Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 5.djvu/134

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NOTES AND QUERIES. f n s. v. FEB. 10, 191-2.

Worcestershire ' ) possibly obtained at second- hand, but I do know that MB. JEWERS'S own transcription of it is incorrect. Last August, during a locum-tenency of Bath- aeston parish, I had more than one oppor- tunity of inspecting the venerable glass at St. Catherine's, and can vouch for the inscription being copied verbatim as follows :

ORATE PRO ANIMA D*i JOH~ S CANTIXNV QUAND' A PRIORIS HANC CACELLA FIERI FECIT A D~' MCCCCLXXXXVII.I

The eye of the cursory reader may discern but little or no variation between the two versions : not so that of the antiquary, who microscopically notes divergent abbre- viations and redundancy or omissions of letters.

I may add that the late Mr. H. B. Inman, in his charming notes on Batheaston parish, issued in the local magazine of September, 1888, gives the inscription therein correctly, with the exception of the date, which he inadvertently enters as " MCCCCLXXXXIX," and renders as " 1489 " a double error. Assuredly it is high time that a faithful transcription of this hapless inscription should be permanently recorded. J. B. McGovERN.

CASANOVA AND KITTY FISHER. In a recently published volume called ' The Homantic Past,' Mr. Ralph Nevill has chal- Isnged the accuracy of " a modern English story " of the meeting of Casanova and Kitty Fisher. Obviously the account in question, which is described as " bowdlerized " and " unreal," is that contained in a book of mine which was reviewed in ' N. & Q.,' 10 S. xi. 398. Like the two soldiers in the fable, Mr. Nevill and I have been looking at the shield from opposite sides. While he has consulted the Gamier edition, I pre- ferred (as I stated in an Appendix) to follow the account given in the Rozez edition, which is probably as accurate, and is a more picturesque description. For the sake of bibliographical precision it might have been better if Mr. Nevill had consulted the other great standard edition of Casanova before he condemned my statements.

In conclusion, I may observe that a bio- grapher who declares that, " with the exception of an admirable essay by Mr. Charles Whibley, little in English has been written of this prince of adventurers," is ignoring the innumerable articles on Casanova that have appeared in ' N. & Q.,' wherein, fortunately, he has not been fol- lowed by the principal Casanovists on the Continent. HORACE BLEACKLEY.

LEAR'S ' BOOK OF NONSENSE. ' In my possession is a scarce book for children, from which it seems probable that Edward Lear took suggestions for his amusing ' Book of Nonsense/ which was published in 1846, and has passed through at least twenty-nine editions. The pictures in my little volume are unusually well drawn and coloured. The inscription on the title- page and the rime beneath the first picture are as follows :

" The History of Sixteen Wonderful Old Women, illustrated by as many Engravings : exhibiting their Principal Eccentricities and Amusements.

Much credit is due to our Artist, I ween ;

For such Pictures as these can seldom be seen. London : printed for Harris & Son, corner of St. Paul's Church-yard. 1821."

I. Mistress Towl.

There was an old woman named Towl \Vho went out to sea with her Owl.

But the Owl was Sea-sick,

And scream' d for Physic : \Vhich sadly annoyed Mistress Towl.

The picture and the jingle remind one also of ' The Owl and the Pussy-cat ' in Lear's ' Nonsense Drolleries,' with the illustrations by William Foster : " The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea," &c.

GEORGE WHERRY. Cambridge.

DICKENS: MR. MAGNUS'S SPECTACLES. - The recent notes on the contradictory descrip- tions of Capt. Cuttle's hook (11 S. iv. 506; v. 52) remind me of a similar inaccuracy in regard to Mr. Peter Magnus's person- ality in ' Pickwick,' which I do not think has been noted. When first introduced he is described as " a red-haired man with an inquisitive nose and blue spectacles,"' and he presently " took a blue view of Mr. Pickwick through his coloured spectacles." But later, when Mr. Pickwick and he have words over the matter of the middle-aged lady in curl-papers, Mr. Magnus " indulged in a prolonged sneer, and taking off his green spectacles (which he probably found superfluous in his fit of jealousy)," &c.

H. D. ELLIS.

RIGHTS OF INTERMENT. Disputes about rights of interment are not unknown, but I am not aware of any parallel for an inscrip- tion on a gravestone in the old churchyard of St. Margaret s, a few miles north of Dublin, in which such a right is so bluntly set out, with its limitations ; and I should be glad o know if any can be cited. The burial- place referred to is within the walls of the