Notes.

BACON'S ESSAYS, BY MARKBY.

Mr. Markby has recently published his promised edition of Bacon's Essays; and he has in this, as in his edition of the Advancement of Learning, successfully traced most of the passages alluded to by Lord Bacon. The following notes relate to a few points which still deserve attention:

Essay I. On Truth:—"The poet that beautified the sect that was otherwise inferior to the rest."] By "beautified" is here meant "set off to advantage," "embellished."

Essay II. On Death.—

Many of the thoughts in the Essays recur in the "Exempla Antithetorum," in the 6th book De Augmentis Scientiarum. With respect to this Essay, compare the article "Vita," No. 12., in vol. viii. p. 360. ed. Montagu.

"You shall read in some of the friars' books of mortification, that a man should think with himself what the pain is, if he have but his finger's end pressed or tortured, and thereby imagine what the pains of death are when the whole body is corrupted and dissolved."] Query, What books are here alluded to?

"Pompa mortis magis terret, quam mors ipsa."] Mr. Markby thinks these words are an allusion to Sen. Ep. xxiv. § 13. Something similar also occurs in Ep. xiv. § 3. Compare Ovid, Heroid. x. 82.: "Morsque minus pœnæ quam mora mortis habet."

"Galba, with a sentence, 'Feri si ex re sit populi Romani.'"] In addition to the passage of Tacitus, quoted by Mr. Markby, see Sueton. Galb. c. 20.

"Septimus Severus in despatch, 'Adeste si quid mihi restat agendum.'"] No such dying words are attributed to Severus, either in Dio Cassius, lxxvi. 15., the passage cited by Mr. Markby, or in Spartian. Sever. c. 23.

In the passage of Juvenal, the words are, "qui spatium vitæ," and not "qui finem vitæ," as quoted by Lord Bacon. Length of life is meant.

Essay III. Of Unity in Religion.—

"Certain Laodiceans and lukewarm persons."] The allusion is to Rev. iii. 14-16.

"It is noted by one of the Fathers, Christ's coat indeed had no seam, but the Church's vesture was of divers colours; whereupon he saith, 'in veste varietas sit, scissura non sit.'"] Query, Who is the Father alluded to?

"The massacre in France."] I. e. the massacre of St. Bartholomew.

Essay IV. Of Revenge.—See Antitheta, No. 39. vol. viii. p. 374.

The saying of Cosmo, Duke of Florence, as to not forgiving friends, recurs in the Apophthegms, vol. i. p. 394. ed. Montagu.

Essay V. Of Adversity.—

On the fable of Hercules sailing over the ocean in an earthen pot, see Sap. Vet., vol. x. p. 335. And concerning the Greek fable, see Schneidewin, Del. Poes. Gr., p. 329.

Essay VI. Of Simulation and Dissimulation.—See Antitheta, No. 32. vol. viii. p. 370.

"Arts of state and arts of life, as Tacitus well calleth them."] Mr. Markby does not trace this allusion, which is not obvious.

Essay VII. Of Parents and Children.—See Antitheta, No. 5. vol. viii. p. 356.

"The Italians make little difference between children and nephews, or near kinsfolk."] Query, What ground is there for this assertion?

"Generally the precept is good: 'Optimum elige, suave et facile illud faciet consuetudo.'"] Query, Who is the author of this precept?

Essay VIII. Of Marriage and Single Life.—See Antitheta, No. 5. vol. viii. p. 356.

The answer of Thales concerning marriage is also given in Plut. Symp. iii. 3.

Essay IX. Of Envy.—See Antitheta, No. 16. vol. viii. p. 362.

"The Scripture calleth envy an evil eye."] Lord Bacon appears to allude to James iv. 5.: "Do ye think that the Scripture saith in vain, the Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?"

"Non est curiosus, quin idem sit malevolus."] From Plautus, Stich. 1. 3. v. 55. "Nam curiosus nemo est, quin sit malevolus."

"Therefore it was well said, 'Invidia festos dies non agit.'"] Whence is this saying taken? It occurs likewise in the Antitheta.

Essay X. Of Love.—See Antitheta, No. 36. vol. viii. p. 373.

"It hath been well said, that the arch-flatterer, with whom all the petty flatterers have intelligence, is a man's self."] Query, From whom is this saying quoted?

