Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 8.djvu/566

 NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. vra. DEC. u, 1907.

his characters and the action. But one, I think, has never been mentioned. In chap, xxiii. of ' Dombey and Son,' Capt. Cuttle, desiring to make a trumpet of his hands for a loud call, puts a hand to each side of his mouth for that purpose. Of course, one hand was a hook, and would not have helped him to do the trumpet act.

FORREST MORGAN. Hartford, Conn.

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 answers may be sent to them direct.

' RINORDINE,' IRISH SONG. I should be glad to get some information about the following song the time and place of its first appearance, its authorship if it has any, whether it is now current anywhere in Great Britain or Ireland, and in particular what legend or fancy underlies the strange expressions in the third stanza, and the significance of the name ' Rinordine.' The song was popular in the United States in the forties of the last century, being found in such collections as ' The Forget-me-not Songster ' and ' Songs for the Million,' printed about that time ; and it still has some vogue among the vulgar, to judge from the fact that it appears in The Monthly Budget of Music printed for humble song- lovers by Trifet of Boston. It seems to be of Irish origin ; yet I have so far failed to find it in Irish song-collections, though ' The Mountains of Pomeroy ' in A. P. Graves's ' Irish Song - Book ' (London, Dublin, and New York, 1895) is a literary reworking of it with the folk-lore interest left out. In two of the ballads in Child's great collection, Nos. 110 and 111, in which the situation is similar to that in ' Rinor- dine,' the woman afterwards asks the man his name and where he dwells.

RINORDINE.

One evening as I rambled Two miles below Pomroy, I met a farmer's daughter All on the mountains high : I said, "My pretty fair maiden, Your beauty shines most clear, And upon these lonely mountains I 'm glad to meet you here."

She said, " Young man, be civil, My company forsake. For in my great opinion I fear you are a rake ;

And if my parents should know, My life they would destroy For keening of your company All on the mountain high."

I said, " My dear, I am no rake, But brought up in Venus' train, And looking for concealments All in the judge's name ; Your beauty has ensnared me, I cannot pass you by. And with my gun I '11 guard you All on the mountains high."

This pretty little thing,

She fell into ama7,e :

With her eyes as bright as amber

Upon me she did gaze ;

Her cherry cheeks and ruby lips

They lost their former dye,

And then she fell into my arms

All on the mountains high.

I had but kissed her once or twice

Till she came to again :

She modestly then asked me,

"Pray, sir, what is your name ?

If you go to yonder forest,

My castle yoxt will find,

Wrote in ancient history ;

My name is Rinordine."

I said, " My pretty fair maiden,

Don't let your parents know,

For if ye do, they '11 prove my ruin

And fatal overthrow ;

But when you come to look for me,

Perhaps you'll not me find,

But I'll be in my castle :

And call for Rinordine."

Come, all ye pretty fair maidens,

A warning take by me,

And be sure you quit night-walking

And shun bad company ;

For if you don't, you'll surely rue

Until the day vou die,

And beware of meeting Rinor

All on the mountains high.

H. M. BELDEN. University of Missouri, Columbia, Mo., U.S.A.

JOHN BTJNYAN'S WILL. A statement having appeared in The Daily News on 6 November to the effect that a Mrs. Cov- ington, of Belief ontaine, Ohio, was in pos- session of " a will of John Bunyan," dated 23 Dec., 1685, Mr. Henry Leach, of East Finchley, communicated to the paper on the 21st a brief note (printed in ' The Editor's Postbag ' under the above, heading) con- veying the information that he was owner of a similar will, of the same date, with witnesses' signatures appended.

Would it not be interesting to learn whether these documents are really authentic records (as of a will drawn up in duplicate) of the author of ' The Pilgrim's Progress ' According to Canon Venables in the 'D.N.B.,' Bunyan made no will, but on 23 Dec., 1685, the date of the documents above referred