Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 4.djvu/531

 ii s. iv. DEC. so, ion.] NOTES AND QU ERIES.

525

Though robbed on earth by pretended friends

Injustice done him, for their selfish ends

He 's now beyond their power and sphere

As thieves and robbers cannot enter there

But let these wicked beings know

The time will come for them to go

To give account of crimes both great and small,

Before the Lord, the righteous Judge of all

And there receive their final doom

From whence they never more can come.

Sacred

to the memory

of M rs Elizabeth Bigsby

wife of M r Geo e Bigsby

who died May 10 th 1829.

Aged 22 years.

Can I exemption plead when death

Projects his awful dart

Can medicine prolong my breath

Or virtue shield my heart.

Ah, no ! then smooth the mortal hour

My hope on Thee depends

Protect me by Thy Mighty Power

While dust to rest descends.

F. M. R. HOLWORTHY, F.S.G.

BELPEB CHURCHYARD. On an infant :

This lovely bud, so young and fair,

Called hence by early doom, Just come to show how sweet a flower

In Paradise would bloom.

For a girl aged 17 :

Weep not for me, my parents dear,

Nor fret for me in vain. Think of the joys that we shall have

When we shall meet again.

M. L. B. BRESLAR. South Hackney.

CHINGFORD MOUNT CEMETERY. The fol- lowing lines refer to an infant six months old: Take, holy earth, that which my soul held dear ;

Take the sweet gift which Heaven so lately gave ; Take the sweet infant whom the fondest care

Could not preserve from this its mournful grave.

M. L. R. BRESLAR.

WARWICK CHURCHYARD, CUMBERLAND.

In memory of

James Robinson of Aglionby

who died July 10 1823

aged 49 years.

Farewell to all, I must not stay My Saviour calls, I must away Yet do not say that I am dead I am but undress'd and gone to bed. I sleep in the dead watch of the night I waken at the dawn of the light When my Saviour calls I hope to rise Unto that life which never dies.

The epitaph is said to have been composed by Robinson himself. M.A.OxoN.

NAPOLEON AND DAVID II. OF SCOTLAND : HISTORICAL PARALLEL. Those who are interested in parallel or coincident passages may care to note the following :

A.D. 1815. De Baudus, aide-de-camp to Marechal Soult at Waterloo, made notes of Napoleon's conversation with Soult, Drouot, and other generals at Le Caillou on the morning of 18 June. Soult urged that Grouchy should be recalled before the attack on Wellington's position was delivered. Napoleon replied rudely:

" Parceque vous avez e"te" battu par Wellington r vous le regardez comme un grand gnral. Et r moi, je vous dis que Wellington est un mauvaia general, que les Anglais sont de mauvaises troupes T et que ce sera V affaire d'un dejeuner ! "

A.D. 1346. The chronicler of Lanercost, a contemporary authority, describing King David II. 's dispositions before the battle of Neville's Cross, where he was totally defeated and taken prisoner, has the follow- ing :

" Illo enim die David, ut alter Nabugadnasor, pluries proprias fimbrias pompose magnificavit, et sine aliquo obstaculo rite regem Scottorum se ssepius affirmavit; [gentaculum] suumparariprae- cepit, et, cum occiderit Anglos in ore gladii, ad dictum gentaculum dixit se redire. Sed omnes ejus famuli cito postea, ita cito postea, festinabant, quod pulmentum permiserunt in ignem exire."

That is :

" On that day David, like a second Nebuchad- nezzar, ostentatiously made the fringes of his standard many times larger, and repeatedly declared himself to be rightful King of Scots without any hindrance. He ordered his breakfast to be made ready, and said that he would return to it after putting the English to the sword. But soon afterwards, yea very soon after, all his servants had to hurry off, allowing the food to fall into the fire."

HERBERT MAXWELL.

" HOMESTEAD." The earliest example of the use of " homestead " in its usual modern sense occurs in Dryden. The quotation appears in Johnson's ' Dictionary,' where the only reference given is to " Dryden " ; which is far too vague. The same quotation is given in * N.E.D.,' but still without any more particular reference, as no one could find it. For some thirty years I have been on the look out for it, and have frequently consulted Dryden to discover it. And now I have it at last ! It occurs at 1. 62 of his translation of the twenty-ninth ode of the first book of Horace, under the more general title of 'Translations from Horace.' The reference can now be given in the Supple- ment to 'N.E.D.'

WALTER W. SKEAT.