very elegant design is composed of the figure of a saltire, The compiler informs us, that "About four months ago I or St. Andrew's Cross, and the Scottish thistle projected DESTINY OF THE SOVEREIGNS OF FRANCE.-The following appeared in L'Ordre, of 15th January, 1873 : M. Strange destiny of the sovereigns who have ruled France during one brief century. With the exception of Louis XVIII. not one of our Reichstadt! Holyrood! Claremont ! Chislehurst! sent into the world a collection of poems on Affairs of State from the time of Oliver Cromwel to the time of King James II., written by the Duke of Buckingham," &c., which "met with good acceptance;" and he speaks of "the said State Poems and this continuation." From these extracts it would seem that part I. of this vol. was the first collection of State Poems with which this collector had to do. In both parts of my vol. the heading is throughout "Vol. i. Poems on State Affairs," and the signatures are continued from beginning to the end of the vol. The second part, I should have mentioned, is freshly paginated, and ends on p. 264, with "A Ballad on the Fleet." described anywhere, containing State Poems. The title (2.) I possess also another 8vo vol., which I do not find 66 has a close resemblance to that of the above collection. 'Miscellaneous works written by his Grace, George, late Duke of Buckingham, collected in one volume from the original papers, containing," &c. "Also State Poems on the late times, by Mr. Dryden, Sir George Etheridge, Sir Fleetwood Sheppard, Mr. Butler, author of 'Hudibras,' Earl of D- -, Mr. Congreve, Mr. Otway, Mr. Brown, Captain Ayloffe, &c., never before printed," &c., &c. "London: printed for Sam. Briscoe, and sold by J. Nutt, near Stationers' Hall, 1704." The headings correspond to the subjects of each page, and the State Poems, which are mixed up with Buckingham's Poems and Speeches, extend to twenty-six pieces. The preface informs us that several of the pieces had "slipped clandestinely into the Press," but full of mistakes, which being now corrected, "they may now, in true propriety of speech, be said to be first communicated to the world." There are three pieces common to these two volumesBuckingham's "Pindarie on Lord Fairfax," "Jo. Haines's Ballad upon the Disbanding of the Royal Regiment," and "Upon Felton." The first two stanzas of Haines's ballad are in State Poems: (1.) thrown into one; and as to the author When Louis XV. heard the first murmur of the storm, ship of the poem on Felton, the compiler of my vol. (2.) he said, gaily "Royalty will last my time." He was right. When the day came that he died, royalty truly died with him. Afterwards there were kings in France, but little that was royal. observes that the piece is by his composer erroneously assigned to George, late Duke of Buckingham, "and yet I have seen it ascribed to the Duke in several MS. collections of State Poems, now in the custody of some curious gentlemen, and what is more, printed as such in a miscellany, lication does not appear to be noticed elsewhere, but published in the year 1692, by Peter Buck." Buck's pubprobably one of these "MS. collections is that now in the possession of "O. B. B.' (2 N. & Q. 4th series, ix. 531). Queries. ALISON. POEMS ON AFFAIRS OF STATE (Notes and Queries, 4th series, xi. 1).—(1.) I have what seems to be the first vol. of the complete edition of this curious collection, and as it appears to differ from that possessed by Mr. Thoms, it may perhaps be of some use to describe its peculiarities. My vol. is in two parts; the first of which unfortunately wants the title, but in its preface we are told :-"'Tis true some few of these poems were printed before in loose papers, but so mangled that the persons who wrote them would hardly have known, much less have owned them, which put a per- CAN any one give me the remainder of the ballad referring son on examining them by the originals, or best copies; and to a marriage of some laird of Balgay, of which I have heard they are here published without any castration, with many the following?— curious miscellaneous poems of the same great men, which never before saw the light." FORFARSHIRE BALLAD. Bonnie Balgay, where the sun sheens aye, OI wad gie a' my half year's fee ALISON. DRUNKARD'S REVEL (Vol. iii. 8).