dinners in the county wind up with the toast, "To all friends round the wrekin." There is another Shropshire toast, too, which I have heard: "The Hills of Shropshire-may they be as everlasting as the Shropshire hills." And one day, witnessing a ploughing match at Ellesmere, I heard one rustic urging another to go a little faster with his plough. "Houd thee nize," was the reply; "the ground's as rough as Babby's 'ood gorst." Babin's Wood is a well-known locality in north-east Shropshire, but I never heard that the gorse there was rougher than in other places. A. R. Oswestry.

"He smiles like a bundle of chips" was a very common saying in south-east Cornwall from thirty to forty years ago. The words "under a dog's arm were not unfrequently added to it.

Torquay.

WM. PENGELLY.

THE RHOMBUS AND SCARUS (4th S. vi. 584.)— May I quote Martial in connection with the notice to EBORACUM? In epigram xiii. 80, he says

"Quamvis lata gerat patella Rhombum :
Rhombus latior est tamen patella."

It appears to me that this distichon points clearly to the turbot. The scarus is not so easily identified; it is generally translated char, which delicious little fish (a celestial trout) the Romans probably put into Windermere and Coniston Lake. Char of Windermere I have been fortunate enough to eat at Wordsworth's breakfast table: Vergilium tantum vidi. But the char does not answer at all to Martial's scarus (xiii. 84):

"Hic scarus, æquoreis qui venit obesus ab undis,

Visceribus bonus est, cetera vile sapit."

Pliny (whom I have not at hand) also somewhere mentions the scarus as famed for its liver. Hence it cannot be the char, whose liver is nothing remarkable, while all its flesh is delicious. Could it be the red mullet, the "woodcock of ocean"? MAKROCHEIR.

WULFRUNA (4th S. vii. 13.)—Dugdale (vol. vi. p. 144) gives the date of the foundation of her

monastery 996. Ethelred's sister at that time might have been thirty-two years old. FROOME-SELWOOD.

ST. VALENTINE (4th S. vi. 570.)—A parallel to the line

"Ut moriens viveret, vixit ut moriturus," is to be found in the Testamentum sive præparatio ad Mortem of Cardinal Bona*-a document which contains many noble sentiments eloquently expressed. The words "et cupio antè mortem ma"conclude & ture mori, ne moriar in 'eternum striking paragraph on the fear of death.

West Derby.

JOHN ELIOT HODGKIN.

I have also a chimney-sweep's bill and a bricklayer's bill, still more original and puzzling; but I cannot affirm that either have been actually presented. F. C. H.

LEIGH HUNT'S "LEISURE HOURS IN TOWN" (4th S. vii. 26.)—I have as full an acquaintance with the writings of Leigh Hunt as most people, but I never met with a volume bearing the above title. Probably the volumes on The Old Court Suburb are those wanted by the Cambridge University Union Society. G. J. DE WILDE.

| THE FIVE "THIRD-POINTED" SPIRES (4th S. vii. 35.) The spires inquired after are no doubt the five enumerated in A Handbook of Ecclesiology, published in 1847 by the Ecclesiological Society as the only broach spires of "third-pointed" date. They are S. Peter Stanion, Northamptonshire; S. Alkmund, Shrewsbury; S. Mary, Hartfield, Sussex; All Saints, Kingston; Seymour, Somerset; S. Mary, Brampton, Northamptonshire. To these I can add a sixth, viz. Upton, Huntingdonshire. This is a very curious example, and until examined closely seems to be of much earlier date. When I saw it about a year ago it was in a very dangerous state, the tower below it having given way; but I believe it has since been made safe.

SNAIX.

MACDUFF, THANE OF FIFE (4th S. vi. 276, 369, 447.)-Mary de Monthermer, wife of the eleventh Earl of Fife, was born at Marlborough Castle in 1297, and married in 1307. Joan de Clare was

Opera Antverpiæ, 1677, fol. p. 980.

born about 1265-70, and married before 1299. She was therefore in all probability the wife of the tenth earl. Was she the mother of his successor, or had he more wives than one? The two disinherited daughters of Gilbert, Earl of Gloucester, and Alice de La Marche (of whom Joan was the younger) have never yet, so far as I know, been recognised in any printed work. Their half-sisters, the daughters of Joan of Acres, completely eclipsed them. It would be interesting to ascertain whether they both left issue. HERMENTRUde.

BABIES' BELLS (4th S. vi. 475; vii. 21.) — At the latter of the above references a correspondent asks for the author of these lines:

"What ails my babe, my sweet-faced babe, to cry?
Look, look, what's here! A dainty golden thing:
See how the dancing bells turn round, and ring
To please my bantling!"

They were written by Francis Quarles (born 1592, died 1644), and occur in his Emblems, book ii. No. 8, "Venus and Divine Cupid!"

Quarles deserves to be more generally read. His quaint style, wit, and uncommon turns of thought would make him a favourite, even with those who may not be touched with his deep and practical piety. Although a puritan in his religion, he was a zealous royalist in politics, and having joined the king's party at Oxford, the whole of his property, including his books and MSS., were sequestrated by the parliament. The loss of these last preyed so much upon his spirits as to hasten his death. He was educated at Christ College, Cambridge, and amongst other posts which he successively filled was that of "Chronologer to the City of London." What were the duties of this officer, and is any such now appointed ?

E. V.

[Quarles was appointed Chronologer. at the request of the Earl of Dorset, in 1639. The duties of the office, which had previously been held by Ben Jonson, consisted chiefly in providing pageants for the lord mayor, and the annual salary was 331. 6s. 8d.-equal to about a hundred pounds now.]

I have a picture of Elizabeth Coghill, aged one year, anno 1624. She holds in her hand a "coral" of the usual shape, with gold or gilt mounting and bells. So that J. C. J.'s date is carried back 146 years. HENRY H. GIBBS.

