Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 3.djvu/10

 NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. IIL JAN. 7,

Gothic Leichnam, a corpse. It is quite errone- ously called late-wake, though Brand favours that modern corruption and derivation."

In 'Guy Mannering,' chap, xxvii, pub- lished in the same year as ' The Lord of the Isles,' one of the smugglers uses " lykewake " printed as one word without a hyphen.

In ' The Bride of Lammermoor,' last chapter but one, "late- wake" occurs. Scott, accord- ingly, appears to use " lyke-wake " or " late- wake " indifferently.

JONATHAN BOUCHIEE.

RICHARD CUMBERLAND. Perhaps it may be worth noting that the inscription upon the gravestone, in Poets' Corner in Westmin- ster Abbey, of this once celebrated dramatic writer has been recut recently. He died 7 May, 1811, aged eighty years, and is alluded to by Goldsmith in his poem 'Retaliation': Here Cumberland lies, having acted his parts, The Terence of England, the mender of hearts, A flattering painter who made it his care To draw men as they ought to be, not as they are.

He is said to have been the original of Sir Fretful Plagiary in Sheridan's ' Critic.'

On the occasion of his funeral in the Abbey, Dr. Vincent, then Dean of Westminster, delivered the following oration over his grave :

"Good people, the person you see now deposited is Richard Cumberland, an author of no small merit. His writings were chiefly for the stage, but of strict moral tendency; they were not without faults, but they were not gross, abounding with oaths and libidinous expressions, as I am shocked to observe is the case of many at the present day. He wrote as much as any; few wrote better; and his works will be held in the highest estimation as long as the English language is understood. He considered the theatre as a school for moral im- provement ; and his remains are truly worthy of mingling with the illustrious dead which surround us. Read his prose subjects on divinity ! there you will find the true Christian spirit of the man who trusted in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. May God forgive him his sins, and at the resurrection of the just receive him into everlasting glory ! "

This funeral oration may be found in a note in Croker's edition of Boswell's ' Life of Johnson,' the large one-volume edition.

JOHN PICKFORD, M.A.

Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge.

THACKERAY AND EDWARD FITZGERALD IN 1831. Permission is requested to direct attention to the fact that much can now be learnt of the lights and shades of Thackeray'_ career by the perusal of Mrs. Ritchie's deeply interesting introduction to the "Biographical Edition" of her father's 'Christmas Books,' just published by Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co.. and also how deeply the author of ' Vanity Fair ' was indebted to Edward FitzGerald for

lis kindness during the saddest period of lis life. With regard to the friendship of Thackeray with FitzGerald, I venture to think that the following lines, written in 1831 by the generous and impressionable FitzGerald to nis friend, may not be out of place in 'N. & Q.':

I cared not for life, for true friend I had none I had heard 'twas a blessing not under the sun ; Some figures called friends, hollow, proud, or cold- hearted,

Came to me like shadows, like shadows departed ; But a day came that turned all niy sorrow to glee, When first I saw Willy, and Willy saw me. The thought of my Willy is always a cheerer : The wine has new flavour, the fire burns clearer, The sun ever shines, I am pleased with all things, And the crazy old Avorld seems to go with new

springs.

If I get to be fifty may Willy get too, And we '11 laugh, Will, at all that grim sixties can

do.

Old age ! Let him do what poets complain, We '11 thank him for making us children again ; Let him make us grey, gouty, blind, toothless, or

silly, Still old Ned shall be Ned, and old Willy be Willy.

HENRY GERALD HOPE. Elms Road, S.W.

TRISANTONA. The postulated form "Tris- antonam " never meant the Trent river, nor, indeed, any one river whatever ; put literally it means " the three waters." The difficulty has arisen with Ptolemy, who places an anomalous Trisanton river on the south coast of Britain, generally identified with the Anton or Test at Southampton ; but it more probably refers to the three openings or havens formed by the adjoining islands, called Hayling and Portsea, thus constituting one large shallow inlet of the sea, including Portsmouth Harbour and leading up to Por- chester. Following the line of coast as de- nned by Ptolemy, we find Tamarus, the Tamar, at Devonport and Plymouth ; the Isca or Exe, leading up to Exeter \ the Alau- nus, named from a small stream, known as the Alen at Wimborne, but joining the Stour and Avon at Christchurch (Allan and Alne are common) ; then we have the great port (megas limeri), that is Southampton Water, with Clausentum, where Carausius put up his shipping after leaving Boulogne. Then comes Trisanton, including Portsmouth Har- bour ; then the New Haven (Kaine limeri), that is Lymne or Stutfall Castle ; and lastly the North Foreland, in Thanet. This seems per- fectly lucid and incontrovertible.

Now if we are to search for a "three waters " in the Midlands, take Alrewas and Wichnor, a flooded district ; here we find the Teme and Mease join the so-called Trent