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And is not Scudamour also intended for Ralegh? As Amoretta and Belphobe are representations of the same lady, the same rule must be applied to their lovers, or the whole allegory falls to the ground. The seven months' captivity of Amoretta, and Scudamour's inability to rescue her, may refer to Ralegh's campaign in the Netherlands in 1578: whilst the flames and sulphurous enchantments of Busirane would represent the Spanish artillery; and the assistance of Britomartis might be an allusion to the battle of Rimini, gained by the valour of the English and Scots. It should also be noted, Florimeli suffers a seven months' captivity, so that the poet appears to refer to some particular period.

These three beautiful tales of Amoretta, Belphoebe, and Florimell, denote not only Spenser's love and esteem for Ralegh, but also testify to the high position Ralegh must have held in her majesty's favour at that time. In support of these opinions, we may adduce the beautiful apostrophe to Ralegh in the Introduction to the third book, which must be regarded as the key-note to these two books.

It is generally supposed Spenser became acquainted with Ralegh in Ireland, during his secretaryship, but this is a serious error; as Ralegh is Timias, Prince Arthur's squire, he must have been Spenser's honoured friend long before April,

1580.

The false Florimell is of course Mary, Queen of Scots; with her lovers, Blandamour and Paridell, the Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland. Mary-who, like Helen of Greece, was an apple of discord to Britain-is also very distinctly depicted in Dame Hellenore; whose husband, old Malbecco, would be the Earl of Shrewsbury.

Book V. "The Legend of Artegall or Justice." It seems to be universally accepted that, by Artegall, is intended Lord Grey, Earl of Wilton, to whom Spenser had been secretary during his administration in Ireland from 1580 to 1582; but it may be suspected Sir Henry Sidney is intended, and this supposition is based on the circumstance that Philip very ably defended his father's conduct in the autumn of 1577. Artegall probably means Prince Arthur's equal in Spenser's estimation, and that was more likely to have been Sir Henry, the father of Philip, and Leicester's bro

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"At length, with such a kind of gravity as was near to sorrow, he thus uttered his mind: I take witness of the immortal gods,' said he, 'O Arcadians! that what this day I have said hath been out of my assured persuasion, what justice itself and your just laws require, &c. If rightly I have judged, then rightly I have judged mine own children: unless the name of a child should have force to change the never-changing justice. No, no, Pyrocles and Musidorus, I prefer you much before my life, but I prefer justice as far before you.""

When we see in numerous passages how warmly Philip eulogizes his father's love of justice, we can scarcely have a doubt of Spenser's intention; especially as it is the Redcrosse Knight who, in the third book, describes to Britomartis the virtues of Artegall; and the line

--

"Achilles' arms which Artegall did win,”— so puzzling to Upton, and inexplicable with reference to Lord Grey, is singularly applicable to Sir Henry Sidney, who "distinguished himself on many occasions, and particularly in single combat with a Scottish chieftain, whom he overthrew and stripped of his arms;" and this curred in Ulster. combat ocvery

Radigund, the Amazon, who takes Artegall prisoner, "and in his hand a distaffe to him gave," is a satire on Queen Elizabeth, who repeatedly interfered with Sir Henry's upright and impartial administration of justice. In this fifth book we have the trial of Mary, Queen of Scots, "hight Duessa," who is accused of murder, sedition, and adultery: so there can be no doubt the poet points at her as Acrasia, Hellenore, and the false Florimell,

(To be continued.)

TRAITORS' GATE, TOWER OF LONDON. There was a recent visit by the members of the Ecclesiological Society, under its President, A. Beresford Hope, Esq., to the Tower of London,

of the upper part is crammed with offices, and disfigured in every possible manner; and the gloom of the Traitors' Gate is now broken up by the blatant noise of steam machinery for hoisting and packing war weapons.

The vibration of the machinery has already so shaken the south-east turret, that it is now shored up in order to prevent its falling.

Can any of your readers supply particulars as to the ceremonials attending the reception of state prisoners at the Traitors' Gate, when consigned to the Tower? It would seem that the enormous size of the north archway must have been for the admission of several barges or vessels to pass within the present boundary of the gateway walls when the outer portcullis was closed, and that the Thames once penetrated further to the north. BENJ. FERREY, F.S.A.

