Various

“ See Wolsey's Soliloquy, and the following scene with Cromwell, where, instead of the metre of Shakspeare, whose secret is, that the thought constructs the tune, so that reading for the sense will best bring out the rhythm; here the lines are constructed on a given tune, and the verse has even a trace of pulpit eloquence. But the play contains, through all its length, unmistakeable traits of Shakspeare's hand; and some passages, as the account of the coronation, are like autographs. What is odd, the compliment to Queen Elizabeth is in the bad rhythm. ”

“ By his friend's urgent inquiries, the Scotch romancer was compelled to acknowledge himself the author, and to save the well nigh destroyed manuscript of Waverley.
I do not know whether Sir Walter Scott was induced by this incident to publish the first of his tales or not; perhaps it occurred after several of his novels had been printed. Now, if any body acquainted with the anecdote I relate should perchance hit upon my endeavour to give it an English garb, he would do me a pleasure by noting down the particulars I might have omitted or mis-stated. I never saw the fact recorded. ”

“ Bookbinding.—While the mischief of mildew on the inside of books has engaged some correspondents to seek for a remedy (Vol. ii., 103. 173.) , a word may be put in on behalf of the outside, the binding. The present material used in binding is so soft, flabby, and unsound, that it will not endure a week's service. I have seen a bound volume lately, with a name of repute attached to it; and certainly the workmanship is creditable enough, but the leather is just as miserable as any from the commonest workshop. ”

“ This made men most admire, that both her parents were but of ordinary stature. This Parsons is produced for proof, that all ages afford some of extraordinary height, and that there is no general decay of mankind in their dimensions, which, if there were, we had ere this time shrunk to be lower than Pigmyes, not to instance in a lesse proportion. ”

“ ANOTHER FOREIGN BOOKSELLER.
CROZIER AND PASTORAL STAFF. (Vol. ii., p. 248.)
A correspondent inquires what was the difference between a crozier and a pastoral staff. The crozier (Crocia, Mediæval Latin) , Fr. Crosse, Ital. Rocco Pastorale, German. Bischofstab, is the ornamental staff used by archbishops and legates, and derives its name from the cross which surmounts it. A crozier behind a pall is borne on the primatial arms of Canterbury. The use of the crozier can only be traced back to the 12th century. ”

“ Sir Edward Nevill of Aldington, in Kent, was the second surviving son of George Nevill, Lord Abergavenny, and the father of Sir Henry Nevill above mentioned, who laid the foundation-stone and built the body and one wing of Billingbear House, which still belongs to his descendant. Sir Edward Nevill was beheaded for high treason in 1538, his likeness to Henry VIII. not saving him from the fate which befell so many of that king's unhappy favourites. ”

“ In the fourth epistle of his Essay on Man, a specimen selected purely at random from his works, and extending altogether to three hundred and ninety-eight lines, there are no less than twenty-seven (that is, a trifle more than one out of every fifteen,) made up entirely of monosyllables: and over and above these, there are one hundred and fifteen which have in them only one word of greater length; and yet there are few dull creepers among the lines of Pope. ”

“ Engelmann is not, strictly speaking, a bookseller, and his catalogues are not booksellers' catalogues in the sense in which that term is generally received here. He is a publisher and compiler (and an admirable one) of general classified catalogues for the use of the trade and of students, without any reference to his stock, or, in many instances, to the possibility of easily acquiring copies of the books enumerated: and although he might execute an order from his catalogues, getting orders is not the end for which he publishes them. ”

“ Queen Elizabeth, in her first progress at Maidenhithe Bridge, being mett by all the Nobility, Kn'ts, and Esquires of Berks, they kneeling on both sides of her way, shee alighted at the bridge foot, and walked on foote through the midst, and coming just agaynst Sir Henry Nevill of Billingbear, made a stay, and leyd her glove on his head, saying, 'I am glad to see thee, Brother Henry.' Hee, not pleased with the expression, swore she would make the court believe hee was a bastard, at which shee laughed, and passed on. ”

