June 21. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



501 



Appendix to the Biogi-aphical Sketch ; and lias 

 printed for the first time upwards of 3000 lines 

 from the poetical MSS. 



AVith regard to Mr. Boyd's poetry, the follow- 

 ing account from Neil's Biographical Sketch may 

 be accounted satisfactory, with reference to the 

 lines often quoted as from Zacharie Boyd's Bible : 



" The work, however, which has given the greatest 

 public notoriety to bis name as a poetical writer, is that 

 generally called ' Zacharie Boyd's Bible,' said to be a 

 metrical version of the whole Scriptures — an arduous 

 task indeed, if ever he contemplated tlie undertaking. 

 But such a book as this has existed only in name, not 

 in reality ; at least, it is nowhere to he found among his 

 works. The only one approaching to it is a metrical 

 version of the ' Four Evangels,' which proceeds through 

 the Gospels of the New Testament by chapter and 



verse And, among other works, he produced 



two volumes under the title of' Zioit's Flowers,' and it 

 is these which are usually shown as his Bible, and have 

 received that designation. These volumes consist of a 

 collection of Poems from select subjects in Scripture 

 History, such as Jonah, Jephta, David and Goliah, &c., 

 &c., rendered into the dramatic form, in which various 

 ' Speakers' are introduced, and where the prominent 

 parts of the Scripture narrative are brought forward 

 and amplified. We have a pretty close parallel to these 

 in the ' Ancient Mysteries' of the thirteenth or four- 

 teenth centuries, and in the Sacred Dramas of more 

 modern writers. 



" It is from this work, Zion's Flowers, that the 

 various quotations which have occasioned so much 

 mirth to the public are said to have been made, btit 

 not one of these wJiich are in circulation are to be found 

 there: the only ' oenuine extract from these MSS. is 

 that printed by Pennant.'" — JBiog. Sketch, p. 14. et 

 seq. 



The "genuine extract" will be found in Pen- 

 nant's Tow- in Scotland, vol. ii. p. 156. 



PiiiLOBODius, " Notes and Queries," Vol. i., 

 p. 406., will find the four lines he quotes given 

 ditferently there. S. AVmson. 



P.S. To show the extent of Mr. Boyd's poetical 

 perseverance, I subjoin a note of the contents of 

 one of his poetical JNISS. : — tlie Flowers of Z ion, 

 generally called Zacharie Boyd's Bible. 



David and Goliah contains about 850 lines. 



Historic of Jonah - - - 11.30 ,, 



■ of Samson - - iilOO „ 



of Jephta - - 7'JO „ 



The Flood of Noah - - 8G0 „ 



The Tower of Babylon - - 930 „ 



The Destruction of Sodom - 2000 „ 

 Abram commanded to sacrifice 



Isaac ... - 840 „ 



Historic of the Baptist - - 800 „ 



'llie Fall of Adam - - - 900 „ 



Abel murdered . . - 900 „ 



I'haraoli's 'J'yranny and Death 2480 „ 



Ilistorie of Jacob and Esau - 7,-30 „ 



— ^— of Jacob and Laban 1400 „ 



en ") 



lultery J 



1615 



Jacob and Esau reconciled contains about 720 lines. 

 Dinah ravislied by Shechem - - 440 



Joseph and his Bretliren 

 Joseph tempted to Adu 



Nebuchadnezzar's Fierie Furnace - 3280 



Also at the end — 

 The World's Vanities ( Divided into 8 Branches: — 

 1". Strength, 2"''. Honour, S"'. Riches, 4"'. 

 Beautie, 5'^ Pleasiue, 6'\ "Wisdom, 7*\ Chil- 

 dern. S"^. Long Life) contains about 550 lines. 

 The Popish Powder Plot ( The Speakers — 

 Christ — King James — Elizabeth — Peeres of 

 England — The Lords appointed to trye the 

 Traitors — The Earls of Nottingham, Sutfolke, 

 the Lord Monteagle — The SherriU'e of Wor- 

 cester — The Devill — the Jesuit Gerrard — 

 Robert Catesby — Tliomas Percy, Guy Faux, 

 &c. &c. &c.) contains about ] 560 lines. 



3Xe^\ici to fHiiinr <^\itxiti. 



Deathi how symbolised (Vol. iii., p. 450.). — I 

 beg to inform your correspondent S. T. D., that 

 in an old 4to. volume in my possession, which treats 

 principally of the topic about which he is inquiring, 

 there are several ensravinas of Death as a skeleton. 

 In one he is armed with a bow and arrow, an axe, 

 and a scythe notched as a saw. In another he has 

 an axe only : while in a third, in which he is an- 

 nouncing his dissolution to a man on his deathbed, 

 he has a spade in his left h.and, while with his right 

 he points upwards; and on his head is a wreath of 

 thorns with flowers standing up out of it. I do 

 not know whether the book is a rare one or not. 

 It is in black letter, and at the end is the date 

 1515. The title, which is a woodcut, rather cu- 

 rious, is — Sermones Johannis Geilerii Keisersjjergii, 

 §'c., ^'C. There are also six other woodcuts, after 

 the manner of Albert Durer, very quaint and 

 curious. The volume is in its original vellum, 

 over oak boards, finely tooled, and has once been 

 bound at the corners and clasped with metal. In 

 ]MS. on the top of the title are the words "Monast. 

 S. Udalrici Aug'^." Though in very good con- 

 dition, the black-letter type is so curiously crabbed 

 and abbreviated that I have not had time to do 

 more than ascertain that it seems a very singular 

 and a learned work. H. C. H. 



Rectory, Hereford, June 8. 1851. 



[The author of the curious work in the possession 

 of our correspondent is John Geiler, called also Gayler, 

 Keisersi)crgius, an eminent Swiss divine, who was bcrn 

 in 1445, and died in 1510. His works in German and 

 Latin are books of rare occurrence, and consist princi- 

 pally of Sermons. Oberlin publislied in 178G a curious 

 life of (Jciler. For the titles of his various works, 

 consult Panzer's Annates Typograpluci, vol. vi.] 



Death (Vol. iii., p. 450.). — Has S. T. D. con- 

 sulted the excellent treatise of Lessing, " Wie die 

 Alten den Tod gebildet ? " It is illustrated with 



