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Also, Leira, 1494, fol.

Prophetæ posteriores, scilicet Isaias, Jeremias, Ezechiel, et xii. minores cum commentario Kimchii, hebraice. Soncini, circa 1485, sm. fol.

Proverbia cum commentario Rabbi Immanuel, hebraice. Neapoli (1487), sm. fol.

Psalterium hebraicum, cum commentario Kimchii. Joseph et filium ejus Chaiim Mordachai, et Ezechiam Montro. 1477, no place, sm. fol. Also, Neapoli, 1487, sm. fol.

Weill (M. A.). Le judaïsme, ses dogmes et sa mission. Paris, 1866-69, 4 vols., 8vo. Yapheth (Rabbi). In librum psalmorum Commentarii, arabice edidit specimen Bargès. Paris, 1846, 8vo. HENRI GAUSSERON.

Ayr Academy.

THE STORY OF "NOTES AND QUERIES." (Continued from 5th S. vii. 2.) When with the New Year I resumed the story of "N. & Q.," I was obliged, from the same cause which had interrupted it two or three months before, to avail myself of other eyes and another pen. I trust I may be pardoned for this purely personal allusion, but it is necessary to explain a most extraordinary omission in my last paper-an omission of which I could not possibly have been guilty but for that circumstance. For if I myself had looked at p. 61 of that fourth number, the history of which I was there telling, a small Query, of less than five lines, modestly signed L. -the initial of the surname of the writer-would have reminded me that that was the first of a long series of communications from one of the most candid, clear-headed, and accomplished scholars of the day, Sir George Cornewall Lewis, who from that 24th November, 1849, until the very Saturday which preceded his death-an event which Mr. Disraeli justly characterized as a calamity which had befallen the nation"-continually enriched these columns with some of the fruits of his varied learning and intelligent criticism. His last paper, to which I have just referred, viz., that on The Presidency of Deliberative Assemblies" (3rd S. iii. 281), a most valuable article on an important subject, appeared only two days before his death-a death which I felt very deeply as the loss of a most kind-hearted and distinguished friend-I must say friend, for he honoured me with many proofs of his respect and personal regard.

66

66

Few things connected with "N. & Q." have gratified me so much as its being the means of making me known to Sir G. C. Lewis, and the way it was brought about.

Calling one morning at the London Library on my old friend George Cochrane, then the librarian, and formerly editor of the Foreign Quarterly Review, he exclaimed, as soon as I entered his little sanctum, "Oh, I wish you had come ten minutes sooner! Cornewall Lewis has just been here; we have had a long talk about you and N. & Q.,' and he wishes to know you." I naturally expressed myself much flattered at this; and yet more so when Cochrane continued, "What Cornewall Lewis says he means, and he left a message with me for you. He says you must often be passing the Home Office, and he hopes the very first time you do, you will call upon him"; and acting upon Cochrane's advice, I called that very morning, was instantly received by that distinguished gentleman with a frankness and kindliness which were indescribably charming, and passed upwards of half an hour in most pleasant literary chit-chat; in the course of which he did not hesitate to point out, with all kindliness and courtesy, some of my shortcomings as an editor, and was, I think, somewhat surprised and amused when I told him that no one was so conscious of

them as I myself. Oh! I owe much to Sir G. Cornewall Lewis. Honoured be his memory!

Mentioning dear old George Cochrane reminds me that I owe to him my introduction to another valued friend to whom the readers of "N. & Q.” have been greatly indebted; not only for many valuable articles, but for a suggestion which has given great and general satisfaction, namely, that of publishing at stated intervals those General Indexes which, in the words once used to me by Lord Brougham, "double the value and utility of N. & Q." I allude to Mr. William Bernard MacCabe, the learned author of that very original and curiously interesting book, The Catholic History of England, and who may justly be described, in a line which I have seen applied to one of his most eminent co-religionists, as

"True to his faith, but not a slave of Rome." I am sorry I do not see his name in "N. & Q." so frequently as I used to do.

