That the Imitation is by Pope, though I am not aware of any express acknowledgment of it by him, there can be no doubt, and as little that it found its way to the press, as published by Boreman, with his privity. Curll even says, if any weight be due to the assertions of such a miscreant, that Pope received a sum of money for it from Boreman. But I do not consider that Pope can be deemed to have affiliated it by its publication in Dodsley's edition in 1738; which is, as far as I have always understood, a mere bookseller's collection. The only collection of his works which can be called his own, and for which he is fairly responsible, is that in 2 vols., folio and 4to., 1717-35, to each volume of which a preface or notice by him is prefixed; and in the latter of these volumes, though previously published, he has not included this Imitation, which seems to indicate that he did not feel disposed to acknowledge it publicly, and indeed he had good reason to be ashamed of it.
JAS. CROSSLEY.
M. Lominus, Theologus (Vol. iv., p. 193.).
—The exact title of the work inquired for is, Blackloanæ Hæresis, olim in Pelagio et Manichæis damnatæ, nunc denuo renascentis, Historia et Confutatio. This 4to. volume consists of 332 pages, exclusive of the dedicatory epistle and the appendix; and a "printed account" of the author may be seen in Sir James Ware's Writers of Ireland (ed. Harris, pp. 191-3), and in Dodd's Church History of England, vol. iii. pp. 284-5.: Brussels, 1742. It is to be hoped that in the Bodleian Catalogue something further has been stated respecting this curious and very rare book than that it was written by "M. Lominus, Theologus," who was merely an imaginary divine. The real author was the famous PETER TALBOT, brother of "Lying Dick Talbot" (the Duke of Tyrconnel and Viceroy of Ireland), almoner to Catharine, queen of Charles II., and titular Archbishop of Dublin.
R. G.
The work referred to, entitled Blackloanæ Hæresis, olim in Pelagio et Manichæis damnatæ, nunc denuo renascentis, Historia et Confutatio, Gand. 1675, 4to., I have a copy of. It is written against the Blackloists, the leaders of whom were Thomas White, the follower of Sir Kenelm Digby, and John Sargeant, the voluminous Roman Catholic writer. The real author of the book was Peter Talbot, the brother of Richard Talbot, Duke of Tyrconnel. He also published the History of Manicheism and Pelagianism, in which it is shown that Thomas White and his Adherents have revived those Heresies: Paris, 1674, 8vo.
JAS. CROSSLEY.
Corpse passing makes a Right of Way (Vol. iii., pp. 477. 507. 519.; Vol. iv., p. 124.).
—This belief is common in East Anglia, and such paths are called Bierways. When the common lands at Alby in Norfolk were enclosed, much difficulty was experienced in stopping one road, on account of its being an ancient bierway. In Norwich the passage through a part of the city called the Bull Close, is accounted public for this reason; and a very few years since a gentleman at Whittlesey, in Cambridgeshire, prevented a funeral from taking a shorter road through his grounds, through fear of its being afterwards esteemed a public thoroughfare.
E. S. TAYLOR.