Notes and Queries, Number 67, February 8, 1851

will redound to their Honour.

"My Grandfather's turning short upon the Court (as[5 - "It is my Grandfathers Misfortune to have Sr Willm Temple, a valewable Author, very unfavourable to him: there having been a great Quarrel between them on a slight occasion of my Grandfather's having stopt his Gift of Plate after his Embassy; a Custome wch my Grandfather as Chancellor of ye Exchequer thought very prejudicial." (In a marginal note.)] Sir William Temple expresses it) had only this plain reason for it; that he discoverd the King to be a Papist, through that disguise of an Esprit fort, w

was a character his Vices and over fondness of Witt made him affect and act very naturally. Whatever Complyances my Grandfather, as a States-man, might make before this discovery, to gain the King, from his Brother and y

French Party, he broke off all, when by the Duke of Buckingham's means, he had gaind this secret. For my Grandfather's Aversion and irreconcileable Hatred to Popery, was (as Phanaticisme,) confessd by his greatest Enemyes to be his Master-Passion. Nor was it ever said that the King left him: but He the King, for nothing was omitted afterwards by that Prince to regain him; nor nothing to destroy him, when that was found impossible–

"But I must end: least I fail this Post."

The superscription is:

"A Monsieur
Monsieur Le Clerc
sur le Keiser Gracht
près de l'Eglise Arminienne
a Amsterdam"

MR. GOUGH'S TRANSLATION OF THE HISTORY OF THE BIBLE

In vol. vi., p. 266., of Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, "Memoirs of Mr. Gough," is the following anecdote of Mr. Gough's precocious talents—

"At the very early age of eleven he commenced a task that would have reflected credit on any period of life; which, by the indulgence of his mother, appeared in print under the title of 'The History of the Bible, translated from the French by R. G., junior, 1746. London: Printed by James Waugh in the year 1747.' Of this curious volume, consisting of 160 sheets in folio, not more than twenty-five copies were printed, as presents to a few particular friends and when completed at the press, it is marked by way of colophon, 'Done at twelve years and a half old.'"

Mr. Nichols in his notes says, that the French edition was printed at Amsterdam, in 2 vols. folio, with plates, 1700. That by the generosity of Mr. Gough's worthy relict, he had a copy of the work with Mr. Gough's corrections in maturer age; and in a note at p. 642. of this volume of the Literary Anecdotes Mr. Nichols further states, that

"By a singular chance, at a sale of the library of Dr. Guise in January, 1812, he met with two copies of Mr. Gough's juvenile translation of the History of the Bible; and at the end of one of the volumes were ten sheets of Mr. Pickering's Dictionary, perhaps the only copy of them in existence."

The Rev. Roger Pickering was Mr. Gough's tutor until he was admitted at Bene't College, Cambridge, July, 1752, being then in the 17th year of his age. This Dictionary was compiled on the plan of Calmet, but left unfinished.

Mr. J. B. Nichols, son of the late venerable octogenarian, having recently presented me with a copy of Mr. Gough's scarce volume, I am anxious to learn by whom the original French work was written, and where a copy may be purchased. It is one of much erudition; sound in doctrine and principle; pleasing and familiar in its language, and would, I should think, well repay the publisher of a new edition, after a careful correction of a few deficiencies in composition, incidental to the early period at which Mr. Gough translated it. There is nothing in the preface, or in any part of the volume, to indicate the name of the original author. Should Mr. J. B. Nichols still possess Mr. Gough's more matured and corrected copy, he might perhaps discover some reference to the author.

    J. M. G.

Worcester, Jan. 1851.

FOLK LORE

Lammer Beads (Vol. iii. p. 84.).—If L. M. M. R. had taken the trouble to consult Jamieson's Etymological Dictionary,—that rich storehouse of curious information, not merely in relation to the language, but to the manners and customs, and the superstitions of North Britain,—he would have found interesting notices connected with his inquiry. See the word Lammer, and the same in the Supplement. We might accept, without a moment's hesitation, the suggestion of a learned friend of Dr. Jamieson's, deriving Lammer from the French, l'ambre, were it not that Kilian gives us Teut. Lamertyn-steen, succinum. In Anglo-Saxon times it was called Eolhsand (Gloss. Ælfr.), and appears to have been esteemed in Britain from a very early period. Amongst antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon age, beads of amber are of very frequent occurrence. Douglas has collected some interesting notes regarding this substance, in his Nenia, p. 9. It were needless to cite the frequent mention of precularia, or Paternosters, of amber, occurring in inventories. The Duke of Bedford, Regent of France, purchased a most costly chaplet from a Parisian jeweller, in 1431, described as "une patenostres à signeaux d'or et d'ambre musquet." (Leber, Inventaires, p. 235.) The description "de alba awmbre," as in the enumeration of strings of beads appended to the shrine of S

William, at York Minster, may have been in distinction from jet, to which, as well as to amber, certain virtuous or talismanic properties were attributed. There were, however, several kinds of amber,—succinum rubrum, fulvum, &c. The learned professor of Copenhagen, Olaus Worm, alludes to the popular notions and superstitious use of amber—

"Foris in collo gestatum, contra fascinationes et nocturna terriculamenta pueros tueri volunt; capitis etiam destillationibus, et tonsillarum ac faucium vitiis resistere, oculorum fluxus et ophthalmias curare."

