Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 1.djvu/266

 218

NOTES AND QUERIES. [io* s. i. MARCH 12, wo*.

for the Bannatyne Club; and an excellent repre-

w. s.

ROBIN A BOBBIN (9 th S. xii. 503 ; 10 th S. i. 32, 172).! send you yet another version of this " nomony," evidently from the nursery, and coming from Staffordshire. The last verse was a great excitement, when the double-barrelled guns killed the cock sparrow. The word " pounce " is peculiar.

Let 's go to the woods, said Richard to Robin ;

Let's go to the woods, said Robin to Bobin ;

Let 's go to the woods, said John all alone ;

Let 's go to the woods, said every one.

What shall we do there ? said Richard to Robin, &c.

We'll shoot a cock sparrow, said Richard to

Robin, &c.

Pounce ! Pounce ! said Richard to Robin ; Pounce ! Pounce ! said Robin to Bobin ; Pounce ! Pounce ! said John all alone ; Pounce ! Pounce ! said every one.

J. ASTLEY.

I can remember in the days of my child hood (say in 1838) a variant of this rime in the nursery. It was popularly supposed to have reference to the rapacious nature of Henry VIII. in seizing on Church estates, and a rude engraving in the book depicted a man with an enormous paunch, seated at a well-spread table, holding in his hand a huge carving knife :

Robin a Bobbin, a big-bellied Ben,

He eat more meat than four score men ;

He eat a cow, he eat a calf,

He eat a butcher and a half,

He eat the church, he eat the steeple,

He eat the priest and all the people.

JOHN PICKFORD, M.A. Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge.

RIGHT HON. E. SOUTHWELL (10 th S. i. 8, 56, 158). My note on the question is that the diary referred to is mentioned in Thorpe's ' Catalogue Supplement for 1836,' p. 86, " price Zl. 2s."; that it was purchased by Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bt., and recently sold with the rest of the Thirlestane House Library. Mr. Bertram Dobell, the publisher, was the pur- chaser, and he informed me he did not remember to whom he sold it.

CHARLES S. KING, Bt.

St. Leonard's-on-Sea.

Miss LEWEN AND WESLEY (10 th S. i. 189). References will be found in Tyerman's ' Life of Wesley,' ii. 588 ; in the same author's ' Life of Fletcher ' (" Wesley's Designated Successor"), p. 478; in Wesley's 'Journal,' 20 March and 18 April, 1765, and 31 October,

1766; in Stamp's 'Orphan House,' p. Ill; in Stevens's ' Women of Methodism,' p. 53 ; and the Weslet/an Methodist Magazine for 1845, p. 1166. FRANCIS M. JACKSON.

GENEALOGY : NEW SOURCES (10 th S. i. 187). The collection of wills of seamen amongst the Admiralty records is worth attention in investigating naval pedigrees.

GERALD MARSHALL.

80, Chancery Lane, W.C.

NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.

The English Dialect Dictionary. Edited by Joseph Wright, M.A.-Parts XIX. and XX. R Sharp. XXI.-XXIII. Sharpen $y~.?*ie. (Frowde.) WITH the completion of the fifth volume and that, synchronizing with it, of the letter S, the great and diligently wrought task of Prof. Wright is within sight :of speedy accomplishment. Next year will, according to present calculations, see the entire work in the hands of the subscribers, together with, as we understand, the 'Grammar of Dialect 'and other works included in or supplementary to- the schemes. If, as there seems no reason to doubt, the pledges are redeemed, the rate of pro- gress will, we fancy, be more rapid than has been witnessed in the case of any previous work of equal magnitude. Nominally seven letters have yet to be issued. Half of these are, however, the shortest and least important in the alphabet, and not more than two, at the most, are of average dimensions. We have previously stated that no country in the world possesses the equivalent to Prof. Wright's marvellous dictionary, and we own to doubts whether any country has collections that bring within range of conception as a possible task a work of the kind. The production of the dictionary affords exemplary proof of what may be hoped when the cultivated leisure of academic life is backed up by public spirit and sufficing means. That the energy and outlay expended upon the task will prove remunerative is devoutly to be hoped, since it is little less than atrocious that a work national in significance and importance should remain a tax upon private means. We see, however, few signs of general recognition of the work, since queries which a reference to its pages would immediately answer are constantly sent to us, and appear in less carefully guarded columns.

Succeeding parts of ' The Dialect Dictionary ' baffle the reviewer, since every page and almost every column of the well-nigh two thousand con- stituting the latest instalment contains matter of interest to our readers. We cannot but hold that the collection of dialect words is more important than that of slang expressions. It is in the nature of things that, with the exodus from the country, forms of rural speech will disappear ; while in the case of slang forms, each popularization of scientific appliances will bring a further crop of words. Who, for instance, shall say what additions to slang are not likely to follow the introduction of the motor- car? It is a matter of congratulation that there are those well able to judge of the distinction