Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 9.djvu/54

 46

NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. ix. JAN. is, IMS.

exchange for that statue. The statue was then gilt, and on 9 July, 1751, having been baptized with the title of George II, was unveiled and inaugurated with all possible ceremonial. A representative company ot each division of the island militia and ot the garrison, and all the civil authorities in due form, were present, and Mr. Charles Marett, Deputy Viscount, having mounted the pedestal whence public notifications are usually made, and which for that occasion was dressed with carpets, declared that the aforesaid statue had been set up in honour of his Majesty King George II. Three rounds of cheering followed this declaration, and at the signal given by the hoisting of a flag on the steeple of the town church the garrison of Elizabeth Castle three times saluted with seven guns, each round of seven guns being followed by a small-arms volley on the part of the troops in the Royal Square. Then wine was brought to the vicinity of the statue, and his Majesty's health was drunk by the civil and military officials. After these ceremonies the mace, the emblem of the authority wielded by the States, was taken back in charge of the proper officials, and with a very solemn and dignified escort, to the place where it was usual to keep it ; and refreshments were sup- plied to the soldiers, some being detained to serve as guard of honour to General Hurst, the Governor-in-Chief, who was expected^to arrive that day. However, when the tide turned, and it was thereby evident that the Governor could not make the port till the morrow, all the rest of the soldiers were allowed to go ; and in the evening there were public fireworks. From the foregoing history we may conclude that all parties concerned were satisfied : the king with the honour, Mr. Gosset by having got his wish on easy terms, the States and the Jersey public because they felt that they had done the right thing at the smallest possible outlay, and the soldiers and others who took part in the ceremony with the extra refreshments and drink. One thing only was lacking to fill up the cup of joy the Governor-in-Chief, General Hurst, had not been present. Whether he reached the island on the next day I do not know, but it seems to me highly probable that he also may have been satisfied, for to miss his tide on 9 July was a way, without offending any one, of getting out of a ceremony in which he was reluctant to take part.

Having concluded the account of this incident, I should like to draw the attention of those who infer, from the existence of so

many Vine Streets in this country, that wine was formerly made in England from grapes grown out of doors, to the following passage on p. 38 of M. de la Croix's book. The louses in St. Heliers,

for the most part covered with thatch, were tapestried externally with trellis-work, over which a vine spread itself. People were so fond of the vine, and the habit of cultivating it was so general, that the street which starts from ' Royal Square and terminates at the ' little Douet' is called Vine Street to this day" (1845).

H. G. K.

THE SOURCE OF THE "SEVEN AGES." The Variorum editor of 'As You Like It' cites numerous allusions to the idea that " All the world's a stage," &c. ; but, apparently. Dr. Furness has overlooked Shakespeare's in- debtedness to Lodge, from whom the drama- tist appears to have borrowed. Lodge attributes the allusion to Plutarch, an authority not mentioned heretofore ^ by commentators. In ' A Margarite of America,' 1596 (p. 91), there is this passage :

' True it is that Plutarch saith (quoth he) that life is a stage-play, which even unto the last act hath no decorum : life is replenished with al vices, and empoverished of all vertue."

Here is a description of the lodging of Protomachus in the fortress of Arsinous :

'About the walles of the chamber in curious imagerie were the seven sages of Greece, set forth with their seuerall vertues, eloquently discovered in Arabiccke verses : The bed appointed for the prince to rest himselfe, was of black Ebonie enchased with Rubies, Diamons and Carbuncls, made in form of an arch on which by degrees mans state from infancie to his olde age was plainly depictured, and on the testerne of the bed the whole contents of the same most sagelie deciphered in these verses :

HUMANE MISERY DISCURSUS. wherof boasteth man, or by what reason Is filthy clay so much ambitious ? Whose thoughts are vaine, and alter euery season. Whose deeds are damned, base, and yitious, Who in his cradle by his childish crying, Presageth his mishaps and sorrowes nying.

An infant first from nurces teat he sucketh With nutriment corruption of his nature : And from the roote of endless errour plucketh That taste of sinne that waits on every creature, And as his sinewes firme his sunne increaseth And but till his death his sorrow never ceaseth.

In riper years when youthly courage raineth, A winters blast of fortunes lowring changes, A flattering hope wherein no trust remaineth, A fleeting love his forward ioy estranges : Atchive he wealth, with wasteful wo he bought it, Let substance faile, he grieues, and yet he sought

it.

In staied yeares whenas he seekes the gleaning : Of those his times in studious Artes bestowed, In sum me, he oft misconstrueth wise-mens mean- ings,