Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 9.djvu/94

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

88


NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. ix. JAN. 31, 191*.


SWINBURNE AS POLYGLOT AUTHOR. Mr. Clement K. Shorter in ' Victorian Lite- rature ' says (p. 16) :

"Mr. Swinburne has written well in several languages other than his own " ;

and Sir W. Robertson Nicoll in ' A Book- man's Letters ' (p. 248) writes :

"YVhen Zola's ' L'Assommoir' was published in 1876 in the magazine La Republique des Left res, Swinburne announced that he had ceased to be a contributor."

1. Which are the " several languages " in which Swinburne wrote so " well " ? We know his fine Latin poems ' In Obitum Theophili Poetae ' and ' Ad Catullum,' to- gether with his charming French pieces ' Nocturne,' ' Theophile Gautier,' and ' Ode ' (' Le Tombeau de Theophile Gautier ') three (including English) languages certainly, but not " several."

2. What were the subjects on which Swinburne wrote in La Republique des Lettres, and were his contributions therein ever issued in book -form ?

J. B. MCGOVERN.

HENRY GOWER, BISHOP OF ST. DAVID'S (D. 1374). In the ' D.N.B.' it is stated that Henry Gower

"was sprung from a noble family (' Foedera,' ii. 747) settled probably in the English-speaking peninsula of Gower, not far from Swansea."

Is anything known of the " noble family " to which Gower belonged, and is there any evidence to support the theory that it had " probably settled in the Gower peninsula "? Is it known that persons bearing the name Gower resided there in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries ? Any information re- garding Henry Gower and his family will be welcome. R. VAUGHAN GOWER.

" You ROTTEN ARMINIAN " : MACAULAY. In a recent issue of The Liverpool Daily Post and Mercury the following lines were quoted :

Listen to this, all ye Arminians ; H ear what St. Paul says of your rotten opinions ; and a statement was repeated that they had appeared originally in an old Wesleyan hymn-book. In view of the Calvinistic sentiments expressed in the lines this seemed very doubtful, and the opinion of the Rev. Henry Bett, author of the ' Hymns of Methodism,' was sought : he declared that the lines never appeared in any Wes- leyan hymns.

Dr. William Permewon subsequently pointed out that, in Trevelyan's ' Life of Macaulay,' chap, xi., in a burlesque


examination paper in divinity set by Macau- lay for his niece, the following lines appear- Then read Paul's Epistles, You rotten Arminian ; You won't find a passage To support your opinion.

They are preceded by a stanza from ' The Vicar of Bray,' and followed by a verse from a song in ' The Quaker,' by Charles Dibdin. Are the lines a quotation or Macaulay 's= own composition ? E. S. B.

WHITING TON ARMS. The arms of the Whitingtons of Pauntley, Glos., said to be the descendants of " Dick Whittington," are given by Edmondson as follows : Gu.,. a fesse chequy, or and az ; in the dexter chief a fleur-de-lis arg. Crest, a lion'* head erased sable. Can any one inform me when these arms were granted, whether before or after the time of Dick Wbittington t There is a tradition that the Lord Mayor of London was not of poor parents, but belonged to a good family, and ran away from home.

S. H.

[In The Antiquary for January (reviewed in our columns last week), in an article by Mr. George Worley on the Church of St. Michael, Paternoster Royal, it is stated that on the death of his father (Sir William Whittington, of Pauntley, Glouces- tershire) young Whittington, then thirteen, came to London to push his fortunes, but whether he did so under precisely the romantic circumstances with which popular legend has invested his career i& extremely doubtful.]

ANTI-WESLEYANA. Three quarto poems- issued in 1778 lie before me. They were printed for J. Bew in Paternoster Row, and are entitled * Perfection : a Poetical Epistle. Calmly addressed to the greatest Hypocrite in England,' ' The Saints : a Satire,' and " Sketches for Tabernacle-Frames : a Poem by the author of The Saints, a Satire ' ; 'Per- fection,' &c., &c." The first and last men- tioned of these have frontispieces, ' The Saints' has a vignette only. The British Museum has only one of them, viz., 'Per- fection.' I am anxious to know who is the author of these anti-Wesley scurrilities.

J. H. R.

MORGAN FAMILY. Will any reader kindly inform me who are the representatives of the late Mr. George T. Clark, F.A.S., of Talygarn, the author of ' Limbus Patmm Morganise et Glamorganise ' ?

Can any information be given in reply to- my query concerning the Morgans of Tredegar at 10 S. xii. 267 ?

Please reply direct. G. A. MORGAN.

68, Ccldharbour Road, Bristol.