Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 2.djvu/333

 ii s. vm. OCT. 25, IMS.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

327

a volunteer; he took part in Sir George Booth's rising in 1659, when he was taken prisoner. He afterwards became Arch- deacon of Chester.

On the Death of Sir Henry Gage.

Drumms beate an onset ; let the Rebells feele How sharpe our greife is, by our sharper steele ; How valiant was pur knight, how wise, how good, Let it be written in the rebells blood.

Though Browne himselfe, with all his trait'rous

crew

Had in y fc enterprise received what 's due To theire rebellion, sudden death ; had all Beene sacrific'd unto one Gage's fall, Cure losse were greater, yet the Bridge was

downe

And the performance did the action crowne So y 6 without Hyperbole may saye We got y e victory, but lost ye day.

Such alwaies is our gaine, and such our losse, Which we like prodigalls against theire drosse Stake golde and pearle : otir losse is greate when

least.

What can we get who venture men for beastes ? Our meanest souldier w ch in battell dyes exceeds theire best, as farre as truth doth lies, Or Vertue Vice, who then shall equall Gage Our best of men ? noe Trophies can asswage The sorrowes due unto his Tragick vane [?] who knew his Vertues and abstained to mourne ? His speech was mildnesse, Temperance his Life, His carriage courtesy, as free from strife, From rage and Fury, as from cowardise Nor durst the Devill his owne broode entice, Dove [?] or Britannicus, one to defile His well-knowne actions w th theire tainted stile.

As for his valour Norton knew it well Onslow, crook't Morley, and the rest y* fell at basings most miraculous releise where every souldier did beyonde beleife, such courage he infusde, His wearied Troope with theire long march began to faint and droope, Not able to advance : Gage does alight And now y e foote can gallop to ye fight. They borrowed life from him and motion too And dare doc anything he bids them doe So greate his vertues were, y* when he faild No man was more belov'd none more bewail'd. But let not bloody foes lift up theire heads Because our army's flower 's withered Neither let us be fearefull of y e foe Drooping our heads, and fainting w th y c blow His renown'd acts will cherise his fame And we'le still fright y Rebells w th his Name. William finmore.

Sandg.-il e.

R. J. FYNMORE.

VITREMYTE." This word, which the late lamented Prof. Skeat ('Chaucer,' Clarendon Press, ed. Skeat, ' Monk's Tale,' 1. 3562) regarded as "perhaps the greatest crux in Chaucer," was discussed in two letters published in The Athenaeum on 3 and 10 Sept., 1892, by Mr. F. S. Ellis and Prof. Skeat respectively. Here the latter says :

" I shouM In. ye been only too glad to find any new light shed upon vitremyte I believe my

old solution gives the right sense, and that viire- myte means a glazed cap."

A contribution to the pages of * N. & Q.' on 7 April, 1855 (1 S. xi. 266), seems to have been overlooked in the importance of its bearing on the solution desired of the meaning of this word. Here the word vyttres is found in a list of coarse woven materials imported as merchandise from Normandy circa 1550 A.D. This word throws an added light on the puzzling first syllable, the second syllable which is still preserved in the word "mitre" having been clearly demonstrated to mean a cap or head-dress.

At the reference in the First Series vyttres is stated to have occurred in a letter regarding merchandise imported from Normandy along with dowlas, lockerams, ollonnes, and poldavys, which have been explained (1 S xi. 333, 475) as coarse or cheap woven materials. May it not be reasonable to infer from this that vyttres may be understood as a kind of glazed or glace fabric for making female caps ? Is the word known as occurring elsewhere ?

If your correspondent, who signs CL. HOPPER, continues here below, as we hope, to study philology, will he kindly inform us whether the letter referred to still exists for reference, and, if possible, publish it in your pages in full detail? H. S R.

EARLIEST ENGLISH NEWSPAPERS. The New York Times of 17 Aug. last published the facsimile of two pages of The Corant or Weekly Newes for 11 Oct., 1621 (" Out of the Low Dutch Coppy"), which is only two days after the copy " out of the High Dutch ri mentioned by John Nichols, but of which no example has yet been discovered. The earliest number of the Newes in the Burney Collection dates from May, 1622. The copy in America was picked up recently by Mr. Charles Feleky, a Hungarian col- lector. L. L. K.

CARNWATH HOUSE. It is announced in the press that Carnwath (formerly Lonsdale) House, Fulham, is being demolished to allow of the development of a building estate. Under its large cedar tree Gladstone is said to have proposed to Catherine Glynne. A curious feature of the house was a wistaria growing through the floor of one of the living rooms, the trunk finding an outlet through an opening in the brickwork near the ceiling. The interior of the house contained some beautiful carving.

J. ARDAGH.