12 S. 1. APRIL 22, 1916.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
337
Tather in token of the grateful recollections of a
revered pastor by his bereaved and mourning
congregation, than as a tribute suitable to the
worth of one the imperishable monuments of
whose labours are the names written in Heaven,
-of the multitudes led to God by his long and
faithful ministry. His mortal remains were
interred in Surrey Chapel on the 19th day of
April, A.D. 1833.
He was born on the 23rd of August, 1744, and died on the llth of April, 1833.
Re-interred here April 14th, 1881.
The last line has, of course, been added to the original inscription.
JOHN T. PAGE. Long Itchington, Warwickshire.
GEORGE KNIGHT, ARTIST (12 S. i. 227). I should like to ask whether this is one of the three sons named George Knight of James Forster Knight, Esq., The Manor House, Blandford, co. Dorset : the dates of their birth were July 8, 1749, Feb. 10, 1753, -and April 1, 1756. As so many members of the family were painters of pictures, I think -the said George Knight may be one of these three, though I lack any confirmation of the conjecture, and should like to know what became of the three George Knights, and whether any of them married and left de- scendants. " FRANCIS KNIGHT.
I bought two unframed marine views by this painter from a picture - dealer in Southampton Row in 1890. I understood that he was then still busy with his brush. 'The shop, I believe, still exists.
L. L. K.
GUNFIRE AND RAIN (12 S. i. 10, 56, 96, 170). The following passage reveals early theorizing on the subject. It is derived from pp. 164-6 of
A Rational Account
of the Weather.
By John Pointer, M.A.
Rector of Slapton, in the
County of Northampton, and
Diocese of Peterborough.
London :
Printed for Aaron Ward, at the King 8 Arms in Little-Britain. MDCCXXXVIII.
" Whatever might be the Cause of Great Rains in former Ages I shall not pretend to determine, but since the Invention and Firing of so much Gun-powder, in Times of War, (of which we have had the Experience in this last Age more than ever) I cannot but think that the Elements are much alter'd, and that we have had Greater Rains of la te years than ever were known in former Ages ; and therefore I cannot but attribute these 'Great Rains to the vast Quantities of Sulphur and Nitre occasion'd by the continual explosions of -such prodigious Quantities of Gun-powder in "Time of War. For these great Quantities of
Sulphur and Nitre arising from the Explosion
of Gun-powder (besides the ordinary Quantities of
Sulphur and Nitre arising from the Exhalations
out of the Pores of the Earth, together with the
constant Vapours arising from the Seas and
Rivers) do naturally produce great Rains of them-
selves, or else Thunder a.nd Lightning continually
attended with Great Rains, and that not only
immediately but for several Da.ys and Weeks
after. Which plainly shews there is a natural
Disposition in Sxilphur and Nitre to produce
Rain, and any one knows that Sulphur and
Nitre are dissoluble in Water, and when they are
embodied in a Watry Cloud ; or however, it is a
Matter of Fact that Rain is the constant Concomi-
tant of Thunder and Lightning which are caus'd
by Sulphur and Nitre. We may call to mind
(some of us) that Great Rains were in the Time
of the late Civil Wars. We may easily remember
the continual Wet Years we had during the late
twelve Years Campaign in Flanders, besides those
occasion'd by Wars likewise in several other Partn
of the World at the same time. We may still
more easily remember the Wet Summers during
the late Wars in Poland and Italy, &c., when at
one single Siege there were at least 5,000 Bombs
fir'd off, many of them 500 Ib. Weight, and 10 Ib.
of Powder generally used in firing off each single
Bomb. The great Quantities of Powder exploded
in the aforesaid Wars must needs surely alter the
Elements and be the Occasion of more than
ordinary Rains. For nothing can be the material
Cause of Rain but Sulphur and Nitre, and the
more the Clouds are supply'd with this Matter,
the more the Earth will be supply'd with it.
and consequently by a reciprocal Motion of
Ascension and Descension we may (I think)
reasonably account for the unusual Temperature
of the .Air, and the Unseasonableness of the
Weather."
ARDEA.
SARUM MISSAL : HYMN (12 S. i. 229, 296). The three lines quoted are taken from Adam of St. Victor's noble Sequence for Easter. They are translated by Dr. J. M. Neale :
David after madness feigned, Scapegoat, now no more detained, Ritual sparrow, all go free.
They are taken as types of the Resurrection (' Mediaeval Hymns and Sequences,' 3rd ed. p. 120).
Archbishop Trench, ' Sacred Latin Poetry,' 3rd ed., p. 170, annotates :
" Arreptiliusss Arreptvis furore. The word occurs in Augustine, ' De Civ. Dei,' ii. 4 The allusion is to 1 Sam. xxi. 14, where, instead of the ' Vidistis hominem insanum?' of the Vulgate, an older Latin version must have had arreptiiium, as IP plain from Augustine, ' Enarr. I a in Ps. xxxiii..' where he expounds at length the mystery of David's sup- posed madness, and of the prophecy which was herein of Christ, of whom the people said, ' He is mad, and hath a devil. \..E/t passer. The allusion is not to Psalm xi. 1, but to Lev. xiv. 49-53."
C. S. TAYLOR.
Banwell.