“ Over, near Winsford, Cheshire.—The custom of ringing the curfew is still kept up at Over, near Winsford, Cheshire; and the parish church, St. Chads, is nightly visited for that purpose at eight o'clock. This bell is the signal amongst the farmers in the neighbourhood for "looking up" their cattle in the winter evenings; and was, before the establishment of a public clock in the tower of the Weaver Church at Winsford, considered the standard time by which to regulate their movements. ”

“ In Shaw's History of Staffordshire, p. 365., fol., 1798, it is further recorded that—
"Walter Durdent, in the beginning of Henry II., appears to have granted it (Fisherwicke) to some of his relations, for we find William Durdent of Fisherwicke temp. Henry II.; and in the 40th of Hen. III. Roger Durdent occurs, who held Fisherwicke of the bishop, 24 Ed. I. In the 4 Ed. II. Nicholas Durdent was lord of it."
Shaw refers to Erdeswick, and to the Annals of Burton Abbey, p. 364.
In Dr. Harwood's edition of Erdeswick, 8vo., 1844, the same statements are repeated, but no authority is adduced. ”

“ His residence in the birthplace of "NOTES AND QUERIES" makes me ask, if there be still persons living, who remember him as teacher, friend, or poet? A presentation-copy of Mrs. Bilderdijk's translation of Rodrick, the Last of the Goths, was offered to Southey, accompanied by a Latin letter from her spouse. The poet-laureate visiting Leyden in the summer of 1825, Bilderdijk would not suffer him to remain lodged in the inn, where an injury to his leg urged him to favour the landlord with a protracted stay. Southey was transported accordingly to the Dutch poet's house ”

“ F.G.X. is far advanced with an Irish Testament Concordance. Can any one possessed of the requisite information give him hope of the acceptableness of such a publication? He should expect it to be chiefly useful to clerical Irish students in acquiring a knowledge of words and construction; but the lists of Irish Bibles disposed of of late years would lead to the supposition of its being desirable also as pointing out the place of passages to the native reader.
4. Does the Cambridge University Library contain a copy of the first edition of Daniel's translation? ”

“ A READER.
[We are indebted to the courtesy of the Editor of the Liverpool Albion for this Reply, which was originally communicated to that paper.]
The Curfew, of which some inquiries have appeared in the "NOTES AND QUERIES," is generally rung in the north of England. But then it is also common in the south of Scotland. ”

“ Some foreign houses in London, as well as in other countries, bought a large number of his Catalogues, not as a book but as a catalogue, to be supplied to their customers at the bare cost, or, where it appears advisable, to be delivered gratis to purchasers of a certain amount. ”

“ The best account of these two "worthies" is that found in Fuller, and which I extract from the original edition now before me:—
WALTER PARSONS, born in this county [Staffordshire] , was first apprenticed to a smith, when he grew so tall in stature, that a hole was made for him in the ground to stand therein up to the knees, so to make him adequate with his fellow-workmen. He afterwards was porter to King James; seeing as gates generally are higher than the rest of the building, so it was sightly that the porter should be taller than other persons. ”

“ He is right with respect to the one, and wrong with regard to the other. The saying, "that a man after thirty must be either a fool or a physician," had, as it appears, its origin from Tiberius; but the observation that "more worship the rising than the setting sun," is to be attributed to Pompey. ”

“ The same writer is full of monosyllabic lines, and he is among the most energetic {306} of satirists. By the way, it is not a little curious, that in George Webster's White Devil, or Vittoria Corombona, almost the same thought is also clothed in two monosyllabic lines:—
"His wealth is summed, and this is all his store:
This poor men get, and great men get no more."
Was Young dull? Listen, for it is indeed a "solemn sound:"—
"The bell strikes one. ”

“ It would be very desirable to know of the social state of Orkney under the government of Norway and its native Jarls of the Norwegian race, and or its connexion with Norway and Denmark; and some of your correspondents may take the trouble to point out sources of information on the subject of this Query. ”

