Sometimes I meet them like a man,

To them that they had wronged so :
Sometimes an ox, sometimes an hound,

When I have done
And to a horse I turn me can,

I get me gone,
To trip and trot about them round;

And leave them scolding, Ho, ho, ho !
But if to ride,

When men do traps and engines set
My back they stride,

In loop holes where the vermin creep,
More swift than wind away I go,

That from their folds and houses get
O’er hedge and lands,

Their ducks and geese, their lambs and sheep ;
Through pools and ponds,

I spy the gin
I wbirry, laughing Ho, ho, ho !

And enter in
When Lads and Lasses merry be,

And seem a vermin taken so;
With possets and with junkets fine,

But when they there
Unseen of all the company,

Approach me near,
I eat their cates and sip their wine :

I leap out laughing Ho, ho, ho !
And to make sport,

By wells and gils in meadows green,
I sneeze and snort,

We nightly dance our heyday guise,
And out the candles I do blow,

And to our Fairy King and Queen,
The maids I kiss,

We chant our moonlight harmonies ;
They shriek whose this ?

When larks 'gin sing
I answer nought but Ho, ho, ho !

Away we fling,
Yet now and then, the maids to please,

And babes new born steal as we go;
I card at midnight up their wool,

An elf in bed
And wbile they sleep, and snort, and feaze,

We leave instead,
With wheel to threads, their flax l pull;

And wend us laughing Ho, ho, ho !
I grind at mill,

From hag-bred Merlin's time have I,
Their malt up still,

Thus nightly revell’d to and fro;
I dress their hemp, I spin their tow;

And for my pranks men call me by
If any wake,

The name of Robin Good-fellow;
And would me take,

Fiends, ghosts and sprites
I wend me laughing Ho, ho, ho !

That haunt the nights,
When House or Heath doth sluttish lie,

The hags and goblins do me know,
I pinch the maids there black and blue

And beldames old
And from the bed the bed clothes I

My feats have told,
Pull off and lay them then to view,

So Vale, Vale, Ho, ho, ho !
Twixt sleep and wake,

London, printed for H. G.
I do them take,
And on the key cold floor them throw,

H. G. are doubtless the initials of Henry Gosson
If out they cry

whose imprint to several early ballads, intimate his Then forth I fly,

“ dwelling upon London Bridge, nere the Gate,” the And loudly laugh I, Ho, ho, bo !

end next to Southwark. When any need to borrow aught We lend them what they do require,

DEER-STEALING.—The assertion of Shakespeare's And for the use demand we nought,

propensity to steal deer, is possibly, after all, nothing Our own is all we do desire;

more than a detractive fiction. Rainoldes, in his OuerIf to repay,

throw of Stage Playes, 1599, notices, .Time of recreaThey do delay,

tion is necessary, I grant, for schollars, yet in my Abroad amongst them, then I go;

opinion it were not fit for them to steale deere, or rob And night by night

orchards.'
I them affright,
With pinching dreams, and Ho, ho, ho !

LADIES' BUSTLES are of Persian origin. Nott, in his When lazy Queans have nought to do,

Notes on the Odes of Hafiz, defines this “refaight” as

a kind of bolster, which the Persian ladies fix to the But study how to cog and lie, To make debate and mischief too

finder-garment, to produce a certain roundness, thought Twixt one another secretly.

by them to be highly becoming.
I mark their glose
And do disclose,

F.S.A.- The Antinous ? gilded bronze statue, was

proffered by the Woodburns to the British Museum * Query, clay cold? Bp. Percy, in his version, from a Trustees, for one thousand pounds, but, as stated was black letter copy in the Museum, printed in the Reliques, rejected. Since the decease of Samuel Woodburn, edit. 1775, vol. iii. pp. 203-207, retains the same reading M. Longperier, came to London, offered five hundred as “key-cold."

pounds, and thus obtained it of the Executors.

WILLIS'S

CURRENT NOTES:

A SERIES OF ARTICLES

ON

Antiquities, Biography, Beraldry, Bistory, Languages,

Literature, Natural History, Curious Customs, Kr.

SELECTED FROM

ORIGINAL LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS

ADDRESSED DURING THE YEAR

1854,

TO THE PUBLISHER,

G. WILLIS,

GREAT PIAZZA, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON.

MDCCCLV.

INDEX TO THE FOURTH VOLUME.

* Indicates that woodcuts illustrate those Articles.

