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Just published, price one shilling, the 110th Thousand of the ORISONIANA; or, Family Adviser of the Comprising Origin of Life and true Cause of Diseases explained, forming a complete manual for individuals and families for everything that regards preserving them in health and curing their diseases. The whole tried and proved by the members of the British College of Health during the last forty-five years. By the May be had at the British College of Health, Euston Road, London, and of all the Hygeian Agents for the sale of Morison's Vegetable Universal Medicines throughout the world. No vaccination, no bleeding, no poisons. Remember that the blood is the life, and that vaccine lymph is nothing but putridity leading to disease and death. Whereas there are counterfeits of Morison's Vegetable Universal Medicines on the Continent, the public are hereby cautioned to pur chase only of the accredited agents to the British College of Health, Euston Road, London. "Messrs. Gabriel are particularly successful in their system of Artificial Teeth, which they fix firmly in the mouth by means of an Elastic Gum without springs, painlessly, and without any operation."-Herald. "Invaluable to clergymen, public orators, and invalids." Court Journal. Charges: Tooth from 5s.; Set from 4 to 20 guineas. Liverpool: 134, Duke Street. Brighton 38, North Street. ATTENDANCE DAILY. LONDON, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1868. CONTENTS.-N° 41. NOTES: Cæsar's Invasion of Britain: Poem by Cicero, 337-German Reformation-Dramas, 339 Unpublished Poem of Burns, Ib. Captain Thomas Ashe, 310- Legend of Robin Hood at Ludlow-Michel Poloudenski-Weather Prognostics Strange Christian Names - "Studies of Homer" Armenian Folk Lore: Changeling Shoethrowing at Weddings- The Prince Consort's Memorial -Natural Inheritance-Leigh Hunt: Unpublished Letter Caversham Bridge, 341. QUERIES:-Lord Bedlay - Blencathra- Incumbents of Burton-on-Trent - Confederate Flag - Derbyshire Pedigrees- English Records in the Patent Rolls-French Titles of Nobility - Furrow-Galy-halfpenys - Garrick's "Dramatic Works"- Hightnell Lyme Horse Shoe at Lancaster-Illuminated Bible - "Legends of Devon "Loyse de Savoye - Margat and Gonsalvo Argote de Molina Numismatic Query - Papal Line of Partition between Spain and Portugal of the newly discovered Lands Parish Registers, &c., 344. QUERIES WITH ANSWERS: - Temple Garden-Lines by John Phillipott Mrs. Dorothy Leigh-" Punch's Panto mime," 346. REPLIES:- Chaucer's Chronology, 348-Poem of Three Languages in One, Ib.- Parish Registers, 349- Hannibal's Passage of the Alps, 350- Biography of the Chevalier D'Eon, 351- Fairford Windows, 352-Family of Napoleon Bonaparte Madame de Pompadour - Horace Vernet Burns Queries Curmudgeon Val Ombrosa - Whitmore's Heraldic Proposal - Noble of Edward III.-"The Stamford Mercury "-"Bumble Bee" Addison and his Hymus" Songs of Shepherds"- Nelson's last Signal Harvest Dates- William Tans'ur - Tubb Family"Answer to a Papisticall Byll," &c., 354. Notes on Books, &c. Notes. CÆSAR'S INVASION OF BRITAIN: POEM BY CICERO. The place at which Julius Cæsar landed his troops upon his first invasion of Britain has been the subject of much discussion amongst various writers; but there is one point in connection with that interesting event that seems to have escaped especial notice, viz. the probability of its having formed the theme of a poem by the illustrious orator, philosopher, and (despite the sneer of Juvenal) competent poet-Marcus Tullius Cicero. My belief is, Cicero, for the purpose of paying court to Cæsar, did compose such a poem; and the following extracts from letters to be found in the collections addressed to his "friends," and to "Atticus," form the foundation on which my belief rests. The editions from which I quote are, the Epistolæ Familiares, published at Paris, 1588, and ad Atticum, Brutum et Q. Fratrem, published at Frankfort, 1599. Cicero, in writing to his brother Quintus, then in the camp with Cæsar, makes use of these words: "Since I have (notwithstanding your urgent incitements to the contrary) been somewhat sluggish, and for too long a time, in manifesting my devotion to an individual so illustrious, I shall endeavour to regain lost time, not merely with horse's speed, but-since you write that a poem of mine is admired by him-by means of a poetical conveyance. Do you then present Britain to my pencil. Afford me the opportunity of portraying it with colours supplied by your hand (modò mihi date Britanniam, quam pingam coloribus tuis, pencillo meo). But what am I thinking of doing? How find time for thisand especially at Rome, where he desires me to take up a permanent abode. But I shall see about it, and, perchance, my love for you will enable me to overcome all difficulties."