Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 6.djvu/83

 9* s. vi. JUIY 28. i9oo.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 65 Follies and Abuses, Strangely displaied by R. C. of the Inner Temple Gent, being the first fruits of a reformed life." It is dedicated to his uncle, Sir Thomas Metham, of Metham, in the county of York, Knt. The address ' to the Students of the Innes of Court" and that " to the Reader " are both very edifying, but the repentant Richard forgot to mention that his work is merely a loose translation from the 'Visions' of Quevedo. ITA TESTOR. VERSES BY THE REV. WILLIAM ROBERTSON. —The following beautiful lyric was written by the late Rev. William Roljertson, minister of Monzievaird. and so far as is known has not been published. Mr. Robertson was a man of great talents and varied acquirements. Two hymns of his composition in the Scot- tish Hymnal, the ' Te Deum' and the bap- tismal hymn, generally sung at baptisms in all the Scotch churches, are of extraordinary merit. He was a grand-nephew of the Rev. Dr. William Robertson, Principal of the Uni- versity of Edinburgh, and author of the ' History of Charles V.' and the ' History of Scotland.' The verses seem worthy of being embalmed in the pages of ' N. <fc Q.:— The varied seasons come and go, The stars wane in the sky, The waves of ocean ebb and flow, And time rolls swiftly by. Our future stretches far away, Our past is but a night; It seems as if 'twere yesterday When first we saw the light. For memory lets no cloud be hung Ou childhood's painted page ; Each lost companion there is young, And still undimm'd by age. We may be frail and wrinkled now With four score years of care, But bright and smooth remains his brow, For childhood lingers there. That changeless image preacheth best Life's short, uncertain day, For death shall soon each soul arrest, And fix its fate for aye. O Thou who ever art the same, From change and turning free, May we unchanging fear Thy name And dwell at last with Thee ! A. G. REID. Anohterarder. SIDNEY HERBERT.—In the July Fortnightly, article 'Concerning Hosts and Hostesses,' p. 77, we read, "Sidney Herbert, who was afterwards Lord Pembroke." But was he? He was created Lord Herbert of Lea, and did not live to become Lord Pembroke, although his son did. Had he become so, his widow. Lady Herbert of Lea, still alive, would be Countess of Pembroke. GEORGE ANGUS. St. Andrews, N.B. DANTEIANA.—There is a trivial mistake to mention, not worthy of note perhaps were it not for the fact that it occurs in two Italian commentators upon Dante. It is to be found in the twelfth canto of the ' Purgatorio,' where the poet is looking at the figures of those who were humbled for their pride. One of these is Rehoboam, and Fraticelli in a note remarks:— " II popolo lo (Roboamo) pregf> a voler diminuire le grayezxe imposte da Salomonc et egli: ' il padre mio vi l..-ii 11'- con flagelli, ma io vi battero con git scorpion!.' II popolo si mosse a rumore, e clelle dodici tribu del suo regno, gli se ne ribellarono undici." This, of course, is incorrect, as of the twelve tribes Benjamin and Judah remained faith- ful to Rehoboam, so that ten tribes revolted from him. Baldassari Lombardi also gives the number of the disaffected tribes as eleven. The mistake arises from the fact that in the Biblical account of the rebellion Judah and Benjamin are counted together as one tribe. T. P. ARMSTRONG. PETER WILLIARME, WATCHMAKER.—Britten, in his ' Old Clocks and Watches and their Makers,' recently published, merely mentions this early London maker, under the name of " Pierre Willerrne," as admitted of the Clock- makers' Company in 1648. From a MS. return of "Strangers" dwelling within Alders- gate Ward, October, 1635, in my possession. I find that at the latter date he resided in the parish of St. Botolph, and had then been in England twelve years, being a native of Geneva. W. I. R. V. " ECSTACY."—It is curious to find this mis- spelling cropping up every now and then in unexpected places. There are two examples of it in Mr. Stephen Phillips's 'Marpessa' (Lane). Curiously enough both appear in the address delivered to the heroine by no less a personage than the unshorn Apollo. This sentence occurs on p. 17 : — But if thou 'It live with me, then shall thou bide In mere felicity above the world, In peace alive and moving, where to stir Is ecstacy, and thrilling is repose. Two pages later the wielder of the silver bow, with slight inelegance of form in the close of his announcement, valiantly ex- ilaims :— And I will carry thee above the world, To share my ecstacy of flinging beams, And scattering without intermission joy,