Bond a Poet, 1642, O.S.—In the Perfect Diurnall, March 29, 1642, we have the following curious notice:
"Upon the meeting of the House of Lords, there was complaint made against one Bond, a poet, for making a scandalous letter in the queen's name, sent from the Hague to the king at York. The said Bond attended upon order, and was examined, and found a delinquent; upon which they voted him to stand in the pillory several market days in the new Palace (Yard), Westminster, and other places, and committed him to the Gatehouse, besides a long imprisonment during the pleasure of the house: and they farther ordered that as many of the said letter as could be found should be burnt."
His recantation, which he afterwards made, is in the British Museum.
E. G. Ballard.
The late Harvest.—In connexion with the present late and disastrous harvest, permit me to contribute a distich current, as an old farmer observed to-day, "when I was a boy:"
"When we carry wheat o' the fourteenth of October,
Then every man goeth home sober."
Meaning that the prospect of the "yield" was not good enough to permit the labourers to get drunk upon it.
R. C. Warde.
Kidderminster.