Various

“ Secondly, if the words are to stand as already read, "Did you never see the picture of we three?" intimating no allusion to any idea, hinted at but not expressed, they are simply an inquiry respecting a painting of the knights and the clown, to the existence of which there is not another reference throughout the entire play, neither does the story require or suggest that the notion of any such painting should ever have entered the author's mind. ”

“ To most persons the discovery by VOKAROS of a family likeness existing between the face on the brass of the Abbess of Elstow, and the portrait of the Marquis of Bristol, after a lapse of three centuries, would probably seem moderately far-fetched; but when this is adduced as "valuable evidence on the disputed point, whether portraits were attempted in sepulchral brasses," a very great demand indeed is made upon our credulity. ”

“ Travellers in the colder latitudes of the new and old world, agree in representing the rivers of those countries as literally swarming with noble salmon. The increase of man, and the advances of civilisation, have led to the decrease of salmon in the British Islands, and this fish will probably, in a century or so more, rank among other exterminated animals, as the bustard, &c.
Any of your readers would oblige me by reference to authorities in which statements may be found as to the ancient productiveness of the salmon fisheries of Great Britain and Ireland ”

“ Bowyer, publisher of another great national work—the folio edition of Hume's History of England, also a splendid specimen of my father's typography—had a copy of Macklin's Bible, which he employed his leisure during many years to illustrate, having the best opportunities, from his pursuits as an artist, publisher of prints, &c. On the completion of his labours, he valued the massy product, consisting of an immense number of prints, at 2500l.; and, after unsuccessful efforts to procure a purchaser, he put it up to be raffled for, issuing proposals to the nobility and gentry, &c. ”

“ In Roman Catholic times our national salmon fisheries were of much value, for they supplied an article of food which was necessary for fast days; there are, accordingly, many ancient acts of parliament in the statute books for the preservation of the salmon, and still more in the Scotch statutes, in one of which, indeed, a jubilee was ordained for the benefit of the finny tribe, by making it penal to take any salmon for the space of three years. ”

“ The readers of "N. & Q." who are lovers of Folk Lore are, we well know, very numerous; those who take an interest in that subject, and are at the same time acquainted with the great philological acquirements of the learned editor of the Ancient Laws and Institutes of England, we have no doubt shared our satisfaction at the announcement that Mr. Thorpe had undertaken a work, comprehensive yet not too voluminous, in which he would exhibit the ancient mythology and principal mythologic traditions of Scandinavia and the North of Germany. ”

“ The poet, then, from the aspect of this strange anomaly, as exemplified in Sir Leoline, is forced to the following conclusion:
"And what, if in a world of sin
(O sorrow and shame should this be true!)
Such giddiness of heart and brain
Comes seldom save from rage and pain,
So talks as it's most used to do."
If we turn now to the last two paragraphs of the poem, we find all this illustrated; in these two paragraphs the poet has
"Forced together
Thoughts so all unlike each other." ”

“ The sign having been renovated, the old painting is obliterated: but whatever may have replaced it, the old name, the Loggerheads, most probably is still used; and inasmuch as the aspect of the house was venerable when I first remember it, we may, without a violent stretch of imagination, carry back the use of the above-described conceit of the three loggerheads, as an alehouse sign, at least a considerable portion of the period intervening between our time and that of Shakspeare. ”

“ The title of the "Welsh lord, the brave Duke of Devonshire," offers some opposition to Mr. Dixon's hypothesis, as no Duke of Devonshire was created before 1694; but, as Sir Walter Scott observed, upon a friend pointing out an inaccuracy in his "Bonnets of bonnie Dundee," "We cannot always be particular in a ballad." Possibly the name of some other country or place should be substituted for that of "Devonshire." ”

“ But that I may give you some satisfaction, you shall understand that I was born in Galloway in Scotland, in the year 1546, bred up in the University of Edinburgh, where I commenced Master of Arts, whence, travelling into England, I kept school, and sometimes preached, till in the first of King James I was inducted into the church of Lesbury, where I now live. ”

“ As to downright inherent obscurity, I think it is not at all clear that we are a whit behind the ancients. More than one, even of our living poets, would require a Delphin interpretation. As a fair sample of what English poetry is able to offer in the way of difficulty, I would refer to the "conclusion" of Coleridge's unfinished poem of Christabel. ”

