Various

“ Overtures of peace were made to them by Ethelfrith, and contemptuously rejected; they rushed pell-mell to battle before the break of day; and the bard, seeing them falling helplessly drunk from their horses, "drew a veil over his face and fled, weeping on his way." I here assume that Cattraeth and Cataract are the same place; and to cite only one of many evidences, the position of the Ottadini in the immediate neighbourhood of Catterick, lends this view strong confirmation. ”

“ I am afraid this great lubber, the world, will prove a Cockney."
The Clown probably intends to say, that to vent his folly to the world will be like sending coals to Newcastle, or provisions to Cocagne; for that, as regards folly, this great lubber the world will prove to be a Cocagne or Cokeney, i.e. a land of plenty. He may, however, mean to hint, in a round-about way, that Cockneys, or natives of London, are full of folly; or that the world is as well supplied with folly as a Cockney is with food. ”

“ Again, Davies makes an abortive attempt to get rid of the last poem of Llywarch Hen, which shows him to have been living as late as the year 640, when most of his sons had fallen in battle. Llywarch himself was either at the battle of Cattraeth, or assisted in organising the campaign; for though not mentioned by Aneurin, he himself alludes to the time "when we attacked the great-smoker-of-towns (Ethelfrith) ."
At this battle Aneurin was taken prisoner, and confined in "an earthen house," from which he was released "by the bright sword of Cenau, the son of Llywarch." ”

“ Can any of your readers inform me when bread was first directed to be sold by Troy weight, and when it ceased to be so?
P. T.
Stoke Newington.
Foreign Ambassadors (Vol. iv., p. 442.) .
—There is a list of French ambassadors, envoys, ministers, and other political agents at the court of England, in the Annuaire of the Société de l'histoire de France for 1848, which is the twelfth volume of the series. The list commences in 1396, and is continued to 1830.
I believe there is a copy of this most useful publication in the British Museum. ”

“ Gray, The Bard.
"Victorious arms thro' Ammon's land it bore,
Ruin behind, and terror march'd before."
Davideidos, lib. iv. p. 135.
Wakefield mentions some parallel passages, but omits the best of all:
"A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; Yea, and nothing shall escape them."—Joel, ii. 3.
In the "Ode on the Installation" Gray says:
"Their tears, their little triumphs o'er
Their human passions now no more."
Wakefield dwells enraptured on the expression human passions. ”

“ As in the management of "NOTES AND QUERIES" we can have no party to serve, no prejudices to gratify, we beg our correspondents—more especially those who are personally unknown to us (and to whose communications we always endeavor to give the earliest insertion possible, because we cannot explain to them, as we could to those to whom we are known, the reasons for delay.) —that for the delay or non-insertion of their communications there are always what we believe they would admit to be satisfactory reasons if they were but acquainted with them ”

“ Having been a collector of existing dial mottoes for many years, I shall feel greatly obliged to any [472] of your correspondents who will inform me of remarkable ones in their own neighborhood.
There are four—one in English, one in Latin, one in Greek, and one in Hebrew—on the keep of Carlisle Castle; but though I possess the three former, I have not the last, and should be very glad to obtain it, if possible.
There is a motto at Bonneville in Switzerland, as I have been told:
"Soli Soli Soli." ”

“ The hand of God shall extend itself over them, and over all rich; all the nobles shall be deprived of their estates and dignity; a division shall spring up in the church of God, and there shall be two husbands, the one true, and the other adulterous. The legitimate husband shall be put to flight ”

“ The insertion of Reviews of Scientific Works elicited also complaints that the Reports of the Learned Societies should have been relinquished, and it has been felt that a weekly record of the progress of Science is still a desideratum. ”

“ The Family Almanack and Educational Register for 1852, contains—in addition to full particulars of nearly a thousand public schools, colleges, and universities, and a list (containing upwards of a thousand) of the principal private schools in the kingdom,—a vast amount of miscellaneous information (including for the first time the Statutes of the Irish University) and statistical tables, and so forms a volume which no person interested in the great question of education can at all do without. ”