-Epist. ad Q. Fratrem, lib. ii. ep. xiv. p. 458 In Cicero's letter to Atticus in the same year he says: "I see, by letters from my brother, that he must have already reached Britain. I await, with anxiety, further news from him."-Ad Atticum, lib. iv. ep. xiv. p. 90. A short time afterwards he thus writes to his brother: "I come now to that part which I ought first have referred to. What pleasure has been afforded me by your letters about Britain! I was in such terror of that ocean! I had such a dread of the coast of that island! There were too other circumstances not to be contemned; but still they were more pregnant with hope than fear, and they aroused rather a solicitude as to the result, than apprehension as to any disaster. You had, I see, a noble topic to descant upon. What a strange-looking land! What a curious natural condition of circumstances and localities! What manners and customs! What various populations ! What battles! and then what a general you have had in Cæsar himself! Most willingly will I aid you, and in the manner too in which you wish to be assisted, and shall send, as you desire them, verses-that is, I shall transmit "owls to Athens " (yλaûka eis 'A0ńvas). "By the way, I see you are on this very point trying to conceal something from me. What, my dear brother, does Cæsar think of my verses? He has already written to me respecting the first book, and says that he had not read any thing in Greek that pleased him better. The rest, up to a certain passage, is more negligently executed. Such is his expression. Tell me what it is that displeases him-the substance or character of the poem. You need not fear to be candid. I shall not love you nor him the less. Speak as a friend of truth, and as a brother."-Ad Quintum, lib. ii. ep. xv. p. 461. with respect to Britain: In a letter to his brother, he again remarks "Of the affairs in Britain I know, from your letters, that nothing has occurred which affords a ground either for fear or rejoicing."—Ad Quintum, lib. iii, ep. i. p. 464. In the same letter he says: "I have made shorter the poem which I have been writing in honour of Cæsar ('Poëma ad Cæsarem, quod composueram, incidi.) Those verses you ask for yourself, since the (poetical) sources are dried up, I shall, if I have the time, write them."-Ad Quintum, lib. iii. ep. i. p. 465. He concludes the same letter: "Cæsar has written to me from Britain a letter dated the Kalends of September, which I did not receive until the 4th of the Kalends of October. It appears that affairs go on pretty well; and he tells me, in order that I may not be surprised at not having news from you, that you were not with him when he landed on the coast."-Ad Quint. lib. iii. ep. i. p. 468. In a letter to Trebatius, he says: "I do not blame you very much for not exhibiting an ardent desire to see Britain." —Ad Familiar. lib. vii. ep. xvi. p. 218. He remarks to the same person: "I am glad you did not go to Britain; for by so doing, you are free from trouble, whilst I should never have heard a word from you about its affairs."-Ad Familiar. lib. vii. ep. xvii. p. 220. the state of my mind, I shall return to the task, since Cæsar himself knows, through the letter I sent to you, that something of the kind had been begun by me; and I shall finish it during the idle days of the Supplications."