institution is so constantly filling up gaps that it is impossible to say from day to day what is not there. Mr. Edwards fills up "B-n-r-d," in Anstey's New Bath Guide, with "Blunderhead." He takes no notice of booksellers almost universally giving the name as "Barnard." Under the word "Bath," I fancy he will be able to make a large addition to his entries. He does not mention Bath, a satirical novel, by the author of Brighton. I do not pretend to have any knowledge of the subject, but I imagine this work is "descriptive of Bath or its society." I am not able either to refer to the book, and it may be that the name of "Thos. Brown the elder" is on the title-page. That name I believe to be fictitious; but of course we shall look to Mr. Edwards for information on such points. Bath and London; or, Scenes in Each, 4 v.; Bath Anecdotes and Characters for 1782. Under "Beckford" is enumerated his Memoirs, but Mr. Edwards does not seem to be aware that it is by Cyrus Redding; and he puts the date of publication as 1859, which is correct, no doubt, according to the title-page, though in fact it was published in 1858, as a reference to the English Catalogue will show. I heartily wish your contributor every success in his arduous and useful undertaking. I hope he will verify Mr. W. E. A. Axon's prediction : "Bibliographical researches are proverbially dry; and yet, once let a man become infected with that form of literary mania, and he is lost. The versifier may cut his hair, and settle down into a quiet Philistine, a magazine writer may sometimes be reclaimed to the paths of common life, but the old proverb, Once a priest always a priest,' may be modernized, "Once a bibliographer always a bibliographer.' That Mr. Edwards has taken up the subject is enough to show the interest he has found in it. I am sure that the more he gets into his work, and especially the more original information he accumulates -as distinct from compiling from the books of others- the more will he become enamoured of it. OLPHAR HAMST. THE FIRST PUBLICATION OF GRAY'S "ELEGY." I was interested in the discussion of this subject in "N. & Q." a year or more ago, and have watched to see if any further facts were brought to light by your correspondents. In preparing a little edition of selections from Gray (published by the Harpers in New York, April, 1876) I was led to look into the matter myself, with the following results. The Elegy appears to have been printed in the Magazine of Magazines for February, 1751; in the London Magazine for March, 1751; and in the Grand Magazine of Magazines for April, 1751. The earliest publication of the poem was probably the first of these three. Chambers's Book of Days (vol. ii. p. 146), in an article on and his Elegy," says : "It first saw the light in the Magazine of Magazines, February, 1751. Some imaginary literary wag is made to rise in a convivial assembly, and thus announce it: Gentlemen, give me leave to soothe my own melancholy, and amuse you in a most noble manner, with a full copy Cambridge. They are stanzas written in a country of verses by the very ingenious Mr. Gray, of Peterhouse, churchyard.' Then follow the verses. A few days afterwards Dodsley's edition appeared," &c. February 11, 1751, Gray wrote to Walpole that the proprietors of the Magazine of Magazines were about to publish his Elegy, and asked him to get Dodsley to bring out the poem at once. It should be borne in mind that in those days a magazine dated "February " was issued at the end of the month, not at the beginning as nowadays. The second publication (in the London Magazine for March, 1751) has been mentioned in "N. & Q." The author's name is not there given with the poem, which is sandwiched between an “Epilogue to Alfred, a Masque," and some coarse rhymes entitled "Strip-Me-Naked, or Royal Gin for ever." There is not even a printer's rule or dash to separate the title of the latter from the last line of the Elegy. Curiously enough the poem is more