Various

“ Death-bed Superstitions.—When a child is dying, people, in some parts of Holland, are accustomed to shade it by the curtains from the parent's gaze; the soul being supposed to linger in the body as long as a compassionate eye is fixed upon it. Thus, in Germany, he who sheds tears when leaning over an expiring friend, or, bending over the patient's couch, does but wipe them off, enhances, they say, the difficulty of death's last struggle. ”

“ The swarthy daughters of Cadmus may hang their trophies on high, for when all the pride of the chisel and the pomp of heraldry yield to the silent touches of time, a single line, a half worn-out inscription, remain faithful to their trust. ”

“ Every Saturday, for twelve months, have we presented to our subscribers our weekly budget of "Notes," "Queries," and "Replies;" and in so doing, we trust, we have accomplished some important ends. We have both amused and instructed the general reader; we have stored up much curious knowledge for the use of future writers; we have procured for scholars now engaged in works of learning and research, many valuable pieces of information which had evaded their own immediate pursuit ”

“ Mr. Nichols, and those who pin faith upon his dicta, hold that the Collar of SS. was a livery ensign bestowed by our kings upon certain of their retainers, in much the same sense and fashion as Cedric the Saxon is said to have given a collar to Wamba, the son of Witless. For myself, and all those entitled to carry armorial bearings in the kingdom, I repudiate the notion that the knightly golden Collar of SS. was ever so conferred or received. ”

“ COLLAR OF ESSES.
Although the suggestion made by C. (Vol. ii., p. 330.) , viz. that the Collar of Esses had a "mechanical" origin, resulting from the mode of forming "the chain," and that "the name means no more than that the links were in the shape of the letter S.," could only be advocated by one unacquainted with the real formation of the collar, yet, as I am now pledged before the readers of "Notes and Queries" as the historiographer of livery collars, it may be expected that I should make some reply. ”

“ With regard to captious, it is not so much a matter of surprise that none of all these learned commentators should fail in their guesses at the meaning, as that none of them should have remarked that the sense of the Latin captiosus, and of its congeners in Italian and old French, is deceitful, fallacious; and Bacon uses the word for insidious, ensnaring. There can be no doubt that this is the sense in which Shakspeare used it. Helen speaks of her hopeless love for Bertram, and says:
"I know I love in vain, strive against hope ”

“ If the "cancel-slip" be an "elegant" variation, may not the original stanza be regarded as more vigorous?
G. A. S.
Fairfax's Tasso.—In the elegant edition published by Mr. Singer in 1817, the first stanza is printed according to the variation noticed by your correspondent T. N. (Vol. ii., p. 325.) , "I sing the warre," &c., and the original stanza is printed at the end of the first book, with a note stating that the pasted slip is found "in most copies" of the first edition. My copy contains no such peculiarity, but it is of course possible that the pasted slip may have been removed. ”

“ John Gough Nichols adheres to the opinion that the Collar of SS. takes its name from the word Seneschallus, it might be contended that the initial letters of the lines above quoted mystically stand for "Collar, S. S." Enough, however, has already been written on this unmeaning point to show that some of us are "great gowks," or, in other words, stupid guffs, to waste so much pen, ink, and paper on the subject. ”

“ It is another illustration of the fact that the nature of a man is unchangeable.
Bulwer's novel, which elevates Aram from a school-assistant into a private gentleman, may have pleased those, if there were such, who knew nothing of Arum's acts before they began to read it. But all who knew what Aram was, must be disgusted at the threshold. ”

“ Licensing of Books.—Can any of your readers inform me what was the law in 1665 relative to the licensing of books? also when it was introduced (or revived) , and when modified? I find in a manual of devotion printed in that year the following page, after the preface:—
"I have perused this book, and finding nothing in it but what may tend to the increase of private devotion and piety, I recommend it to my Lord the Bishop of London for his licence to have it printed." ”

“ We do what we can to make known our existence through the customary modes of announcement, and we gratefully acknowledge the kind assistance and encouragement we derive from our brethren of the public press ”

“ We trust we shall go on week by week improving in our work of usefulness, so that at the end of the next twelvemonth we may meet them with the same pleasure as on the present occasion. We will continue to do whatever is in our power, and we rely upon our friends to help us.
SHAKSPEARE'S USE OF THE WORDS "CAPTIOUS" AND "INTENIBLE."
In the following passage of All's Well that Ends Well, Act i. Sc. 3., where Helena is confessing to Bertram's mother, the Countess, her love for him, these two words occur in an unusual sense, if not in a sense peculiar to the great poet ”

