Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/477

12 s. ix. NOV. 12, i92i.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 391 Death painted on the old wooden bridge at Lucerne, thus alluded to in Longfellow's 'Golden Legend':—

Elsie: What are those paintings on the walls around us? Prince Henry: The Dance Macaber! The Dance of Death! All that go to and fro must look upon it, Mindful of what they shall be.

The grim musician Leads all men through the mazes of that dance To different sounds in different measures moving; Sometimes he plays a lute, sometimes a drum, To tempt or terrify. Elsie: What is this picture? Prince Henry: It is a young man singing to a nun, Who kneels at her devotions, but in kneeling Turns round to look at him, and Death, meanwhile Is putting out the candles on the altar!

Here he has stolen a jester's cap and bells, And dances with the Queen, And here the heart of the new-wedded wife Coming from church with her beloved lord, He startles with the rattle of his drum. Under it is written Nothing but death shall separate thee and me. Elsie: And what is this, that follows close upon it? Prince Henry: Death, playing on a dulcimer. Behind him, A poor old woman, with a rosary, Follows the sound, and seems to wish her feet Were swift to overtake him. Underneath The inscription reads, "Better is Death than Life.

Let us go forward, and no longer stay In this great picture-gallery of Death! I hate it! ay, the very thought of it!

DEVONSHIRE HOUSE GATES (12 S. ix. 231). What is the authentic history of Devon- shire House Gates ? MB. J. LANDFEAB LUCAS writes : " Mr. Gardener states that these gates were made for Lord Heath field's house at Turnham Green." On Oct. 17, The Daily Telegraph, in a paragraph headed " Devonshire House Gates," says that at one time they bore the Perceval arms and belonged to a house of the 2nd Lord Egmont, at Turnham Green, which was sold to Lord Heathfleld. Mr. Augustus J. C. Hare tells us that after Lord Heathfield's death in 1790 the house fell into such neglect that it was pulled down in 1838. The gates were then bought by the Duke of Devonshire. In ' Old and New London ' we read that the gates originally w TO made for More House (afterwards Beaufort House), Chelsea that Sir Hans Sloane, who later owned the property, allowed them to fall into neglect, and that Lord Burlington begged them of him and removed them to Chiswick House. It is stated that Pope refers to the gates in these lines: Passenger : Oh Gate, how com'st thou here ? Gate : I was brought from Chelsea last year, Batter'd with wind and weather. Inigo Jones put me together, Sir Hans Sloane let me alone, Burlington brought me hither. ' Familiar London ' (Black, 1904) has the same story with the addition that the gates were made by Inigo Jones for Lord Middlesex (temp. Charles I.), who then owned More House. Lionel Crauford, Earl of Middlesex, is given as one of the many owners of More House by Besant. Surely some one must know whether the gates arrived at Chiswick in 1740 or 1838. W. COUBTHOPE FOBMAN. INSCBIPTIONS AT ST. OMEB (12 S. vi. 145). The following may be added to those already given : 1. Hospice St. Jean. On a panel on the facade of this building, No. 11, Rue de Wissocq, is inscribed : HOSPICE ST. JEAN. Fonde par Jean de Wissocq 1408. Recoustruit par M. de Trazegnies 1778. Agrandi par Fadjonction de 1'ancien Couvent de Repenties Arrete" du 24 Nivoise An II., par le legs de Mr et Mtne. Huguet-Broucq 1855, par le dotation de Sr Marie Dusautois 1869, par 1'acquisition de deux maisons 1874. Restaure, 1881-1882. 2. Basilique Notre-Dame. In the former i cathedral, now the Church of Notre-Dame, I is preserved a thirteenth-century group I of sculpture representing our Lord, with I attendant figures of the Blessed Virgin and i St. John, formerly belonging to the Cathedral [ of Therouanne. The history of these figures i is set out in the inscription on the wall i behind (west end of south aisle) : I Ce groupe du 13me Siecle appele le grand Dieu de Therouanne faisait partie de la decoration du Portail de la Cath^drale de la Morinie. ! II etait place" a 1'exterieur a 20 metres de hauteur. A 1'epoque de la destruction il a ete donn6 par CHARLES QUINT a 1'eglise de St. Omer en 1553. DELETI MOBINT. Charles V. presented the " grand portail " of the Cathedral of Therouanne to the