Minor Notes.

to inspect the restoration of the early Norman chapel in the White Tower (which happily is about to be used again for sacred purposes); and also to take note of other praiseworthy works, now going on within this most interesting citadel. Great credit is due to the present authorities, and especially to Lord de Ros, for the determined manner in which ill-judged innovations are resisted; and there seems good hope that the Tower will now be spared from further wanton mutilation. Perhaps no part of this fortified enclosure has suffered more from improper use than the Traitors' Gate. Few people can be aware of the solemn grandeur which this water-gate must have presented in bygone times, when its architectural features were unmutilated. Gateways and barbicans to castles are usually bold and striking in their design; but a water-gate of this kind, in its perfect state, must have been quite unique. The internal features can now scarcely be discerned, but it may be well to describe the general plan of the structure. It consists in plan of an oblong block, each corner having an attached round turret of large dimensions. The south archway, which formed the water approach from the Thames, guarded by a portcullis, is now effectually closed by a wharf occupying the entire length of the Tower. The water originally flowed through the base of the gatehouse, and extended probably beyond the north side of it to the Traitors' Steps, "Sumner. Yea, my Lord, here's not a Latin book, no, not as they were called. Here the superincumbent so much as our Lady's Psalter. Here's the Bible, the Testamass of the gateway is supported by an archwayment, the Psalms in metre, The Sick Man's Salve, the of extraordinary boldness. Unlike the south enTreasure of Gladness, all English; no, not so much but the Almanac's English. trance, which is of moderate span, this segmental arch, with a double order of moulding, spans the entire width of the front from turret to turreta distance of more than sixty feet. Such an arch, I think, is not to be found in any other gateway, and is a piece of masterly construction. A staircase in the north-west turret conducts to the galleries, or wall passages, formed on a level with the tops of the archway. These passages are lighted by loopholes through the outer walls; and have a breast work on the inner faces, pierced and crenellated, so that each side of the gateway could be guarded by soldiers, commanding the space

below as well as the outside. A little above these passages can be traced the stone corbels, from which the stone groining of the gateway originally sprung. The four angular turrets are approached by the wall passages; each turret has two tiers of chambers, well worthy of examination. They are beautifully groined, having elegant vaulting shafts with capitals and bases. The spandrils of the groins are filled with alternate courses of light and dark stone. A lancet window on each side (for the rooms are octangular within), lights the apartment. No stranger, on looking at the Traitors' Gate as it is now encumbered, could possibly form an idea of its ancient dignity. The whole

CURIOUS ANACHRONISM BY AN OLD DRAMATIST.-In The First Part of the True and Honourable Historie of the Life of Sir John Oldcastle, 1600, 4to, Act IV. Sc. 4, the following passage

occurs:

"Rochester. What bring'st thou there? what, books of heresy?

"Rochester. Away with them, to the fire with them, Clun:

Now fye upon these upstart heretics.

All English! burn them, burn them quickly, Clun.
I have there English books, my lord, that I'll not part
"Harpool. But do not, Sumner, as you'll answer it; for
withal for your bishopric: Bevis of Hampton; Owleglass;
The Friar and the Boy; Elinour Rumming; Robin Hood;
and other such godly stories; which if ye burn, by this
flesh I'll make you drink their ashes in Saint Marget's
ale."

Sir John Oldcastle was executed in Dec. 1417.

The first edition of the Bible in English, if a printed book, indeed, be here intended, appeared in 1535. Becon's Sick Man's Salve was printed in 1561. The Treasure of Gladness in 1564, &c. As to the articles in early English popular literature, mentioned by Harpool in the text, none of them are known to have come from the press till the beginning of the sixteenth century. Sir John Oldcastle is generally assigned to Munday, Drayton, Haughton, and Wilson. Which of these was in the present case the offender?

