"Passage of the Apennines"; "Song for Tasso "; "Mazenghi."

""

From the poems of 1819: "To William Shelley" (begins, "My lost William, thou in whom "). From the poems of 1820: "A Vision of the Sea"; "The Waning Moon"; "Death"; "To the Moon" (begins, "Art thou pale for weariness"); The World's Wanderers;" "An Allegory (begins, "A portal as of shadowy adamant"). From the poems of 1821: the lines beginning, "As a violet's gentle eye"; "Evening, Ponte a Mare, Pisa" Ginevra "; "The Boat on the Serchio"; "Music" (begins, "I pant for the music which is divine"); the lines beginning, They were two cousins almost like to twins." From the poems of 1822: "The Zucca”; “Fragments of an unfinished Drama"; A Song" (be-; gins, "A widow bird sate mourning for her love") "The Isle"; "Charles the First"; "The Triumph of Life."

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(6

To treat these compositions as fragments would be no slur upon their excellence-in some cases, transcendent; while to mix them up with the finished poems is to expose them to mis-estimate and the reader to disappointment.

"And the spring arose on the garden fair, And the Spirit of Love fell everywhere." The Sensitive Plant, Part I. p. 490.

Some other editions (for. instance, that of Ascham, before cited), read

"Like the spirit of Love felt everywhere,”which appears to me the finer of the two. What is the authority for each of these readings? "But the Sensitive Plant, which could give small fruit Of the love which it felt from the leaf to the root, Received more than all, it loved more than ever, Where none wanted but it, could belong to the giver." Id. Part 1. p. 492. Many a time have I tried to untie the knot of this sentence, and never succeeded quite to my own satisfaction. Taking the lines, however, along with their near context, I incline to punctuate them thus: :

"Received more than all it loved,-more than ever (Where none wanted but it) could belong to the giver."

and to understand "The sensitive plant, which could give small outward demonstration of the love which it entertained for its companions, had a receptivity of love greater than the receptivity of all the companions which it loved: indeed, its receptivity of a love freely bestowed on all save itself was greater than the love which those companions had to give." In other words: "The sensitive plant had a sense of gratitude for love in larger measure than the love actually bestowed upon it called for-it reciprocated more love than it obtained." W. M. ROSSETTI.

56, Euston Square, N.W.

(To be continued.)

Who so ham lerneþ, and techet hem,

god graunte hym heuene blis! amen!

BERTRAM WALTON, OR WATON. — As it is well to get rid of fictitious English poets, I advise your readers to enter in their Ritson's Bibliographia Poetica (p. 108) not only SIR F. MADDEN'S caution in Warton's Hist. of English Poetry (vol. ii. p. 361, ed. 1840, note *), that Waton is in all probability [t. i. certainty] only the transcriber of the second of the two poems entered to him as one by Ritson and Warton; but also that this second poem is only a late and badly copied fragment of the Stations of Rome, edited by me for the Early English Text Society in two versions in 1866, from Cotton and Lambeth MSS., and This will be in 1867 from the Vernon MS. apparent on comparing the following piece of Waton's text with lines 101-187 of my 1866 text in Religious, Political, and Love Poems, pp. 116

117:

FOLK LORE.

KENTISH FOLK LORE.-The following piece of lore is current among country people in East Kent. The marks on the adder's skin are said to be, when translated into English : —

"If I could hear as well as see,

No mortal man should pass by me." WILLIAM RAYNER. BEAN-SEEDING.-I called this morning (Feb. 13) on a Huntingdonshire cottager, aged seventysix, and found the old man busy in his garden. "I am going to put in a few beans," he said; "for there was an old saying, when I was a boy, "On Saint Valentine's day, Beans should be in the clay."

