312 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 104. 



There's Dick the Treble and John the Mean, 

 (Let ev'ry mon zeng in his auwn pleace) 

 And George he wur the elder brotlier, 

 And therevoore he would zeng the Beass. 



Mine Hostess' moid (and her neaum 'twur Nell), 

 A pretty wench, and I loved her well ; 

 I loved her well, good reazun wlioy. 

 Because zhe loved my dog and I. 



My dog is good to catch a hen, 

 A duck or goose is vood vor men ; 

 And where good company I spy, 

 O thether gwoes my dog and 1. 



My motlier told I when I wur young. 

 If I did vollow the strong beer pwoot, 

 That drenk would pruv my auverdrow, 

 And meaak me vear the thread bare cwoart. 



My dog has gotten sich a troick, 

 To visit moids when thoiy be zick ; 

 When thoiy be zick and loik to die, 

 O, thether gwoes my dog and I. 



When I have dree zixpences under my thumb, 

 O, then I be welcome wherever I keum ; 

 But when I have none, O then I pass by, 

 'Tis j>overty pearts good company. 



If I should die as it may hap, 



IMy greauve shall be under the green yeal tnp ; 



In voulded earmcs tliere wool us lie. 



Cheek bj' jowl, my dog and I. 



The foregoing is a vei'y famous old Gloucester- 

 shire ballad, corrected according to the fragments 

 of a J\1S. found in the Speech-liouse of Dean 

 several centuries ago, and used to be sung at the 

 meetings of the Gloucestershire Society, a chari- 

 table institution held at the Crown and Anchor in 

 the Str;ind. 



Both these ballads are literally copied from the 

 Broadsides. H. G. D. 



THE CAXTON COFFEK. 



The biograpliers of Caxton may be divided into 

 two classes ; those who wrote before the publi- 

 cation of the Tiipogi-aphical antiquities, a.d. 1749, 

 and those who wrote after that date. The same 

 distinction may be made with regard to those who 

 have incidentally noticed his life or publications. 



The jjrincipal writers of the first period are 

 Leland, Bale, Stow, Pits, Fuller, Nicolson, Mid- 

 dleton. Birch, Oldys, Lewis, and Tanner. At the 

 present moment, I must content myself with a 

 critical remark on tlie mode in which Leland has 

 been so often (juoted. The first passage contains 

 the expression to which I allude. 



(1.) " Gulielmus Caxoduiius, Anr/ltcB prntotypogra- 

 phus, hace, aut similia his, Anglice refert " etc. 



(2.) " Quanqnam priusquam id, quod modo sum 

 pollicitus, praestitoro, non alienum meo erit instituto 

 palam facere Gulielmum Caxodunum, hominem nee in- 



diligentem, nee indoefuin, et quern constat primum 

 LoNDiNi artimi e.rercuisse ti/pographicam, Chaueeri opera, 

 quotquot vel pietio vel precibus eomparare potuit, in 

 uinini volumen collegisse." 



The incidental expression Anglim prototypogra- 

 pliiLs lias been considered as aproof that Leland dis- 

 credited the typographical claims of Oxford. The 

 second quotation conveys an opposite notion. I tax 

 no one, liowever, with unfairness, but ascribe the 

 oversight to reliance on the Index scripturuin a 

 Joanne Lelundo laudatnrum, which refers only to 

 the first quotation. Bolton Cokney. 



Note on the Duration of Beigns. — As Mr. Clin- 

 ton and others have endeavoured to invalidate 

 Newton's conclusions with respe(;t to the length of 

 reigns, by examples from modern lustory, I have 

 made a Note on that suliject which may be of 

 use. Taking in the times which may be supposed 

 most to resemble those to which the question refers, 

 we find in England, from Alfred to the Conquest, 

 13 kings in 166 years : 



From 1066 to' 1272 - - 8 kings 206 yrs. 

 „ 1272 to 1837 - - 27 „" 565 „ 

 An average on the whole of 19,'r years. 



If we add the time from Egbert, 5 kings, 73 yrs., 

 the average becomes 19 yrs. 



The average from 1272 is only 21. 



In France"559 to 814 - 18 kings 255 vrs. 

 „ 814 1830 - 47 „ 1016',, 



Average 19.S 



Average from 814 only 11},. 



In Germany 840 to 1835 '50 empcr. 995 yrs. 

 Average not 20. 



Turks 1299 to 1808 - - 30 sover. 509 yrs. 

 Average 17. 



Scotland 1057 to 1567 - - 20 kings 510 yrs. 

 Average 25^. 



Spain 1479 to 1833 - - - 14 kings 354 yrs. 

 Average 25. 



Portugal 1102 to 1826 - - 27 kings 724 yrs. 

 Average not 21. 



Denmark 1157 to 1839- - 28 kings 672 yrs. 

 Average 25. 



Ilussia 1722 to 1825 - - 9 sover. 103 yrs. 

 Average 11^ yrs. 



Total : 294 sovereigns, 6085 years ; being an 

 averaoe of about 20^., althoun;h including the latest 

 times. It is evidently unfair to take recent times 

 only, as Hales, Clinton, &(•. do. Altron. 



Cock and Bull Sturij. — One of your correspon- 

 dents, in a late reply (Vol. iv., p. 243.), alludes to 

 "a marvellous or cock and hull story." Query, as to 

 the origin of this saying. From an early number 

 of the Phonetic Journal 1 made the following Note. 



Dr. Burgess, a Methodist preacher, who often 

 indulged in pointed remarks, perceiving some young 

 men attending his preaching, whose behaviour 