W. CAREW HAZLITT.

ERRATA IN KING'S "LIFE OF LOCKE." - In Lord King's Life of John Locke (ed. 1830, vol. i. pp. 357, 358), occurs a letter from Tyrrell to Locke, in which the Oxford Heads of Houses are

made to lament the "decay of long-cut exercises in the University." This must surely be a blunder for logical; another instance of Lord King's carelessness may be seen in the same letter, where he calls Dr. Dunster Dunstan. JOHN E. B. MAYOR.

St. John's College, Cambridge.

ROLLING THE R's.-A friend of mine, a clergyman, pronounces the letter r with a whir-r-r, and I am sorry to say I cannot avoid occasionally feeling inclined to smile in church when listening to him reading more especially the prayer for the High Court of Parliament, when he unconsciously turns "religion" into "irreligion," while coupling it with "piety." THEODORE.

LETTERS OF MARQUE.-Looking over a state paper, viz. President Lincoln's little-known proclamation of the 19th April, 1861, I have found a very curious misstatement. In that document the President purports to say:

"Whereas a combination of persons engaged in such insurrection have threatened to grant pretended letters of marque to authorise the bearers thereof to commit assaults on the lives, vessels, and property of good citizens of the country, &c."

But in point of fact, letters of marque never authorise their grantees to commit assaults upon the lives of enemies. The common form of the mandatum of these letters runs :

"Know ye, &c., that we license and authorise the said A. B. to set forth in a warlike manner the said ship called the C. D. under his command, and therewith by force of arms to apprehend, seize, and take the ships, vessels, and goods belonging to, &c. &c."

H. C. C.

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case, but has not been more than hinted at in public. If any of those who are in possession of the details should feel able to state them, they will know to what I refer when I say that the story is directly connected with the late Dr. B., a clergyman of good position. At the same time, so frequent are the stories which stagger all but those who are blessed with à priori knowledge of what can and what cannot be, that I should not be surprised if I brought out more than one narrative about more than one Dr. B. So much the better; the state of opinion is now favourable to the discussion of the evidence; and your columns are well adapted for its collection. To use the slang of the market, superstitions are lively, and philosophy rules dull at less than the old prices.

Thirty years ago, when I was what Goldsmith calls" a philosopher and a man of learning, as the rest of us is," I was in a party which was entirely composed of the like. And I was much struck by finding that every man brought forward, as within his own knowledge, a very remarkable thing," which was attested to him by a person on whose general veracity he had entire reliance. Each of these very remarkable things was a sheer ghost-story, and nothing but it; and I found that the law of evidence was, that the better such stories were attested, the stronger the proof that they were all delusions. In fact, the poor ghost was like Lord Say in Jack Cade's hands, "he shall die, an it were but for pleading so well for his life." I mention this to remind those who know strong evidence in favour of any case that they will not commit themselves by producing it. Public opinion will tolerate belief in two, and belief in other two, without demanding belief in four.

It naturally occurred to myself, and has often been suggested by others, that these stories are all one, or it may be two, removes from the speaker; the person who actually saw it does not happen to be in the company. On this it may be observed that those who have actually seen or heard are usually shy of communicating to more than one person at a time. And I know it may happen that the narrator of a story about another person, who professes himself completely staggered by it, owes some, it may be most, of his state of suspense to something that has happened to himself, which he does not like to tell, something which he "does not know what to make of."

Those who are personally cognizant of such wonders do not like to speak of them to more than one at a time. Why? I conjecture that it is partly because one and the same person will frequently be an inquirer and a weigher of evidence when alone with another, who has his omniscience to keep up when other persons are present.

For myself, my omniscience subsided so long ago that I hardly remember the feel of it. With

it went, first, the assurance that all ghost-stories are delusions; secondly, the inference that, if true, they would prove their point. Even supposing that the death of one person should be the efficient cause of an apparition to another, it does not follow that the apparent person knew anything about the matter, either before or after death. When such things can be mentioned without any crackling of thorns under the pot, we shall get many instances for comparison, and may possibly arrive at a sound conclusion. A. DE MORGAN.

