Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 4.djvu/54

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [n s. iv. JULY 15, mi.

POPE AND BYRON QUOTED ix A COURT or JUSTICE. Leslie Stephen in his essay on ' Pope as a Moralist,' which appeared in The Cornhill Magazine in 1873, and was reprinted in the first volume of ' Hours in a Library,' wrote :

" A recent dispute in a court of justice shows that even our most cultivated men have forgotten Pope so far as to be ignorant of the source of the familiar words

What can ennoble sots, or slaves, or cowards ?

Alas ! not all the blood of all the Howards." ('Essay on Man,' iv. 215.)

A little further on he observes : " Pope, we have seen, is recognized even by judges of the land only through the medium of Byron.''

What is the incident to which Leslie Stephen was referring ? The way in which the reference is made suggests that the case in question was one of general notoriety. The first Tichborne trial, it may be noted, had come to an end in 1872.

EDWARD BENSLY.

University College, Aberystwyth.

LIEUT.- COL. OLLNEY. Can any reader give me some particulars concerning Lieut.- Col. Ollney, who left 17 pictures to the National Gallery in 1837 ?

E. V. LUCAS.

TROMP ix ENGLAND : JOHN STANHOPE, LONDON PRINTER, 1664. Dom Francisco Manuel de Mello, the Portuguese writer, met Tromp in August-September, 1641, and heard from that admiral an account of his victory over Oquendo at the Battle of the Downs in 1639. The place of meeting is variously written in Portuguese works as Valmir and Valmud. Was Tromp at Walmer or Falmouth at the date mentioned ?

Among the presses which Dom Francisco Manuel engaged to print his works in 1664 (he says) was that of Juan Stenop in London. Is anything known of a printer named John Stanhope at that date ?

EDGAR PRESTAGE.

Chiltera, Bowdon, Cheshire.

' LYRICS AND LAYS.' Can any one in- form me as to the authorship of " Lyrics and Lays, by Pips," an octavo volume of 210 pages, published at Calcutta in 1867, and consisting of about forty poetical pieces of varying length and merit ? The sub- jects range from occurrences of 1848 to those of 1866, and the most important and longest contents are ' The Great Rent Case : a Lay of the High Court in the Year 1865,' and ' The Great Durbar ' (held at Agra by

Sir John Lawrence, Governor-General) in 1866, each teeming with personal allusions, sometimes rather trenchant in character- The preface mentions that some of the con- tents have appeared in Indian newspapers and periodicals, and no doubt there are many yet living who can supply the author's name. W. B. H.

GEORGE ELIOT ON A MAGIC RING. In ' Silas Marner,' chap, xv., we read :

"That famous ring that pricked its owner when- he forgot duty and followed desire I wonder if it pricked very hard when he set out on the chase, or whether it pricked but lightly then, and only pierced to the quick when the chase had long been ended ^ and hope, folding her wings, looked backward and became regret."

What ring is meant ? Who was the hunter, and what the special occasion here hinted at ? F. E. BEVAN.

16, Alexandra Drive, Liverpool S.

[Several rings possessing this magical property are described at 9 S. xi. 211, 490.]

B. W. PROCTER (" BARRY CORNWALL "). I have some autograph verses by him beginning

Hearts we had in our sunny youth.

Have they ever been printed ?

XYLOGRAPHER,

TOUCHING A CORPSE AT FUNERALS.

Fifty years ago at funerals it was customary

I for a man to stand near the coffin and invite


 * people to come and see the corpse. Most

persons touched the corpse with a finger,

i but if any one moved away without doing

I so, the attendant said sharply : " Touch

! the corpse." Why was this done ?

JOHN MILNE. Aberdeen.

EVATT FAMILY. - - Perhaps GENERAL interested in, or can throw light upon the identity of the Mr. Evatt (Evett or Evitt) who was interred in the church of SS. Anne and Agnes in 1636-7, being apparently a person of some substance. His Christian name is not recorded, but his widow, Alice,, was buried in 1643.
 * EVATT (see US. iii. 367, 437, 476) may bo

WILLIAM McMuRRAY.

THE THREE HEAVENS. In ' A String of Pearls ; or, The best things reserved till last, Discovered in a Sermon preached in London, June 8, 1657, at the Funeral of (that Triumphant Saint) Mris. Mary Blake late wife to (his Worthy Friend) Mr. Nicholas Blake," &c., Thomas Brooks, the