"It was well said, that it is impossible to love and to be wise."] Mr. Markby cites a verse of Publius Syrus, "Amare et sapere vix Deo conceditur." Compare Menander, Andria, Fragm. 1., and Ovid, Met. ii. 846.: "Non bene conveniunt, nec in unâ sede morantur, Majestas et amor."

"I know not how, but martial men are given to love."] Aristotle (Pol. ii. 9.) has the same remark, adding that there was good reason for the fable which made Venus the spouse of Mars.

Essay XI. Of Great Place.—See Antitheta, No. 7. vol. viii. p. 357.

"Cum non sis qui fueris, non esse cur velis vivere."] Whatever may be the source of this quotation, the sense seems to require est for esse.

"It is most true that was anciently spoken: 'A place showeth the man.'"] The allusion is to the celebrated Greek proverb "ἀρχὴ ἄνδρα δείκνυσι," attributed to Bias, Solon, Pittacus, and others. See Diogenianus, Prov. ii. 94., with the note of Leutsch and Schneidewin.

Essay XII. Of Boldness.—See Antitheta, No. 33. vol. viii. p. 371.

"Question was asked of Demosthenes," &c.] See Cic. de Orat. iii. 56.; Brut. 38.; Plut. Vit. X. Orat. c. 8. By the Greek word ὑπόκρισις, and the Latin word actio, in this anecdote, is meant all that belongs to the acting or delivery of a speech. Bacon appears, by his following remarks, not to include elocution in actio; which was certainly not Cicero's understanding of the word.

"If the hill will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet will go to the hill."] Query, What is the authority for this well-known story?

Essay XIII. Of Goodness.—

"The Turks, a cruel people, nevertheless are kind to beasts, and give alms to dogs and birds; insomuch, as Busbechius reporteth, a Christian boy in Constantinople had like to have been stoned for gagging in a waggishness a long-billed fowl."] A. G. Busbequius, Legationis Turcicæ Epistolæ quattuor, in Epist. iii. p. 107. of his works, Lond. 1660, tells a story of a Venetian goldsmith at Constantinople, who was fond of fowling, and had caught a bird of the size of the cuckoo, and of the same colour; with a beak not very large, but with jaws so wide that, when opened, they would admit a man's fist. This bird he fastened over his door, with extended wings, and a stick in his beak, so as to extend the jaws to a great width, as a joke. The Turks, who were passing by, took compassion on the bird; seized the goldsmith by the neck, and led him before the criminal judge. He was with difficulty saved from an infliction of the bastinado by the interference of the Venetian Bailo. The man told the story to Busbequius, and showed him the bird; who supposed it to be the Caprimulgus, or goat-sucker. A full account of the Caprimulgus Europæus (the bird here alluded to) may be seen in the Penny Cyclopædia, art. Nightjars. It will be observed that Bacon quotes the story from memory, and does not represent the particulars of it with accuracy. It is not a Christian boy, nor is he threatened with stoning, nor is the bird a long-billed fowl.

"Neither give thou Æsop's cock a gem," &c.] Compare Apophthegms, No. 203. p. 393.

"Such men in other men's calamities are, as it were, in season, and are ever on the loading part."] By "the loading part," seems to be meant the part which is most heavily laden; the part which supports the chief burthen.

"Misanthropi, that make it their practice to bring men to the bough, and yet have never a tree for the purpose in their gardens as Timon had."] Query, What is the allusion in this passage? Nothing of the sort occurs in Lucian's dialogue of Timon.

Essay XIV. Of Nobility.—See Antitheta, No. 1. vol. viii. p. 354.

Essay XV. Of Seditions and Troubles.—

"As Machiavel noteth well, when princes, that ought to be common parents, make themselves as a party," &c.] Perhaps Lord Bacon alludes to Disc. iii. 27.

"As Tacitus expresseth it well, 'Liberius quam ut imperantium meminissent.'"] Mr. Markby is at a loss to trace this quotation. I am unable to assist him.

The verses of Lucan are quoted from memory. The original has, "Avidumque in tempora," and "Et concussa fides."

"Dolendi modus, timendi non item."] Query, Whence are these words taken?

"Solvam cingula regum."] Mr. Markby refers to Job xii. 18.; but the passage alluded to seems to be Isaiah xlv. 1.

