Nov. 22. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



407 



294. Church of St. Benet Fink. — Is there any 

 copy in existence of the inscriptions on the prave- 

 stones and monuments of St. Bene't Fink in the 

 City, adjoining the Exchange, and which is now- 

 pulled down ? If any of your correspondents can 

 direct me to any transcript of them, I shall be 

 much obliged by the communication. 



Jas. Crosslet. 



295. Spectacles, Inscription on a Pair of. — Will 

 you oblige me by inserting, as soon as possible, 

 the following curious inscription round the rim of 

 a pair of spectacles found in a stone coffin in Om- 

 bersley Church, Worcestershire, some years since, 

 when tlie old church was being pulled down. It 

 is as follows : — 



"JOHEBHARD MAY : SEEL ERB. PETER CONRAD. WIEGEI,." 



This occurs on each rim, and I should be glad 

 of an explanation of the words. 



J. N. B. (A Subscriber.) 



296. Campbell. — Can any of your readers tell 

 me what he supposes Campbell to mean when he 

 makes the sister, in delivering her curse on her 

 brother, say — 



" Go where the havoc of your kerne 

 Shall float as high as mountain fern I" 



Does havoc float ? Does mountain fern float ? 

 What is the eifect of either floating high ? The 

 lines are in "The Flower of Love lies Bleeding." 

 Also can any one say who or what this is ? 



" Fly, like the moon-eyed herald of dismay 

 Chac'd on his niglit-steed by the star of day !" 



The lines are near the end of The Pleasures of 

 Hope. W. W. 



Cambridge. 



297. Family of Cordeux. — What is the origin of 

 the name ? When was it introduced into England ? 

 What are the armorial bearings of the family ? 

 What family or fiimilies bear gu. three stags' 

 beads, on a chief ai'g. two griffins' heads erased : 

 Crest, a griffin's head erased ? Any information of 

 the Cordeux family more than fifty years ago will 

 confer an obligation on the querist. W. li. K. 



298. Panelling Inscription. — I have recently 

 discovered, in my investigations for the History 

 and Antiquities of South Lynn, an old building in 

 tliis town which bears the date 1605 on one of its 

 gables ; and in the course of my peregrinations 

 through, I find some old panelling with the date 

 1676, and the following inscription in old English 

 (large) characters : 



" As nothmge is so absolutly blest 



Bui chance may crosse, and make it seeming ill, 

 So nothinge cane a man so much molest, 



Hut God may chaiig, and seeing good he will." 



It has been suggested to me that these lines 

 form a quotation from some of our English poets ; 

 if so, of wiiom? for it is of great importance to 



me to know, as it will tend considerably to con- 

 nect the date with the building; and if the lines 

 can be traced to a writer of the period, \t will 

 establish what I require very much, and assist me 

 in my researches. J. N. C. 



299. Infantry Firing. — Can any of your cor- 

 respondents refer me to authentic instances of the 

 comparative numbers of rounds of cartridges fired 

 in action, with the number of men killed ? I think 

 I have read it in Sir W. Napier's //w^'-rj/ of the 

 Peninsular War, and also in The Times, but 

 omitted to make a note. 1 have some recollection 

 of 60,000 rounds being fired, and only one man 

 killed ! and another instance of 80,000, and twenty- 

 five killed ! Any remarkable instances of the 

 inefficiency of musketry fire will be acceptable. 



H. y. W. N. 



aacpiir^. 



THE KEVEREND RICHAKD FARMER. 



(Vol. iv., p. 379.) 



Assuming that the principal atrocities of the 

 reverend Richard Farmer are his Essay on the 

 learning of Shakespeare, and the substance of a 

 note on Handet, Act V. Sc. 2., I shall transcribe, 

 as a hint to the lovers of manly criticism, a general 

 cliaracter of that writer, a character of his Essay, 

 and the note in question : — 



1. " His knowledge is various, extensive, and recon- 

 dite. With much seeming negligence, and perhaps in 

 later vears some real relaxation, he understands more 

 and remembers more about common and uncommon 

 subjects of literature, than many of those who would 

 be thought to read all the day and meditate half the 

 night. In quickness of apprehension and acuteaess of 

 discrimination 1 have not often seen his equal." — 

 Samuel Parr. 



2. " It [the Essay on the learning of Shakespeare'\ 

 may in truth be pointed out as a master-piece, whether 

 considered with a view to the sprightliness and vivacity 

 with which it is written, the clearness of the arrange- 

 ment, the force and variety of the evidence, or the 

 compression of scattered materials into a narrow com- 

 pass ; materials which inferior writers would have 

 expanded into a large volume." — Isaac Reed. 



3. " There's a divinity that shapes our ends. Rough- 

 hew them how we will.] Dr. Farmer informs me, that 

 these words are merely technical. A wool-man, butcher, 

 and dealer in skewers, lately observed to him, that his 

 nephew (an idle lad), could only assist him in making 

 them ; — ' he could rough-hew them, but I was obliged 

 to shape their ends.' [To shape the ends of woul-skewers, 

 i. e. to point them, requires a degree of skill ; any one 

 can rough-hew tliem. ] Whoever recollects the profes- 

 sion of Shakespeare's father, will admit that his son 

 might be no stranger to such a term [such terms]. I 

 have [frecpieiUly] seen packages of wool pinn'd up 

 with shewers. " — Stkevens. 



This note was first printed by Malone in 1780, 



