Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 11.djvu/470

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. XL JUNE 13, 1903.

concerning this little Northamptonshire village and its celebrated battle-field. Mastin was vicar of Naseby, and gives many curious items of information in his book. He quotes largely from the registers, and cites most of the important inscriptions in the church and churchyard. Some of these still exist, but many have now disappeared. When visiting the church I compared all I could discover with Mastin's text, and found it to be on the whole very reliable. One interesting memorial which he mentions " upon a Swithsland slate, near the tower," has become much shattered indeed, nearly half the inscription is torn away. In the following copy the brackets indicate the missing portions :

[In Memory of Edward Perkins]

Serjeant i[n the 23 d regiment]

of the royal We[lch Fusileers]

at Minorca wh[en taken]

and 5 battles in [Germany]

who being worn [out with]

16 years service d[eparted]

this life May 9 th 1[767]

in the 40 th year of his [age]

Bravely didst thou ser[vej

thy King and Country.

In the church, in front of the altar rails, is a slab containing on a slip of brass the following inscription :

" Here lyeth John Shukbrugh of Navesbee Gent depted this lyfe in ye faythe | of Jesus Christ ye xxv of Septemb 1576 layyng unto ye tuissyon of ye almygh | tye Joane his wyfe by whome he had iij sonnes viz Jesper John & Edward | and xiii daughters viz Elizabeth Anna Anne Frauncis Avys Elizzabeth | Frauncis Marye Dorrytye Judeth Margrytt Maued and Jane."

Below, on the left, is an empty matrix, and on the right the following arms and crest : Arms, Quarterly of four : 1 and 4, on a chevron three cinquefoils, and on a canton a fleur-de-lis ; 2, fretty ; 3, three owls. Crest, out of a ducal coronet an elephant's head.

I cannot find that these arms refer to the Shuckbrugh family. By whom were they borne ? The quaint expression " tuition of the Almighty " is unique in my experience. Can any other instance of its use be quoted 1

In l Battles and Battle-fields in England ' (1896) Mr. C. R. B. Barrett, when writing on Naseby, informs his readers that "in the churchyard a massive stone cross of plain design has been erected in memory of the slain there buried." This is quite an error. A cross certainly stands within the church- yard, but it was erected by the FitzGeralds, about the same time as the obelisk, to replace the mutilated Market Cross. The site was eventually enclosed in the churchyard. There is no inscription on this cross, but the stump of the old one, now removed to the junction

of the Northampton and Sibbertoft roads, contains the ominous words :

REPAIKED

1860.

Both its removal and reparation are matters for regret. Nota mala res optuma est. JOHN T. R

J AGE.

A SERMON IN PROVERBS.

I HOPE that in presenting the following literary curiosity to the readers of 'N. &, Q.' I shall be absolved from having any intention of wishing to read them a sermon ; on the contrary, if they read it at all, it will be they who read themselves a sermon.

With the Editor's permission, I propose occasionally submitting for inspection in these columns some of the French literary (philological or etymological) curiosities contained in the few somewhat scarce books in my possession or those to which I have had access. I cannot do better than begin by a sermon not an ordinary sermon, but perhaps all the more interesting on that account. It is old, and sufficiently old, I think, to be fresh to most people. For the benefit of those who are interested enough to wish to know its source, I may say that the extract is made from the ' Observations Preliminaires ' of the ' Dictionnaire des Pro- verbes Frangais,'by M. de la Mesangere, 1823, third edition, pp. 9-13. It is the only speci- men of the kind 1 have met with, and previous editions do not contain it. In some editions of ' Le Festin de Pierre ' the first proverb occurs in Act V. sc. ii. Sermon en proverbes, ou proverbes en gui.ie de sermon.

Mes tres chers freres,

Tant va la cruche & I'eauqu'd la Jin die se brise.^ Ces paroles sont tirees de Thomas Corneille, Moliere et cpmpagnie (Sganarelle a don Juan, acte V. scene iii. v. 14).

Cette ve"rite devrait faire trembler tous les pecheurs ; car enfin, Dieu est bon, mais aussi qui aime bien chdtie bien. 11 ne s'agit pas de dire je me convertirai. Ce sont des e'coute silpleut ; autant en emporte le vent ; un bon tiens vaut mieux que deux tu auras. II faut ajustersesjl&tes, et ne pas s'endormir stir le roti. On sait bien oil Von est, mais on ne salt pas oil Von va ; quelquefois I' on tombe de fievre en chaud mal, et I' on troque aon cheval borgne pour un aveuyle.

Au surplus, mes enfans, Jionni soit qui mal y pense ! un bon averti en vaiit deux ; il n'est pas pire sourd que celui qui ne veut pa* entendre ; a de'crasser un Mature, on perd son temp* et son savon, et foil ne pent pas faire boire un aw. s'il ?/'a soif. Mais suffit, je parle comme saint Paul, la bouche ouverte ; c'est pour tout le monde, et qui -s-e sent morveux se mouche.

Ce queje vous en dis, n'est pas qtieje vous en parle ; comme un foil avise bien un saye, je vous dis votre fait, et je ne vais pas chercher midi a quatorze