Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 4.djvu/36

 NOTES AND QUERIES. ui s. iv. JULY s, 1011.

' ALPINE LYRICS.' Who is the author of this volume of Alpine verse ? It was published by Longmans in 1854, 16mo, and contains pp. ix-308. There seems to be nothing in the book to indicate the author's name or calling. In the third stanza of the introduction ' Ad Lectorem ' he says : If thou findest mirth or merit, Heed not what the dreamer's name There are rays that cheer the spirit Without light from phantom Fame. Stars of clustered constellation Shine without all designation : With no name for ages long Glittered far the great Mont Blanc !

One seldom appeals in vain to ' N. & Q.' for information wanted. W. NIXON.

Heaton, Newcastle-on-Tyne.

CARDINAL ALLEN'S ARMS. Can any reader supply me with the heraldic descrip- tion of the coat of arms of William, Cardinal Allen ? G. M. T.

APPARITION AT BOVINGDON. Some few years ago there was an article in Temple Bar entitled ' Here and There in West Hert- fordshire,' which referred to Boxmoor and Box Lane thus :

" On the skirts of the Moor stands an old coaching inn, still blinking lazily across the un- even stretches of grassland, with a dark tunnel of trees running sharply up at right angles beside it. This was the way which, in olden days, the industrious parson, who had four churches of the locality hi his charge, used to ride on those Sabbath mornings when it was the turn of little red-roofed Bovingdon to be spiritually ministered to. It is a haunted lane, with an unique charm in day- light as well as in dusky hours. I remember well, as a child, dreading its cloistered quiet ; its high, uneven walls, covering mystery, and rich in blocked-up squat doorways and narrow much- barred windows ; in reality, the reticent backs of three ancient houses. The lane, first narrow, walled, and arched by beeches, widens to permit of the irregular backs of these inscrutable and wandering old houses, and the abutment upon one of them of an adjacent meeting-house, rarely opened, and set in the midst of its forgotten graves. The ghost would, of course, belong of right to this rank spot, whose enclosing walls arose when Charles II. granted indulgence to the dissenters ; but it is a wandering ghost, a strange gleaming little presence that has been seen passing along by the wall of the largest of the old houses. I can vouch for the truth of its appearance, and of the impact, followed by a strange tingling sensation, felt by one of us who saw it upon a summer evening two years ago. A dog, too, that was of the party cried and leapt aside. There is a mystery in the thing, and one never likely to be solved ; but the country folk avoid the lane.

Can any one supply a solution of this Miystenous visitant ? W. B. GERISH.

Bishop's Stortford.

CAPT. COOK MEMORIAL. (11 S. iii. 165, 232, 295, 373.)

AT Whitsuntide I spent a week-end at Great Ayton in Cleveland, and one after- noon two friends and I walked through the fields to Easby, and climbed Easby Hill, in order to copy the inscription on the monument erected to Capt. Cook, which is as follows :

" In memory of | the celebrated .circumnavi- gator, Capt. James Cook, F.B.S., | a man in nautical knowledge inferior to none, | in zeal, prudence, and energy superior to most, j Begard- less of danger, he opened an intercourse | with the Friendly Isles, and other parts | of the Southern hemisphere. | He was born at Marton, Oct. 27th, 1728, I and massacred at Owyhee, Feb. 14th, 1779, | to the inexpressible grief of his countrymen. | While the art of navigation shall be cultivated | among men, while the spirit of enterprise, | commerce, and philanthropy shall animate | the sons of Britain, while it shall be deemed | the honour of a Christian nation to spread | civilization, and the blessings of the | Christian faith, among pagan and savage tribes, ( so long will the name of Capt. Cook | stand out among the most celebrated and | most admired benefactors of the human race. | As a token of respect | for, and admiration of, that great man, | this monument was erected by | Bobert Campion, Esqr., of Whitby, A.D. 1827, | by permission of the owner of the Easby estate, I J. J. Emerson, Esqr. It was restored in 1895 | by the readers of The North- Eastern Daily Gazette."

The foregoing inscription is in small capital letters, and as it was repeated aloud to me by one of my companions whilst I wrote it down, the punctuation may not be strictly accurate, as it is my own. I have taken this opportunity of giving the inscrip- tion as it now exists because the version given at the last reference differs in several respects. Was there an original tablet with the inscription as set out by Mr. PAGE'S friend, and was this cast aside at the restoration in 1895 ? Picture postcards are to be had of Capt. Cook's school at Great Ayton. It was on the top floor of the red-tiled building, and entered by an out- side staircase at the back of the house.

C. L. CUMMINGS.

THE CUCKOO AND ITS CALL (11 S. iii. 486). The Daily Chronicle a little more than a month ago contained the following letter from my pen, which supports MR. BAYNE'S observation of this bird :

Cuckoos like this hot weather ; they won't sing if sing is the proper word in cold weather.