-Is the Drunkard's Revel, by Mudie, of Dundee, printed? and where is it to be The Finis is on p. 259, the last piece being "A Satyr against Marriage. By the E. of R." P. 260 is blank; then from p. 261 to the Finis, on p. 267, is an " Addenda, in opposition to Mr. Dryden's Essay on Satyr, 1680," and there is no announcement of a second vol. The title of the second part is "State Poems, continued from the time of O. Cromwel to the year 1697, written by the greatest wits of the age, viz., the Lord Rochester," and eight others &c. "With several poems in praise of Oliver Cromwel ALISON. in Latin and English, by Dr. South, Dr. Locke, Sir W. G- -n, Dr. Crew, Mr. Busby, &c. Also some miscellany with the barony of Glassford, in Lanarkshire? and to whom SEMPILL FAMILY.-When did the Sempill family part poems by the same, never before printed, now carefully examined with the originals, and published without any castration. Printed in the year MDCCIX." Following this title is a two-page preface, and an index. found? was it sold? ROLF. At p. 58 is Milton's Julii Mazarini Cardinalis Epitaphium. RUN AND RIDE LIVINGS.-A coachman's wife, of education and intelligence somewhat above her station, whom I was visiting pastorily some years ago, at Howe-nextBrooke, near Norwich, speaking of a clergyman then recently deceased, told me that the living he had held-one in the Chancellor's gift-was a "Run and Ride Living." On my asking what she meant, she informed me that when one of certain livings fell vacant, it was given, as a matter of course, to the parson who first presented himself to the Chancellor to ask for it. Hence, an anxious candidate, hearing of a vacancy, would run and ride' to see the Chancellor. What might be the origin of this strange notion, which I doubt not was common among the poorer classes in Norfolk? Was any of our Chancellors in the habit of giving any of the livings in his gift to the earliest applicant? " Anciently there was noe written precedent for ordering the bearing of supporters, nor for limiting them to the major nobilitie. The ancientest memorials are those inscribed in the old seals of many families, both peers, knights, and esquires, which is conceived among knights to mean knights bannerets, in the rest official dignities. The moderne use of them is now chiefly in the greater nobility and knights of the garter, or persons that were of the privy council, or had some command whereby they had the title of lord prefixed to their style, as Lord Deputy of Ireland, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, Lord President, Counsellors of the North or Marches of Wales, or Lord Warden of the Stanneries. That the peers of the realm did and might bear them is not the question. That others under the degree of peers in Parliament did bear them, and by what reason or right, and how the precedent of their ancestors bearing supporters may justify the use of them in lineal heirs, is the question. It is confessed there is little or nothing in precedent to direct the use of supporters. I suppose, siace custom and practice hath reduced the use of bearing supporters to the major nobility, no inferior degree lesser nobility. But these families, whose ancestors have may now assume them, nor may Garter assign them to the used supporters, whose monuments are accomplished with them, whose houses are adorned with them, and whose [There is an account of this writer in the Bibliotheca Canadensis, pious foundations continue them, the churches, chapels, and by Henry J. Morgan, Fellow of the Royal Society of Northern Anti-religious places whereof they were patrons, founders, and FILMA. AUTHOR OF THE "RISE OF CANADA."—I am compiling a Biographical Dictionary of Men of Letters, and should be much obliged if you or any of your readers could favour me with any particulars relating to the personal history of the author of the Rise of Canada, &c.; what are the titles of his other publications; and if his name is to be found in any published list of literary characters. Liverpool. G. C. POLLOCK. quanes, Copenhagen, Ottawa, 1867, as follows: ROGER, CHARLES.-A Canadian historian and journalist. Born in Dundee, Scotland, 14th April, 1819. Studied for the ministry, and afterwards for the medical profession, and gave up both. Served in the British army in various parts of England and her dependencies. Left in 1842, and settled at Quebec. From 1849 to 1853 he edited the Chronicle there. For a short time he was editor of the Gazette in the same city. In 1854, some friends subscribed sufficient funds to establish a daily newspaper, called the Observer, the editorship of which they intrusted to Mr. Roger. [This is not strictly correct, the Observer, we believe, was Mr. Roger's own paper.] The enterprise did not prove successful, and at the expiration of ten months the publication of the paper ceased. In 1856 he again edited the Gazette, and the following year removed to Port Hope, U.C., where he