correctly printed than in Dodsley's authorized edition. For the third publication (in the Grand Magazine of Magazines for April, 1751) I have no authority but MR. F. LOCKER's communication to "N. & Q.," June 19, 1875. It seems probable that the Elegy was printed in other magazines than those mentioned above. Gray writes, March 3, 1751: "I do not expect any more editions, as I have appeared in more magazines than one." This cannot refer to the Grand Magazine of Magazines, if MR. LOCKER is right as to the date, nor to the London Magazine, as it is clear from internal evidence that the March number, containing the Elegy, was not issued until early in April. It contains a summary of current news down to Sunday, March 31, and the price of stocks in the London market for March 30. The February number, in its "monthly catalogue " of new books, records the publication of the Elegy by Dodsley thus: "An Elegy wrote in a Churchyard, pr. 6d., Dodsley." The preface (written at the close of the year) to the volume of the London Magazine for 1751 begins thus : "As the two most formidable Enemies we have ever had are now extinct, we have great Reason to conclude that it is only the Merit and real Usefulness of our COLLECTION that hath supported its Sale and Reputation for Twenty Years." A foot-note informs us that the "Enemies" are the "Magazine of Magazines and Grand Magazine of Magazines." It is a curious fact that the most accurate edition of Gray's collected poems is the editio princeps of 1768, printed under his own supervision. No editor since Mathias (1814) has given the second line of the Elegy as Gray wrote it ("The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea"), while Mathias's mispunctuation of the 123rd line ("He gave to Misery (all he had) a tear," instead of Gray's "He gave to Misery all he had, a tear") has been copied by his successors, almost without exception. Pickering's edition of 1835, edited by Mitford, is full of errors, which have been faithfully reproduced in nearly all the more recent editions. But this is a subject which I leave for another communication. W. J. ROLFE. Cambridge, U.S.A. SHAKSPEARIANA. "CHARIEST" (5th S. vi. 345, 405; vii. 22.)The querist S. T. P. did not ask for the meaning of chary, which so many correspondents have been at the pains to give, and which, in all probability, S. T. P., like myself, has been familiar with from infancy. He asked, and I ask, what is the meaning of the sentence, in which its superlative occurs, in Hamlet. Another writer pointed out the difficulty (nine years before S. T. P.) in the Birmingham Daily Gazette, July 25, 1867. He wrote as follows: "The chariest maid is prodigal enough, If she unmask her beauty to the moon.' Very beautiful, indeed, is that last line; but surely the penultimate line means the opposite of what it says, for the very force of Laertes' counsel is that the maiden who is least chary of bestowing her favours is prodigal of them if she but unmask her beauty in sight of the chaste and cold virgin queen of night. But, after all, chariest may mean very chary," &c. If so, all I can say is, the sense is feeble to the last degree, despite the beauty of the imagery. JABEZ. Athenæum Club. Not only with what my revénue yielded, The †, the difficulty, has arisen from not seeing that having into, like have at, have to, so often in Shakspeare (see Schmidt's Lexicon, i. 519, col. 1) means "cutting, slashing into, attacking" truth, that is, inventing a lie. Compare our modern "have into him "; slip into him." The passage then reads, "like one who, inventing a lie, by telling it repeatedly, made himself believe it," as George IV. at last persuaded himself that he had led a charge of cavalry at Waterloo. "TEMPEST,” ii. 1, 250, Globe, p. 9, col. 1:— "Claribel...she that from Naples... .she that-from whom? We all were sea-swallow'd...." Knock away the ?, and read, paralleling the former line,"......she that from-whom We all were sea-swallow'd...." Compare Malvolio's "Play with my-some rich jewel." "For O, for O, the hobby horse is forgot." Hamlet, Act iii. sc. 2. "Armado. How hast thou purchased this experience? Moth. By my penny of observation. Armado. But O, but 0. Moth. The hobby horse is forgot.'" 