Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 8.djvu/436

 358 NOTES AND QUERIES. [i2s.vin.ApRn.3o,io2i. 'THE GOLDEN MANUAL,' (12 S. viii. 331). In the Bodleian Library there is a copy of ' The Golden Manual, being a Guide to Catholic Devotion, compiled from ap- proved sources.' It was published by Burns and Lambert, Portman Street and Paternoster Row, 1850. It consists of 761 pages, in addition to 21 pages of Devotions to the Most Holy Sacrament and is, therefore, one of the largest (if not, indeed, the largest) Catholic prayer-books published. It con- tains a number of indulgenced prayers literally translated from the * Raccolta,' Bouvier's ' Treatise on Indulgences,' and the ' Coeleste Palmetum.' The name of the compiler, however, is not given. DUDLEY WRIGHT. Beaumont Buildings, Oxford. fact that Gray was also thinking of himself. The word " Science " is used in a wide and general sense of knowledge and the arts, not in its modern and restricted meaning ; and " frown'd not " is an equivalent of " smiled upon " or " favoured." The poet of the Epitaph is thus described as a youth unsuccessful in the pursuit of Fortune or Fame ; Knowledge, however, despite I his " humble birth," smiled favourably on his aspirations ; and, at the same time, Melancholy (according to Burton, students are " more subject to this malady than others ") afflicted or seized upon him. If this reading be accepted the " and " which couples " Melancholy mark'd him for her own " to the preceding line seems to fall naturally into its place. HAROLD WILLIAMS. This was published by Burns and Oates : ' the title page bears no date, but the book has the imprimatur of Cardinal Wiseman, dated January 1, 1850. It is described on the title page as ' A Guide to Catholic Devotion, Public and Private, compiled | from Catholic sources,' and is very com- prehensive, containing 821 pages. JAMES BRITTEN. 41, Boston Boad, Brentford. GRAY'S 'ELEGY' (12 S. viii. 319). The very smoothness of Gray's lines seduces the ear and diverts the reader from an inquiry into the meaning of a poem which is by no means, in every passage, clear, simple, or direct. C. C. B. raises the ques- tion of the interpretation of the first stanza of the Epitaph. Ingenious explanations have, at different times, been offered. The more recondite suggestions may be dismissed as improbable. It is unlikely that Fair Science frown'd not on his humble birth refers to the casting of a horoscope, especi- ally as the young poet of the preceding stanzas is described as of humble and obscure origin. And it is difficult to believe that Gray's personification of Melancholy involves a reference back to Milton's de- scription of " divinest Melancholy " as O'erlaid with black, staid Wisdom's hue, thus giving a juxtaposition and contrast of Science (i.e., Knowledge and Wisdom). The Epitaph should be read first with the memory of the preceding characteriza- tion of the " drooping " and melancholy poet, and, secondly, with a recollection of the CULBIN SANDS (12 S. viii. 190, 235, 318). SAND MOUNDS AT SOUTHPORT. An account of the origin of the Lancashire Sandhills will be found in ' The Battle of Land and Sea ' by William Ashton. The tradition mentioned by your last correspondent probably refers to Raven Meols, the district between Formby and the Alt River, which was overwhelmed by sand during the sixteenth century. The old town of Formby was also over- whelmed by sand, the last house dis- appearing about 1739. There is an account of this in the above-mentioned book, of which an enlarged edition has recently been published. F. CROOKS. KATHARINE TUDOR OF BERAIN (12 S. viii. 311). This much-married lady was daughter and heiress of Tudor ap Robert Fychan of Berain, Denbighshire. It seems unlikely that she could have been descended from Henry VII., although she may have been akin to the Royal House. Henry VII. 's grandfather, Owen Tudor of Anglesey, who claimed descent from Cadwaladr and who married Henry V.'s widow, Catherine of France, was son of Meredith ap Tudor (Theodore) by Margaret, daughter of David Vaughan, and grandson of Tudor ap Grono and Margaret, daughter of Thomas ap Llywelyn ap Owen. A. R. BAYLEY. Mrs. Thrale, herself a descendant of Katharine, says : I guess not why this man was a Yorkist. The other party was natural to the inhabitants of North Wales where the proud Duke of Somer- set had married a daughter of his to the son of