-Ad Quint. lib. iii. ep. viii. p. 475. In a letter addressed to his brother Quintus in In a letter to his brother in the month of Octo- the following month, December, he states that he ber, he thus writes: "But there is one anxious thought that at this moment afflicts and torments me; and that is, that it is now more than fifty days since there has been not one word from you, nor from Cæsar. There has been not only not a letter, but not so much as a rumour has reached us from those places. I am in fear for you, on account of the sea; and then I am anxious as to what may have befallen you on land and, as it always happens when those we love are away from us, I cannot cease from thinking of the very things which I most wish may never befall you. I entreat you then to let me hear from you. I know you never neglect an opportunity that presents itself of writing to me; but this I wish you to know-I never before was so anxiously expecting a letter from you."-Ad Quint. lib. iii. ep. iii. p. 469. How strange it is to read in these times of steam-boats, railways, and electric telegraphs, of persons in Rome being for fifty days without a particle of intelligence from their general and army on the coasts of England! The following description of England-now the land of gold and silver, as well as the earthly paradise of Italian singers-is still more curious. Cicero thus writes of England to his friend Atticus: "I learn from my brother's letters that Cæsar exhibits an almost incredible regard for me; and such a sentiment is confirmed by numerous letters to me from Cæsar him self. His return from the war in Britain is expected. It is ascertained that the approaches to the island were defended by marvellous fortifications. This too is also learned, as a positive fact, that there is not a particle of silver to be found in that island, nor the expectation of any spoil, unless in captives-and amongst these I think you would never hope to find one who was either a scholar or a musician." (Constat enim aditus insulæ esse munitos mirificis molibus: etiam illud jam cognitum est, neque argenti scrupulum esse ullum in illa insula, neque ullam spem prædæ, nisi ex mancipiis: ex quibus nullos puto te literis, aut musicis eruditos expectare." Ad Attic. lib. iv. ep. xv. p. 93. : In a letter to Atticus, dated in November: "I have received letters from my brother Quintus, and from Cæsar, of the 11th Kalends of November. The Britain expedition is at an end. Hostages have been received. There has been no spoil; but a pecuniary tribute has been imposed. The letters, written on the British shore, are dated the 6th of the Kalends of October, and were despatched at the moment of the embarcation of the army, which was returning."-Ad Attic. lib. iv. ep. xvi. p. 94. In a letter to his brother Quintus in November: "I derived great satisfaction from the account given in your letter of the courage and strength of soul exhibited by Cæsar in a moment of such affliction. You also desire me to finish the poem I had planned in his honour. Notwithstanding my occupations, and still more had finished the poem which was to commemorate the glorious achievement of Julius Cæsar. Cicero thus expresses himself: "That which you urge me to do I have already accomplished. The poem for Cæsar is finished, and, as it seems to me, it will be acceptable (Quod me hortaris ut absolvam, habeo absolutum, suave mihi quidem ut videtur, Tos ad Cæsarem); but I am seeking out for a safe messenger to send it, lest that which happened to your 'Erigone' when Cæsar was the general, should not occur to it, and it should not obtain a safe passage through Gaul."-Ad Quint. lib. iii. ep. ix. p. 476. The passages here quoted indubitably show that Cicero wrote some poem for Cæsar; and, it of an heroic achievement, and that achievement is plain from the last paragraph, commemorative (Cicero's mind being so full of the subject) most probably the invasion, or, as it was regarded in be also inferred from the preceding extracts, that Rome, the complete conquest of Britain. It may the heroic poem in honour of Cæsar was in Greek, and the reason for that language being preferred by Cicero is explained in his speech in defence of Archias:-"Quod Græca loquuntur in omnibus fere gentibus, Latina suis finibus, exiguis sane, continentur." In writing such a poem, Cicero was justified in supposing that the most accomplished scholar and greatest general of his age had, at least, the love of poets who were their eulogists that had been exhibited by the rude Marius and luxurious Lucullus. The conquest of Britain, in the estimation of the contemporaries of Cæsar, was the most marvellous, and in modern times would be called the most romantic of all his achievements; therefore the most fitting theme for an epic poem. Observe the terms in which the people of Britain are referred to by Virgil and Horace: "Penitus toto divisos orbe Britannos."