“ It will be seen by the following extract from Mr. Emerson's Representative Men, for which we are indebted to our correspondent A.R., that the subject had attracted the attention of that distinguished writer.—
"In Henry VIII., I think I see plainly the cropping out of the original rock on which his (Shakspeare's) own finer stratum was laid. The first play was written by a superior, thoughtful man, with a vicious ear. I can mark his lines, and know well their cadence. ”

“ The bas-relief mentioned by the same writer represents William Evans and Jeffrey Hudson, his diminutive fellow-servant. It is over the entrance of Bull-head Court, Newgate Street; not "a bagnio-court," which is nonsense. On the stone these words are cut: "The King's Porter, and the Dwarf," with the date 1660. This bas-relief is engraved in Pennant.
There is a picture of Queen Elizabeth's giant porter at Hampton Court but I am not aware that any portrait of Parsons is preserved in the Royal Collections.
EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.
{315}
EISELL AND WORMWOOD WINE. (Vol. ii., p. 249.) ”

“ One account describes it as made of gold, and another (Rites of Durham, p. 16.) as of silver.
3. Was the "Black Rood of Scotland" the same as the "Holy Cross of Holyrood House?" One account seems to make them the same: for in the Rites of Durham, p. 16., we read,—
"At the east end of the south aisle of the choir, was a most fair rood, or picture of our Saviour, in silver, called the Black Rood of Scotland, brought out of Holyrood House by King David Bruce, and was won at the battle of Durham, with the picture of our Lady on the one side, and St. ”

“ They may be in the British Museum, although I have searched there in vain for them.
J.S.B.
Water-marks in Writing-paper.—Can any of your correspondents indicate any guide to the dating of {311} paper by the water-mark. I think I have read of some work on that subject, but have no precise recollection about it. I have now before me several undated MSS. written on paper of which it would be very desirable to fix the exact date. They evidently belonged to Pope, Swift, and Lady M.W. Montague, as they contain their autographs. ”

“ We applaud it only because we have never taken the trouble to think about the matter, and take it for granted that all monosyllabic lines must "creep" like that which he puts forward as a specimen. The very frequency of monosyllables in the compositions of our language is one grand cause of that frequency passing uncommented upon by the general reader. The investigation prompted by the criticism will serve only to show its unsoundness.
K.I.P.B.T.
ON GRAY'S ELEGY.
If required to name the most popular English poem of the last century, I should perhaps fix on the Elegy of Gray. ”

“ Bagster, serviceable in his inquiries respecting Roman Catholic translations of the Scriptures. The saying of the Duke of Lancaster is found in the first edition of Foxe's Acts and Monuments, and in the modern reprint, iv. 674.; the original of the treatise from which it is taken being in C.C. College, Cambridge. (See Nasmith's Catalogue, p. 333.)
NOVUS.
Scalping (Vol. ii., p. 220.) .—W.B.D. confounds beheading with scalping. In the American war many British soldiers, it was said, walked about without their scalps, but not without their heads. ”

“ Socrates, a dramatic poem, 8vo. 1806.
3. Lucianus Redivivus, or Dialogues concerning Men, Manners, and Opinions, 8vo. 1812.
4. Shakspeare's Himself, or the Language of the Poet asserted; being a full but dispassionate Examin of the Readings and Interpretations of the several Editors, 2 vols. 8vo. 1815.
EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.
Passage in Vida (Vol. i., p. 384.) .—Your correspondent A.W. asks for some light on the lines of Vida, Christiad, i. 67.:
"Quin age, te incolumi potius.... ”

“ Upon that supposition, nothing is more natural; and I must confess, for my own part, that I should have been more surprised if the coincidence had been less exact."
We will borrow one more paragraph from Mr. Spedding's communication (which is distinguished throughout by the liberality of tone of a true scholar) , and we doubt not that the wish expressed at its conclusion is one in which our readers join as heartily as ourselves:—
"I hope, however, that Mr. ”