June 21. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



495 



H. Wot ton, Nov. 8. 1617, Strafford's Letters and 

 Despatches, vol. i. p. 5.] 



C. p. Ph * * *. 



Brother Jonathan. — Why is, and when first was, 

 (bis fraternal cognomen bestowed upon the United 

 States of America? Is it strictly applicable to the 

 whole of the Union, or only to those states which 

 were settled and peopled by the Puritan fathers ? 



Henry Campkin. 



Authorship of the " Groves of Blarney." — Can any 

 one inform me when, and by whom, the ludicrous 

 ballad, entitled the Gi-oves of Blarney., was com- 

 posed, and where it may be found. Everybody 

 knows the lines which describe " Cupid and Venus 

 and old Nicodemus, all standing out in the open 

 air." E. V. 



Carnaby. — What is the derivation and meaning 

 of this word, as the name of a square or street ? 



Arun. 



Death of DeatVs Painter. — Most persons have 

 heard of the story of an Italian painter who em- 

 bodied the idea of Death on the canvass so truth- 

 fully, that the contemplation of it caused his own 

 death. I always thought it was fabulous, till I 

 met with it in the translation of Vasari's Lives of 

 the Painters, vol. ii. p. 305., now being published 

 in Bohn's Standard Library. The name of Fiviz- 

 zano is there given to the painter, and the follow- 

 ing epigram is said to have been inscribed beneath 

 the picture : — 



" Me veram pictor diviiius mente recepit. 

 Admota est operi dehide perita manus. 

 Dumque opera in facto defigit lumina pictor, 



Intentus nimiuiu, palluit et moritar. 

 Viva igitur sum mors, non mortua mortis imago 

 Si fungor, quo mors fungitur officio." 

 Which may be thus translated : — 



Me witli such truth the painter's mind discerned. 



While with such skilful hand the work he plied, 

 That when to view his finished work he turned. 

 With horror stricken, he grew pale, and died. 

 Sure 1 am living Death, not Death's dead shade, 

 That do Death's work, and am like Death obeyed. 



Can you refer me to any authority for the story ? 



J. C. H. 



Finsbury. 



Book Plates. — I have been some years collect- 

 ing book plates with a view latterly of writing A 

 History of Book Plates, if I can find time to do so. 

 Several years ago, in a paper which was printed 

 in tiie Oxford Heraldic Society's Report, I sug- 

 gested 1700 as their earliest known date. I am 

 glad to have an opportunity of mentioning that 

 paper for the sake of saying, that I made some 

 mistakes in it. Mr. Bnrgon on seeing it said, 

 in a following report, that he had seen a book 

 plate dated 1698. I have since ol>tained one or 

 two dated in that year. I aiu anxious to know 



from any of your readers whether they have seen 

 any English book plate dated before 1698. I am 

 inclined to think that foreign book plates are to 

 be found of an earlier date. I have some, unfor- 

 tunately not dated, which I think are earlier. 

 There is no doubt, however, that in this country 

 at least they did not become general till after that 

 date. If I live to publish the little work which I 

 meditate, I will give all the information which I 

 can produce on the subject. Daniel Parsons. 



Querelle cF Allemand. — The phrase, " faire une 

 querelle d'Allemand," means, as your readers are 

 aware, to pick a quarrel with a person for the 

 mere pleasure of quarrelling : and the earliest in- 

 stance of its application, that occurs to me, will 

 be found in one of Du Vair's essays, where, 

 speaking of the virtues of some of his predecessors 

 in the office of " chancelier," be says : 



" Apres avoir longuement et fidelement servi la 

 patrie, on leur dresse des querelles d'Allemand, et de 

 fausses accusations pour les bannir des affaires." 



Is the origin of this expression connected with 

 any particular occurrence in history ; or has it 

 arisen from any proi^eness to quarrel, which might 

 be said to be inherent in the national character of 

 the Germans ? Henry H. Breen. 



St. Lucia, May, 1851. 



Bassenet of Eaton. — Edward Bassenet, the first 

 married Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin, and who, 

 in the words of Swift, "surrendered the deanery 

 to that beast Hen. VIII.," was of a family seated 

 at Eaton, in Denbighshire. He bad four sons, 

 Ilichard, AVilli.am, John, and George ; on whom 

 he settled the Irish property which he acquired 

 at the surrender, and probably what he held at 

 Eaton. (See Mason's St. Patrick's, p. 151.) 



Can any of your correspondents inform me if 

 this family be still in existence, and in possession? 

 or if not, bow soon it fiiiled ? From the notices 

 given by Mason, it seems probable that the eldest 

 son died without issue ; but even this is not cer- 

 tain, and beyond this I have no clue. D. X. 



Dumore Castle, or the Petrified Fort. — -Can any 

 of your valued contributors trace the origin of 

 this ancient fortress, which is situated on a peak 

 of the Grampian Hills, seven nxiles north-east from 

 Crieff, immediately al)Ove the romantic glen of 

 Almond, so much spoken of in AVordswortb's 

 poems as the biu'ial-place of Ossian. The fort 

 has the appearance of a large circus ring, around 

 which are scattered the remains of this once re- 

 markable stronghold, and which to every appear- 

 ance have been burned to an extensive degree. 

 Tradition assigns it to be the sjx>t in which the 

 Caledonians so nobly defended the further j)ro- 

 gress northward of the Romans ; and also that 

 it was the custom in those days, fi)r the purpose of 

 making their places of defence more secure, to build 



