Lewes.
The Patronymic Mac (Vol. vii., p. 202.).—The present Earl of Stair has collected and printed, under the title of Almacks Extraordinary, a list of seven hundred Scotch and Irish surnames with the prefix "Mac;" and a highly esteemed correspondent promises me a supplementary list of "a few hundreds" of such appellatives, which must therefore be in the aggregate upwards of a thousand in number. I hope to include all these in my forthcoming Dictionary of British Surnames.
Mark Antony Lower.
Lewes.
Cibber's "Lives of the Poets" (Vol. v., p. 25.).—When Mr. Crossley inserted in your pages, at great length, the original prospectus of Cibber's Lives, he was not aware that it had been reprinted before. Such, however, is the case, as may be seen by turning to the sixth volume of Sir Egerton Brydges' Censura Literaria, ed. 1808, p. 352. It was communicated to the columns of that work by that diligent antiquary in literary matters, Joseph Haslewood. Mr. Crossley says, "It is rather extraordinary that none of Dr. Johnson's biographers appear to have been aware that the prospectus of Cibber's Lives was furnished by Johnson." Where is there the slightest proof that Johnson wrote one line of it? Haslewood believed it to have been the production of Messrs. Cibber and Shiels. Does Mr. Crossley ground his claim for Johnson merely upon a fancied resemblance in style?
Edward F. Rimbault.
Parallel Passages, No. 2.—Stars and Flowers (Vol. vii., p. 151.).—Other parallels on this subject are given in "N. & Q." (Vol. iv., p. 22.), to which may be added the following:
"Silently, one by one, on the infinite meadows of heaven,
Blossom'd the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels."
Longfellow's Evangeline, Part I. iii. p. 187. of the Liverpool edition.