154 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2'"« S. VI. 138., Aug. 21. '58. 



that she may boast of tliee and say : I am the 

 mother of Christian. 



" ' 13th. Unto thee, oh Margaret ! thou rosebud 

 of sweetness, peace be unto thee ! 



" ' 14th. Verily, thou art fresh as the dew that 

 liangs on the lily in the morning, which is de- 

 voured by the greedy sun. 



" ' 15th. Thy cheek is soft, even as the down 

 of the plume which the cursed wash never in- 

 vaded. 



" ' 16th. Thy lips shed the perfumes of Arabia, 

 and the fountain of health is in thy mouth. 



" ' 17th. Thou art a daughter of the spring, and 

 early dost thou put forth thy loveliness ; and 

 many are the days thou shalt see. 



" ' 18th. But mind, thou blossom of youth, the 

 finest bud is the soonest blasted, and behold the 

 ruffian winds prey on its sweets. 



" ' 19tb. Avoid thou the tempter in the wilder- 

 ness, and cast thou the serpent under thy feet. 



" ' 20th. For although thy words are fierce 

 and violent, thy heart is soft as the plumes on 

 the breast of the swan. 



" ' 21st. Grow up yet a little and the sons of 

 men shall be captivated by thy comeliness, and 

 the great men of the land shall sigh for thy beauty. 



" ' 22nd. Now unto thee, oh Mary, the mother 

 of Eliza, of Christian, and Margaret, to thee be all 

 honor and praise. 



" ' 23rd. Thou dost hold up thy head in the 

 Temple among the rulers of the people, — high is 

 thy fame in the land, thy sentences are mighty 

 and full of wisdom, like to the Proverbs of the 

 son of Sirach. 



" ' 24th. Behold ! thou art a woman of exceeding 

 spirit, justice and temperance enlighten thy ways. 



" ' 2oth. Yet thou art a lonely and a widow 

 woman, and the wickedness of man is against 

 thee. 



" ' 26th, Trust not therefore to thyself, but 

 take unto thee a helpmate, for so the Lord has 

 appointed. 



' " ' 27th. Then shalt thou be defended from the 

 peril and dangers of widowhood, and shalt an- 

 swer the end of thy creation. 



" ' 28th. Trust thou to the honesty of a friend, 

 and believe in the counsel of him who has under- 

 standing.' 



" The poor mother, not apprehending any dis- 

 agreeable consequences, read the letter to her 

 daughters, who were then of tender age, the 

 youngest 15, the next 17, and the other 19 : 

 which inadvertence (as the mother afterwards 

 thought upon it) rested very much on her mind ; 

 and from repeated attentions on the part of his 

 lordship, familiar intercourse ensued, which ter- 

 minated in the residence of the three young 

 ladies at Hagley Park, quite contrary to the ex- 

 press command of their mother, whose delicacy 

 was shocked at her daughters being under the 



same roof with a man of Lord Lyttelton's cha- 

 racter. 



" In September his lordship's engagements re- 

 quiring him to visit Ireland, Miss Christian, at 

 his instigation, accompanied him, together with a 

 lady of Irish extraction : this indiscretion greatly 

 augmented the mother's afflicted state. About a 

 month after that period, the two sisters, who had 

 remained at Hagley Park during the absence of 

 the party, went to meet them at a place where 

 they were expected to land, and all came together 

 to his lordship's town residence in Hill Street, 

 Berkeley Square, where they continued till No- 

 vember. On the 26th of that month, about two 

 in the morning. Lord Lyttelton was awakened by 

 something like the fluttering of a bird among the 

 curtains of his bed, which suddenly escaped, and 

 the figure of a woman of majestic aspect (the 

 very image of the mother of the young ladies, as 

 declared by his lordship), made her appearance 

 and told him to prepare for his departure for 

 another world, for that luithin three days he should 

 be with her in the state of the dead. 



" This most extraordinary occurrence making 

 a deep impression on the mind of Lord Lyttel- 

 ton, he, early in the morning, communicated it 

 to the ladies, who ridiculed what appeared to 

 them the effect of a heated imagination ; and to 

 divert his gloom proposed a visit to Epsom, 

 where his lordship had a seat that he won from 

 Lord Foley. Here they spent the night, and 

 the following day returned to Hill Street, where 

 a party was invited to meet them, and all the 

 jocularit3 exerted on the occasion could not dis- 

 sipate the anxiety of his lordship, though he af- 

 fected to treat the circumstance with contempt, 

 and exclaimed upon retiring, ' If I live over to- 

 night, I shall jockey the ghost I ' The young 

 ladies accompanied his lordship to his room to 

 notice some paintings, and presently retired, when, 

 before they were undressed, a servant ran hastily 

 to their door, demanding admittance, and declared 

 that his lordship was dying. Before the ladies 

 could reach the room, his lordship was speech- 

 less, and on their entry expired in great agonies. 

 What render the circumstances still more reinark- 

 able is, that the next post brought the young 

 ladies an account of their mother's death, who 

 departed precisely at the time Lord Lyttelton 

 saw the vision." Leek. 



ANCIENT SEAL. 



(2"'^ S. vi. 110.) 

 The seal in question is apparently an old talis- 

 man or magic seal ; many of the characters in- 

 scribed upon it corresponding to the attributes 

 (in magic) of the planet Mercury. The square 

 within a square certainly belongs to that planet, 

 being tended "the seal or character of Mercury," 



