Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 3.djvu/303

 in. APRIL LIDOS.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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rately melodious in rime-effects. Five stanzas (Xos. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6) are of eighteen lines, rimed ababccdcdeefggf/xx, those in italic being short lines. Three stanzas (Xos. 10, 16, 21) of eighteen lines are a variant of the same form, viz., ababccdcdc?fggfy?/xx ; that is, instead of a third f we have a third d, and instead of an e couplet in the middle, a y couplet penul- timate.

Thirteen stanzas (Nos. 3, 7-9, 11-14, 17-19, 20, 22) are of nineteen lines : ababccdcdeefgg- fy.yxx. Of these, No. 11 is reduced to the norm by reading \vom&nhed in the eighth line. As the present reading womanAoodf rimes to nothing, the emendation is as cer- tain as it is slight.

There remain two abnormal stanzas. No. 15 has only seventeen lines. The interpolation of a tenth line d would assimilate it to the type of Nos. 10, 16, 21. For example : When once the Crab behind his back he sees,

[and down to southward flees:] or [that wounded Hercules.]

The twenty-third stanza (eighteen lines) could be assimilated to the nineteen-liners by the insertion of an antepenultimate y. This is the more desirable, as the penultimate line at present has no matching rime at all. So let us rest, sweet love, in hope of this,

[taking the present bliss,] and cease till then, &c.

H. K. ST. J. S.

JOHN GWYNNETH. The 'D.N.B.,' xxiii. 408, says : "Probably he died before the end of Queen Mary's reign." However, ' The Chro- nicle of St. Monica's, Louvain, 3 edited by Dom Adam Hamilton (London, Sands, 1904), at p. 81, speaking of Jane Vaughan, whose mother was a Tudor of the blood royal, says :

"Her uncle by the mother's side, named Mr. Guinnith, who was a priest and had been curate of a parish church in London in Catholic times [i.e., rector of St. Peter's, Cheapside, 1545 to 1556], could not assist her in all so well as he desired, being a long time kept in prison when heresy came in."

Jane Vaughan, then widow Wiseman, died 1610. JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.

THE WEEPING WILLOW. The distinctive name of this species of willow is in allusion to Ps. cxxxvii. 2, for which reason also Linnaeus gave it the botanic name Salix baby- Ionic^ though it is really a native of China and the Far East. But this derivation from the Psalm is obscured in the Prayer Book ver- sion by the rendering there given, " upon the trees that are therein." This was first adopted by Coverdale (1535) and copied into the Great Bible; but the translators of 1611 restored the word " willow," which is, in fact, used in a

different form in the WycUffite versions. The Septuagint has ITTI rats treats ; the Vulgate "in salicibus" (of course in these the Psalm is numbered cxxxvi.). The Hebrew word is 2.TIV, and I do not think there is any doubt that this means a " willow "; it is so rendered in Isa. xv. 7 and xliv. 4, as well as in a few other places, so that it is difficult to see why Coverdale gave the more indefinite word "tree." W. T. LYNN.

WE must request correspondents desiring in- formation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that the answers may be sent to them direct

AUTHORS AND THEIR FIRST BOOKS. I am anxious to obtain particulars of the adven- tures and misadventures of authors with their first books, and the names of both. Many facts and much fiction surround the subject, and my object is to get at the truth. Any information will be received gratefully. If agreeable, please write direct to

S. J. ADAIR FITZ-GERALD.

9, Brunswick Square, W.C.

[Was there not a series in The Idler on ' Authors and their First Books ' ?]

ST. AYLOTT. There is an ancient house near Saffron Walden, moated, and decorated with much carved work, which has long been known as St. Aylott's. Will some reader inform me whether Aylott is a saint recognized in any calendar 1

I. CHALKLEY GOULD.

DIVING-BELL. Can any of your readers tell me when the diving-bell was first made use of in England or Scotland? I find it employed at Tobermory in Mull, in the year 1665, to attempt to recover treasure from the Spanish vessel lying there at the bottom of the sea. Was this the first occasion of its being used ? JOHN WILLCOCK.

Lerwick.

[The first quotation in the 'N.E.D.' is from Evelyn's 'Diary,' 19 July, 1661: "We tried our Diving-Bell, or Engine, in the water - dock at Deptford."]

WAR MEDALS. I should be glad to hear from your readers the best book on English war medals, &c. I want one thoroughly up to date, and giving all clasps, colours of ribbons, &c. C. J. MITCHELL, Major.

Barracks, Tipperary.

BATTLE-AXE GUARD. Officers in this corps are alluded to in Historical Manuscripts Commission Reports, time of Charles II.