Abernethy's tongue restraint, 8).
Album verses, 88.
American Copyright Memorial, 57.
André's exhumation, 67.

Angelo's Damned Soul ? reply, 34,
| Ant, a provider ? reply, 36.
Apollo Statue ? reply, 4.
Arch-Treasurer ? reply, 103.
Argyle Library ? replies, 60, 66.
Arne's compositions, 15.
| Arnold of Brescia ? 12.
Ausonius' epigram, 68.
Aut C[æ]sar aut Nullas, 28.
Awakening mallet, 31, 34.
Baltimore family, 3.
Barclay of Urie, 86, 93.
Bardwell inscription, 51.
Barrier Treaty ? reply, 4.
Barristers' costume, 94.
Baxter, Richard, 66.
Beard in the pulpit, 23.
Bear wants a Tail! 16.
Bells, Dorchester, 102.
Bellman's chant, 56.
Bewick's Chillingham Bull, 2, 11.
Biblical variations, 34.
*Bindon Abbey slab, 35.
Border Hospitality, 71.
Bossuet's exhumation, 101.
Bowdich's widow's pension, 67.
Boyce, Scottish historian, 98, 100.
Braitbwaite's Whimsies, 18.
* Branks or Scold's bridle, 37, 40.
Brussels' Gazette, 74.
Burger's Leonora ? 3.
Burial fees remitted, 24,
Burke's copyrights, 90.
Burns' six belles, 10.
Butler's Hudibras, 48, 61, 74, 94.
Byron's Curse of Minerva, 4.
Ca Ira, its origin, 76.
Cards in Fifteenth Century, 42.
Carolan's verses, 41.
Carpet words, 32, 44, 52.
Carrickfergus' ducking-stool, 30.
Cervantes' birth place, 51.
Charles I., Icon Basilicon, 28, 33.
Charter house, 34.
Cherry ripe! 102.
Chess, in tifteenth century, 42.
Chinese, prophecies respecting, 6.
Chinese, religious belief, 13.
Christ's nativity, 27.
Christmas-day, 19, 27.
Christmas Tree, 11, 32.
Christ's Hospital petition, 40.
Christina and singers, 32.

Chronograms, 15.

Grey, Lady Jane, 6.
Church bell inscriptions, 31.

Guizot, 28.
Churches, positions of? 37.

Gustavus Adolphus's retort, 79.
Cibber's Apology, 90.

Gwynne, Nell, 21.
Claude's Judgment of Paris ? 98. Hamlet's Grave, 19.
Clean shave, 58.

Handel Statue, 60.
Closing of Churchyards, 94,

Harleston Ducking-stool, 30.
Coffee-house civilities, 4.

| Harvey's Way to Heaven, 50.
Coleridge, inedited letters, 53, 54. Head's pension, 67.
Colman's perversion, 76.

Henry VII., 42.
*Coronet for scolds, 79.

Heraclea, discovery, 45.
Country Book-club, 80.

Herd's birth place, 89.
Cromwell's death, 51.

He that fights, etc. 61.
Cross and Crescent, 68.

Hewing blocks with razors, 19; re-
*Cucking-stools, 9, 21, 29, 30, 79. ply, 26.
David II., of Scotland, 55.

History, its uncertainties, 73.
Devil's Sonata, 24.

Hogg's Widow's pension, 67.
Dining with Duke Humphrey? reply,ll. Hot-pot ? with reply, 30.
Divining rod, 48.

Human figures, with wings ? 51.
Dodo, reply, 4.

Humphrey, Duke, 11.
Dog-killing, 88.

Hydrophobia Cures, 2, 27.
Dorchester church, 52.

Hymnus Melitensium Vespertinus, 2.
Dublin Traders' Token, 44.

Incentives to Readers, 16.
Ducking, see Cucking stool,

Innocent X., 60.
Dumb waiter query, 20.

Inoculation, 44.
Edward I., Coronation oath, 33. Intellectual Coincidence, 101.
Eikon Basilike, 28, 33.

Ipswich ducking-stool, 9.
Electric Telegraph, 3, 32, 45. | Ireland cuneiform slabs, 54.
Eleonora Rediviva, 18.

Irish Fix, 87.
England Europe's glory, 30.

Isabella colour ? reply, 35.
England's Kinges and Governors, 11.

Jack the Giant-Killer, 41, 50.
English Mercurie, 89n.

Jermyn of Rushbroke, 22.
Eotens, or Giants, 50.

Jest, whence derived ? replies, 41, 64
Erasmus and Luther, 72.

