Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 7.djvu/554

 458

NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. vii. JUNE s, 1907.

becasses ! ' ' Toujours la reine ! ' repondit le roi, et 1'interdit fut leve'des deux cotes."

According to another correspondent, the king was Henri IV., and the birds were partridges ; and he adds that Biichmann ('Gefliigelte Worte,' Berlin, 1895, p. 411) believes the proverb to be of Spanish origin : " Cansa de comer per dices."

In all probability the story is a very ancient jest. M. P.

' ROCK OF AGES ' : GLADSTONE'S LATIN VERSION (10 S. vii. 369). There is no doubt that the authorized version of this transla- tion is that which is copied on the memorial tablet in Hawarden Church. It was thus written in 1848, and published in the joint volume of translations by Gladstone and Lord Lyttelton in 1861 (see 8 S. ii. 463). The same version was set to music by Dr. J. F. Bridge for the Brimingham Festival of 1885, with Gladstone's permission, to whom, " with his permission," it was also inscribed by the composer. I had the honour of singing in the chorus when it was first presented to a London audience by Dr. McNaught on 10 April, 1886.

JOHN T. PAGE. Long Itchington, Warwickshire.

' Translations by Lord Lyttelton and the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone,' published in 1861 by Bernard Quaritch, contains at pp. 143, 145, Gladstone's Latin version of Toplady's ' Rock of Ages.' The last line of the second stanza is " Salva me, Salvator unus ! " This translation is dated 1848. The majority of the translations are by Gladstone, and I should suppose the proof- sheets were examined and approved by that distinguished scholar before publication, and consequently the line as quoted above was engraved on the memorial tablet in Hawarden Church, in preference to that given by the REV. J. BROWN. I believe that only a limited number of copies of the volume were published. JAMES WATSON.

Folkestone.

In * Memorials of the West,' by Mr. W. H. Hamilton Rogers (1888), is a sketch of the life of Toplady, and in it is his ' Rock of Ages,' with Gladstone's Latin version on the other side. The translation of " Thou must save, and Thou alone," is " Salva Tu, salvator unus." E. A.

[W. C. B. also thanked for reply.]

KIRBY HALL, NORTHANTS (10 S. vii. 228, 275). It would be more correct to say that this fine old mansion is in the parish of Gretton, and not in that of Deene, where

the Earl of Cardigan has a fine seat and park- It was spoken of as a probable place of retire- ment for George III., on account of its seclu- sion, when Napoleon I. contemplated the invasion of England in 1805. There is a fine coloured engraving of it in Nash's 1 Mansions of the Olden Time,' published in 1839. JOHN PICKFORD, M.A.

Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge.

JRxsaliattmts.

NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.

Muhd's Letters to Gilbert White ofSe/borne. Edited, with Notes and an Introduction, by Rashleisrh Holt- White. (R. H. Porter.)

THESE letters, edited by the great-grandnephe w of the famous naturalist, contain, says the dedication, of the volume, "almost the only contemporary illustration of Gilbert White's character and career." The Rev. John Mulso was rather more than a year younger than White, whose friend- ship he secured at Oriel. That White's letters to Mulso have been destroyed is matter for regret. The two were intimate for fifty years without a break, and Mulso throws light on White's relations with Oriel, though he does not free him from the reproach (common in those days) of being a pluralist in a small way. Mulso's sister, Mrs. Chapone, calls him "a diverting animal" and "that comical creature." High praise must be given to Mulso for his affectionate and steadfast disposition, also for his farseeing appreciation of White as a future classic of natural history ; but we can hardly rank him as a great or amusing letter- writer, though he has a pleasant, easygoing humour of his own. He has, like many men of his day in the Church, a rather too persistent zeal for advancement ; and lie is great on the subject of the domestic affections, which make happy homes, but not necessarily good reading. The letters, in fact, offer rather solid reading, though a reference to interesting matters here and there relieves the steady flow of Mulso's pen from 1744 to 1790. The editor was certainly wise in publishing the series without omissions and excisions ; for no man can know what is of value for literary history now or hereafter. Lovers of eighteenth - century language and fashions will certainly be entertained, but this class is, we fear, not very extensive in these days. Mulso has some command of picturesque phrases, such as "a scambling, rantipole Life," "a shatter-brain Toad," and " super-Hoadleian periods." He was at school with Collins the poet, and met the author of 'Pamela' and 'Clarissa,' whom he praised for " his Studiousness to oblige and improve without ye air of Superiority," and "his extreme Tender- ness to every proper Object of it that comes within his notice," this latter phrase, no tloubt, indicating Richardson's partiality for the ladies. It is inter- esting to notice that Mulso quotes and appreciates Shakespeare as well as Horace. There are many references to White's talents as a writer of verse, and his turn for happy phrases, which are per- petually admired and treasured by the Mulso- family. There is a good index, and the editor's- notes are sound so far as they ga