66 Love's Labour's Lost, Act iii. sc. 2. The second passage interprets the first. In the second passage, by "O, O," we must understand "nothing, nothing." Your observation, forsooth!" said Armado. "What is that? But 0, but O" (but nothing, but nothing). "0, 0" (nothing, nothing), suggested to the quick-witted Moth "the epitaph of the hobby horse," in which the words occur. Hence his rejoinder, "The hobby horse is forgot." Thus, therefore, must we understand the "epitaph" as it stands in Hamlet. "For O, for O, the hobby horse is forgot," the playthings of childhood are exchanged for the vanities of youth--mere nothings after all. The punctuation is that of the first folio. The passage quoted from Love's Labour's Lost proves that in pointing the passage in Hamlet, "For, O, for, O," making "O" an interjection, the Cambridge and other modern editions are wrong. R. M. SPENCE, M.A. But these sweet thoughts: do even refresh my labours Most busy rest when I do it." By" but " I understand "all except." Ferdinand forgot everything except the "sweet thoughts" of Miranda's sympathy. We are to suppose him, while speaking, piling up log after log. Hence he speaks in short broken sentences, as one so employed would naturally do. I am surprised that no critic, as far as I know, has suggested the omission of the colon after "forget." This is not the only instance in the first folio in which a colon appears where no colon should be, e.g., in Measure for Measure, Act v. sc. 1, we read : "The wicked'st caitiffe on the ground May seem as shie, as grave, as just, as absolute : As Angelo." R. M. SPENCE, M.A. "SKILL" (5th S. vii. 22.)—Only a South-country editor had need to boggle at this word. Skill, i.e. understanding, knowing how to handle or deal with a person or thing, is still current in the East Riding as a verb. Not very long ago a woman at Scarborough, speaking to me of her father, who in his last illness was restless and bad to manage, said, "He's a very heavy handful, and we don't know how to skill him." A. J. M. 1837. The game of Billiards: scientifically explained and practically set forth, illustrated by diagrams. To which is added the rules and regulations which govern the numerous games as they are played at the present day in all the countries of Europe. By Edwin Kentfield, of Brighton. London, Smith, Elder & Co. Sold also by the proprietor, John Thurston. [Printed by John Nichols.] 1839.-Folio, pp. x-48, 94 plates. 42s. M. The new pocket Hoyle, containing easy rules for playing the games of Chess, Backgammon, Draughts, Billiards, Cricket, Tennis, Goff [and Card games], Laws on Gaming, &c. London: printed for the booksellers [by J. Smith, 193, High Holborn]. 1839.-8vo. Pp. 126-150, Billiards. M. Edlon, der Billardspieler wie er sein soll. Quedlinburg, 1840. Billardschule, oder anweisung, in kurzer zeit im Billardspielen Meister zu werden. Quedlinburg, Ernst, 1840. 8vo. Billardreglement, neuestes. 1 bog. in gr. imp. fol. mit farbig gedr. einfassung. Frankfurt-a.-M., Jäger'sche Buchh., 1840. A handbook to the game of Billiards, with the laws, &c., and 44 diagrams. By Colonel B*****. London, T. & W. Boone [G. Norman, printer]. 1841.-12mo. pp. ii-72: 11 plates. Title engraved. M. Billardregeln der gebräuchlichsten Spiele. 2 blätter in roy. fol. Wesel, Becker'sche Buchh., 1841. Möley (Joh. K.). Unterricht im Billardspiel, &c. Leipzig, 1841. Billardregeln, neueste. 1 blatt in imp. fol. mit einfass. München, Franz, 1842. Billardreglement, neuestes. 4 verb. u. verm. auflage (mit einfassung), Adler-Form. Frankfurt-am-M., Jäger, 1842. Billardregeln, neue. 1 blatt in roy. fol. Verlag v. Pelz. Breslau, 1843. Das grosse conversations-lexikon für die gebildeten stände von J. Meyer. Vierter band Vierte abtheilung. Hildburghausen. Druck und Verlag des Bibliographischen Institutes. 1845. 8vo. Pp. 990-993, Billard. M. Billardreglement, neuestes (mit color. randzeichnungen). Imp. fol. Berlin u. Wriezen, 1845. Le Billard. Traité théorique et pratique de ce jeu, comprenant l'histoire de ses progrès depuis son origine jusqu'à ce jour; les principes généraux propres à en faciliter la pratique; la théorie des effets de queue, d'après les lois physiques qui les régissent. Suivi de la physiologie du joueur de Billard. * Que l'ignorant se fie aux chances du hasard, L'art seul doit présider aux succès du billard. Paris, Au dépôt central, Rue des Fossés-du-Temple, 48. [Imprimerie Dondey-Dupré, Rue Saint-Louis, 46, Au Marais.] 1846.-12mo. pp. 198, plate. M. The science of Billiards. By Reuben Roy. London, 1846. 18mo. Billar dreglement. 2 aufl. imp. fol. Quedlinburg, Basse, 1846. Billardreglement. 5 verb. u. verm. auflage, imp. fol. Frankfurt-am-M., Jäger, 1847. Mackenzie, 1847. 12mo. 1s. 6d. Handbook to Billiards. By W. Mackenzie. London, A treatise on Billiards. By Reuben Roy. London, Causton, 1848. 18mo. 1s. -Turner. Nottingham, A treatise on Billiards. By 1849. Chambers's Information for the People. Edited by William and Robert Chambers. Edinburgh, W. & R. Chambers. 1848[-49].-2 vols. 8vo. Vol. ii. pp. 663-666, Billiards. M. Billiards: game, 500 up. Second edition, enlarged. An account of the above game, with diagrams showing the position of the balls for the last nine breaks; also one hundred and eleven other diagrams well adapted for practice. General observations and advice respecting the advantage of playing with good strengths. By Edward Russell Mardon, Esq. London, Simpkin & Marshall. [Printed by E. S. Leppard, Brighton.] 1849. --8vo. pp. iv-290, 120 diagrams. M. A treatise on the game of Billiards. By E. R. Mardon. 2nd edition. London, Simpkin, 1849. 8vo. 21s. The game of Billiards. By Edwin Kentfield. London, Smith, Elder & Co., 1849. Fol. 31s. 6d. Billardreglement. 1 bog. in gr. fol. Peine, Heuer, 1850. The science of Billiards: with diagrams. By Reuben Roy. London, Henry Kent Causton.-? 1850. 24mo. pp. 102, 9 figs. Price 1s. 6d. M. Billardregeln hrsg. v. einer gesellschaft v. liebhabern. 1 bog. in imp. fol. Dresden, Adler & Dietze, 1850. Billardregeln, neueste. 1 bog. in imp. fol. München, Franz, 1851. Billardspieler, der rationelle, oder darstellung der wesentlichten erscheinungen am Billard nach den grundsätzen der angewanden Mathematik v. E(berhart) C(zermak). Gr. 8 (16 s. m. 1 lith. taf. in fol.). Troppau, Trassler, 1852. Billardreglement, neuestes. 1 beg. in imp. fol. m. lith. randzeichnungen. Berlin, 1852. Billardreglement. 3 aufl. (1 bgn. in imp. fol.). Quedlinburg, Basse, 1853. Dictionnaire universelle des Sciences. Paris, 1854. Billard, by Bouillet. Hoyle's games: containing laws on Chess, Draughts, Backgammon, Billiards, Cricket, and games of cards. A new edition improved. London, Thomas Allman & Son. [J. Billing, printer, Woking, Surrey.] 1854.Svo. pp. 160. Engraved second title and plate. Pp. 127-150, Billiards (by ? John Dew). M. The Encyclopædia Britannica. Eighth edition. A. & C. Black, Edinburgh. 4to. Vol. iv. (1854), pp. 723-724, Billiards. M. A handbook to the game of Billiards. By Colonel DOES BLUSHING EVER TAKE PLACE IN THE B*****. London, Boone, 1855. 18mo. 3s. The Field. London. Fol. Vol. vii. p. 173 (No. 168, 1874, on board the Netherland hospital ship KoDARK?-When doing duty, early in the year 15th March, 1856), Billiards: its theory and practice, with the scientific principle of the side stroke. By ningin Sophie, in Atchin roads, I came across, and "Captain Crawley" (.e. G. F. Pardon). The last (xiii) made a note of, the following passage in some chapter appeared in vol. viii. p. 123 (No. 191, 23rd work written by Lichtenberg, who was Professor August, 1856). M. of Physic in Göttingen in the latter half of the F. W. F. last century— (To be concluded in our next ) "Wird man wohl vor Schaam roth in Dunkeln? dass man vor Schrecken im Dunkeln bleich wird, glaube ich, selbst, roth seiner selbst und Anderer wegen. Die Frage aber das Erstere nicht; denn bleich wird man seiner ob Frauenzimmer im Dunkeln roth werden ist eine sehr schwere Frage; wenigstens, eine die sich nicht bei Licht ausmachen lässt.' others think of us. 