234 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



t2°i S. IX. Mar. 24. '60. 



to give Boland and Poor the book ' for their 

 clergy,' the presiding judge addressed him in 

 these terms : — 



" Judge Keatinge (to the Ordinary). ' Sir, — I expect a 

 true rule from you, as if I were there myself. The times 

 are so (the crisis of the Revolution) that we must forget 

 " bowels of mercy." Ordinary do your duty — what place 

 do you shoiv them ? ' 



" Ordinary. ' My Lord, 1 show them the 50th Psalm.' 

 "Judge Keatinge. 'Let them read the 5th verse : this 

 is an act of mercy, and I know not why it should not be 

 in Irish rather — the Country language. It was formerly 

 in Latin, because the Roman Church had their works in 

 Latin.' " 



(" The Ordinary returned them both) — non legit") 



Upon this curious passage 1 remark, that though 

 the judge changed the verse, and the ordinary 

 changed the psalm, yet that both probably in- 

 tended to follow ancient usage in this matter : for 

 it will be perceived on comparison, that the psalm 

 •which Nares numbers as the 51st, is the 50th in 

 the Vulgate version, and is one probably chosen 

 from its applicability to the case of a condemned 

 criminal appealing to mercy : whereas the 50th 

 in our version, or 51st in the Vulgate, would have 

 no reference at all to the circumstances. 



The remark of the judge, in selecting the 5th 

 verse (50th, Vulgate), — that "this is an act of 

 mercy" — would have no pertinence at all as ap- 

 plied to the 5th verse of the 50th psalm as 

 numbered in our version. Two things therefore 

 appear to me probable : first, that Nares (being 

 right as to the psalm used) hastily took the 

 number from the Prayer Book, or authorised ver- 

 sion ; while on the other hand the ordinary, re- 

 ferring to the old precedents of giving benefit of 

 clergy in the days of Romanism, took the num- 

 bering from them, and thence from the Vulgate 

 enumeration. A. B. R. 



Belmont. 



Hymns (2 r - a S. ix. 71.) — Your correspondent 

 very properly animadverts on the piecemeal na- 

 ture of modern compilations of hymns ; but most 

 of them have even a worse fault, in that the com- 

 pilers, either from being unable to appreciate the 

 original image, or in order to suit their own no- 

 tions of propriety, take the most unwarrantable 

 liberties with these compositions, so as in many 

 cases utterly to take out the pith of the senti- 

 ment, or even to make nonsense of the passage. 

 Compare the following improvements (?) in Cot- 

 terill's Selection of a well-known hymn : — 



" When we can view our prospect clear, &c. 

 And dry our weeping eyes. 

 We then can smile at all their rage." 



And especially in this verse, where the metaphor 

 is entirely lost : — 



" There shall we stay our weary souls 

 In scenes of changeless rest ; 

 Tfliere not a wave of trouble rolls 

 Across the peaceful breast." 



The preceding verse had spoken of " cares like 

 a wild deluge," and " storms of sorrow." 



Mercer, in this case, gives the original version : 



" When /can read my title clear, &c. 

 And wipe my weeping eyes; 

 / then can smile at Satan's rage. — 



" There shall I bathe my weary soul 

 In seas of heavenly rest, 

 And not a wave of trouble roll 

 Across my peaceful breast." 



In which the metaphor is kept up, as the writer 

 intended and wrote it. J.Eastwood. 



Will Mb. Sedgwick give his authority for 

 saying that Thomas Olivers composed the tune to 

 the hymn, " Lo ! he comes in clouds descend- 

 ing ? " The air to which the words are usually 

 sung in churches is that of a song in The Golden 

 Pippin, — 



" Guardian angels, now protect me, 

 Send to me the youth I love." 



Wm. Chappell. 

 Origin of "Cockney" (2" a S. ix. 42. 88.) — 

 In a Dictionary by " E. Coles, Schoolmaster and 

 Teacher of the Tongue to Foreigners," London, 

 1733 — a very- curious book in many respects — the 

 meanings of the word are thus given : — 



" Cockney, a child that sucks long, wantonly brought 

 up; one born. and bred in London, or, as the}' say, within 

 the sound of Bow bell ; also an aDcient name of the 

 River Thames, or, as others say, the little brook by 

 Turnmil Street." 



This tends to corroborate the original meaning 

 assigned to the word by Mr. Wedgwood, as quoted 

 by your correspondent Mr. Sketchley. How- 

 ever, I beg leave to differ from Mr. Wedgwood as 

 to the meaning of the Fr. coqueliner. It does not 

 mean " to dandle," &c, but " to crow like a cock," 

 and has no other meaning that I can discover. 

 The Dictionnaire de V Academie does not admit the 

 word at all into the main work ; at least in my 

 copy, printed in 1835. I find it, however, in the 

 Complement, 1842, where it stands thus : " Coque- 

 liner, r. n. II se dit du chant du coq." Nothing 

 more. 



Apropos of the old dictionary above quoted, it 

 contains many old words which are not easily met 

 with elsewhere, particularly county dialects. In 

 reference to a Query lately proposed, it has — 

 " Soote, Sate, O (old) sweet :" and in reference to 

 a most respectable and powerful party in the 

 state in these days, it has, " proh pudor! " " Tories, 

 Irish outlaws!" John Williams. 



Arno's Court. 



fHiScdUuroujf. 

 NOTES ON BOOKS. 



7'he History of Herodotus. A new English Version, 

 ited with Copious Notes and Appendices, illustrating the 



edited 