“ Now that they accustomed to burn or bury with them things wherein they excelled, delighted, or which were dear unto them, either as farewells unto all pleasure, or vain apprehension that they might use them in the other world, is testified by all antiquity. ”

“ Our last number contains communications not only from all parts of the metropolis, and from almost every county in England, but also from Scotland, Ireland, Holland, and even from Demerara. This looks well. It seems as if we were in a fair way to accomplish our design. But much yet remains to be done. We have recently been told of whole districts in England so benighted as never to have heard of "Notes and Queries;" ”

“ If a country gentleman appears a little curious in observing the edifices, signs, clocks, coaches, and dials, {358}it is not to be imagined how the polite rabble of this town, who are acquainted with these objects, ridicule his rusticity. I have known a fellow with a burden on his head steal a hand down from his load, and slily twirl the cock of a squire's hat behind him ”

“ Eshbaal, the fire of Baal; Jerubbaal, let Baal contend, or defend his cause; Meribaal, he that resists Baal, or strives against the idol, were Hebrew names, apparently imposed to ridicule those given in honor of Baal. The father of Jezebel was called Ethbaal, Kings xvi. 31., (classically, Ithobalus,) with Baal, towards Baal, or him that rules. Lastly, Hasdrubal signifies help or assistance of Baal. Will some of the talented contributors to "Notes and Queries" inform me what is the composition and meaning of Jezebel, as it has hitherto baffled my own individual researches? ”

“ Mr. Ellacombe, and adopted by C. It looks like a collar formed of esses; but it is not clear whether it was meant to do so, or was merely a rich collar of twisted gold links. That was the age of ponderous gold collars, but which were arbitrary features of ornamental costume, not collars of livery. Such a collar, however, resembles a series of esses placed obliquely and interlaced, as thus: SSSS; not laid flat on their sides, as figured by C. Again, it is true an (endless) chain of linked esses was formed merely by attaching the letters like hooks together. ”

“ Conflagration of the Earth (Vol. ii., p. 89.) .—The eventful period when this globe, or "the fabric of the world," [1] will be "wrap'd in flames" and "in ruin hurl'd," is described in language, or at least, in sense similar to the quotations of our correspondent in p. 89., by the poets, philosophers, fathers, and divines here referred to:—
Lucan, lib. i. 70. et seqq. 75.:—
"Omnia mistis Sidera sideribus concurrent." ”

“ Mr. Nichols, in a postscript, puts this query to the antiquaries of Scotland: "Can any of them help me to the authority from which Nich. Upton derived his livery collar of the King of Scotland de gormettis fremalibus equorum?" If Mr. N. puts this query from no other data than the citation given in my former paper upon this subject (vide Vol. ii., p. 194.) , he need not limit it to the antiquaries of Scotland. Upton's words are as follows:—
"Rex etiam scocie dare solebat pro signo vel titulo suo, unum collarium de gormettis fremalibus equorum de auro vel argento." ”

“ These words have been lately effaced altogether: but as they no doubt relate to some circumstance or adventure which had happened in or near to the place, perhaps some reader of the "Notes and Queries" will have the goodness to satisfy the curiosity of one who has asked at the inn in vain for a solution.
U. U. C.
University Club.
REPLIES. TASSO TRANSLATED BY FAIRFAX.
The variation in the first stanza of Fairfax's Godfrey of Bulloigne has been long known to bibliographers, and was pointed out in The Critical Review more than thirty years ago. ”

“ I still pour in the waters of my love,
And lack not to lose still."
Johnson was perplexed about the word captious; "which (says he) I never found in this sense, yet I cannot tell what to substitute, unless carious for rotten!" Farmer supposed captious to be a contraction of capacious! Steevens believed that captious meant recipient, capable of receiving; which interpretation Malone adopts. Mr. Collier, in his recent edition of Shakspeare, after stating Johnson's and Farmer's suggestions, says, "where is the difficulty? It is true that this sense of captious may not have an exact parallel ”