"Jewish disabilities, 12.
Escroquer ? 10, reply, 52,

Joan, Pope, 100.
Essex, Countess of, 24

Johnson's Dictionary, Suppl. to, 28.
Faussett Antiquities, 47, 60.

Jonson, Ben, 22, 35.
Fiery Flaming Roll, 94.

Juggernauth car, 32.
Firing of the Bird, 87.

Juvenal, translated by Johnson, 90.
Fontenelle's opinion of Mahomet, 4. Kennedy? 3, reply, il.
Founders' Company, 65.

Kenney's daughters' pension, 67.
Franklin's saying Ca Tra, 76.

Kerry Earldom ? 52,
Frederic the Great, 18.

Kilclief Castle, 54.
Gauden, Icon Basilikê, 33.

Kingston ducking-stool, 9.
Gazettes, their origin, 74.

Kitchener's Soirée hint, 76.
Giàour aggressions, 74.

Knox's descendants, 58.
Glass-window rhymes, 96.

Kotzebue's assassination, 36.
God save the King, 15.

Landon's verses, 63.
Golden Grave, 63.

Lawyers in Westminster, 50.
Golden Sickle? 13.

* Leicester ducking-chair, 29.
Goldsmith's copyrights, 91.

Leicestershire poetical signs, 75.
Graves bedecked with Roses, 59. Library advantages, 72.
Gravesend Ducking-stool, 9.

Licence for Sunday Sports, 85.
Gray's Elegy, omitted verse, 59; Odes, Light and dark sides of God, 94.
etc. 90.

Lilly, prototype of Sydrophel, 48,
Great effects from little causes, 51. Literary remuneration, 90.
Great Men's descendants, 58. | London Cries, 102.

Long Hair, notes on, 76.
Planchè, Rouge Croix, 13.

Sorbonne when built, 57.
Louis, Dauphin of France, 42.
Play of the Passion, 92.

Spanish Funeral customs, 48.
Luther, 72, His descendants, 58. Plymouth ducking-stool, 79.

Square of Twelve ? 22.
Mahomet “ horriblement beau !” 4. Poetical Queries answered, 102. Staffordshire. Poetical signs, 75.
Mahommedan gallantry, 72.

1 Poetical Sign-boards, 52, 60, 66, 75, Statutes ? reply, 4.
Manns epitaph, 34.

76, 86, 87, 95.

Sterne's Tristram Shandy copyright,
Manorial custom, 84.
Polyanthea, by Wilson, 93.

91. Dissection ? replies, 31, 34.
Manuscript Bible, 76.
Pompey Statue, at Rome, 60.

Sticks in Office, 66.
Manuscripts' spoliation, 52.
Pope and his editors, 97, 98.

Stonehenge, 6.
Margaret, Queen of Scotland, 55. Port Natal described, 81.

Stratford walnut tree, 72.
Mary, Queen of Scots, 14.
Post in France, 67.

Struldbrugg? replies, 30, 34.
Mary II., last hours, 25.
Praise of Tobacco, 88.

Suffolk ballad lore, 8.
Maryland Pattern Shilling, 3.
Pretender, 15, 16.

Sunday sports licence, 85.
Masquerade Divinity, 50.

Pricking in hat? 52, reply, 58. Swift's bappy quotations, 94, 102.
Mendizabal, 12.
Priestley, Richard, 68.

Loan Fund, 104.
Merit an obstacle, 21.
Prohibited Literature, 94.

Thrale's Entire ! 16.
Michaelmas Goose, 79.

Prynne. Introd. to Records, 80, epi. Tower Lions, 31.
Milton's descendants, 58. Statue, taph, etc. 80.

Turkish symbol, 50.
Vauxhall Gardens, 51.
| Puck, the ancient Pan, 47.

Turner's Cologne, 44.
Minute Calligrapby, 95, 104.
* Puttuck, or Pot-hook, 101.

Tythes paid by clergy, 72.
Molldavia (Moldavia) 20.
Pym's portrait, verses on, 96.

Tytler family, 66.
Montagu correspondence, 89.

Quebec Parliament house destroyed, 14. Uncle Sam, 68.
Montgomery's Lectures, 84.

Quo Fas et Gloria ducunt? 70. Untranslatable pun, 73.
Montrose kirk candlesticks, 85. Raleigh's descendants, 58.

Upcott's Living Authors, 88.
More's descendants, 58.

