Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 1.djvu/375

 ii s. i. MAY 7, 1910.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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Mr. Arthur Balfour suggests that the sec-ond allusion is to Castor and Pollux.

The four Gospel preachers are evidently Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

5. The five fingers are suggested.

Is the seventh allusion to the Great Bear or to the Pleiades, " the Seven Sisters "- ?

9. Sun, moon, and planets suggested.

I shall be grateful to readers of ' N. & Q.' for further identifications. B. M. A.

MARK TWAIN. Did the late Mr. Clemens ever give any public readings in London ? I seem to recall having heard him do so at the old Hanover Square Rooms, now razed for flats. Or was it some other American humourist ? CECIL CLARKE.

Junior Athenaeum Club.

SOAME JENYNS ON THE MIBTH OF SERA- PHIM. Soame Jenyns, says Macaulay, oddly imagined " a portion of the happiness of seraphim and just men made perfect to be derived from an exquisite perception of the ludicrous." Where does Soame Jenyns indulge in this fancy ?

PRODIGAL NABOB. Speaking of the ever- inventive genius of Addison, Macaulay says : *' There are no dregs in his wine. He regales us after the fashion of that prodigal nabob who held that there was only one good glass in a bottle."' Who was this nabob ?

ABB COYER TO PANSOPHE. Macaulay says in his essay on Addison : " The letter of the Abbe Coyer to Pansophe is Voltaire all over, and imposed, during a long time, on the Academicians of Paris. 2 ' Who was Pansophe ? What was the letter about ?

P. C. G.

Calcutta.

" DIE WAHRHEIT RUHT IN GOTT " : J. v.

MULLER. Among the papers of a distin-

i guished scholar recently dead was found a

1 sheet with the line in his handwriting :

DieWahrheit ruhtin Gott: uns bleibtdas Forschen.

Below was written the name " J. v. Miiller."

Can any reader of ' N. & Q.' say who this

J. von Miiller is, and where the line comes

from ? Neither Johann von Miiller, the

eminent Swiss historian, nor the classical

scholar Iwan von Miiller, appears to be

responsible for it. T. W. ROLLESTON.

THE BUCKLAND SHAG. Can any of your readers throw light on an old legend con- nected with the village of Buckland in Surrey, relating to the " Buckland Shag n ?

It has the not uncommon story of the appearance of a white lady, &c., which was supposed to frighten horses while crossing a small stream between Buckland and Reigate, which still bears the name of the " Shagbrook."

I have seen the story in print, but cannot recall in what book I found it. I have searched the records of the Surrey Archaeo- logical Society in vain, and shall be glad to receive any information on the subject.

F. H. BEAUMONT. Buckland Court, Betch worth.

BEST COMPANY CONSISTS OF FIVE PERSONS. So says Steele in ' The Trumpet Club * (No. 132 of The Tatler) ; but I can find no proverb from which he is quoting. There is a saying to the effect that the company at dinner should be neither more than the Muses nor less than the Graces ; and Wm. King in ' The Art of Cookery * says : Crowd not your table ; let your number be Not more than seven, and never less than three. Can any one give me a nearer quotation ?

BUFFOON'S ADMIRERS. Fielding in No. 10 of The Covent Garden Journal, speaking of romances, says :

" Where the whole design of the composition is to make us laugh, the writer comes very near to the character of a buffoon ; and his admirers, if an old Latin proverb be true, deserve no great compliments to be paid to their wisdom." I can get no nearer than ' ' Asinus asino, sus sui pulcher," which is not very satisfactory. Can ' N. & Q.' help me ?

GALLOPING HOGAN. Macaulay in his article on Goldsmith in ' The Encyclopaedia Britannica l speaks of ' ' the great Rapparee chiefs, Baldearg O'Donnell and galloping Hogan." Can any one give me information about the latter ?

ENGLISH DECORATOR AND TINTORETTO. J. A. Symonds in his ' Venetian Medley ' reports a tale of "a fashionable English decorator," whom later he speaks of as a " prophet of Queen Anne," j and who "avoided every building which contains a Tintoretto, averring that the sight of Tintoretto's pictures would injure his care- fully trained taste. n He says that pro- bably the anecdote is not strictly true, but I should like to know to whom he alludes. Can it have been Thornhill ? c B W

RALEGH AND THE WIDOW HERVYE. In Sir Robert Cecil's letter of 8 Nov., 1600, to Sir George Carew (Camden Society, 1864, ' Letters of Sir Robert Cecil to Sir George Carew,' p. 57), Cecil states that Ralegh