The story of Epimetheus is differently applied in Sap. Vet., vol. x. p. 342.

The saying of Cæsar on Sylla is inserted in the Apophthegms, No. 135. p. 379. That of Galba is likewise to be found in Suet. Galb. 16.

Essay XVI. Of Atheism.—See Antitheta, No. 13. vol. viii. p. 360.

"Who to him is instead of a god, or melior natura."] From Ovid, Met. 1. 21. "Hanc deus et melior litem natura diremit."

Essay XVII. Of Superstition.—See Antitheta, No. 13. vol. viii. p. 360.

Essay XIX. Of Empire.—See Antitheta, No. 8. vol. viii. p. 358.

"And the like was done by that league, which Guicciardini saith was the security of Italy," &c.] The league alluded to, is that of 1485. See Guicciardini, lib. i. c. 1.

"Neither is the opinion of some of the school-men to be received, that a war cannot justly be made but upon a precedent injury or provocation."] Grotius lays down the same doctrine as Bacon, De J. B. et P., ii. 1. §§ 2, 3. Query, What school-men are here referred to?

Essay XX. Of Counsel.—See Antitheta, No. 44. vol. viii. p. 377.

Jupiter and Metis.] See Sap. Vet., vol. xi. p. 354.

"For which inconveniences, the doctrine of Italy, and practice of France, in some kings' times, hath introduced cabinet councils: a remedy worse than the disease." By "cabinet councils" are here meant private meetings of selected advisers in the king's own apartment.

"Principis est virtus maxima nosse suos."] From Martial, viii. 15.

"It was truly said, 'Optimi consiliarii mortui.'"] Compare Apophthegms, No. 105.: "Alonzo of Arragon was wont to say of himself, that he was a great necromancer; for that he used to ask counsel of the dead, meaning books."

Essay XXI. Of Delays.—See Antitheta, No. 41. vol. viii. p. 376.

"Occasion (as it is in the common verse) turneth a bald noddle," &c.] See "N. & Q.," Vol. iii., pp. 8. 43., where this saying is illustrated.

Essay XXII. Of Cunning.—

"The old rule, to know a fool from a wise man: 'Mitte ambos nudos ad ignotos, et videbis.'"] Attributed to "one of the philosophers" in Apophthegms, No. 255. p. 404.

"I knew a counsellor and secretary that never came to Queen Elizabeth of England with bills to sign, but he would always first put her into some discourse of estate, that she might the less mind the bills."] King's or queen's bills is a technical expression for a class of documents requiring the royal signature, which is still, or was recently, in use. See Murray's Official Handbook, by Mr. Redgrave, p. 257. Query, To which of Queen Elizabeth's Secretaries of State does Bacon allude? And again, who are meant by the "two who were competitors for the Secretary's place in Queen Elizabeth's time," mentioned lower down?

Essay XXIII. Of Wisdom for a Man's Self.—

"It is the wisdom of rats, that will be sure to leave a house somewhat before it fall."] Query, How and when did this popular notion (now engrafted upon our political language) originate?

"It is the wisdom of crocodiles, that shed tears when they would devour."] This saying seems to be derived from the belief, that the crocodile imitates the cry of children in order to attract their mothers, and then to devour them. See Salgues, Des Erreurs et des Préjugés, tom. ii. p. 406.

Essay XXIV. Of Innovations.—See Antitheta, No. 40. vol. viii. p. 375.

Essay XXV. Of Despatch.—See Antitheta, No. 27. vol. viii. p. 368.

"I knew a wise man, that had it for a by-word, when he saw men hasten to a conclusion, 'Stay a little, that we may make an end the sooner.'"] Mr. Markby says that Sir Amias Paulet is the person alluded to. The saying in Apophthegms, No. 14. p. 414.

