Sept. 6. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



181 



Lines on the Temple (Vol. iii., pp. 450. 505.). — 

 In the Gentleman's Mag. (Suppl. for 1768, p. 621.), 

 tlie reviewei- of a work entitled " Cuhlei-iana, or 

 the Coblers Miscellany, being a choice collection 

 of the miscellaneous jiieces in prose and verse, 

 serious and comic, by Jobson the Cobler, of Drury 

 Lane, 2 vols.," gives the following extract ; but 

 does not state whether it belongs to tlie "new" 

 pieces, or to those which had been previously 

 "published in the newspapers," the volume being 

 avowedly composed of both sorts : — 

 " An, Epigram on the Lamb and Horse, the two insignia 



of the Societies of the Temple. 

 " The Lamb the Lawyers' innocence declares, 

 The Horse their ex])edition in affairs ; 

 Hail, happy men ! for chusing two such types 

 As plainly shew tliey give the world no wipes ; 

 For who dares say that suits are at a stand. 

 When two such virtues botli go hand in hand ? 

 No more let Chancery Lane he endless counted. 

 Since they're by Lamb and Horse so nobly mounted." 



The Italics, which I have copied, were, I sup- 

 pose, put in by the reviewer, who adds, " Q. Whether 

 tlie Lamb and Horse are mounted upon Chancery 

 Lane, or two virtues, or happy men ? " Poor man ! 

 I am afraid his Query has never been answered ; 

 for that age was not adorned and illustrated by 

 any woric like one in which we rejoice, — a work of 

 which, lest a more unguarded expression of our 

 feelings should be indelicate, and subject us to the 

 suspicion of flattery, we will be content to s.iy 

 boldly, that, though less in size and cost, it is co- 

 temporaneous with the Great Exhibition. 



A Templar. 



These lines are printed (probaldy for the first 

 time) in the si.xth number of The Foundling Hos- 

 pital for Wit, 8vo. : Printed fur W. Webb, near 

 St. Paul's, 1749 (p. 73.)- The learned author of 

 Heraldic Anomalies (2ud edit. vol. i. p. 310.) says 

 they were chalked upon one of the public gates of 

 the Temple ; but from tlie following note, pre- 

 ceding the lines in question, in The Foundling 

 Hospital for Wit, this statement is probably erro- 

 neous : 



" The Inner Temple Gate, Lindon, being lately re- 

 paired, and curiously decorated, the following inscrip- 

 tion, in honour of both the Temples, is intended to be 

 put over it." 



A MS. note, in a cotempor.ary hand, in my copy 

 of The Foundling Hospital for Wit, states the 

 author of the original lines to have been the 

 '• Rev. William Dunkiii, D.D." The answer which 

 follows it, is said to be by " Sir Charles llanbury 

 Williams." Edward F. Kimbault. 



Henni Headley, B. A. (Vol. iii., p. 280.). — 

 E. li. Pricb styles "Henry Headley, B.A., of 

 Norwich, a now forgotten critic." He might have 

 added, " but who deserved to be remembered, as 

 one whose Select Beauties of Ancient Hnglish 



Poetry, with Remarks, &,~c., in 2 vols., 1787, contri- 

 buted something towards the revival of a taste for 

 that species of literature which Percy's Reliques 

 exalted into a f\ishion, if not a passion, never to 

 be discountenanced again." The work of course 

 is become scarce, and not the less valuable, though 

 that recommendation constitutes its least value. 



J. M. G. 

 Hallamsliire. 



Cycle of Cathay (Vol. iv., p. 37.). — Without 

 reflecting much on tlie matter, I have always sup- 

 posed the "cycle" in Tennyson's line — 

 " Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay" — 

 to be the Platonic cycle, or great year, the space of 

 time in which all the stars and constellations return 

 to their ibrmer places in respect of the equinoxes ; 

 which space of time is calculated by Tycho Brahe 

 at 25,816 years, and by iliccloli at 25,920: and 

 I understood the passage (whether rightly or 

 wrongly I shall be glad to be informed) to mean, 

 that fifty years of life in Europe were better than 

 any amount of existence, however extended, in 

 the Celestial Empire. W, Eraser. 



Proof of Sioord Blades (Vol. iv., pp. 39. 109.). 

 — Without wishing to detract from the merits of 

 an invention, which probably is superior in its 

 effects to old modes of testing sword blades, I 

 object to the term efficient being applied to machine- 

 proved swords. 



Because, after such proof, they frequently break 

 by ordinary cutting ; even those which have been 

 made doubly strong and heavy — and hence unfit 

 and useless for actual engagement — have so failed. 

 And because machine-tried swords are liable to, 

 and do, break in the handle. 



For many reasons I should condemn the machine 

 in question as inapplicable to its purposes. By 

 analogous reasoning, it would not be wrong to 

 call a candle a good thrusting instrument, because 

 a machine may be made to force it through a deal 

 plank. 



The subject of testing sword blades is a very 

 important one, although it has not received that 

 degree of attention from those whom it more 

 nearly concerns which it seems to demand. 



The writer's experience has been only en ama- 

 teur; but it has satisfied him how much yet remains 

 to be effected before swords proved by a machine 

 are to be relied upon. E. M. M. 



Thornhill Square, August 16. 1851. 



Was Milton an Anglo-Saxon Scholar? (Vol. Iv., 

 p. 100.). — Is it too much to suppose that the 

 learned " Secretary for Forreigne Tongues " was 

 acquainted with the Paraphrasis poctica Genesios 

 ac pracipunrnni sacra: Pugime Historiarum, ahhinc 

 Annas MLXX. Anglo- Saxonice conscripta, et nunc 

 primum edita a Franci.tco Junius, published at 

 Amsterdam in 1655, at least two years before he 



