Various

“ The reasoning, as almost every Christian knows, is based on analogy, and tends to show that, as in the vegetable world life springs from death, the seed dies, but out of it comes the perfect plant; so the dissolution of our present body is only a necessary step to the more glorified and complete development of our nature. ”

“ Do these street heroes die the death of common men—in bed, and with friends near them; or do they generally find their fate at last in the workhouse or the gaol; and get buried no one knows when, or by whom, or where? ”

“ Witness, for instance, Cowper's transmutation of his noble line:
"God the first garden made—the first city, Cain,"
into his own smooth generality of—
"God made the country, and man made the town."
And Cowley's love of Nature, and his beautiful lyrics in praise of a country life, will always keep his name before us. However, to desist from this "nothing-if-not-critical" strain, let me beg of you to lay the accompanying transcript [see the next page] of a manuscript in my possession before your readers—that is, if you deem it of sufficient interest. ”

“ The above recital of the early history of the Duchess of Somerset will render it fully intelligible at the present day. After mentioning some incidents and characters of the time, the "Windsor Prophecy" ends thus:
"And, dear Englond, if aught I understond,
Beware of Carrots [3] from Northumberlond!
Carrots, sown Thynne, a deep root may get,
If so be they are in Sommer set.
Their conyngs mark thou! for I have been told,
They assassine when young, and poison when old. [270]
Root out these Carrots, O thou, whose name [4]
Is backwards and forwards always the same! ”

“ J. N. C.
"There's ne'er a villain," &c. (Vol. v., p. 242.) .
—In support of A. E. B., with whose view I entirely concur, it may be added that villain and knave do not make the proposition such a truism as Horatio (who is not intended for a conjuror, much less a verbal critic) admits it to be. Alexander the Great has been called a villain and a robber, but never a knave or a thief. By the Rule of Three, villain: robber:: knave: thief. As a truism, intended by Hamlet before the first line was spoken, it is not good enough for Hamlet's wit. ”

“ Cowley had not left a better man behind him in England," the merry monarch may have intended exactly what he said, and no more. With these rambling remarks I leave the matter, only trusting, if I shall be found to have called attention to what may possibly be an old acquaintance of some of your learned readers, that my desire to contribute an occasional mite to the pages of a periodical, from which I gather so much information, will be accepted as an apology. ”

“ Inquirers buy books on subjects which they have, at the time, no particular intention of closely investigating: when such intention afterwards arises, they begin to collect more extensively. But it often happens, I suspect, that it does not come into their heads to examine what they have already got, as to which their memory is not good, because their acquisitions were not made under any strong purpose of using them. ”

“ In Milton's elegy upon the death of Bishop Andrewes there is an allusion to a fabled Palace of Lucifer which I do not quite understand. It seems to refer to some romantic description or other, and I shall be much obliged to any one that will kindly tell me by whom. It is always important to know something of the train of an author's reading, as we then can better understand the ordinary train of his thoughts ”

“ In 1679 she was married to Henry Cavendish, Earl of Ogle, who was only son and heir of the Duke of Newcastle, and who died in 1680, before either party were of puberty to consummate the marriage. In 1681 the Lady Ogle was married to Thomas Thynne, of Longleat, in the county of Wilts, Esquire,—a gentleman of great wealth, a friend of the Duke of Monmouth, and the Issachar of Dryden's "Absalom and Achitophel." ”

“ Cowley's lack of success in his attempt to obtain the mastership of the Savoy is not forgotten; but the satirist speaks of the dead poet very goodhumouredly, and may be said to concur in opinion with those of his admirers who predicted for his writings an enduring immortality. But "sugar-candy Cowley," as the burlesquer terms him, is now obliged to be content with a few pages in the Selections from British Poets, where indeed he is entitled to a very eminent position ”

“ In several parts of Germany, where the culture of bees has, from distant periods, been carried on extensively, the hives are transported from one place to another according to the seasons: now in the forests, when the pine-trees are in flower; now in the fields, when the rape blossoms; then again in the woods, when the heather blossoms; and at last, when winter approaches, in the barn. A tree forms the stand for the bee-hive, and thatch protects it from the rain. Such a tree seems to be the beócera-gent. ”

“ The English are, I believe, the only people who habitually clip proper names of persons or places, but I think it is also the only language in which the spelling of words does not afford a general guide for their pronunciation. ”

“ Persons who bind their books will not always be bound themselves, either by law of congruity or convenience. I once hunted shop and stall for a speech delivered in parliament a century ago, not knowing that I had long possessed it bound up at the end of a Latin summary of Leibnitzian philosophy. ”

“ Indeed, it seems desirable that if fair means could lead to such a result, the skull of one who filled so conspicuous a position amongst England's most distinguished rulers, should become public property.
Perhaps some one in possession of the arguments verifying the identity of the skull in question with that of Cromwell, would, by a recapitulation of them, favour some readers of the "N. & Q.", and amongst others
J. P.
Dudley.
Guy, Thomas, Founder of Guy's Hospital, and M.P. for the Borough of Tamworth, d. s. p. 1724. ”

“ In the course of his discussion with Kebes and Simmius on this subject, a consideration of the phenomena of animal and vegetable life leads him to assert the general conclusion, "ἐκ τῶν τεθνεώτων, τὰ ζῶντά τε καὶ οἱ ζῶντες γίγνονται," and he then proceeds to demonstrate the probability that in like manner the soul will not only survive the body, but reach a higher and purer condition after its death. ”

“ P. M. M.'s appeal to your Scotch and Irish correspondents will I think produce little. In Scotland, names are generally pronounced as written, with a few exceptions, such as Enbro' and Lithgow, and perhaps a few others: but in Ireland I do not remember a single instance of the corruption of a name; though certainly the Irish might be forgiven if they had contracted or mollified such names as Drumcullagher, Ballaghaddireen, Moatagreenoque, and Tamnaughtfinlaggan. ”