But I must get on, or my readers will anticipate that my story, like Carové's more celebrated one, translated by Mrs. Austin, will prove to be A Story without an End. However, I must run that risk, and here treating of three contributors, whose names first appeared in No. 5, bring, in another part, my old man's gossip to an end with a few similar notes on No. 6.

The first of the new names which appeared in this number is that of Mr. Planché, whose wellearned reputation as one of the most graceful and sparkling of dramatic writers is only rivalled by

that which he has won for himself as a learned antiquary and an accomplished herald; and who is now, as he has long been, the delight of society, which declares of him with great truth that age has not withered nor custom staled his infinite variety. Mr. Planché's contribution was a very curious paper on "Ancient Tapestry."

The name of the venerable John Britton, who did so much good work in his day for English archæology and architecture, also graced my fifth number, to which he contributed a note showing that the date of birth of John Aubrey was the 12th of March, 1625-6, and not the 3rd of November, as had been stated by a former correspondent, who had noted that the birthday of "N. & Q." was appropriately that of the Wiltshire antiquary.

Archeologia Cantiana, which is only rivalled by the eloquent testimony borne to his high personal character and rare attainments by Mr. Bruce in the preface to Manningham's Diary, printed for the Camden Society. Not until after his death did his admirable edition of The Domesday of Kent make its appearance, and show those who did not know Lambert B. Larking what a loss Kent had sustained in the founder of the Kent Archæological Society. His contribution to my fifth number was connected with the MSS. of Sir Roger Twysden, and although he was not a very frequent correspondent, "N. & Q." benefited greatly by the instructive private letters which I continually received from him.

WILLIAM J. THOMS. (To be continued.)

SHAKSPEARIANA.

Mr. Larking died on Sunday, the 2nd of August, 1868, and the reader will readily imagine the pain It is my happy lot to be blessed with a with which I heard of his death when I say that, contented disposition; and I can sit down to a not being aware of his illness, Mr. Bruce and dinner of herbs without losing my equanimity, myself had arranged to give him an agreeable though I can relish and enjoy-no one more so- surprise by running down to Ryarsh on the Satura well-served, round-table dinner of half-a-dozen day and having a gossip and luncheon with him, intelligent men, of each of whom, as of Chaucer's and returning home together. Happily an accident Oxford Scholar, it can be said, "Full gladly would prevented our intrusion at such a sad moment; he learn and gladly teach." I look upon such a and we learned in a day or two that this good meeting as one of the highest intellectual enjoy-man and great scholar had sunk to his rest. ments. It was at such a feast of reason, at which I was present, about thirty years since, and which I shall never forget, that I made the acquaintance of him of whom I am about to speak. My host was that model of official accuracy and great master of his own peculiar branch of knowledgemy late excellent friend, Sir Charles Young, Garter. It took place in his official residence in the Heralds' College, and the party consisted of Garter himself, Sir Thomas Duffus Hardy, the learned Deputy Keeper of the Public Records, my friend Bruce, a young friend of our host's, and a gentleman whom I then met for the first time. He was a Kentish clergyman, a ripe classical scholar, a profound antiquary, and a polished man of the world. On that night commenced an acquaintance between myself and the Rev. Lambert B. Larking (for he was the stranger in question), which soon grew into intimacy, and ripened into the warmest attachment, which ceased only with the death of one who seemed to win the affection of all with whom he came in contact. The affectionate regard in which he was held by his old friends and neighbours the late Earl of Abergavenny and his family, by Lord and Lady Falmouth, and by his friend the Marquess of Camden, who predeceased him only a few months, was shared by all the best people of his native county, to the history of which county he devoted every hour he| could spare from his duties as a parish priest.

What his labours had accomplished and with what skill they had been carried out may be seen in the brief but touching memoir of my old friend which Sir Thomas D. Hardy contributed to the

THE "BUSIE LEST" CRUX (5th S. vii. 143.)— MR. R. M. SPENCE is "surprised that no critic... has suggested the omission of the colon after forget." He and every other may, for the future, assume that everything, absurd or tolerable, that can be suggested has been suggested, and this unfortunate passage may in future be held exempt from tentative surgery. The omission of the colon was suggested by the late Mr. Samuel Bailey (The Received Text of Shakespeare, p. 125), who enforced his suggestion by interpolating all after forget. My surprise is that either of these gentlemenshould have thought so intolerable a perversion worthy of record. For my part I am convinced that argument, whether thrown away or not, would be unnecessary when once we have placed in juxtaposition the two following passages :

"Bel. Oh Melancholly,

Who ever yet could sound thy bottome? Finde
The Ooze, to shew what Coast thy sluggish c[r]are
Might'st easilest harbour in."
Cymbeline, iv. 2.

"Fer..

such basenes

Had never like Executor: I forget:
But these sweet thoughts, doe even refresh my labours,
Most busielest, when I doe it." Tempest, iii. 1.
If we bear in mind that easiliest and busiliest (as
we write them) were often spelt easielest, easilest;
busielest, busilest, we need have no difficulty in
regarding "busie lest" as a dislocation, like "for
that" (forth at) in the same play. The double

:

It appears in Coles's Eng. Dict. (ed. 1677) as an old form of lust, and in Ash's Dict. as an obsolete word, meaning "will," "pleasure." Jamieson, in his Scotch Dict., has "lest, to please"; and Halliwell (Dict. of Ar. and Prov. Words), “lest, in

If, then, we assume that Shakspeare uses lest as a noun, with this meaning, we may explain the passage thus:-"I forget everything except Miranda; but these thoughts of her do refresh even my labours, and my task, whenever I do it, is a most busy delight.”

superlative is all too common to be a difficulty,
and surely no student of Shakspeare need be re-
minded that "When I doe it" is "When I do so,"
i.e. "When I do forget my task." In view of all
this I would respectfully ask, What is there in the
least amiss in this vexed passage? I would para-clination, pleasure.”
phrase it thus: "I am forgetting my task, and
standing idle but my excuse is that these sweet
thoughts, which refresh my labours, are most
busiliest at their work when I am forgetting mine."
No emendation that has yet been proposed (and I
am "perfect" nothing in that way remains to do)
is any improvement upon the original text, if only
we may take "busie lest as a case of dislocation.
I can find no reasonable excuse for tampering with
the text of the folio. It has been asserted that
"it" may refer to "labours." I know of but one
such case in all Shakspeare, viz. L. L. L., i. 1 :-
"If you are arm'd to do, as sworn to do,

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Subscribe to your deep oaths, and keep it too." The passage, "Poor breathing orators," &c. (Rich. III., iv. 4), is misquoted in England's Parnassus, 1600, or it would be another instance. I believe such instances are too rare to be our authority in the interpretation of the "busie lest" crux.

As I shall probably have no more to say on this стих, I may as well reply to MR. WEDGWOOD (5th S. vii. 83). He says, "It seems incredible that some one should not already have suggested" the mission of "it," and the reflection of "do" on "least" as its objective. Incredible indeed! If so, he had better have assumed that the conjecture had been made, duly considered, and rejected. It has been made times ont of count. I particularly remember three of them: A. E. B. and ICON. made it, independently, in "N. & Q.," 1st S. ii. 338, and viii. 124; and the late Mr. W. N. Lettsom made it in Blackwood's Magazine, Aug., 1853. As I have said above, this passage has fully earned its exemption from further treatment; and in my opinion Mr. Bullock has discovered its meaning. JABEZ.

Athenæum Club.

"I forget:
First Folio.

But these sweet thoughts doe even refresh my labours,

Most busie lest, when I doe it." It has escaped the notice of all the editors of Shakspeare that lest was formerly used as a noun, with the meaning of pleasure or delight. It is a variation of list, A.-S. lyst, O.N. lyst, voluptas ; but in O. Fries. hlest or lest: "Da spreek die koningk mid hleste" (Then spake the king with delight). This form is used by Chaucer both as a noun and a verb. In the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, in describing the Prioress, he says:"In curteisie was set ful moch hire leste" (pleasure); and in the "Clerk's Tale":-

"Lord, if it your wille be That for to been a wedded man you leste (please), Than were your peple in souereyn hertes reste."

