Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 6.djvu/127

 9*s. vi. A™, n, i9oo.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 101 LONDON, SATURDAY. AUGUST 11. 1'JOO. CONTENTS.-No. 137. NOTES:—"Amanesclri"—Mural Monuments, 101—" He is thy Lord," P«. xlv. 12—The late Col. Moore, C.B., 102- "This will never do"—Book Inscription—D. Bouquett— Lord Brougham's Confession—Shakespeare and Animal Experimentation—" Comes jucundua in via pro vehiculo est," 103—George Bllot's Richmond House—Actresses— Southey — Error in Vale Press Shakespeare — Trental= "Month's Mind" —Muck or Peat, 104 —Local Rime — Ancient Idyl—"Creak," 105. QUBRIBS:—"Macabaa"—Nursery Stories, 105 —Cutlers' Poetry—Reference to Lines—Thos. Hussey— " Free-borrt " —Figures issuing from Spiral Shells — Irving in Mrs. Browning—Source of Quotation — Richter's 'Dream of Infinity'—Inscription on Medal, 109—Age of Entry ar. Inns of Court—Bishop Webb—Lines on Swift—History of War Dispatches—French Cathedrals — Double Christian Name—Author Wanted—* Thoughts on God and Nature' — "Heart of grace," 107 —Early Educational Books — Author of Poem—" Dis-sight "—Colby—Church Lands in Kirkhy Kendal, 108. KEPLIBS:-The Place-name Oxford, 108 — Bibllotheque Nntionale and Readers, 111—Andre's House in Bath— "Inundate," 112—"Dorp "—Oldest Trading Corporation, 113—Sources of Quotations—'' Mr. Attorney —Quotations in Green's ' Short History '—Title and Author of Book- Stone Sedilia, 114 —Gunpowder In China — La Belle Sauvage, 118—'John Bull'—John Moore, 116—Cockle- bread—" Hot! "—St. Anne's Church, Blaokfrian-SIr A. Pitches—Borough-Knglish, 117—Liturgical Language of the Greek Church—"Rule. Britannia, 118. NOTES ON BOOKS :-Wylie's 'Council of Constance'— 'Sussex Archaeological Collections'—'Cavalier Soldier's Vade-Mecum '—Reviews and Magazines. Notices to Correspondents. "AMA NESCIRI" AND THE ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH'S WAR POEM. (See 9* S. iv. 538 ; v. 75.) THIS finely imagined self-effacement— The ama nesciri of some grim and grey A Kempis of the ranks— has a noteworthy analogue or illustration in the character of Le Capitaine Renaud, as depicted in Alfred de Vigny's charming romance 'La Canne de Jonc.' The author, who had been himself a soldier, died in 1863. Perhaps I may be allowed to quote one or two passages. " J'allai vite a la guerre me plonger dans les ranga incoming Je me cachai lii comme un chartreux dans son cloltre Comme faimais cette obscurite!" "Tantot mes services ^taient inapercus, tantot elevis au-dessus de leur merite, et moi je ne cessai de les tenir dans I'ombre, de tout mon pouvoir, retiouiant surtout que mon nomfttt Crop prononce." Thus, in the story, a lieutenant as yet, and seeking no promotion, The gallant " soldier " learns to practise well His heroism obscure. But, besides the allusion to the 'Imitatio' thus illustrated, this beautiful poem of Arch- bishop Alexander's presents certain minor points of literary and other interest which I venture to indicate :— 1. The second stanza, which seems to breathe the spirit of the Old Testament rather than the New; reminds one of Words- worth's lines, as originally printed in the 'Thanksgiving Ode,' 1816 :— But Thy most dreaded instrument In working out a pure intent, Is Man—arrayed for mutual slaughter— Yea, Carnage is Thy daughter I These lines were in part suppressed and in part modified in later editions ; and probably fow, if any. would wish them restored. They have already been noticed in ' N. & O.' 2. In the fifteenth stanza, "Them no reveille," &c., we may fancy an echo of Scott in 'The Lady of the Lake,' i. 32 :— Here no bugles sound reveill£. 3. But it is surely more than fancy that finds in the third line of the eighth verse, The oratorio of the cannonade, an unconscious reminiscence of Longfellow in ' The Arsenal at Springfield ':— And ever and anon, in tones of thunder, The diapason of the cannonade. 4. "A mighty music" in the same verse. " Bon ! ce sera 1& dordnavant ma musique," was the exclamation of Charles XII. on hear- ing for the first time the whistling of the bullets round about him in battle (see Voltaire's ' Histoire,' bk. ii.). 5. Theremarkable simile in the laststanza— As the heaven's many coloured flames At sunset are but dust in rich disguise— followed by the phrase "earthquake dust," carries the thougnt back to a certain fine summer (I think in the eighties) when for some time unusually red sunsets were seen. These were attributed at the time to vast quantities of dust dispersed over our hemi- sphere as the effect of a recent gigantic earthquake convulsion in the Far East. I do not know if such an explanation had the sanction of scientific mon ; but, whether fact or fancy, we must own that the Arch- bishop of Armagh has made of it a very effective close to his valuable poem. C. LAWRENCE FORD, B.A. Bath. MURAL MONUMENTS AT ST. MARGARET'S, WESTMINSTER, HIDDEN B¥ THE NEW ORGAN. (Concluded from p. 64.) " In a vault near this place | lie the Remains of I M™ Martha Heald | Wife of M' William Heald | Obiit 25th of December 1817. .Etat 74: | Also of the above named | Mr William Heald | Obiit 20th of December 1819: ./Etat 74: | Deeply lamented and regretted I by their Numerous Friends." " Sacred to the Memory of Charles Millard, Esq™
 * Member Roy: Col: Surgeons of England, and Fel: