Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/338

 392 NOTES AND QUERIES. m b. iv. Nov. u, • When shall it have an end 1 When man, by nature inevitably curious and born to ask questions, shall no longer ask " Why 1" when we stand in presence of the one Eternal Truth. Looking back upon the fifty years of his own 'N. & Q.,' even "doubting Thorns shall half believe in centenarianism. W. C. B. A BALLADE OF THE JUBILEE OF 'NOTES AND QUERIES.' Just half a century ago Our now hebdomadal delight First did its kindly aid bestow On those who read and those who write. Old Time, who oft destroys, through spite, The banal things of which he wearies, Joys in this fete of black and white— The Jubilee of Notts and Queries. The brain which gave it birth lies low; Thorns, Doran, Turle, are gone from sight; Yet like a planet doth it glow, All brilliant, 'neath the rule of Knight. Though correspondents " bark and bite " In the discussion of their the'ries, To celebrate they '11 all unite The Jubilee of Notes and Queries. The goal of those who want to know, The playground of the erudite, Where they themselves their trumpets blow, And guesses fly as children kite- Dear ' N. & Q* ! beyond the fight Shall I be at its Eighteenth Series : Who will hymn then, with higher flight, The Jubilee of Notes and Queries ? Envoy. Come, brothers all, I you invite To drink in (tea or) wine of Xeres A toast which no wise man will slight— The Jubilee of Notes and Queries. St. Swithin. TO ' NOTES AND QUERIES.' Swiftly the fifty years have flown Since we, now past our prime, have known Our Notes and Queries. But Notes and Queries cannot age, And still the student and the sage Turn for their solace to the page That never wearies. No longer in your Index Pope Needs with his numerous ana scope For special mention; No more the photographic art, Noted and queried at its start, Obtains four columns set apart For like attention. But' Proverb,' ' Epigram,' and ' Song' Have claimed full measure all along: ' Folk-lore," Quotation/ Still hold their own ; and still to-day Shakespeariana's long array Demands, and will demand for aye, Classification. Some earnest querist seeks the power To know how Byron uttered " Giaour " (His Christian hero), Or how at first the saying went, Formed on the terms of settlement Required from those on marriage bent With glorious Pero. Some trifler deals with tales oft told, Such as of her who, over-bold, Espoused the barber, Or, with incorrigible glee. Regardless of his ' O. E. D.,' Propounds a sparkling theory About Cold Harbour. And fifty years from this, although Contributors must come and go, One far from clever This much with safety may divine, J hat nineteen hundred forty-nine Will see our Notes and Queries shine As bright as ever. And so proceed more brilliantly, From jubilee to jubilee, Than any print whose history mn ■. Pen ever wrote of, I ill the world ceases to go round, And there's an end to sight and sound, And nothingfurther can be found To make a note of ! KlLLIGREW. HORACE WALPOLE AND HIS EDITORS. {Continued from p. 324.) Cunningham's Edition, vol. ii. p. 336 — Note 1 (on the banishment of the Parliament of Pans) is ascribed by Cunningham to Walpole It is Miss Berry's. See 4to. ed. of Horace Walpole's 'Works,'vol. v. p. 37, where it is marked by the letter E., used by Miss Berry to distinguish her notes from Horace Walpole s. This mistake originated in the edition of Walpole's 'Private Correspondence' published in 1840, and was copied thence by Wnght and Cunningham. Vol ii p 480.-Letter 441, "To Sir Horace Mann, dated "March 21, 1755," was, in fact, addressed to Richard Bentley, and dated 31 Oct., 1755 It was rightly ascribed and dated in both the collected editions of the Letters (1820 and 1840) previous to that of Cunningham, whose description of the letter was probably due to a slip. Vol ii. p 486.-Note 1 (on riots) is wrongly attributed by Cunningham to Wright. It is Miss Berry's. (See 4to. ed. of Horace Walpole's Works, vol. v. p. 346.) Letter 478, addressed to Richard Bentley (vol. m. p. 27), and dated " Wentworth Castle, August, 1756," is wrongly placed. In a letter to Montagu of 28 Aug. in the same year Horace Walpole writes: "As you was so kind as to interest yourself about the issue of my journey, I can tell you that I did get to Straw-