'Soupire, étend les bras, ferme l'œil, et s'endort,' exprime bien l'état d'une personne accablée de tristesse et de lassitude, qui succombe au sommeil. Mme la Duchesse d'Orléans, Henriette Anne d'Angleterre, première femme de Mons Frère du Roi, avait été si touchée de la beauté de ce vers, qu'ayant un jour aperçu de loin Mr Despréaux dans la Chapelle de Versailles, où elle étoit assise sur son carreau, en attendant que le Roi vînt à la messe, elle lui fit signe d'approcher, et lui dit à l'oreille: 'Soupire, étend les bras, ferme l'oeil et s'endort.""

Ashford, Kent.

RALPH N. JAMES.

THE MORAVIANS.-Had Anstey any authority for imputing to the Moravians of his day, in The New Bath Guide, the hideous doctrine of the pretended saints at the period of the Rebellion, whose profligacy is so well exemplified by Sir Walter Scott in his character of Tomkins in Woodstock?

"But Tabby from scruples of mind is releas'd Since she met with a learned Moravian priest, Who says, There is neither transgression nor sin; A doctrine that brings many customers in." New Bath Guide, Letter vii. "But the saint is above these ordinances and restraints.

To him, as the chosen child of the house, is given the pass-key to open all locks which withhold him from the enjoyment of his heart's desire."-Tomkins's Address to Phoebe Mayflower.

H. P. D.

A SPANISH MINISTER TO ENGLAND. - Who was the Spanish Minister to England in the year 1786, mentioned in the following account, copied from a periodical published in 1822 ?—

In 1786, a poor disordered female assaulted him [George III.] with a knife while in the act of receiving a petition from her; on that occasion the Spanish ambassador, with great presence of mind, hastened to Windsor, and contrived to engage the queen in an interesting conversation till the arrival of his Majesty in person prevented any alarm which might have been excited by a premature disclosure of the circumstance. For this considerate act his excellency was ever afterwards highly esteemed at the British Court, and treated

the King's Mews, by St. Martin's Church, where Chaucer was once Clerk of the King's Works. T. Payne opened the shop in 1750, and I see from Thornbury's Haunted London, p. 230, that it became a very celebrated old-book shop, the rendezvous of noblemen and scholars. Can one get further information about it?

Mayfair.

C. A. WARD.

66

"EASTER LEDGES.”—A friend, living in the neighbourhood of Kendal, Westmorland, was extolling the virtues of sundry culinary vegetables, and among them Easter ledges "- Easter " because at that period they are in their prime. He described them as growing wild, in large patches, and eagerly sought for, and sometimes sold in the market. What plant is locally called "ledges"? R. W. F.

MOURNING.-In an article in the Queen for October 28, entitled "Mourning," this sentence occurs, "A widow's cap must be worn for a year and a day." Can any one tell me the origin of the custom?

M. W.

Bottesford Manor, Brigg.

"NOCTURNAL REMEMBRANCER."-The sixth

Report of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records, Appendix ii. p. 135, contains mention of a specification of a patent by Christopher Pinchbeck, of the parish of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Middlesex, toyman and mechanician, concerning which I would willingly hear further. It consisted of "A singu

lar and useful set of tablets called the Nocturnal Remembrancer, whereby a person of genius, business, and reflection may secure all their night thoughts worth preserving though totally in the The date is 8 George III.

dark."

A. O. V. P. AN ANCIENT CORPORAL.-I have lately seen a drawing of an ancient corporal. In the centre is | a painting in two compartments, representing the crowning with thorns on the left, and on the right the resurrection. On either side is depicted a candlestick. Above the painting are the letters "H. E. E. C. M.," the initials, I suppose, of "Hoc est enim corpus meum." Beneath, the letters "D. I. R. C." Can any of your readers say for what these stand? Written at the lower part of the drawing is

"The Corporal which was used by Maccafano, Bishop of Fano. It is of fine linen, painted in the middle, the 2 Candlesticks & the Letters are gilt. It is in y possession of Sign Abbato Maccafano, Curato in Sabina about 30 miles from Rome. Josephus Grisoni delin." On the back of the drawing, Κορποραλε αντιγο δελ εβις 6ο Μακαφανο ; and a note, in pencil, "Joseph Grisoni, b. 1700, d. 1769.” T. F. R.

ABBREVIATED WORDS IN OLD MUSIC.-Will any person well read in ancient music explain the meaning of the words or letters NONAN NO EANE and NOE AOIS, found in medieval musical service books? It was common with the music writers in the Middle Ages to abridge words of frequent occurrence by giving only the vowels in them. Thus EVOVAE means seculorum Amen, and A EVIA means Alleluia. Instances of this frequently occur in the Pontificale Romanum; but NONANNO contains not only vowels but consonants. The meaning, no doubt, may be found in very old choir books. It will be very gratifying if some one will find an explanation. H. T. ELLACOMBE, M.A.

