Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 7.djvu/158

 150

NOTES AND QUERIES. V s. vn. FEB. 23, 1901.

their lambs, should be drawn from the flock of ewes, and put to this food, upon which an entire reliance may be had : and let it be remembered, that all turnips should be consumed this month, which circumstance will prove the vast importance of reserved grass as a mccedaneum"

The work was intended for farmers generally. Were the two words I place in italics common and in general use 1 Rouen is a Suffolk term, I believe.

R. HEDGER WALLACE.

AUTHOR OF RECITATION WANTED. Some few months ago I heard a recitation com- mencing

Smile on the world, and it will smile on you. I have tried in all quarters to discover the author or a work giving this piece ; perhaps some one can help me. H. Y. S.

MALT AND HOP SUBSTITUTES. What was the "bagage" of Gascoigne's brewer ('The Steele Glas ') ? D.

KING AND QUEEN EQUAL. How far back must we go to find a king placing on a throne beside his own, on a level with arid indis- tinguishable from it, a subject in the shape of a Queen Consort ? Ed ward and Alexand ra sit side by side in state as did William and Mary, but Mary was Queen Regnant, not Consort. Yet I fancy that mediaeval precedents can be found, or else our child legends and child games would not differ as they do from modern English, French, and German prac- tice. D.

PUBLIC MOURNING. The men servants of the ordinary British householder used to be put, at great cost, whenever the death of any cousin or any prince gave a decent excuse, into a mourning now never seen. The ordinary livery, and the plain clothes of the butler, were replaced by rough dull black (perhaps worsted) liveries, with black epau- lets and aiguillettes. This custom survives in continental Europe. The last time I remember it at home was at the death ol the Princess Sophia. Is it wholly extinct here? D.

us.

UGO FOSCOLO IN LONDON.

(9 th S. vi. 326.) AMONG the papers left by Foscolo at his death, which were the sole inheritance o his daughter who bequeathed them to her father's faithful friend the Canonicc Riego, from whom they were purchaser in 1834 now preserved in the Accademi; Labronica at Leghorn, are some verses ir

English addressed to Foscolo. They are Dinted in the appendix to the first volume of^Gli Amori di Ugo Foscolo nelle sue Lettered pp. 567-8, and are apparently by a lady whose identity the editor has vainly endeavoured to ascertain. The verses are as


 * ollows :

To UGO FOSCOLO.

Busy, curious, wandering, Stranger, Through Bond Street a daily ranger,

Chasing ev'ry Belle that flies ; How I'm blest to find thy dwelling, Since with flame my bosom s swelling

Kindled by thy piercing eyes ! Oft I 've felt their beams quick-glancing, That the Dandy-throng advancing

From the crowd of Nymphs they turned To the little groupe of Beauty, Where, with traitorous shew ol duty,

All their fatal splendour burned. Ah ! then, gentle Stranger, hear me ! Drop their fringed lids when near me,

Pity for my fate to shew ; Or if Pity's glowing Brother, Love, can touch thee for another,

Give me soon thy mind to know. Valentines' sweet day tomorrow Shall confirm my bliss or sorrow.

Close to Conduit-street shalt meet Thy Laura in a new French Bonnet, Bows of rosy love upon it

And rosy sandals to her feet.

By satin robes of snowy whiteness And a muff of sable brightness

I shall stand confest to view ; But how vain the smartest dresses, Till my ear my fond heart blesses

With some tender word from thee.

Be that day then, dearest Stranger, In Bond-street once more a Ranger,

Trembling Laura there to meet ; And if kindred passion moves thee For the maid who fondly loves thee,

Bless her with thy accents sweet !

LAURA.

Foscolo appears to have taken the invita- tion seriously, and in a letter to Lady Dacre, dated December, 1822, he tells her that he has had her translation of Petrarch's sonnet ' Chiare f resche e dolci acque ' read to him by a lady, a real lady, una milady, whom he had met under singular circumstances, who recited poetry admirably, and who was herself a bit of a poet, un tantino poetessa (' Epistolario,' iii. 82-3). This person the author of 'Gli Amori ' identities with the Laura of the poetical epistle to Foscolo, but has not been able to ascertain her name.

The lines are evidently written by a woman who knew Foscolo's address (Foscolo at one time had chambers in Old Bond Street) and was acquainted with his person and habits. Is there any possibility of dis- covering who she was 1 It could scarcely be