28 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2 n <> S. IX. Jan. 14. '60. 



E. S. Taylor. My present object is to send a 

 note respecting the plate, and one which will in- 

 terest such of your readers as do not already pos- 

 sess the information. 



In New Remarks of London, or a Survey of the 

 Cities of London and Westminster, collected by 

 the Company of Parish Clerks, London, 1732, al- 

 lusion is made either to the original, or a remark- 

 able imitation of this picture. Under the head of 

 "St. Botolph, Bishopsgate," at p. 152. is the fol- 

 lowing : — 



" Remarkable places and things. Tho' it was not in- 

 tended to mention anything remarkable within any of the 

 churches, yet there is one in this which I cannot pass by. 

 For here is a spacious piece of painting, being tjie picture 

 of King Charles I. in his ro} T al robes, at his devotion, 

 with his right hand on his breast, and his left holding a 

 crown of thorns ; and a scroll, on which are these words, 

 Christo tracto. And by the crown at his feet these words, 

 Mundi calco, splendidam et gravem. In a book which lies 

 expanded before him are these words, In Verba tuo, on 

 the left hand page; and on the right, Spes mea. Above 

 him is a glory, with the rays darting on his majesty's 

 head, and these, 'Carol us I. ov ovk ?jv af ios 6 wia/ios,' Heb. xi. 

 38. On another ray, shining on his head toward the 

 back part, these words, Clarior e Tenebris. Behind his 

 back is a ship tossed on the sea by several storms, and 

 these words, Immota Trittmphans ; also Nescit Naufra- 

 gium Virtus, and Crescit sub pondere Virtus. " 



I quote this literally, with its apparent errors. 

 For those who have the engraving, it will be 

 needless to point out the resemblances and differ- 

 ences, as they will be seen at once. There is, 

 however, one detail which leads me to imagine 

 that the print is a copy — the king's left hand is 

 here upon his breast, and his right hand holds the 

 crown of thorns. This change would easily occur 

 in producing an engraving, but I do not see how 

 it would be at all likely in copying a painting, or 

 a print. 



Whether this interesting picture is still in St. 

 Botolph's church, I am not aware ; but in the 

 third volume of London and Middlesex, 1815 (p. 

 153.), the Rev. J. Nightingale says : " On the 

 wall of the stairs, leading to the north gallery, is a 

 fine old picture of King Charles I., emblematically 

 describing his sufferings." At that period this 

 painting must have been in the church greater 

 part of a century, and it was probably brought 

 from the old building, which was removed about 

 1725 to make way for the present structure. 



B. H. C. 



[The painting may still be seen on the stairs leading 

 to the north gallery of Bishopsgate church. Pepys was 

 under the impression that it was copied from the Eihon 

 Basilike: "Oct. 2, 1664 (Lord's day), walked with my 

 boy through the city, putting in at several churches, 

 among others at Bishopsgate, and there saw the picture 

 usually put before the king's book, put up in the church, 

 but very ill painted, though it were a pretty piece to set 

 up in a church." The picture, however, is not tW one 

 engraved for the Eihon Basilike, but relates to the fron- 

 tispiece of the large folio Common Prayer Book of 1661, 

 and consists of a sort of pattern altar-piece, which it was 



intended should generally be placed in the churches. 

 The design is a sort of classical affair, derived in type 

 from theciborium of the ancient and continental churches: 

 a composition of two Corinthian columns, engaged or 

 disengaged, with a pediment. It occurs very frequently 

 in the London churches, and may be occasionally re- 

 marked in country-town churches, especially those re- 

 stored at the King's coming in. Any one who has ever 

 seen the great Prayer-Book of 1661, will at once recog- 

 nise the allusion. — -Vide Gent. Mag., March 1849, p. 226. 

 Consult also European 3Iag., lxiv. 391. ; and " N. & Q.," 

 l^t s. i. 137.] 



Taylor the Platonist. — Has there ever been 

 published a biography of Thomas Taylor the Pla- 

 tonist? Where can I see a list of his original 

 works and translations ? Edward Peacock. 



[An interesting biographical notice of Thomas Taylor, 

 who died Nov. 1, 1835, appeared in The Athenaeum, and 

 copied into the Gent. Mag. of Jan. 1836, p. 91. Some 

 account of his principal works is given in this article. A 

 copious and very curious memoir of his early life will be 

 found in British Public Characters of 1798, pp. 127 — 152. 

 It is supposed to have been written by himself; and cer- 

 tainly the minute private particulars it contains, must have 

 been immediately derived from him. A Catalogue of his 

 very curious library was printed in 1836. See " N. & Q." 

 2 od S. ii. 489. ; iii. 35., for some notices of him.] 



To fly in the Air. — It is a common expression 

 with some people, if you ask them to do a thing 

 which they think they are unable to do, to answer 

 " You might as well ask me to fly in the air." 

 Whence did this phrase take its origin ? A. T. L. 



[Without falling back upon antiquity, one naturally 

 understands by the expression, " you might as well ask 

 me to fly in the air," an intimation that what is asked 

 is something wholly beyond the speaker's power to grant; 

 q. d. "You don't suppose I am a witch? " Our folk lore 

 is rich in such expressions, implying utter inability: as, 

 when a person is asked for money, " You don't suppose 1 

 am made of gold?" — with which cf. the reply of hale, 

 elderly persons, when asked " How are you ? " — " Hearty 

 as a buck ; but can't jump quite so high 1 " But if, in ex- 

 planation of the phrase cited by our correspondent, we 

 must really come upon the stores of former ages, we 

 would suggest that the phrase "you might as well ask 

 me to fly in the air," was specially used in reply to those 

 requests which could not be carried out and executed 

 without expeditiously covering a certain amount of dis- 

 tance. " It can't be done in the time, unlets I could fly." 

 This idea carries back our thoughts to the winged 

 seraphs of the Old Testament, who flew to execute the 

 divine commands, with the swiftness of lightning: " I am 

 a man, not an angel." Or, if the allusion be to heathen 

 times, " I am not Iris, the winged messenger of Juno ; 

 nor Mercury, the winged messenger of Jove. To serve 

 you, I would willingly do any amount of distance on 

 Shanks's mare; but don't ask me iofly :" — meaning, " I 

 shan't budge, and am yours," &c] 



Bolled. — This word is used in Exodus ix. 31. 

 What is its exact meaning and derivation ? 



D. S. E. 



[The passage in question is cited in Todd's Johnson, 

 where it is stated that the word boll, as applied to flax, 

 means the globule which contains the seed. In this sense 

 the two concluding clauses of the verse correspond : " the 

 barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled. So LXX. 



