Sometimes I meet them like a man, Sometimes an ox, sometimes an hound, And to a horse I turn me can, To trip and trot about them round; My back they stride, I eat their cates and sip their wine: I sneeze and snort, And out the candles I do blow, They shriek whose this? I answer nought but Ho, ho, ho! Yet now and then, the maids to please, I card at midnight up their wool, And while they sleep, and snort, and feaze, With wheel to threads, their flax I pull; I grind at mill, Their malt up still, I dress their hemp, I spin their tow; If any wake, And would me take, And wend us laughing Ho, ho, ho! The hags and goblins do me know, My feats have told, So Vale, Vale, Ho, ho, ho! London, printed for H. G. H. G. are doubtless the initials of Henry Gosson whose imprint to several early ballads, intimate his dwelling upon London Bridge, nere the Gate," the end next to Southwark. DEER-STEALING.-The assertion of Shakespeare's propensity to steal deer, is possibly, after all, nothing more than a detractive fiction. Rainoldes, in his Ouerthrow of Stage Playes, 1599, notices, Time of recreation is necessary, I grant, for schollars, yet in my opinion it were not fit for them to steale deere, or rob orchards.' LADIES' BUSTLES are of Persian origin. Nott, in his Notes on the Odes of Hafiz, defines this "refaight" as a kind of bolster, which the Persian ladies fix to the under-garment, to produce a certain roundness, thought by them to be highly becoming. F.S.A.-The Antinous ? gilded bronze statue, was proffered by the Woodburns to the British Museum Trustees, for one thousand pounds, but, as stated was rejected. Since the decease of Samuel Woodburn, M. Longperier, came to London, offered five hundred pounds, and thus obtained it of the Executors. WILLIS'S CURRENT NOTES: A SERIES OF ARTICLES ON Antiquities, Biography, Beraldry, Bistory, Languages, Literature, Natural Bistory, 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. * Indicates that woodcuts illustrate those Articles. Abernethy's tongue restraint, 81. American Copyright Memorial, 57. Angelo's Damned Soul? reply, 34, Bewick's Chillingham Bull, 2, 11. Butler's Hudibras, 48, 61, 74, 94. Cards in Fifteenth Century, 42. Charles I., Icon Basilicon, 28, 33. Chess, in fifteenth century, 42. Christ's Hospital petition, 40. Chronograms, 15. Church bell inscriptions, 31. Claude's Judgment of Paris? 98. Closing of Churchyards, 94. Dining with Duke Humphrey? reply,11. Dorchester church, 52. Edward I., Coronation oath, 33. England's Kinges and Governors, 11. Fontenelle's opinion of Mahomet, 4. Graves bedecked with Roses, 59. Gravesend Ducking-stool, 9. Grey, Lady Jane, 6. Gustavus Adolphus's retort, 79. Handel Statue, 60. Harleston Ducking-stool, 30. History, its uncertainties, 73. Hydrophobia Cures, 2, 27. Hymnus Melitensium Vespertinus, 2. Intellectual Coincidence, 101. Ipswich ducking-stool, 9. Isabella colour? reply, 35. Jack the Giant-Killer, 41, 50. Jest, whence derived? replies, 41, 64 Johnson's Dictionary, Suppl. to, 28. Jonson, Ben, 22, 35. Juggernauth car, 32. Juvenal, translated by Johnson, 90. Kenney's daughters' pension, 67. Kilclief Castle, 54. Kingston ducking-stool, 9. Leicestershire poetical signs, 75. Library advantages, 72. Licence for Sunday Sports, 85. Gray's Elegy, omitted verse, 59; Odes, Light and dark sides of God, 94. etc. 90. Great effects from little causes, 51. Great Men's descendants, 58. Lilly, prototype of Sydrophel, 48, Literary remuneration, 90. London Cries, 102. Long Hair, notes on, 76. Louis, Dauphin of France, 42. Margaret, Queen of Scotland, 55. Merit an obstacle, 21. Michaelmas Goose, 79. Milton's descendants, 58. Statue, Vauxhall Gardens, 51. Newton family particulars, 77, 78. Nicolas' widow's pension, 67. Banks, Tho. Christopher, 92. Nixon, Samuel; sculptor, 68. Sowerby, George Brettingham, 68. Opera in France, 56. Oriel window explained, 83. Paltock's Peter Wilkins, 90. Percy's Oh Nanny! 64. Copy-right of Reliques, 91. Pharmaceutical, 59, 64, 72. Phoenician Tavern sign? 73. Pickering, William, 43. Pindar's (Dr. Wolcot) Annuity, 92. Untranslatable pun, 73. Quebec Parliament house destroyed, 14. Uncle Sam, 68. Ridley's descendants, 58. *Roman pavement, Dorchester, 73. Semel insanivimus omnes? reply, 35. Shakespeare and Greyhound, 87. Simple Ideas, 63. Sinope sixty years since, 54. Upcott's Living Authors, 88. Vabalathus? replies, 32, 37, 49, 70. Verimdr? 32; replies, 37, 49, 70. Vaillant's mishap at sea, 23. by Dr. Lister, 70. Vane's attainder, 33. Varieties of Literature, 92. Visited Vatican, decaying splendour, 72. Veritas Temporis Filia? 104. Bell-rock Light-house, 88. To a Violet, 67. Man's Life an Hour-Glasse, 52. Waller's Calender, 30. Warton's History of English Poetry, Warwickshire, Sign-boards, 75. Webster's 11 Penseroso, 44. Skelton the poet, 17. Doubtful por- Worlidge's Gems, 45. trait, 103. Somersetshire Sign-boards, 13, 20, 31. Wren on eagle's wing? reply, 98. Ximenes, Polyglot Manuscripts, 51,66. 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 Aberbrothoc. P. 99, col. 2, line 28, for William the Norman, read William the Lion. |