B. B. Woodward.
St. John's Wood.
"Pompey the Little."—You mentioned lately the author of Pompey the Little (Vol. vi., pp. 433. 472.). There is a curious note respecting him attached to the entry of another anonymous publication of his, "Philemon and Hydaspes, relating to a Conversation with Hortensius upon the subject of false Religion, 2nd edit., 8vo., 1738," in Bibliotheca Parriana, p. 85., which I transcribe:
"Mem. These tracts are supposed to be wrote by H. C., Esq., of Mag. Coll., Cambridge.—J. Hetherington. Mr. Coventry wrote Pompey the Little. He took orders, and became vicar of Edgware, Middlesex; and he often preached from a folio volume of Tillotson's Sermons, which lay in the pulpit from week to week. He died of the small-pox. When living at Stanmore I heard much of his pleasantry, his politeness, and his integrity. I first read this book at the Rev. Dr. Davy's house in Norfolk, in August, 1816. This copy was most obligingly sent to me by Mr. Holmes, keeper of an academy at Stratford-upon-Avon, Thursday, Feb. 13, 1817.—S. P[arr]."
Balliolensis.
Eagles supporting Lecterns (Vol. vi., pp. 415. 543.).—Are not many, or most of the so-called eagles on lecterns in churches, pelicans? The symbolical significance of the pelican "vulning its breast," as the heralds have it, is well known. Some of these, which I remember well, have the beak bent down upon the breast and beneath it, instead of the indications of plumage elsewhere visible, a strip cross-hatched; in sign, as I have supposed, of the flowing blood.
B. B. Woodward.
St. John's Wood.
Lady Day in Harvest (Vol. vi., p. 589.).—The Gotha Almanac gives Aug. 15 for Maria Himmelfahrt, or the Assumption; and Sept. 8 for Maria Geburt, or the Nativity. I happened to be going up the Rigi last year on the 5th August, and found that to be the day of pilgrimage to Mary zum Schnee, or Notre Dame des Neiges, who has a chapel which is passed in the ascent.
J. P. O.