Minor Notes.
Baptism, Marriage, and Crowning of Geo. III.—
"Died at his palace at Lambeth, aged seventy-five, the Most Reverend Thomas Secker, LL.D., Lord Archbishop of Canterbury. His Grace was many years Prebendary of Durham, seventeen years Rector of St. James', Westminster, consecrated Bishop of Bristol in 1734, and in 1737 was translated to the See of Oxford. In 1750 he resigned the Rectory of St. James, on his succeeding Bishop Butler in the Deanery of St. Paul's; and on the death of Archbishop Hutton in 1758, was immediately nominated to the metropolitan see, and confirmed at Bow Church, on the 20th of April in that year, Archbishop of Canterbury. His Grace was Rector of St. James's when our present sovereign was born at Norfolk House, and had the honour to baptize, to marry, and crown his majesty and his royal consort, and to baptize several of their majesties' children."—From Pennsylvania Chronicle, Oct. 3, 1768.
M. R. F.
Pennsylvania.
Copernicus.—The inscription on the tomb of the celebrated Copernicus, in the cathedral church at Thorn, in Prussian Poland, supposed to have been written by himself, deserves a place in "N. & Q."
"Non parem Pauli gratiam requiro,
Veniam Petri neque posco; sed quam
In crucis ligno dederat Latroni
Sedulus oro."
Fitzroy.
First Instance of Bribery amongst Members of Parliament.—The following extract from Parry's Parliaments and Councils of England, deserves, I think, a corner in "N. & Q.," especially at the present day:
"1571, A. R. 13, May 10.—Thomas Long, 'a very simple man and unfit' to serve, is questioned how he came to be elected. He confesses that he gave the Mayor of Westbury and another four pounds for his place in parliament. They are ordered to repay this sum, to appear to answer such things as should be objected against them in that house, and a fine of twenty pounds is to be assessed on the corporation and inhabitants of Westbury, for their scandalous attempt."
Abhba.
Richard Brinsley Sheridan.—In the "Life of Sheridan," by G. G. S., prefixed to his Dramatic Works, published by Bohn in 1848, is the following passage (p. 90.):
"At the age of twenty-nine he had achieved a brilliant reputation, had gained an immense property, and was apparently master of large resources."
And in an essay lately published, entitled Richard Brinsley Sheridan, by George Gilfillan, is this statement:
"Young Sheridan had no patrimony, not a shilling, indeed, all his life that he could call his own."
Which of these two contradictory accounts is true?
In the Life by G. G. S. are two glaring slips of the pen or of the press; at p. 8. it is said that Sheridan was born in the year 1771 (1751?), and at p. 44. that The Duenna was brought out on the 21st of November, 1755 (1775?).
William Duane.
Philadelphia.
Publican's Invitation.—Amongst various other ingenious contrivances adopted by the proprietors of the rosoglio houses (anglicè, dram-shops) in Valetta, to attract the custom and patronage of the gallant red-jackets that swarm in our streets at this time, one individual has put forth and distributed among the soldiers the following puzzle, which I send for the amusement of your readers. A very little study will suffice to master the mysterious document.
"THE PUBLICAN'S INVITATION.
Here's to Pand's Pen. DASOCI.
Alhou Rinha? R. M. (Les Smirt)
Ha! N. D. F. Unlet fri. Ends.
HIPRE! ign. Beju! Standk.
Indan! Devil's Peako! F. N.
(One.)"
John o' the Ford.
Malta.
Bishop Burnet again!—The following anecdote occurs in Mrs. Thistlethwaite's Memoirs and Correspondence of Dr. Henry Bathurst, Lord Bishop of Norwich, p. 7.:
"I have heard my father mention the following anecdote of my grandfather, Benjamin Bathurst, Esq., and the Duke of Gloucester (Queen Anne's son), during their boyhood. My grandfather and the Duke were playfellows; and the Duke's tutor was Dr. Burnet. One day, when the Doctor went out of the room, the Duke having as usual courted him, and treated him with obsequious civility, young Bathurst expressed his surprise that his Royal Highness should treat a person, whom he disliked as much as he did the Doctor, with so much courtesy and kindness. The Duke replied, 'Do you think I have been so long a pupil of Dr. Burnet's without learning to be a hypocrite?'"
J. Y.
Old Custom preserved in Warwickshire.—There is a large stone a few miles from Dunchurch, in Warwickshire, called "The Knightlow Cross." Several of Lord John Scott's tenants hold from him on the condition of laying their rent before daybreak on Martinmas Day on this stone: if they fail to do so, they forfeit to him as many pounds as they owe pence, or as many white bulls with red tips to their ears and a red tip to their tail as they owe pence, whichever he chooses to demand. This custom is still kept up, and there is always hard riding to reach the stone before the sun rises on Martinmas Day?
L. M. M. R.
English Diplomacy v. Russian.—A friend of Sir Henry Wotton's being designed for the employment of an ambassador, came to Eton, and requested from him some experimental rules for his prudent and safe carriage in his negociations; to whom he smilingly gave this for an infallible aphorism,—that, to be in safety himself, and serviceable to his country, he should always, and upon all occasions, speak the truth (it seems a state paradox). "For," says Sir Henry Wotton, "you shall never be believed; and by this means your truth will secure yourself, if you shall ever be called to any account; and 'twill also put your adversaries (who will still hunt counter) to a loss in all their disquisitions and undertakings." (Reliquiæ Wottonianæ.)
Alpha.