I fancy that this saying has not yet been placed on record. CUTHBERT BEDE. ALL-HALLOW-E'EN SUPERSTITION. I have often seen a superstition practised in Ireland which I do not recollect having seen noticed by Mr. Henderson or any other writer. Two nuts are set to burn on the bars of the fireplace. The nuts represent respectively two persons of different sexes, who are supposed to be attached to each other. As the nuts burn steadily side by side, or fly apart, the event of the courtship is foretold. D. J. K. CURIOUS FUNERAL SUPERSTITION.-I send you a newspaper cutting showing that even in the year 1868 the strange superstition mentioned at the end of the paragraph still exists: "STRANGE RENCONTRE BETWEEN TWO FUNERAL PROCESSIONS.-Louth, January 23.-An incident took * Cut off.

place here a few days ago which fully exhibits that some of the old superstitious opinions regarding the intermediate state of the dead lingers among the peasantry. A few mornings since, two funeral processions came within view of the Louth churchyard, and, as both were approaching from opposite directions, an immediate excitement seemed to spring up amongst the parties. One corpse was borne upon the shoulders of four men to its last resting-place, whilst the other was drawn in a hearse; consequently, the probability was that the latter would reach the burial-ground first. The other procession commenced to march in double-quick step, which soon changed to a smart trot; and this manœuvre being observed by the opposite party, the driver of the hearse whipped his horses, and came to the gate with great speed. The scene at once became very exciting-loud exclamations burst from the pedestrians, sticks were brandished, and hats pressed down on forehead, and a strong party rushed forward, caught the horses, and declared emphatically that they should not pass until the other funeral had entered the graveyard. This determination was strongly resisted by the other procession, and a serious mêlée was about to ensue, when a young woman rushed over to the driver of the hearse, with whom she seemed to be acquainted, and appealed to him in the most impassioned manner to stop, and let the other party in first, as it was the remains of her mother, and sure he wouldn't be the means of leaving her out all night!' This appeal had the desired effect, and the parties separated, and the two bodies were interred-that of the young woman's mother first. The cause of dispute as to precedence of burial arose from a belief that still prevails among the people of the rural districts, that when two funeral processions reach a graveyard together, the last corpse in must watch the other till morning.' Correspondent of the Belfast News-Letter.

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199

H. LOFTUS TOTTENHAM.

"RISING PETER." This was the name of a custom practised at the village of Nun-Monkton, situated at an extremity of the West Riding, and where the rivers Nidd and Ouse become confluent. The custom has become obsolete of late years, and some account of it before it is forgotten may perhaps be acceptable.

The feast-day of this village is on June 29, being St. Peter's Day in the calendar, and is followed by the "Little Feast Day," and a merry time extending over a week. On the Saturday evening preceding the 29th a company of the villagers, headed by all the fiddlers and players on other instruments that could be mustered, went in procession across the great common to "Maypole Hill," where there is an old sycamore (the pole being near it) for the purpose of "rising Peter," who had been buried under the tree. This effigy of St. Peter, a rude one of wood, carved no one professed to know when-and in these removed in its box-coffin to the neighbourhood of later times clothed in a ridiculous fashion, was and, with as little delay as possible, conveyed to the public-house, there to be exposed to view, thought no more about till the first Saturday some out-building, where it was stowed away and after the feast-day (or the second if the 29th had occurred at the back end of a week), when it was

taken back in procession again, and re-interred with all honour, which concluding ceremony was called "Buryin' Peter." In this way did St. Peter preside over his own feast. On the evening of the first day of the feast two young men went round the village with large baskets for the purpose of collecting tarts, cheesecakes, and eggs for mulled ale-all being consumed after the two ceremonies above indicated. This last good custom is not done away with yet, suppers and afterwards dancing in a barn being the order while the feast lasts. C. C. R. MICHAELMAS GOOSE.-At Helston, on the Flora Day, is sung a ballad which contains the four following lines:

"Where are these Spaniards

That make so great a boast, O? They shall eat the grey goose feathers, And we will eat the roast, O."

Have these lines any reference to the tradition that Queen Elizabeth was eating roast goose on Michaelmas Day when the news of the defeat of the Armada was brought to her, whereupon she ordered that the same dish should be always served up to her on that anniversary? In consequence of which royal order, her liege subjects did the same, and so the present custom began. J. WILKINS, B.C.L.

a

A CURE FOR RHEUMATISM.-Your readers will scarcely believe it, but I have heard of a man who belongs to what he would consider the educated classes, and who nevertheless wears potato in each of his trowsers' pockets as a cure for rheumatism. As the vegetables diminish in size, he believes that they are absorbed into his system, and conceives that he is much benefited thereby. ST. SWITHIN.

UNLUCKY DAY (3rd S. xii. 478; 4th S. i. 254.)— Not long ago I came across a man who was most industriously belabouring a frying-pan, exactly in the way country people do when bees are swarming. As it was not the season of the year for bees to swarm, I inquired what induced him to make that hideous noise. His reply was, that there was a woman down the lane courting on a Friday, and that women guilty of this were always saluted in this manner. This was in Lancashire: does it obtain elsewhere ?

