Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 10.djvu/257

 10 s. x. SEPT. 12, 1908.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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LONGFELLOW'S ' PSALM OF LIFE.' Wha is the meaning of the third and fourth lines of the first verse of Longfellow's ' Psalm of Life ' ?

Tell me not in mournful numbers Life is but an empty dream ! For the soul is dead that slumbers, And things are not what they seem.

(a) Are lines 3 and 4 a continuation of the " mournful numbers," which the poet is about to controvert ? Do they maintain that life is an empty dream, because the soul will never live again that sleeps in death, and the beautiful appearances of this life are deceptive ? In this case the note of admiration should 'be omitted after " dream."

(6) Do lines 3 and 4 begin the poet's rejoinder, namely, that the soul is as good as dead already which slumbers in such empty dreams, and things in this world are not so evil as they seem ?

Or is there some third interpretation ?

The rest of the poem asserts the fullness and reality of life. M.

WOBTLEY FAMILY OF BABNSLEY. Richard Wortley of Barnsley (son of Samuel Wortley) had five sons, viz. : Edward, baptized in 1687 ; Richard, baptized in 1700, died in 1701 ; Thomas, baptized in 1702 ; and, according to Hunter, Montague and Francis, who were apprenticed as cutlers in Sheffield about 1709 or 1710. Can any of your readers tell me where Edward and Thomas eventually settled, what were their occupations, and the names of their chil- dren ? Did Montagu and Francis continue to live in Sheffield ? What were the names of their children ?

Joseph Wortley was born in 1775. Can any reader inform me with which of the above-mentioned sons he was connected ?

G.

WlLBEBFOBCE AND HUXLEY AT THE

BBITISH ASSOCIATION. Where can I find a full report of the redoubtable encounter which took place between Bishop Samuel Wilberforce and Huxley on the occasion of the meeting of the British Association at Oxford ? W. J. H.

[There is a picturesque account in the Rev. W. Tuckwell's ' Reminiscences of Oxford,' new edition, 1907, pp. 53-7. Is not the report of the Association meeting of 1860 extant in the papers of the day ?J

PBOCLAMATION AGAINST IMMOBALITY. To a stranger attending for the first time the opening of Quarter Sessions the per- functory reading of a lengthy homily in

the name of Edward VII. must appear somewhat strange, until he realizes that it is a historic survival. I shall be glad to know :

1. Where the text of the proclamation may be found.

2. Whether it is used in other courts.

3. Whether it is identical with a somewhat similar proclamation issued at His Majesty's accession.

4. For how long such proclamations have been in use in the courts and on accessions of sovereigns.

5. When, and by whom, the original formula has been from time to time modified, and in what way. Q. V.

LATIN INSCBIPTION IN ITALY. I copied the following inscription in Italy (I think in or near Siena, but I am not sure) :

Jovi hospitali

Sacrum quisquis es dummodo honestus

si forte pessimos fugis propinquos

inimicorum solitaries Succedens domo

quiesce.

Can any reader kindly say where it comes from ? CHABLES SWYNNEBTON.

St. John's, Isle of Man.

COL. STEPKIN AND CAPT. BACKHOUSE, 1648. On searching Seighford (Staffs) Church Register, I came across the following entry : " 1648. Col. Stepkin was shot thro' thole in Seigh Hall door into the Hip by Cap. Backhouse. Aug. 7,

1648. Bur. Seighford, Col. Peter Stepkin, Aug. 7." ! an any of your readers give information

as to Stepkin or Backhouse ?

I may say that the baptisms of Sarah, Elizabeth, Dorothy, Peter, and Thomas, hildren of Capt. Backhouse, are given,

1649, 1651, 1652, 1653, and 1658.

R. SIMMS.

FBENCH COAT OF ABMS. Can any of your readers recognize the coat of arms, presum- ably French, described below ? The arms are embossed on either side of an * Almanach Royal ' for 1787. The volume is hand- jomely bound in red morocco by Chambotte Odril. The back and corners are liberally

Tnamented with the fleur de Us embossed n gold, presumably with reference to the

Almanach ' being " Royal," and not to he coat. This is embossed in gold, without any indication of the tinctures. It consists )f a chevron between two mullets in chief ; n base a sheep passant, and is surmounted >y a coronet, presumably a duke's, save that he leaves, placed where would be the pearls