Notes and Queries, Number 241, June 10, 1854 / A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc.

Minor Notes.

Forensic Jocularities.—The epigram on "Four Lawyers," given in Vol. ix., p. 103. of "N. & Q.," has recalled to my recollection one intended to characterise four worthies of the past generation, which I heard some thirty years since, and which I send for preservation among other flies in your amber. It is supposed to record the history of a case:

"Mr. Leech

Made a speech,

Neat, concise, and strong;

Mr. Hart,

On the other part,

Was wordy, dull, and wrong.

Mr. Parker

Made it darker;

'Twas dark enough without.

Mr. Cooke,

Cited his book;

And the Chancellor said—I doubt."

—a picture of Chancery practice in the days "when George III. was king," which some future Macaulay of the twenty-first or twenty-second century, when seeking to reproduce in his vivid pages the form and pressure of the time, may cite from "N. & Q." without risk of leading his readers to any very inaccurate conclusions.

T. A. T.

Florence.

Ridley's University.—The author of The Bible in many Tongues (a little work on the history of the Bible and its translations, lately published by the Religious Tract Society, and calculated to be useful), informs us that Ridley "tells us incidentally," in his farewell letter, that he learned nearly the whole of St. Paul's Epistles "in the course of his solitary walks at Oxford." What Ridley tells us directly in his "Farewell" to Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, is as follows:

"In my orchard (the walls, butts, and trees, if they could speak, would bear me witness) I learned without book almost all Paul's Epistles; yea, and I ween all the canonical epistles, save only the Apocalypse."

Abhba.

Marvellous, if true.—

"This same Duc de Lauragnois had a wife to whom he was tenderly attached. She died of consumption. Her remains were not interred; but were, by some chemical process, reduced to a sort of small stone, which was set in a ring which the Duke always wore on his finger. After this, who will say that the eighteenth century was not a romantic age?"—Memoirs of the Empress Josephine, vol. ii. p. 162.: London, 1829.

E. H. A.

Progress of the War.—One is reminded at the present time of the satirical verses with reference to the slow progress of business in the National Assembly at the first French Revolution, which were as follows:

"Une heure, deux heures, trois heures, quatre heures,

Cinq heures, six heures, sept heures, midi;

Allons-nous diner, mes amis!

Allons-nous," &c.

"Une heure, deux heures, trois heures, quatre heures,

Cinq heures, six heures, sept heures, minuit;

Allons-nous coucher, c'est mon avis!

Allons-nous coucher," &c.

Which may be thus imitated in our language:

"One o'clock, two o'clock, three o'clock, four,

Five o'clock, six o'clock, seven o'clock, eight,

Nine o'clock, ten o'clock, eleven o'clock, noon;

Let's go to dinner, 'tis none too soon!

Let's go to dinner," &c.

"One o'clock, two o'clock, three o'clock, four,

Five o'clock, six o'clock, seven o'clock, eight,

Nine o'clock, ten o'clock, eleven, midnight;

Let's go to bed, 'tis all very right!

Let's go to bed," &c.

F. C. H.

Hatherleigh Moor, Devonshire.—I copy the following from an old Devonshire newspaper, and should be obliged if any of your correspondents can authenticate the circumstances commemorated:

"When John O'Gaunt laid the foundation stone

Of the church he built by the river;

Then Hatherleigh was poor as Hatherleigh Moor,

And so it had been for ever and ever.

When John O'Gaunt saw the people were poor,

He taught them this chaunt by the river;

The people are poor as Hatherleigh Moor,

And so they have been for ever and ever.

When John O'Gaunt he made his last will,

Which he penn'd by the side of the river,

Then Hatherleigh Moor he gave to the poor,

And so it shall be for ever and ever."

The above lines are stated to have been found "written in an ancient hand."

Balliolensis.

Cromwellian Gloves.—The Cambridge Chronicle of May 6, says that there is in the possession of Mr. Chas. Martin, of Fordham, a pair of gloves, reputed to have been worn by Oliver Cromwell. They are made of strong beaver, richly fringed with heavy drab silk fringe, and reach half way between the wrist and the elbow. They were for a long time in the possession of a family at Huntingdon. There is an inscription on the inside, bearing the name of Cromwell; but the date is nearly obliterated.

P. J. F. Gantillon.

Restall.—In the curious old church book of the Abbey Parish, Shrewsbury, the word restall occurs as connected with burials in the interior of the church. I cannot find this word in any dictionary to which I have access. Can the readers of "N. & Q." explain its meaning and origin, and supply instances and illustrations of its use elsewhere? I subjoin the following notes of entries in which the word occurs:

"1566. Received for restall and knyll.

1577. Received for buryalls in the church, viz.

Itm. for a restall of Jane Powell for her gra^d mother, vijs. viijd."

1593. The word is now altered to "lastiall," and so continues to be written till April 29, 1621, when it is written "restiall," which continues to be its orthography until 1645, when it ceases to be used altogether, and "burials in the church" are alone spoken of.

Prior Robert of Salop.

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