esta blished the Atlas. Mr. Roger also established the Observer [Chronicle], Millbrook, which he conducted for some years. He is now a clerk in the Civil Service, Ottawa." "1. The Rise of Canada from Barbarism to Wealth and Civilization. Quebec, 1856, pp. 426, 8vo. "Few of our readers, who take any interest in Canadian literary matters, can be ignorant of the name and pretensions of Charles Roger. The first volume of his History of Canada, which appeared some years ago, attracted general attention from the vigour and originality of its style, and the lucidness of its details. All persons capable of forming a judgment on the matter, confessed that the work was a credit to the Province, and many have been anxiously looking out for its continuation.' (Rev. R. McGeorge: Review, Street ville.) Mr. Roger's other works are Quebec, as it Was and Is; Ottawa, Past and Present; Representative Government a Sham, &c.—Ed]. LEITH SUGAR REFINING COMPANY.-I am desirous of gaining information regarding the Leith Sugar Refining Company, which existed about the year 1810 or 1815. Can any one direct me where may be found a list of the partners? R. C. S. benefactors, that render memorials of them, have such possessary right unto them, that they cannot be suppressed or alienated, but may safely and justly continue. It will not be impertinent to proof and illustration of this subject to set forth some few precedents of this nature, collected out of the many that are observable in every shire. Sir Henry de Redford, bailiff of Alençon, in France, under the Duke of York. Richard Courson, captain of Harfleur, in Normandy, 24 John Stanlow, Esquire, then of Normandy. The ancestors of the Earl of Bath used the same supporters before they were peers, as they have done since that dignity. Sir Simon Burley, Knight of the Garter, bore two greyhounds as supporters, proved by his seal, as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. The Cheneys of Kent, as the same. Sir Thomas Moyle, Chancellor of the Court of Augmentations, temp. Hen. VIII., used supporters, which at this day remain upon his hall door. An ancestor of the Earl of Essex, Marshal of Ireland, 50 Edw. III., which his successors, being peers, continued. Sir Walter Raleigh, as Lord Warden of the Stanneries. Sir John Gage, comptroller of the household, temp. 2 Mary. Sir Amias Powlett, of Hinton St. George, temp. 2 Eliz. Divers whose ancestors used supporters, who were never called to Parliament, whose descendants have still continued the same :— The above list from the MSS. is anything but perfect; many others might be addressed, as :Gregory, of Styvichall, com. Warw. Stapleton, com. York. But from that day to this Jeanie lives anither life, ALISON. ROGER OF THAT ILK (Vol. ii. 289, iii. 21).—The place called Roger, to which your correspondent refers, is situate in Westmoreland. In Workman's manuscript, as cited by Alexander Nisbet, in his System of Heraldy, the armorial bearings assigned to Roger of that Ilk, are Vert a fess argent, charged with a saltire of the first, between three piles in chief, and a cinque foil in base of the second. No crest or motto is given with these arms, and for the reason probably that many families in times gone past had a right to use arms who were not entitled to use a crest or motto. 66 Rogerton in East Kilbude," the last word of this sentence is an obvious misprint for East Kilbride. PITCON. BOOK INSCRIPTIONS (Vol iii. 32).-In my school-daysfifty years ago—the youths of England were to the full as fond as any lad of North Britain could be of rhymed inscriptions for their school-books. Something in the mother-tongue, as And also the following, from seals which have come under was but natural, came first :— my notice : Sir Henry Bromflete, 12 Hen. VI. Sir Richard Spalding. Sir Henry Redford, under the Duke of York, gov. of France. Sir John de Bourchier, 13 Rich. II. Sir Hugo de Stafford. Sir Lancelotte de Lisle. Sir John Devereux, 50 Edw. III. Replies. SURNAMES: SCOTS BALLAD. (Vol. iii. 23.) If I by chance should lose this book, By-and-bye, when a little Latin could be done and childish things had been put away, the toga virilis was donned after the following fashion : TIRLING AT THE PIN (Vol. iii. 45).