310 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 104. 



eveninjf the farmer's family and friends being 

 assembled, hot wheat-flour cakes were introduced, 

 with cider ; and this was served round to the com- 

 pany, the cake being dipped in the cider, and then 

 eaten. As the evening wore on, the assembled 

 company adjourned into the orchard, some one 

 bearing hot cake and cider as. an offering to the 

 princij)al tree in the orchard; the cake was de- 

 posited on a fork of the tree, and the cider was 

 then thrown over it, the men firing off muskets, 

 fowling-pieces, pistols, &c., the women, girls, and 

 boys shouting and screaming to the trees with all 

 the excitement of young Indians the following 

 rhyme : — 

 " Bear blue, apples and pears enoug' ; 



Barn fulls, bag fulls, sack fulls. Hurrah ! hurrah ! 



hurrali ! " 

 Query, Do these customs prevail to this day 

 either in Devonshire or in other European coun- 

 tries ? R. R. 



POETICAL IMITATION. 



It has always been a pleasing office of criticism, 

 to observe how often an excellent thought, having 

 sprung from some master mind, or from some in- 

 ferior mind in a happy moment, has been used by 

 succeeding writers. 

 Homer, 



"a quo, ceu fontc perenni, 

 Vatum Pieriis ora rigantur aquis," 

 has, in //. v. 406. et seq., the following lines : 



" NTjTTior, oiiSc rh oZSe koto cppiva TuSe'os vios 

 "Otti /laV ov 57)caibs, &s adavaroitJi ficixoiTO, 

 Oi'iSe Tt fiiv Tra7Ses irori yovvacn itaimaJ^ovtnv, 



'^\66VT fK TToKejXOiO KaX Oirf/J 57710T7JTOJ." 



" The son of Tydeus is foolish and rash, nor is 

 aware that he who fights with the immortals is not 

 long-lived, and that no children., as he returns from 

 war and strife, gather round his knees to cull him 

 father." 



The idea of children saluting their parent at his 

 knees, has been adopted, and accompanied with 

 various additions, by several subsequent authors. 

 Among the writers in Homer's language, however, 

 we find no imitation of it, unless the following lines 

 of Calliraachus can be regarded as taken from it : 

 " naTpi)j e(pe^ofj.eurj •yovd.T€(r<Ti 

 Uais 6T1 Kovpi^ouira, TctSe irpoireaTre yovria, 

 a6s fioi vapBeyiTfv aldviov, amra, (pu\d(T(reip." 



" She {Diana), yet a child, sitting sportively on 

 the knees of her father, said to him. Allow me, 

 dear parent, to preserve a perpetual virginity." 



In the Latin writers the thought occurs several 

 times. The first in whom it is found is Lucretius: 



" At jam non domiis adciplet te Ista, ncque uxor 

 Opluma, nee duk-es obeurrent oscula natei 

 Praeripere, et tacita pectus dulcedine tangent." 



III. 907. 



" But thy cheerful home shall no more receive 

 thee, nor thy excellent wife ; nor shall thy sweet 

 children run to snatch kisses from thee, and touch 

 thy breast with secret <lelight." 

 In whose steps Virgil treads : 



" Interea dulces pendent circmn oscula nnti; 

 Casta pudicitiam servat domus." — Geo. ii. 523. 



" His cares are eased witli intervals of bliss ; 

 Flis little childron climl)ing for a kiss, 

 Welcome tlieir father's late return at night; 

 His faithful bed is crown'd with chaste delight." 



Dryden. 



(Virgil liked the expression dtdces nati. He has 



" Nee milii jam patriam antiquam spes ulla videndi, 

 Nee dtdces natos exoptatuiiique parentem. " 



^11. II. 137. 

 " Nee dulces natos. Veneris nee prEemia noris ? 



JEn. IV. 33. 



" Sed tota in dulces consument ubera natos." 



Geo. in. 178.) 



Statins, doubtless, had both Lucretius and Vir- 

 gil in his view, when he wrote, 

 " Rursus et ex illis soboles nova ; grexque protervus 

 Nunc humeris irrcptet aoi, nunc aginine blando 

 Certatim placida; concurrat ad oscula Pollas." 



Silv. III. i. 179. 

 " Again from them springs a new race ; a forward 

 little troop, which sometimes climb on the shoul- 

 ders of their grandfather, and sometimes, in pleas- 

 ing congress, run to catch a kiss from the gentle 

 Polla." 



Seneca, Thyest. i. 145., has another imitation : 

 *' Exceptus gladio parvulus impio, 

 Uiim currit patrium nutus ad osculum, 

 Immatura focis victinia concidit." 



"The little Pelops, met by the impious sword, 

 while he was running to receive his father's kiss, 

 fell a premature victim on the hearth." 



Claudian, Rapt. Proserp. iii. 173., has another: 



" Haec post ciinabula dulci 

 Ferre sinu, suinnioque Jovi deducere parvam 

 Sueverat, et genibus ludentem aptare palernis." 



" She was accustomed to bear the little infant, 

 after it had slept In its cradle, In her fragrant 

 bosom, to present it to almighty Jove, and to place 

 it sporting on its father's knees." 



But the best adaptations and expansions of the 

 thought have been among the writers of our own 

 country. The earliest allusion to it, I believe, 

 occurs in Thomson's description of the traveller 

 lost in the snow : 



" In vain for him th' officious wife prepares 

 The fire fair-blazing, and the vestment warm ; 

 In vain his little children, peeping out 

 Into the mingling storm, demand their sire 

 With tears of artless innocence ! Alas ! 

 Nor wife, nor children, more shall he behold, 

 Nor friends, nor sacred home." — Winter, 31 1. 



