Aug. 9. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



101 



piled a history of the Saxon period : had he the 

 power of access to the original sources ? Is there 

 any ground for supposing that he bad read our 

 Saxon Pai-adise Lost ; I mean the immortal poetry 

 of Cajdmon ? If he really knew nothing of this 

 ancient relic, then it may well be said, that^the 

 poems of Cajdmon and of ililton afford the most 

 striking known example of coincident poetic 

 imagination. 



I should be extremely obliged to any of your 

 learned correspondents who would bring the 

 faintest ray of evidence to bear upon this obscure 

 question. 



The similarity of the two poems has been 

 noticed long ago, e.g. by Sir F. Palgrave in The 

 Archceologia, xxiv. I know not whether he was 

 the first ; I think Conybeare was beforehand with 

 him. J- E. 



Oxford, Aug. 2. 1851. 



57. Tale of a Tub. — What is the origin of this 

 popular phrase ? It dates anterior to the time of 

 Sir Thomas More, an anecdote in whose chancel- 

 lorship thus illustrates it. An attorney in his 

 court, named Tubb, gave an account in court of a 

 cause in which he was concerned, which the Chan- 

 cellor (who, with all his gentleness, loved a joke) 

 thought so rambling and incoherent, that he said 

 at the end of Tubb's speech, " This is a tale of a 

 Tubb;" plainly showing that the phrase was then 

 familiarly known. Edward F. Eimbault. 



58. Cleopatrds Needle. — When was the obe- 

 lisk in Egypt first so called ? Why was it so 

 called? What is the most popular work on Egypt 

 for a full description of it ? J. B. J. 



Liverpool, July 28. 1851. 



59. Pair of Carols. — In a list of the rating of 

 the incumbents of the diocese of Ely, a.d. 1609, 

 towards the support of the army, preserved by 

 Cole, several are returned for " a pair of enrols." 



" Mr. Denham for his vicarage of Cherry Hinton to 

 find (jointly with the Vicar of Impington and Calde- 

 cotc) a pair of Carols with a pike furnished." 



What is the meaning of the word " Curol," 

 supposing Cole to have used it aright ? E. V. 



60. Cowper Law. — Lord Mahon, in his Hislni-i/ 

 of England, second edit. vol. ii. p. 66., in speaking 

 of the death of the first Earl Cowper, after saying 

 " His meniory deserves high res[)ect," &c., adds, 

 " And though it seems that a by-word was cur- 

 rent of ' Cowper law, to hang a man first and then 

 judge him,' I believe that it proceeded from party 

 resentment, rather than from any real fault;" 

 and ill a note refers to the evidence at Lord 

 Wintoun's trial. Is not Lord Mahon mistaken in 

 supposing tiiat this saying refers to Lcrd Cowper? 

 Sliould it not be " Cujiar Law," meaning the town 

 of that name ? I see in Lord Wintoun's trial, 

 where his lordship uses the expression, he adds. 



" as we used to say in our country." If my sup- 

 position is correct, can any of your correspondents 

 say how the proverb arose ? C. de D. 



61. Order of Greenwich. — I have an impression 

 of an oval ecclesiastical seal, the matrix of which 

 is said to have been found near Kilkenny. The 

 device is the Ascension of the Virgin, beneath 

 which is a shield charged with the royal arms ; 

 the tlwee fleur de lis in the first and fourth quar- 

 terings showing the seal to be, comparatively 

 speaking, modern. The legend, in Lombardic 

 capitals, runs as follows : — " + sgillvm + gardi.^ni 

 + GRVwvcEsis + ." Query, Does " GRvwvciisis " 

 mean " of Greenwich ?" 



In the State Papers, temp. Hen. VIII., vol. iii. 

 p. 285., an abbey in Ireland is said to be of the 

 " order of Greeuewich." Query, What order was 

 this? James Graves. 



Kilkenny, July 19. 1S51. 



62. House of Yvery. — This work is rarely to 

 be met with in a perfect state ; but there is one 

 plate about which there exists a doubt, viz. a 

 folding plate or map of the estates of John Per- 

 ceval, Earl of Egmont. 



It would be satisfixctory perhaps to many of the 

 readers of " Notes and Queries," as well as to 

 myself, to know whether any gentleman possesses 

 a copy of the work with such a plan. H. T. E. 



Clyst St. George. 



63. Entomological Query. — Can any of yoiu- bo- 

 tanical or entomological correspondents help me 

 to the name of the grub that is apt to become a 

 chrysalis on the Liiiaria minor (^Antirrhinum minus 

 of Linnaeus) ? For yesterday, in a chalky field in 

 Berkshire, I found several cocoons o*^one particular 

 kind on the above plant (itself not common ia 

 these parts), and I did not see it on any other 

 plant in the field, although I spent some time in 

 looking about. J- E. 



Oxford, July 29. 



64. Spenser's Portraits (Vol. iv., p. 74 .). — Varro 

 states he is "well acquainted with an admirable 

 portrait of the poet, bearing date 1593." Perhaps 

 he could give a satisfactory answer to a Query 

 relative to the engraved portraits of Spenser 

 which appeared in one of the niunbers of "Notes 

 AND Queries " for last April, and which has not 

 been yet answered. E. M. B. 



65. liorroiv's Bible in Spain. — In the A theiicBum 

 for Aug. 17, 1850, in a review of Wallis's Glimpses 

 of Spain, I find the following remark: — 



" Mr. Wallis imputes a want of ju(i<;ment and of 

 'earnest desire' for the objects of his mission to INIr. 

 Borrow personallif, on the ground that he — heing, as all 

 know, sent out by the IJible Society to circulate the 

 I'rotestant Scriptures — did not, instead of attempting 

 to fulfil that special object of his mission, employ him- 



