Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 2.djvu/74

 66

NOTES AND QUERIES.

s. IL JULY 23,

the old stones forming the pavement of the Royal Exchange with something more modern in character. Mr. Deputy Parnwell said it was not likely that the stones in question would be removed, as they were the identical stones which were brought over in one of Sir Thomas Gresham's ships, and formed the pavement of the original Exchange. There was such a history attached to them that the Committee would be loth to disturb such historic associations."

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN.

SHIPTON (SALOP) PARISH EEGISTERS. Per- haps the following may interest some of your readers. At p. 408 of the Tenth Report, Appendix, Part IV., of the Hist. MSS. Com., I find " Register of Baptisms, Marriages, and Funerals in the Church of Shipton from A.D. 1538 to A.D. 1792. in two boots," preserved among the MSS. of Mr. Jasper More at Shipton Hall. KNOWLER.

' COMIN' THRO' THE RYE.' Much discus- sion has been caused in New York by the letter of a Scot in the Times, in which he states that Burns meant a stream named the Rye, and not a field of rye-grain ; and that Jenny came over the stepping-stones of the Rye-burn. He further states that in the Motherwell and Hogg edition of Burns (vol. iii.) there is a picture of a lass and laddie comin' thro' the Rye, in which there is not a field of grain, but the bank of a stream with a stepping-stone in view. He writes :

" I am fully aware of the fact that most (perhaps more than 99 per cent, of the editions of Burns's works) give rye with a small r. But I am also aware that the text in most of these editions is a mere servile reprint of the edition published by Dr. Cnrrie in Liverpool in 1800. This edition was

Printed in London by men who knew nothing of the cottish language, and the text, so far as typo- graphy is concerned, is probably more corrupt than that of any author of the time. But it is a curious fact that while the word rye in the text always has a small r (English compositors at that time knew no other rye than rye-grain), in the name of the tune, as given with the song, Rye is always capitalized. And the tune is far older than Burns's version."

If this plausible interpretation is to explain also the line

She draigl't a' her petticoatie in the chorus, and if this interpretation is as true as it is plausible, then we nave to thank Mr. John Phin, the writer of the letter, for enlightening us ; but I should like to hear some opinions from more local authorities than a Scotchman in America.

WM. GUSHING BAMBURGH.

New Jersey, U.S.A.

[See 5 th S. v. 87, 116, 150, 191, 309, 350.]

BOOK-BORROWING. In spite of some losses, I continue a book-lender. Some losses from books not returned are imaginary. Probably

others have felt the difficulty of accurately keeping a register of loans ; one may forget to mark the return. I commend this system, which also forms an interesting memento of departed friends. Cut wood blocks to about the size of a book, with the sides smooth enough to write on. When a book is lent, write the title, the borrower's name, and the date on the block, and put it in your book- case in the place of the book. When the book is returned, replace it, and withdraw the block, writing date of return. The same block, without erasure, will do service twenty or thirty times. T. WILSON.

Harpenden.

" SOLAMEN MISERIS SOCIOS HABUISSE DO-

LORIS." An inquiry for the source of this line appears in 1 st S. viii. 272. Others follow from time to time, until in 6 th S. i. 132 there is a summary by me of what was known at the time of the sentiment in early writers, as well as of the Latin line in its several forms. I have just seen in Buchmann's ' Gefliigelte Worte,' Berlin, 1892, p. 261, a notice of this line. The only new reference for the sentiment is the moral of the ^Esopian fables of ' The Hares and the Frogs,' fables 237, 237B, Lips., 1852, p. 114. But there is an earlier reference for the Latin line. The earliest authority for it appears to be Dominicus de Gravina in the 'Chron. de Rebus in Apul. Gest.,' ab ann, 1333-1350, where it is "Juxta illud verbum poeticum, ' gaudium est miseris socios habuisse poenarum,' " Nap., 1781, ii. 220. Then there is " Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris," in Marlowe's 'Faustus,' 1580. Next, in Spinoza it is " Solamen miseris socios habuisse mal- orum," ' Eth.,' iv. 57 (ob. 1677).

ED. MARSHALL, F.S.A.

'THE BIRDS OF CIRENCESTER.' A poem under this title, by Bret Harte, appears in Scribner's for January, and details how the Saxons in A.D. 552, having laid siege to this town, and having failed to reduce it, had recourse to stratagem. They netted the swallows whose nests were in the eaves of the doomed town,

And they stuck on their feathers a rude lighted

match

Made of resin and tow. Then they let them all go To be free ! As a childish diversion ? Ah, no ! To work Cirencester's red ruin and woe. For straight to each nest they flew, in wild quest Of their homes and their fledgelings that they

loved the best ;

And straighter than arrow of Saxon e'er sped They shot o'er the curving streets, high overhead, Bringing fire arid terror to roof-tree and bed, Till the town broke in flame, wherever they came, To the Briton's red ruin the Saxon's red shame.

On what authority, historical or legendary,