“ Any person tolerably familiar with the subject will at once see that the face of the lady is identical with that which is repeatedly to be found on numerous brass effigies of persons of both sexes at the beginning of the sixteenth century ”

“ Any of your readers who have access to an amusing book called The Radical, by Samuel Bamford, may see most appalling account of an adventure connected with the gathering of fern-seed, and other superstitions.
P. P.
Longevity and Rejuvenescency (Vol. v., p. 276.) .
—I beg to refer your sceptical correspondent to Fuller's Worthies (county of Northumberland) for a remarkable instance of longevity; viz. Patrick Machell Vivan, Vicar of Lesbury, near Alnwick. Percival Stockdale, in his Memoirs, gives some further particulars respecting his predecessor ”

“ For although the clown is introduced as an allowed fool, and so entitled, it is evident he was designed to represent a person not totally devoid of at least some smattering of learning, as well as to be, what one of his brethren is styled, "a shrewd knave;" ”

“ In speaking of the witch prosecutions in Scotland, this writer says:
"If an unfortunate woman, trembling at a citation for witchcraft, ended her sufferings by her own hand, she was dragged from her house at a horse's tail, and buried under the gallows."
R. S. F.
Perth.
Large Families (Vol. v., pp. 204. 304.) .
—To the instances of unusually large numbers of children by one mother given in "N. & Q." may be added that of a Lady Elphinstone, who is said, by tradition, to have had no less than thirty-six children, of whom twenty-seven were living at one time. ”

“ A friend of mine a little time back was talking to a labourer on the absurdity of such a belief; but he failed to convince the good man, who, as a proof of the correctness of his belief brought forward the case of a poor man who had lately died after a lingering illness. ”

“ In Theobald's Shakspeare, the sentence we are considering is unnoticed, but, as previously stated, that is not the case in three of the twelve editions consulted. In one, a single volume with glossary, &c., by Nicholas Rowe, to the words "we three," a foot note is appended, supplying, as the conclusion of the phrase, "loggerheads be." The same note is similarly given in another copy in nine volumes. The third instance is an edition in two volumes, with explanatory notes at the end, among which we find this respecting Twelfth Night:—"Did you never see the picture of we three? ”

“ A labouring man, passing by a house which is said to be haunted by soldiers, saw a soldier from Castletown sitting on a stile; and, on going up to tell him that the bugle had sounded, the soldier vanished into air, and the man saw a ball of fire before him all the way home. ”

“ Lepage's system of teaching the French language in so pleasant, and easy, and natural, that his clever little books are rapidly passing from edition to edition. When we consider the small amount of study requisite to acquire French by Mons. ”

“ The only approach towards a likeness, if it may be termed such, seems to be the distinction between youth and age, and even that was almost wholly neglected in the fifteenth and earlier half of the sixteenth centuries. The foregoing remarks apply chiefly to brasses before the latter end of the sixteenth century; after that period portraits were evidently not unfrequently attempted. ”

“ Grisly.
—Can any of your readers inform me why a person in a fretful state is said to be grisly? the far-famed Guzzle being a pattern of meekness and patience. I am aware that Johnson gives the meaning—fearfully, horribly; but this does not seem satisfactory. Infants are often said by their nurses to be "very grisly."
RUBY.
Birthplace of St. Patrick.
—Can the disputed question of the birthplace of St. Patrick be settled? [345] Some writers assign Scotland, others England, and others France, as his fatherland. He himself informs us (Confess. sub init.) that he was born at Bonavem-Taberniæ. ”

“ Rex Lucifer.—It would be a most horrid barbarism to impute to such a Latin poet as Milton the use of this word for the devil; although in his theological poem he may have adopted that popular and discreditable gloss upon Isaiah xiv. The palace of the light-bringing king is no other than that known to our earliest school-days, in Ovid 1. ad fin. ”

“ The mark M. O. L. is frequently found on Dutch porcelain, and occasionally the word Amstel; what is the meaning of these marks, and when were they employed?
A stork is also found as a mark on Dutch porcelain, which is said to have been made at the Hague. Is this correct? and if so, what is the history of the manufactory? ”

