Aug. 2. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



85 



ostler in reciting a ridiculous formula; which, if 

 I remember right, consisted in his vowing, under 

 certitin penalties, to prefer wine to water, roast 

 beef and ale to a dry crust and water gruel, the 

 daughter to the mother, the sister to the brother, 

 laughing to crying, and songs and glees to re- 

 quiems and psalms, &c. 



Can you then oblige me with any information 

 respecting the worship of the solemn horn alluded 

 to by Lord Byron ; and, secondly, with any ac- 

 count respecting the solemn farce of swearing in 

 strangers on the horns when reaching Ilighgate 

 on their first visit to the metropolis, which farce I 

 presume has long since been exploded by the in- 

 troduction of the railway. Kewessis. 



[Moore, in his edition of Byron's Works, has the 

 following note on this passage : — " Lord Byron alludes 

 to a ridiculous custom which formerly prevailed at the 

 public-houses in Highgate, of administering a burlesque 

 oath to all travellers of the middling rank who stopped 

 there. The party was sworn on a pair of horns, fas- 

 tened, ' never to kiss the maid when he could kiss the 

 mistress; never to eat brown bread when he could get 

 white ; never to drink small beer when he could get 

 strong ;' with many other injunctions of the like kind, 

 to all which was added the saving clause, ' unless you 

 like it best.' " Our correspondent, W. S. Gibso>', Esq., 

 ill his Prize Essay on the History and Antiquities of 

 Highgate, has preserved some curious notices of this 

 burlesque oath. He says, " All attempts to trace the 

 once prevalent, but now obsolete, custom of 'swearing 

 at Highgate' to any really probable source have proved 

 unavailing, and the custom has fallen into disuse. The 

 early identity of the site of the present hamlet with the 

 ancient forest, and the vicinity of Highgate to a park 

 or chase, naturally suggests the possible connexion of 

 these tropliies with huntsmen and their horns : and it 

 is not difficult to perceive that the spoils and emblems 

 of the chase, and the hunter's joyous horn, may in time 

 have acquired the character of household gods, and at 

 length, become like the sword of the warrior, a sacred 

 emblem upon which vows were taken, and the most 

 binding engagements made. It is, however, less diffi- 

 cult to imagine the reality of such an origin, than to 

 account for the strange degeneracy exhibited in the 

 modern aspect of the custom. ' Swearing on the 

 horns ' was an observance at all events more than a 

 century old ; for a song which embodied a close para- 

 phrase of the oath, according to the best authorised 

 version yet extant, was introduced in a London panto- 

 mime at the Haymarket Theatre in the year 1742."] 



iHtiiar CHucitc^. 



42. Proverb of James I. — In the Miscellaneotis 

 State Papers (publislied 1778), vol. i. p. 4G2., we 

 find Steenie (the Duke of Buckingham) writing to 

 his royal master as follows : — 



" Give my leave here to use your own proverb, — For 

 Ihii the devil cone me no thanks." 



At the risk of being thought vcrjr dull, I ask, 



what is cone, and what is the meaning of the 

 proverb ? James was no ignoramus, after all. 



Varro. 



4-3. Mrs. Hutchinson. — What became of the 

 celebrated Lucy Hutchinson, who wrote the 

 memoirs of her husband — where did she die ? 

 and from whence is all the information that can 

 be got about her, subsequently to her autobio- 

 graphy, to be obtained ? M. 



44. Amadis de Garde, Early Translation of. — I 

 have lately purchased a black-letter volume, dated 

 1595. The first part has no title, but the second 

 is called, — 



" The Second Booke of Amadis de Gaule, contain- 

 ing the description, wonders, and conquest of the 

 Firme-Island. The triumphes and troubles of Amadis. 

 His manifold victories obtained, and sundry services 

 done for King Lisuart. The kinges ingratitude, and 

 first occasion of those broils and mortal wars, that no 

 small time continued between him and Amadis. 

 Englished by L. P. London : Printed for C. Burbie, 

 and are to be sold at his shop at the Royal Exchange, 

 1595." 



The Epistle Dedicatory to "Master Walter 

 Borough " is signed " Lazarus Pyott," which is 

 perhaps an assumed name ; and, if I mistake 

 not, I have seen it assigned to some known writer 

 of the time. As I do not find this work noticed 

 by Lowndes, perhaps Mr. Coluer or some of 

 your readers would kindly give me some informa- 

 tion respecting its rarity, &c. J. M. S. 



45. Hogarth and Cowper. — Which preceded the 

 other, and who was the greater artist, Hogarth or 

 Cowper, in the portrait and description of the 

 stately and antiquated lady going to church on 

 the winter's morning with her boy, who — 



" Carries her Bible, tuck'd beneath his arm. 

 And hides hb hands to keep his fingers warm ?" 



James Cornish. 



46. Latin Translation of Butler's Analogy. — In 

 Bartlett's Life of Bishop Butler mention is made 

 (p. 62.), on the authority of a late Dean of Salis- 

 bury (Dr. Pearson), of a translation of The 

 Analogy into Latin, which had been executed with 

 a view to its publication in Germany, and had 

 been submitted for revision to Professor Porson. 



Was this translation ever published, or is any- 

 thino- now known of it ? Thos. McCalmont. 



Highfield, near Southampton, July 22. 1851. 



47. " Non quid responderent," Sfc. — In the Life 

 of Bishop Jewel prefixed to the edition of his works, 

 1611, §24., there occurs a sentence attributed to 

 Cicero in Verrem 3. : 



" Like Verres in Tully, Non quid responderent, sed 

 quemadinodum non responderent laborabant." 



But are the words to be found in Cicero at all ? 

 They give no bad representation of what is called 