-VIRG. Ecl. i. 67. "Ultimos Orbis Britannos."-HOR. Carm. i. xxxv. 29, 30. "Britannos hospitibus feros.-ID. ib. iii. iv. 33. It would be a gratification to Cæsar to find such an exploit so treated, as Cicero declares it was a cause of intense delight to himself to know that the most glorious circumstances in his own life-his consulship and defeat of the Catiline conspiracy, were to be made the subject of a poem in Greek. Cicero, it may be surmised, expected Cæsar to feel as grateful to him as he avowed himself to be placed under an obligation by the poet Archias: : "Nam quæ res nos in consulatu nostro vobiscum simul pro salute hujus urbis atque imperii, et pro vitâ civium, proque universa republica gessimus, attigit hic versibus atque inchoavit: quibus auditis, quod mihi magna res, et jucunda visa est, hunc ad perficiendum hortatus sum. Pro Archia, § vii. WM. B. MAC CABE. Place St.-Sauveur, Dinan, France. GERMAN REFORMATION-DRAMAS. When I was collecting materials for my History of English Dramatic Poetry and the Stage, about the year 1828, I bought of Thomas Rodd (or of his father, who, I think, was then alive) a small German book, without pagination, containing several old dramas. I could, however, make no use of it; but as Rodd, some years afterwards, told me that it was a great curiosity, and offered to buy it back at more than three times the price I had paid for it, I will describe it in hopes that some of the contributors to "N. & Q." will be able to give me information regarding it. I once showed it to Dr. Lappenburg; but, as I understood, he had never seen a copy of it, and knew nothing of its history. On the first title-page is a coarse but striking woodcut of a very long-nosed man with a full beard, and at the side of it "Johannes Huss"; above it are these words "Tragedia Johannis Huss, welche auff dem Unchristlichen Concilio zu Costnitz gehalten, allen Christen nützlich und tröstlich zu lesen." At the bottom is the date "Wittemberg, M.D.XXXviij." The back of the title-page is blank, and on the next leaf begins an address "Allen Christgleubigen Lesern Gnad und Fried von unserm Heiland Jhesu Christo." This occupies twelve small octavo pages, after which we come to a list of characters headed "Die Personen dieses Spiels," beginning with "Babst, König, Patriarch von Constantinopel," and ending with "Johan Huss, Notarius Petrus, Hans, Cuntz, Hencker Prophet"-in the whole thirty-eight personages. A long "Vorrhede" fills six pages, in couplets, after which we meet with the heading "Actus primus Citatio"; but John Huss does not make his appearance until the opening of "Actus Secundus," and of course his execution does not come till near the end, after a speech by him of eight lines, followed by this stage direction, "Nach solchem wird er hinaus gefurt und verbrant." The woodcut of Huss is repeated on the last page, and under it "Gedruckt zu Wittemberg durch Georgen Rhaw." The next production in the volume, but without any printer's name or separate title-page, is thus entitled: "Trias Eomana, Quaternio mundana. Der Welt Gattung. S. P. Q. R." It occupies thirty-two pages, and then we arrive at a new title-page, which shows that it is a drama, like one well known in English, and called in the German "Hoffteuffel. Das sechste Capitel Danielis, den Gottfürchtigen zu trost, den Gottlosen zur warnung, Spielweis gestellet, und in Rheim verfasset, Durch Johan Chryseum. Gedruckt zu Wittemberg Bey Veit Crautzer. Anno, &c. 1546." Thus we see that the German version was nineteen years anterior to our English play called Kyng Daryus: the tedious preface of Chryseus is dated 66 am tag Johannis Baptista, Anno Christi, &c. 44." This performance is very long. The fourth production in my volume has for title This piece has no place nor printer's name, and at the end (the whole being in verse with some I ought to add that there is a woodcut on the intermixed) we read "End diss spyls. J. F.S." prose title-page representing a mother and her daughter, surrounded by clergy and a second woman. This production is conducted in