Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 9.djvu/335

 ix. APRIL 26, 1902.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

327

D.O.M.

Inclytvs D. Gvlielmvs. HANSON. Anglvs

D. Ipannis. Filiys

Rei. Militaris. Peritissimvs

Centvrio. Alae. xx. Britannorvm

in. Acri. Pugna Adversvs. Gallos. Britannia) . Hispaniaeque

Hostes

in. Campo. Oppidi. Monachorvm ivxta. Villafrancam. Poenorvm

in. Catalonia

idibus. Septembris. an. MDCCCXIII svb. dvce. d. . Friderico BENTINCK

fortiter. occvbvit

setatis. svae. an. xxv

vt. strenvi. adolescentis

nomen. et. honos. exstent

eivsdem. pvgn?e. comilitones

kmoerentes. posvervnt annvente. illvst. episcopo. Barcinonensi. Archaeologists sometimes have to collect epitaphs, so it is best to commit copies of tnem to paper, which in some circumstances is more lasting than stone or metal.

E. S. DODGSON. Ateneo Barcelone~s.

PsEUDO-BuRNSiAN SONGS. Every student of Robert Burns will be familiar with that pretty little song beginning

The tither morn, when I forlorn Aneath an aik sat moaning,

as, indeed, this song is to be found in most of the collections of Burns's poetry (cf. Robert Chambers's 'Burns,' iv. 343 ; ' The Centenary Burns,' iii. 104). Its authenticity, assumed by Stenhouse, had been questioned by Scott Douglas, whose arguments, however, do not seem to have met with general approval. I had quite forgotten this fact, so I was not a little astonisned when, turning over the leaves of the 'Chearful Companion' (Perth, 1780 ; third edition, 1783), I came across three stanzas headed 'The Surprise,' which at first sight proved identical with our song, barring one or two insignificant differences only, such as " f u trig " instead of sae trig, or "cock'd spruce" instead of cock'd spunk. have no doubt that the song occurs in other song-books of the period, although, at pre sent, I can only refer to the ' Chearful Com- panion.' At all events, the question may be now looked upon as finally settled.

Another song which appears in many editions of the poet, and which probably is not Burns's own, is the one beginning Wherefore sighing art thou, Phillis ? Its two stanzas strike one from the first as rather un-Burnsian in respect to both style and sentiment, nor have they ever been claimed by Burns. I have sought for them it vain in Scott Douglas's Library Edition and

n Chambers's ' Burns ' ; they are, however, ncluded in * The Centenary Burns ' (vol. iii. D. 169). It has been assumed generally that ihe song was first published in the fifth volume of the 'Scots Musical Museum,' in the autumn (or winter ?) of 1796 ; but, as a matter of fact, it had made its appearance as early as 1792 viz., in vol. ii. of William Napiers Selection of the Most Favourite Scots Songs,' where it is stated, moreover, to be " by P. P." 'qy. Peter Pindar?).

I beg leave to add that I have succeeded in finding out the originals hitherto unknown, so far as I can see of some others of Burns's songs, such as "Open the door to me, O,"

Charlie he's my darling," "The tailor he cam here to woo," "Jockie's taen the part- ing kiss," " Ay waukin, O," &c. I hope to be able before long to lay these finds before the public. OTTO RITTER.

Berlin.

' BEN-HUR.' The Jewish World of 4 April states that "there was only one real Ben-Hur in Jewish history, and he lived in the time of Joshua." It continues :

'This is the third Jewish historical play pre- sented in London in a few years. More intense than either, but never so elegantly mounted, is a Yiddish opera-drama, 'The Fall of Jerusalem,' which in its turn is succeeded by the ' Bar Cochba ' opera. Next in chronological order is Lessing's 4 Nathan the Wise,' which deals with the Crusading time in Palestine. Emma Lazarus wrote a play of the same period concerning the Jews in Germany, so that if an attempt were made Jewish history could be put upon the stage in something like its sequence. Dr. Herzl's 'Modern Ghetto' and Dr. Nordau's 'Dr. Kohn ' are the expression of the beginning of the twentieth century. ' Are readers of * N. & Q.' aware that there is a daily Jewish paper published in London, in Hebrew, the Jewish Express ?

A. N. Q.

Qturus*

WE must request correspondents desiring infor- mation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that the answers may be addressed to them direct.

TRACING FROM GIOTTO. In 1841, at the time of the discovery of the fresco of Dante painted by Giotto in the Bargello, Florence, Mr. Seymour Kirkup, the English artist, made a tracing of the fresco, which he sent to Gabriele Rossetti. His son had it subse- quently in his possession, but at his death it was sold along with many other works of art of the painter-poet. Mr. W. M. Rossetti himself does not know for certain what has