—“ Harold " will find what he wants, I dare say, in the following extract from the F.S.A. SCOT. BILBO's note reminds me of a ballad which I took down Traditions of Edinburgh. from the recitation of an Aberdeenshire man as follows: "DONALD BLUE." My name is Donald Blue, an' ye ken me fu' weel, He lockit the door, took the key in his han', An' down the stairs he ran cryin', "I'm a wretched man, This conduct o' hers I'm no fit to stan', So I'll list for a sojer i' the mornin'." He fell again to work, he was shoein' a horse, But still they cried oot, "Jak, hev her in frae the snaw, At lenth he gaed oot, an' he lookit all aroun', "The Scottish ballads, in numberless passages, made reference to this article: no hero in those compositions ever comes to his mistress's door, but he tirles at the pin. What, then, was a pin? It was a small slip or bar of iron, starting out from the door vertically, serrated on the side towards the door, and provided with a small ring, which, being drawn roughly along the serrations or nicks, produced a harsh and grating sound, to summon the servant to open. Another term for the article was a crow. In the fourth eclogue of Edward Fairfax, a production of the reign of James VI. and I., quoted in the Muses' Library, is this passage : 'Now farewell, Eglon! for the sun stoops low, Great Kings oft want these blessings of the poor: ' with the following note: The ring of the door, called a crow, and when covered with white linen, denoted the mistress of the house was in travail.' It is quite appropriate to this explanation that a small Latin vocabulary, published by Andrew Simpson, in 1702, places among the parts of the house, Corve or a clapper or ringle' Hardly one specimen of the pin, croze or ringle, now (1846) survives in the Old Town." REID OF PITFODDELS (Vol. iii. 45).-If your correspondent SCEPTIC will glance over a few of the numbers of Notes and Queries subsequent to that to which he refers, (I cannot give the reference), he will find Anglo-Scotus's blunder pointed out by another writer. There certainly [Some years ago we accidentally stumbled on a "risp" in one of the older streets of Glasgow, with the ring portion of the instrument gone, however. In form it resembled a printer's bracket (]), the vertical part being about eighteen inches long.-Ed.] PENGUIN. were at one time Reids of Pitfoddels, some account of whom | National Monumental Brasses, compiled by Mr. Jeremiah will be found in Nisbet's System of Heraldy. Although from the report of the Sepulchral Monuments Committee. Anglo-Scotus complacently styles himself one of the First, with the regard to the brass of King Etheldred, in “initiated," he has occassionally been guilty of some very Wimborne Minster, Dorset. Mr. Jeremiah, while attemptgross mistakes. ing to correct the date given by the compilers of the report, has supplied another equally erroneous. He is, however, in FOLK LORE (Vol. iii. 19).—I have frequently taken part good company. Leland has made the same mistake, and in the old custom noticed by PENGUIN, but always on has given the date of the king's death as 827, instead of Hogmannay Night, not New Year's Day, and the gift we ex-872, as it should be. The inscription itself says 873, but it pected was car-cakes-a kind of pancake. To complete the has been ascertained with certainty, that the engagement in rhyme sung in Forfarshire the following has to be added :which the king was slain, took place on April 23, 872. I subjoin the exact wording of the inscription." Lay by your stocks, lay by your stules, An' dinna think that we are fules; We We are but bairns come to play, Rise up an' gie's our hogmannay! Fifty years ago, I believe this custom was common all over Scotland, and it is much to be regretted that it is now so seldom observed. Chambers, in his Popular Rhymes, notices the above without giving a complete version, but he has another version which is also to be heard in Forfar LAIRG, LARGS, LARGO (Vol. ii. 277, iii. 11).-Consult the Statistical Accounts of the parish of Largs, in Árgyshire. To enliven the subject I may be permitted to tell a story I have heard. An Englishman, travelling in the neighbourhood of Largs, entered into conversation with his companion, a countryman, who belonged to that charming place. The Southern asked, "Have you magistrates here-mayor and aldermen ?" "Fawt?" "Have you magistrates in Largs; provost and bailies I believe you call them in Scotland? Ou, ay, we've magistrates."" And do they wear badges ?" "Fawt?" Do they wear badges of office, chains and such like?" "Chains, na, they're joost like ither fouk. They gang louss!" " "In hoc loco quiescit corpus sancti Ethelredi regis West Saxonum Martyris, qui anno dom. DCCCLXXIII 23° die Aprilis, per manvs Danorum paganorum occubuit." I would secondly observe, that in a few instances Mr. Jeremiah has been misled by the phraseology of the report, and has classed as brasses certain monuments which are quite of a different character. The tombs of King Edward IV., in