the form of dialogue in couplets, with texts of Scripture interlarded. It is as long as any of the other pieces in the volume, which is only bound in paper, but obviously of foreign manufacture. Maidenhead. J. PAYNE COLLIER. called on the old lady lately, and found her still vigorous sions well known to Scotchmen. The whole shows considering her great age.' Baith young and auld, man, wife, and wean, As this was taken down from dictation, the spelling of the Scotch language may not be the original of the poet, if it is really his production as the old lady believes. I have looked over the published poems both in Currie and Chambers, and I do not find among them this poem "To the Potato." So far as I can judge, it is quite in the style of Burns; but I leave your readers to de termine for themselves. Assuming it to be the genuine production of the poet, I think that there is internal evidence to show the period at which it must have been written. It is curious that the river Stinchar should be mentioned, and that we should find in the first line of one of the earliest of his charming lyrics, if not the very earliest, the same river appearing. I refer to "My Nanie, O," which is believed to have been written at Lochlea about "Behind yon hills where Stinsiar flows, Subsequently the poet thought the name of the river not sufficiently euphonious, and Chambers (vol. i. p. 43) says that he substituted "Lugar for it. Here, however, we have the same river, though spelt somewhat differently; but no argument can be based on the spelling, as the poem was taken down from dictation. a household who were suffering from the res angusta domi, and this is exactly what we know to have been the state of matters in the family of the poet in these early times. The potato was beginning to be an important item in the food of the struggling poor about 1783 or thereabouts, and therefore it is not surprising to find it spoken of in the exulting tone which pervades the poem. The only notice of it in the published poems of Burns that I can at present call to my remembrance is in " Holy Willie's Prayer," to this effect: "And whan we chasten'd him therefor, Thou kens how he bred sic a splore, O' laughin' at us: Curse thou his basket and his store, I think, then, that everything may lead us to the conclusion that it was written in Ayrshire, and was one of the earliest productions of his muse. The metre is the favourite stanza of the poet, the one employed in the "Verses to the Mouse." It is what we find in Fergusson and Ramsay, and can even be traced to poets of a much earlier date. Is there not a peculiarity in the use of the word "wencher"? To talk of a "braw bouncing wench or lass" is common enough in Scotland, but is "wencher" ever used by old poets in the feminine gender? Perhaps some of your correspondents acquainted with old Scottish poets may be able to give an example. who told me that he possessed several unpubThere is a gentleman in the county of Essex, lished poems of Burns, and I am sure that I express the unanimous desire of the admirers of the poet that he should allow them to appear in your the poet is very unequal and sometimes sinks to a widely-circulating pages. No doubt, as he stated, level far beneath his high powers; but his fame is now too well established in the opinion of the world to be influenced by anything of an inferior nature that he may have produced. What a treasure-trove it would prove if we could obtain some of the lyrics of Horace, which he may have thrown aside as unworthy of the fame which he was anxious to secure! CRAUFURD TAIT RAMAGE. CAPTAIN THOMAS ASHE. This man, who was a sort of literary Jack-of-alltrades, appears to have gone to his last reckoning, as Then observe what a glimpse of the domestic the thing is delicately expressed in some popular state of matters the whole bearing of the poem works of fiction, with less than the usual notice gives! With what delight he looks forward to at the hands of Sylvanus Urban; consequently I the expected crop that is to "haud them eating"! am driven to your columns in search of informaWith what gusto he speaks of the "champit po- tion. I might easily have chosen a worthier obtatoes with their soups of milk"! I use expres-ject-at least I think so; for I have the smallest |