There is some reason to believe that Sir David Brewster and Prof. S. P. Rigaud were familiar with a manuscript record of the birth of Dr. Edmond Halley's children. Each makes a statement which is more specific than has so far been discovered in any other printed authority. An examination of the Rigaud papers in the Bodleian Library, made for the writer, did not reveal any such data.
"He had several children, both sons and daughters, some of whom died in infancy"
(Sir D. Brewster in ' Imperial Diet, of Univ. Biog.,'ii. 788, n.d.).
"In 1682 he married, and soon had a family rising round him" ('Hist. Essay on Newton's " Principia," ' S. P. Rigaud, p. 36, Oxford, 1838).
" Several other children, who died in their infancy" ('Biog. Brit,' iv. 2517, London, 1757).
"II avoit eu de son mariage un fils & deux filles; le fils est mort long-temps avant lui, les filles vivent encore, 1'une dans le celibat, 1'autre mariee pour la seconde fois, & toutes deux fort estimees" ('Eloge de M. Halley,' 'Memoires de P Academic des Sciences,' Paris, 1742, * Histoire,' p. 188).
Small collections of ' Notes on Dr. Edmond Halley,' comprising magazines, pamphlets, photographic facsimiles of documents, &c., nave respectively been deposited in libraries named below:
Bodleian Library, Oxford, 28 May, 1903.
British Museum, London, 13 June, 1903.
Chicago Public Library, Chicago, Accession No. 209,179.
John Crerar Library, Chicago, 1 May, 1903.
These collections of 'Notes' are not identical i.e., portions of each are not contained in another; yet there is no conflict of statement.
Corrections: 'N. & Q.,' 9th S. xi., p. 85, col. 2, 1. 6 from bottom, for "1902" read 1903. Ibid., p. 366, col. 1, 1. 3 from bottom, for "Bazamville" read Bazanville.
EUGENE FAIRFIELD McPiKE.
1, Park Row, Room 600, Chicago, U.S.
Roscommon and Pope. In his 'Autobiography,' chap, xvii., William Bell Scott says that he found this inscription on one of the window-panes in the ancient vicarage of St. John's Lea, near Hexham:—
For want of modesty is want of sense.
He explains that this was one of several quotations written on the glass, and that in each case the execution displayed "a crisp fine hand contemporary with the poet quoted." This is very interesting, but its value is somewhat discounted by the autobiography's further remarks. He attributes the couplet to Pope (who, of course, says much about sense here and there), and he accuses the "bard of Twickenham," as he calls him, of singularly inconsequent reasoning, seeing that he here "suggests an excuse while he is telling us the fault admits of none." Scott's editor, the late Prof. Minto, seems to have been satisfied with the passage, as he leaves it untouched; but surely, whatever be its logical quality, it is a misquotation from the Earl of Roscommon's 'Essay on Translated Verse.' If one may trust a reprint, this is the correct reading of the couplet:—
For want of decency is want of sense.
Roscommon, though not illustrating high poetic quality in his work, must be credited with dexterous management of the heroic couplet before Pope was born. Presumably he acted on his own advice to translators and wrote "with painful care, but seeming easiness."
Rabbits and Rheumatism. The following is from the Globe of 6 August:
" In the course of an inquest at Spitalfields yesterday it was stated that the deceased had lived and slept in one room in which several rabbits were running about, her husband having been told that 'live rabbits were a good cure for rheumatism.' This rivals some of the superstitions that are still prevalent in Cornwall, where many of the villagers firmly believe that the way to cure whooping-cough is to tie a hairy caterpillar in a muslin bag to the chest of the patient. When the caterpillar dies, the cough is supposed to leave the sufferer."
JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.
"CLAMEUR DEHARO": " CRIER HARO." In the Intermediaire for 10 December, 1902, there is an article by Capitaine Paimblant du Rouil on the old Norman practice of crying haro. The article contains a passage which may possibly be of interest to antiquarian readers of 'N. & Q. J The captain says:
"This custom, without effect now in Normandy, where the refere takes its place, has still the force of law in the Anglo-Norman islands. In 1872 a financier of a parish in Jersey considered himself injured by the opening of a public road across his property. Having repaired to the place concerned, he knelt down, and, with crossed arms, cried out: l Ah! A'ollon, mon due et mon prince, on me fait violence! je demande justice: Haro! Haro! Haro! ' At this cry the navvies, ceasing all work, laid down their tools. The constable of the parish, being warned, ran to Saint -Holier to fetch the members of the court, and, soon after, sixteen magistrates arrived with the bailli and the procureur-gdneral. The tenancier had put all justice in precipitate movement."