WRONG DATES IN CERTAIN BIOGRAPHIES (4th S. vi. 410; vii. 46, 80.)—It is perhaps scarce worth while to refer to this matter again; but as we have already shown that DR. ROGERS had no grounds for affirming the existence of an error in our edition of the Ettrick Shepherd's works, so we think a few words will show that he had likewise no excuse. He speaks as if the part he laid his hands on contained the Shepherd's autobiography and nothing else of a biographical cha

racter. It contains, however, only the first eight pages of the autobiography, and immediately preceding them the last forty pages of the memoir by Mr. Thomson. So that DR. ROGERS could not have been ignorant of the existence of Mr. Thomson's memoir-and indeed admits that he was not so-but "concluded" that the same statement alone would "likely" be contained in it as in the autobiography. If such grounds as these are to be considered as sufficient justification for writing to "N. & Q." we deeply sympathise with the editor. BLACKIE & SON.

Glasgow.

"THIS EAN NIGHT, THIS EAN NIGHT" (4th S. vi. 503.) The Lyke Wake dirge which appeared in these columns is printed in Sir W. Scott's Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. In the preface to it the following beautiful passage is quoted ou of the Russian Burial Service:

"Hast thou pitied the afflicted, O man? In death shalt thou be pitied. Hast thou consoled the orphan? The orphan will deliver thee. Hast thou clothed the naked? The naked will procure thee protection."Richardson's Anecdotes of Russia.

Sir Walter Scott goes on to say, "The most minute description of the Brig' o' Dread occurs in R. C. G. the legend of Sir Owain," &c.

THE ADVENT HYMN (4th S. vi. 112; vii. 41.)— What combination of sounds goes to make vulgarity? I understand the adjective" vulgar" as applied to a man, a speech, an anecdote, &c., but as applied to a tune I do not, and I never could do. Any air may of course have vulgar associations with it in the minds of particular persons, but how can that make the tune vulgar? I ask this question the rather, because the particular tune in question, poor "Helmsley," which just now appears to have no friends, has always seemed to my unsophisticated ears so singularly appropriate to the words of the Advent Hymn, that it vexes me to hear it sung to any other. Perhaps you will admit one voice in its favour, since there have been so many against it. HERMENTRUDE.

Niebuhr, and it was undoubtedly admiration at the rare union of such powers with vast learning in him, that imposed that "willing bondage" to which so many submitted, but which, as time advanced, required that that wise counsel should be given. Herr Ihne modestly states that, had the life of Arnold, to whose memory he pays a feeling and graceful tribute, been spared, and thus the completion of his History of Rome effected, in all probability he would never have undertaken his present work. It seems to us, however, that had such been, fortunately for all, the case, there would have been still an equal call for Herr Ihne's labour, our stock of knowledge receiving daily such vast accessions-the result of research that appears to grow more vigorous the more it is pursued as to render necessary the continued rewriting of history under "the light of present historical science." Commencing from the regal period, our author has carried on his history, in the present volumes, to the end of the second Punic war-the period embraced by Arnold -and proves himself no mean possessor of our idiom, for his volumes are not a mere translation from the German, but have been rewritten by him in English.

Spanish Towns and Spanish Pictures. By Mrs. W. A· Tollemache. (Hayes.)

Though the object of Mrs. Tollemache's visit to Spain appears to have been the study of Spanish Art, on which we have a good deal of pleasant gossip in the work before us, the book contains numerous fragments of English, Spanish, and legendary history, which give variety and additional interest to it. As owing to the state of the Continent and the recent changes in Spain, travellers are likely to direct their steps in that direction during the next migration of wandering Englishmen and Englishwomen, we commend the book before us to all such, not as a substitute for, but as a companion to, Ford's admirable Handbook.

Elementary Treatise on Natural Philosophy. By Professor A. Privat Deschanel, of Paris. Translated and edited, with Extensive Additions, by Professor Everett, D.C.L., of Belfast. In Four Parts. Part I. Mechanics, Hydrostatics, and Pneumatics. Illustrated by numerous Engravings. (Blackie.)

The important position which physical science has now taken in public education has induced the publishers of the work before us, which, soon after the publication by Professor Deschanel, was adopted by the Minister of Instruction in France as the text-book for government schools, to invite Professor Everett to produce an English edition of it-and he tells us, that he was only induced to do so after finding it was better adapted to the requirements of his class than any similar treatise with which he was acquainted. But it is not a mere translation; it has received many and very important additions at the hands of the translator.

"LIVES OF THE POETS LAUREATE OF ENGLAND" is the title of a work reported to be in course of preparation by the Hon. Mrs. Norton.

ROCHESTER CASTLE.-The corporation of Rochester, having secured from the Earl of Jersey a lease of Rochester Castle and grounds, are about to expend 2,000l. or more in laying out the latter, thereby effecting a great public improvement. This scheme will doubtless commend itself to all antiquaries, as tending to preserve the noblest castle keep in England.

THE LATE CHARLES DICKENS.-Messrs. Chapman & Hall, it is understood, have become the proprietors of the entire series of copyrights of the works of Mr. Dickens. A bust of the late novelist has just been completed by Mr. W. F. Woodington.

LORD PALMERSTON'S VISITS TO PARIS IN 1814 AND 1815.-The Diary kept by Lord Palmerston on these visits will, it is said, form a separate publication, it being found too long for insertion, as originally intended, in The Temple Bar Magazine.

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"How WE BROUGHT THE GOOD NEWS TO GHENT." There is no historical foundation for this poem. "N. & Q." 3rd S. i. 136.

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S. W. T. will find a note on the word" High-faluten" at p. 478 of our last volume.

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