Notes.

THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL RECORDS.

The student of Scottish history will find much useful and important information in Robertson's Index of Charters; Sir Joseph Ayloffe's Calendars of Ancient Charters; Documents and Records illustrative of the History Of Scotland, edited by Sir Francis Palgrave, 1837; Jamieson's History of the Culdees; Toland's History of the Druids; Balfour's History of the Picts; Chalmers' Caledonia; Stuart's Caledonia Romana; History of the House and Clan Mackay; The Genealogical Account of the Barclays of Ury for upwards of 700 Years; Gordon's History of the House of Sutherland; M'Nicol's Remarks on Johnson's Journey to the Western Isles; Kennedy's Annals of Aberdeen; Dalrymple's Annals, &c. &c.

Abredonensis.

PATRICK CAREY.

Looking over Evelyn's Diary, edited by Mr. Barry, 4to., 2nd edit., London, 1819, I came upon the following. Evelyn being at Rome, in 1644, says:

"I was especially recommended to Father John, a Benedictine Monk and Superior of the Order for the English College of Douay; a person of singular learning, religion, and humanity; also to Mr. Patrick Cary, an abbot, brother to our learned Lord Falkland, a witty young priest, who afterwards came over to our church."

It immediately occurred to me, that this "witty young priest" might be Sir Walter Scott's protégé, and the author of "Triviall Poems and Triolets, written in obedience to Mrs. Tomkins' commands by Patrick Carey, Aug. 20, 1651," and published for the first time at London in 1820, from a MS. in the possession of the editor.

Sir Walter, in introducing his "forgotten poet," merely informs us that his author "appears to have been a gentleman, a loyalist, a lawyer, and a rigid high churchman, if not a Roman Catholic."

In the first part of this book, which the author calls his "Triviall Poems," the reader will find ample proof that his character would fit the "witty young priest" of Evelyn; as well as the gentle blood, and hatred to the Roundheads of Sir Walter. As a farther proof that Patrick Carey the priest, and Patrick the poet, may be identical, take the following from one of his poems, comparing the old Church with the existing one:

The second part of Carey's poetical essays is entitled "I will sing unto the Lord," and contains a few "Triolets;" all of an ascetic savour, and strongly confirmatory of the belief that the author may have taken the monastic vow:

The quotation from the Psalms, which forms the title to this second part, is placed above "a helmet and a shield," which Sir Walter has transferred to his title. This "bears what heralds call a cross anchorée, or a cross moline, with a motto, Tant que je puis." With the exception of the rose beneath this, there is no identification here of Patrick Carey with the Falkland family. This cross, placed before religious poems, may however be intended to indicate their subjects, and the writer's profession, rather than his family escutcheon; although that may be pointed at in the rose alluded to, the Falklands bearing "on a bend three roses of the field."

J. O.

["Ah! you do not know Pat Carey, a younger brother of Lord Falkland's," says the disguised Prince Charles to Dr. Albany Rochecliffe in Sir Walter Scott's Woodstock. So completely has the fame of the great Lord Falkland eclipsed that of his brothers, that many are, doubtless, in the same blissful state with good Dr. Rochecliffe, although two editions of the poet's works have been given to the world. In 1771, Mr. John Murray published the poems of Carey, from a collection alleged to be in the hands of a Rev. Pierrepont Cromp, apparently a fictitious name. In 1820, Sir Walter Scott, ignorant, as he confesses himself, at the time of an earlier edition, edited once more the poems, employing an original MS. presented to him by Mr. Murray. In a note in Woodstock, Sir Walter sums up the information he had procured concerning the author, which, scanty as it is, is not without interest. "Of Carey," he says, "the second editor, like the first, only knew the name and the spirit of the verses. He has since been enabled to ascertain that the poetic cavalier was a younger brother of the celebrated Henry Lord Carey, who fell at the battle of Newberry, and escaped the researches of Horace Walpole, to whose list of noble authors he would have been an important addition." The first edition of the poems appeared under the following title, Poems from a Manuscript written in the Time of Oliver Cromwell, 4to. 1771, 1s. 6d.: Murray. It contains only nine pieces, whereas the present edition contains thirty-seven.—Ed.]

INEDITED LYRIC BY FELICIA HEMANS.

A short time since I discovered the following in the handwriting of Mrs. Hemans, and it accompanied an invitation of a more prosaic description to a gentleman of her acquaintance, and a relative of mine, now deceased. I thought it worth preserving, in case any future edition of her works appeared; but the 13th, 14th, and 15th lines are defective, from the seal, or some other accident, having torn them off, and one is missing. And though perhaps it would not be difficult to restore them, yet I have not ventured to do so myself. The last two lines appear to convey a melancholy foreboding of the poet's sad and early fate. Can any one restore the defective parts?

