Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 8.djvu/127

 9*8. viii. AUG. 10,1901.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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I haue (Madame) in Honour of your Worth, Sent you this Poem, speaking Divine Songs ; First, daign to own it ; Then conduct it forth, And giue it shelter, from Sarcastick wrongs : So shall my Muse (most Noble Patroness,) Remayn the Herauld of Your Worthiness. To your La : service, duelie & truelie devoted,

M. Da : Lyndesay.

It may be noted that the prevailing senti- ment of the tract throughout is of a religious character, oftentimes quaintly expressed, and the metrical form similar to what has just been quoted. One of the principal poems is entitled ' Of Mordecai, Cousin German, to Esther.' The following are two additional specimens of our author's muse :

To MOMUS.

Envyous Carper, if this Work were thyne ; (As it stands guarded, by this statelie Dame,) Thou shouldst commend it; But because it's myne, With high disdayn, thou wilt maligne the same. Spew out thy Malice, in thy furious fit ; My Shelter shall bee Antidote for it.

THE GODLIE MAN'S DESYBE.

I wish not Nestor's years, nor Galen's Health :

I famish not for Humane Dignitie :

I thirst not for Revenge ; I craue no Wealth ;

Nor Flesh-delighting Sensualitie. I onlie wish, That God would look on mee, Through Christ's deserving, with a smyling Eye.

One glance whereof shall breed my soull more pleasure,

Than Croesus had of all his earthlie Treasure.

The tract consists of twelve leaves small quarto (A to F, two leaves to a signature,' the last being blank), and considering the ephemeral form in which it must originally have been issued it is in excellent preser- vation. A. S.

STORY OF THE MILLER OF SANS SOUCI :

AN ORIENTAL ANALOGUE. THERE is a well-known incident in the life of Frederick the Great which is often cited as an illustration alike of the independence of the subject and the justice of the king. Carlyle has told us how popular the incident of the Miller of Sans Souci became, especially in France, where it was made the subject of a poem by Andrieux, which found its way into the anthologies, and of a comedy by Dieulafoi. The Miller can be matched from Oriental history. Among the kings of Kash- mira we read of Chandrapida, who reigned A.D. 684. We are told that he equally pos- sessed power and forgiveness, and similar opposite qualifications. He was rich without the concomitant vices ; he equally favoured all, and did nothing that frightened his people; and was so modest that he felt ashamed when any one praised him for his good works.

" When building the temple to Tribhuvanas-vamf the house of a tanner fell within the boundary marked for the temple ; but that man would not give up his house, though compensation money was offered to him. At last the matter was reported to the king. The men in charge of the building, and not the tanner, were held guilty, and they were censured for want of forethought in having com- menced the building without obtaining the consent of the tanner in the first instance. They were told either to reduce the plan of the temple, or to build it elsewhere, for he (the king) would not commit the sin of forcibly taking another's land. ' For it is our duty,' said he, ' to administer justice, and if we act unjustly who will act rightly?' At this time there arrived a man from the shoemaker, and was sent to the king by the ministers. This man said that the shoemaker wished to see the king, and if he was not held fit to enter the court, he requested that he might see the king when at leisure and out of his court. Accordingly on a subsequent day the king gave audience to the shoemaker when out of his court, and asked him if he was the obstacle in the execution of a pious object, namely, the erection of the temple, and added that if he thought his house beautiful, he might have another house still more beautiful, or a large sum of money. Then the shoemaker replied, '.Be not proud, king, of your learning and experience, but listen to my words according to my judgment. I am meaner than a dog, and you are a great king of the line of Kakutstha. The courtiers will therefore be vexed to see us talking together. The body of the living is brittle, but is strengthened with pride and affec- tion. As you love your body, which is adorned with the ornaments kangkana, hdra, and anaada, even so we love ours though unadorned. What this handsome palace is to you that is my hut to me, though through it the sun penetrates. This hut, like a mother, is the witness of my joys and sorrows from my birth, and I cannot bear to see it taken away to-day. The grief which a man feels when his house is taken away from him can only be known to the god who is ousted from heaven, or to a king who has lost his kingdom. Even after all this, if you come to my house and ask for it, then out of civility I shall give it up to thee.' The king went to the shoemaker's house and bought it. The good are not vain though possessed of wealth. The shoemaker clasped his hands together, and said that the condescension of the king and the pains he had taken for the performance of a just act were well befitting him ; and as Virtue had tested Yudhish- thira, so he had tested him. He then wished the king a prosperous and long life, doing such holy deeds and living admired by the pious." *

If we accept this testimony Chandrapida may take his place beside Frederick.

WILLIAM E. A. AXON. Manchester.

RECORD VOYAGE ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. As ' N. & Q.' is considered the repository for gathering together interesting records, and its pages contain controversies in connexion

Sanskrit work ' Rajataraugginf of Kahlana Pan- dita,' by Joghesh Chunder Dutt (Calcutta, 1879), pp. 64, 65.
 * ' Kings of Kashmira,' being a translation of the