mences with "If brush'd," &c. (v. 114). But in the older editions there is a colon; while in the later there is a period at the end of the first paragraph, by which the connexion is totally destroyed. Then again, after describing the evils produced by the east wind, we have

"For oft, engender'd by the hazy north,

"Oft

Myriads on myriads, insect armies waft," (v. 120)— as if this, instead of being another and quite a different plague, was the cause of the former one. I really cannot help thinking that the poet wrote, or at least meant to write, " And oft" or too." Will LORD LYTTELTON assent to this, as he terms it, "tinkering and cobbling over of works of genius"? Or can he give any good sense to the present text?

I think it was W. Stewart Rose who first observed the absurd imagery in the first line of "Autumn":- -

"Crown'd with the sickle and the wheaten sheaf."

This is a remarkable instance of the ill effect of writers not placing before their mental eye the image of what they are describing. I shall probably one time or other give some striking instances even from the mighty Homer himself.

I cannot conclude without expressing my hearty approval of an anonymous correction lately made in "N. & Q." of the following passage, which occurs towards the end of our poet's "Liberty":"Lo! swarming southward on rejoicing suns, Gay colonies extend."

Mr. Wright, the judicious and excellent biographer of General Oglethorpe, first saw that something here was wrong, and directed attention to it. The correction is "our rejoicing sons," and it is one of the happiest and most certain ever made. How beautiful and how thoroughly Thomsonian is the allusion to the bees in "swarming"!

THOS. KEIGHTLEY.

CONSANGUINEOUS MARRIAGES.-As several notes upon this subject have appeared in "N. & Q." I send the following extract, which I cut from a newspaper:

"To elucidate the truth of the general thesis that consanguineous marriages produced disease and idiotcy in the offspring, M. Voisin has made some very minute researches in the commune of Pratz, a little place at the mouth of the Loire, which contains a population of 3,300 people, exclusively occupied in the cultivation of salt marshes. Hardly any outsiders are ever drawn to this place, and the marriages take place, by special dispensation, even within the degrees of consanguinity forbidden by the church. M. Voisin minutely investigated the circumstances of forty families resulting from such marriages, and has prepared tables to show that neither vices of conformation, insanity, idiotcy, cretinism, deaf-muteness, epilepsy, albinism, nor pigmentary retinitis, existed among any of these families. He concludes, from these and other facts, that the dangers of consanguineous marriages result from an intensification of any morbid here

ditary tendencies that may exist in each parent, while, if each be perfectly healthy, the fact of consanguinity counts for nothing."

The conclusion I have myself drawn from a good deal of observation on this subject is, that consanguinity has nothing to do with the matter. If healthy persons marry, their progeny will be healthy, no matter how near they are in blood. If unhealthy persons marry, their progeny is likely to be unhealthy, though no relationship may be discoverable between them. No doubt the same hereditary malady (e. g. consumption) may be found in near blood-relations, and if they intermarry, their offspring will be liable to be afflicted by it; but the same would be the case if two total strangers in blood married, and each of their families were afflicted with the same hereditary malady. C. S. G.

ALISON," A CHRISTIAN NAME IN SCOTLAND. This was very probably taken originally from the French during their intercourse with Scotland. Several years ago I saw at a print-shop near Leicester Square, London, an old French engraving with a few lines in rhyme descriptive of the subject of it. I remember only the last two words, "Ma femme Alison."

Being lately in Fifeshire, I observed in the possession of a gentleman there a French engraving, in the same style as that above mentioned, under the title "L'utile Accident "-viz. a party of travellers detained to have a horse shod, and the effect of the delay

"Sans boire, ils passoient leur chemin,
Le cheval, déferré, les arrête au village
Eloy travaille, Alison vend son vin,

Et d'un seul accident naist un triple avantage." The name "Alison" is still found in some counties of Scotland. My great-grandmother bore it, and several of her descendants since, but recently it has been dropped as too homely for modern taste, the substitute being Alice or Alicia. In old parish registers Alison was spelt thus-Alisone.

In a table of Christian names issued by the registrar-general some years ago, there were 470 Margarets, 462 Marys (the latter more numerous in the Highlands, the former in other parts of Scotland); there were only fourteen Alisons; the fewest of all, only three Sophias. L.

WILLIAM IV. AND THE TAILOR.-The following anecdote is original, and may be worth preserving in the pages of your useful publication. I knew the tailor, and remember the circumstance at the opening of Staines bridge.

