Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 6.djvu/520

 432 NOTES AND QUERIES. i9» s. vi. DKC i, 1900. I had resolved some months ago to send this epitaph and claim it as Jonson's, hut I thought it well to consult Clifford's edition. It is, I find, mentioned by him, but he con- siders it doubtful, and wanting in poetry. As to its authorship there can be no longer any hesitation, I trust, after what has been said. Who else could be the "affectionate friend " mentioned by Caraden, who was the friend of both ? The piece is in my opinion not without poetical merit, the fourth line being especially good, and unmistakably Jon- soman. I am obliged to MR. SIMPSON for pointing out Bell's strange error, which has not only misled me, but also a writer in the October number of Temple Bur (' The Poems of Ben Jonson,' p. 222). As his interesting article, evidently founded on Bell's edition, may have been in type before the correction was given in ' N. <fc Q.,' the author, as a constant reader of these pages, will now be aware of his mistake, and join me in giving honour to whom it is due. JOHN T. CURRY. Liverpool. ST. MARYLEBONE CHURCH (9lh S. vi. 347).— A great deal might be written about the old church—now the parish chapel—of St. Mary- lebone, but if only a little is written about it, it is desirable that that little should be accu- rate. Though born, and for many years a resident, in the parish, I never heard that the church was known as " the Hogarth Church," nor does there seem any good reason why it should be so known. The church in which Tom Rakewell was married was pulled down m 1740, and the existing church was opened for divine service in April, 1742, nearly seven years after plate v. of 'A Hake's Progress' was published. It has been sometimes stated that the altar-tomb on which Tom Idle and his friends are depicted gambling in plate iii. of Industry and Idleness' is that erected by the Deschamps family in the churchyard, but even if this were the case, the Hogarthian attribution would be strictly applicable only to the graveyard. I think, therefore, that the epithet as applied to the church can only date from very recent times. With regard to the statement that " many of the Dukes of Portland are buried in the church," Smith says that "in the Crypt or Vault underneath the Church are rtcposited the remains of several members of the Fortland family, including William Henry Caven- dish Bentiuck, the late [third! Duke, who departed this Life, October 30,1809, aged 71."—Smiths 'Topo- Krapnical and Historical Account of St. Marylebonc ' looo, p. 83. This only accounts for one duke, and I doubt if any more were buried in the church. A good, but necessarily brief account of the church was given in the Times for 2 Novem- ber by a valued correspondent of ' N. & Q.,1 MR. ARTHUR LEVESON-GOWER. W. F. PRIDEAUX. On 27 February. 1888, a letter from the late Rev. Grant E. Thomas, then incumbent of Old Marylebone Church, drawing attention to the centenary of Byron's baptism and Charles Wesley's burial there, appeared in several of the London daily papers. The Daily Telegraph based a very interesting leader on this letter in its issue of 28 Feb- ruary. Byron's baptism took place on 1 March, 1788; Charles Wesley died 29 March, and was buried 6 April. 1788. Some little time before the death or Mr. Thomas I had the pleasure of being conducted over Old Marylebone Church and churchyard by him, and in this way learnt much of its history and associations. I have preserved a note of some of our conversation, and find I was in- formed that there was no font belonging to the church. Mr. Thomas told me that a basin was provided for the purpose of baptism, and was generallyplaced upon thecommunion table. I presume, therefore, that some such tem- porary receptacle was used at Byron's bap- tism. It is, perhaps, a bit unfortunate that Dickens distinctly mentions "the font" at Paul Dombey's christening. JOHN T. PAGE. West Haddon, Northamptonshire. This church is also noted as the church wherein Mr. Robert Browning was married to Miss Elizabeth Barrett. And is it not said that Browning ever after when he passed the church went down upon his knees and kissed its step? This marriage of the two poets took place 12 September, 184G. E. A. C. LANGUAGE TO CONCEAL THOUGHT (9th S. vi. 3G8).—If Talleyrand borrowed from Goldsmith and Goldsmith from Young, then certainly Young borrowed from the author of ' Hudi- bras.' In a character of a ' Modern Politician' ('Remains,' vol. ii. p. 25, ed. 1759), Butler says:— "He who does not make his Words rather serve to conceal, than discover the Sense of his Heart, deserves to have it pulled out, like a Traytor's, and shewn publicly to the Rabble." Goldsmith's remark is to be found in the second paragraph of No. 3 of the Bee, 20 October, 1759: "I think that the true use of speech is not so much to express our wants, as to conceal them." G. L. APPERSON.