Minor Notes.
Epitaph at Low Moor.
—The following curious epitaph is on a tombstone in the Low Moor churchyard, near this town:—
"In Memory of Christopher Barlow, Blacksmith, of Raw Nook, who died Oct. 9th, 1824, aged 56.
"My stithy and my hammer I reclin'd;
My bellows, too, have lost their wind;
My fire's extinguish'd, and my forge decay'd,
And in the silent dust my vice is laid.
My coal is spent, my stock of iron's gone,
My last nail driven, and my work is done."
C. WILLIAMS.
Bradford, Yorkshire.
Sir Thomas Overbury's Epitaph.
—I do not think that the epitaph of the unfortunate Sir Thomas Overbury, poisoned by Carr, Earl of Somerset, in 1613-14, has ever been published. I send it to you, copied from a manuscript on a blank leaf of a black-letter copy of Howe's Abridgement of Stow's Chronicle in my possession.
"1614.
SR. THOMAS OVERBURY HIS EPITAPH.
"The Span of my daies measured, heare I rest
That is my body, but my Soule his Guest
Is hence assended whither neither Tyme
Nor Fayth nor Hope: but only Love can Clyme.
Wheare beinge nowe enlightned Shee doeth knowe
The trueth of all men argue of belowe.
Only this Dust doeth heare in pawne remaine,
That when the Worlde dissolves, Shee com againe.
THOMAS OVERBURY,
1614."
RICHARD F. LITTLEDALE.
Dublin.
Bibliotheca Literaria.
—I possess a copy of the Bibliotheca Literaria, 1722-4, in which the names of some of the authors are appended in manuscript to various papers, as follows:
In No. 4., Dr. Brett's name is appended to the first paper.
In No. 5., the first paper, concerning the pillar of fire and cloud, has the name "Sam. Jebb."
In No. 6., the third paper has the name of Dr. Brett; also, the first in
No. 7., continuation of it.
In No. 8., the first and third papers have "Carol. Ashton;" the second, Dr. Brett.
In No. 9. the first and second papers have "Thos. Wagstaffe."
Finally, the second in No. 10. has the name of Dr. Brett.
In the hope that this may be of some utility, I send it, on the chance that these names may not have been published already, which I have not time to ascertain.
W. H. S.
Edinburgh.
[All the above contributors to this valuable literary journal were Nonjurors. It may not be generally known that the principal editor was Samuel Jebb, M.D., of Peter House, Cambridge, who subsequently attached himself to the Nonjurors, and accepted the office of librarian to the celebrated Jeremy Collier. Dr. Jebb was also assisted by Mr. Wasse, Dr. Wotton, Dr. Jortin, Dr. Pearce, and others.—ED.]
Inscription at Dundrah Castle.
—In the course of a summer spent in Argyleshire, I paid a visit to old Dundrah, or Dundarrow Castle, which stands between Inverary and Cairndhu, on the southwest. It is now a small farm-house. The tenant refused me admission under half-a-crown, so I contented myself with a survey of the exterior. Over the doorway I found the following inscription carved in the stone:
"I ' MAN ' BEHALD ' THE ' END ' DE ' NOCHT '
VISER ' NOR ' HEIEST ' HOIP ' IN ' GOD."
The meaning is evident, though what connexion it has with the old castle I am not able to say. I send it you, as I have not seen it noted in any book.
C. M. I.
Derivation of Charing.
—Mr. Peter Cunningham, in his most entertaining work, The Handbook of London, tells us that the origin of Charing Cross has never been discovered.
It lies buried in the venerable pages of Somner and Skinner. It was first propounded by the former in his Notes on Lipsius, appended to Meric Causaubon's Commentatio de Quatuor Linguis, in v. SCURGI. The A.-S. cyrrung (from cyrran, avertere) is, as he tells us, aversio:
"Atque hinc, a viarum (scil.) et platearum diverticulis, ut in compitis, pluribus apud nostrates locis hoc nomen olim inditum, quod postea in Cerring mutatum, tandem transiit (ut nunc dierum) in Charing; quomodo quadrivium sive compitum illud nuncupatur in suburbiis Londinensibus, ab occidente, prope Westmonasterium, Charing Crosse, vulgo dictum; Crosse addito, ob crucem ibidem, ut in compitis solitum, olim erectam."