Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 7.djvu/471

 vii. JUNE is, 1901.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

463

challenged him by those letters to be the author. He looked upon the thing as an ' unconsidered , trifle,' not worthy to be flaunted before the public eye."

The reader is asked to notice that the direct ' testimony of the Rev. Mark Perrin as derived from his own personal experience begins here :

11 When I acknowledged that I had been the means of bringing him out in that way he was dis- pleased. ' You should not,' he said, ' have put my initials to those verses without knowing whether I should like my name to be identified with them.' I own it was an unpardonable liberty which 1 had taken, and cannot even now justify it. But seeing that by that happy ' accident ' I was the means of disclosing a flower which might else have remained for ever unseen, the offence will be as readily con- doned by readers of the present day as it was pardoned by him who had such cause to be offended. His wrath did not last long. Indeed, whatever his provocation may have been, I believe he never let the sun go down upon that troublesome passion. And finally, when Maturin, the author of 'Bertram,' then in the sunshine of his popularity, proclaimed ! at the Dublin Library his admiration of his verses, he became quite reconciled to the exposure."

In conclusion, it maybe remarked that the foregoing evidence satisfactorily proves that the ode in question was written by Wolfe, and that he wrote it under circumstances clearly showing the casual and thoroughly spontaneous character of its production. That this course was habitual with him the follow- ing quotations from his ' Remains,' edited by Archdeacon Russell, a college friend, will suffice to show :

" He [Wolfe] was so much struck by the grand national Spanish air ' Viva el Rey Fernando ' the first time he heard it played by a friend, that he immediately commenced singing it over and over again until he produced an English song admirably suited to the tune." P. 36, fourth edition.

Regarding his exquisite song to the air 1 Gramachree, 7

" He was asked whether he had any real incident in view or had witnessed any immediate occurrence which might have prompted these lines. His reply was, ' He had not ; but that he had sung the air over and over till he burst into a flood of tears, in which mood he composed the words.'" P. 43.

As respects his impulsive mental habits, we are told :

" Whenever in the company of his friends any- thing occurred in his reading, or to his memory, which powerfully affected his imagination, he usually started from his seat, flung aside his chair, and paced about the room, giving vent to his admira- tion in repeated exclamations of delight and in gestures of the most animated rapture." P. 35. In proof of Wolfe's Shakespearean disregard for nis literary fame Russell tells us :

" His native modesty and the fastidious judgment which he exercised over all his own compositions led him often to undervalue what even his most

M dlclous, f "ends approved and admired It [.the

Moore ode] remained for a long time unclaimed and other poems in the meantime appeared, falsely purporting to be written by the same unknown hand, which the author would not take the pains to disavow. "-Pp. 16, 26.

Probably Wolfe's indifference, like Spinoza's mildness, originated largely from theinsidious languor of consumption. C. C. DOVE.

Birkdale.

[At 2<>a S. i. 158 DR. W. J. FITZPATRICK gave a transcript of^ the poem from Currick's Morning Post for 1815 (no day or month mentioned), in which it was signed with the initials " W. C." Wolfe s own letter was also transcribed from the original, the last paragraph being given by DR. FITZPATRICK thus: "I again say, remember Con- stantia's character is to be drawn among the rest. You will pardon me for being particular about any message from that quarter." The extract from the 'Edinburgh Annual Register' was printed 8 th S. viii. 145. See also 8 th S. viii. 178, 235, 253, 331, 418. The * D.N.B.' in its account of Wolfe (vol. Ixii. p. 295) says that the lines originally appeared in the Newry Telegraph of 19 April, 1817 ; but 1815 was the date given at the first reference by DR. FITZPATRICK, who stated that he referred to his file of Currick's Morning Post for that year and " found the poem after a little delay."]

ECCLESIASTICAL "PECULIARS."

(Concluded from p. 423.)

I MAY proceed. to set down some parti- culars, gleaned from many sources, concern- ing a few of the peculiars, interesting either in themselves or as throwing light on the system and its working.

Battle. Early in the twelfth century the abbot and monks, having built a parish church, obtained from the Bishop of Chi- chester a confirmation :

"ut sicut Ecclesia S. Martini de Bello [Battle Abbey], et Capella quoque S te Marias de eadem vill libera et quieta sit in perpetuum de omnibus con- suetudinibus et forisfacturis episcopalibus Pres- byter vero illius capellse synodum ad episcopalia tantum prsecepta audienda adeat, nee ibidem pro aliqua culpa judicium subeat."

In the year 1171 Walter, a deacon, being chosen by the monastic body to be " capel- lanus " of the church, was presented to the

bishop u ex jure patronatus a quo persona-

tuin ecclesiae curamque animarum suscepit." What would now be called institution, one thinks ; yet it is curious to read in 'Clergy- man's Law ' (by W. Watson, 1701) that " though the Bishop of Chichester doth admit

the Dean of Battel and doth commit to him the

cure and jurisdiction of that church, yet the Patron thereof is to institute and induct the Dean ; and the Patrons accordingly have given the Deans Institu- tion and Induction for some hundreds of years."

So jealously through the centuries did the patrons, first monks and then laymen, guard