Upon the opening of the new bridge of Staines, April 23, 1832, by King William IV. and Queen Adelaide, the attention of a large body of the people assembled to witness the scene was attracted by the appearance of two men of unequal size, who were making way through the crowd

the culprit's neck is only "dislocated." Ring or pull the bell, has improved into "start the electricity." These, and a variety of other terms, &c. are in daily use here, and amongst a class of persons who certainly would look sour at one if called vulgar. I trust, however, that these terms will not obtain popularity, and that they will be eschewed as vulgar. S. REDMOND. Liverpool.

THE LIVERYMAN'S ANSWER.-If the following ballad has not appeared already in print, it may be worth a corner in "N. & Q.": W. CAREW HAZLITT.

"THE LIVERYMAN'S ANSWer, etc.
"My Ld I have received, I own,
Your most polite Epistle;

Think you, my Ld, we're Spaniels grown,
And must obey your whistle?

"If Eyles harangue, or Townshend write,
What mortal can withstand it?
Their Language, like their Gold, is bright,
Nor come they empty handed.

"Your Promises, yr Threats, your Gold
Have now no power to shake us;
This was, my Ld, a step too bold,
For Members sure you take us.

"No, we are not such abject slaves

To obey each Whitehall summons;
E'en keep them for those cringing Knaves,
Your Judges, Lords, and Commons.

A PERVERTED TEXT.-For many years there has existed at the village of Weathersfield, near Braintree, Essex, an absurd tradition that the vicar of the parish once gave the text from the psalm; but instead of saying tree, he said horse. Some few years since, I inquired of an old inhabitant of Weathersfield if there was any foundation for the anecdote. She said it was quite true, and that she had heard it from childhood. She then gave me the following historiette, which I know she believed to be true:-Some time after the middle of the last century, a Captain Clerke lived at Weathersfield (this was the Captain Clerke, the companion of Captain Cook in two or three of his voyages). He had two or more sons, active youths, full of life and fun when at home during their vacations. The vicar was at that time aged, but fond of the young Clerkes and their companions, who dined with him between the services (as usual in those days) almost every Sunday. The vicar was in the habit of placing his afternoon sermon on a table in his study ready for use. It is supposed that the young gentlemen used to occasionally look at the text, to see what kind of a sermon they had to expect. On one of these pleasant Sundays the Clerkes and their friends were very jolly at the vicarage, and, it is presumed, up to a little mischief: for finding the sermon in its usual place, with the text from the psalm-" The righteous shall flourish like a green

bay [palm ?] tree"-they very adroitly erased tree, and wrote horse, imitating the vicar's handwriting. As usual, all attended the church: the young men impatient to know if their little trick would have any effect. The vicar took up his sermon in the usual way, and gave out the text ending as above; but when he came to "horse," instead of "tree," he was astounded. Still he was not embarrassed, but looked sharply into his manuscript, went on with his sermon in his usual way. This and said "Horse, horse! yes, it is horse"—and may be an oft-told tale in many villages: it is now fifty years since I heard it at Weathersfield.

T. R.

1. "Translations from the Servian Minstrelsy: to which are added some specimens of Anglo-Norman Romances." Lond. 1826, 4to.

2. "Poems by an Amateur." London, 1818, 8vo. 3. "A Suggestive Inquiry into the Hermetic Mystery." Lond. 1850, 8vo. ONALED.

BREECHES BIBLE, A.D. 1610.—

"But the naturall man perceiveth not things of the Spirit of God," 1 Cor. ii. 14.

"But the natural man receiveth not the things of y Spirit of God."-Baxter's Polyglot.

and

Will any learned divine of Oxford or Cambridge or (as the lawyers say) elsewhere inform a poor needy student what is meant by this peculiar form of "the" in the above text-alias ye? Why did the translators use it only in this place. I cannot find it in any other part of either Bible.

THETA.

CARDIVAR AP DINWALL.-I am very anxious to discover the history of a coat of arms described in Clark's Introduction to Heraldry, viz., "Argent a tower sa. having a scaling ladder raised against it in bend sinister. This is the arms of Cardivar ap Dinwall, Lord of Aberser, in South Wales." Could either yourself or any of your numerous readers interested in heraldry and genealogy, and who have access to books I do not possess, kindly inform me who this Welsh dignitary was, and where the manor was from which his title was taken? W. MARLBOROUGH.

DOVECOT, OR COLUMBARIUM. -At Daglingworth, Gloucester, there is a fine specimen in the form of a circular detached stone tower, with nesting holes all round its interior, and the ancient pivoted central post with the attached perches for the birds and the ascending ladder for the attendant. I know of examples at Willington, Bedfordshire, Garway, Herefordshire (circular example, thought by some to have been built by the Templars who had a preceptory there), and at Oldcourt, Bosbury, in the same county, and should like to know of other examples with dates and other particulars. JOHN PIGGOT, JUN., F.S.A.

