130 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2>>« S. VI. 137., Aug. 14. '58. 



with many others, we want revived — are the un- 

 rhyraed hymns of Ambrose ; the Cathemerinon of 

 Prudentius ; "Veni Creator Spiritus," sometimes 

 ascribed to Charlemagne, and certainly written 

 about that period ; "Totum Deus in te spero," by 

 liildebert ; " Jesus dulcis Memoria," by Bernard 

 of Clairvaux ; " De Contemptu Mundi," by Ber- 

 nard de'^Morley : — 



" Brief life is here our portion, 

 Brief sorrow, short-lived care; 

 The life that knows no ending, 

 The tearless life is there. 



more space. I trust you will allow me room for 

 some remarks another time. Hubert Bower. 



" But now we fight the battle, 

 And then we wear the crown, 

 Of true, and everlasting. 

 And passionless renown. 



" Thine ageless walls are bounded 



With amethj'st unpriced ; 

 Thy saints build up its fabric, 



And the corner stone is Christ. 

 Thou haft no shore, fair ocean. 



Thou hast no night, bright day; 

 Dear fountain of refreshment 



To pilgrims far away." 



" Dies Ira;," by Thomas of Celano, of which we 

 liave several translations and imitations. Perhaps 

 for vigour, the best is the one by Mr. Irons. Sir 

 Walter Scott has caught its force and fire in liis 

 "Day of wrath, that dreadful day." Herrick ap- 

 pears to have imitated some parts of it in his 

 "Litany to the Holy Spirit." " Stabat ]Mater," 

 by James de Benedictis. After this the Middle 

 Age ecclesiastical poetry began to decline. Fran- 

 cis Xavier, however, about the time of the Eng- 

 lish Reformation, produced his wonderful but 

 mystic hymn, " Deus, ego amo Te." Several 

 translations of it have been made. The following 

 imitation has perhaps caught a little of its spirit : — 



" My Saviour I would love Thee well, 

 "With pure and perfect love ; 

 Not from the dread of pains in hell, 

 Nor hope of joys above. 



" When Thou wert hanging on the wood. 

 Thou didst my soul embrace ; 

 And when the spear set free Thy blood, — 

 That mystic fount of grace, — 



" Thou worest a purple robe for me, 

 A crown of twisted thorn; 

 Yes, Lord, for one Thine enemy, 

 Who mocked in bitter scorn. 



" Then why do I not love Thee more, — 

 Most loving Jesus, why ? 

 Not from the fear of Satan's power, 

 Nor hope of joys on high? 



" Not that my soul should rise above 

 One single painful thing? 

 But with a pure, unselfish love, 

 O my eternal King." 



I had hoped to be able to say a few words about 

 the versifiers of the Psalms, and the writers of 

 English hymns. But I cannot ask you for any 



■SHinav ^attS. 



Robert Dundas. — The central house on the west 

 side of Adam Square, Edinburgh, now occupied 

 by the School of Arts, was at one time possessed 

 by Robert Dundas of Arniston, who held the 

 office of Lord President of the Court of Session 

 from 1760 to 1797. In reference to his Lordship's 

 possession of it, the following jeux cCesprit are re- 

 counted. 



The Lord President, by his casting vote, de- 

 cided the famous Douglas cause against the legi- 

 timacy of the claimant, the first Lord Douglas : 

 the other judges having been equally divided in 

 opinion, seven to seven. His view had been pre- 

 viously supposed to be otherwise ; but when the 

 final judgment (afterwards reversed by the House 

 of Peers) was given, he stated that he had "got 

 a new light" on the. subject. He was conse- 

 quently very obnoxious to the mob, who took a 

 warm interest for the claimant ; and on the after- 

 noon of the day, a concourse of people surroun<led 

 his door, and broke his windows. His Lordship 

 appeared at one of these, and civilly inquired of 

 the assailants why they did so? To which a wag 

 in the crowd replied : 



" Your Lordship has said you have 'got a new light,' 

 As your windows are broken, 'twill shine in more 

 bright." 



After the Lord President's death, the house 

 came to be occupied by a Mr. Spottiswoode, an 

 ironmonger ; on which change of tenants, the fol- 

 lowing distich was made, it is said, by Henry Er- 

 skine, then Dean of the Faculty of Advocates : — 



" This house, where last a lawyer dwelt, 

 A smith does now possess. 

 How naturally the Iron Age 

 Succeeds the Age of Brass." 



G. 



Edinburgh. 



" I do not pin my faith upon his sleeve." — The 

 singularity and apparent irrelevancy of this saying 

 has induced me, for want of better evidence, to 

 hazard the following conjecture : — In feudal 

 times, and at later periods, when heraldry was a 

 social science, and persons of family were known 

 by their arms, or cognisance or crest, commonly 

 called their badge, as well or better than by their 

 names, it was the practice for their servants and 

 personal attendants to wear sewed or pinned on 

 their sleeve the cognisance of their master on a 

 round silver plate, like our watermen of the pre- 

 sent day. But in times of feud or party strife 

 these badges were sometimes forged or fabricated 

 for the occasion. A knowledge of this fact might 

 lead a person to say, " I do not pin my faith on his 



