Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/162

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NOTES AND QUERIES.

[2* S. NO 8., FEB. 23. '56.

strange and uncouth woodcuts. Can any of your readers inform me what is the proper title-page of this volume, and at what date it was printed ? Where can a perfect copy of it be seen ? Is it a book of rarity and value ? HENRY KENSINGTON.

[This work is extremely rare: no copy is to be found either in the Bodleian or British Museum Catalogues. It was translated by Laurence Andrewe, a native of Calais, and some time printer at the sign of the Golden Cross, near the eastern end of Fleet Street, by the bridge which crossed the Fleet. It is entitled, " The Wonderful Shape and Nature of Man, Beastes, Serpentes, Fowles, Fishes, and Monsters, translated out of diuers Authors, by Laur. Andrewe of Calis, and printed at Antwerpe, with Pictures by Job. Doesborow " (1510), fol. It appears to have been reprinted in London with the following title: The Mi/r- rour ? and the Dyscrysscyon of the World, with many Mer- uaylles. London : no date, small folio.]

Who was Tom Thumb ? I learn from Sharon Turner's History of the Anglo-Saxons, that Tom Thumb was once a living character, and flourished in the reign of Edgar. Is anything farther known of him ? I shall be grateful to any of your cor- respondents who may reply; and the more full-y, the greater my gratitude. SHERIDAN WILSON. Bath.

[Turner's authority for connecting this renowned dwarf with King Edgar's "court is Tom Hearne, who, in the Appendix to Benedict Ablas, p. lv., states, that "Robert Burton, the famous author of The Anatomy of Melancholy, was such a collector of little ludicrous pieces, which he gave, with a multitude of books of the best kind, to the Bodleian Library, one of which little pieces was The His- tory of Tom Thumb, which however looked upon as al- together fictitious, yet was certainly founded upon some authentic history, as being nothing else originally but a description of King Edgar's dwarf." Mr. liitson, how- ever, thinks that Ilearne was probably led to fix upon this monarch by some ridiculous lines, added about his own time, to introduce a spurious second and third part, namely, Dr. Wagstaffe's Thomas Redivivus : or a Compleat History of the Life and Marvellous Actions of Tom Thumb, fol., 1729, which was written to ridicule the ballad of Chevy-Chase, by Mr. Addison. The piece given by Bur- ton to the Bodleian (Selden, Art. L. 79.) is the oldest copy known of this story : it is a small 8vo. in black letter, entitled " Tom Thumbe his Life and Death : where- in is declared many maruailous acts of manhood, full of wonder and strange merriments. Which little kuight lived in King Arthur's time, and famous in the Court of Great Brittaine. London: printed for John Wright, 1G30." It commences thus

" In Arthur's court Tom Thumbe did liue,

A man of mickle might, The best of all the table round,

And eke a doughty knight : " His stature but an inch in height,

Or quarter of a span ; Then thinke you not this little knight

Was prou'd a valiant man ? "

This piece has been reprinted, with some biographical notices, in Joseph Ritson's Pieces of Ancient Popular Poetry, 12mo., 1791, p. 93.]

Count Borowlaski. The celebrated Polish dwarf, Count Borowlaski, spent the latter days of

his life in Durham, and is said to have died there. Can any of your readers inform me in what year the Count died, at what age, and where he was buried ? He was alive in 1828. G. H. L.

[Count Borowlaski, the celebrated Polish dwarf, died at his residence, the Bank's "Cottage, near Durham, on September 5, 1837, aged ninety-eight. His remains were placed near those of the late Mr. Stephen Kemble, in the nine altars in Durham Cathedral. The person of the Count, though of diminutive formation, was of the com- pletest symmetry, his height being short of thirty-six inches. In former times he travelled on the Continent, as well as in the United Kingdom. About sixty years ago, having been casually seen by some of the preben- daries of Durham, he was prevailed upon by that body to take up his abode in the above cottage for life, they en- gaging to allow him a handsome income, which he en- joyed up to his death. The Count was an excellent wit and humorist, and full of information as to foreign parts, as well as being acquainted with several languages, which made his company much courted by the gentry of the city and neighbourhood. When young he married. It is rather remarkable that the Count had brothers and sisters, some of them above six feet. Mr. Bonomi, the architect, took a full cast of him. Gent. Mag., Oct. 1837, p. 435.]

Mrs. Pilltingtoris " Memoirs." I have lately looked into The Memoirs of Mrs. Lcetitia Pilhing- ton, wife to the Rev. Mr. Matth. Pilkington, written by herself, 2 vols. 8vo., Dublin, 1748. It is a curious production of its kind, and contains many anecdotes of Dean Swift and his contempo- raries in Ireland ; but it is not by any means suitable for general reading. Is it a narrative of facts ? and if so, who was Mrs. Pilkington ? Any information will oblige. ABHBA.

[Mrs. Pilkington's Memoirs are written with great sprightliness and wit, and describe the different humours of mankind very naturally ; but they must, as to facts (says Chalmers), be read with the caution necessary in the Apologies of the Bellamys and Baddelys of our own day. Mrs. Pilkington was the intimate friend of Swift (see Scott's edition of Swift's Works') who thought very highly of her intellectual faculties, of which her power of memory would seem to have been the most remarkable, if it be true, as stated, that she was able to repeat almost the whole of Shakspeare by heart. Consult Gibber's Lives; Biograpliica Dramatica ; and any of our Biogra- phical Dictionaries for her personal history.]

Credence Table. So much is now heard about a credence table, that I think it would be well to know the right meaning of the word. I am in- clined to think too much meaning is attached to it. Perhaps some of your correspondents will en- lighten us. E. S. W.

Norwich.

[The derivation of this word has been lately discussed in The Times. One writer states, that " the word is of Italian derivation, and is used in ordinary conversation. La credenza means nothing more than a small cupboard or shelf in 3113- handy situation, serving to stow away any odd matters that may be wanted at a moment's no- tice. La credenza is not necessarily a piece of religious furniture, nor has it any connexion with religious rijes