"The Spartans and Spaniards have been noted to be of small despatch: 'Mi venga la muerte de Spagna,—Let my death come from Spain, for then it will be sure to be long in coming.'"] The slow and dilatory character of the Lacedæmonians is noted in Thucyd. i. 70.: "Καὶ μὴν καὶ ἄοκνοι πρὸς ὑμᾶς μελλητάς." And again, i. 84.: "Καὶ τὸ βραδὺ καὶ μέλλον, ὃ μέμφονται μάλιστα ἡμῶν." Livy represents the Rhodians making a similar remark to the Roman senate in 167 B.C.: "Atheniensium populum fama est celerem et supra vires audacem esse ad conandum: Lacedæmoniorum cunctatorem, et vix in ea, quibus fidit, ingredientem," xlv. 23. Bayle, in his Pensées sur les Comètes, § 243., has a passage which illustrates the slowness of the Spaniards:—"D'un côté on prévoyoit, que l'empereur et le roi d'Espagne se serviroient de très grandes forces, pour opprimer la chrétienté: mais on prévoyoit aussi de l'autre, qu'ils ne seroient jamais en état de l'accabler, parceque la lenteur et les longues délibérations qui ont toujours fait leur partage, font perdre trop de bonnes occasions. Vous savez la pensée de Malherbe sur ce sujet: S'il est vrai, dit-il dans quelqu'une de ses lettres, que l'Espagne aspire à la monarchie universelle, je lui conseille de demander à Dieu une surséance de la fin du monde."

Essay XXVI. Of seeming wise.—

"Magno conatu nugas."] From Terence, Heaut. iii. 5. 8.: "Ne ista, hercle, magno jam conatu magnas nugas dixerit."

Essay XXVII. Of Friendship.—

"Epimenides the Candian."] Bacon calls the ancient Cretan priest Epimenides a "Candian," as Machiavel speaks of the capture of Rome by the "Francesi" under Brennus. Mr. Pashley, in his Travels in Crete, vol. i. p. 189., shows that Candia is a name unknown in the island; and that among the natives its ancient denomination is still in use. The name Candia has been propagated over Europe from the Italian usage.

"The Latin adage meeteth with it a little: 'Magna civitas, magna solitudo.'"] See Erasm. Adag., p. 1293. It is taken from a verse of a Greek comic poet, which referred to the city of Megalopolis in Arcadia: "Ἐρημία μεγάλη 'στὶν ἡ Μεγάλη πόλις."—Strab. viii. 8. § 1.

"The Roman name attaineth the true use and cause thereof, naming them 'participes curarum.'"] To what examples of this expression does Bacon refer?

"The parable of Pythagoras is dark, but true: 'Cor ne edito.'"] Concerning this Pythagorean precept, see Diog., Laert. viii. 17, 18., cum not.

The saying of Themistocles is repeated in Apophthegms, No. 199. p. 392.

The saying of Heraclitus is repeated, Apophthegms, No. 268.; De Sap. Vet., vol. xi. p. 346. It is alluded to in Nov. Org., ii. 32.: "Quicquid enim abducit intellectum a consuetis, æquat et complanat aream ejus, ad recipiendum lumen siccum et purum notionum verarum."

"It was a sparing speech of the ancients, to say that a friend is another himself."] See Aristot., Mag. Mor. ii. 11.: "Μία φανὲν ψυχὴ ἡ ἐμὴ καὶ ἡ τούτου;" and again, c. 15.: "Τοιοῦτος οἷος ἕτερος εἶναι ἐγὼ, ἀν γε καὶ σφόδρα φίλον τοιήσῃς, ὥσπερ τὸ λεγόμενον 'ἄλλος οὗτος Ἡρακλῆς,' 'ἄλλος φίλος ἐγώ.'" Eth. Eud. vii. 12.: "Ὁ γὰρ φίλος βούλεται εἶναι, ὥσπερ ἡ παροιμία φησὶν, ἄλλος Ἠρακλῆς, ἄλλος οὗτος."

L.

(To be continued.)

THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA.

The interest which the execution of the railroad across the Isthmus of Panama excites, induces me to transmit you the following extract from Gage's New Survey of the West Indies, 8vo., London, 1699.

