2 od S. IX. Mar. 31. 'CO.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



247 



Cambridge Tripos paper some years ago with re- 

 ference to a Cambridge tobacconist named Ba- 

 con : — 



" fumose pucr, nimium ne creds Bacon!, 

 Manillas vocat, hoc praetexit nomine caulcs." 



A. "What was that capital story you were telling me 

 the other day? 



B. "Oh I can't remember it; I am forgetting all my 

 good things in the way of stones. 



A. '• fortunatos nimium, sua si bona norint." 



Selrach. 



Besides the class which your correspondent 

 speaks of, there is another class the memory of 

 which is surely worthy of preservation, although 

 the wit is that of the punster rather than the 

 humourist. As a specimen I annex two which I 

 remember to have heard from the late Mr. Dawson 

 Turner : — 



"What can Horace have meant, when he advised per- 

 sons in difficulty to keep a mare: — 



' -Equarn memento rebus in arduis servarc? ' " 

 "Who says that the ancients did not know the worth 

 of tea, when Orpheus even sang its praises : — 



' Te redeunte, te abeunte die canebat.' " 

 Sheridan's — 



" Quanto delphinis Baloena Britannica major," 

 is, of course, the most magnificent specimen of 

 this class ; and I have heard an illustration of it 

 from the nursery : — 



"Birds in their little nests agree, 

 And 'tis a shameful sight! " 



B. B. Woodward. 

 Haverstoek Hill. 



My good and learned grandfather, Deane Swift, 

 kinsman and biographer of the St. Patrician ge- 

 nius, made a neat one upon David Mallet (lexico- 

 graphic Sam's illustrative "alias"), who, in his 

 college days, was wont to indemnify the restraints 

 of Oxford by occasional trips to London : — 

 " Xunc Mascbus Roma;, nunc Mallet Athenis." 



But I have a more piquant contribution at 

 J. O. B.'s service. The well-remembered Irish 

 barristers Curran and Egan were, as usual, chaffing 

 one another in the Four Courts, when the latter 

 spying, or affecting to spy, a somewhat objection- 

 able visitor on the collar of Curran's silk gown, 

 put to him the bucolic question — "cujum pecus?" 

 whereto the future Master of the Rolls promptly 

 replied — 



" Nupcr mini tradidit Egan." 



E. L. S. 



PHILIP RUBENS. 



(2 nd S. ix. 129.) 



I have much pleasure in contributing to the 

 information of W. Nokf. Sainsbury, and still 

 more so in being enabled to place before him a 



translation of one of the letters in question. He 

 will, however, pardon me in correcting a slight 

 inadvertence into which he has fallen in writing 

 his Note. In it he states "there are in that 

 volume three or four exceptions, but they are 

 letters of considerable interest, and written by 

 the great artist himself.'" The letters of Bau- 

 dius (pp. 360—364.) can hardly be construed as 

 falling within this category. In calling me to 

 account for omitting to furnish references, Mr. 

 Sainsbury forgets that in his work on Rubens he 

 has entirely omitted the number of the volume 

 and the collection, whether Domestic, Flanders, 

 Holland, or otherwise, from whence he deduced 

 his originals in the State Paper Office. This ad- 

 dition, I agree with him, would enable readers to 

 compare the printed copies with the MSS. them- 

 selves. 



" Philip Rubens to his Brother Peter Paul Rubens. 



" The first of my wishes was to see Italy, and in it you 

 my brother. The one I have already realized, the other 

 I have in hope. And wherefore? How trifling a journey 

 is it to Mantua from Padua ! It might be performed in a 

 little cart (so to speak) when the time of year will per- 

 mit. But then we shall see. We arrived here some few 

 days since; (a fortnight has now elapsed). Where so 

 long in the interim ? 



" ' In Sequanis mensem quse nescio sera morata est 

 , Segnities ; nee sera tamen transivimus Alpes 

 Nondum praeclusas, niveo nondura aggere septas ; 

 Sed faciles, nulloque morantes objice gressum.' 



" Now a word for you in your ear. We are thinking of 

 Venice, but only for two or three days, for we must re- 

 turn thither at Shrovetide unless the cold and frost 

 hinder us, which is now so sharp and inclement in these 

 parts that Venice might be approached as it were on solid 

 ground, that is to say, ice (if it be firm enough), a cir- 

 cumstance which they say happened twelve years ago. 

 What a pleasure it will be to hear from you what you 

 think of this city and the others of Italy, many of which 

 you have already visited ! Of Rome first, so shortly to 

 be quitted by you if the Prince of Mantua returns (as I 

 trust he will) safe home. What a sad affair that was at 

 Canischa.* How truly fortunate for you that you were 

 away and used the opportunity of going to Rome! What 

 I pray has happened to Pourbius? — 



" ' Superestne et vescitnr aura 



^theria? ' 



" Since my departure I have heard nothing from our 

 mother, nor could I, for where could she send to? I trust 

 she is in health, and keeps up well. Do j - ou the same, 

 my brother, and expect longer letters and more serious 

 ones, when I shall know where you are. Padua, the Ides 

 (C— 13) of December, 1601." 



This, with other letters, will be found in the 

 printed Selectiores Epistola of Ph. Rubens, with 

 life prefixed by J. Brant, and fine portrait, 1615, 

 Lat., a scarce book to be met with. 



Cd. Hopper. 



• In allusion, doubtless, to the capture of that place by 

 the Imperialists in 1601; so that we have presumptive 

 evidence of the painter's being in Hungary just before the 

 date of this letter. 



