Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 8.djvu/589

 10 s. vm. DEC. 21, 1907.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

487

TWEEDLE-DUM AND TWEEDLE-DEE. (See

5.S. ii. 465; iii. 30; 10 S. ii.7.) This epigram, which consists of six lines, has been con- clusively proved in ' N. & Q.' to have been written by John Byrom. Lecky mentions that it has been attributed to Swift, but he does not mention that it has been also attri- buted to Pope ('History,' vol. i. p. 432). Scott's edition of Swift's 'Works' (1824), vol. xiii. p. 337, contains but the last two lines ; and in various editions of Pope's works the last two lines only are set out. These lose their point unless preceded by the previous four lines.

I must not encumber this note by referring to all these editions. I will mention, how- ever, the " Globe Edition " of Pope's ' Works ' (1882), p. 466, where the last two lines are printed. The editor adds : " Some- times, but incorrectly, attributed to Swift."

I have not been able to find any edition of Swift's or Pope's works which contains the first four lines ; and in the complete edition of Swift's poetical works (1736) the epigram does not appear at all, nor is it to be found in Bell & Daldy's edition of Swift's poetical works.

In order to make this note clear, perhaps it will be as well for me to give again the correct version, more especially as in the version which MR. J. A. PICTON set out at 5 S. iii, 31 the third line is entirely wrong.

The lines should run :

Some say, compar'd to Bononcini, That Mynheer Handel's but a ninny ; Others aver, that he to Handel Is scarcely fit to hold a Candle : Strange all this difference should be, 'Twixt Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee !

My object in writing this note is to express a hope that the editors of all future editions of the works of Swift and Pope will omit this epigram. HABRY B. POLAND.

EATANSWILL ELECTION IN THE EIGH- TEENTH CENTURY. The folio wing paragraph, from 'The Annual Register,' 1761, p. 101, may be of sufficient interest to find a place in ' N. & Q.' :

" The following is an exact account of articles consumed at dinner only by the voters of a small borough on the day of electing their members, in- dependent of veal, mutton, poultry, pastry, &c., and a preparatory breakfast, which last alone amounted to 750/.

Consumption at dinner. 980 stone of beef. 315 dozen of wine.

72 pipes of ale, and 365 gallons of spirit converted into punch."

D. M. R.

HERALDIC PEWTER. I have possessed for many years a pewter plate with the following heraldic engravings :

1. Argent, a chevron engrailed between three talbot's heads erased sable. For Hall of Gretford, Lincolnshire. (I am not sure of this blazon. )

2. Ermine, on a fesse gules three escallops or. For Ingram of Herefordshire, Wilts, Worcestershire, Warwick, Essex, Yorks, and London.

Crest, a griffin's head. Initials J. I In- grain].

About this there is no doubt. The style of the work seems to point to the eighteenth century. Perhaps a descendant of this family may be desirous to possess this heir- loom. J. E. H. SERGEANT.

Alt'ord, Lines.

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.

MRS. CATHERINE HALL'S CURIOUS EPITAPH. I have copied the following epitaph from ' The Annual Register ' for 1773, under date 7 August. It records the death, in her fifty-seventh year, of Mrs. Catherine Hall of Hampstead, the relict of Mr. Anthony Hall of Crutched Friars. The report con- tinues :

" Having lost her only child in the early part of life, and dying without relations, she has directed her fortune to be equally divided between the Asylum, the Lock Hospital, and the Magdalen ; to the last of which charities she was a considerable benefactress in her lifetime. She was esteemed the best worker on the tambour in Europe ; and is said to be the only person who ever beat the celebrated Jonas at cards. The following whimsical epitaph, which alludes to her two favourite amusements, is by her direction to be inscribed on her tomb- stone :

Ere my work 's done my thread is cut, My hands are cold, my eyesight fails ; Stretched is my frame ; I'm compassed now With worms instead of lovely snails. The game of life is finished too : Another now has taken my chair ; Griev'd there's no shuffling after death, I'm gone, alas ! the Lord knows where ! Readers, attend ! If you in work* excell, In bliss eternal you'll hereafter dwell : And if you play your cards with caution here, Secure to win, the trump you need not fear.

care Deus mi miserere mei.

The silk twist used in Tambour work is called in the French Chenilles."

Can any readers state what Mrs. Hall's estate proved to be, and if the epitaph