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"So the fierce tigress, when she hears afar The hunter's murmur, rouses for the war. Each spot grows rough, she opes her pliant jaws, Loosens her knees, and agitates her claws; Then rushes boldly on her trembling prey, And bears a living breathing man away, A dinner for her cubs."-Boadicea, Act II. The above is quoted in Selections from the Best Poets, p. 93, 12mo, London, 1768. It is in the part of the volume occupied by dramatic poetry. It is not in Glover's Boadicea. The Biographia Dramatica mentions Boadicea, a Tragedy, by Charles Hopkins, 1697, which I have not been able to see. shall be obliged by being informed whether the lines are there, and, if not, where.

E. H.

ROBERT BURNS AND GEORGE THE FOURTH. In these days of royal presents, it might be interesting to know their ultimate destination. In the account of his majesty's visit to Scotland in 1822, it is stated, that—

"Mr. Auld, of Ayr, presented to the King, through the medium of the Rt. Hon. the Lord Justice Clerk, a splendid library chair, formed out of the rafters of Kirk Alloway, which his Majesty was pleased to receive most graciously. The general design of this valuable chair is after the manner of the enriched Gothic. On the front part of the back are formed four compartments, terminating in pointed arches, and surrounded with appropriate carvings, executed in a style of uncommon boldness and beauty. In these are placed as many tablets of polished brass, having inscribed on them, at full length, the wellknown humorous and highly descriptive tale of Tam o'Shanter;' while on the other side, is a clever painting by Steven, an able Ayrshire artist, representing heroic Tam,' mounted on his grey mare Meg, and dashing onwards amidst the appalling horrors of the midnight storm. His Majesty, out of respect to the genius of the great national bard, gave orders that particular care should be taken of this elegant gift."

I should much like to know where this chair is

located now.

Scotus.

CATHERINE DE MEDICIS.-Who purchased a very interesting picture of Catherine de Medicis as an infant in swaddling clothes at the Alton Towers sale, and what was the price paid for it? It was lot 86, page 6 of the Catalogue. P. P.

COWTHORPE OAK, NEAR WETHERBY, YORKSHIRE.—I shall feel obliged if any of your readers will inform me whether or not this celebrated oak is still in existence, and if it still exists, what distance it is from Wetherby. The latest record of the tree I can meet with is in the Parliamentary Gazetteer, 1843, in which publication, under the head of "Cowthorpe," it is stated that, "On the estate of Lord Petre here there is a gigantic oak, surpassing in size the famous Greendale oak at Welbeck, Notts."

A friend of mine in Preston, who has seen the latter tree, will be obliged if any one will give him the dimensions of it and of its venerable neighbours, the Porters and the Shambles oaks. CHAS. Jos. Ashfield.

51, Knowsley Street, Preston.

GERMAN DRAMA.-Are there any translations from the German Drama in a volume entitled, Poems and Translations from the German, London, 8vo, 1821? The translator was General Sir Wm. Gomme.

ZETA. HERALDIC QUERIES.-An old seal being found in some clay, some little time since, was found on cleaning to bear the following arms, which I will, if not heraldically, yet correctly, attempt to describe.

Azure, the figure of a woman with bow and arrow, sitting astride what appears to be a duck or goose, having a tail of a dragon or wivern. The crest, an animal like a porcupine or armadillo. There is also a close helmet, and unicorns for supports. The motto is, "Opiferque dicor per orbem."

To what family or person do these arms belong?

E.

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LONGEVITY OF INCUMBENTS. In " N. & Q." 1st S. xi. 407, you gave some particulars of the Rev. Potter Cole, who was Vicar of Hawkesbury, near Tetbury, during a period of seventy-two years, which many people considered an incumbency of longer duration than any upon record; however, upon perusing an old Magazine, I have found one stated to have been held for a much longer series of years by the Rev. Thomas Sampson, who was minister of Keym, or Keyham, near Leicester, for ninety-two years, and who was Various details buried there August 4, 1655.

are given that appear to verify this statement, which is moreover authenticated by the inspection of the register on February 28, 1743, by the Rev. Juxon. Still it is rather extraordinary, and I trust some reader of "N. & Q." will ascertain if this account is correct, and favour us with the result of his investigation.