'Thou know'st the mask of night is on my face; BYRON'S "ENGLISH BARDS AND SCOTCH REVIEWERS," Second Ed., 1809, Fourth Ed., 1810-11. -It is worth a note that the printers of the second edition were Deans & Co., Hart Street, Covent Garden," while the printer of the first, third, and In the chapter upon "Blushing," in Darwin's fourth edition of 1810 was "T. Collins, No. 1, Expression of the Emotions (p. 336), this subject Harvey's Buildings, Strand, London." The pub-is slightly, but insufficiently, discussed as follows: lisher of all the above four editions was, of course, "The fact that blushes may be excited in absolute "James Cawthorn, British Library, No. 24, Cock-solitude seems opposed to the view here taken, namely, spur Street." The first edition appeared without that the habit originally arose from thinking about what date or author's name in March, 1809. The second blushers, are unanimous in regard to solitude; and some Several ladies, who are great edition followed in October, 1809. It bears the of them believe that they have blushed in the dark. author's name, is dated 1809, and, to quote the From what Mr. Forbes has stated with respect to the title-page, has "considerable additions and altera- Aymaras, and from my own sensations, I have no doubt tions." In the first edition the poem is numbered that this latter statement is correct. Shakspeare, there696 lines; in its second, third, and fourth edition herself, say to Romeo (Act ii. sc. 2),— fore, erred when he made Juliet, who was not even by of 1810 it has been expanded to 1050 lines. It appears, however, that the fourth edition of 1810 is a very close reproduction of the third edition.* There are some dozen variants between the two, e.g. at p. 25 (the pagination of the two is the same) the name "Wycherley" in the foot-note is printed in the third edition in small capitals, in the fourth edition of 1810 in ordinary type. But there are also copies of the fourth edition dated 1811, and this issue is, typographically, a wholly different volume. It associates Sharpe & Hailes, Piccadilly," as publishers with Mr. Cawthorn; it is printed by "Cox, Son & Baylis, Great Queen Street, Lincoln's-Inn-Fields," and the satire consists of two lines more than in the three previous editions. This excess is gained by amplifying and altering lines 741, &c., of fourth edition, 1810"Though Bell has lost his nightingales and owls, Matilda snivels still, and Hafiz howls, And Crusca's spirit, rising from the dead, Revives in Laura, Quiz, and X, Y, Z" -into lines 741, &c., of fourth edition, 1811:"Though Crusca's bards no more our journals fill, Some stragglers skirmish round their columns still; Last of the howling host which once was Bell's, Matilda snivels yet, and Hafiz yells; And Merry's metaphors appear anew Chained to the signature of O. P. Q." The affinities of the later fourth edition of 1811 with the rare suppressed fifth edition will be discussed in a future note. J. LEICESTER WARREN. * The third edition has two different title-pages, both dated 1810, the initial letters of the word "Satire" elightly varying. For that which thou hast heard me speak to-night.' But when a blush is excited in solitude, the cause almost always relates to the thoughts of others about us, to again, when we reflect what others would have thought acts done in their presence, or suspected by them; or, of us had they known of the act." The proof of this unfortunately can only rest upon subjective sensations, the question being rendered all the more obscure, as the professor hints, if we value, however, of subjective sensations is someattempt literally to throw light upon it. what depreciated by the fact which Darwin mentions (Ibid., p. 313), that a lady who, on a certain occasion, thought that she had blushed crimson was assured by a friend that she had turned extremely pale. J. C. GALTON, F.L.S. The IRISH TIMBER.