects. I have 

 been told by old people, that this card was so called 

 long before the Rebellicn in 1745, and therefore it 

 could not arise from the circumstance of the Duke of 

 Cumberland's sending orders, accidentally written upon 

 the card, the night be'bre the battle of CuUoden, for 

 General Campbell to give no quarter." 



The above extract from a communication to the 

 Gentlemaiis Magazine for 1791, p. 141., is quoted 

 in Mr. Singer's Researches into the History of 

 Playing Cards, p. 271.; but the reason assigned 

 by the writer does not explain why the nine of 

 diamonds should have acquired the name in (jues- 

 tion. The nine of any other suit would be equally 

 applicable. L. 



The Female Captive : a Narrative of Facts 

 which happened in Barhary in the Year 1756. 

 Written by Herself 2 vols. 12mo. Lond., 1769. — 

 Sir William Musgrave has written this note in the 

 copy which is now in the library at the British 

 Museum : 



" Tills is a true story. The lady's maiden name 

 was Marsh. Slie married Mr. Crisp, as related in (he 

 narrative. But he having failed in business went to 

 India, where she remained with her father, then agent 

 Victualler at Chatham, during which she wrote and 

 published these little volumes. On her husband's 

 success in India, she went thither to him. 



" The book having, as it is said, been bought up 

 by the lady's friends, is become very scarce." 



Y. S. 



■Pictorial Antiquities. — The following memoran- 

 dum, in the autograph of Edward, Earl of Oxford 

 (the Harleian collector), seems worth preserving : 



" A picture of Edward IV. on b'oard at Kensington. 



" A whole length of him at St. James's, in a night- 

 gown and black cap. 



" A portrait of his queen in the Ashmolean Museum 

 at Oxford. 



" Jane Shore at Eaton (^sic'). 



" Richard III. at Kensington. 



" Picture of Henry V. and his family at Mr. AVest's. 



" A picture of Mabuse at St. James's, called Al- 

 bert Durer. 



" Matthew Paris with miniatures, in the British 

 Museum. 



" William of Wickham's Crozier at Oxford. 



" Greek eiiamellers in the reign of the two Edwards. 



"An old altar-table at Chiswick; Lord Cliflbrd 

 and bis lady kneeling ; Consecration of Thomsis a 

 Uecket at Devonshire House, both by Van Eyck." 



" I'roissart illuminated, wherein is a miniature of 

 Richard II., in the Museum." 



One might have thought that these notes were 

 made for the use of Horace Walpole's History of 

 Painting; but their writer, the second Lord Oxford, 

 died in June, 1741, long before AValpole could 

 have thought of such matters. They perhaps may 

 aflbrd clues to other antiquaries. C. 



caucvi'cs. 



ENGLISH POEMS BY CONSTANTINE HUTGHENS. 



It is probable that some of your friendly cor- 

 respondents ill Holland may have it in their power 

 to indicate where the English verses of Constan- 

 tine Huvghens are to be found which he refers to 

 in his Koren Bloemen, 2''= Deel, p. 528. ed. 1672, 

 where he has given Dutch translations with the 

 following superscriptions : " Aen JofF" Utricia 

 Ogle, uyt mijn En^lesh;" and "Aen Me-Vrouwe 

 Stanhope, met mijn Heilige dagen, uyt mijn 

 Engelsh." 



Huyghens appears to have had a thorough 

 knowledge of our language, and his very interest- 

 ing volume contains translations of twenty of Dr. 

 Donne's poems, very ably rendered, considering 

 the difficulty of the task. He refers to this in his 

 address to the reader, and says that an illustrious 

 Martyr [Charles I.] many years since had de- 

 clared that he could not have believed that any 

 one could have successfully accomplished it. 

 Huyghens confesses that the Latinisms with which 

 our language abounds, had given him much to 

 wrestle with ; and that it was difficult to express 

 in pure Dutch such words as ecstasy, atomy, in- 

 fluence, legacy, alloy, &c. The first stanza of the 

 song, " Go and catch a falling Star," may perhaps 

 be acceptable to some of your readers, who may 

 not readily have access to the book : 



" Gael en vatt een Sterr in 't vallen, 

 Maeckt een' Woitel-mensch * met kind, 

 Seght waor men al den tijd die nu verby is vindt. 

 En wie des Duyvcls voet geklooft heeft in twee ballen: 

 Leert my Meereminnen hooren, 

 Leert my hoe ick 't boose booren. 

 Van den Nijd ontkommen moet, 

 En wat Wind voor-wind is voor een oprecht gomoed." 



One more examiple of his translation, from the 

 epigram on Sir Albertus Morton, may be al- 

 lowed, as it is short : 



" She first deceased ; he for a little tried 

 To live without her ; liked it not, and died." 

 " Sy stierf voor uyt : by pooghd' haer een' wijl tijd* 

 te derven, 

 Maer had geen' sin daer in, en ging oock Hggen 

 sterven." 



Considering the affinity of the languages, and 

 the frequent and constant intercourse v.>ith Hol- 



• Mandrake. 



