. V.JUNE IB, im] NOTES AND QUERIES.
477
between two greyhounds current sable ;
quartering Sable, a chevron between three
mullets, whilst underneath is the following
inscription :
The Epitaph of Mr. Thomas Johnson. Good reader, if thou can'st but spare a tear, Pious devotion bids thee pay it here ; For the loss of him who[se] virtues yielded hope, Whilst in the blossome of a richer cup ; But envious death with hasty hand prevented Our early hopes, to H[eaven h]e 's transplanted. ^Etatis SUES 26 th A D 1 1657.
S. P.
SOMNER MERRYWEATHER. Who can give detailed information about F. Somner Merry- weather, a London bookseller, who wrote
- Bibliomania in the Middle Ages,' London,
1849, which Allibone calls "a good book"; 'Glimmerings in the Dark,' 1850 ; and ' Lives and Anecdotes of Misers,' 1850, from which Silas Wegg reads in 'Our Mutual Friend"? The ordinary sources of information yield nothing respecting him. D. M.
" INDICIBLE." The latest quotation for this word in the * H.E.D.' is dated 1685. It occurs again in Mr. Egerton Castle's delightful romance 'Young April' (p. 211). Does any other recent writer use it 1 The date of Mr. Castle's book is 1899. C. C. B.
THE VASE OF SOISSONS. This is mentioned by Gibbon in chap, xxxviii. of the ' Decline and Fall,' &c., 21, on ' Division of Lands by the Barbarians': "The memorable vase of Soissoris is a monument and a pledge of the regular distribution of the Gallic spoils." In no account of Soissons can I find a vase mentioned. E. L. G.
ROODS AND ROOD-LOFTS. Before the rood was re-erected in St. Paul's Cathedral in Mary's reign it is said to have been conse- crated with chrism by Bp. Bonner. Can any one give me details about the office used on that or like occasions, or, failing that, tell me where I can obtain the information ? I should also be glad to hear of any books treating generally of the subject of rood-lofts and the religious ceremonies associated with them. F. B.
[Consult 8 th S. v. 88, 149, 313 ; ix. 345 ; and General Indexes.]
EARLY EVENING NEWSPAPER. I shall be glad if any reader of 4 N. & Q.' will give me the date of the earliest evening newspaper (daily). In my collection of early volumes of London newspapers, in the volume for 1780, there are several issues of the " Noon Gazette and Daily Register, published at Twelve o'Clock, and contains all the actual news of
the Nine Morning Papers." The last number
in the volume is No. 21, Thursday, 23 Novem-
ber, 1780, price threepence. The publisher's
prospectus says :
"The plan of this Paper not being generally known, the Proprietors most respectfully take the Liberty of submitting the following Sketch of it to the perusal of the Public.
"The Noon Gazette will be regularly published every day at Twelve o'Clock, and will contain ALL the actual news of the Nine Morning Papers, cautiously and faithfully selected from them. Every Species of Misinformation and Untruth will be guarded against with the utmost care, and the Communication of real authenticated Intelligence only will ever be the grand Object of this Print.
" Besides the Advantage of having all the News of the Nine Morning Papers comprized in one, the Noon Gazette will contain a Postscript with every Article of important Intelligence that may arise on the Morning of its publication, so that as well as a universal Morning Paper, this Print will be found little, if at all, inferior to any Evening Publication.
" It has been objected to this Plan, that the hour of Publication is too late ; but when it is considered how few Persons there are in London who are de- sirous of reading a Newspaper before twelve o'Clock, this objection will be easily removed ; Persons of Fashion do not Breakfast earlier, and Merchants generally wait until they go to Change. But if it be true that the Public have heretofore been anxious of seeing the Morning Papers at nine or ten o'Clock, there cannot now be a doubt but they will suspend their curiosity for two or three hours, if they can depend upon having all the news of the day faithfully pointed out to them in one Paper, and at the expense only of threepence, rather than be at the trouble of reading nine, and at the ex- pense of two shillings and threepence in purchasing them ; especially when the Paper that is published at Noon will contain more Information considerably than all the Morning Papers can possibly have."
JOHN ROBINSON. Delaval House, Sunderland. [See 1 st S. viii. 57; xi. 285; and many later references.]
tgrti*s,
AN UNCLAIMED POEM BY BEN JONSON.
(9 th S. iv. 491 ; v. 34, 77, 230, 337.) I AM very pleased to learn that MR. SIMPSON is now persuaded that the poem on Prince Henry was written by Ben Jonson. As he undertook to prove my case, the presumption is that he has been convinced by his own argument. A la bonne heure ! I am not going to quarrel with his conclusion, which 1 certainly believe to be right, though I fail to see the point or relevancy of his quotation from Mr. Fleay's book, which he considers decisive as regards the authorship of the epigram. But there is no need of further discussion, to which we have both, perhaps, given too wide a r ange.
