Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 12.djvu/308

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NOTES AND QUERIES, no s. xn. SEPT, 25, im

share the gentlemen respectively took in the composition is also unknown to me ; I know, however, that Mr. Needham in his early days attempted some verse, but a few years before his death destroyed all that had escaped the ravages of time, so I believe that the piece here given is the only one left. It is supposed to be the utterance of the loving cup that always had high place on the parish banquet table.

THE LAY OF THE LOVING CUP.

To be or not to be ! That 's the question, surely ;

So said Shakspeare.

To dine or not to dine ! Affects digestion purely ;

So says Common Sense.

All Souls (Fools) Day !

2nd November, 1858.

Lamentations ii. ; xi. ; Iviii. (Text and date.)

O, if I 'd a voice and a tongue that could spea I'd moan and I'd groan and send forth

shriek

a wild

The city, the parish, and neighbours should know My pains and the cause why my spirits don't flow. St. Margaret's, to wit, is the place of my strain, Where the " Worthies " all love and would meet

me again. I'm a "Treasure," I'm fast under their lock and

key,

And meant to be seen and of course light to see. Long darkness is blindness, so pity my lot ; My "Guardians" forsake me, I'm sa'dly forgot. I was " Samuel's" good gift, a token to store, A "cup" to bring on when his days were no

more

True soul of all harmony, creating good cheer, And making friends jovial at least once a year. A feast (with Alms-giving) was always well known To wed Junior Church as a Darby to Joan. That each festive board might re-echo the past And hope the good things with good wishes might

last,

Cementing good feeling 'mid men of renown, All brother officials by rota up-grown. Tho' "Local" their power, we find them combine, Mixing " laymen " and " physic," with " law " and

"divine."

All bound up in joy, all good fellowship own, Thus all degrees level equality shown. O, happy the days for full many a year When these guests met to dine, and myself to

appear ;

But now there 's a gloom, there 's a mystery ! hark ! A voice (from myself) comes forth from the dark : " Shall this year be noted ? sad is the day ! What whispers buzz round while tongues boldly

r-, sa. v

The right and the custom of good wine and cup

Is by strangest of fancies to be given up.

The guard room is here, and the iron chest so

strong,

But the Warden is wanting to whom I belong. How comes it that I 'm still left on the shelf Alone in my glory alone to myself? 'Twill soon get reported a sad thing to know- That his neighbours all think him a cup too low. The old rule he 's broken not heeding his lesson, Like the dunce before a bad boy to Sam Pierson.

My grief is now told, it 's now come to pass, For it matters not were I iron, copper, or brass ; None see the gold burnished, or steam round the

brim ;

I'm boxed in a cupboard, sad, lonely, and grim Uncared for, unnoticed no sexton peeps in ; The change is disgraceful, a sorrow, a sin ! So 'tis thought that the Warden has muddled his

brain, And the rumour gains ground that disunion must

reign.

To ' live in one's glass ' is a maxim oft said, But the powers reply, ' Rest apart like the dead ' : All 's changed all is lost all honour has gone. All Souls' Day 's all fools' day ; all 's dull and

forlorn ; All brightness has vanished, the whole thing is

wrong.

No dinner, no merriment, no music or song. Friends ! take up the cause, and the poor and my

grief ;

If need be I prithee vote parish relief ; Or give us good cheer, for your games are all up When they send to oblivion the famous 'Gold

Cup'!

So redress or revenge to the rescue ! I say ; Hughes ought not to use your old cup in this way ; Our hopes all blown up by our new parish guy, A flare-up then make of our guy's effigy."

The allusions to Sam and Sam Pierson recall the donor of the cup, given to commemorate the successful ending of the litigation brought about by placing the famous east window in

rition. The cup bears the date 1764. May, 1906, I printed these lines in The Westminster and Pimlico News, in one of the ' Memories of Westminster ' ( ' A Lawsuit and a Loving Cup') I have at intervals pub- lished in that newspaper. The local press is very seldom an enduring means of keeping anything alive, so I am glad of the hospitality of the columns of ' N. & Q.' to that end.

1 fancy the firm of Cole & Williamson was not in existence in Bridge Street, Westminster, but only came into being when the hatter's business was transferred to Duncannon Street, Charing Cross, or to Cockspur Street. Which was the first transfer, or if the shops were open at one time, I cannot now recollect, but I think two moves were made.

W. E. HARLAND-OXLEY. Westminster.

SAINTE-BEUVE ON CASTOR AND POLLUX (10 S. xi. 309, 392 ; xii. 15). The story which D'Alembert had in mind is told in Cicero's ' De Oratore,' ii. 86, 352. Simonides of Ceos having agreed to write a poem on Scopas, a Thessalian noble, said much in it ornandi causa of Castor and Pollux. On chanting his ode at Scopas' s table he was told by his patron that he would be paid only half the price stipulated, and must apply for the rest to Castor and Pollux.