AN OCCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT. "MACBETH."-Who is editor of Macbeth, with selected and original Anecdotes and Annotations, Biographical, Explanatory, &c., 1807, 8vo?

ZETA.

MORRISON'S CRYSTAL.-In the will of Sir Henry Wotton, I find the following bequest among others:

"Item, a piece of Crystal Sexangular (as they grow all), grasping divers several things within it, which I bought among the Rhætian Alps, in the very place where it grew."

Did this possess any of the marvellous properties laid claim to by the ball of which Admiral Belcher ran foul? W. BOWEN ROWLANDS.

THOMAS, DUKE OF NORFOLK.-This prince was the eldest son of Edward I., by his second wife, Marguerite of France. How many times was he married, and who were his wives? Alice Halys is given as the name of his wife, I think, in all genealogies; but some add a second wife, Margaret de Ros; and I have seen mention of a third, named Maude, whose surname is not given. Who was she? And is it a fact that the Duke was HERMENTRUde. thrice married?

ELIJAH RIDINGS.-Can any reader of "N. & Q." give me any information regarding Elijah Ridings, ZETA. author of The Village Muse, &c.?

ST. GERMAIN.-Can you tell me what were the armorial bearings of the French family of St. Germain ?

MELETES.

SUGAR-TONGS LIKE A STORK.—There are foreign sugar-tongs (are they German or Danish ?) in the form of a stork. They open scissor-wise, and contain in a small hollow inside the body of the bird a swaddled bambino about the size of a house fly. Are they Christmas gifts, or christening presents? or are they merely allusive to the stork bringing the baby, which is, I believe, the German nursery folk lore on that subject?

P. P.

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"In Radnorshire,

Is neither Knight nor Peer,

Nor park with deer,

Nor gentleman with five hundred a year,
Save Sir Wm. Fowler of Abbey Cwm heer."
W. W. E. W.

[We believe the correct version of this epigram, which was invented in the early part of the eighteenth century, is as follows:

"There is neither a park nor a deer
To be seen in all Radnorshire;
Nor a man with five hundred a-year,
Save Fowler of Abbey Cwm Hir."

The person here complimented at the expense of his neighbours was Sir William Fowler, Bart., of Harnage Grange, Shropshire, who built the present parish church of Abbey Cwm-Hîr in 1680. He was high sheriff of Radnorshire in 1696, and was created a baronet in 1704. We suspect the above epigram dates from that period – say about the year 1710-when, in the language of a contemporary political ballad,

"The furiosas of the Church

Came foremost with the wind;
And Moderation, out of breath,
Came trotting on behind."

We need scarcely add that, contemporary with the Radnorshire house of Fowler (and the majority of them more ancient than his), were those of Robarts, Earls of Radnor; Harley, Earls of Oxford; the Cornewalls, baronets; Howarths, many of them knights; the Jones's of Boultibrook, also knights; and, among the untitled gentry, the Lewis's of Harpton (whence the late lamented Sir G. C. Lewis); the Mynors of Evan Coed; the Lloyds, the Walshes, and the Gwynnes-all of them quite as opulent as their fellow-countryman, Sir William. But he, belonging to the High Church party in the roistering days of Queen Anne, has been, as was once remarked of Swift, "absolutely damned by the praises of his friends!" With respect to Monmouthshire, our correspondent appears to have forgotten that the Duke of Beaufort, and Lords Tredegar, Llanover, and Ragland, are titled personages possessing residential properties there, and we know not how many more besides.]

JACOB'S STAFF. PROFESSOR DE MORGAN, in his learned article "On the Derivation of the word Theodolite," observes:

"This Theodelite, whether Digges's or Hopton's, was in fact the thing well known as the Astrolabe; and this is the name Bourne (in his Treasure for Travailers, 1578,) gives it. The Astrolabe seems to have become a Theodelite when it became a terrestrial instrument."

The above suggests to me the Query: What is the origin of the old English name of this same instrument, viz. Jacob's Staff? It reminds me also that, in my collections for illustrating Abp. Leighton's Works, I have a note on this word. After

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