There is a two-fold advantage in this interpretation: it does not require any alteration of the text, and it gives a meaning to the latter part of Ferdinand's soliloquy that is quite in harmony with what he has said before:

"There be some sports are painful, and their labour Delight in them sets off."

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Would be as heavy to me as odious; but
The mistress which I serve quickens what 's dead,
And makes my labours pleasures."
In the same strain he says of his task :-
"Most busy lest, when I do it,"

i.e. Most busy pleasure it is, whenever I do it.
J. D.
Belsize Square.

I suggest the following reading, and pointing:-
"I forget-
But these sweet thoughts do even refresh-my labours,
Most busy, feast when I do it"-

the italicized words, and punctuation, conveying as
much as I might wish to be understood.
J. BEALE.

Can the following be strictly reconciled to right sense and lawful form?-

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EASTER AT DUMBLETON, GLOUCESTERSHIRE, forefathers of the hamlet," who carried their IN 1620.-The following notice of certain "rude "rudeness" to such unwarrantable lengths as to

draw down upon themselves a well-merited punishment, is taken from a manuscript record of fines inflicted at Ludlow, preserved in the British Museum :

"Anthony Diston of Dumbleton, yeom', at the suite of Rich. Voile, relat. for sev'all assaults, affrayes, and disturbing a mynister in the church at the comunion upon

ffined £6. 13. 4.

Easterday, and abusing a mynister's wief, with scan- PRESENTS TO CARDINAL WOLSEY.-The followdalous words againste the whole mynistery, and pub-ing document from the Public Records, although lishing a scandalous libell, and other abuses comitted. published in Mr. Brewer's Letters and Papers, &c., of the Reign of Henry VIII., may be of so much interest to many of your readers, whether devoted to antiquarianism or to natural history, that I think you will not be unwilling to let it appear in your columns.

"John Mason, of the same, yom., for publishing the said scandalous libell, and for beastely bragging of his lewd lief, and other abuses, £6. 13. 4."

The Dastons (or Distons) were old residents at Dumbleton, and an Anthony Daston-probably the individual named above-died seised of lands there 12 Charles I. WM. UNDERHILL.

ST. MARY MATFELLON.-Since the rebuilding by Mr. Coope, M.P., of Whitechapel Church so much speculation has arisen as to the meaning of Matfellon that I have ventured in the following memoranda an opinion thereupon.

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On referring to Halliwell's Archaic Dictionary, I find that "matfellon" is "knapweed," which embraces a variety of plants, and, as its name implies, chiefly such as were used by cloth-workers or fullers, so that the plant may be either the one used for dyeing in former times, or more probably the (Anglo-Saxon) tæsel," Dipsacus fullonum or fullers' teasel of naturalists, so called from its being used in dressing cloth, for which purpose the hooked scales of its receptacles are admirably adapted; and Stow tells us "it was largely cultivated near unto Hogge Lane, which cometh from the Bars without Aldgate," and mentions a field or close, "Tasel Close some time, for that there were tassels planted for the use of cloth-workers" (the arms of the City guild of Cloth-workers are three teasels).

With regard to the derivation of the name of the plant "knapweed," or "matfellon," the latter portion of the word is undoubtedly the Latin word fullonum (of the fullers), whilst the former is probably the Latin matta, a mat, a prefix to many names of plants, as mat grass (nardus), &c., from their having been used for various purposes; the matta fullonum being the fullers' mat, or comb made of the teasle.

It is scarcely necessary to observe that the propinquity of the open fields at Whitechapel to the City would cause them to be used by fullers and dressers of cloth. We find in Stow that, in consequence of the increase of cloth-making, Bakewell Hall was establised in the twentieth year of Richard II. for the purpose of a cloth hall, or market, and it was decreed that no foreigner or stranger (not a citizen) should sell any woollen cloth but in the Bakewell Hall, upon pain of forfeiture thereof; and we find also that St. Mary Matfellon (or St. Mary at the Fullers' Fields, as I read it) is mentioned in a record dated 21 Richard II., and we have to-day in the parish of Whitechapel the "Tenter ground," formerly a large field or close which would be used for the stretching and preparing of cloths. EDWARD BAddeley. South Hampstead, N.W.