H. FISHWICK.

FLY-LEAF SCRIBBLING FROM AN OLD
VOLUME OF MEDICAL TRACTS.

The following "Miscellaneous Observations," as they are headed, are transcribed from the flyleaves of a curious collection of medical tracts in my possession. The most recent of these bears the date of 1757; the handwriting is that of the period, and the remarks are characterised by such

an amount of good sense and felicity of expression, that they have seemed to me worthy of transcription and preservation:

"A Worthy Physician will pay a Regular and Constant attendance upon his Patient, watching with his own Eyes Every change and Every New Symptom of his Malady. He will not fetter himself to Rules laid down by the Fathers of ye Art who lived many hundred years ago when diseases and ye Causes of them, as also y Modes from what they are now. To do credit to yr Skill will of Living, and Climates and Accidents were different sometimes make a Slight Disease important. A Skilfull Operator will Endeavour to be intelligible, and if Honest to make every one a Judge of his Practice. A Generous Man where he is hopeless of doing Good, will put on the Friend, and lay aside ye Doctor. How cruel is Punctilio in Cases of Difficulty and Danger among y Medical Tribe. In Chronical Cases Physicians go yr rounds with yr Patients; the new one generally asks what yr old one prescribed yt he may Guess at Something Else to make Trial of. And in Lingering Cases patients or yr Friends are often too apt to Listen to new Recommendations. When Patients have money enough, it is difficult for a Physitian to say yt he has no hopes of them, &c. Vapourish people are perpetual Subjects for Physicians to they draw out fearfull Bills of Indictment against themwork upon; They are the physical Tribe's Milch Cows; selves; and y Mind will at any Time run away with yo Body. Great allowances ought to be made for y Petulance of Persons labouring under ill-health, wether Real or Imaginary. For ye Latter Travelling, Change of Air, Variety of Agreable and chearfull Companions is undoubtedly ye Best Physic. What a poor passive Machine is ye Body, when ye Mind is disorder'd. But small Crevices sometimes let in Light upon a benighted Mind, People labouring under an Indisposition or Malady should und Meer Trifles frequently divert and dispel ye Gloom. not add a difficulty of being Pleased and an impatience of Spirit to ye Concern which yo Attendants and Relations have for yr Illness. But Consider yt Sickness enervates y Mind as well as ye Body, palls every Appetite and makes us Loath what we once Lov'd. On y• other hand Health disposes us to be pleas'd with ourselves, and with Every thing else.

"It makes y Gloomy face of Nature Gay;

Gives Beauty to the Sun, and pleasure to the Day.

"The Ancient Physicians were very sparing of yr Prescriptions. Medicus Natura Minister was y constant Motto. The Modern seem too Liberal of y". It is ye Observation of Dr Friend on Avicenna, That he seem'd to be fond of Multiplying ye Signs of Distempers without any Reason. A Fault too much imitated, (as Errors are ye easiest to be follow'd) by our Modern Writers of Systems. Different Hypotheses are maintained by Several of the Most famous Physicians, and ye present Practice of Physick seems to agree wth ye Different Theories. A thorough Acquaintance wth ye Laws of ye animal ceconomy, as Rationally deliver'd, should be the Business of Every Physician. But some are more Expeditiously popp'd into ye World. To be ye favourite of a Great Man, or which is rather better of a Great Woman, with a Large Whigg, a splendid Equipage, and no small share of Assurance; These are Qualifications which finish the Doctor to ye Reproach of ye Profession, and y Danger of ye Society. He that knows ye Disease knows what is proper to cure it. New Formula or Prescriptions are Best when a Physician knows wether Stimulants, or Anodynes, Relaxants or Restringents, Attenuants or Incrassants are indicated. He can be at no great loss how to

