Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 9.djvu/43

 ii s. ix. JAN. 10, MI*.! NOTES AND QUERIES.

THE LEGEND OF ST. CHRISTOPHER : PAINT- ING AT AMPTHILL (11 S. viii. 467, 516). Perhaps the panels about which MBS. POL- LARD inquires represent the unusual legend of ."St. Christopher and King Dagon, as in the wall-painting at St. Keverne, Cornwall. See Journal Royal Inst. of Cornwall, vol. xv. p. 151, and vol. xvi. p. 392 (with illustration).

YGREC.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION WANTED (11 S. viii. 168). Dr. William Dick of Tullvmet was son of Robert Dick of Ballie- kelurie (1733-1824) by his first wife, Susan Douglas. Dr. William, who was their eldest surviving son, was born 29 Dec., 1757; married, in 1786, Charlotte (born 1755), 'daughter of Mr. Maclaren (styled Baron Maclaren) of East Haugh, near Pitlochry, -and died v.p. 16 Jan., 1821. R. E. B.

MILITARY : COLOURED PRINT W T ANTED ^11 S. viii. 489). I would suggest referring to the Royal United Service Library or the Albert one at Aldershot. For black and white, see the silver centrepiece at the officers' mess at Woolwich, which com- memorates the centenary of the Madras Horse Artillery, representing so a Bengal H.A. tells me the same uniform as that worn by tho Bengal H.A. at the period 'required. HAROLD MALET, Col.

' MUSARUM DELTCIJE,' 1656 (US. viii. 509). In reply to L. L. K., the small volume called ' Musarum Deliciae ; or, The Muses Recreation,' 1656, by Admiral Sir John Mennes and Dr. James Smith, is evidently the one he is seeking. Very rare in its original form, it has been twice reprinted with other works, called respectively ' Wit Restor'd,' 1658, and ' Wit's Recreations,' 1640, which seem to have been compiled by them, if not wholly theirs.

The first of these later issues (limited to 150 copies) appeared in 1817, being edited by Mr. E. Du Bois, and it has now become almost as rare as the original. The second reprint, in two volumes, has no date, but it must have been published by John Carnden Hotten after 1870, a sale at Sotheby's of that year being mentioned in the ' Advertise- ment ' at the beginning. My copy w r as bought at the sale of the Cosens library in 1891.

Notices of Sir John Mennes and of Dr. Smith are to be found in the * Dictionary of National Biography ' and in Hotten's edition of their works, to which allusion has just been made. Sir John, whose monu- ment is in the church of St. Olave, Hart

Street, was a man of some mark. He is mentioned again and again by Samuel Pepys, who seems on the whole to have had a poor opinion of him, and generally speaks of him in slighting terrn^. The ' Musarum Deliciae ' is not a book for Sunday reading, but James Smith (Sir John's associate) was a clergyman and D.D. who became Rector of Exminster and Archdeacon of Barnstaple. His moral character, as far as we know, stood high, and it has been suggested that he might fittingly have applied to himself the line :

Lasciva est nobis pagina vita proba est.

PHILIP NORMAN.

" Musarum Deliciae : or, The Muses Recrea- tion, conteining severall pieces of poetique wit. By S r J. M. and Ja: S." (i.e., Sir John Mennis and Dr. James Smith), first published 1655, was republished in 1656 and 1658, and again in 1817. The last of these editions appeared with ' Wit Restor'd ' and ' Wits Recreations.' A new edition of the three books, with augmented notes, indexes, and a portrait of Sir John Mennis, was issued in two volumes by John Camden Hotten (not dated) about 1874. See ' Advertisement ' in Hotten's edition, and W. Carew Hazlitt's ' Handbook to the Popular, Poetical, and Dramatic Literature of Great Britain,' 1867, p. 388. Hazlitt writes as to the 1656 edition : " Second edition, with a slight variation in title."

In Hotten's edition ' The Lowse's Pere- grination ' appears vol. i. p. 48. The song, with many differences and an extra stanza, is in the * Supplement of Reserved Songs from Merry Drollery, 1661,' which should be attached to J. Woodfall Ebsworth's edition of ' Choyce Drollery,' 1876.

J. F. MEEHAN, BOOKSELLER ( 1 1 S. viii. 504). Perhaps I may be allowed to offer an addendum to MR. WILLIAM MERCER'S inter- esting article. Mr. Meehan was the author of ' The Famous Houses of Bath and District,' ' More Famous Houses of Bath, and Dis- trict,' ' Famous Buildings of Bath and District,' ' Bath Episodes,' * Hetling House, Bath, its Ancient and Modern History ' (all published by B. & J. F. Meehan, 32, Gay Street, Bath). Very possibly he wrote other books. It is to be hoped that his collection of Bath relics will be acquired by the city. I have a letter from him dated 2 Nov./ll, in which he speaks of his " private Bath library ? which in some respects is more complete than the collection in the city here, i.e. Bath." ROBERT PIERPOINT.