226
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. xi. MAR. 20, im
cently in English books, viz., the Russian
surname Rumianzoff and the Bulgarian
Zankoff, in both of which the z was meant
to have the German value of tz.
JAS. PLATT, Jun.
FIRST OF MARCH: SWEEP " FLEES" AWAY. This proverb may be associated with " spring-cleaning " or not, but womenfolk .are in the habit of saying to each other on the last day of February, " Its 1st of March to-morrow : get up in good time and sweep ' flees ' away." Whether they mean fleas or flies does not appear, because many call the ordinary house-flies " flees " ; so it may mean either of the pests.
THOS. RATOLIJTE.
Worksop.
" CARE, VALE ! SED NON STERNUM, CARE, VALETO ! "Nearly seven years ago ASTARTE inquired (9 S. x. 48) for the author of this line, but met with no success.
It is the first of an elegiac quatrain on William Northcot, son of William and Mary Northcot (ob. 7 April, 1780, set. 10) : Care, vale ! sed non seternum, care, valeto !
Namque iterum tecum, sim modo dignus, ero. Turn nihil amplexus poterit divellere nostros,
Nee tu marcesces, nee lacrymabor ego.
The child's epitaph, consisting of eight lines of Latin in prose, followed by these verses, is contained in a letter of Cowper to the Rev. William Unwin (2 July, 1780), first printed in Hay ley's ' Life and Letters ol William Cowper' (1803). See vol. i. p. 178 of Grimshawe's edition of Cowper (vol. iv. p. 25 of Southey's). The full epitaph, with Cowper's translation of the verses, which he had given in his letter, is further to be found among his poems*(Grimshawe, viii. 417 Southey, x. 98 ; Benham's " Globe " edition
- 328).
It was written in its original form by Unwin, sent by him for Cowper's opinion &nd returned by the latter with alterations and criticisms. If one may judge by what Cowper says in his letter, the second penta- meter has had the benefit of his touch while in the sixth line of the prose, which now reads,
Qui floris ritu succisus est semihiantis, semihians has been substituted for immaturus to which Cowper objects that it is rather applicable to fruits than flowers.
A note in Grimshawe's edition (i. 179 points out that these lines bear a strong resemblance to Bishop Lowth's epitaph on his daughter, beginning " Car a, Maria vale."
Benham's note (p. 524) is inadequate,
le contents himself with ascribing the lines
o Unwin, and makes no mention of Cowper's
laving had a hand in them.
The poet's rendering is : farewell ! " But not for ever," Hope replies, Trace but his steps, and meet him in the skies ! There nothing shall renew our parting pain, Dhou shalt not wither, nor I weep again.
EDWARD BENSLY. University College, Aberystwyth.
DAYLIGHT-SAVING. This was anticipated >y Shakespeare :
Petruc. It shall be what o'clock I say it is. Hortensio. Why, so this gallant will command he sun ! ' Taming of the Shrew,' IV. iii.
W. C. B.
VAGRANCY : ITS SUPPRESSION. The fol- lowing notice, given by the Justices of Kesteven in the nineteenth century, may be worthy of preservation in ' N. & Q.,' and may perhaps be useful in this the twentieth century. The board containing it hangs in the basement of the Sessions House at Sleaford. It is as follows : VAGRANCY.
The parts of Kesteven, In the County of Lincoln. Whereas great numbers of idle and dissolute vagrants, who wander from place to place, spreading infectious disorders, and, under appearances and pretences of distress, practicing every sort of imposition, have of late so much increased, as to render it imperative that the remedies provided by Law, should be strictly enforced ;
The Magistrates of this Division
Therefore Give Notice
That they have resolved to inforce the powers vested in them by Law, for suppressing Vagrancy, and have given peremptory charge to Chief Constables, Petty Constables, and other Peace officers, to apprehend and bring before them all Vagrants found within these Parts, that they may be dealt with and punished as the Law directs.
Any person may, without warrant or the aid of a Constable, apprehend Vagrants, and deliver them to a Constable, or take them before a Magis- trate.
Constables and other Peace officers wilfully neglecting their duty, in apprehending Vagrants, or refusing to receive them when apprehended by others, are subject, on conviction before a Justice of the Peace, to a Penalty of 51. for each offence.
The Magistrates earnestly request that the inhabitants will further their object, by abstaining from indiscriminate alms and gratuities to wan- dering beggars. By Order, W. FORBES,
Clerk of the Peace.
Sleaford, 20th Feb., 1832.
G. S. B.