A few lines relative to the author, of whom but little is known, may be also of use. He was the son of John Gage, of Haling; and his brother was Sir Henry Gage, governor of Oxford, killed at the battle at Culham Bridge, Jan. 11, 1644. His family were of the Roman Catholic faith; and he was sent by his father in 1612 into Spain, to study under the Jesuits, in the hope he would join that society; but his aversion to them led him to enter the Dominican Order at Valladolid, in 1612. His motives were suspected; his father was irritated—threatened to disinherit him and to arouse against him the power of the Jesuits of England if he returned home. He now determined to pass over to the Spanish possessions in South America; but as an order had been issued by the king, forbidding this to any Englishman, it was only by inclosing him in an empty sea-biscuit case, he was able to sail from Cadiz, July 2, 1625. He arrived at Mexico on October 8; and after residing there for some time to recruit himself from the voyage, resolved to abandon a missionary scheme to the Philippine islands he had planned, and accordingly, on the day fixed for their departure to Acapulco, escaped with three other Dominicans for Chispat. He was here well received, and went subsequently to the head establishment at Guatimala. He was soon appointed curate of Amatitlan; and during his residence at this and another district contrived to amass a sum of 9000 piastres, with the aid of which he sought to accomplish his long-cherished desire of returning to England. Many difficulties were in his way; but on the 7th January, 1637, he quitted Amatitlan, traversed the province of Nicaragua, and embarked from the coast of Costa Rica. The ship was soon after boarded by a Dutch corsair, and Gage was robbed of 8000 piastres. He succeeded in reaching Panama, traversed the Isthmus, and sailed from Porto Bello in the Spanish fleet, which reached San Sucar, Nov. 28, 1637. He returned to England after an absence of twenty-four years. His father was dead: he found himself disinherited, and although hardly recognised by his family at first, he met ultimately with kindly treatment. During his residence in S. America, doubts had arisen in his mind as to the truth and validity of the creed and ritual to which he was attached. Whether this was the consequence of reflection from his theological studies, or animated love of change which his conduct at times betrayed, cannot be decided. He resolved to proceed to Italy, and renew his studies there. Upon his return, after a short residence, he renounced Catholicism in a sermon he preached at St. Paul's. About 1642 he attached himself to the Parliament cause, and it is said he obtained the living of Deal in Kent; as the parish registers contain an entry of the burial of Mary daughter, and Mary wife, of Thomas Gage, parson of Deal, March 21, 1652; but when he was married, and whom he married, does not appear. Gage's work has been rather too much decried. It contains matter of interest relative to the state of the Spanish possessions; and his credulity and superstition must be considered in relation to his opportunities and his age. Perhaps some of your readers may contribute farther information concerning him, as the general accounts I have been able to meet with are contradictory and insufficient. The Biographie Universelle states, that it was his Survey of the West Indies that led to the English expeditions to the Spanish Main, which secured Jamaica to the English in 1654, and adds he died there in 1655. The registers at Deal could probably prove this fact; but I confess to doubt as to whether Gage really were the parson alluded to as resident there in 1652. He was evidently of a roving unsteady nature, fond of adventure, and the first to open to English enterprise a knowledge of the state of the Spanish possessions, to prevent which the council of the Indies had passed so many stringent laws. Colbert caused this work to be translated, and it has been often reprinted on the Continent, but much mutilated, as his statements relative to the Roman Catholic priesthood gave offence. A good memoir of Gage is still to be desired. The following is the extract relative to the Isthmus of Panama, West Indies, p. 151.:—

"The Peruvian part containeth all the southern tract, and is tyed to the Mexican by the Isthmus or Strait of Darien, being no more than 17, or, as others say, in the narrowest place, but 12 miles broad, from the north to the south sea. Many have mentioned to the Council of Spain the cutting of a navigable channel through this small Isthmus, so to shorten the voyage to China and the Moluccoes. But the kings of Spain have not yet attempted to do it; some say lest in the work he should lose those few Indians which are left (would to God it were so, that they were or had been so careful and tender of the poor Indians' lives, more populous would that vast and spacious country be at this day), but others say he hath not attempted it lest the passage by the Cape Bona Esperanza (Good Hope) being left off, those seas might become a receptacle for pirates. However, this hath not been attempted by the Spaniards; they give not for reason any extraordinary great charge, for that would soon be recompensed with the speedie and easie conveying that way the commodities from S. to N. seas."

This bears reference to projects before 1625, or during his residence in S. America, between 1625-1637; but Gage could hardly have understood the nature of the Spanish character, and the genius of the government, to speculate upon the cause of their neglect of every useful enterprise for the promotion of commerce and public good.

S. H.

FOLK LORE.

