Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/156

 148

NOTES AND QUERIES.

[2<i S. tf 8., FEB. 23. '56.

and, from the expressions " hopp-liarlott," and " a long way off out of the shires," its scene of action was probably in Kent or Sussex.

" A certain lewd fellow of the basest sort, came from a long way off out of the shires, and married a hopp-harlott, who had been whipped round our town more than once. The parish officers were her bride's maids, and her hus- band was not afraid of receiving curtain lectures, for their sole bed was of dirty straw on the dirty ground ; never- theless, she was so cursed of condition, that he wearied soon of his life, and went to the parish clerk, seeking to be rid of his crooked rib. Solomon was sly, and replying to his inquiry if the parson could unmarry them, said: ' Why need ye trouble his reverence ? Have not I, man and boy, been his clerk forty years come allhallowtide? I can do it as well as e'er a parson of them all, and as sure as there is now a good tap of ale at the " Bell." Let us go there vou stand two pots, and I will do all right for you.' So, after drinking out his fee, Solomon took the fellow into the church by the priest's door. ' Now,' said he, 'ye were married here; so put off your jacket, and kneel at confession, for 'tis a solemn business.' Then they went into the belfry, and, bidding him take off liis shoes, and stand on a stool, he gave him the longest bell- rope. ' Tie that tightly, my lad, round your throat,' said Solomon, ' and as soon as I am gone, kick away the stool. I will return in about an hour, when you will be unmarried, and out of all your troubles ! ' "

E. D.

The Schoolmaster abroad. In addition to the original letters already furnished by your corre- spondents, the following may be depended upon. It was written by the girl's mother to her mistress, on the occasion of her complaints that she was bug-bitten at lodgings in Brighton, where the family was sojourning ; but as ihe lodging-house- keeper was positive none existed, and none could be found, medical inspection was made, and a cutaneous complaint ascertained, owing to over- feeding of the complainant :

" Hon rcd Maddam,

" As I had a good edication mj'self, I am greeved for to sea in what manor witch our Sarey is bitt by the buggs. And it is my witch for she to slepe in the bed she always do, and not for to go for to slepe all round the beds in the house, for to fede all the buggs in Briton, Hon re * Maddam ; witch is not rite, as you. must no, nether oft she to be witched so to do. And so no more at present from,

" Hon (l Maddam,

" Your humble servent,

" S. GRIBBEL. " Octtober 8."

E. D.

" Veni Creator Spiriliis." The authorship of this celebrated hymn belongs to Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, ob. 1228. This state- ment is made on the authority of a contemporary writer, in a work entitled Distinctions!* Monastic. The passage containing this testimony is but just published, for the first time, in the Spicilegium Solesmense, torn. iii. p. 130. The learned editor Dom Pitra has upon it the following observation :

" Nota cotetanei viri et conterrttnei, nee indiligentis, nee

imperiti testimonium, de re a multis agitata, novum et gravissimum."

It appears, therefore, that this fine composition was the work of an Englishman. B. II. COWPER.

Note from a Fly-leaf. About twenty years ago, a friend gave me an autograph note from a copy of Mrs. Piozzi's Retrospections, that appears worthy of preservation :

" A little Book written to ridicule this Book, early in 1801 says Mrs. Piozzi believes Louis 14 le was the Beast of the Apocalypse and his Number 6C6 why she might as well" believe it of Buonaparte!; and now in 1815 half the Town does believe it of Buonoparte: 1 never said I believed it of either of them."

Spelling, pointing, and Italics, are carefully adhered to. HUGH OWESS.

Archbishops King and Magee. Archbishop King died May 8, 1729, and was buried in the churchyard of Donnybrook, near Dublin ; but no monument nor other me'morial of him can now be found there. Archbishop Magee died August 19, 1831, and was buried in the old churchyard of Rathfarnham, likewise not far from Dublin. His tomb stands exactly in the centre of the ancient church ; but as no inscription has been placed on it, the spot will ere long be forgotten. This treatment appears somewhat strange in connexion with two of the ablest and greatest of the arch- bishops of Dublin. It ought, one would think, to be corrected ; but perhaps Sir William Jones's plan is the wisest : " The best monument that can be erected to a man of literary talents is a good edition of his works." ABUBA.

A Cousin of Queen Anne. Under this head, in my note-book, I have the following from Annual Register, 1772 :

" Died, in-Emanuel Hospital, near Tothil Fields, aged 108, Mrs. Wyndvmore; she was second cousin to Queen Anne, and had " been upwards of fifty years in that hospital."

Probably the relationship arose through the Hydes (?). C. J. DOUGLAS.

Forensic Jocularity. Mr. Scarlett, counsel for a Mr. Cole, defendant in a breach of promise case, pleaded that some (love) letters, likely to damage his client's case, could not be admitted in evidence, not being stamped; the judge overruled this, and a young counsel at the table wrote and handed round the following :

" 'Tis said, o'er his cheek the scarlet blush stole, As he asked for a stamp to a deed black as cole ; If requests such as these in ' the Pleas ' are admitted, Our fair countrywomen will quite be outwitted: Unless in their "reticules blank stamps they carry, And take a receipt for each kiss till they marry."

C. D. L.

Grcenock.