T 
1305.| Ancient Manner of circulating the Bow!—Auld Robin Gray. 429 
his day, but which at all times occupied 
the bofoms of fingular advocates, and now 
feems equally to poffels the mind of a pre- 
fent elegant and Jearned artitt. 
I find feveral paflages, both in the Iliad 
and in the Odyfley of Mr. Cowper, which 
defcrive the mode in which the convivial 
bow] was accuftomed to pafs. But thefe 
inftructions do not correfpond ; for in- 
ftance, from right to leit, Il. B.i. 580, 
P90 AX Orig | Od: SKS, 2795 322% 
Again, in Od. B. iii. 432. xvii. 439, 
from left to right is reprefented as accu- 
rate. The latter place relates the method 
which Ulyfes took of applying to the 
fuitors as a mendicant, and he entreated 
them from left to right. This, we are ad- 
vifed in the note fubjoined, was, that he 
might begin aufpicioufly : to which is ad- 
ded, wine was ferved in the fame direétion. 
But this by no means agrees with the fuc- 
cefsful manner in which Vulcan adminif- 
tered neétar to the deities, in the clofe of 
the firft book of the Iliad ; and therefore 
I am yet to learn, whether the cup went 
round in the way. we deliver the cards at 
whilt, or the contrary manner in which we 
diftribute them at quadrille. 
Mr Pope utually contents himfelf with 
making the bowl to circulate, without at- 
tending to the mode in which it paffed. 
There is, indeed, but one paiage, and that 
is in the Odyffey, where he particularizes 
the manner of this ceremony. This is 
in B, xxi. 149, where Antinous inftructs 
the fuitors, 
** From where the goblet firft begins to flow, 
From right to left, in order take the bow.” 
Antinous makes this propofition, fays Mr. 
Pope in his note, that every perfon may 
try bis fkill without confufion. Perhaps, 
it is propofed by Antinous, continves he, 
by way of omen, the ‘ight hand being 
reckoned tortunate ; but, however that be, 
it is very evident, that in the entertain- 
men's of the ancients the cup was deliver- 
ed towards the sight hand. 
The difficulty of comprehending the 
true mode, I am aware, confiits in our 
right apprehenfion of the feveral paflages ; 
and I treely acknowledge that to me they 
are not fufficiently explicit to afcertain 
whether right zo left ought to be confined 
to the individual, or from the right hand 
of one to the Jeft of his next affociate, which 
is dirett the reverfe of the other ; and yet 
however this may be, we itil! find the fame 
difficulty or error recur in the difcordance 
of the feveral quotations. 
In the conclufion of Mr. Pope’s note x, 
the doubts not but the bow] out of which 
thefe perfons drank, would by Antiquaries 
be thought inefimable ; and the poffeffion 
of an ancient bow] is not quite fo valuable 
as the knowledge of an ancient cuftom. 
March 22, 1805. Ww. 
—ae Tee 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
ce N Inquirer,” at p. 105 of your laft 
Magazine, afks for the author of 
the ** Au'd Scots Lilt,’’ of «* Auld Robin 
Gray.” That the words are anciently 
original, I have no doubt; but have never 
heard them atcribed to any particular au- 
thor. What I conceive to be the original 
fong, is printed by R. Bremner, who was 
a well-known mufic feller, facing Somer- 
fet Houfe, The medern, in which the 
firt verfe is ‘‘ Recitative,’’ and in the 
fucceeding ftanzas chromatic paflages are 
ufed, was fung at Covent-Garden, in 
1781, by Mrs. Kennedy, (than who more 
fit?) and the fame year at Vauxhall. I 
mutt on this occafion remark, that it was 
the firtt inftance of chromatic mufic that 
occurred to mein the common ballad fiyle. 
While on this fubjeé&t, permit me to la- 
ment, as I have had frequent occation to 
do, that mufical publications are generaliy 
without a date, to the no fmall inconve- 
nience, and frequent difappointment, of 
enquiry. 
Tne Epigram, p. 126, has been fre- 
quently, and incorreétly, given. It ap~ 
peared originally in a thin quarto volume, 
entitied, Salmagundi; or, a Milcellaneous 
Combination of Original Poetry, 1791. 
My in‘ention in this communication is, 
to endeavour to account for the origin of 
it, which, from very refpectable authority, 
is as follows: 
A ftudent at Cambridge, having by 
fome means given offence to his fuperior, 
(Dr. B.) he, to punifh him, gave him for 
a thefis, ‘‘ [gnotum omne pro magnifico."” 
This was confidered by the ftudent as an 
intended affront; and, recollecting the 
mode in which his {uperior kept his cattle, 
compleated his exercile, as well as his re- 
tort, at the fame time, which was potted 
in feveral places, before, or at leaft as 
foon as, his trial was over. 
«6 Tgnotum omne pro magnifico.” 
Salmagundi, p. 128. 
‘* Averfe to pamper’d and high-mettled 
fteeds, 
His own upon chopt-ftraw Avaro feeds: 
Bred in dis ftable, in Ais paddock born, 
What vai ideas they muft have of corn!” 
LIBERNATUS. 
Te 