Weld Taylor.

Bayswater.

Water Lilies.

"GREEN EYES."

Having long been familiar with only one instance of the possession of eyes of this hue—the well-known case of the "green-eyed monster Jealousy,"—and not having been led by that association to think of them as a beauty, I have been surprised lately at finding them not unfrequently seriously admired. Ex. gr.:

Mr. Longfellow adds in a note:

"The Spaniards, with good reason, consider this colour of the eye as beautiful, and celebrate it in a song; as, for example, in the well-known Villancico:

I have seen somewhere, I think in one of the historical romances of Alexander Dumas (Père), a popular jingle about

And lastly, see Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act IV. Sc. 4., where the ordinary text has:

Here "The MS. corrector of the folio 1682 converts 'grey' into 'green:' 'Her eyes are green as grass;' and such, we have good reason to suppose, was the true reading." (Collier's Shakspeare Notes and Emendations, p. 25.)

The modern slang, "Do you see anything green in my eye?" can hardly, I suppose, be called in evidence on the question of beauty or ugliness. Is there any more to be found in favour of "green eyes?"

Harry Leroy Temple.

SHAKSPEARE CORRESPONDENCE.

On the Death of Falstaff (Vol. viii., p. 314.).—The remarks of your correspondents J. B. and Nemo on this subject are so obvious, and I think I may also admit in a measure so just, that it appears to me only respectful to them, and to all who may feel reluctant to give up Theobald's reading, that I should give some detailed reason for dissenting from their conclusion.

In the first place, when Falstaff began to "play with flowers and smile upon his fingers' ends," it was no far-fetched thought to place him in fancy among green fields; and if the disputed passage were in immediate connexion with the above, the argument in its favour would be stronger. But, unfortunately, Mrs. Quickly brings in here the conclusion at which she arrives: "I knew there was but one way; for," she adds, as a farther reason, and referring to the physical evidences upon his frame of the approach of death, "his nose was as sharp as a pen on a table of green frieze." We can hardly imagine him "babbling" at this moment. "How now, Sir John, quoth I;" she continues, apparently to rouse him: "What, man! be of good cheer. So [thus roused] 'a cried out—God, God, God! three or four times: now, I to comfort him," &c. Does this look as though he were in the happy state of mind your correspondents imagine? I take no account of his crying out of sack and of women, &c., as that might have been at an earlier period. At the same time it does not follow, had Shakspeare intended to replace him in fancy amid the scenes of his youth, that he should have talked of them. A man who is (or imagines he is) in green fields, does not talk about green fields, however he may enjoy them. Both your correspondents seem to anticipate this difficulty, and meet it by supposing Falstaff to be "babbling snatches of hymns;" but this I conceive to be far beyond the limits of reasonable conjecture. In fact, the whole of their very beautiful theory rests upon the very disputed passage in question. At an earlier period apparently, his mind did wander; when, as Mrs. Quickly says, he was "rheumatick," meaning doubtless lunatic, that is, delirious; and then he talked of other things. When he began to "fumble with the sheets, and play with flowers, and smile upon his fingers' ends," though for a moment he might have fancied himself even "in his mother's lap," or anything else, he was clearly past all "babbling." In saying this, I treat Falstaff as a human being who lived and died, and whose actions were recorded by the faithfullest observer of Nature that ever wrote.

Samuel Hickson.

The above is the reading of the first folio. Pioned is explained by Mr. Collier, "to dig," as in Spenser; but Mr. Halliwell (Monograph Shakspeare, vol. i. p. 425.) finds no authority to support such an interpretation. Mr. Collier's anonymous annotator writes "tilled;" but surely this is a very artificial process to be performed by "spongy April." Hanmer proposed "peonied;" Heath, "lilied;" and Mr. Halliwell admits this is more poetical (and surely more correct), but appears to prefer "twilled," embroidered or interwoven with flowers. A friend of mine suggested that "lilied" was peculiarly appropriate to form "cold nymphs chaste crowns," from its imputed power as a preserver of chastity: and in Mr. Halliwell's folio, several examples are quoted from old poets of "peony" spelt "piony;" and of both peony and lily as "defending from unchaste thoughts." Surely, then, the reading of the first folio is a mere typographical error, and peonied and lilied the most poetical and correct.

Este.

Minor Notes.

