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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. vn. A, 6, 1907.

the last surviving of John Hurt's apprentices as a bootmaker, John Frain, died at Ply- mouth on 3 March, only a few days before attaining the age of ninety. He was about five months older than myself, I having been born in August, 1817 ; and he and I, who were friends from boyhood to the end, were the only ones left who knew " Swiftsure " Burt (as his first employer was always locally called), and heard his memories of Nelson and the Nile. R. BOBBINS.

" TlBE LE BIDEAU, LA FARCE EST JOUEE."

Of this saying, attributed to Rabelais on his death-bed, the following contains a plagiarism or a parallel : Since all our lives long we travel towards Death, Let us rest us sometimes, and bait by the way, 'Tis but dying at last ; in our Race let us stay,

And we shan't be so soon out of breath. Sit the Comedy out, and that done, When the Play's at an end, let the Curtain fall down.

' The Whim,' ' Poems and Songs by Thomas

Flatmari,' fourth ed., 1686, p. 131. For " Tire le rideau," &c., see 9 S. xi. 72, s.v. " Le grand peut-etre."

ROBERT PIERPOINT.

LEONARD Cox. The subjoined extract confirms the statement of the old chronicle given at 10 S. ii. 65 :

" 1520. In vigilia Sancte Gertrudis [16 March] ple- banus Leutschoviensis, Magister Joannes Henckel, una cum toto consulate susceperunt in rectorem schole egregium virum Leonhardum Koxum de Angha, poetam Laureatum, quern eodem die, quo supra, plebanus instituit, sen installavit in pre- sentia omnium fere dominorum de consulatu, qui

conduxerunt eum ad scholas in stubam maiorem, ubi per duos annos [remansit?] minus uno quartali. Kecessit enim Leutschovia MDXXI. ad festum

bancte Lucie [13 Dec.] et suscepit scholas Cas- sovie. C. Wagner, ' Analecta Scepusi,' ii. 140.

L. L. K.

LAWYERS' WILLS. It seems that it is no new thing for a lawyer's will to be badly drawn, as Mark Cottle, Registrar of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, left out the date of execution, and an affidavit was filed to that effect. Proved 1482 P.C.C. 54 Cottle. , GERALD FOTHERGILL.

11, Brussels Road, New Wandsworth, S.W.

BUTTON AND SEAMAN FAMILIES. (See >. vii. 408, 513 ; viii. 67.) The additional Dutton Seaman mentioned by H. C. at the second reference makes four Seamans in succession bearing for Christian name that of Button. I find in Cal. S. Papers Dom a petition of Sir R. Grosvenor to the Council with a complaint against Thomas Seaman an attorney, evidently the same referred to

by H. C. as of Bow Lane in 1627. The petitioner and other names mentioned in the petition point to a Cheshire connexion on the part of Thomas Seaman. In 1785 Richard Seaman, of St. Mary Le Bow, married ; he died in 1824, the last of the family. R. J. FYTSTMORE.

Sandgate.

DANTE AND ARCHITECTURE. The Rev. J. F. Hogan, D.D., of Maynooth, in a paper read by him at a meeting of the London Dante Society some time ago, referred to Dante's treatment of the fine arts, and asserted that there was virtually no reference in the ' Divina Commedia ' either to archi- tecture or architects. The words " capital," " column," " architrave," said Dr. Hogan, do not occur in it from beginning to end. There is no descriptive reference to the Parthenon, the Coliseum, or the Forum St. John Lateran or St. Peter's. The churches of Santa Maria Novella at Florence, the Duomo at Siena, the Frari at Venice, the cathedral of Orvieto, the Spina at Pisa, and S. Maria sopra Minerva at Rome were all founded in Dante's time and yet there is no reference to these buildings or their designers. Dr. Hogan's explanation of this omission was that the architects were pro- bably Guelfs, and that Dante, having no knowledge of architecture, did not care to venture beyond his depth. Only once does he mention an architectural feature, when he compares the humbled souls of the proud in the ' Purgatory ' to caryatides.

If Father Hogan had consulted Toynbee's ' Dante Dictionary,' he would have found that several public buildings and places in Florence are mentioned or alluded to by Dante, namely :

"The Baptistery, San Gioranni, 'Inf.' xix. 17; Vantico Battitteo, 'Par.' xv. 134; il Batt-ixta, 'Par.' xvi. 47; the church of San Miniato, 'Purg.' xii. 101-2; the old wall (ot 1078) and Badia, 'Par.' xv.

40, 94; the Porta Peruzza, 'Par.' xvi. 126; the Porso, 'Par.' xvi. 40-2; the Mercato Vecchio, 'Par.' xvi. 121; the Borgo Sant' Apostolo, 'Par.' xvi. 134." Toynbee, p. 241.

JOHN HEBB.

" THE PEDLARS' REST." Under the above leading I notice a short paragraph (with photograph) in The Birmingham Weekly Post of 16 March :

" Outside a little hostel at Lap worth, known as

he ' Boot ' Inn, there is a small wooden structure

ailed the Pedlars' Rest. This kind of counter was

at one time to be found before most inns where