Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/299

. N 15., APRIL 12. '56.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

291

hilly landscape. There is no artist's mark that I can discover, although it is noticeable, but pro- bably is accidental, that the end of the cord sus- taining the curtain is thrown into the exact form of the initials of John Wynants, iilAC*. The pic- ture is in perfect preservation, and of great beauty ; but a vague remembrance haunts me of having seen the design somewhere. Can any of your readers recognise it from the description ? Has a similar picture been engraved ? and if so, from what original ? H.

DRYDEN S FUNERAL.

At the risk of presuming to have discovered something like a " mare's nest," for I blush to say I have not time to keep pace with your wonder- ful assemblage of things otherwise forgotten, rare or recondite, to be met with in the various pages of your " N. & Q.", do allow me to make an ass of myself by submitting the following extract from " the Works of the late ingenious Mr. George Farquhar," 9th edit., published 1760. He says (vol. i. p. 73.) :

" I come now from Mr. Dryden's funeral, where we had an Ode in Horace sung, instead of David's Psalms ; whence you may find, that we don't think a poet worth Christian burial. The pomp of the ceremony was a kind of rhapsody, and fitter, I think, for Hudibras than him, because the cavalcade was mostly burlesque ; but he was an extraordinary man, and buried after an extraordinary fashion : for, I do believe, there was never such another burial seen.

" The oration, indeed, was great and ingenious, worthy the subject, and like the author, whose prescriptions can restore the living, and his pen embalm the dead. And so much for Mr. JDryden, whose burial was the same with his life, variety, and not of a piece. The quality and mob, farce and heroicks ; the sublime and ridicule mixt in a piece great Cleopatra in a hackney coach."

After this Note, I avail myself of the privilege of your invaluable miscellany to put Queries, viz. :

1. Which was the "Ode in Horace" so sung, and who composed the music ?

2. Is the "great and ingenious oration" still extant ? And was, or was not, Dr. Garth, who (it is asserted) " didn't write his own ' Dispen- sary,' " the author of it ?

Finally, and notwithstanding my presumption, I shall feel but too happy if my pen should be the humble means of embalming these, to me, interest- ing facts in your perennial,

I may also mention, that the same ingenious Mr. George Farquhar, on a "Friday night at eleven o'clock," about or a little before the time above mentioned, reports himself to have_/?ow to Spring Gardens, where he says, " nothing I found entertaining but the nightingale," &c. Does the oldest inhabitant in Westminster remember such a thing ? If not, there is only one other place for it to be "noted" in. EQUINE NIDUS.

BOYLE LECTURE.

Can you, or any of your readers, give me infor- mation on the following points relating to the Boyle Lecture ?

1st. Can a perfect list of the preachers be ob- tained ? That in Darling's Encyc. Bill, has many lacunce.

2nd. What public functionaries appoint the preacher ? This would be important as probably enabling an inquirer to make researches in the proper quarter.

3rd. Have any long intervals occurred in which no preacher has been appointed ? And if so, from what cause or causes ? Darling gives no preacher at all from 1807 to 1821, and from this latter date no one occurs till 1846-7.

4th. Is the preacher appointed for one, two, or three years ? In Darling's list, some appear to hold the office even for four years, and many for two or three.

5th. Is any regular notice given of the vacancy in the preachership, or of the time and place where the lecture is preached ?

These are not the days when we can afford to lose the champions of " the Christian religion against infidels." It concerns us, therefore, to know whether champions are appointed ; whether they are able ones ; and if so, that their achieve- ments should be known.

Besides, the subject has an antiquarian interest ; and so is, I hope, not unfit for your pages.

A CONSTANT READER.

Italian Manuscript Operas. I have in my pos- session 224 volumes of Italian manuscript operas, containing from 1400 to 1500 different works, and upwards of 73,000 pages of written matter.

At the commencement of by far the greater part of these operas, there is the name of the author ; as also by whom the music was written, to whom it was dedicated, when, and where performed ; with the names of the actors and actresses, and the parts taken by them in the performance.

This collection was made by a distinguished Maltese Jesuit, not long since deceased ; and, as I am told, embraces all the operas which were known in Europe from 1654 to 1822.

My object in writing this .Note is for the purpose of asking if any similar collection is known to exist in England ? W. W.

Malta.

Popular Names of Cattle. As I am only an occasional reader of " N. & Q.," I am not aware if my Query will be importunate, and a repetition.