“ Johnson expends a considerable amount of indignation upon the epitaph, not on account of its Latinity, but on account of what he considers as the false sentiments of which it is made the vehicle.
The value of the manuscript depends of course upon the possibility of the chief item of its contents being unpublished. Whatever respect the writer may have entertained towards Cowley, he certainly seems inclined to be merry at the expense of Sir Charles Scarborough. ”

“ I have been induced to address you by observing what is being done in other countries, by a desire to point out an example, and stimulate to its emulation that able and tried body of inquirers in this country, who, for love of the subject, have already collected such valuable stores. ”

“ The Gaelic word Baile, pronounced Ballé, signifies a town—the Scotch toun—or farm, and, with the preposition an or na—Anglicè of—is written Baile'n, pronounced Ballen: this, I think, is probably the same word as Blaen, and means, being interpreted, "the farm of." In the examples given by your correspondent α, the words affixed to Blaen are descriptive; many of them scarcely differ in sound from their Gaelic synonyms e.g. Blaen-awen is the Gaelic Baile'n abhuinn, pronounced Ballen avine, Ang. ”

“ Again, it is common to talk in the same way of "bulling a tea-pot," coffee-pot, &c.; that is, after the first "brew" has been exhausted, by adding fresh water, and boiling over again, to make a "second brew" from the old materials. This probably was derived from "bulling the cask;" but whether the "bulling" originally applied to the preserving the water-tight qualities of the cask, or to the making the "second brew," I cannot pretend to say, though I should define the present acceptation of the term "bulling" to be "the obtaining an impregnation from that which had been already used." ”

“ Doctorem," implies, it may be presumed, that Sir Charles was the author of the Latin epitaph, of which it has always been understood, and indeed it is so stated in the later biographies of the poet, that Cowley's close friend and literary executor Sprat, Bishop of Rochester, was the author. Scarborough published an elegy to Cowley's memory, of which I am informed there is no copy in the British Museum library; and being unable to refer to it in any other collection, I have no means of ascertaining whether this elegy discloses the fact of the authorship of the epitaph. ”

“ Beócera-gent (Vol. v., p. 201.) .
—As I asked a question relating to the Irish, perhaps I may be allowed the so-called Irish mode of answering it myself.
Beócherie is evidently derived from Beóceraige, the islet of bee-hives, or bee-keepers (who were regularly appointed officers in Saxon England) ; but as I was utterly at a loss for the word gent, I requested the opinion of Dr. Lèo, from whom I have received the following satisfactory reply:—
"The word gent seems to be the same word as our German gante, and the Scottish gauntree; i.e. a tree which forms a stand for barrels, hives, &c. ”

“ Michaud's work acquired for its author, and very deservedly, an European reputation; and in issuing a well-executed version of it at a moderate price, the publisher of Michaud's History of the Crusades, Translated from the French by W. Robson, is rendering good service, not only to those who cannot peruse the work in the original, but to all classes of historical readers. This (the first volume) has prefixed to it a very interesting memoir of Michaud. ”

“ Standing on a seat at the side of the hall, ... is a little mad old woman in a squeezed bonnet, who is always in court ... expecting some incomprehensible judgment to be given in her favour. Some say she really is, or was, a party to a suit: but no one knows for certain, because no one cares. She carries some small litter in a reticule which she calls her documents: principally consisting of paper matches and dry lavender. ”

“ John Adair, Geographer for Scotland (alive in 1715) .
—I am anxious to obtain some information respecting the ancestry, wife, death, and descendants of this individual. I am already aware of the notices of him in Chalmers's Caledonia (ii. 58.) , and in the Bannatyne Miscellany (ii. 347.) .
E. N.
Clergymen first styled Reverend.
—I should be obliged if any of your correspondents would inform me when the word "Reverend" first came into use as distinctive of a clergyman. It never seems to have been applied to Hooker, who is always called Mr. Hooker in the different editions of his works. ”

“ If Cowley—
"——pleases yet,
His moral pleases, not his pointed wit;
Forgot his epic, nay pindaric art,
But still I love the language of his heart."
The Davideis and the Herbs and Plants find few readers beyond those who resort to them for special purposes; but poets of more recent times, even whilst contemning his "conceits," have (as your volumes have frequently shown) often borrowed his ideas without improving upon the phraseology in which they have been clothed. ”

“ A weaver in Scotland had, by one wife, a Scotch woman, sixty-two children, all living till they were baptized; of whom four [283] daughters only lived to be women, but forty-six sons attained to man's estate. In 1630, Joseph Delavel, Esq., of Northumberland, rode thirty miles beyond Edinburgh, to be satisfied of the truth of this account, when he found the man and woman both living ”

“ In this small volume of less than two hundred pages the [286] learned professor—who holds that wisely to disbelieve is our first grand requisite in dealing with materials of mixed worth—has followed, but not slavishly, the direction which Niebuhr's erudition and untiring energy have so appropriated, that by many it has been supposed to be exclusively Niebuhr's own; and the result is, that he has reconstructed a picture of ancient Rome, to which we refer our classical readers, in the full confidence that they will thank us for doing so ”

“ He inclines to think that "the writer of the book called Isaiah was a friend to the British nation, and that the islands of Great Britain and Ireland are those addressed to, in order to renew their strength." ”

“ The family, of English origin, like the Roches, the Arthurs, Stackpoles, Sextons, Creaghes, Whites, &c., settled in Limerick between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, and gradually obtained high civil positions, when their successful commercial pursuits enabled them to acquire landed property in the adjoining county of Clare, where nearly all the above-named English families equally became extensive proprietors. ”