Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/481

 2nd s. NO 24., JUNE 14. '56.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

473

Sir George Mackenzie. : Who was the Sir George Mackenzie on whom the following lines were written P

" Pingere vis qua fronte Cato, titubante Senatu,

Asserint Patria jura verenda suas! Pipgere vis magnus quo Tullius ore solebat

Dirigire attoniti linguam animamque Fori? Pingere vis quanta Mara maj estate canebat

Aut quali tetigit pollice Flaccus Ebur? Pinge Makenzaaum Pictor namque altera non est

Quaa referat tantos una Tabella viros."

" Would you paint Cato, with what awful looke He did the wavering Senatours rebuke ; Would you paint Tully, with what voyce and face He ruled affections in the pleading place; Virgil, with what a majesty he sings ; Or artful Horace, how he toucht his strings ;

Then draw Mackensy (sic), Painter, for there's none But he that does expresse all these in one."

Copied literally from a MS. written on a half- sheet of foolscap, apparently of foreign fabric, bearing in its centre the lion of the seven united provinces of the Netherlands. The handwriting as well as the orthography would indicate the be-> ginning of the last century. It is docketed in an- other hand, apparently of later date,

"An Epitaph

on Sir Geo. Mackenzy,

Latin and English."

A. MT. Frankfort.

[Sir George Mackenzie was an eminent Scotch lawyer and miscellaneous writer, born at Dundee in 1G36, and died in London, May 2, 1691. Sir George so strongly advocated the doctrine of passive, obedience, that he ob- tained from the Covenanters the title of " The Blood- thirst}' Advocate, and Persecutor of the Saints of God." The lines quoted by our correspondent is an epigram by Thomas Gleg, M.D., and placed beneath his portrait pre- fixed to his Works, 2 vols. fol., 1716-22. They have also been " done into English " by Alex. Cunningham, Profes- sor of Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh :

" Painter, if thou would'st draw how Cato stood, Fix'd in defence of 's country's laws and good : If thou would'st draw great Tully's eloquence, When he inspir'd the bar with life and sense? If thou would'st draw Metro's majestick lays, Or with what art and genius Flaccus plays? Painter, MACKENZIE draw, none other's fit To represent such men, such sense, such wit."]

Peter John Allan. There was a volume of poems published in 1853 with the following title : The Poetical Remains of Peter John Allan, Esq., late of Fredericton, New Brmmvick, edited by the Rev. Henry Christmas. There is also a Life of the author by his brother. Could you inform me, by referring to the memoir, where the author was born, and what was the date of his death ? R. J.

[Peter John Allan was born at York, June 0, 1825. The Biographical Notice prefixed to his Poems does not state the date of his death, but that he died at the pre- mature age of three-and-twenty.]

Corderies. What is the meaning of the word corderies, as used in the following sentence from the " Introductory Epistle " to The Fortunes of Nigel, p. 1. Sir Walter does not explain it ia his glossary, nor can I find it in any dictionary or glossary :

" I no longer stand in the outer shop of our bibliopo- lists, bargaining for the objects of my curiosity with an unrespactive shop-lad, hustled among the bovs who come to buy corderies and copy-books, "c."

C. D. LAMONT.

[The Corderies are elementary Latin books, formerly much used in schools. The author, Mathurin Corderiua, spent his long life in teaching children at Paris, Borr deaux, and Geneva, and published several books for the use of schools. Clarke's edition of his Colloquies is re- commended by Dr. Johnson.]

The Feldon of Warwickshire. In Ireland's Picturesque Views on the Warwickshire p. 167., occurs the following passage :

" From hence the river winding its pleasant course, affords a beautiful view of the Feldon of Warwickshire, called the Vale of Red Horse."

Having searched in vain to find the meaning of this word, perhaps some of your learned readers can enlighten me on the subject ?

J. B. WHITBOBNE.

[Feldon seems to be a corruption of field and down (Sax. feld and dun), meaning an open country, formerly used by way of antithesis to frith, a forest. (See Todd's Johnson.') Hence Camden says, " Warwickshire is di- vided into two parts, Feldon and Woodland, or the field and woody country, parted by the river Avon."]

WATCHFULNESS OF THE GOOSE.

(2 nd S. i. 246.)

Your correspondent MB. PHILLOTT has under- taken to vindicate the goose against the charge of silliness, to which it is proverbially subject ; and to establish its courage, fidelity, and instinct. The most celebrated historical performance of this bird is the preservation of the Roman Capitol by its warning screams, when the Gauls were scaling the ramparts. Of this renowned story several versions, not materially differing from one another, have been handed down to us from antiquity.

The account of Livy is, that the Gauls climbed the steep declivity of the Capitol in so noiseless a manner, as to escape the notice not only of the sentinels, but even of the dogs an animal sensi- tive to nocturnal sounds. They were not, how- ever, unobserved by the geese ; which birds, being sacred to Juno, had been spared, notwith- standing the extreme want of food ; and this cir- cumstance saved the garrison. For M. Manlius, roused by their screams, and the Happing of their