St. George's Chapel, Windsor; Richard Weston, in Winchester Cathedral; and Richard Beauchamp, in Warwick Church, should for this reason have been excluded from the list. Again, out of the eight monuments in Westminster Abbey, named by Mr. Jeremiah, only three, viz., those commemorating John of Waltham, Robert de Waldeby, and Alianor de Bohun are strictly speaking brasses. Lastly, a few printers' errors may be pointed out:-On p. 28, the brass at Chigwell, Essex, is in memory of Samuel Harnsett, not Hornsett. So also the monument in Lincoln Cathedral, commemorates John Russell, not Runell; and the brass at Hackney is to Christopher Urswick, not Alrswick. On p. 29, in a line with Northamptonshire, for Ashley, St. Leger's, read Ashby St. Legers. E. H. W. DUNKIN. READY RECKONERS (Vol. ii. 299, iii. 11, 34).—CALCULUS asks "About what period did this class of books first appear?" Upon referring to the splendid catalogue of the celebrated library of M. Gugliemo Lebri, part i. art. Arithmetic, I find the following entry, which I think is one of the earliest known works on this subject, p. 54, No. 473Arithmetic, Agucchia (Lattantio) Il Computista Pagato vellum. 4to. Roma, 1613. "A very scarce Ready Reckoner and Tables of Interest unknown to Professor De Morgan." Possibly, if CALCULUS can find it convenient, a reference to Prof. De Morgan's "Arithmetical Books" may better answer his query than I could attempt to do, more fully, in the pages of the Antiquary. J. JEREMIAH. ALISON. CURIOUS MEANS OF Love Correspondence (Vol. iii. "Maid of Athens" is the following pasHEREFORDSHIRE NEW YEAR CUSTOMS (Vol. iii. 7).—31).—In Byron's Mr. Halliwell, in his Popular Rhymes, 1849, p. 230, gives sage:a similar rhyme: "Ha wish ye a merry Chresamas An' a happy new year, A pantry full a' good rost beef, ALISON. TITLE "VERY REVEREND" (Vol. iii. 12).-The title of Very Reverend belongs also to the moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland-the executive head of the Church for the time being. Collectively, the members of the supreme ecclesiastical court are addressed as Right Reverend and Right Honourable. By all the token-flowers that tell Attached to these lines is a note, quite Byronic in cha- J. P. EMSLIE. Facts and Jottings. "I KNOW A HAWK FROM A HANDSAW." So vast and rapid are now the strides of the pen and the progress of literature, that one medium is often unconNATIONAL MONUMENTAL BRASSES (Vol. iii. 28).-Isciously left behind another in the course of events. Thus it would beg to point out a few inaccuracies in the list of A. • By-the-bye, does not this begging custom and the beggers of the rhyme lend some countenance to the suggestion that Hogmannay is a corruption of au gueux menez-bring to the beggars. But this is a "vexed question," and I stop. has happened that the suggestion which you ascribe to Mr. J. A. Picton, and quote from Notes and Queries, was made public beforehand in the Antiquary. The facts have already been made known to Mr. Picton, and admitted by him.— Correspondent of the Builder. = ASSYRIAN RESEARCHES.-Fired by American example, marble slabs. The centre circle has nine slabs, the second the proprietors of the Daily Telegraph, with the concurrence is formed of eighteen, the third twenty-seven, and so on, of the trustees of the British Museum and the Lords of the each circle being a multiple of nine, till, at the outer circle, Treasury, have arranged to despatch Mr. George Smith (the it is 9 X 9 81, being a favourite number in Chinese decipherer of the tablets relating to the Deluge) to Assyria philosophy. "The same symbolism is carried through the for further explorations. They propose to devote to the balustrades, the steps, and the two lower terraces of the object 1000 guineas within a period of six months, and are altar. Four flights of steps, of nine each, lead down to the willing to exceed those limits if found desirable. Mr. Smith's middle terrace, where are placed the tablets to the spirits of official salary will continue. Any memorials of interest dis- the sun, moon, and stars, and the year god, Tai-Sui. The covered will be added to the present collection of Assyrian sun and stars take the east, and the moon and Tai-Sui the antiquities in the British Museum. west. The stars are the twenty-eight constellations of the Chinese zodiac, borrowed by the Hindoos, soon after the Christian era, and called by them Naksha-tras. The TaiSui is a deification of the sixty-year cycle. The present year, 1869, is the sixth year of the cycle, and is denoted by the characters Ki-si, taken from the denary and duodenary cycles respectively. For this