"Among the Bhotias a family of brothers has a wife in common; and we can scarcely question the object of the arrangement, when the unproductive region which these people occupy is considered.... What led to its adoption by the Nair tribe in Malabar is not so easy to conjecture. At present its object seems to be to preserve the purity of descent, which it is thought is more secure on the female than on the male side; and accordingly, the child claims property, or even the Raj, not through his father, but his mother."
RECHABITE.
Bacon a Poet (Vol. iv., p. 474.).
—Whether Lord Bacon was, or was not, the author of the well-known lines noted and queried by R. CS., I will leave the intended editor of Hackneyed Quotations to decide, hoping that he will soon make his appearance as public umpire in all such cases.
Whether Lord Bacon was, or was not, really a poet, I will leave to the decision of those who are conversant with the glorious works of his mind and imagination.
But I have something to say to the note with which R. CS. follows up his query:—"Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Bacon, and Bacon the Sculptor, are the only conspicuous men of the name, and none of them, that I know, wrote verses."
This must not go unchallenged in the truthful pages of "NOTES AND QUERIES." "Pray, Sir," said a lady to me once, with a very complimentary air, "though no great Latin scholar, may I not judge by your name that you are a descendant of THE GREAT FRIAR BACON?" To which I could only reply, "Madam, I have never yet discovered the bend sinister on our escutcheon." From that proud moment I have been penetrated with the profoundest respect for the name of Roger; and I cannot patiently see the biggest pig of our sty namelessly consigned to oblivion in the pages of "NOTES AND QUERIES". Pray assure R. CS. that the three Bacons of whom he makes mention are not "the only conspicuous men of the name." And as to the rest, "none of them that I know wrote verses," I beg to refer him to Lord Bacon's Metrical Version of the Psalms, vol. iv. p. 489. of his Works, ed. 1740.
PORCULUS.
Was not the poet Bacon, quoted by Boswell, the Rev. Phannel Bacon, D.D., Rector of Balden in Oxfordshire, and Vicar of Bramber in Sussex, who died January 2, 1783? He was not only an admirable poet, but was a famous punster, and is described as possessing an admirable fund of humour.
MYFANWY.