Legends of the County Clare.—On the west coast of Ireland, near the Cliffs of Moher, at some distance out in the bay, the waves appear continually breaking in white foam even on the calmest day. The tradition among the country people is, that a great city was swallowed up there for some great crime, and that it becomes visible once every seven years. And if the person who sees it could keep his eyes fixed on it till he reached it, it would then be restored, and he would obtain great wealth. The man who related the legend stated farther, that some years ago some labourers were at work in a field on the hill side in view of the bay; and one of them, happening to cast his eyes seaward, saw the city in all its splendour emerge from the deep. He called to his companions to look at it; but though they were close to him, he could not attract their attention: at last, he turned round to see why they would not come; but on looking back, when he had succeeded in attracting their attention, the city had disappeared.

The Welsh legend of the Islands of the Blessed, which can only be seen by a person who stands on a turf from St. David's churchyard, bears a curious coincidence to the above. It is not impossible that there may have been some foundation for the vision of the enchanted city at Moher in the Fata Morgana, very beautiful spectacles of which have been seen on other parts of the coast of Ireland.

Francis Robert Davies.

Moon Superstitions (Vol. viii., p. 79.).—In this age of fact and science, it is remarkable that even with the well-informed the old faith in the "change of the moon" as a prognostic of fair and foul weather still keeps its hold. W. W. asks "have we any proof of" the "correctness" of this faith? To suppose that the weather varies with the amount of illuminated surface on the moon would make the change in the weather vary with the amount of moonshine, which of course is absurd, as in that case the clouds would have much more to do with the question than the moon's shadow. But still it may be said the moon may influence the weather as it is supposed to cause the tides. In answer to this I beg to state the opinion of Dr. Ick, who was for upwards of ten years the curator of the Birmingham Philosophical Institute, an excellent meteorologist, geologist, and botanist. He assured me that after the closest and most accurate observation of the moon and the weather, he had arrived at the conclusion that there is not the slightest observable dependence between them.

C. Mansfield Ingleby.

Birmingham.

Warwickshire Folk Lore.—The only certain remedy for the bite of an adder is to kill the offending reptile, and apply some of its fat to the wound. Whether the fat should be raw or melted down, my informant did not say, but doubtless the same effect would be produced in either case.

If a pig is killed in the wane of the moon, the bacon is sure to shrink in the boiling; if, on the other hand, the pig is killed when the moon is at the full, the bacon will swell.

Erica.

Warwick.

Northamptonshire Folk Lore.—There is a singular custom prevailing in some parts of Northamptonshire, and perhaps some of your correspondents may be able to mention other places where a similar practice exists. If a female is afflicted with fits, nine pieces of silver money and nine threehalfpences are collected from nine bachelors: the silver money is converted into a ring to be worn by the afflicted person, and the threehalfpences (i. e. 13½d.) are paid to the maker of the ring, an inadequate remuneration for his labour, but which he good-naturedly accepts. If the afflicted person be a male, the contributions are levied upon females.

E. H.

Slow-worm Superstition (Vol. viii., p. 33.).—As a child I was always told by the servants that if any serpent was "scotched, not killed," it would revive if it could reach its hole before sunset, but that otherwise it must die. Hence the custom, so universal, of hanging any serpent on a tree after killing it.

Seleucus.

A Devonshire Charm for the Thrush.—On visiting one of my parishioners, whose infant was ill with the thrush, I asked her what medicine she had given the child? She replied, she had done nothing to it but say the eighth Psalm over it. I found that her cure was to repeat the eighth Psalm over the infant three times, three days running; and on my hesitating a doubt as to the efficacy of the remedy, she appealed to the case of another of her children who had suffered badly from the thrush, but had been cured by the use of no other means. If it was said "with the virtue," it was, she declared, an unfailing cure. The mention, in this Psalm, of "the mouths of babes and sucklings," I suppose led to its selection.

W. Fraser.

Tor-Mohun.

OLD JOKES.

Every man ought to read the jest-books, that he may not make himself disagreeable by repeating "old Joes" as the very last good things. One book of this class is little more than the copy of another as to the points, with a change of the persons; and the same joke, slightly varied, appears in as many different countries as the same fairy-tale. Seven years ago I found at Prague the "Joe" of the Irishman saying that there were a hundred judges on the bench, because there was one with two cyphers. The valet-de-place told me that when the Emperor and Metternich were together they were called "the council of ten," because they were eins und zero.

