ii s. x. NOV. 28, i9i4.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
429
MR. ASQUITH AND THE ClTY OF LONDOJ
SCHOOL. Mr. Asquith is an old City o London Schoolboy, and in his speech at th Guildhall on the 9th inst. referred to th trepidation he felt when he received a priz from the then Lord Mayor. Is there anj record of boys educated at the School wh< have specially distinguished themselves?
LONDONER.
" YABDLAND." By a will made in Wilts dated 1638, two yardlands and a half wen left to the daughters. Can any reader le me know how many acres the yardlan represented ? It seems to have varied in size according to the county. W. H. S.
MOYLE WILLS. In what court shall I fine the following wills ? (1) Richard Moyle o Bake, St. Germans, Cornwall, will datet 4 April, 1525, proved 5 April, 1532. (2) John Moyle of the same place, died 28 Sept., 1586 (3) John Moyle, same place, buried 17 Oct. 1661.
XAPTHINE SURNAME. What is the origin of this surname ? A. STEPHENS DYER. 207, Kingston Road, Teddington.
STEWART OR STUART. Who was the husband of a lady of the above name who lived at 40, Jermyn Street, S.W., about the years 1815-24, and was still alive in 1840 ?
Q.
"O si sic OMNES." Can any of your readers inform me what is the original authority for this proverbial phrase ?
(Miss) HELEN DE G. VERRALL.
HENRY MEYER, ENGRAVER. What is known regarding small engravings, about oj in. by 3 in., by Henry Meyer, of Sir Thomas Lawrence's ' Lord Lynedoch ' and ' Countess of Blessington ' ? ALPHA.
MARY CHURCHMAN. Wanted the maiden name of Mary Churchman, 1654-1734. Her father was High Constable for the hundred of Wetherley, Cambs, 1673. R. H.
"Boss." I should be glad to know where I can obtain ' Fighting Bobs,' Kipling's famous poem, published in 1893. It appears to be excluded from the published editions of Kipling's verse. I hear that it was so excluded by desire of the late Lord Roberts.
AUTHOR OF QUOTATION WANTED.
My son is my son till he takes him a wife,
But my daughter's my daughter all my (her) life.
Where can I find this poem if there are any verses beyond this couplet ?
JAS. CURTIS, F.S.A.
JAXE AUSTEN AND COLUMELLA.
(11 S. x. 388.)
THE allusion to Columella by Jane Austeu in ' Sense and Sensibility ' is not to the Latin writer, but to a character in a popular book of the day which was called " Columella ; or, The Distressed Anchoret. By the Editor of ' The Spiritual Quixote.' 2 vols., 1779." The author of this book was Richard Graves, of whom I will add a few notes at the end of what I write.
The book to which Jane Austen alluded was not a novel, although written in narrative form. Its object was, in the words of its author, to prove " that an active life is generally attended with more happiness than an indolent or retired one " (vol. i. p. 10). The narrative contains a story within a story, and some clue to its contents may be gathered from the following passage, which explains why its leading character was called Columella :
" Going to London in the postcoach from Bath, towards the end of the last autumnal season, I had for my companions, a reverend Divine (a Canon of a neighbouring church) and a Kentish Esquire ; who, I found, had formerly been acquainted in the University; but had not seen each other for some years, till they accidentally met on this occasion.
" When we were all seated, and the coachman had taken his dram, and we were now got clear of the town ; having also given each his opinion of the weather, and settled with great precision the state of the air, and other matters of general concern :
' 'Our old Oxford acquaintance Columella,' says the Canon, ' is in a deplorable condition." ' Whom do you mean ? ' replies the Kentish gentleman.
" ' Why, don't you remember our romantic
- riend, Cornelius Milward,' resumes the Canon,
who was always talking of Virgil's Georgics, Jowjey, and Columella? and, partly for the sake of
- he jingle, I suppose, and partly on account of the
subject of that author's book on Agriculture, acquired the nick -name of Columella.' "Vol. i. chap. ii. pp. 5-7.
The Canon then pulled out a manuscript and began to tell his story of Columella, and of how he had retired into the country in misanthropic mood, and how, when visited >y old college friends, he was found to be iving with his housekeeper Betty, who is depicted as a most ignorant person. The neighbourhood becoming scandalized, Colu- mella marries the housekeeper, and has a amily of three boys, and in the passage \lnVli follows will be found the complete lue to Jane Austen's reference : "Columella, however, contrived to divert his melancholy with this kind of speculations; and
