Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/483

 2< S. NO 24., JUNE 14. '56.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

475

84., edit. Bonn.). The attempt of the Gauls to

enter the Capitol by mines is likewise mentioned

by Cicero and Servius. L.

(To be concluded in our next.)

" TRIAL OF A STUDENT.

(2 nd S. i. 392.)

From a complete copy in my possession, I can supply J. D. with the title of this curious produc- tion, viz. :

" The Trial of a Student at the College of Clutha, in the Kingdom of Oceana. ' A quoi bon tant d'Ecoles et d'Universites pour ne leur apprendre rien de ce qui leur importe a Savoir. Quel est done 1'Objet de vos Colleges? Professeurs de Mensonge, c'est pour abuser que vous feignez de 1'instruire, et comme ces brigands qui mettent des Fanaux sur des ecueils, vous Peclairez pour le perdre.' ROUSSEAU. 'Histories make men wise.' BACON. Glasgow: printed by James Duncan, and sold at his Shop, opposite the Main Guard, Irongate, 1768."

Followed by an editorial note on p. 2.

I am unable (in the meantime) to say who the student was, but the College of Clutha refers to that of Glasgow. In the course of the Trial will be found a number of names given only in initials ; among whom are, Principal Leechman, Mr. An- derson, Dr. Williamson, Dr. Reid, Professor Traill, Dr. Wilson, Professor Clow, Dr. Steven- son, Dr. Thomas Hamilton, Professor Moor. These all held offices in the College at that date, some of them very distinguished men.

The author of this satirical piece was the Rev. William Thorn, M.A., minister of Govan (near Glasgow). Other effusions of a similar quality are from his pen, such as

" The Happiness of Dead Clergymen, provided they die in the Lord; a Funeral Sermon, preached in the Laigh Kirk of Glasgow on the Death of the Committee which sat there, by the Reverend Doctor Tail (Traill the Col- lege Divinity Professor), Glasgow. (Text) Rev. chap. xiv. v. 13. Typis Academicis (the Press of R. & A. Foulis), "

Also the

1769.

Concluding with a humorous poem. Al same subject continued in a very ludicrous

" Vindication of Dr. Tail from the charge of Heresy, by the Reverend Dr. Tail, 1770," &c. (pp. 108.)

The Rev. Mr. Thorn was an ardent reformer in endeavouring to purge the Church and schools of learning from many abuses which had apparently crept into them. Though usually spoken of as an "original character," he was without doubt a man of good taste and superior qualifications; and handled his quill with a dashing unsparing severity which must have been anything but pleasant to his clerical brethren. His wit, jokes, and repartee, were always at hand ; and in face- tious companies of the present day, there continue

to be related the clever sayings of "Tarn o' Givan." G. N.

In answer to J. D., " the College of Clutha, in the kingdom of Oceana," is of course Glasgow College. One of the "nations" at Glasgow is called " Oceana," I think, but I am not sure about this. The piece, a college squib, is by the late Rev. William Thorn, minister of Govan, near Glasgow. It is published along with Sermons, Tracts, &c., in his Works, " Glasgow, James Dy- mock, 1799" (which I have now open before me), at pp. 374428. The " student," I have heard say, was himself; but your Glasgow correspondent G. N. will know more about it than I can tell you. The date of the piece before the " trial," in the Works, is "Glasgow, March 1763" (at p. 371.); so that if the pieces are in the Works in the order in which they were written, the "trial" neces- sarily dates after March 1763. Thom was a very talented man ; his wit and humour, most of it sarcastic, is yet a proverb in and about Glasgow and here : his jokes are still in the mouths of our old raconteurs; some of them, even though age has dulled their point, are unrivalled in the Scot- tish Clerical Joe Miller, whose yet un collected and unrecorded treasures pass freely from mouth to mouth in jovial after-dinner circles. He was a fierce radical or reformer, and admirer of America, among fierce old tories, and at a very dangerous time. His works contain many more slaps at St. Mungo's University some very bitter.

C. D. LAMONT. Greenock.

PLOUGH MONDAY CUSTOM.

(2 na S. i. 386.)

1 st S. vi. 339. a Query occurs also as to the origin of Plough Monday.

In a curious tract printed by Pynson, 1493, with the title of A Compendiouse Treetise Dya- logue of Dives and Pauper, among the supersti- tions censured at the beginning of the year, is that of " ledyng the ploughe aboute the. fire, as for gode begynnyng of the yere that they sholde fare the better alle the yere followyng."

It seems also once to have been customary to perfume the ploughs with incense, or to bless them, for Bale in his Yet a Course at the Romyshc. Foxe, printed at Zurich, 1542, amongst the "aun- cyent rytes and laudable ceremonyes of Holy Churche " says, " Then ought my lorde (Bonner) to suffre the same selfe ponnyshment for not sens- ing the plowhess upon Plowgh Mondaye."

Dr. Pegge, speaking of the Derbyshire custom, says :

" Plough Monday, the Monday after Twelfth Day, is when the labours of the Plough and other rustic tools