year the tablet is inscribed with these characters; in 1870, the characters Keng-wu, next in order, will be taken, and so on." The work quoted from was published about two years ago, which explains the reference to 1869 and 1870. The same work gives a further illustration of these numbers :-"The balustrades have 9 × 872 pillars and rails on the upper terrace; on the middle terrace there are 108; and on the lower 180. These amount in all to 360, the number of degrees in a circle. The pavement of the middle terrace has in its innermost circle ninety stones, and in its outermost 162 stones, thus reaching the double of eighty-one, the outermost circle of the upper terrace. So again, in the lower terrace the circles increase from 171 stones, the innermost to 242, or three times the square of nine for the outermost."-Daily News. ANCIENT TERRA-COTTAS OF SYRIA.-The incredulity with which the objects of idolatrous art, recently discovered in Moab, and of which Lieut. Conder sent water-colour sketches to the Palestine Exploration Fund, were received in this country must now be at an end. Some time since, the report of Pastor Weser, the Prussian chaplain at Jerusalem, who himself visited the sites of excavation, was published. An attempt was made to throw doubt even upon that. Now, Mr. Greville Chester, one of the opponents of the genuine character of the objects in question, writes. from Jerusalem a full recantation. He says that he has examined the collection of Mr. Shapira, and is convinced of its genuine character and extreme importance. At Berlin, the same conclusion was long since arrived at, and Pastor Weser has been elected a member of the Oriental Society, in consequence of the light he has personally thrown on the subject. Lieut. Conder's sketches were confined to the most striking objects, from an art point of view. Some of the jars are covered with incised characters, which, in some cases, are bi-lingual. The British Museum authorities based their condemnation of some of the jars, as forgeries, on the ground that they were impressed with unknown, as well as with well-known characters, a thing most unlikely for a forger to attempt. While we regret that these objects are lost to this country, it is very instructive to see the different tone in which any indication of important discovery is met in Germany. -Builder. CHINESE TEMPLES.-To the eye of a European there is nothing about it to suggest its ecclesiastical character. It is more like one of the fanciful creations of gardener-artists, reminding you of the gardens at Versailles or the Crystal Palace. The circular space on the top looks as if intended for a band to play on. It is somewhat larger than one of the fountains in Trafalgar-square, with a pavement and balustrade of white marble. It stands on two other platforms, all formed of the same material, forming three terraces, each terrace being ascended by a flight of nine steps, or twenty-seven in all, from the ground to the top of the altar. There are four ascents, one from each of the cardinal points. The whole is surrounded by a low wall, with open marble gateways on each side, facing the four ascents. This wall is square in plan, and in the south-east corner is the furnace or altar for burning the bullock, with eight other altars, smaller, and of iron, where offerings to the eight deceased ancestors are also burned, the bullock being offered to Shang-ti alone. To those who have taken an interest in Professor Smyth's inquiries respecting the Great Pyramid, this Chinese Temple ought to have special significance. Although round in plan and flat on the top, it may still be described as a modification of the Pyramid. Its astronomical character is indicated by the great ceremony at the winter solstice. The four ascents, with approaches and gates to the four cardinal points, suggest that an astro-geographical meaning was intended. Most of the imperial temples of Pekin have been constructed with reference to the relation of numbers, and this is particularly marked in the Temple of Heaven. The number nine figures very largely in it. The ascent to each terrace has nine steps, the whole ascent being 3 X 9 27. The pavement on the circular top is formed by nine circles of = MORTUARY CHAPEL, NAPOLEON III.—It is intended, it is believed, forthwith to begin the erection of a mortuary ch pel at Chislehurst, projecting from the southern side of the chapel close to the break of the chancel. Proceedings of Societies. SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY.-A meeting of this By the Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn.-Charles |