stones put in by Mr Heryot and the workmanshipp may be valued by two persons of judgement in commodities of this nature indifferently chosen betwixt vs, & what they shall value them at I will willingly yeeld vnto, and make good payment. To this proposition I finde the Executors loth to give their assent, not because they hold it not reasonable, but because they say they are persons trusted for the disposing of the money set downe by Mr Heryot to charitable vses in the Citye of Edenburgh; and so cannot yeeld to an abatement without the consent of the Citizens of that place. Which consent, that it may the more easily be obtained, I entreat you to represent vnto them the justnes of my offer; which I doubt not but they will so well approve as that, by their assent, a friendly and speedy end may be made betwixt V8. This I desire out of the love I beare to that noble Citye of my Countrey: for whose sake I will rather buy that I haue bespoken (and haue bene thus long without) at a deare rate (so it be not too deare) then enter into any contestacion about it. So, committing the whole busynes to your approued care and discretion, and entreating that, so soone as conveniently may be, I may heare from you and receive your answere, I commit you to Gods protection and rest euer

"Cheswicke, 20 Novembr

1624.

Yor assured loving freind,
R. SOMERSET.

"To my much respected Freind Mr John Hay, Commissioner for the Citye of Edenburgh, these be."

How this controversy was settled has not been ascertained.

J. M.

columns of "N. & Q.," it may not be thought amiss to find a corner for the literal reproduction of the "elegiac broadside" alluded to in "N. &Q." for January 15.

H. F. T.

They thought too long deferr'd, fly from the throats
Of Brandy Drinkers, in sky-scaling Notes.
The Stomach this debauches, and does spoyl
By roasting that, that should but gently boyl.
The Vital spirits this contaminates
And Moysture radical irradicates.

They need no Tombs, whom this fierce Venim Kills,
Their Monuments are in the mortal Bills.
Who wisely leave it, having Known it well,
Say Brandy is the Halfe-way-House to Hell.
Who with this mortal Drink dead drunk have been
Before they went from hence, had Hell within.
Who would himself, his Friends and God forget,
Let him drink thee till he begins to sweat.
Who writes in praise of thee, when his hand's in
Shall write a Poem in the praise of Sin:
Yea if he will be so extreamly evil,

His next shall be Encomions of the Devil.
What say you now, you that can praise and relish
The loathsome nature of a drink so Hellish ?
Do you to this warm plague your selves inure
That you Hell's Flames the better may endure?
Let Walbrook warn you and [another house]
Where lately some sad mortals did Carouse.
Brandy, and Death, with many many more
That might be reckon'd on this fatal score.
O therefore leave betimes, and never think
To overcome such overcoming Drink.
Ther's Death it'h Pot, tempt him not out, let those
That slight their timely cautions, mind this close:
Drink on bold Brandy Homicides, drink on
Till your Health, Wealth, Repute and Lives are gone."

"COCKER'S FAREWEL TO BRANDY.
"Begon, thou Soul-confounding Drink, begon
Mixt with Cocycus, Stix, and Acheron.
Infernal Juice, thy cursed Nature's such
As none can safely drink thee, but the Dutch.
The damned Villain, that with murth'ring Knife
Would kill his Parents, Children, and his Wife,
Let him drink thee; thou can'st inflame his heart,
And make him to the life act Pluto's part.
This cynerates the heart, consumes the brains,
And runs like wild-fire through the burning Veins.
Where lives so wise a mortal as can tell
How many men have drank their Souls to Hell
With this accursed drink? whos'e drunk with this,
Endangers losing of Eternal Bliss.

This damned Liquor hath been drunk by some
Till hellish Flames out of their mouthes have come.
He that with Brandy fills his wretched Pate,
All Crimes, all Villanies may perpetrate.
Soul-sinking Oaths, most horrid Imprecations
And Curses, such as if their own Damnations

Postscript.

"Here lyes one dead, by Brandy's mighty Power, Who the last quarter of the last flown hour, As to his Health and Strength, was sound and well, Repentance had no room, and who can tell Whether his Soul be gone to Heaven or Hell?" "London: Printed for R. P. 1675."

I possess the Bible and Prayer-Book of the famous antiquary Humphrey Wanley, the former of the edition printed by Robert Barker (London, 1634, 8vo), and the latter of the date 1635, printed by the same printer. They are bound together, the margins carefully ruled with red ink, and are beautiful copies of those editions. On the back of the title-page of the New Testament Humphrey has entered in his peculiarly neat handwriting the following notices and dates relating to the members of his family; and as some of them were apparently unknown to his biographers, I have thought it desirable to preserve them in "N. & Q." I give them in order as they occur:—

In The Times' review (January 15) of Sir Alexander Cockburn's work on "Nationality," the critic laments, on the score of economy of pen and ink, the change from an old custom by which the learned judge would have been called "Lord Cockburn." What single authority has he for saying that such a custom ever existed? Certainly it does not appear once all through the State Trials, either in the case of "chiefs" or "puisnes." Whether he means that it used to extend to the former only or to all the judges alike, as on the Scotch bench to-day (though there the adoption of the family name is the exception and not the rule), I do not know. I cannot help thinking, however, that the reviewer is substituting "logic falsely so-called" for memory, and assuming that because the word "Lord" stands first in the title the words "Chief Justice" may, in common parlance, be reasonably omitted, in the same way as in conversation (loosely and improperly) one sometimes hears Lord A. B. and Lady C. D. called Lord B. and Lady D. respectively.