It refers to "presents made to Cardinal Wolsey from May 21 to June 30, 1529," just about the period of the trial for the divorce of Queen Catharine, and may possibly represent certain special offerings made for the attendants at that high assize; but, if not, it very fully explains the means by which the great prelate maintained the enormous army of nobles, knights, and gentlemen who constituted his household. The "haul" on this occasion seems principally to have been made in our west country, which was the home at that time of most of the persons named, and many of whose descendants still remain here:

Sir

"By my Lord Aldelley (Audley?): 4 kids, 6 herons, 6 shovellers, 6 gulls, 2 wild geese, 4 pheasants. By Abbot of Glastonbury: 4 beeves, 40 muttons. Master Aldelley: 2 salmons, 3 mullets, 3 bass. The The Abbot of Melton (Milton?): 2 beeves, 20 muttons. The Prior of Christchurch: 1 beef, 16 muttons, 4 salmons, 2 pikes, 19 lobsters. The Prior of Bendham (Bindon?): 1 beef, 4 cygnets, 6 gulls. The Abbess of Shaftesbury: 2 beeves, 20 muttons. Sir Giles Strangwies a great horse, a peacock, 40 rabbits, 6 herons, 6 partridges, 2 pheasants. Sir John Horsesaye: 2 beeves, 6 herons, 2 pheasants, 2 dozen quails. Thomas Trenchard: 6 herons, 6 shovellers, 6 cygnets. Sir John Rogers: 4 pheasants, 2 beeves. 6 gulls. Sir Thomas Moore: 1 beef. Sir Edward Willoughby: 15 herons, 5 shovellers. Sir William Woodall: 1 beef, 10 muttons. Master Abery: 1 beef, 10 muttons, 3 herons, 3 shovellers, 2 pikes, 1 salmon. Master Arundel: 2 beeves, 1 nag with saddle, bridle, and harness. Master Cranerde: Lyne: 1 beef. Master Baskett: 1 beef. Master 2 quarters oats. Master Byngham: 2 beeves, 2 dozen pigeons. Master Phillips: 2 kids, 1 peacock, 1 peahen, 1 moorhen, 1 varnakell (bernicle-goose?), 18 rabbits. Master Asheley: 1 beef. The Mayor of Salisbury: of white wine of Angell (Anjou?). The Comptroller of 2 beeves, 20 muttons. The merchants of Poole 1 ton Poole: 1 barrel of salad oil, 8 congers. The Customer of Poole: 1 hogshead of claret. Master Worsley, Searcher of Poole: 7 cygnets, 12 capons, 12 geese, 1ì chickens, 2 gulls. The town of Wareham: 1 hogshead of wine. The Vicar of Caneford: 2 lambs, 4 capons 2 geese." C. W. BINGHAM.

cygnets. Master Lentte: 2 veals, 2 lambs,

Bingham's Melcombe.

DR. DODD'S WIFE.-I have lately been re reading Boswell's Life of Johnson in the cheap and popular edition of Messrs. Routledge & Sons. May I venture to say a word for poor Mary Perkins, or rather Mary Dodd, who is grievously maligned on page 297, in a note? This note records that Dr. Dodd "married a woman of very inferior station and of equivocal character, Mary Perkins, who died mad in 1784." Now, it

is true Mary was only a verger's daughter, and therefore perhaps not quite such a wife as the father of the fifteenth wrangler of 1749 might have desired for his son, though she brought her husband some 1000l. before he died. But it does not follow that, because a girl is of low extraction, she is also "of equivocal character"; and very strong evidence ought to be produced (or at least produceable) before such a statement is hazarded. For it is in these little ways that history is falsified; and though poor Mary died nearly a century ago, one would not wish her defamed. God knows she had enough to suffer in life without the loss of her fair fame after death. Some two years ago I read every Life of Dr. Dodd I could find in the British Museum, and found not a hint to this effect. On the contrary, she was spoken of as an excellent wife, and, but for the disparity of rank, most unexceptionable; and she went mad solely on account of her husband's sad fate. This edition of

Boswell's Life of Johnson being likely to be in the hands of thousands of people, I thought it only fair that her character should be cleared in your much-read serial. Requiescat in pace.