“ Human passions is not, however, a creation of Gray's; for, if not anywhere else, he might have found the words very often in the writings of William Law, as vigorous a prose writer as England can boast of since the days of Dr. South. See his answer to Dr. Trapp's Not Righteous overmuch, p. 62., Lond. 1741; and his Serious Call, cap. xii. p. 137., and cap. xxi. p. 293., Lond. 1816.
To mention its use by modern writers would be endless. I selected these few passages on [468] reading Mr. Wakefield's laudations, for otherwise I should not perhaps have remarked the words as unusual. ”

“ Tregonwell Frampton.
—Where can I obtain any particulars of the life of Tregonwell Frampton, Esq., commonly called the "Father of the Turf," who died at an advanced age about 1727-8. Reference is made to him in the Rambler.
T. R. W.
347. Weever and Fuller—their Autographs wanted.
—Can any of your readers direct the etcher of a portrait of Weever, where to find his autograph, from which to make a copy to illustrate it? It is not to be found in the British Museum. ”

“ A large cuckold's cap I wanted indeed,
A thing of small value, and yet couldn't speed:
But, as I'm a woman, believe me," says Joan,
"Before it be long, I'll have one of my own."
J. R. RELTON.
THE GODODIN.
This poem, though not absolutely the earliest in point of date, is the longest of the numerous poems produced among the Kymry of the north of England during the sixth and seventh centuries. Two translations have already appeared in English; one by the Rev. Edward Davies, the author of Celtic Researches, and the other by a gentleman named Probert. ”

“ Mason's edition:
"The army of Edward I., as they marched through a deep valley, are suddenly stopped by the appearance of a venerable figure, seated on the summit of an inaccessible rock; who, with a voice more than human, reproaches the king with all the misery and desolation he had brought on his country, &c., &c. ”

“ It would be easy to adduce similar instances from the ancient sources, but I will only mention From Milton an illustration of the συστρεψας of Demosthenes, and of the passionate abruptness with which Gray commences "The Bard:"
"As when of old some orator renown'd
In Athens or free Rome, where eloquence
Flourish'd, since mute, to some great cause addressed
Stood in himself collected, while each part,
Motion, each act won audience ere the tongue,
Sometimes in height began, as no delay
Of preface brooking through his zeal of right."
Par. Lost, lib. ix. 670. ”

“ Wakefield adduces from Pope's Eloisa to Abelard:
"One human tear shall drop, and be forgiven."
"Noble rage," Gray's Elegy. "Noble rage," Cowley's Davideidos, lib. iv. p. 137. Again, in the Elegy:
"Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tower
The mopeing owl does to the moon complain
Of such as, wand'ring near her secret bower,
Molest her ancient solitary reign." ”

“ The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle relates the occurrence of a great battle between Ethelfrith of Northumbria and the northern Britons in the year 603: of that battle the site is variously named Degstan, Dægsanstane, and Egesanstane; but antiquarian researches have not determined where Egesanstane was. Some place it at Dawston, near Jedburg, in Scotland, and others at Dalston in Cumberland; but all confess uncertainty. Now I assume that the place called Egesanstane is more likely to be Siggeston, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, which is about five or six miles east of Catterick ”

“ The battle of Cattraeth must be that of 603, at which Aeddan was also present.
These few annotations from a new translation of The Gododin now in MS., will, it is hoped, satisfy your correspondent GOMER that I am justified in repeating the views of Davies. Should he wish to get a correct text, and a judicious version of The Gododin, he had better subscribe to a translation by the Rev. J. Williams (author of the Ecclesiastical Antiquities of the Cymry) , now about to issue from the Llandovery press, at a very moderate price. Probert's translation is very scarce. ”

“ Derby, used as a motto upon their seals, in the fourteenth century, the following words, "En bon et poyer." This has been explained to mean, "Boni est posse," or "Right is might." Can any of your readers suggest anything to confirm or throw doubt on this interpretation?
FRANCIS M. NICHOLS.
342. "England expects every man," &c.
—For nearly fifty years our countrymen have taught their children Nelson's last signal—
"England expects every man to do his duty." ”

