Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 4.djvu/513

 us. iv. DEC. 2U91L] NOTES AND QUERIES.

507

p. 238) it is on the left wrist. The same is found in the " Library Edition-," pub- lished by Chapman & Hall, with the illus- trations by " Phiz " reproduced. I am not a close student of Dickens, although I have always enjoyed his writings, and I dare say that what I am now drawing atten- tion to is well known to many ; but it was only lately that I noticed it myself.

ERNEST B. SAVAGE. S. Thomas, Douglas.

[See also 10 S. viii. 467.]

WE must request correspondents desiring in- i jrmation on family matters of only private interest bo affix their names and addresses to their queries, n order that answers may be sent to them direct.

EDWARD CASAUBON.

"MR. BLEACKLEY, while erudite and exact, is no plodding Dryasdust : his blood consists of healthy corpuscles, not (as was fabled concerning the arterial fluid of the Rev. Edward Casaubon) of semicolons and parentheses." ' N. & Q.,' 10 S. ix. 59.

Who was this clergyman ? J. B.

Copenhagen.

[George Eliot's ' Middlemarch,' bk. i. chap, viii., near the end. Edward Casaubon is the middle-aged scholar whom, to the disgust of everybody, Dorothea Brooke chooses to marry. Two of her friends are discussing the matter :

" ' He has got no good red blood in his body,' said Sir James.

' ' No. Somebody put a drop under a magni- fying glass, and it was all semicolons and paren- theses,' said Mrs. Cadwallader."]

ST. WILLIAM'S DAY. Can any one kindly refer me to any historical accounts of the observance of St. William's Day (or days) in the Minster or in the city of York ?

GEORGE AUSTEN.

The Residence, York.

THREADING ST. WILFRID'S NEEDLE. Walbran, in his ' Ripon Guide,' 12th ed., 1875, p. 67, quotes Fuller, without a refer- ence, as wittily observing, " They prick'd their credits who could not thread the needle" the needle being a wall with a hole in it through which women were drawn as a test of their chastity. It was supposed that if they could not be pulled through they were miraculously detained, and their unchastity assured. I do not find the remark of Fuller in his * Church History ' or in the ' Worthies,' and should welcome a proper reference, for the ' N.E.D.' as well as for myself. J. T. F.

Durham.

WEST INDIA COMMITTEE. I am anxious to trace the early history of the West India Committee. Can any of your readers assist me with information regarding it ? The earliest minute-book of the Committee is dated 1759 ; and it would seem that in that year there existed a Committee of West India Merchants and a Committee of West India Planters. The full title of the West India Committee then, and for many subsequent years, was " The Standing Committee of West India Planters and Merchants." ALGERNON E. ASPINALL.

GUILD OF MERCHANTS OF THE STAPLE OF CALAIS. Where can a list be seen of the constable and members of the Guild of Merchants of the Staple of Calais in 1661 ? Or, if the Guild was dissolved prior to that date, where may such a list for the last years of its existence be found ? S. G.

KEATS' s ' ODE TO A NIGHTINGALE.'

The same [voice] that ofttimes hath

Charm'd magic casements, opening on the foam

Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn.

Is there an allusion here to some well-known faery story, or is it mere beautiful verbiage ? One would have thought the very last place to find a nightingale would be near " the foam of perilous seas ' ' ; and why are the " faery lands " " forlorn " ? Can some one help to explain the relevance of the lines ? TRIN. COLL. CAMS.

[By a coincidence, Lucis sends a query about the allusion in the same lines.l

" AMURATH TO AMURATH SUCCEEDS. "- Whence comes the well-known quotation embodying this sentiment ? It is well known, I believe, but I cannot find it in any of the usual books of quotations. N. M. [' 2 Henry IV.,' V. ii.]

AUTHORS or QUOTATIONS WANTED. Can any one identify the following com- position, which occurs on the background of a portrait of an unknown man, 1548 ? The life that Nature sends Death soon destroyeth, And momentarie is that life's remembrance ; The seeminge life which peaceful art supplieth Is but a shadow, though life's perfect semblans : But that trewe life which virtue doth restore Is life indeed, and lasteth evermore.

Can any reader tell me where the follow- ing line occurs ?

Morning arises stormy and pale.

E. S. SHERSON. 39 Victoria Street, Westminster.