Rectory, Clyst St. George.

THOMAS CHARLES SIRR.-Can you, or any of your readers, give me any information touching one Thomas Charles Sirr? He wrote a novel called Splendid Misery, and, I believe, several others, all of them what we call novels of high

This

slang sometimes"-a swell. He had written about half when his health broke down, and his work was handed over to a young man to finish. the result. Mr. Sirr' always said that Pelham was young man, however, re-wrote it, and Pelham was far better than his work would have been. The confession shows a good fellow. I should like to know something about him. He was, I believe, in that establishment there is no memory of him a clerk in the Bank of England. Strange to say, or of Rhodes, the author of Bombastes Furioso, next to Chrononhotonthologos the most successful A. H. CHRISTIE. burlesque in the language."

"WESTMINSTER ABBEY."-In January, 1869, was commenced a sixpenny monthly magazine, entitled Westminster Abbey; or, Reminiscences of Past Literature. The second number contains forty stanzas of a poem entitled "The Life and Death of Mary Magdalene; or, Her Life in Sin and Death to Sin," of which the editor says, in a footnote, "This poem, which now for the first time sees the light of day in print, was probably written by Sir Philip Sidney." Will some reader of "N. & Q." kindly inform me (1) how many numbers of Westminster Abbey were published; (2) the name of the projector and editor; (3) on what authority the editor attributed the poem mentioned above (unfinished in No. 2 of Westminster Abbey) to Sir Philip Sidney; and (4) whence the MS., or a transcript of it, was obtained for publication?" S. R. TOWNSHEND MAYER.

Richmond, Surrey.

MEAUX, BART.-I shall be obliged for information as to the pedigree of this family before the William Meaux who, according to Burke, was descended from a Sir William Meaux in France, and who married at the end of the sixteenth century a daughter of Sir Henry Strangways, who was a lineal descendant of the sister of King Edward IV. and daughter of Richard, Duke of York. The illustrious descent of the Meaux through the above-named family seems to be established, since their pedigree was entered at the Visitation for Hants in 1622; but I want the French descent, and do not know where to look for it.

X.

THE SPALDING ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY.-I possess two beautifully engraved arms of the Spalding Antiquarian Society, instituted in 1710, by Vertue. I should be glad of any information conDITCHFIELD. cerning this society.

INDIAN TITLES.-In the Times, Jan. 8, the Calcutta correspondent telegraphs that the following titles were conferred on native gentlemen :Raja Bahadur, Rao, Rai, Rao Sahib, Sirdar, Tha

GILBERT WHITE.-It has been stated, and is by some upheld, that Gilbert White, author of The Natural History of Selborne, was not in holy orders, that is to say, he never was ordained, although on the title-page of the various editions of the work (including the very recent and handsome editions published by Messrs. Macmillan & Co. and Messrs. Bickers & Son) he is described as the Rev. Gilbert White. As an old subscriber, I venture to ask, and should be glad to learn, through the medium of "N. & Q." (in the pages of which I do not see that this question has ever been raised) how it really stands. FREDK. WEAKLIN.

[In Knight's Cyclopædia it is stated that "during the latter part of his life he acted in the capacity of curate at Selborne, and had previously performed the same duties in the adjoining parish of Faringdon."]

"O Ale, ab alendo, thou liquor of life!
That I had but a mouth as big as a whale,
For mine is too little to touch the least tittle
That belongs to the praise of a pot of good ale."
The above is the last verse of the ancient ditty called

"The Ex-ale-tation of Ale." Can any one tell me where
to find the whole of it?
H. A. KENNEDY.

(5th S. ii. 512.)

In looking over the volume of "N. & Q." for 1874, I see that a correspondent from Melbourne asks for the origin of a Spanish legend alluded to in one of the essays of John Foster. It describes how, for his greater punishment, the Devil on a of a monk, and to perform in that character, in certain occasion was compelled to assume the habit volence, that his existence became absolutely inspite of himself, such innumerable acts of benecelebrated Spanish play, founded on this story, by supportable to him. If this query has not been answered long since, the following account of a which it is now only remembered, may possibly interest not only your correspondent in Australia, but some others of readers. your

The following is taken principally from the Spanish Literature, t. ii. p. 339, ed. 1861. After great work of George Ticknor, The History of alluding to the large number of Spanish dramas which were announced as written by "A Wit of this Court"-"Un Ingenio de esta Corte "-the most famous of which is one attributed, but it is thought erroneously, to Philip IV. himself, the story being the sad history of the Earl of Essex, Mr. Ticknor continues :

