Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 5.djvu/190

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. v. FEB. M, 1912.

ALEXANDER THE GREAT AND PARADISE (11 S. v. 48). My friend Dr. F. Pfister, who is engaged on a special study of the subject, has favoured me with the following par- ticulars :

" The legend inquired about will be found in the Latin ' Iter ad Paradisum,' edited by Julius Zacher, ' Alexandri Magni iter ad Paradisum,' Konigsberg, 1859. From this source the story found its way, for example, into Lamprecht's [twelfth century] ' Alexanderlied ' and the ' Alexandreis ' by Ulrich von Eschenbach [thir- teenth century], on which cf. Toischer's article in the Sitzunysberichte der Wiener Akademie, 1881, pp. 382 ft. For further information on the ' Iter ' see Wilhelm Hertz, ' Gesammelte Abhand- lungen,' 1905, pp. 84 ff. ; Friedlander, Archiv fur Religionswissenschaft, xiii. (1910), pp. 200 ff. ; J. Levi, Revue des dtudes juives, ii. 299 ff., xiii. 117 f. ; Pflster, Rheinisches Museum fiir Philo- logie, Ixvi. (1911), pp. 458 ff. ; and the Theo- logische Literaturzeitung, 1911, cols. 700 and 796 f. That is probably all the most important literature on the subject of the ' Iter.' The Latin text containing the legend that PERI wants to trace is of the eleventh or twelfth century, and probably goes back to an old Jewish (or Christian ) haggadah. There is a similar and older legend in the tractate ' Tamid ' of the Babylonian Talmud, where the scene mentioned by PERI also occurs."

L. R. M. STKACHAN.

Heidelberg.

The legend of Alexander the Great at the gate of Paradise is recorded in the Jewish Talmud ; and reproduced therefrom in its entirety, on pp. 333-6 of vol. xii., ' Zion's Works ' (' Epilogue '), with elucidation thereof, as an allegory.

C. B. HOLINSWORTH. Birmingham.

AUTHORS OF QUOTATIONS WANTED (US. ii. 408). " Tetigisti me, et exarsi in pacem tuam," the source of which was asked for by MR. LAWRENCE PHILLIPS, is taken from St. Augustine's ' Confessions,' lib. x. cap. 27, 38. EDWARD BENSLY.

(11 S. v. 68.)

The first quotation referred to by E. M. SELLON is evidently modified from a passage in a letter from Lord Chesterfield to the Bishop of Waterford, 22 Jan., 1760. See ' Letters,' ed. Mahon, iv. p. 330. and my 'Life of Lord Chesterfield,' p. 517. The passage is as follows :

" Whether my end be more or less remote, I know I am tottering upon the brink of this world, and my thoughts are employed about this. However, while I crawl upon this planet, I think myself obliged to do what good I can, in my narrow domestic sphere, to my fellow- creatures, and to wish them all the good I cannot do."

WM. E. BROWNING.

BLADUD would appear to be quoting from memory. In the ' East London Church Fund Calendar 1912,' for 20 January, the lines,

With peaceful mind thy race of duty run. God nothing does, or suffers to be done, But what thou wouldst thyself if thou couldst see Thro' all events of things, as well as He,

are attributed by a printer's error to J. Byron, instead of to J. Byrom, the well- known Manchester poet (1692-1763), the best known of whose hymns are " Christians, awake, salute the happy morn," and " My spirit longs for Thee."

JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.

(11 S. v. 90-)

The beautiful lines quoted by I. X. B. form part of a sonnet written by Mr. Coulson Kernahan, and published in the Dickens number of Household Words, 14 June, 1902, amongst many other " opinions " of Charles Dickens given by prominent men and women at the invitation of the editor, Mr. Hall Caine. Perhaps I may be allowed to quote the whole of Mr. Kernahan's contribution :

" I don't know that I can say better what I think of Charles Dickens than in the enclosed sonnet, which appeared originally in The Graphic, signed ' C. K.,' and was attributed to Charles Kent instead of to me.

" 'The last two people I heard speak of itworo women ; neither knew the other, or the author, and both said byway of criticism : " God bless him ! " ' Thackeray, on ' A Christmas Carol.' And God did bless him if the prayers and tears

Of countless thousands ; if the knowledge sure

Of heart uplift, or strengthened to endure, Have aught of blessing. Surely he who cheers The mourning heart bids fly the sick man'* fears

Is blest, thrice blest ! A Prophet of the Poor,

In darksome den and squalid slum obscure He shows a world of love wherein appears The Way to God not in lone hermit^cell,

In Nature-worship, stately rite, stern creed, But through the human hearts he loved so well.

His voice is hushed, and yet, in heaven, indeed, Angelic hosts might pause to hear him tell Of ' Tiny Tim,' or ' Paul,' or ' Little Nell.' "

JOHN T. PAGE. Long Itchington, Warwickshire.

The passage MR. PEET quotes appeared in a very humorous description of the Derby Day written by Charles Dickens in Household Words of 7 June, 1851, from which I may, perhaps, quote a portion. It was Teddington's year.

" Well, to be sure, there never was such a Derby Day as this present Derby Day! Never, to be sure, were there so many carriages, so many fours, so many twos, so many ones, so many horsemen, so many people who have come down by ' rail,' so many fine ladies in so many broughams, so