Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 12.djvu/137

 s. xii. AUG. 15, loos.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

129

persons to whom pity was shown by birds and beasts of prey,

COMESTOR OXONIENSIS.

JOHNSON'S ' LIVES OF THE POETS.' Johnson in the 'Life of Savage' ('Lives,' iii. 296, 1783 edition) has this sentence :

" Mr. Miller introduced him [Savage] in a farce and directed him to be personated on the stage in a dress like that which he then wore ; a mean insult which only intimated that Savage had but one coat."

Cunningham in his edition of the * Lives ' (ii. 414) says it was the facetious Joe Miller, who died 15 August, 1738, but I cannot find that he wrote any plays.

It seems more probable that it was James Miller, rector of Upcerne, and author of 'The Humours of Oxford,' 'The Coffee- House,' 'Art and Nature,' 'The Man of Taste,' and 'The Universal Passion.' In 'The (Joffee-House ' one of the characters is Bays, a poet, but he does not resemble Savage, nor are there, I think, any directions about his dress. " Julio, a Savage," appears in 'Art and Nature,' but he can hardly be a caricature of Richard Savage. ' Mr. Taste ; or, the Poetical Fop' (2 nd S. xii. 293), which caricatures Pope, was never, I think, put upon the stage. Neither Baker nor Genest makes any mention of caricatures of Savage by Miller. Did James Miller write any other plays, or was Johnson only giving some fancied grievance of Savage's, the crea- tion of his diseased and suspicious mind ?

In the 'Life of Garth' ('Lives,' ii. 298), Johnson, alluding to Pope's belief that Garth had "died in the communion of the Church of Rome," writes :

"It is observed by Lowth that there is less distance than is thought between scepticism and popery, and that a mind wearied with perpetual doubt willingly seeks repose in the bosom of an infallible church."

It has been suggested that this is not Robert Lowth, the bishop, but his father, William Lowth, the author of a ' Commen- tary upon the Prophets.' I should be grateful for any light that will help me to trace Lowth's observation. H. S. S.

"GARDENING, MAN'S PRIMEVAL WORK." Any information regarding the source of the following lines will be gratefully received :

Gardening, man's primeval work,

Is a most blessed toil ;

It cheers a man,

Makes him kind-hearted, social, genial,

Forms a serene parenthesis from care,

And his whole nature raises and improves.

G. M. WOODROW.

5, Huntly Terrace, N. Kelvinside, Glasgow.

HARLEY FAMILY. I seek information con- cerning Thomas Harley, citizen of London, or his brother Nicholas, the families they married into, and the business they were engaged in. Thomas Harley married firstly Joan, widow of Ralph Olive or Cliff, citizen of London ; secondly Mary, widow of Wil- liam Kempster, citizen of London. In the registers of St. Thomas the Apostle, London, I have found the- following entries :

'"1641, March 5. Joane, wife of Thomas Harley, burial."

"1636, August 3. Ralph Oliff or Olive, cooper, burial."

In the registers of St. James's, Clerkenwell :

" 1646, June 21. Susanna, daughter of Nicholas Harley and Sarah, baptized."

The above-mentioned Thomas Harley died 16 January, 1670, and was buried at Osga- thorpe, Leicestershire. W. HARLEY HIND.

26, Swaine Street, Bradford, Yorkshire.

[This query was asked 9 th S. iv. 209, and remains unanswered. Inquiries after the same family were made under the signature ALDKORANDUS, 1 st S. viL 454.]

AITKEN SURNAME. Can any reader of 'N. & Q.' give me information respecting the derivation of the above Scottish surname? According to some authorities it is derived from the surname Arthur or a diminutive thereof. Are there any old forms of the name which would lead one to suppose that such is the case? Information respecting any genealogy connected with the name would be welcome. KING ARTHUR.

LONGFELLOW'S 'WRECK OF THE HESPERUS.' Where is the "Reef of Norman's Woe " men- tioned in this poem 1 I have not been able to find it in any atlas. If it is a real place has it any connexion with the loss of the " White Ship " in the reign of Henry 1. 1

ALEXANDER PATRICK.

GIBBON'S 'ROMAN EMPIRE' AND MEMOIRS. What is the value of Gibbon's 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,' first edition, quarto size, in good condition, dated as follows : vol. i., 1776 ; ii. and iii., 1781 ; iv., v., and vi., 1788 ? Also, what is that of 'Miscel- laneous Works of E. Gibbon,' with memoirs of his life and writings by himself, in 2 vols., first edition, dated 1796, in good condition ?

H. MADGE.

179, Grove Lane, S.E.

HAMBLETON TRIBE. Can any of your Trans- atlantic readers kindly explain a reference to ** Hambleton Tribe," used as if the name of a district, in a presentment of the Bermuda Assizes, 11 Nov., 1650?

E. LEGA-WEEKES.