ERATO HILLS.

DRYDEN AND GOLDSMITH.-Perhaps no two passages in Goldsmith's poems have been more admired than his description of the village preacher and the hunted hare; yet the leading idea in each is Dryden's, though Goldsmith, by his exquisite grace and finish, has made it his own. Your readers will judge for themselves. Goldsmith, Deserted Village, 1. 189 :

"As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form

Swells from the vale and midway leaves the storm, Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread, Eternal sunshine settles on its head." Dryden, Address to Lord Clarendon, l. 135 :— "But like some mountain in those happy isles,

Where in perpetual spring young Nature smiles,

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"

Goldsmith, Deserted Village, 1. 93 :—
"And, as a hare, whom hounds and horns pursue,
Pants to the place from whence at first he flew,
I still had hopes, my long vexations past,
Here to return-and die at home at last."
Dryden, Epistle to John Dryden, 1. 62 :—
"The hare in pastures or in plains is found,
Emblem of human life; who runs the round,
And after all his wandering ways are done,
His circle fills and ends where he begun."

FLORENCE EDWARD MACCARTHY. Ampthill Square, N.W.

AN OLD BOOK ON AN OLD CONTROVERSY.-I have in my library an old book, to which I have never yet seen a reference, and, therefore, a note respecting it may be interesting. The title-page is as follows:

Geologia: or, a | Discourse | concerning the | Earth before the Deluge. Wherein | The form and properties ascribed to it, in a Book intituled | The Theory of the Earth, are excepted against: | and it is made to appear, That the Dissolution of that Earth was not the cause of the Universal Flood. | Also a new Explication of that flood is attempted. By Erasmus Warren, Rector siast. iii. 11. Et mundum tradidit Disputationi coram of Worlington, in Suffolk. | Hebrew quotation, | Eccle(sic). | London, | Printed for R. Chiswell, at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Churchyard. MDCXC." The book is about fcap. 4to. in size, and extends to 360 pages. An epitome of the author's arguments would therefore be lengthy. As the book may, however, be unknown to some of the readers bibliography, I shall be happy to lend it, on the N. & Q." who are interested in scientific usual conditions as to safe keeping and a speedy

of

return.

Leigh, Lancashire.

JOSIAH ROSE.

EPITAPHS.-Bideford Churchyard, on Capt. H.
Clark, died April 28, 1836, aged sixty-one :—
"Our worthy Friend, who lies beneath this stone
Was Master of a Vessel all his own,

Houses and Lands had he and Gold in Store,
He spent the whole, and would if ten times more.
For twenty years he scarce slept in a Bed
Linhays and Limekilns lulled his weary Head,
Because he would not to the Poorhouse go,
For his Proud Spirit would not let him to.
The Blackbird's whistling Notes at break of Day
Used to awake him from his Bed of Hay.
Unto the Bridge and Quay he then repaired,
To see what Shipping up the River steered.
Oft in the Week he used to view the Bay,
To see what Ships were coming in from Sea.
To Captain's Wives he brought the welcome News
And to the Relatives of all their Crews.

At last poor Harry Clark was taken ill,

And carried to the Workhouse 'gainst his Will,
But being of this Mortal Life quite tired,
He lived about a Month and then expired."

On an old bachelor at Aberdeen, written by himself :-

"At threescore winters end I died,

A cheerless being sole and sad,

The nuptial knot I never tied,
And wished my father never had."
C. S. JERRAM.

ENGRAVINGS PASTED ON WALLS.-Dipping lately into Boswell's Johnson, I hit upon the following. Johnson and Boswell are dining at Streatham in 1778, and Boswell writes:-"Amongst the numerous prints pasted on the walls of the dining-room at Streatham was Hogarth's Modern Midnight Conversation." What a mode of decorating the dining-room of a handsome country house! for such Thrale's was. Nowadays one would hardly find prints pasted on the walls in a publican's back parlour. Δ.

[We remember that at Dunkeld, in the billiard room of the old house of the last Duke of Athole but one, nearly

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