"6

If this is his notion, I venture to remind him signifies a title pertaining to the peerage) simply that "Lord" (with the one exception where it implies supremacy over certain others who stand in intimate relationship towards the person so designated. So, beginning with Divinity, Johnson gives instances of its application to all sorts of ranks and classes: to "a ruler" (Milton, Dryden), "a master" (Shakspeare), " an oppressive tyrant' (Hayward), "a husband" (Pope), one at the head of any business" (Tusser). Accordingly, the Mayor of London, as chief of all the mayors of England, is "the Lord Mayor"; the lord of a manor" is the head of his manor, receiving homage from his tenants; the "lord mesne is the owner of a manor, who, holding under a lord paramount, yet has freehold tenants under him. And, to revert to the judicial bench, while every puisne judge, addressing himself to the bar, refers to his chief as "my Lord," the bar itself properly gives the same style and dignity to all the judges alike as "lords" in relation to it. It would surely be as absurd to speak of the First Lord of the Treasury as "Lord Gladstone," or of a Lord Chancellor, before his patent of peerage is made out,

99

as

"Lord Smith," or the Lord Bishop (overseer) of London as "Lord Jackson," as of the Lord Chief Justice of England (his proper-title by the by) as "Lord" this or that. The truth is, in fact, that it is the word "chief" which is superfluous and redundant-a discovery which modern progress has acted upon by dispensing with it in the cases of the judges of the supreme court in Chancery. It is not often that The Times makes such gross blunders. R. C. L.

"Blue books or public reports and commissions being rather voluminous and tedious to wade through, I have thought it desirable to put my readers in possession of the ing into effect the directions of the Crown relating to the authority under which the Commissioners acted for carryInventories of Church Goods. I have therefore given in full, from the Seventh Report, copies of two of the commissions found upon the Patent Rolls (together with an extract from one of the originals remaining in the Exchequer). These instruments will show the objects and powers of the Commissioners, and thus serve as a guide to the kind of information which is to be expected from the Inventories."

STATUES ON EASTER ISLAND.-The Builder has been lately drawing attention to these remarkable productions, two of which have found their way into the British Museum. From a paper read before the Geographical Society by Mr. J. L. Palmer, R.N., of H.M.'s ship Topaz, it appears that, situate in the Pacific, this island-the inhabitants of which, 900 in number, have a tradition of their immigration from Opara-is 2000 miles distant from the coast of S. America and 1000 from the nearest Polynesian islands to the west. Curiosity is naturally excited as to who sculptured the images now existing in various parts of the island. Mr. Palmer states that the inhabitants are utterly ignorant in the matter, but gives his opinion that they are probably the production of a race long since passed away. In The Builder for Jan. 1 is an excellent view "of part of the island with its growth of statues... 20 ft., 30 ft., and, in at least one case, 50 ft. high, some of them standing on long platforms of Cyclopean masonry." Interest in the discovery is considerably heightened when we are told that the crowns, formed from the red tufa yielded by the craters, are sometimes 6 ft. high and 5 ft. in diameter, and that they must have been placed on the statues after their erection. H. F. T.

+

SUTHERLAND PEERAGE CASE, 1771.-Sir David Dalrymple, Lord Hailes, having drawn up the celebrated" Additional case of Elizabeth, claiming the title and dignity of Countess of Sutherland," presented to the House of Lords by her guardians-she being one of them-I found the other day, among other papers, a copy of an interesting letter from him to the equally celebrated Dr. Blair, and thinking that such is worthy of being preserved in the columns of "N. & Q.," I beg to subjoin the same :—

"Newhailes, 10 Ápl. 1789.

#

"Reverend Sir, I am glad that it happens to lie in my power to satisfy Pr. D. Stewart's curiosity. I send a copy of the Sutherland case, of which I beg his accept

ance.

"That tract has become rare through a singular accident, a great number of copies for the use of the Lords of Parliament was transmitted to London by sea, and was lost in the passage. This required a fresh supply from Scotland. Not long ago I saw a copy in a sale catalogue of books, but so high-priced that I had not the courage to come up to the price of a tract of my own.

"Prof. Stewart will observe that having little time allowed me, I began with the fifth chapter, which contains the proof of my propositions, and that fifth chapter was printed before the rest of the tract was written. Should Pr. S. think it worth his labour, I am willing to trust him with my own copy, which contains some marginal notes, but this must be under condition that he transcribe them and communicate them to no one else.

"I have incidentally met with many illustrations of my hypothesis, serving to confirm it, and I have never met with anything to confute it, yet I am apt to believe that on the whole I have gained few proselytes. The Court which gave judgment in favour of the Countess of Sutherland went upon little collateral circumstances. I ever am, with great esteem,

"Dr Sir,

"Yours, &c. "(Signed) DAY. DALRYMPLE."

