Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 12.djvu/325

 10 s. xii. OCT. 2, 1909.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

265

historical references to the Serchio were collected by Sebastiario Donati, and published in Lucca in U84 by F. Bonsignori.

"Moreover, the present name of the Serchio is extremely old, and spoken of by Dante in his
 * Inferno,' Canto XXI. 1. 49, thus :

Qui si nuota altrimenti che nel Serchio.

[Here they swim otherwise than in the Serchio.]"

The Esare lately translated letters of mine from The Athenceum and other English journals ; hence my desire to know its signification. WILLIAM MERCER.

SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS : THEIR DEDICA- TION. There seems to be a similarity between the two dedications mentioned below, which may perhaps bear indirectly upon the personality of the mysterious " W. H."

Shakespeare's Sonnets were published in 1609 ; and in 1610 was published a transla- tion into English of St. Augustine's ' De Civitate Dei,' by J. H.

The Sonnets were dedicated to " Mr. W. H.," identified by many as William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke ; and the ' Civitate Dei ' was dedicated to " Lord William, Earl of Pembroke."

The dedication of the Sonnets was signed " T. T.," held to mean Thomas Thorpe ; and the ' Civitate Dei ' dedication is signed " Th: Th:" which could certainly stand for Thomas Thorpe. See 'The City of God,' by St. Augustine, translated by J. H., edited by W. B., published by Griffith, p. viii.

D. J.

" QUEM DEITS VULT PERDERE PRIUS DEMENTAT." In ' A Short History of the Hindostan Emperors of the Moghol Race, beginning with Temur,' which is the first part of ' The History of Nadir Shah, formerly called Thamas Kuli Khan,' by James Fraser, 1742, is an account of what was said at the interview in November, 1720, by the Emperor Nasr o'din Mahommed Shah and the defeated rebel Abdallah Khan. In the course of question and retort Abdallah says :

" Had Providence permitted us [i.e., himself and Hossan Ali Khan] to have been so prudent hitherto, we should not have come to this tragical End. But when Fate destines one to Ruin, it begins by blind- ing the Eyes of his Understanding." Pp. 57, 58.

This ' Abstract of the Moghol History ' is, according to the preface, " extracted from the 6th Vol. of Tarikh Rozit al Suffa Vakeat Babri, Ma<?ir Jehanguiry, Pad- shanama, and Tarikh Alumguiri, &c." These books are described in ' A Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Persic, Arabic, and

Sanskerrit languages. Collected in the Ea^t by James Fraser,' at the end of Fraser 's- ' History.'

Dr. Ramage in his ' Beautiful Thoughts- from Greek Authors,' 2nd ed., 1873, p. 554, concerning 0eos /xey air lav vt fiporoiSr &c., writes :

"In the story of the Christian Broker (' Arabian- Nights ') we have : When God willeth an event to befall a man,

who is endowed with reason, and hearing, and

sight, He deafeneth his ears, and blindeth his heart,

and draweth his reason from him as a hair, Till, having fulfilled His purpose against him, He

restoreth him his reason that he may be ad- monished."

See Lane's translation, new edition, 1859 y vol. i. p. 307. ROBERT PIERPOINT.

["Quern Deus" has been much discussed in ' N. & Q.' See the many references mentioned at 9 S. xii. 387.]

" NAKED CAME I OUT OF MY MOTHER'S WOMB." In the 'Short History of the Hindostan Emperors of the Moghol Race ' mentioned above, is a copy, p. 36 et seq., of the will of the Emperor Auringzebe (Mohy o'din Mahommed Auringzebe), in which aro the following :

"I came empty-handed into the World, and empty-handed 1 quit it."

"I came naked into the World, and naked I go out. Let no Ensigns or Royal Pomp accompany my Funeral ; let Hamid o'din Khan, who is faith- ful and trusty, convey my Corps to the Place of Shah Zen al din, and make a Tomb for it, in the sam manner as is done for the Derveishes." That is, the tomb was to be low and plain, without any manner of ornament.

ROBERT PIERPOINT.

COWPER : PRONUNCIATION OF HIS NAME. (See ante, p. 145.) In all probability Lowell's reference was to the answer given to the riddle on the Kiss, which Cowper published in The Gentleman's Magazine, vol. Ixxvi. The poet's readers will remember that this little jeu d' 'esprit begins : I am just two and two, I am warm, I am cold, And the parent of numbers that cannot be told. A solution of the conundrum, signed " J. T.," was published in a subsequent issue of the magazine, and ran as follows : A riddle by Cowper Made me swear like a trooper ; But my anger, alas ! was in vain ; For, remembering the bliss Of beauty's soft Kiss, 1 now long for such riddles again. It would appear that this interpretation camo in course of time to be thought Cowper's own, and to be considered sufficient evidence