494 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 86. 



churches, was in use. It would appear that in 

 1527 the heW-icheel was known, and the bell 

 swung ou gudgeons ("gogon"), as it does now ; 

 but it may be doubted whether it was the same 

 full wheel which we have. In a paper on Bells, 

 read before the Bristol and West of Encland 

 Architectural Society, Dec. 10, 1849, by the'llev. 

 II. T. Ellacombe, and which has since been pub- 

 lished in that Society's Report, I observe that two 

 interesting plates of the bell-wheels are given : 

 one being the old half-wheel, as still to be s'een at 

 Dunchideock in Devonshire ; and the other the 

 present whole wheel, which Mv. Ellacombe con- 

 siders was a new thing in 1(377. 



Supposing that only the half-wheel was known 

 in^ 1725, still the leverage which it afforded in 

 raising the bell was the same as is given by its 

 modern substitute. AVhat then was the still ear- 

 lier way of obtaining the momentum necessary to 

 peal -ringing ? A drawing of an ancient campanile 

 turret which I have, exhibits a short piece of 

 wood stuck at right angles into the beam to which 

 the bell is fastened ; and from the end of this, the 

 rope depends, and would, of course, when pulled, 

 easily swin^ the bell on its axle. 



Observation in old belfries, or illustrations in 

 old books, would possibly throw light upon my 

 Query, which is, What were the modes of hanging 

 church bells for ringing, prior to the invention of 

 the bell-wheel? Alfred Gatty. 



English Suppliics. — Can any of your readers 

 furnish a list of the best specimens of the En- 

 glish sapphie metre in the English langu;ige? — 

 Every one is familiar with Canning's Needy Knife 

 Grinder, in the poetry of the Anti-Jacobin, but I 

 do not believe Dr. Watts's beautiful sapphie lines 

 are as well known as they deserve. I have not a 

 copy of them by me, but I give the first stanza 

 from memory : 



" When the fierce North Wind, with his airy forces, 

 Rears up the Baltic to a foaming fury, 

 And the red lightning, with a storm of hail, comes 

 Kushing amain down." 



Fm. 

 JSqnesfrian Statues. — I have heard it remarked 

 that, _with the solitary exception of the Duke of 

 Wellington, there is no instance of an equestrian 

 statuebeing erected to a subject, in Her Majesty's 

 dominions. Is this so ? Em. 



Plarjs in_ Churches .—In Cooke's Leicestershire 

 the following is given as an extract from the 

 church register of Syston : 



" 1602, paid to Lord Morden's players because they 

 should not play in the church, 1 li''." 



AVho was this Lord Morden ; and did the char- 

 tered players claim the right of their predecessors, 



the " moralitie men," to use the church for their 

 representations? "Was the 12rf. given as a bribe 

 to the players to induce them to forego their 

 claim, or expended in the hire of a place more in 

 accordance with the parish authorities' ideas of 

 propriety ? Emun. 



" The Bight Divine of Kings to govern wrong." 

 — Where is this oft-quoted line to be found, and 

 who is the author of it ? It is marked as a quo- 

 tation in Pope's Dunciad, book iv. S. Wwson. 



6'erius, where situated f — In requesting the in- 

 formation upon a point in geograjihy with which 

 this note concludes, I shall not, I trust, incur cen- 

 sure for introducing it by quoting a few of the 

 lines in which the poet Vida conveys to parents 

 his advice upon the choice of a master for their 

 sons : 



" Interca moniti vos hie audite, pareiites, 

 Q.ua;rendus rector de millibus, eque legendus, 

 Sicubl Musarum studiis insignis et arte, 

 Qui curas dulces, cari(|ue parentis amorem 

 Induat, atque velit blandum perferre laborem. 

 ***** 



Ille autcm, pueri cui credita cura colendi, 

 Artibus egregiis, in prlmis optet amari, 

 Atque odium cari super omnia vitet alumni." 



I cannot pass unnoticed his counsel to masters : 



" Ponite crudeles iras, et flagra, magistri, 

 Fceda ministeria, atque minis absislite acerbis. 

 Ne mihi ne, quasso, pueruui quis verbera cogat 

 Dura pati ; neque eiiim lacrynias, aut dulcis alumni 

 Ferre queunt Musa; gemitus, a;gra!que receduut, 

 llliusque cadunt anirai," &c. 



Vida exemplifies the consequences of the furious 

 character and raging conduct of a master, in the 

 harsh treatment of his defenceless flock {tiu-ba in- 

 valii/a), in tlie instance of a lovely boy, who, for- 

 getful of fear, 



" Post habuit ludo jussos cdiscere versus." 



The terror excited by tlie savage pedagogue 

 throws the poor little fellow into a fatal illness : 

 " Quo subito terrore puer miserabiiis acri 

 Corripitur morbo ; parvo is post tempore vitam 

 Crescentem blanda coeli sub luce reliquit. 

 Hlum populifer Padus, ilium Serins imis 

 Seriadesiiue diu Nymphaj flevere sub undis." 



Fida: Poet., lib. i. 216. &c. 



My inquiry is after Serizis Seriadesque Nymphaj. 

 Where is the Serius ? What is the Italian name 

 for this (I presume) tributary of the Po ? 



F. W. F. 



Hollander s Austerity, See — Will you, or some 

 one of your readers, kindly explain the allusions 

 in the following passage ? — 



" Mr. Secretary Win%vood is dead, whereby you see 

 Death expects no Complement, otherwise he would cer- 

 tainly have kept it at the Staff's End, with a kind of 

 Hollander's austerity." [Sir Th. Went worth to Sir 



