2«<« S. IX. Feb. 11. '00.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



in 



Notes on Regiments (2 ad S. ix. 23.) — Is not 

 W. T. M. somewhat hypercritical in his remarks 

 on "Vestigia nulla retrorsum," the motto of the 

 Fifth Dragoon Guards? The three words, al- 

 though they occur in two lines of Horace, are to 

 be applied on their own meaning, without refer- 

 ence to the context. They form the family motto 

 of the Earl of Buckinghamshire, and of Levinge, 

 Bart. 



In commemorating the services of a very gal- 

 lant corps, the motto selected was doubtless in- 

 tended to denote its forwardness in action — that 

 it never advanced backivards, or turned its back to 

 the enemy. 



In the published records of the army, there is 

 no explanation given of the motto. In ] 705, this 

 regiment, then specified as Brigadier Cadogan's 

 Horse, formed part of the army under the great 

 Marlborough, and defeated four squadrons of 

 Bavarian Horse Grenadier Guards, and took four 

 standards, with a different motto on each, but the 

 words in question were not among them. 



In 1751 a warrant was issued, regulating the 

 standards, &c, of cavalry regiments. The second 

 and third standards of " The Second Irish Horse" 

 (or the Green Horse, from the colour of the 

 facings), as the present 5th Regiment of Dragoon 

 Guards was then styled, " were to be of full green 

 damask, embroidered and fringed with gold ; the 

 rank of the regiment in gold Roman characters 

 in a crimson ground, within a wreath of roses 

 and thistles on the same stalk, and the motto — 

 'Vestigia nulla retrorsum' — underneath," &c. 



S. D. S. 



The adoption of this motto from Horace (Epist. 

 I. i. 73.) by the 5th Dragoon Guards, does not 

 imply that they represent either the circumspect 

 fox or the old and feeble lion in the fable, to 

 whom the fox, in the language of Lokman (vi.) 

 addresses the words, " I should enter willingly, 



but in examining the foot-prints (^Ijjl Xi\) of 



numerous animals who have entered, I cannot see 

 one that has returned." We have the same fable 

 in Greek (Bonn's Plato, iv. 346. n.) : — 



IloAAwc yap ix v V OypCuiV *m' ftKaAA' ov. 

 *Clv eiaioyTwy ret ye yeypafxadv' ^v &}Aa. 

 Twp o' e^tocrtor ovk ex«ty, o fioi fietfei?." 



Mottoes and adapted quotations need not run 

 on all fours with their originals. So Plato (Alci- 

 biades, I. 123 a.) puts the words of this fox into 

 the mouth of Socrates, in reference to " the im- 

 pressions of coined money at Laceda?mon, as it 

 enters thither, one may see plainly marked, but 

 no where of its going out (ify&vTos 8e ovSa/xv &v ris 



«Ol)." 



The chief duties of the Dragoon Guards are to 

 be in advance and to pursue a flying enemy after 

 his ranks are broken; and therefore the motto, 



" No footprints backward," in reference to him- 

 self or his horse, does not seem to be a mistake, 

 but a very appropriate adaptation. It appears to 

 be equivalent to the phrase " We can die, but not 

 surrender." T. J. Buckton. 



Lichfield. 



Hymns (2 od S. viii. 512.) — H. W. B. will find 

 the original of " Lo he comes with clouds descend- 

 ing " in the Rev. Charles Wesley's " Hymns of 

 Intercession for all Mankind," 1758, and a verba- 

 tim, copy of it in the hymn-book now in use 

 among the Wesleyans, A Collection of Hymns for 

 the Use of the People called Methodists ; the only 

 variation being the use of thy instead of thine in 

 the fourth verse. In Dr. Rippon's Collection, 

 1787, verse three is omitted, and three other 

 verses inserted in its place. In his preface the 

 editor says, " In most places where the names of 

 the authors were known they are put at full 

 length ; but the hymns which are not so distin- 

 guished, or which have only a single letter prefixed 

 to them, were many of them composed by persons 

 unknown, or else have undergone some consider- 

 able alterations." There is neither name nor ini- 

 tial letter prefixed to this hymn, in consequence I 

 suppose of the " considerable alterations." Sub- 

 sequent collectors appear to have copied from 

 Rippon rather than from Wesley, since most of 

 them have one or other of the inserted verses, and 

 scarcely any Wesley's third verse. The original 

 was undoubtedly, I think, written by Wesley, 

 though generally attributed to Olivers (frequently 

 written Oliver). 



This may perhaps be accounted for as fol- 

 lows : — 



In Mr. Wesley's Sacred Harmony and in Select 

 Hyniics and Tunes Annext, the tune adapted to this 

 hymn is called " Olivers ; " and in the edition of 

 A Collection of Hymns for the People called Me- 

 thodists, 1797, and several subsequent ones, the 

 name " Olivers " appears at the head of the hymn 

 as the name of the tune to which it might be sung. 

 Perhaps some transcriber may have mistaken the 

 name of the tune for that of the author of the 

 hymn. 



The Rev. Thomas Jackson, in his Life of Thomas 

 Olivers, says that he wrote both the hymn and 

 tune. But, in his Life of the Bev. C. Wesley, he 

 attributes the hymn to Wesley, and the tune to 

 Olivers. C. D. H. 



Thomas Maud (2 nd S. viii. 291. 407.) — If the 

 following afford any information to Oxoniensis, it 

 is at his service. Authors seem agreed that 

 Thomas Maud the poet and historian was born- at 

 Hare wood in 1717, where he spent his early 

 youth, and received a liberal education ; as histo- 

 rical writers are much in the habit of copying each 

 other, this may or may not be true. Burke (Dic- 

 tionary of the Landed Gentry) does not even men- 