Monumental Inscriptions (Vol. viii., p. 215. &c.).—I have never seen the monumental inscription of Theodore Palæologus accurately copied in any book. When in Cornwall lately, I took the trouble to copy it, and as some of your readers may like to see the thing as it is, I send it line for line, word for word, and letter for letter. It is found, as is well known, in the little out-of-the-way church of St. Landulph, near Saltash.

Here lyeth the body of Theodoro Paleologus Of Pesaro in Italye, descended from y^e Imperyail Lyne of y^e last Christian Emperors of Greece Being the sonne of Camilio, y^e son̄e of Prosper the sonne of Theodoro the sonne of Iohn, y^e sonne of Thomas, second brother to Constantine Paleologus, the 8th of that name and last of y^t lyne y^t raygned in Constantinople, untill subdewed by the Turkes, who married with Mary Y^e daughter of William Balls of Hadlye in Souffolke Gent, & had issue 5 children, Theodoro, Iohn, Ferdinando, Maria & Dorothy, and departed this life at Clyfton y^e 21^th of January, 1636."

Ed. St. Jackson.

Marlborough at Blenheim.—Extract from a MS. sermon preached at Bitton (in Gloucestershire?) on the day of the thanksgiving for the victory near Hochstett, anno 1704. (By the Reverend Thomas Earle, afterwards Vicar of Malmesbury?)

"And so I pass to the great and glorious occasion of this day, w^h gives us manifold cause of praise and thanksgiving to Almighty God for ... mercies and deliverances. For y^e happy success of her Majesty's arms both by land and sea [under the] Duke of Marlborough, whose fame now flies through the world, and whose glorious actions will render his name illustrious, and rank him among the renowned worthies of all ages. Had that threatning Bullet, w^h bespattered him all over with dirt, only that he might shine the brighter afterwards; had it, I say, took away his Life, he had gone down to the grave with the laurels in his hand."

Is this incident of the bullet mentioned in any of the cotemporary accounts of the battle?

E.

Etymology of "till," "until.""—Many monosyllables in language are, upon examination, found to be in reality compounds, disguised by contraction. A few instances are, non, Lat. ne-un-(us); dont, Fr. de-unde; such, Eng. so-like; which, who-like. In like manner I believe till, to-while, and until, unto-while. Now while is properly a substantive, and signifies time, corresponding to dum, Lat., in many of its uses, which again is connected with diu, dies, both which are used in the indefinite sense of a while, as well as in the definite sense of a day. Adesdum, come here a while; interdum, between whiles. If τε (Gr.) is connected with this root, then ἑστε, to-while, till. Lawrence Minot says, "To time (till) he thinks to fight."

Dum has the double meaning of while and to-while.

E. S. Jackson.

Dog-whipping Day in Hull.—There was some time since the singular custom in Hull, of whipping all the dogs that were found running about the streets on October 10; and some thirty years since, when I was a boy, so common was the practice, that every little urchin considered it his duty to prepare a whip for any unlucky dog that might be seen in the streets on this day. This custom is now obsolete, those "putters down" of all boys' play in the streets—the new police—having effectually stopped this cruel pastime of the Hull boys. Perhaps some of your readers may be able to give a more correct origin of this singular custom than the one I now give from tradition:

"Previous to the suppression of monasteries in Hull, it was the custom for the monks to provide liberally for the poor and the wayfarer who came to the fair, held annually on the 11th of October; and while busy in this necessary preparation the day before the fair, a dog strolled into the larder, snatched up a joint of meat and decamped with it. The cooks gave the alarm; and when the dog got into the street, he was pursued by the expectants of the charity of the monks, who were waiting outside the gate, and made to give up the stolen joint. Whenever, after this, a dog showed his face, while this annual preparation was going on, he was instantly beaten off. Eventually this was taken up by the boys; and, until the introduction of the new police, was rigidly put in practice by them every 10th of October."

I write this on October 10, 1853: and so effectually has this custom been suppressed, that I have neither seen nor heard of any dog having been this day whipped according to ancient custom.

John Richardson.

13. Savile Street, Hull.

State: Hamlet, Act I. Sc. 1.—Professor Wilson proposed that in the "high and palmy state of Rome," state should be taken in the sense of city:

"Write henceforth and for ever State with a towering capital. State, properly republic, here specifically and pointedly means Reigning City. The ghosts walked in the city, not in the republic."—Vide "Dies Boreales," No. III., Blackwood, August, 1849.

Query, Has this reading been adopted by our skilled Shakspearian critics?

Coleridge uses state for city in his translation of The Death of Wallenstein, Act III. Sc. 7.:

J. M. B.