252
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. n. SEPT. 24,
graph y, and the point has been settled. In
dealing with rivers one considers rivers, not
the travellers thereon ; and, manifestly, the
source being in existence before the mouth,
the point of view is taken from the source.
With one's back up-stream, left is left, and
right is right. An awkward question might
be put as to the flow of the water at the
mouths of tidal rivers. When the tide is
flowing the course of the water is up the
river. But here again it is a question of river,
not of sea ; and the maxim de minimis, as
applied to length affected, applies. Why
should old and known rivers follow the lead
of new ? ARTHUR MAY ALL.
IMPROVEMENTS IN HIGH HOLBORN (9 th S. ii. 182). I have not had an opportunity of see- ing the tablet which, according to MR. R. CLARK, has been lately placed in the centre of Lincoln's Inn Fields ; but I have too much respect for the London County Council to think that that body, in the erection of a public monument, should have perpetuated an historical error. In 1683 there was no such person as Lord William Russell. The name and style of the martyr to Progressive principles, whose memory the Council has delighted to honour, was William, Lord Russell.
MR. CLARK is, however, correct in point- ing out that Holborn Bars is a locality with which memories of the greatest interest are associated. It is one of the oldest sites in London. In digging the foundations of the Birkbeck Bank a few years ago, the workmen came upon two earthen jars full of calcined bones, which are supposed to have lain un- disturbed for eighteen centuries.* We know almost nothing of the Vetus Templum which for many years occupied the space on which Southampton House was subsequently built. Whether this house was, as MR. CLARK asserts, the home of Shakespeare's mysterious friend " Mr. W. H. " is an undetermined point. Another question of some interest is con- nected with Wolsey's residence in Chancery Lane, on which I contributed last year some memoranda to the Middlesex and Herts Notes and Queries, iii. 29. Readers of ' N. & Q.' may be referred to 2 nd S. xii. 1, 81. Some light might be thrown on this question if evidence were discovered that Wolsey, when Bishop of Lincoln, ever resided in the inn belonging to that see, and if the circumstances under which the house was granted to the Wriothesley family were ascertained.
W. F. PRIDEAUX.
45, Pall Mall, S.W.
- Middlesex and Herts Note* and Queries, i. 36.
" HOYLE " IN ARCHERY (9 th S. ii. 209). DR.
MURRAY will find an explanation of this word
in a note which I contributed to 'N. & Q.,' 8 th S.
xi. 167. Perhaps I may repeat my query, to
which no answer has been given, whether the
word still survives in the North Country.
PERCY SIMPSON.
THE KENNET (9 th S. ii. 148).
The Kennet swift, for silver eels renown'd ;
The Loddon slow, with verdant alders crown'd.
- * * *
And sullen Mole that hides his diving flood ; And silent Darent, stain'd with Danish blood.
Pope, ' Windsor Forest,' 1. 339. Cf. Milton's
Or sullen Mole, that runneth underneath ; Or Severn swift, guilty of maiden's death.
' Vacation Exercise,' 1. 95.
CHAS. GILLMAN. Salisbury.
[Many replies are acknowledged.]
REMEMBRANCE OF PAST JOY IN TIME OF SORROW (9 th S. i. 123, 251, 414, 493). Where or when did I quote this thought " with high commendation " ? It is so natural that there is nothing more in it to commend than in the expression of other obvious truths. Something like it may be found in many ancient writers ; and I agree with the corre- spondent who says that the thought, or the germ of it, is in Lam. i. 7, and also in Psalm cxxxvii., " By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion."
Luther, pompous old Dr. Blimber's wife, and other great people much admired Cicero, but Montaigne found even him prosy and tedious with his prefaces, definitions, &c. He says ('Essays,' 1613, p. 229) :
"If I bestow but one hour in reading him, and let me call to mind what substance or juice I have drawn from him, for the most part I find nothing but wind and ostentation [exactly the right words, " wind and ostentation "1 : for he is not yet come to the arguments which make for his purpose, and reasons that properly concern the knot or pith I seek after."
A capital criticism, in which Montaigne re- fused to be led by the nose by so-called " authorities "; but I am not aware that he was ever held up to scorn and contempt for it.
Gibbon compared Boethius to Cicero, it is true, but his was only qualified praise. "It was a remarkable book for the times and cir- cumstances." So much may be allowed. But Boethius has no message for us in these days. He is a curiosity, and may do for men of out-of-the-way tastes and abundance of leisure to dream over, and for pedants to use as a stalking-horse to air their profitless learning upon, but for most of us he is but
