NOTES AND QUERIES: 



A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION 



FOR 



LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC, 



"IxniQii fQQnd, laake a note of." — Capsaik Cuttle. 



Vol. IV.— No. 90.] 



Saturday, Jqly 19. 1851. 



f Price Threepence. 

 C Stamped Edition, ^d. 



CONTENTS.: 



Notes : — I Pas« 



A Caxton Memorial suggested, by Bolton Corney - 33 



Supposed Witchcraft - - - - - 35 



The late Sir John Graham Dalyell - - - 3t 



Appropriation of a Thought, by James Cornish - - 36 



The "Eisell" Controversy, by Samuel Hickson - 36 



Minor Notes : — " Miserrimus " -^ The Dog and Duck, 

 St. George's Fields — The Habit of profane Swearing 

 by the English — Tennyson's Useof tlie Word" Cycle" 

 — A Moiety - - - - - - 37 



Queries : — 



Etymology of Fontainebleau, by H. H. Breen - - 38 



Force of Conscience - - - - - 3-* 



English Literature in the North, by George Stephens - 38 

 Minor Queries ; -^ Painted Portraits of Overton — 

 Fourth Fare — John Wood, Architect — Derivation of 

 " Spon"— Dell, in what County — Buramaree or Bu- 

 roaree — Thread the Needle— Proof of a Sword — 

 Shetlev's Children — Ackey Trade — Ba-kerville the 

 Printer — Statue of Charles II — 1, a Mdre Jeanne 



Man of War, whv a Ship of War so called — Secret 



Service Money of Charles II. — Hampton Court - 39 



Minor Qubiiies .Asswerkd : — De Kebus Uibernicis — 

 Abridi;ment of the Asjiizes — Life of Cromwell - 41 



Replies : — 



Written Sermons and Extempore Preaching - - 41 



Fest Sittings - - . .... 42 



Hitoiredes Severambes, by H. H. Breen - - 43 



S ilting the Dead . - - - - - 43 



Replies to Minor Queries: — Bogatsky — Baronette — 

 Rifles — Miss — Lady Flora Hastinijs' Bequest — 

 English Sapphics — Welwood — Bellarmin's Mon- 

 strous Paradox — Jonah and the Whale — Book Plates 44 



Miscellaneous ; — 



Notes on Books, Sales, Catalogues, Sic. 

 Boolcs and Odd Volumes wanted ... 

 Notice* to Correspondents .... 

 Advertisements ..... 



- 46 

 . 46 



- 47 



- 47 



^aM. 



A CAXTON MEMORIAL, SUGGESTED. 



After Caxton had slept with his fathers for three 

 centuries, remembered only by a few antiquaries, 

 it was deemed fit that a public monument should 

 reconl his merits. 



Tlie Ko.xburghe club, much to the honour of its 

 members, undertook to bear the cost of it, and to 

 superintend its execution. With regard to its 

 location, tliere was no question as to the para- 

 mount ciainis of Westminster. It was proposed, 

 in the first instance, to jilace it in tlie collegiate 

 church of St. IV'ter, witliin the precincts of which 

 church Caxton had exercised his art. The want 

 of a convenient space was rather an obstacle to 



that plan : a more serious obstacle was the amount 

 of fees demanded on such occasions. It was then 

 decided, and perhaps with more propriety, that it 

 should be placed in the parish church of St. Mar- 

 garet ; and the execution of the monument, which 

 was to be of the tablet form, was entrusted to the 

 younger Westmacott.^ An engraving of it has 

 been published." The inscription is : 



" To tlie memory 



of William Caxton 



who first introduced into Great Britain 



the art of printing 



and who a.d. 1477 or earlier 



exerci-sed that art 



in the abbey of Westminster, 



This tablet 



in remembrance of one 



to whom 



the literature of his country 



is so largely indebted 



was raised 



anno Domini mdcccxx 



by the Roxburghe club 



earl Spencer, k. c. president." 



The monument, as a piece of SLulpture, is sim- 

 plicity itself, and therefore suitable to the place of 

 its destination. To the inscription I venture to 

 make some slight objections : 1. Whether Caxton 

 " introduced into Great Britain the art of printing" 

 admits of a doubt. There is no evidence to in- 

 validate the colophon of the Exposicio S. Jeronimi 

 in simbolo Apostolorum.^ Dibdin fully believed 

 in its authenticity.* 2. Caxton is very imperfectly 

 designated. He was a well-informed writer, a 

 most assiduous translator, and a very careful 

 editor. As early as 1548, he was classed among 

 the Ilbcstres viajoris BritannicB scriptores^ — but 



' T. F. Dihdin, Reminiscences of a literary life. 

 London, 18S6. 8vo. i. .SSS. 



- J. Martin, // catalogue of books privately printed. 

 London, 1834. 8vo. p. 486. 



' S. W. Singer, .Some account of the book printed at 

 Oxford in 1468. London, 1812. 8vo. p. 44. 



' Typographical antiquities, by Joseph Atnes, etc. 

 London, 1810. 4to. Life of Caxton, ^. ~ 5. 



' Illvstrivm 7nnioris liritaniiiae scrlptorvm summariU 

 avtore loanne Dalaeo. Gippeswici, 1548. 4to. fol. 208. 



Vol. IV.— No 90. 