-The fact of a "Hall of Irish wood" being found mentioned, 1664, in the Palace at the Hague, which MR. JAMES thinks rather puzzling (5th S. vii. 61), is by no means strange. Irish timber was formerly much sought after for building purposes, as it had the reputation not only of being most durable, but of never harbouring spiders or other vermin. M. de la Boullaye le Gouz, in his Tour through Ireland, in 1644, remarks: "St. Patrick was the apostle of this island, who, according to the natives, blessed the land, and gave his malediction to all venomous things; and it cannot be denied that the earth and the timber of Ireland, being transported, will contain neither serpents, worms, spiders, nor rats, as one sees in the west of England and in Scotland, where all particular persons have their trunks and the boards of their floors of Irish wood" (p. 37, On this Frank Mahony (Father Prout) notes:- The oak-woods of Shillelagh, in the county Wicklow, which furnish the Irishman with his national weapon, supplied the roof to many a fair edifice even in distant lands. Dr. Charnock THE DUKE OF YORK'S BONES.-According to the late Archdeacon Bonney, in his History of Fotheringhay, the remains of Richard, Duke of York (who fell at the battle of Wakefield, on Dec. 31, 1460, and was buried at Pontefract), were removed to Fotheringhay in 1466. The following entry in the accounts of the churchwardens of St. John Baptist's, Peterborough, under date of 1476, places the event ten years later: "Itm. payd to the ryngers to the wursthypp of God and for the Duke of York sowle and bonys comyng to Fodrynghey, iiijd." THOMAS NORTH, F.S.A. FOLK-LORE.-There is a curious bit of folk-lore farmer, who maintained his point with great earnestness. On my asking him what would happen supposing the man was up to his neck in water, he said the drink would not go down at all; and "if the man tried hard to swallow it," he added most impressively, "it would kill him." M. in Staffordshire, that when a man is in the water, say up to his chest, and drinks something while Lower Norwood. still in the water, the liquid he drinks will sink in his body no lower than the level of the water outJAMES, SEVENTH EARL OF DERBY.-This noble-side his body. I was told this by a well-to-do man passed the night previous to his execution (at Bolton, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 1651) in Leigh. The Rev. Mr. Baggarley, his chaplain, gives lengthy particulars of his visit in his Relation touching my Lord's Death and some Passages before it, which has been printed by the Chetham Society. Local tradition states that the Earl stayed at the King's Arms, in the Market Place, within a stone's throw of the parish church, within whose walls, but a few weeks previous to the Earl's melancholy visit, the brave Sir Thomas Tildesley, the "hero of Wigan Lane," had been interred. The old King's Arms has long been pulled down, but an inscription placed upon a house in the Market Place points out the site, and recalls to the recollection of passers-by a local incident of the Great Rebellion. The inscription on the stone is as follows: DORSETSHIRE PROVINCIALISMS.-I send a few instances of expressions which I noted when in Dorsetshire some seven years since as peculiar. Probably some of them may be new to you. My informant was a schoolmaster, a man of some education. Bumble-bee-Dumbledore. Wren-Cutty. Wood-pigeon-Wood-cover. Miller's thumb fish--Black devil. Small red spider-God Almighty's little man. L. B. S. A "TRINKSPRUCH."-Among the numerous "Trinksprüche," or drinking proverbs, which cover the walls of the spacious Rath-hauskeller, in Berlin, is the following: "Der Kranke trinkt, dass er gesunde "IMP."-The origin of this word in some of its 66 |