“ The Miniature Polyglot, or small pocket size, the Foolscap Octavo, pocket size, and the Facsimile Large-Print Edition, all correspond page for page; and in their combinations with the Book of Common Prayer, Indexes, Concordances, Lexicons, etc., afford a variety suited to every requirement. The "Comprehensive Family and Pulpit Bible," containing the largest number of parallel references and illustrative notes ever published, is kept, of various quarto sizes, bound up with Family Registers, in plain and sumptuous bindings. The "Hexapla" is a treasury of the most condensed criticism. ”

“ The following passages collected from various sources, will perhaps help to illustrate the origin and the several meanings of this word Cockney:—
Fuller's first sense is—
"One coaks'd or cockered, made a wanton or nestle-cock of, delicately bred and brought up, so that when grown men or women they can endure no hardship, nor comport with pains taking." ”

“ In some of these departments, the commencement of a welcome reform is already apparent; others, it is but reasonable to hope, will, ere long, yield to the frank and inquisitive spirit of the times in this respect. The present communication is confined to a very wide, though less dignified source of official information, viz. Parish Registers. ”

“ Queries. DIAL MOTTO AT KARLSBAD.
The inclosed inscription was brought over for me from Karlsbad by the late Lord Chief Justice Tindal. Can any one throw light upon the capital letters? I give it copied exactly from Sir Nicholas Tindal's writing, with his observation beneath, and may safely venture to warrant his accuracy. It might be supposed to be a chronogram, but for the introduction of the letter "E."
"Motto from a Dial formed on the two Sides of the Angle of a House at Karlsbad. ”

“ If you ask a peasant walking from the Piræus whither he is going, he will answer you, Εις τας Αθηνας, but will rapidly enunciate it as follows, 'σ'τ'σΑθηνας, whence Statines, lately reduced to Satines. ”

“ Was bound about my knees,"
shows the use of under-ground hovels to have extended far into the historic period.
One fact more, and this demonstration that Aneurin has been ante-dated will be complete. The bard in three several places mentions a battle of Mannan, in much the same way as we at this day speak of Waterloo; and it is evident that, in the estimation of the bard and his countrymen, the battle of Mannan was the last great event [470] before the battle of Cattraeth. ”

“ LIST OF NEW BOOKS.—The usual List, with particulars of size, and price of all books published during the week.
COMMUNICATIONS.—Original Memoirs, Biographies, Accounts of Scientific Voyages and Travels, Letters from Correspondents, &c.
TOPICS OF THE WEEK.—An editorial record of literary, scientific, and social intelligence.
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES.—Abstracts of original Lectures and of Papers read at the Learned Societies, with occasional Illustrative Woodcuts of Diagrams, Sections, &c. ”

“ Notices to Correspondents.
"Our correspondents will see, on very little reflection, that it is plainly the Editor's interest to take all he can get, and make the most and the best of every thing." Thus we spoke in our earlier numbers, and we repeat it now as a reply to two or three communications which have reached us during the present week. ”

“ He was preserved from the blows of Mannan-fight."
Cæog, whom Davies converts into the adjective "adorned," was the brother of Cynddylan, Prince of Powys (Elegies of Llywarch Hen, p. 70.) . On the death of his brother in 577, he went to North Briton; he escaped from the blows of Mannan, and afterwards fell at Cattraeth. ”

“ His suggestion will be carried out at the commencement of the New Year.
GRUS. Surely the inscription is not correctly copied. The first line we should read "LADI, HELP!" and the second, "MERCY, JHESU!"
P. M. M. The article on "Deep Wells," is omitted this week only from want of room. The other communication is postponed for a short time.
W. W. R. (Oxford) is at present the only remonstrant. We will, however, give his suggestion our best consideration.
J. B. (Manchester) , who inquires respecting the family of Tonge, is informed that his Query may be fully answered by a reference to vol. xiii. ”

“ That burns in Shakspeare's or in Milton's page,
The pomp and prodigality of heaven,
As when conspiring in the diamond's blaze,
The meaner gems, that singly charm the sight,
Together dart their intermingled rays,
And dazzle with a luxury of light."
Stanzas to Mr. Bentley.
From a memorandum made by Gray himself, it is evident that he once had contemplated placing his "Bard" in a sitting posture; but I cannot but rejoice that he altered his mind, for such breath-taking words could never have been uttered in so composed and contented a posture. I give part of it from Mr. ”