Raphael's loggie in Vatican, 71. Vabalathus ? replies, 32, 37, 49, 70.
Mundy, Anthony, 70.
Red-cap, Mother, 17, 18.

Vcrimdr ? 32 ; replies, 37, 49, 70.
Murray, epitaph, 83.
Reed, Isaac, 92.

Vaillant's mishap at sea, 23. Visited
Muscovite passport, 49.
Ridley's descendants, 58.

by Dr. Lister, 70.
Musgrave autographs, 52.

Robertson's Charles the Fifth, 4. Vane's attainder, 33.
Napier correspondence, 7.
Rock struck by Moses, 60.

Varieties of Literature, 92.
Napoleon the First, 104.
Roman Era defined, 69.

Vatican, decaying splendour, 72.
Neapolitan Inn-bill, 30.

*Roman pavement, Dorchester, 73. Vauxhall Gardens, 51.
Newton family particulars, 77, 78. Romeo and Juliet, 68.

Veritas Temporis Filia ? 104.
*Newton's House, 1.
Rooke, Admiral, 24.

Vernon ? reply, 21.
Nicolas' widow's pension, 67.
Roubillac, sculptor, 60.

Verses :
Nine days Wonder ? reply, 6.
Royal Furnishing, 87.

Bell-rock Light-bouse, 88.
*Norfolk ducking-stools, 21, 30. Rule Britannia, 15.

In Feline obitum, 42.
Norwegian Song, 22.
*Rumming, Elinour, 17.

Letitia's Charms, 41.
Numismata Hellenica, 20:
Rutland, Duchess of, 87.

On a Garden Seat, 87.
Numismatist's Vicissitudes, 23. Saladine Tenth, 72.

To a Violet, 67.
Obituary :
Schiller's house sale, 78, 92.

Man's Life an Hour-Glasse, 52.
Banks, Tho. Christopher, 92. Scold's bridle, see Branks.

Versus Cancrinus ? reply, 95.
Nixon, Samuel ; sculptor, 68. Scotland's Curse? reply, 10.

Voltaire's Niece, 102.
Sowerby, George Brettingham, 68. Scotland's Hills, 96, 100.

Waller's Calender, 30.
Opera in France, 56.

Scott (Sir Walter) Album verses, 88. Warner's long range, 83.
Oriel window explained, 83.

Inedited letters, 8, 71, Tally ho ! 7. Warton's History of English Poetry,
Overbury, Sir Thomas, 24.
Sebastopol, 80, 81.

95. Happy quotation, 94.
Oxtail Soup ? reply, 87.

Semel insanivimus omnes ? reply, 35. Watts' pension, 67.
Padua, Image of Virgin, 60.
Sending to Coventry, 88.

Warwickshire, Sigo-boards, 75.
Paley's lectures, 63.
Sforza, Isabella ? reply, 70.

Warwick crest, 16.
Paltock’s Peter Wilkins, 90.
*Shakespeare's Puck, 47.

Webster's Il Penseroso, 14.
Panmure Monuments, 100.

Shakespearean references, 35, 47, 51, Wesley's Plagiarisms, 90.
Parliamentary costume, 103.

62, 68, 72.

Whispering Court, 84.
Parochial Deposits, 101.

Shakespeare and Greyhound, 87. Whittington's stone, 42.
Patrick's Half-pence, 43.

Sign-boards, 13, 20, 31, 52, 60, 66, Willoughby, Dean, 52.
Pellico, Sylvio, 14.

75, 76.

Wilson, Professor, 25, 44.
Percy's Oh Nanny! 64. Copy-right Simple Ideas, 63.

Wives inimical to studies, 4.
of Reliques, 91.
Sinope sixty years since, 54.

Wolfe's descendants, 58.
Pharmaceutical, 59, 64, 72.

Skelton the poet, 17. Doubtful por- | Worlidge's Gems, 45.
Phænician Tavern sign? 73.

trait, 103.

Wren on eagle's wing? reply, 98.
Pickering, William, 43.

Somersetshire Sign-boards, 13, 20, 31. Ximenes, Polyglot Manuscripts, 51,66.
Pindar's (Dr. Wolcot) Annuity, 92. Songs of Degrees ? replies, 14, 19. Young's Night Thoughts, 90,

Errata.-P. 98, col. 2, line 3, for eloquence, read elegance. Ibid. line 4 from bottom, for Aberd. read Aberb, or
Aherbrothoc. P. 99, col. 2, line 28, for William the Norman, read William the Lion.