Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 3.djvu/63

 io*s. m. JAX. 2i, was.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

47

This volume was published nearly a century after Bradford's death, which occurred in 1555, in the reign of Queen Mary. As Foxe and Fuller are not mentioned by the learned editor of the above-quoted ' Biographical Notice,' I conclude that the story is not found in their pages. JOHN T. CURRY.

EXTRAORDINARY TIDE IN THE THAMES. I hope you will find room in your valuable paper for the subjoined paragraph from The Times of 9 January, in which is recorded the phenomenal tide in the Thames on Saturday, the 7th inst. :

"An extraordinary tide was seen in the Thames on Saturday afternoon. It should not have been high water at Putney Bridge until about a quarter to four, but the river bed was full at midday. Moreover, although there was a partial ebb and flow twice, there was practically no diminution of the quantity of water up to the usual time for the ebb according to the tide table. This is an occurrence which has not previously happened in living memory above London Bridge, although there is a record of a multiple ebb and flow at Wapping Old Stairs. At half past one the tide was a foot higher than any spring tide in recent years. Shortly after this the water began to recede towards the sea, and flowed in that direction for about half an hour. Then the tide again turned, and it was feared that the water would overflow the banks of the river. The tide rose slightly higher, but at a quarter past three the ebb set in, and the water rapidly went eastward. Though at one time grave apprehension was felt lest the banks should be submerged, the water fortunately lowered about the usual hour, and no damage appears to have been done."

W. J. M.

ROBERT BLOOMFIELD. At 9 th S. xii. 364 I was allowed to insert a short note concerning Bloomfield's grave and certain portraits of the poet which were sold after his death. I am able now to report the erection of a memorial tablet on the house at Shefford, Bedfordshire, in which Bloomfield died. It was unveiled by the donor, Miss Constance Isherwood, daughter of theRev.Richardlsher- wood, rector of Meppershall, on 4 May, 1904, and a full account of the proceedings appeared in The Bedfordshire Times of 6 May. The tablet bears the following inscription :

"Robert Bloomfield, Pastoral Poet, died here August 19, 1823. Erected by Constance Isherwood, Meppershall Rectory, 1904."

The tablet was placed on the house by permission of the present owner, Mr. A. Barker.

It appears that a contemporary portrait of Bloomfield is located at Shefford. From the descriptive report of the unveiling of the memorial tablet in The Bedfordshire Times I copy the following paragraph :

"Before the ceremony begins we have time to stroll about the wide clean street of this quaint yet

smart little town, and attention is soon arrested by a portrait of Bloomfield in the shop window of Mr. Alfred Thomas Inskip, the watchmaker. Without more ado we wait upon Mr. Inskip, and learn from him that his grandfather was on very friendly terms with the poet. Indeed, their intimacy continues, for they lie side by side in the churchyard. The portrait is a mezzotint, and on the back of it are these words, in the writing of Thomas Inskip the grandfather : ' Mr. Bloomfield himself told me that the most correct likeness of him ever painted was done by Peele & Son to the proprietor of The Mammoth. He painted it whilst resident in England and took it away with him to America, after promising it to the author. It is now hanging in the museum at Philadelphia.' Whether we are to infer that this mezzotint is a copy of the painting is an open question, but it has the appearance of being a good portrait."

JOHN T. PAGE. West Haddon, Northamptonshire.

" GUTTA CAVAT LAPIDEM NON VI SED S.EPE

CADENDO." In ' Polydori Vergilii Adagiorum Opus,' Basilese, 1550, p. 369, Xo. 464, is the following :

Lapides excayant aquse.

Job. cap. xiiii. proverbiali figura dicit, Lapides excavant aquas. Res mira, ut durities lapidis emol- liatur aqua : id tamen gutta facit, non bis, sed stepe cadendo.

It would appear that Polydore Vergil had the proverb in his mind when he wrote the above ; but "non bis" in place of " non vi " is interesting. It is, perhaps, only an accident that the words "durities " to " cadendo " read somewhat like a pentameter and a hexameter, although, if so taken, there would be several false quantities. Concerning the proverb see 5 th S. viii. 513, where are early examples, illustrations, and many references to former notes. ROBERT PIERPOINT.

MARVELL'S POEMS AND SATIRES. A new edition of these has recently appeared, which is said to contain "some long passages and many important new readings from manu- scripts acquired by the British Museum " ; there is nothing whatever to indicate where in the volume these are to be found, though my object in writing this note is not to complain of this omission, but to protest against the perpetuation of a stupid emendation in the lines on ' Paradise Lost,' which is said to be due to Capel Lofft. Marvell, it will be remembered, has been decrying the allure- ments of " tinkling rhyme," and continues : I too, transported by the mode, offend, And while I meant to praise thee, must commend.

One would have supposed that the meaning of those lines was sufficiently clear, but, for some inscrutable reason, Lofft, who has been followed by Mr. Aitken (in the first issue only of his volumes) and the editor of this