"One of the most remarkable of these Comedias de un Ingenio is that called The Devil turned Preacher. Its scene is laid in Lucca, and its original purpose seems to have been to glorify St. Francis and to strengthen the influence of his followers. At any rate, in the long introductory speech of Lucifer, that potentate represents himself as most happy at having so far triumphed over these his greatest enemies, that a poor community of Franciscans, established in Lucca, is likely to be starved

out of the city by the universal ill-will he has excited against them. But his triumph is short. St. Michael descends, and requires Satan himself immediately to reconvert the same inhabitants whose hearts he had hardened; to build up the very convent of the holy brotherhood which he had so nearly overthrown; and to place the poor friars, who were now pelted by the boys in the streets, upon a foundation of respectability safer than that from which he had driven them. The humour of the piece consists in his conduct while executing the unwelcome task thus imposed upon him. To do it he takes at once the habit of the monks he detests; he goes round to beg for them; he superintends the erection of an ampler edifice for their accommodation; he preaches; he prays; he works miracles; and all with the greatest earnestness and unction, in order the sooner to be rid of a business so thoroughly disagreeable to him, and of which he is constantly complaining in equivocal phrases and bitter side-speeches, that give him the comfort of expressing a vexation he cannot entirely control, but dares not openly make known. At last he succeeds. The hateful work is done; but the agent is not dismissed with honour. On the contrary, he is obliged, in the closing scene, to confess who he is, and to avow that nothing, after all, awaits him but the flames of perdition, into which he visibly sinks, like another Don Juan, before the edified |

audience.

"The action occupies about five months. It has an intriguing underplot, which hardly disturbs the course of the main story, and one of whose personages-the heroine herself-is very gentle and attractive. The character of the Father Guardian of the Franciscan monks, full of simplicity, humble, trustful, and submissive, is also finely drawn; and so is the opposite one -the gracioso of the piece-a liar, a coward, and a glutton, ignorant and cunning, whom Lucifer amuses himself with teasing, in every possible way, whenever he has a moment to spare from the disagreeable work he

is so anxious to finish.

apiece for their places, sat in the open air, under a bright, starry sky." It may be mentioned, for the information of some of your younger readers, that the Blanco White above referred to was the unhappy HibernoSpaniard, born of Irish parents in Seville, originally a Catholic priest, who, coming to England, became the friend and associate of such men as the late Archbishop Whately and the, happily, still-living John Henry Newman. His career, full of vicissitude and terminating in sorrow, and almost in despair, has been told in an autobiography, edited by J. H. Thom. His mastery of the English language was wonderful for one who was half, perhaps I should say wholly, a foreigner. It is, at any rate, to this half Spaniard and half Irishman that we owe, according to Coleridge, the finest sonnet that has ever been written in the language of Shakspeare.

To return to El Diablo Predicador. Those who wish to see it in the original can easily do so by referring to the forty-fifth volume of Rivadeneyra's Biblioteca de Autores Españoles, Madrid, 1858. It is there assigned, though not with absolute certainty, to Belmonte, who is called by his full name, Luis Belmonte Bermudez. D. F. MACCARTHY.

43, Ampthill Square, N.W.

know that, for a long time after it had appeared, it used to be acted as a devout work, favourable to the interests of the Franciscans, who then possessed great influence in Spain. In the latter part of the eighteenth century, however, this state of things was partly changed, and its public performance, for some reason or other, was for bidden. About 1800, it reappeared on the stage, and was again acted, with great profit, all over the country, the Franciscan monks lending the needful monastic dresses for an exhibition they thought so honourable to their order. But in 1804 it was put anew under the ban of the Inquisition, and so remained until after the political revolution of 1820, which gave absolute liberty to the theatre."

Mr. Ticknor, in a note, gives his authorities for the foregoing highly amusing and interesting description, and continues :—

"To these should be added the pleasant description given by Blanco White, in his admirable Doblado's Letters (1822, pp. 163-169), of a representation he himself saw of the Diablo Predicador in the courtyard of a poor inn, where a cow-house served for the theatre, or rather the stage, and the spectators, who paid less than twopence

9th ult., containing a communication from Mr. J. Thompson, the author of the work I quoted (5th S. vi. 410). The matter now stands thus: As to the first extract I gave from Bourgoing's journal, your correspondent M. V. and Mr. Thompson agree that the editor is wrong, and that Ashby Castle is the place meant. The latter adds, "A local tradition has been handed down to the present day, that in a room in the kitchen tower of Ashby Castle Mary Stuart was once a prisoner." As to the second, I believe I have proved, beyond a doubt, that Renester is Leicester. As to the third, Mr. Thompson tells us that there was at that time, living in East Leicestershire, "a gentleman of old descent named Mr. Roger Smith, and his house at Withcote, on the borders of Rutland, was said by Leland to be one of the fairest in the county." This would seem to decide the locality of this halting place, and the identity of Mr. Roger "Svith." The word "hallage" is still a difficulty. Can it be written by the copyist in error for the word "partage"? Time alters the meaning of words, and in 1680 this is said to be "terme de palais, quand les juges sont de different avis." We hear also of the " partage de Montgommeri, tout d'un côté, et rien de l'autre." As to the fourth