Minor Notes.
Meaning of Luncheon.—Our familiar name of luncheon is derived from the daily meal of the Spaniards at eleven o'clock, termed once or l'once (pronounced l'onchey).—From Ford's Gatherings in Spain.
A. L.
Charade upon Nothing translated.—In your No. for July a correspondent asks who was the author of the very quaint charade upon "Nothing:"
"Me, the contented man desires,
The poor man has, the rich requires,
The miser gives, the spendthrift saves,
And all must carry to their graves."
Possibly he may not object to read, without troubling himself as to the authorship of, the subjoined translation:
"Me, qui sorte sua contentus vixerit, optat,
Et quum pauper habet, dives habere velit;
Spargit avarus opum, servat sibi prodigus æris,
Secum post fati funera quisque feret."
Effigies.
Giving the Lie.—The great affront of giving the lie arose from the phrase "Thou liest," in the oath taken by the defendant in judicial combats before engaging, when charged with any crime by the plaintiff, and Francis I. of France, to make current his giving the lie to the Emperor Charles V., first stamped it with infamy by saying, in a solemn Assembly, that "he was no honest man that would bear the lie."
Blowen.
Anachronisms of Painters.—An amusing list is given in D'Israeli's Curiosities of Literature (edit. 1839, p. 131.). The following are additional:
At Hagley Park, Worcestershire, the seat of Lord Lyttleton, is a painting by Varotari, a pupil of Paul Veronese, of Christ and the Woman taken in Adultery. One of the Jewish elders present wears spectacles.
At Kedleston, Derbyshire, the seat of Lord Scarsdale, is a painting by Rembrandt, Daniel interpreting Belsazzar's Dream. Daniel's head is covered with a peruke of considerable magnitude.
J. E.
Spenser's Faerie Queene.—The following brief notes may perhaps prove interesting:—
1. Spenser gives us a hint of the annoyances to which Shakspeare and Burbage may have been subject:—
"All suddenly they heard a troublous noise,
That seemed some perilous tumult to design,
Confused with women's cries and shorts of boys,
Such as the troubled theatres oft-times annoys."—B. IV. iii. 37.
2. Spenser's solitary pun occurs in book iv. canto viii. verse 31.:
"But when the world wox old, it wox war-old,
Whereof it hight."
3. Cleanliness does not appear to have been a virtue much in vogue in the "glorious days of good Queen Bess." Spenser (book iv. canto xi. verse 47.) speaks of
"Her silver feet, fair washed against this day,"
i. e. for a special day of rejoicing.
4. An instance of the compound epithets so much used by Chapman in his translation of Homer, is found in Spenser's description of the sea-nymphs, book iv. canto xi. verse 50.:
"Eione well-in-age,
And seeming-still-to-smile Glauconome."
J. H. C.
Adelaide, South Australia.
Prayer of Mary Queen of Scots.—The incorrect arrangement, in Seward's Anecdotes, of the following beautiful lines, said to be composed by Mary Queen of Scots, and repeated immediately before her execution, and a diffuse paraphrase subjoined, in which all their tenderness is lost by destroying their brevity and simplicity, may justify another arrangement, and an attempt to preserve their simple and tender character in fewer words and a different measure:—
| "O Domine Deus, Speravi in Te, O mi care Jesu, Nunc libera me: In dura catena, Desidero Te. Languendo, gemendo, Et genu flectendo, Adoro, imploro, Ut liberes me. | O Lord, my God, I have trusted in Thee: My Jesu beloved, Me presently free: In cruel chains, In penal pains, I long for Thee, I moan, I groan, I bend my knee; I adore, I implore, Me presently free." |
Can any of your correspondents inform me where these lines first appear? on what authority they are ascribed to Mary Queen of Scots? and also who mentions their having been repeated immediately before her execution?
Alexander Pytts Falconer.
Beeton-Christchurch, Hants.
A small Instance of Warren Hastings' Magnanimity.—During the latter years of his life, Warren Hastings was in the habit of visiting General D'Oyley in the New Forest; and thus he became
acquainted with the Rev. W. Gilpin, vicar of Boldre, and author of Forest Scenery, &c. Mr. Gilpin's custom was to receive morning visitors, who sat and enjoyed his agreeable conversation; and Warren Hastings, when staying in the neighbourhood, often resorted to the Boldre Parsonage. It happened, one Sunday, that Mr. Gilpin preached a sermon on the character of Felix, which commenced in words like these:
"Felix was a bad man, and a bad governor. He took away another man's wife and lived with her; and he behaved with extortion and cruelty in the province over which he ruled."
Other particulars followed equally in accordance with the popular charges against the late Governor-General of India, who, to the preacher's dismay, was unexpectedly discovered sitting in the D'Oyley pew. Mr. Gilpin concluded that he then saw the last of his "great" friend. But, not so: on the following morning Warren Hastings came, with his usual pleasant manner, for a chat with the vicar, and of course made no allusion to the sermon.
This was told me by a late valued friend, who was a nephew and curate of Mr. Gilpin; and I am not aware that the anecdote has been put on record.
Alfred Gatty.
Ecclesfield.
Richard Baxter.—In the long list of Richard Baxter's works, one is entitled, An unsavoury Volume of Mr. Jo. Crawford's anatomized: or, a Nosegay of the choicest Flowers in that Garden, presented to Mr. Joseph Caryl, by Richard Baxter. 8vo., Lond. 1654.
At the end of a postscript to this tract, the following sentence is subjoined:
"Whatsoever hath escaped me in these writings that is against meekness, peace, and brotherly love, let it be all unsaid, and hereby revoked; and I desire the pardon of it from God and Man.
Richard Baxter."
Baxter's literary career was not the least extraordinary part of his history. Orme's life of him says, that the catalogue of his works contains nearly a hundred and sixty-eight distinct publications. A list of no less than one hundred and seven is given at the end of his Compassionate Counsel to all Young Men, 8vo., Lond. 1682.
Baxter's most popular treatises, as the world knows, were his Call to the Unconverted, and his Saint's Everlasting Rest.
H. E.
Registry of Dissenting Baptisms in Churches.—A fact came to my knowledge some time since, which seems worthy of having a note of it made, and recorded in your journal. On looking over the registry of baptisms administered in the meeting-house of an ancient city, I was struck by the occurrence of four names, which I had seen entered in a genealogy as from the baptismal registry of one of its parish churches. This appeared to me so strange, that I examined the parish registry in order to verify it; and I found that the baptisms were actually recorded as on the same days in both registries. Of course, the father, having had his child baptized by the dissenting minister, prevailed on the clergyman of his parish church to register it.
Whether this was a common custom at the time when it took place (1715-21) I have no means of knowing. As a fee was probably charged for the registration, it was not likely to be asked for in all instances; and, no doubt, when it was asked for, many clergymen would consider it inconsistent with their duty to grant it.
D. X.