28
NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. xn. JULY 10, 191*
' THE SCOURGE.' This publication, by
- ' Oxymel Busby, Esq.," deals in the issue
of 7 Dec., 1752, wholly with epitaphs. Epi- taphs, it seems, " may be divided into serious, admonitory, informative, arch, ridi- culous, and those in commendation of the deceased." The esquire proceeds to give specimens of each. Perhaps it may interest your readers if I transcribe a few :
SERIOUS.
1. On a Child of Ttvo years old. As care full Nurses on their Beds oft Lay Their babes which would too long the wantons play ; So to prevent my Youth's ensuing Crimes, Nature my nurse laid me to Bed betimes.
2. "Captain Charles Holmes is interred here, who after many years service, retired to his paternal estate to prepare for his Dissolution. He died, May the 5 th , 1604, aged 92: his sorrowing Son (altho' his heir) erected this."
ARCH.
1. On a Juggler.
Death came to see thy tricks, and cut in twaine Thy Thread, why didst not make it whole againe ?
2. On a Schoolmaster.
The Grammar School a long time taught I have, Yet all my Skill could not decline the Grave ; But yet I hope it may one Day be shewn In no Case but the Ablative alone.
RIDICULOUS.
At length by workes of wondrous fate Here lies the Porter of Winchester gate. If gone to heav'n, (as much I feare) He can be but a Porter there. He fear'd tother Place not so much for 's Sin As for the Great Rapping and Oft Coming In.
COMMENDATORY.
On John Friend.
How ere he fail'd in 's Life 'tis like Jack Friend Was no mans foe But 's owne, and there 's an End.
The editor remarks : " 'Tis like, instead of it seems, or it is true, is very rural, and what none but a rustick wit would have made use of."
The same expression occurs in another epitaph, classed among the " merry, arch, or quibbling " examples :
On Thomas Masters. . Butler to my Good Lord Arundel. That Death should thus from hence our Butler catch
Into my minde it cannot quickly sink. Sure Death came thirsty to the buttery hatch And he (being busy) did deny him Drink.
But, 'twas not so, 'tis like he gave him liquor, And Death, made Drunk, him made away the
quicker ;
Yet let not us bear too much Grief in mind, The Butlers Gone the Keys are left behind.
The quaint work before me comprises the first eighty-one numbers of the paper or brochure, each of three folio sheets, and
constitutes vol. i. It covers the period
between 28 Nov., 1752, and 2 June, 1753.
The last number concludes with a letter
from Oxymel Busby in which he promises to
resume his Scourge " for the correction of
vice and folly " on 6 November, when No. 1
of vol. ii. will be published.
Did Busby, Esq., " vapulate " (to use his- own word) the public in a second volume ? The first volume alone is mentioned in the ' Catalogue of Books in the British Museum.'
Is this publication of any historical or literary value ?
Of the epitaphs in The Scourge which are dated, the one referring to Capt. Holmes is the oldest. WILLIAM L. STOREY.
Belfast.
" FORTH SHALL COME AN ASKE," &c. Ainsworth, writing of the Pilgrimage of Grace (temp, destruction of the monasteries), gives two verses of a song said to be sung by the Northern rebels :
Forth shall come an ASKE with one eye, He shall be chief of the company, Chief of the Northern chivalry.
One shall sit at a solemn feast,
Half-warrior, half-priest.
The greatest there shall be the least.
Is this song historical ? Are any more verses known ? B. C. S.
WILLIAM HAMILTON MAXWELL. He was the author of ' Stories of Waterloo.' Can any reader refer me to sources of information concerning him ? I have read his biography in ' D.N.B.,' but should be glad of something further. S. P. KENNY.
4, Park Place, St. James's.
ORIGIN OF QUOTATIONS WANTED. 1. Where does " Si vis pacem, para bellum," come from ? I know the similar passage in Dion Chrysostom, ' Orat.' i. 27.
2. What is the source of " Veni, vidi, vici,'* the Latin form of Plutarch's 'HAflov, tldov, ? SLEUTH-HOUND.
[1. Has often been asked for in these columns,
but no satisfactory answer has been received.]
CAPTURE OF TRINCOMALEE. What British regiments were represented at the capture of Trincomalee by Sir Hector Munro on 6 Jan., 1762 ? There was a detachment of the 98th Regiment, numbering 55 officers, N.C.O.'s, and men, in garrison there in March, 1782, besides artillery (European and native) and a "Volunteer Battalion" over 500 strong. I think I have read some- where that the Black Watch was another.
PENRY LEWIS.