serve himself of Proper Drugs out of y vast Materia Medica wh we at present abound with. He should select a few of each sort ye most effectual for his use and stick to them; and not Run into ye immense farrago which Some are so fond of; by so doing, he will soon be acquainted with yr Real Virtues and Effects, and readily distinguish between the Symptoms of y• Disease, and Those caused by ye Medicines, weh is a Thing many Times of no Small importance. I have Seen in Private Practice and some Publick Writings such a Jumble of Things thrown together in one Prescription yt it would have puzzled Apollo himself to know what it was designed for. Not but that there are frequently such Complications, (Contra-Indications to, sometimes) in Diseases, as makes some degree of Combination and Contrast in a Medicine necessary. How little is a Formula or Recipe, as it is call'd, to be depended on-Since 20 or 30 grains of Rhubarb shall purge some as much as Twice ye quantity of Jallap will others. One grain of Theban Extract, viz. Opium, or Twenty drops of y• Tincture, viz. Liquid Laudanum will dose one as much as Triple y Dose will another. Besides y Constitution and manner of Living of the Patient must be considered in the Prescriptions, as well as the Disease. A sober temperate Person, or one who lives chiefly on Milk, Vegetables, &c. will by no means bear such warm Medicines, Compound Waters and Spirits, as may be quite proper for those who have dealt largely in Ragouts, Wine, &c. But this is Obvious and so is this Deduction, yt we should always begin with very small or moderate Doses of all kinds, and that not y Physick, but y⚫ Drink and Diet of y⚫ Sick should be prudently regulated, for surely what we use by ounces and Pounds, cannot but considerably affect us, as well as what we take by grains and scruples. Poor people who live very low seldom, when taken ill, (unless by yr indiscretion they have thrown themselves into a Fever by over-working, or by drinking Cold and Acid things when over-Hott), want any thing but reviving Cordials; and afterwards, wholesome Kitchin Physic; and then wheels of Nature being unclogg'd (new oil'd as it were) will go round again with Ease and Pleasantness by aid of that Exercise which yr Labour gives them. While the Rich and Voluptuous are obliged to undergo great fatigues to keep theirs in Order. Temperance will give health and vigour to an originally tender Constitution.

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Hipocrates, ye Father of Physick, and ye Ancients

were very careful in y particular, very exact in prescribing a Regimen, and in this Respect Physicians do very well to consult them. A great deal depends upon it. Experience is ye Right Guide and Standard of à Warrantable Practice, and must absolve or condemn every Physician, who is oblig'd by Act of Parliamt to write at y foot of every Prescription ye Initial Letters of his Name. When Doctors meet to consult about a Patient, y Junior always writes y Prescription. A Physician must be able on every Emergent Occasion to write a Bill for a Patient, readily and pertinently and in Form according to Art. He must be endowed with dilligence, Sagacity, Gravity, Integrity, and such a Convenient Briskness and Courage as will carry him thro' all Difficulties; to be compleat must see Variety of Others' Practice. For ye best Collection of Prescriptions that ever was, will, or can be writ or printed will no more make an accomplish'd Physician, than good Colours or Pencils alone can make a fine Painter. That envious Creature Dr Middle

ton was always pecking at great men and Dr Mead amongst ye rest.

"The Knowledge of Physic is contained in a narrow Compass. A few celebrated Authors, who have been

able Practitioners are Best. Hippocrates, the Father of Physick, Sydenham, Mead, Boerhave, wh Van Swyten's Commentary, Hoffman, Huxham, Shaw, are sufficient. There have been of late years a greater number of Books publish'd on ye subject of Medicine y" upon all other Arts and Sciences; yet we don't find any material Discovery made, or any great Discovery in ye cure of Diseases. Those who want to dazzle mankind whye Lustre of yr Genius, or impress ye World wth an opinion of yr importance, had much better turn Professors, Poets, Politicians, Historians, or Ingravers; or run about soliciting Subscriptions for New Hospitals, an Expedient which hath been practis'd with such success, yt almost every Street in the Great Metropolis of these Kingdoms presents you with one of these Charitable Receptacles. Nay it is now become ye question to dedicate a Temple of this kind to Every Remarkable Disease; we have Hospitals for ye Great Pox and for ye Small Pox ; for Salivation and Inoculation; for Lameness and Laziness; For Blindness, Ruptures and Lunacy. But there is not yet any Hospital for Ideots, though such an Establishment was never more wanted than in this Age and Country." WILLIAM BATES.

Birmingham.

"FAMILIAR WORDS."