It is interesting to trace a joke back, of which process I send an example. In the very clever version of the Chancellor of Oxford's speech on introducing the new doctors (Punch, No. 622.) are these lines:

Ebenezer Grubb, in his description of the opposition in 1814, thus notices Mr. F. Douglas:

"He is a forward and frequent speaker; remarkable for a graceful inclination of the upper part of his body in advance of the lower, and speaketh, I suspect (after the manner of an ancient), with pebbles in his mouth."—New Whig Guide, 1819, p. 47.

In Foote's Patron, Sir Roger Dowlas, an East India proprietor, who has sought instruction in oratory from Sir Thomas Lofty, is introduced to the conversazione:—

"Sir Thomas. Sir Roger, be seated. This gentleman has, in common with the greatest orator the world ever saw, a small natural infirmity; he stutters a little: but I have prescribed the same remedy that Demosthenes used, and don't despair of a radical cure. Well, sir, have you digested those general rules?

Sir Roger. Pr-ett-y well, I am obli-g'd to you, Sir Th-omas.

Sir Thomas. Did you open at the last general court?

Sir Roger. I att-empt-ed fo-ur or five times.

Sir Thomas. What hindered your progress?

Sir Roger. The pe-b-bles.

Sir Thomas. Oh, the pebbles in his mouth: but they are only put in to practise in private: you should take them out when you are addressing the public."

I cannot trace the joke farther, but as Foote, though so rich in wit, was a great borrower, it might not be new in 1764.

H. B. C.

Garrick Club.

AN INTERPOLATION OF THE PLAYERS: TOBACCO.

I have witnessed the representation of the Twelfth Night as often, during the last five-and-forty years, as I have had an opportunity; and, in every instance, Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, and the Clown, in their rollicking orgies, smoke tobacco. Now, this must be an "interpolation of the players;" for not only was tobacco unknown in Illyria, at the period of the story, but Shakspeare does not once name tobacco in his works, and, therefore, was not likely to give a stage-direction for the use of it. The great poet is freely blamed for anachronisms; it is but fair he should have due credit when he avoids them. The stories of his plays are all antecedent to his own time, therefore he never mentions either the drinking of tobacco, or the tumultuous scenes of the ordinary which belonged to it, and which are so constantly met with in his cotemporary dramatists. I see there is a note in my commonplace-book, after some remarks upon Green's Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, "that this play, though written by a pedant, and a Master of Arts, contains more anachronisms than any one play of Shakspeare's."

Can any of your correspondents learned in stage traditions say when this "smoking interpolation" was first made?

But, Sir, I think I shall surprise some of your readers by pointing out another instance of the absence of tobacco or smoking. In the Arabian Night's Entertainments, which are said to be such faithful pictures of oriental manners, there is no mention of the pipe. Neither is coffee to be met with in those tales, so delightful to all ages. We with difficulty imagine an oriental without his chibauk; and yet it is certain they knew nothing of this luxury before the sixteenth century. At present, such is the almost imperious necessity felt by the Turk for smoking and coffee, that as soon as the gun announces the setting of the sun, during the fast of the Ramada, before he thinks of satisfying his craving stomach with any solid food, he takes his cup of coffee and lights his pipe.—As I think it dishonest to deck ourselves with knowledge that is not self-acquired, I confess to the having but just read this "note" in the last number of the Revue des Deux Mondes, in a fine work upon America by the celebrated savant, M. Ampère.

W. Robson.

Stockwell.

Minor Notes.

Curious Epitaph.—In the Diary of Thomas Moore, Charles Lamb is said at a certain dinner party to have "quoted an epitaph by Clio Rickman, in which, after several lines in the usual jog-trot style of epitaph, he continued thus:

There is an epitaph in the churchyard of Newhaven, Sussex, in which the last of these two lines occurs, but which does not answer in other respects to the character of the one quoted by Lamb. On the contrary, it is altogether eminently quaint, peculiar, and consistent. The stone is to the memory of Thomas Tipper, who departed this life May the 14th, 1785, aged fifty-four years; and the upper part is embellished with a representation, in bas-relief, of the drawbridge which crosses the river, whence it might be inferred that the comprehensive genius of Mr. Tipper included engineering and architecture. The epitaph runs thus:

Is there any reason for supposing this epitaph to have been written by Clio Rickman; and is anything known of Mr. Tipper beyond the biography of his tombstone?

