186 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2">» S. VI. 140., Sept. 4. '58. 



in business; for I have been so long hurried and penn'd 

 up, tha^ I want a little country air, -which I cannot pro- 

 mise myself to have till you come here. 



I designed to have wrote this uight to Innerary, and 

 ordered an express from thence, but the Baillie of Jura's 

 man falling in my way, I have sent this by him, and 

 wrote the Baillie to forward it, so I hope it will come safe 

 and sound. 



I am just going to the plaguy Parliament House to 

 attend this day's fate. I scarce believe it will come on, 

 and being in this haste, can only add my blessing and 

 prayers, wishing us a happy meeting. I have given the 

 bearer a shilling, and you may pay the man who comes 

 from Jura. Remember me to Duncan and all friends. — 

 Mon cher Filz, Adieu. 



J. M. 



PRICES OF RELICS. 



I made the following cutting from a news- 

 paper many years before " N. & Q." was esta- 

 blished as an omne-gatherum hebdomadal for 

 remarkable scraps ; and which (as the coach- 

 men used to say in bypast times " all right ") is 

 also excessively "pertikeler" about dates and 

 anthorities, and so I am at fault in not having 

 taken a note either of the date when, or the news- 

 paper in which the article appeared. It is, how- 

 ever, so curious, as reflecting on great literary men 

 and martial heroes, as to be worth reviving on its 

 own credentials : — 



" Antiquities and Curiosities. — The collectors of relics 

 will, perhaps, feel interested in the subjoined statement of 

 the prices paid within the last few years for various ob- 

 jects of historical curiosity : — The Ivory Arm Chair, pre- 

 sented by the city of Lubec to Gustavus Vasa, was sold 

 in 1825 to the Swedish Chamberlain, M. Schmekel, for the 

 sum of 68,000 florins. The Prayer-Book used bj' King 

 Charles the First, when on the scaffold, was sold in Lon- 

 don, in 1825, for 110 guineas. The coat worn by Charles 

 XII. at the battle of Pultowa, and which was preserved 

 by Colonel Roson, who followed the King to Bender, 

 was sold in 1825, for the sura of 551,000 francs. A 

 fragment of the coat worn by Louis XVI. at the altar, 

 was announced in the catalogue of a sale in 1829, and 

 would probably have fetched a very high price, but it was 

 withdrawn. The Abbe di Tersan paid a very high price 

 for a pair of white satin shoes which had belonged to Louis 

 XIV. A tooth of Sir Isaac Newton was sold in 1815 for 

 the sum of 330?. The nobleman b3' whom it was pur- 

 chased had it set in a ring, which he constantl}' wears. 

 Apropos of teeth, it may be mentioned that at the time 

 when the bodies of Heloisa and Abelard were removed to 

 the Petits-Augustins, an English gentleman offered 

 100,000 francs for one of Heloisa's teeth. At the sale of 

 the library of Dr. Soarman at Stockholm, in 1820, the 

 skull of Descartes sold for a considerable sum. Voltaire's 

 cane was some time ago sold in Paris for 500 francs. An 

 old wig, which had belonged to K/tat, the German philo- 

 sopher, was sold, after his death in 180-1, for 200 francs. A 

 waistcoat belonging to J. J. Rousseau was sold for 950 

 francs, and his metal watch for 500 francs. In 1822, Sterne's 

 wig was sold at a public auction in London for 200 

 guineas. In 182-1 the two pens employed in signing the 

 treaty of Amiens were sold for 500/. The hat worn by 

 Napoleon at the battle of Eylau was sold in Paris in 1835 

 for 1,920 francs. It was put up at 500 francs, and there 

 were thirty-two bidders. There is at Penzanas an arm- 



chair which is said to have belonged to Molifere, and to 

 which tradition has given the name of the Fauteuil i 

 Molifere. Its form bears evidence of its antiquity. When 

 Molifere was living at Penzanas, he was accustomed every 

 Saturday afternoon to repair to the shop of a barber, 

 named Gely. This shop was the resort of all the idlers 

 and gossips of the town. There politics were discussed, 

 and the histoirette of the day repeated from mouth to 

 mouth. The large wooden arm-chair, above alluded to, 

 stood in one corner of the shop, and it was a sort of obser- 

 vatory to Molifere, who, when seated in it, attentively 

 watched all that was passing around him. This old chair 

 is now about to be sold in Paris, and will, no doubt, soon 

 fill a place in some collection of curiosities." 



G.N. 



Abp. Whitgiffs Sermon at Paul's Cross. — 

 When the Parlcer Society edition of Abp. Whit- 

 gift's Wo7-hs was published, the sermon preached 

 Nov. 17, 1583, by the Archbishop at Paul's Cross, 

 was given in a fragmentary shape (vol. iii. pp. 

 586 — 596.) from Strype. I made some search, 

 but was unable to find that it had ever been 

 printed in full, or to discover the MS. to which 

 Strype referred. I have, however, lately been 

 favoured with the sight of a printed copy of this 



! sermon, which was purchased by the Rev. W. 



j Goode at the sale of Dr. Bliss's library. The 



: title is — 



I " A Most Godly and Learned Sermon, preached at 

 Paul's Crosse the 17 of November, in the yeere of our 

 Lorde 1583. ' Maledici Regnum Dei non possidebunt.' 



1 1 Cor. 6. 10. ' Raylers shall not inherit the Kingdome of 



! God.' Imprinted at London by Thomas Orwin for 

 Thomas Chard. 1589." 



Before the sermon is a preface without a name, 

 and the signatures of the volume are from A to D, 

 in eights. It is, doubtless, very rare, and was 

 never seen by Herbert. I am indebted to Mr. 

 Goode for the knowledge of it. J. Atre. 



Hampstead. 



Harris's " State of the County of Doicn" — It 

 may be well to " make a note of" the following 

 extract from the Catalogue of Mr. Monck Mason's 

 library, which was not long since sold by Messrs. 

 Sotheby and Wilkinson : — 



"518. Walter Harris and [Rev.] Dr. Lyon, joint Ac- 

 count of expenses incurred in visiting tlie County of 

 Down, drawn up b)' the former, and noted by the latter, 

 1744. An interesting document as attesting the author- 

 ship of the history of that county (Lot 173.), which was 

 published anonymously." 



The document in question was purchased by 

 Mr. Boone. Abhba. 



Leicestershire Provincialisms. — 



" Mortalia facta peribunt, 

 Nedum sermonum stet honos, et gratia vivax." 



Horatius de Arte Poet. 68. 



The following dialogue, real or imaginary, con- 

 1^ tains many remarkable expressions now current 



