Although my question regarding Gray and Dodsley's Collection of Poems has only been half answered, and my two Queries respecting Dryden's Absolom and Achitophel and Essay on Satire not answered at all, I am not discouraged from putting interrogatories on other matters, in the hope that I may be more fortunate hereafter. On each of my former inquiries I have still a word or two to say, and I do not know why I should not say them now.

First, as to Gray and Dodsley:—Is the epithet droning, or drony, in the first edition of the Elegy? and, as my copy of Dodsley's Collection is dated 1748, and is said (on the half title, preceding the whole title) to be "the second edition," was there a first edition in the same year, or in an earlier year, or was there, in fact, no first edition at all? This question is important, because several poetical productions, of undisputed excellence, originally made their appearance in Dodsley's Collection.

Next, as to Dryden's Absolom and Achitophel: Is it known, or anywhere stated, that it was printed early in the eighteenth century as a penny or two-penny chap-book, and why was it so printed? Observe, too, that it was unaccompanied by Tate's Continuation, which, as far as a lesson to the lower orders is concerned, was of more consequence than Dryden's portion. It is a circumstance I did not mention, but it is, nevertheless, worth a Note, that in The Key which follows the Address "to the Reader," in my edition of 1708, the character of Zimri (which was given by Dryden himself to the Duke of Buckingham) is assigned to Lord Gray, who was in truth the Caleb of the performance. Is it to be taken that the publication of this chap-book edition is merely a proof of the extreme popularity of Dryden's half of the poem?

My third unanswered Query referred to the Essay on Satire, commonly attributed to Lord Mulgrave and Dryden, but with which, as it seems to me, for reasons there assigned, Lord Mulgrave could have nothing to do. As a farther proof of Dryden's sole authorship, I may here add, what I have since found, that the Addendum to the first volume of State Poems consists of one thus entitled: "In opposition to Mr. Dryden's Essay on Satyr," treating it as only his: it begins,

It sounds drolly, in our day, to hear Dryden called "the reformer of the court and stage," especially recollecting the attack upon him made just afterwards by Jeremy Collier. Then, what are we to say to the subsequent lines, attributed to Prior, which advert to the cudgelling Dryden received in Rose Street for his attack upon Rochester. Prior calls his own production A Satire on the Modern Translators, where he thus speaks of Dryden under his name of Bayes:—

All the contemporary evidence, with which I am acquainted, tends to establish that Lord Mulgrave, instead of being the author of a satire which Dryden improved and polished, had nothing in the world to do with it. Is there any evidence, not contemporary, which shows the contrary? Surely this, and the two other matters to which I have above adverted, are interesting literary Queries.

Now to a subject that I care less about, and upon which I am entitled, from his published works, to appeal to your correspondent, Mr. S. W. Singer. It is a mere trifle, but upon a curious point—the history of playing cards, which may, however, attract more attention than topics that relate only to such insignificant men as Thomas Gray and John Dryden.

I have before me only four, out of what I presume originally consisted of fifty-two playing cards, unlike any I have hitherto heard of. Each of them illustrates a proverb, which is engraved at the bottom of a pictorial representation of figures and objects, and the cards consist of the ten of diamonds, the ace of hearts, the seven of hearts, and the eight of spades: the number is in Roman figures at the left-hand corner, and the subject, a diamond, heart, and spade, at the right-hand corner. I will briefly describe them separately.

The proverb illustrated by the ten of diamonds is "Hee's in an ill case y^t can finde no hole to creepe out at;" and the engraving (upon copper) represents two men, with grey heads and in black gowns, in the pillory, surrounded by soldiers armed with halberds, partisans, spears, &c., of various shapes, and by a crowd of men in dresses of the seventeenth century. The ace of hearts illustrates the proverb "Look before you leap;" a man in a hat turned up at the sides is about to leap from a high bank into the waters, wherein two others are already swimming: in the background is a fifth man looking over the fence of a cottage. The seven of hearts has engraved at the bottom of it, "Patience on force is a medicine for a mad horse;" and it represents the female keeper of a brothel receiving whip-castigation at a cart's tail, a punishment frequently inflicted of old upon women of that description, as many authors testify: soldiers with halberds, &c., as before, march on either side of the cart, which at the moment is passing a house with the sign of the Half-moon hanging out from the wall by ornamented iron-work. The eight of spades is upon the proverb, "Two of a trade can never agree;" and in the engraving, a couple of fish-wives, who have thrown down their baskets of plaise, flounders, &c., are fighting furiously, while a man, behind, is obviously running away with something he has stolen from them: the background consists of gable-ended houses, part of a street.

These cards came to me from an old relative, who very likely once had the whole pack, or deck, as it was formerly called; but I never could find more than these four, and I have been unable to meet with, or hear of, any others like them. From the costume and other circumstances, I am inclined to think that they belong to the period of the Civil War, or rather later; and I remember, some years ago, to have been shown twenty or thirty cards of the latter end of the seventeenth century, founded upon public events, one of them relating to the celebrated "Virgins of Taunton Dean," another to the Death of Monmouth, &c. I shall be personally obliged by any information respecting the cards I have described; and, since a distinct Query may be desirable, I beg leave to ask any of your readers, whether they know of the existence of any other cards belonging to the same set?

The Hermit of Holyport.