2«^ S. VI. 151., Nov. 20. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



421 



did not till this week read my August and Sep" 

 tember numbers. But, apropos to the couplet 

 in question, I remember, nearly now half a cen- 

 tury ago, puzzling myself in vain to discover any 

 paraphrase hy. Hudibras of Shakspeare's senti- 

 ment that discretion was the better part of valour. 

 In the Second Part of Hudibras, Canto II., the 

 context of the passage may be read ; but not the 

 lines, so often cited. In no edition of the poet's 

 Works, or oi 'Butler'' s Remains, could I, or after- 

 wards any of the contributors to the old and 

 goodly Retrospective Review, find the verse. The 

 occasion of my research was the publication in the 

 columns (I think) of the old Morning Chronicle 

 of a very witty epigram on our General Sir John 

 Murray commanding in the Peninsular war. It is 

 worth record in your Notes. Sir John Murray 

 had retreated at Tarragona with a British army, 

 without battle, before an inferior French force. 

 I give ihejeu d^ esprit from memory : — 

 " Two warriors said, and who'll gainsay, 



That he who fights and runs away 



May live to fight another day. 



But gallant Murray doth surpass 



That valiant hero Hudibras ; 



For Sir John holds, that it is right 



To run away before j'ou fight — 



Since, he who doth the battle stay, 



May never live to run away ! " 



I trust that Mr. Yeowell, and your corre- 

 spondent PisHEY Thompson, will not " give it up," 

 but find out the "old original." H. S. 



Deal. 



Bishop Oglefhorp's Momiment at Hexham (2"'* 

 S. vi. 261.) — Does this monument still exist? 

 or is there any record of its existence, or a copy 

 of the inscription ? I should be very thankful 

 for any information. Owen Oglethorp died in 

 Chancery Lane, London, Dec. 31. 1559, and was 

 privately buried at St. Dunstan's in the AYest on 

 the 4th Jan. following. Magdalenensis. 



Hewett of Ampthill and Millbrooke (2°'* S. vi. 

 .331.) — A typographical error exists in the 6th 

 line of the 5th paragraph of this article. Instead 

 of " Mary, daughter of Sir Edward Mowryngs," 

 read " Mary, daughter of Sir Edward Monyugs ;" 

 and in continuation of the sentence I note a mis- 

 take of my own ; for "Knight and Bart, of Wal- 

 dershams or Waldershey," read "Knight (only) of 

 Waldersbare, Kent." This Sir Edward died in 

 1602, and consequently could not have been a 

 baronet ; nor would dates, or names of daughters, 

 allow this Mary to have been the child of another 

 Sir Edward Monyngs of Waldershare, the grand- 

 son, who was knight and baronet. And here I may 

 correct a fault in Burke's Extinct and Dormant 

 Baronetcies, art. Monins of Wai.dehshare, p. 

 362., — Mary, daughter of Sir Edward Monyns, 

 married Robert Hart, which, as the pedigrees in 

 the various Visitations of the two families, Iluet 



or Hewett, and Monyngs or Monins, corroborate 

 one another, is a mistake, evidently a misreading 

 of Hart for Robert Hiiet, as the name was more 

 generally spelt before 1650. J. F. N. II. 



Quotation (2"'> S. vi. 348.) — 



" The solitary monk that shook the world." 



The late Rev. Robert Montgomery said this of 

 Luther, in his poem of that name. Ache. 



Dwarfs (2°'^ S. i. 154. 240. &c.) — The follow- 

 ing extract from The Times of November 1, 1858, 

 will perhaps be interesting to some of your readers, 

 and is worthy, I think, of being embalmed in your 

 pages : — 



"Death of a Dwarf. — A dwiirf named Richeboiu'g, 

 who was only GO centimetres (285 inches high), has just 

 died in the Rue du Four St. Germain, aged 90. He was, 

 when young, in the service of the Duchess d'Orleans, 

 mother of King Louis Philippe, with title of 'butler,' but 

 he performed none of the duties of the office. After the 

 first revolution broke out he was employed to convey 

 despatches abroad, and, for that purpose, was dressed as a 

 baby, the despatches being concealed in his cap, and a 

 nurse being made to carry him. For the last 25 years 

 he lived in the Rue du Four, and during all that time 

 never went out. He had a great repugnance to strangers, 

 and was alarmed when he heard the voice of one; but in 

 his own fiimily he was very lively and cheerful in. his 

 conversation. The Orleans family allowed him a pension 

 of 3000f. — • GallgnanVs Messenger. 



It would be interesting to know what des- 

 patches Richebourg was employed in conveying 

 in the manner above stated. Alfred T. Lee. 



Ahoghill Rectory, Ballymena. 



What is a Spontoon (2°'J S. vi. 329.) — To the 

 Query, "What is a spontoon?" and the Reply 

 from Meyrick's Ancient Armoiir, may be added 

 the following Note as to its derivation and ety- 

 mology. Spontoon is a corruption of the French 

 E.iponton, through the German " Sponton eine 

 Kurze Pike." The Dictionary of the French Aca- 

 demy (art. Esponton) describes it, — 



"Un Arrae A'hast'(o)i pron. PS. et le T.), sorte de demi- 

 pique, que portaient autrefois les Officiers d'Infanterie. On 

 s'en ;sert particuliferement sur les vaisseaux quand on en 

 vient h I'abordage : " 



a boarding-pike. The word hast, says the same 

 authority, is used only in the phrase " Arme 

 d'hast," which the Germans call " Stoss-gewehr," 

 a thrusting weapon, and applied to all weapons 

 armed with a point at the end of a short staiF, such 

 as that in Hudibras : — 



" Who bore a lance with iron pike, 

 Th' one half would thru.st, the other strike." 



The pike, the half-pike, the partisan (" pertui- 

 sane," Fr.) of Shakspeare's Hamlet, the halbert, 

 the esponton of the French, the sponton of the 

 Germans, and the spontoon of Major Sturgeon, 

 are all of the genus Hastce. James Elmes. 



20. Burncy Street, Greenwich. 