“ Among the interesting communications relating to monuments and trees, I see no mention made of some fine effigies of the De la Beche family, in an old church near which are the largest yew-trees I ever saw, [342] on the edge of the Downs, about four miles above the road which runs from Reading in Berkshire to Wallingford, through Pangbourne and Streatley. ”

“ London Genealogical Society (Vol. v., p. 297.) .
—I presume your correspondent W. P. A. refers to the Heraldic and Genealogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland for the Elucidation of Family Antiquity, which issued a prospectus a few years ago; but whether or not it is still in existence I am unable to say. Gentlemen desirous of joining the society were requested to transmit their names [354] to the secretary, "William Downing Bruce, Esq., K.C.J., F.S.A., United Service Institution, Whitehall, London," to whom all communications respecting it were to be addressed. ”

“ May not groom be the literal English of the French écuyer, and have in the places quoted the same meaning as esquire, which is evidently the Anglicised French?
W. C. TREVELYAN.
Wallington.
BALLAD OF LORD DELAWARE.
(Vol. ii., pp. 104. 158.; Vol. v., p. 243.)
As I have reason to believe that several of your readers are interested in this old ballad, I send you an exact transcript of the oral version contained in Mr. Lyle's (not Lyte's, as incorrectly printed in my former communication) now rare little volume. ”

“ The declensions and conjugations are well stated, and illustrated by references to the Greek, Latin, French, and other languages. A philosophical spirit pervades every part. The Delectus consists of short pieces on various subjects, with extracts from Anglo-Saxon History and the Saxon Chronicle. There is a good Glossary at the end."—Athenæum, Oct. ”

“ FACTS AND SPECULATIONS ON THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF PLAYING CARDS. By W. A. CHATTO, Author of "Jackson's History of Wood Engraving," in one handsome vol. 8vo. illustrated with many Engravings, both plain and coloured, cloth. 1l. 1s.
"It is exceedingly amusing."—Atlas.
"Curious, entertaining, and really learned book."—Rambler.
"Indeed the entire production deserves our warmest approbation."—Literary Gazette.
"A perfect fund of Antiquarian research, and most interesting even to persons who never play at cards."—Tait's Mag. ”

“ Fernseed (Vol. v., p. 172.) .
—This was considered a charm of the highest potency. It not only preserved the fortunate possessor against the malignant influences of demon, witch, and sorcerer, but enabled him to render himself invisible at pleasure:
"We have the receipt of fern-seed, we walk invisible,"
quoth honest Gadshill (Henry IV., Part I. Act II. Sc. 1.) . The difficulty and danger with which it could only be obtained, apparently tended much to enhance its magical value in the estimation of the cabalist. ”

“ Coleridge's "Friend" (Vol. v., p. 297.) .
—The passage quoted by your correspondent J. M. can refer to one man only, viz. Thomas Wedgewood. His introduction to that gentleman, and his brother Josiah, is related by Cottle. (Recollections of Coleridge, 1837, vol. i. p. 305.) Coleridge might well call the former his "munificent co-patron;" for we learn from Cottle that these brothers, soon after making the poet's acquaintance, settled upon him 150l. per annum, in order to prevent him sinking the man of letters in the Unitarian minister. ”

“ But, most probable, this appointing of times and hours is of the devil's own institution, as well as the fast; that having once ensnared people to an obedience to his rules, he may with more facility oblige them to stricter vassalage."
The fern-seed charm is amply discussed in Brand's Popular Antiquities, vol. i. p. 314. (Bohn's edition.) ”

“ I should feel obliged if any one could furnish further particulars of this individual.
J. B. WHITBORNE.
Cynthia's Dragon-yoke (Vol. v., p. 297.) .
—For the satisfaction of your Boston correspondent H. T. P., I have been unable to find anything but the following note from Bishop Newton's edition of Milton's works:—
"Dragon-yoke.—This office is attributed to dragons on account of their watchfulness."
So Shakspeare, in Cymbeline, Act II. Sc. 2.:
"Swift, swift, you dragons of the night."
And in Troilus and Cressida, Act V. Sc. 14.:
"The dragon wing of night o'erspreads the earth." ”