June 7. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



445 



lining of an old cover of a book, and thus escape<l 

 destruction. It is surmounted, at tlie left hand 

 corner, by a small woodcut representing St. 

 George slaying the dragon, and on the right, by a 

 shield, which, with part of the margin, has been 

 cut away by the bookbinder. But few words are 

 wanting, which are supplied by conjecture in Italics. 



It appears from Staveley's History of Churches 

 in England, p. 99., that the monks were sent up 

 and down the country, with briefs of a similar 

 character, to gather contributions of the people on 

 these occasions, and that the king's letter was 

 sometimes obtained, in order that they might prove 

 more effeotual. 



It is most probable that the collectors were 

 authorised to grant special indulgences propor- 

 tionate to the value of the contribution. No 

 comment is necessary upon these proceedings, from 

 which at least the Reformation relieved the people, 

 and placed pious benefactions upon purer and 

 better motives. Miso-dolos. 



" Unto all inaner and synguler Cristen people be- 

 hotdynge or herynge these present letters shall come 

 gretynge. 



" Our holy Fathers, xii. Cardynallys of Rome 

 chosen by the mercy of Almighty God and by the 

 Auctorite of these appostles Peter and Paula, to all 

 and synguler cristen people of eyther kynde, trewely 

 penytent and confessyd, and deuoutly gyue to the 

 churcbe of oure lady and Seynt George the martyr in 

 Sowthwerke, protector and defender of this Realme of 

 Englande, any tliyng or belpe with any parte of theyr 

 gnodes to the Reparaeions or maynteyninge of the 

 seruyce of almighty God done in y^ same place, 

 as gyuynge any boke, belle, or lyght, or any other 

 churclily Ornamentis, they shall haue of eche of us 

 Cardinallys syngulerly aforesayd a. C. dayes of pardon. 

 JJ" Also there is founded in the same parysshe churche 

 aforesayd, iii. Chauntre preestis perpetually to praye in 

 the sayd churche for the Bretherne and Systers of the 

 same Fraternyte, and for the soules of them that be 

 departed, and for all cristen soules. And also iiii. 

 tymes by the yere Placebo and Dirige, with xiili 

 preestis and clerkes, with iii. solempne Masses, one of 

 our Lady, another of Seynt George, with a Masse of 

 Requiem. C Moreouer our holy Fathers, Cardy- 

 nallys of Rome aforesayd. hathe graunted the pardons 

 followethe to all theym that be Bretherne and Systers 

 of the same Fraternyte at euery of the dayes fullowynge, 

 that is to say, the firste sonday after the feest of Seynt 

 John Baptyst, on the whiche the same churche was 

 halowed, xii. C. dayes of pardon. CL Also the feest 

 of .Seynt Myehael y" Archangell, xii. C. dayes of pardon. 

 C Also the second sonday in Lent, xii. C. dayes of 

 pardon. C Also good Frydaye, the whiche d.iye Criste 

 sulferyd his passion, xii. C. dayes of pardon. O Also 

 Tewisday in the wytson weke, xii. C. dayes of pardon. 

 O .^nd aKo at euery feeste of our lordeCris<e syngulerly 

 by himselfe, from the firste euynsoiige to the seconde 

 euynsonge iiiclusyuely, xii. C. dayes of pardon. 

 CE Also my lorde Cardynall and Clwiunceller of Eng- 

 lande hathe gyuen a C. dayes of pardon. 



" CT The summe of the masses that is sayd and 

 songe within the same Parysshe Churche of Seynt 

 George, is am. and xliiii. 



" (p[ God Saue the Kynge." 



GKAY S PLAGIARISMS. 



Your correspondent Varro (Vol. iii., p. 206.) 

 rejects as a plagiarism in Gray the instance quoted 

 by me from a note in Byron (Vol. iii., p. 35.), on 

 the ground that Gray has himself expressly stated 

 that the passage was " an irnitiifion " of the one 

 in Dante. I always thought that in literature, 

 as in other things, some thefts were acknow- 

 ledged and others unacknowledged, and that the 

 only difference between them was, that, while the 

 acknowledgment went to extenuate the offence, 

 it the more completely established the fact of 

 the appropriation. A great many actual borrow- 

 ings, but for such acknowledgment, might pass for 

 coincidences. " On pent se rencontrer," as the 

 Chevalier Ramsay said on a similar occasion. 



The object, however, of this Note is not to shake 

 Varro's belief in the impeccability of Gray, for 

 whose genius I entertain the highest admiration 

 and respect, but to show your readei's that the 

 imputation of plagiarism against that poet is not 

 wholly unfounded. First, we have the well-known 

 line in his poem of The Bard,— 



" Give ample room and verge enough," — 

 which is shown to have been appropriated from 

 ihe following passage in Dryden's tragedy of Don 

 Sebastian : 



" Let fortune empty her whole quiver on me ; 

 I have a soul that, like an ample shield. 

 Can take in all, and verge enough for more." 

 To this I shall add the famous apothegm at the 

 close of the following stanzas, in his Ode On a 

 Prospect of Eton College : 



" Yet, ah ! why should they know their fate, 

 Since sorrow never comes too late. 

 And happiness too swiftly flies; 



Where ignorance is bliss, 



'Tis folly to be wise." 

 The same thought is expressed by Sir W. Dave- 

 nant in the lines : 



" Then ask not bodies doom'd to die 

 To what abode they go : 

 Since knowledge is but sorrow's spy, 

 'Tis better not to know." 



But the source of Gray's apothegm is still more 

 obviously traceable to these lines in Prior : 

 " Seeing aright we see our woes ; 



Then what avails us to have eyes ? 

 From ignorance our comfort flows. 

 The only wretched are the wise," 



A third sample in Gray is borrowed from Milton. 

 The latter, in speaking of the Deity, has this 

 beautiful image : 



" Dark with excessive light thy skirts appear." 



