Notes and Queries, Number 50, October 12, 1850

This couplet is at the end of the second letter in De Foe's Great Law of Subordination, p. 42. Is it his own? If not, where did he get it?

    N.B.

Books wanted to refer to.—

"Hollard's Travels (1715), by a French Protestant Minister, afterwards suppressed by the author."

"Thomas Bonnell, Mayor of Norwich, Life of."

"Canterbury, Letters and Memoirs on the Excommunication of two Heretics, 1698."

"The Book of Seventy-seven French Protestant Ministers, presented to Will'm III."

If any of your readers can refer me to the above works I shall be glad. They may be in the British Museum, although I have searched there in vain for them.

    J.S.B.

Water-marks in Writing-paper.—Can any of your correspondents indicate any guide to the dating of paper by the water-mark. I think I have read of some work on that subject, but have no precise recollection about it. I have now before me several undated MSS. written on paper of which it would be very desirable to fix the exact date. They evidently belonged to Pope, Swift, and Lady M.W. Montague, as they contain their autographs. They are all of that size called Pro Patria, and two of them have as water-mark a figure of Britannia with a lion brandishing a sword within a paling, and the motto Pro Patria over the sword. Of one of these the opposite page has the initials GR, and the other has IX; but the paper has been cut off in the middle of the water-mark and only exhibits half the figure IV. Another sheet has the royal arms (1. England and Scotland impaled, 2. France, 3. Ireland, 4. the white horse of Hanover,) within the garter, and surmounted by the crown, and on the opposite page GR. within a crowned wreath. There is no doubt that they were all manufactured between 1715 and 1740; but is there any means of arriving at a more precise date?

    C.

Puzzling Epitaph.—The following curious epitaph was found in a foreign cathedral:—

EPITAPHIUM.
"O quid tuæ
be est biæ;
ra ra ra
es et in
ram ram ram
ii."

The following is plainly the solution of the last four lines:—

ra, ra, ra, is thrice ra, i.e. ter-ra=terra.
ram, ram, ram, is thrice ram, i.e. ter-ram=terram.
ii is i twice, i.e. i-bis=ibis.

Thus the last four lines are,—

"Terra es et in terram ibis."

Can any one furnish a solution of the two first lines?

    J. BDN.

[We would suggest that the first two lines are to be read "O super be, quid super est, tuæ super biæ," and the epitaph will then be—

"O superbe quid superest tuæ superbiæ
Terra es, et in terram ibis."—ED.]

MSS. of Cornish Language.—Are there any ancient MSS. of the Cornish language, or are there any works remaining in that language, besides the Calvary and Christmas Carol published by the late Davies Gilbert?

    J.A. GILES.

Bilderdijk the Poet.—Banished from his native country, disowned by his own countrymen, the Dutch poet Willem Bilderdijk pitched his tent for a while on the hospitable soil of Old England. Prince William V. residing in 1795 at Hampton Court, he resolved to stay there; but, possessing no income at all, and, like the sage of antiquity, having saved nothing from the shipwreck but his genius, he shifted his dwelling-place to London, where he gave lessons in drawing, languages, and various, even medical, sciences. He was married in England to Katharine Wilhelmina Schweickhardt, on the 18th of May, 1797. His residence in the birthplace of "NOTES AND QUERIES" makes me ask, if there be still persons living, who remember him as teacher, friend, or poet? A presentation-copy of Mrs. Bilderdijk's translation of Rodrick, the Last of the Goths, was offered to Southey, accompanied by a Latin letter from her spouse. The poet-laureate visiting Leyden in the summer of 1825, Bilderdijk would not suffer him to remain lodged in the inn, where an injury to his leg urged him to favour the landlord with a protracted stay. Southey was transported accordingly to the Dutch poet's house; and did not leave it before he was cured, several weeks having elapsed in the meanwhile. Mention of this fact is made in a poem the British bard addresses to Cuninghame. I do not know whether it is alluded to in Southey's Life.

Bilderdijk's foot was crushed accidentally, in the sixth year of his age, by one of his play-fellows; and thus he, who, by his natural disposition seemed to be destined to a military career, was obliged to enlist in the militia togata. He fought the good fight in verse. It is remarkable that Byron and Sir Walter Scott, his cotemporaries, were also lame or limping.

    JANUS DOUSA.

Egyptian MSS.—What is the age of the oldest MS. found in Egypt? Are there any earlier than the age of Alexander?

    J.A. GILES.

Scandinavian Priesthood.—Will one of your correspondents do me the favour to let me know the best authority I can refer to for information as to the priesthood of the Scandinavians; the mode of their election, the rank from which they were generally chosen, whether they were allowed to marry, &c.?

    MAX BRANDESON.

Thomas Volusemus (or Wilson?).—Is anything known of Thomas Volusemus (Wilson?) who edited the works of his father-in-law, Patrick Adamson, titular Archbishop of St. Andrew's, which were published in London A.D. 1619?

    H.A.E.

REPLIES

CURFEW

We have received the following Replies to NABOC'S inquiry (Vol. ii., p. 103.) as to where the custom of ringing the curfew still remains.

Bingley in Yorkshire.—In the town of Bingley, in Yorkshire, the custom of ringing the curfew existed in the year 1824. It may have been discontinued since that year, but I do not know that it has.

It is also the custom at Blackburn, in Lancashire; and it was, if it is not now, at Bakewell in Derbyshire.

    H.J.

Bromyard, Herefordshire.—The curfew is still rung at Bromyard, Herefordshire, at nine P.M., from the 5th of November, until Christmas Day; and the bell is afterwards tolled the number of the day of the month. Why it is merely confined to within the above days, I could never ascertain.

    G.F.C.

Waltham-on-the-Wolds.—The curfew is still rung at Waltham-on-the-Wolds, Leicestershire, at five A.M., eight P.M. in summer, and at six A.M., seven P.M. in winter; the bell also tolling the day of the month.

    R.J.S.

Oxfordshire.—I see that NABOC's inquiry about the curfew is answered at p. 175. by a reference to the Journal of the British Archæological Association. The list there is probably complete: but lest it should omit any, I may as well mention, from my own knowledge, Woodstock, Oxon, where it rings from eight to half-past eight in the evening, from October to March; Bampton and Witney, Oxon, and Stow, in Gloucester; at some of which places it is also rung at four in the morning.

    C.

Chertsey, Surrey.—In the town of Chertsey in Surrey, the curfew is regularly tolled for a certain time at eight every evening, but only through the winter months. There is also a curious, if not an uncommon, custom kept up with regard to it. After the conclusion of the curfew, and a pause of half a minute, the day of the month is tolled out: one stroke for the 1st, two for the 2nd, and so on.