LORD FOLKYNGHAM.-At the head of the court roll for the manor of Shepeshered, co. Leicester, in 4 Henry VII. Viscount Beaumont, the lord of the manor, is styled also Lord Bardolf and Folkyngham. He assumed the title of Bardolf because his ancestor married one of the daughters and co-heirs of the last lord, who was attainted. But whence did he get the title of Folkyngham? Can any of your contributors give me an authority

for the title ?

Temple.

A. J. H.

HALE. I am anxious to know what is the derivation, or derivations (for there may well be more than one), of the local name Hale. There are villages so called in Cheshire, Cumberland, Hants, Lancashire, and Lincolnshire. The local name Hales is found in Norfolk, Shropshire, and Staffordshire. I believe Hale is a name used in some places to designate a plot of low land by the side of a river or streamlet. I should be glad to know of instances of this. A. O. V. P.

HERDER.-There is a reference of Herder to Eschylus in the following passage (Philosophy of History, part ii. p. 96), which I am unable to find. Can any of your correspondents point out the passage in Eschylus to which he refers?

"Als Homer gesungen hatte, war in seiner Gattung kein zweiter Homer denkbar; jener hatte die Blüthe des epischen Kranzes gepflückt und wer auf ihn folgte, musste sich mit einzelnen Blättern begnügen. Die griechischen Trauerspieldichter wählten sich also eine andere Laufbahn; sie assen, wie Eschylus sagt, von Tisch Homers, bereiteten aber für ihr Zeitalter ein anderes Gastmal.""_" When Homer had sung, we could expect no second Homer in his peculiar species of poetry; he had plucked the bloom of the epic crown, and whoever followed must be satisfied with the leaves only. The Greek tragic writers, therefore, chose another career; they ate, as Eschylus says, from the table of Homer, but prepared for the age in which they lived another kind of banquet."

Where is this to be found? C. T. RAMAGE. THE HOLY GHOST. Was the Holy Ghost frequently represented by a female figure in mediæval sculptures, and can you refer me to any examples?

G. W. M.

LINLEY.-I have several volumes, containing MS. musical compositions, chiefly church services, anthems, &c., by Wm. Linley and O. T. Linley. William was the youngest son of Thomas Linley, who succeeded Garrick as one of the patentees of Drury Lane Theatre. There were twelve children altogether. I should be glad to ascertain whether O. T. Linley was one of them. William was born in 1771, and, I believe, died not very long ago. I have no memoranda whatever relating to O. T. Linley. Some copyright compositions of the "late" Mr. George Linley were offered for sale by Messrs. Puttick and Simpson last week.

66

Southport, Sept. 8, 1868.

B. ST. J. B. JOULE.

WALTER LUDD AND THE ALIDADE.-There has

been mention of the Alidade several times in finition from the very rare book of Ludd may be "N. & Q." I think, therefore, the following deinteresting. Walter Ludd's book is so rare that I have not been able to find any mention of it at all in any of the larger bibliographical works. Its full title is

"Speculi Orbis succinctiss. sed neq3 pœnitenda neq3 | inelegans Declara | tio et Canon. Renato Siciliæ Regi, &c., dicatum."

Although this book of four leaves, folio, contains some interesting notices respecting America, it is not an original work. Walter Ludd was a calligrapher, and he has taken one of the MSS. which were common at the time, and interpolated the notices alluded to above to make a saleable article. I will give the colophon, and end with the definition of the Alidade:

"Declarationis in Speculu Orbis p Gualtheru Ludd Canonicu divi Deodati illustrissimi Renati Solymorum ac Siciliæ Regis, &c. Secretarium dignissimü diligenter paratum et Industria Joannis Grūingeri Argütiñ impres

sum Finis."

"De Indice Alidada. Tenuis sed latus index & tam logus q3 magn' est horar' circulus (q'alidada vocat) sup oës hos circulos ptendit. Eius officium est ostedere lögitudinis mensura cu rota voluit. Mostrat etia contraria müdi loca atq3 inuenit ex gdibus sup eo signatis latitudo eleuatiōis."

The date of the introductory section is 1507. The work itself is in Gothic letter, and printed about 1510. I have a query: What do the words in the title "et Cauon" allude to? There are no maps or canon of latitudes.

W. BARRETT DAVIS.

NAPOLEON I.-I have in my possession a miniature painting on ivory, representing an ideal scene in Napoleon's life by De Lage: so I read the name in the left-hand lower corner. In the foreground, on a small rocky island, Napoleon and supposed family group-seven figures in all. On the right, clear of the island, and with clouds rolling at