I have been for a long time preparing a supplement and corrections to the second edition of Familiar Words, to which I am pleased to see in your valuable paper more than one complimentary allusion. May I therefore, in the interest of all literary men, ask the aid of those who have my volume in supplying its deficiencies? It already covers so large a field, that it is impossible that make it complete. The compiler would, therefore, one solitary scholar of the English language should be very grateful for any help tendered to him, and would duly acknowledge it. He would only lay down this rule :-The lines cited must be familiar quotations, known to scholars and literary men. They must not be taken out of old authors on account of their goodness; but find their place in my dictionary on account of having often done yeomen's service in the leading article, the magazine, and the essay. Second, a correct reference must be given, so that 1 may at once certify them: for the value of such a work as Familiar Words depends upon its accuracy. The old poetical quotations, and one or two modern books, are utterly worthless, because they have been made by dilettante people, who play at authorship by cuting up slices of Shakspere and Pope and others, and printing them in a book. Of what possible use is it to put―

"Expatiate free o'er all this scene of man" (Pope)when you leave one who desires to find out the context the trouble of searching for it through many volumes? Lastly, may I ask your contributors if they can tell me the whereabouts of some of these lines for which I have searched, and most probably overlooked ?

—

"The solitary monk who shook the world."

"VERY NOT WELL."-This is a common expression in Huntingdonshire. "How is Susan today?" "Thank you, sir, she has been very not well, Tuesday will be a week."

CUTHBERT BEDE. Low SIDE WINDOWS. In the Ecclesiologist (N.S. vol. iv. p. 70) it is stated that at St. Senan (Sennen), Cornwall, the lychnoscope was then used (1847) for taking in the tithe milk of that parish. This would be an argument in favour of Mr. Paley's theory that the lychnoscopes were used as offertory windows, originated from an order of recluses or solitarii, who had their oratories contiguous to or adjoining churches, and who, not being allowed to communicate with any assembly of men, had these little windows constructed ut per fenestram possent ad missas per manus sacerdotum oblationes offerre. The theory is a plausible but improbable one, for if the tice was usual among recluses, it is not likely that, among the laity, those who might freely make their offerings in the usual place would devise lychnoscopes, and be at the trouble of using them. Still, facts like that relating to Sennen church are interesting, and I should be glad to know if your correspondents can give any like examples. The vexata quæstio of the real origin of these curious windows still baffles learned ecclesiologists. JOHN PIGGOT, JUN.

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with Strongbow and his successors, Elias is not uncommon. Then, again, we find Helias in the remote pedigree of Dundas. At the same time "poor scholars" in Ireland have a habit of pronouncing (as I have myself heard in the calling that, in confusedly-written documents, at an early over of names) Alias, A-lias. Now, is it possible period, where several names occurred continuously on the same line, others in after times, who used them for genealogical purposes, sometimes made two persons of one, and have given the alias as the baptismal name, Elias?

At the same time I have no intention even of throwing a doubt on the Helias just mentioned, and merely selected it as it happened to flit across my memory; for there may have been, and probably were, persons properly so named. In short, the idea, even to myself, only suggests itself as a means of occasionally detecting error and readjusting pedigrees. SP.

TENNYSON'S "PALACE OF ART."-I have within the last few days seen for the first time Tennyson's "Palace of Art" as it appears in the edition of 1833. On comparing it with the later version, which is considerably altered, I cannot but perceive poem every greatly improved and polished. There is, however, one stanza in the first edition which is, in my opinion, so exceedingly fine that I think it a subject for much regret that our illustrious poet It is a description of one of the magnificent series has thought fit to omit it from his later editions. of sacred and legendary pictures with which the palace walls are hung-a series almost worthy of the hand of Spenser:

"Or blue-eyed Kriemhilt from a craggy hold,
Athwart the light-green rows of vine,
Poured blazing hoards of Nibelungen gold
Down to the gulfy Rhine."

I appeal to all readers who are gifted with poetic sensibility whether this stanza has not the it is far too good to be lost, I flatter myself with genuine ring about it, and is not true poetry. As the hope that some correspondents may confirm my judgment, and that Mr. Tennyson, if he sees "N. & Q.," may be eventually induced to restore it. JONATHAN BOUCHIER. 5, Selwood Place, Onslow Gardens, S.W.

Queries.

JOHN ACKWOOD, OR GIOVANNI AGUTO. -I heard that, several years ago, the autograph correspondence of this famous condottiero was offered to the British Museum. The price required for it was so excessive that the offer was declined. Some of your readers, perhaps, may let me know who is the present owner of the MS.

BIBLIOPHILUS.