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قراءة كتاب Notes and Queries, Number 193, July 9, 1853 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc.

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Notes and Queries, Number 193, July 9, 1853
A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc.

Notes and Queries, Number 193, July 9, 1853 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc.

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دار النشر: Project Gutenberg
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"Extra fortunam est, quicquid donatur amicis;

Quas dederis, solas semper habebis opes."

The English is so much more terse and sententious, besides involving a much higher moral signification, that it may well be an original itself; but in that case, the verbal coincidence is striking enough.

J. S. Warden.

Latin Verses prefixed to Parish Registers.—On a fly-leaf in one of the registers of the parish of Hawsted, Suffolk, is the following note in the handwriting of the Rev. Sir John Cullum, the rector and historian of the parish:

"Many old register books begin with some Latin lines, expressive of their design. The two following, in that of St. Saviour's at Norwich, are as good as any I have met with:

'Janua, Baptismus; medio stat Tæda jugalis

Utroque es felix, mors pia si sequitur.'"

Can any of your correspondents contribute other examples?

Buriensis.

Napoleon's Bees (Vol. vii., p. 535.).—No one, I believe, having addressed you farther on the subject of the Napoleon Bees, the models of which are stated to have been found in the tomb of Childeric when opened in 1653, "of the purest gold, their wings being inlaid with a red stone, like a cornelian," I beg to mention that the small ornaments resembling bees found in the tomb of Childeric, were only what in French are called fleurons (supposed to have been attached to the harness of his war-horse). Handfuls of them were found when the tomb was opened at Tournay, and sent to Louis XIV. They were deposited on a green ground at Versailles.

Napoleon wishing to have some regal emblem more ancient than the fleur-de-lys, adopted the fleurons as bees, and the green ground as the original Merovingian colour.

This fact was related to me as unquestionable by Augustin Thierry, the celebrated historian, when I was last in Paris.

Wm. Ewart.

University Club.


Queries.

WAS THOMAS LORD LYTTELTON THE AUTHOR OF JUNIUS'S LETTERS?

In the Quarterly Review for 1852 (vol. xc. No. 179.) appeared a clever and speciously written article on the long debated question of the identity of Junius, in which the writer labours at great length to prove that Thomas, second Lord Lyttelton, who died in 1779, was the real substance of the shadow of Junius, hitherto sought in vain. That this Lord Lyttelton was fully competent to the task, I do not doubt; and that there are many points in his character which may well be reconciled with the knowledge we possess of the imaginary Junius, I also admit—but this is all. The author of the review has wholly failed, in my opinion, to prove his case and the remark he makes on Mr. Britton's theory (as to Col. Barré) may equally well apply to his own, namely, that it affords "a [another] curious instance of the delusion to which ingenious men may resign themselves, when they have a favourite opinion to uphold!" The reviewer, indeed, admits that he has "traced the parallel from the scantiest materials;" and in another passage repeats, that but "few materials exist for a sketch of Thomas Lyttelton's life." Of these materials used by the reviewer, the principal portion has been derived from the two volumes of letters published in 1780 and 1782, attributed to Lord Lyttelton, but the authorship of which has since been claimed for William Coombe. The reviewer argues, that they are "substantially genuine;" but evidence, it is believed, exists to the contrary.[1] According to Chalmers, these letters were "publicly disowned" by the executors of Lord Lyttelton; and this is confirmed by the notice in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1780, p. 138., shortly after the publication of the first volume. Putting aside, however, this moot-point (which, I trust, will be taken up by abler hands, as it bears greatly on the theory advanced by the author of the Review), I proceed to another and more conclusive line of argument. In the Preliminary Essay, prefixed to Woodfall's edition of Junius, 1812 (vol. i. p. *46.), the following statement is made in regard to that writer, the accuracy of which will scarcely be doubted:

"There is another point in the history of his life, during his appearance as a public writer, which must not be suffered to pass by without observation: and that is, that during a great part of this time, from January 1769 to January 1772, he uniformly resided in London, or its immediate vicinity, and that he never quitted his stated habitation for a longer period than a few weeks."

Now, do the known facts of Thomas Lyttelton's life correspond with this statement or not? The reviewer says, p. 115.:

"For a period of three years after Mr. Lyttelton lost his seat[2]that period during which Junius wrote his acknowledged compositions—we hardly find a trace of him in any of the contemporaneous letters or memoirs that have fallen under our observation."

But how is it, let me ask, that the author of the review has so studiously avoided all mention of one work, which would at once have furnished traces of Thomas Lyttelton at this very period? I allude to the volume of Poems by a Young Nobleman of distinguished Abilities, lately deceased, published by G. Kearsley: London, 1780, 4to. Does not this look much like the suppressio veri which follows close on the footsteps of the assertio falsi? It is hardly credible that the reviewer should not be acquainted with this book, for he refers to the lines spoken in 1765, at Stowe, in the character of Queen Mab, which form part of its contents; and the existence of the work is expressly pointed out by Chalmers, and noticed by Lowndes, Watt, and other bibliographers. Among the poems here published, are some which ought to have received a prominent notice from the author of the review, if he had fairly stated the case. These are:

1. Lines "to G——e Ed——d Ays——gh, Esq., [George Edward Ayscough, cousin to Thomas Lyttelton] from Venice, the 20th July, 1770."—P. 22.

2. "An Irregular Ode, wrote at Vicenza, in Italy, the 20th of August, 1770."—P. 29.

3. "On Mr. ——, at Venice, in J——, 1770."

4. "An Invitation to Mrs. A——a D——, wrote at Ghent in Flanders, the 23rd of March, 1769."—P. 41.

5. "An Extempore, by Lord Lyttelton, in Italy, anno 1770."—P. 48.

Admitting that these poems are genuine, it is evident that their author, Thomas Lyttelton, was abroad in Flanders and Italy during the years 1769 and 1770; and consequently could not have been the mysterious Junius, who in those years (particularly in 1769) was writing constantly in or near London to Woodfall and the Public Advertiser. Of what value then is the assertion so confidently made by the reviewer (p. 133.):

"The position of Thomas Lyttelton in the five years from 1767 to 1772, is exactly such a one as it is reasonable to suppose that Junius held during the period of his writings;"

or how can it be made to agree with the fact of his residence

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