G. J. De Wilde.

Enigmatical Epitaph.—I offer for solution an enigma, copied from a tomb in the churchyard of Christchurch in Hampshire:

"WE WERE NOT SLAYNE BUT RAYSD; RAYSD NOT TO LIFE, BVT TO BE BVRIED TWICE BY MEN OF STRIFE. WHAT REST COVLD ᵀᴴ LIVING HAVE, WHEN DEAD HAD NONE? AGREE AMONGST YOV, HERE WE TEN ARE ONE. HEN. ROGERS DIED APRIL 17, 1641.

I. R."

The popular legend is, that the ten men perished by the falling in of a gravel-pit, and that their remains were buried together. This, however, will not account for the "men of strife."

Is it not probable that, in the time of the civil wars, the bodies might have been disinterred for the sake of the leaden coffins, and then deposited in their present resting-place?

The tomb may have been erected some time afterwards by "I. R.," probably a relative of the "Henry Rogers," the date of whose death is commemorated.

T. J.

Bath.

Books worthy to be reprinted (Vol. vii., pp. 153. 203.).—In addition to those previously mentioned in "N. & Q.," there is one for which a crying necessity exists for a new edition, namely, The Complaynt of Scotland. It is often advertised and otherwise sought for; and when found, can only be had at a most extravagant price. It was originally written in 1548; and in 1801, a limited impression, edited by Dr. Leyden, was published; and in 1829, "Critiques upon it by David Herd, and others, with observations in answer by Dr. Leyden," to the number of seventy copies. The Complaynt of Scotland and Sir Tristrem, an edition of which was edited by Sir Walter Scott, and published in 1804, are two of the oldest works of which the literature of Scotland can boast.

Inverness.

Napoleon's Thunderstorm.—The passage of the Niemen by the French army, and its consequent entry on Russian territory, may be said to have been Napoleon's first step towards defeat and ruin. A terrible thunderstorm occurred on that occasion, according to M. Ségur's account of the Russian campaign.

When Napoleon commenced the retreat, by which he yielded all the country beyond the Elbe (and which, therefore, may be reckoned a second step towards his downfall), it was accompanied by a thunderstorm more remarkable from occurring at such a season. Odelben says:

"C'était un phenomène bien extraordinaire dans un pareil saison, et avec le froid qu'on venait d'éprouver," &c.—Odelben, Camp. de 1813, vol. i. p. 289.

The first step towards his second downfall, or third towards complete ruin, was his advance upon the British force at Quatre-Bras, June 17, 1815. This also was accompanied by an awful thunderstorm, which (although gathering all the forenoon) commenced at the very moment he made his attack on the British rear-guard (about two p. m.), when the first gun fired was instantaneously responded to by a tremendous peal of thunder.

Thunder, to Wellington, was the precursor of victory and triumph. Witness the above-mentioned introduction to the victory of Waterloo; the terrible thunder, that scattered the horses of the dragoons, the eve of Salamanca; also, the night preceding Sabugal. And perhaps some of the Duke's old companions in arms may be able to add to the category.

A. C. M.

Exeter.

Istamboul—Constantinople.—Mr. (afterwards Sir George) Wheler, who took holy orders and became rector of Houghton-le-Spring in the diocese of Durham, makes the following remarks in his Journey into Greece, &c. (fol., Lond. 1682), p. 178.:

"Constantinople is now vulgarly called Stambol by the Turks; but by the Greeks more often Istampoli, which must needs be a corruption from the Greek ... either from Constantinopolis, which in process of time might be corrupted into Stanpolis or Istanpoli; or rather, from it being called πόλις κατ' ἐξοχήνο. For the Turks, hearing the Greeks express their going to Constantinople by εἰς τὴν πόλιν, which they pronounce Is-tin-polin, and often for brevity's sake Stinpoli, might soon ignorantly call it Istanpoli or Stambol, according as either of them came into vogue first. And therefore I think theirs is a groundless fancy who fetch it from the Turkish word Istamboal, which signifies a city full of or abounding in the true faith, the name being so apparently of Greek original."

W. S. G.

Newcastle-on-Tyne.