This remarkable peerage case of successors was opposed by Sir Robert Gordon of Gordonstoun, who claimed to be the Earl of Sutherland. His "brief for counsel" is now rather scarce; indeed, more so than that of the "additional case." THOMAS GEORGE STEVENSON.

Edinburgh.

THE PEEL CASTLE SEAL.-In a work on the Currency of the Isle of Man by Dr. Clay of Manchester, printed for the Manx Society in the seventeenth volume of their publications (1869, pp. 105-6) is a description of a so-called seal, which he looks upon as a great rarity, and of which a photograph is given. Dr. Clay says: 66 I believe it to be a seal, but after many inquiries I can learn nothing about it or any similar pieces."

This is not a seal, but one of the medals struck on the occasion of a fancy fair held in Peel Castle in 1859 to raise a fund in order to preserve those ruins from further decay, and of which a very great number were sold. If Dr. Clay had applied to the High Bailiff of Peel with a photo of his

seal he would at once have learned the history of it, and so avoided the mistake he has fallen into. A writer in one of the insular papers has noticed this; but, as the correction contained therein may not meet the eye of English numismatists, it is worthy of a note that collectors may not be misled by the description in Dr. Clay's work. WILLIAM HARRISON.

Rock Mount, Isle of Man.

"OTIUM CUM DIGNITATE."-I do not know whether any one has inquired for the origin of this hackneyed expression, but I confess that it is only lately that I have been able to discover the source from which it is taken; and as some of your readers may be equally ignorant as I was, I give the sentence from Cicero (Pro P. Sext. c. 45) where it is found: "Id quod est præstantissimum, maximeque optabile omnibus sanis et bonis et beatis, cum dignitate otium"; and if the passage is referred to, it will be seen that Cicero dwells on the idea at some length. The only English writer whom I recollect to have embodied the idea is Goldsmith in his Deserted Village (1. 99), but possibly others may be shown to have done so :

5.

19,677.

""

6. MS. Ee. 4. 31 in Univ. Libr. Cambridge. 7. MS. R. 4. 26, Trin. Coll. Libr. Cambridge.

8. MS. Digby, 205, Bodleian Libr. Oxford.

9. MS. 2014, Pepysian Libr. Magd. Coll. Cambridge. 10. MS. S. 3. 41, Hunterian Museum, Glasgow. 11. MS. in the Heralds' College.

12. MS. 259 in Lord Mostyn's Library.

13. A transcript of 6 in the Bodleian Libr. among the Rawlinson MSS.

14. A transcript of 11 in the Pepysian Library.

Mr. Keck's MS., referred to in the Rawlinson Letters, was a copy of 8 (see Hearne's preface

to Robert of Gloucester, p. x.) In a letter from John Anstis to Hearne (Rawlinson MSS. 19, 34), dated Nov. 24, 1715, another MS. is mentioned as being in the Inner Temple Library, but I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Martin, the librarian, for the information that this is a mistake. There are, however, two MSS. which I have been unable to trace. One of these was formerly in the possession of John Stow the antiquary, and is mentioned by Camden in his Remaines (ed. 1605) in the chapter on Surnames. I suppose this MS. to be the same with that quoted in the first chapter of the same work as it appears in later editions. The other MS. was formerly in the possession of Thomas Allen, of Gloucester Hall, and was lost sight of in Hearne's time. (See his Pref. p. lxxii-lxxiv.) It is quoted by Selden in his History of Tythes, p. 206, ed. 1618, and passages from it are given in Hearne's Appendix, pp. 610, 611, from some notes in a dern hand Mr. Bond has identified with Selden's. "modern hand in the Cotton MS. This 66

22

mo

99

I shall be glad to be informed whether these two or any other MSS. of Robert of Gloucester are to be found in any private collections. Selden, except in the instance referred to, always quotes from the Cotton MS.; Weever (Anc. Fun. Mon. passim) invariably uses the MS. in the Heralds' College; and Wood (Hist. and Ant. of Oxford, ed. Gutch, i. 264) quotes the Cotton MS. These which any original quotations from the poem are are the only authors, so far as I am aware, in to be found before it was printed by Hearne. WILLIAM ALDIS WRIGHT.

ALI, DEY.-Who was this officer, whose name appears as a lieutenant in the Army Lists for 1804-5 in the 85th foot, then serving in Jamaica? It is, I believe, the only instance of the title "Dey" occurring in the lists of the British army ENQUIRER.

or navy.

EARLY ALTO-RILIEVO. I have recently met with a small alto-rilievo panel in plaister, representing on one side a carpenter working at a table, over which are hung compasses and other instruments of his trade; and on the other, a female seated beneath a curtain, and holding a scroll in her hand. Between them is a child, apparently also engaged in carpenter's work, and over him an angel, addressing himself to the man. The presence of the child would seem to exclude the probability of its depicting an angelic visitation to Joseph, even if there were anything to connect it with the idea of a dream. Is there any scriptural or ecclesiastical legend which it may be supposed to represent? I may add that, notwithstanding its perishable material, it bears the marks of some antiquity. C. W. BINGHAM.