Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/422

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NOTES AND QUERIES.

[2nd s. N 21., MAY 2-4. '56.

Hints or Rules for Training for Pedestrian Matches, fro.

" The wise for cure on exercise depend, God never made his work for man to mend."

I shall feel extremely obliged for any wrinkles on the above subject, knowing that you must number many amateur pedestrians among your subscribers and readers. J. B. N.

Bardados.

" In necessariis unitas" Whence came the quotation, " In necessariis unitas," etc. ? It is ascribed to S. Augustine, and to Melancthon * ; but w~here ? N. E.

<&utnt$ hritf)

Weaning of " Ribible " in Chaucer. In a ?mall edition of the Canterbury Talcs* purporting to contain the substance of Tyrwhitt's notes, I observe ribible to be referred to by the editor as the name of some unknown musical instrument.

" And playen songs on a small ribible."

Miller's Tale. " Eode forth to summon a widow, an old ribibe."

Frere's Tale.

In the Indies sul Decamerone, contained in the Parnaso Italiano continuato, Leipsic, 1 833, 1 notice the following :

" Ribeba.f Strumento di corde a sonare, che piu co- inunemente si dice Ribeca."

Evidently the " rebeck."

" And the joyous rebec's sound." Allegro.

Probably the name is originally Arabic ; at, least 1 have some remembrance of a Syrian or Arabian instrument called arabebbah being mentioned in the notes to Southey's Thalaba. Perhaps though, both name and thing went eastward in the time of the Crusades. G. F. B.

New York.

[Dr. Hawkins has the following apposite note on this ancient instrument: " RIBIBLE is by Mr. Urry in his Glossary to Chaucer, from Speght, a former editor, ren- dered a fiddle or gittern. It seems the rebeb is a Moorish word, signifying an instrument with two strings, played on with a bow. The Moors brought it into Spain, whence it passed into Italy and obtained the appellation of ribeca ; whence the English rebec, which Phillips and others after him render a fiddle with three strings. The rebel, or re- bab, is mentioned in Shaw's Travels as a Turkish or Moorish instrument now in use ; and is probably an im- provement on the Arabian pandura, described by Mer- sennus. (Hist, of Music, ii. 86.) The arabebbah noticed by Southey is a bladder and string, and is in the highest

[* Our correspondent W. S. of Northiam (1 st S. viii. 281.), says this celebrated saying is from Melancthon ; probably he can furnish the reference.]

t Bruno proposes to Calandrino to win La Nicolosa's heart by bringing his ribeba, and playing on it." Giornata 9j Nov, 5.

vogue among the Bedoweens, and doubtless of great an- tiquity. See Nares's Glossary, art. REBECK.]

Visit of the King of Denmark, 1768. I have in my possession a MS. entitled a Historical Re- lation of the Visit of his Danish Majesty to the University of Cambridge, 17G8, with this note on the cover :

"A manuscript intended for our most Gracious Queen Charlotte, but the scribe having made two or three omissions, another copy was made for Her Majesty, and a third for the Queen of Denmark, by the same hand."

I shall be obliged by any clue to the author of the MS., or references to any account of the same visit that may exist in MS. or in print ?

BCKIENSIS.

[A short notice of the visit of Christian VII., King of Denmark, to Cambridge University, is given in the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. xxxviii. p. 442. But a more extended account is left in MS. by William Cole (Ad- ditional MS. 5834. pp. 462466). An account of the illuminated Diploma of the University of Cambridge sent to His Danish Majesty will be also found in Addit. MS. 6772. p. 181. His Majesty's daily expenses whilst in England were computed at'lOOOZ. "Cole says his tour to the Newmarket races cost 4000/.]

Brief Account of the Kings of England.

" A Brief Account of the moral and political Acts of the Kings and Queens of England, from William the Conqueror to the Revolution in the year 1688, with re- flections tending to prove the necessity of a Reform in Parliament. London, 1793."

Such is the title of a work which appears to have been written by a mad republican. Is the author of it known ? He seems to have lived in Norwich, for in the introduction he refers to the condition of the poor and working classes there, in the year 1793. The copy I have was presented by the author to " the Norwich Revolution Society ; " and on the fly-leaf are written the names of per- sons who were, I suppose, members of that associa- tion. The book is a curiosity as a specimen of the times in which it was written ; of the wild opinions then prevalent, and of the vague de- clamation by which they were sustained.

Perhaps some Norwich reader of " N". & Q,." can afford the information I seek for. I would expect to hear that the historian of The^ Acts of the Kings and Queens was such an enthusiast that he figured in some of the state prosecutions of the

W. B. MACCABE.

[This work is attributed to R. Dimnore, in Rodd's Catalogue for 1834, which seems probable from another work of a similar character noticed in Watt's Bibliotheca, as follows: "RICHARD DINMORE, An Expositor of the Principles of the English Jacobins, with Strictures on the Political Conduct of C. F. Fox and E. Burke; including Remarks on the Resignation of G. Washington. London, 1796. 8vo. Is." The author seems to have wasted his fragrance on the desert air, for nothing is known of his personal history in the ordinary worka of reference.}