“ The second edition (folio, London, 1624) has the stanza in the form in which it originally stood in the first, beginning "The sacred armies," &c.
J. F. M
ALE-DRAPER.—EUGENE ARAM. (Vol. ii., p. 310.)
Your correspondent D. asks whether the word ale-draper was ever in "good use." The only place in which I can find it is Bailey's Dictionary, where it occurs thus:
"Ale-draper (a humorous name) , a seller of malt liquors; an alehouse-keeper or victualler."
The humour, I suppose, consists in applying to one kind of occupation that which was commonly given to another ”

“ In the fourth volume of Nichols's Illustrations of Literature are some interesting letters from Thos. Potter, Esq., to Dr. Grey, which throw much light on the subject of this edition of Hudibras.
I cannot conclude these observations without expressing my dissent from the praise bestowed upon the engravings in this work. Mr. Lowndes says "the cuts are beautifully engraved." With the exception of the head of Butler by Vertue, the rest are very spiritless and indifferent productions.
J. T. A.
FOLK LORE.
Overyssel Superstition.—Stolen bees will not thrive; they pine away and die. ”

“ Mr. Nichols takes exception to Favine as an heraldic authority. Could that erudite author arise from his grave, I wonder how he would designate Mr. Nichols's lucubrations on livery collars, &c. But hear Matthew Paris: that learned writer says Equites Aurati were known in his day "by a gold ring on their thumbs, by a chain of gold about their necks, and gilt spurs." Let us look to Scotland: Nesbit says, vol. ii. p. 87.:
"Our knights were no less anciently known by belts than by their gilt spurs, swords, &c. ”

“ Hamlet, iii. 2. Imagining that I had seen this ingenious conjecture somewhere in print before, I referred to, and was disappointed when I found it not in Knight's Shakspeare (library ed.) . Recently, in looking over Dr. Maginn's admirable dissections of Dr. Farmer's Essay on the Learning of Shakspeare, I discovered what I was in search of, and beg to present it to the notice of your readers.
"That the text is corrupt, I am sure; and I think Dr. Farmer's substitution of mimicking malhecco, a most unlucky attempt at emendation. ”

“ This occurs on the cup at Oriel College, Oxford, engraved in Shaw's Ancient Furniture in Shelton's Oxonia Illustrata, and in the Gentleman's Magazine for August last; but the connexion of this with the English device is at least very doubtful. The cup is not improbably of foreign workmanship, and Menneus assigns such a collar to the knights of Cyprus ”

“ In Latin, reor (think) , whence ratus and ratio (reason) ; res (thing, action) ; rego (rule) , with derivatives (rex, regula, rectus, &c.) . In Celtic (Welsh) , rhe (active) ; rheswm (reason) ; rhaith (judgment, right) ; rhi (prince) ; rhag (van, before) . In Sclavonic, rada, rade (counsel) ; redian (to direct) , &c.
In the Teutonic dialects (Gothic, Anglo-Saxon, German, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Icelandic, Scotch, and English) the forms of this root are very numerous. Thus we have, in Anglo-Saxon, rad, raed (counsel) ”

“ Dr. Ken, bishop of Bath and Wells, giving his consent.
Henry Hall was consecrated bishop in the oratory of the Rev. Father in Christ, John B—— [Blackburne?] , in Gray's Inn, on the festival of St. Barnabas, June 11, 1725.
Hilkiah Bedford was consecrated in the oratory of the Rev. R—— R—— [Richard Rawlinson] , in Gray's Inn, on the festival of St. Paul, Jan. 25, 1720. Ralph Taylor was also consecrated at the same time and place.
Henry Gandy was consecrated at his oratory in the parish of St. Andrew's, Holborn, on the festival of St. Paul, Jan. 25, 1716. ”

“ Together.—In Low Scotch, thegether, seemingly, but not really, an adverb, converted to a noun, and used in familiarly addressing a number of persons collectively. Forby considers to and the article the identical; as to-day, to-night, in Low Scotch, the day, the night, are in fact, this day, this night ”

“ All that this second designer performed was, to revise the original designs of Hogarth's, in order to remove some glaring indecencies; and this, no doubt, is what Mr. Lowndes means, when he says that "Hogarth is much indebted to the designer of them."
The following passage in a letter from Dr. Ducaral to Dr. Grey, dated Inner Temple, May 10th, 1743, printed In Nichols's Illustrations, will furnish us with the name of the artist in question:—
"I was at Mr. ”