Minor Notes.
A Dutch Commentary on Pope.—
"As what a Dutchman plumps into the lakes,
One circle first, and then a second makes."
Dunciad, b. ii. 400.
"It may be asked," said Bilderdyk in a note to his imitation of the Essay on Man,[1] "why the little stone is thrown into the water by a Dutchman in particular. The reason is, that the Dutch sailors when lying idle in the Thames, often amuse themselves in calm weather by throwing little stones along the surface of the water, so as to make ducks and drakes, as it is called. This practice the English look at with great astonishment, and wonder at a use of the hands so different from that which they make of their own in boxing."
[1] De Mensch. Pope's Essay on Man gevolgd door Mr. W. Bilderdyk. Amsterd. 1808.
Bilderdyk speaks contemptuously of Pope: yet it may be surmised, from the above commentary, that he was but ill qualified to criticise him, otherwise he would not have supposed that "plump" could have the remotest allusion to the light skimming amusement of "ducks and drakes;" not to mention that he would have suspected that it was no "steentje" that plumped into the lakes.
Satirical Verses on the Chancellor Clarendon's Downfall.
—In MS. Add. 4968., British Museum, a duodecimo volume containing a collection of arms and achievements tricked by a painter-stainer in the reign of Charles II., at fol. 62o. is the following poem "On the Chancellor's Downfall," which, if not already printed, may be worth preserving:—
Pride, lust, ambitions, and the kingdom's hate,
The Nation's broker, ruin of the State:
Dunkirke's sad loss, divider of the fleet,
Tangier's compounder for a barren sheet;
The Shrub of Gentry married to the Crowne,
And's daughter to the heir, is tumbled downe.
The grand contemner of the Nobles lies
Groveling in dust, as a just sacrifice,
T'appease the injured King, abused Nation,—
Who could beleeve this suddaine alteration!
God is revenged to, for stones he tooke
From aged Paules to build a house forth' Rooke.
Goe on, great Prince, thy People doe rejoyce,
Meethinks I heare the Nation's totall voyce
Applauding this day's action to bee such,
As rosting Rump, or beating of the Dutch.
More cormorants of State as well as hee,
Wee shortly hope in the same plight to see.
Looke now upon thy withered Cavaliers,
Who for reward hath nothing had but teres.
Thankes to this Wiltshire hogge, son of ye spittle,
Had they beene lookt on, hee had had but little.
Breake up the coffers of this hording theefe,
There monies will be found for there reliefe.
I've said enough of lynsey woolsey hide,
His sacriledge, ambition, lust, and pride.
μ.
Execution of Charles I.
—In a letter which is preserved in the State Paper Office, addressed to Secretary Bennet, by Lord Ormonde and the Council of Ireland, and dated the 29th of April, 1663, their Lordships request the Secretary to move his Majesty that "Henry Porter, then known as Martial General Porter, standing charged as being the person by whose hand the head of our late Sovereign King Charles the First, of blessed memory, was cutt off, and now two years imprisoned in Dublin, should be brought to trial in England."
J. F. F.
Dublin.
Born within the Sound of Bow Bell.
—In his edition of Stow's Survey of London, Mr. Thoms appends the subjoined note to the account which is given of Bow Church and its bells:—
"From the absence of every allusion on the part of Stow to the common definition of a cockney, a person born within the sound of Bow Bells, the saying would appear to be of somewhat more recent date."
Stow's work was first published in 1598, and the author died in 1605. Fuller, author of the Worthies of England, was born in 1608: and it would seem that during his lifetime the definition of a cockney was well-known; for thus does Fuller speak:—
"[He was born within the sound of Bow Bell.] This is the periphrasis of a Londoner at large, born within the suburbs thereof; the sound of this bell exceeding the extent of the Lord Mayor's mace."
Can any correspondent of "N. & Q." refer me to an earlier writer than Fuller for the same definition?
ALFRED GATTY.