By his account it would seem to have been received as a panacea, sovereign for asthma, dropsy, toothache, and a multitude of diseases.

"In summâ (he concludes) Balsami instar est, calorem nativum roborans et morborum insultibus resistens."—Museum Wormianum, p. 32.

Bartholomaeus Glanvilla, in his work, De Proprietatibus Rerum, has not overlooked the properties of amber, which he seems to regard as a kind of jet (book xvi., c. xlix.).

"Gette, hyght Gagates, and is a boystous stone, and never the les it is precious."

He describes it as most abundant and of best quality in Britain of two kinds, yellow and black; it drives away adders,—

"Is contrary to fendes,—helpeth for fantasies and ayenste vexacions of fendis by night.—And so, if so boystus a stone dothe so great wonders, none shuld be dispisid for foule colour without, while the vertu that is within is unknowe." (Translation by Trevisa.)

    Albert Way.

ON CATALOGUES OF BOOKS

A series of notes on the utility of printed catalogues of public libraries may seem to be a superfluity. It may be said, Who ever denied it? Relying on a official document, I can assert that it has been denied—in defiance of common sense, and the experience of two hundred and fifty years!

At such a time, it behoves every lover of literature to declare himself, and to furnish his quota of facts or arguments corrective of this upstart paradox. It is under the influence of that sentiment that I submit, for consideration in the proper quarter, some short extracts from my bibliographic portfolios.

    Bolton Corney.

"The forwardness of your CATALOGUE [of the public library at Oxford] is very good tidings.... I would intreat you to meditate upon it, how it may be performed to both our credits and contents."—Sir Thomas Bodley to Tho. James, c. 1604.

Habes, benigne lector, catalogum librorum, eo ordine dispositum, quo in celeberrima Oxoniensi bibliothecâ collocantur; opus diu multumque desideratum, et jam tandem editum."—Thomas James, 1605.

"Quamprimum benignis academicorum suffragiis in bibliothecarium electus essem, viderémque justum bibliothecæ publicæ catalogum ab omnibus desiderari, ego ut gratiis litatum irem, me protinùs accinxi ad conficiendum proprio marte novum catalogum."—Thomas Hyde, 1674.

"The general use of catalogues of [of books], and the esteem they are in at present, is so well known, that it were to waste paper to expatiate on it."—Gerard Langbaine, 1688.

"Quelles obligations la république des lettres n'a-t-elle pas aux Anglais, d'avoir donné les catalogues des livres que renferment leurs bibliothèques! Celui d'Oxford est d'une utilité reconnue, par le grand nombre de livres qu'il contient, et par l'ordre alphabétique qu'on leur a donné."—Jourdan, 1739.

Catalogues of books are of great use in literary pursuits.... We mean not here to enter into all the conveniencies of a more improved catalogue, for it would require a volume to display them."—William Oldys, 1745.

"Solebat [sc. Ruhnkenius] haud exiguam subsecivæ operæ partem tribuere perlegendis catalogis librorum, sive per auctiones divendendorum, sive in bibliothecis publicis servatorum; unde factum est, ut rariorum cognitionem librorum, jam in Bergeri disciplina perceptam, continuo augeret."—Dan. Wyttenbach, 1799.

"Le premier besoin de l'homme de lettres qui entreprend un ouvrage, est de connoître les sources auxquelles il peut puiser, les livres qui ont traité directement ou indirectement le sujet qui l'occupe."—S. Chardon de la Rochette, 1812.

"La bibliothèque [savoir, la bibliothèque royale établie à Bruxelles] aura deux catalogues: l'un alphabétique, l'autre systématique. Dans l'intérêt de la science, le catalogue sera imprimé, en tout ou en partie."—Léopold, roi des Belges, 1837.

"Le catalogue est l'inventaire en le véritable palladium d'une bibliothèque. L'impression des catalogues est toujours une chose utile, sinon indispensable.... La publicité est, en outre, le frein des abus, des négligences, et des malversations, l'aiguillon du zèle, et la source de toute amélioration."—L. A. Constantin, 1839.

"La publication d'une nouvelle édition complète du catalogue de la bibliothèque du roi [de France], serait, sans doute, le plus grand service qu'on pût jamais rendre à l'histoire littéraire; et nous ne regardons pas cette entreprise comme impraticable."—Jacques Charles Brunet, 1842.

"M. Merlin pense avec moi, et c'est quelque chose, que les justes plaintes formées contre l'administration de la bibliothèque royale [de France] cesseront dès l'instant où l'on aura rédigé et publié le catalogue géneral des livres imprimés."—Paulin Paris, 1847.

Minor Notes

The "Winter's Tale."—As Mr. Payne Collier is making inquiries as to the origin of Shakspeare's Winter's Tale, perhaps he will allow me to call his attention to an oversight he has committed in his edition of Greene's Pandosto, in the series called Shakspeare's Library. In a note to the introduction, p. ii., Mr. Collier says,

"Some verbal resemblances and trifling obligations have been pointed out by the commentators in their notes to the Winter's Tale. One of the principal instances occurs in Act IV. Sc. 3., where Florizel says:

"'The gods themselves,
Humbling their deities to love, have taken
The shapes of beasts upon them: Jupiter