Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 10.djvu/439

 ii s. x. NOV. 28, i9i4.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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to be by meaning a double form, a high chair for a head master's use in the schoolroom. At St. Paul's School in the City (1882) there were, I believe, three or four or even eight cathedrae or throni in the old buildings, some pa?ked away in disuse. In the modern building near Hammersmith the same foundation still (I think) possesses, made out of the oak timbers of the old City St. Paul's School, one large roomy cathedra or thronus. I suppose that in the new oak-panelled large hall of the same society the four or five (?) old leather-cushioned cathedra? -throni of the High Master, of the Sub Master, and of the Third and Fourth Masters, have been replaced by " more modern equipment." This is, however, a mat tor for the antiquary having exact kno\vledge of the facts. My attempt deals with the philological side alone.

CECIL OWEN. Perth, Western Australia.

MEMORIAL TO SPTJRGEON (11 S. x. 386). I am obliged to MR. CORFIELD for drawing attention to the statue of C. H. Spurgeon at the Baptist Church House. For one thing, it L'ives me the opportunity of mentioning other memorials, particulars of which I received after my manuscript was writtan, and omitted to insert.

In the Town Hall, Colchester, is a marble bust of Spurgeon. It was presented by Alder- man James Wicks, Mayor of Colchester, in 1 s'.tr,. On 16 April, 1897, a tablet was placed in 1 1 it- Primitive Methodist Chapel, Colchester. Her.-, according to his father's statement, Charles Spurgeon found salvation. I shall I ratet'ul to any correspondent who will furnish a copy of the inscription.

Before his funeral in February, 1892, 1 saw a fine bust of Spurgeon standing above the coHin which contained his remains in the Metropolitan Tabernacle. Probably it is Mill enshrined in the present building.

JOHN T. PAGE.

Long Itchington, Warwickshire.

COMPLETE VERSIONS WANTED (11 S. x. 388). In ' Shelburne Essays,' Seventh

. by Paul Elmer More, there is (p. 119) an appreciation of Louisa Shore, the author of these lines. They are

of the conclusion of a long poem tirst published in ' Elegies,' by Louisa Shore, and reprinted in " Poems by Louisa SI 10 1-.. With a Memoir by her sister, Ara holla Shore, and an Appreciation by Fivdrrie Harrison. John Lane, 1897." Tin- ' Elegies ' were written on the deaths of

the poet's brother and sister. The conclu- sion of the poem from which these lines come is said to have been inserted in the hymn- book of the Positivist Church. They are given by Mr. More as follows :

Forget not, Earth, when thou shalt stretch thy

hands

In blessing o'er thy happy sons and daughters, And lift in triumph thy maternal head, Circling the sun with music from all lands, In anthems like the noise of many waters Forget not, Earth, thy disappointed Dead ! Forget not, Earth, thy disinherited ! Forget not the forgotten ! Keep a strain Of divine sorrow in sweet undertone For all the dead who lived and died in vain ! Imperial Future, when in countless train The generations lead thee to thy throne, Forget not the Forgotten and Unknown 1

M. H. DODDS.

"WE" OR "I" IN AUTHORSHIP (11 S. x. 288, 336). I can never understand why what Dr. Watts would certainly stigmatize- as " angry passions " should rise in some minds at the sight of an author's daring to- use the royal or editorial " we." As one who has been guilty of this offence, if it be an offence, I may say two motives have influenced me in maintaining the practice. The first is that " we " seems to me les* obtrusive than " I," as it seems to draw a certain veil over the personality of the speaker or writer. No one acquainted with the derivation of the word could with justice accuse of egotism a person using the word " we." My second reason is that in the circumstances " we " seems to be used officially. If the writer is an historian, say, he is speaking in his capacity of historian when he uses the word " we," whereas by using " I " he would sink into the class of " men in the street." This is not " conceit " or " side " on his part. No one would accuse Parson Adams of these latter vices ; but even he felt that he had an official personality as well as one of the ordinary kind. His biographer says : " Indeed, he always asserted that Mr. Adams at church with his surplice on, and Mr. Adams without that ornament in any other place, were two very different persons." That exactly expresses- my feeling. When the author in question says " we," he feels that he has got his surplice on. But while defending "we" on both these grounds, I. or perhaps I should now say " we," have nothing but reproba- tion for the expression " the writer " or " the present writer," which is sometimes- used by persons who affect to be shy about putting themselves forward. Such expres- sions seem to me to savour of hypocrisy.