342
NOTES AND QUERIES.
[9 th IS. XI. MAY 2, 1903.
tuitions to the Satirist, European Magazine,
and the Orthodox Churchman's Magazine. In
a MS. note at the end of a review of 'Six
More Letters to Granville Sharpe,' which
appeared in the last-named journal in June,
1803, he says, "My dear father gave me
10 guineas for writing the above paper."
The article is signed " Trinitarian," and this
gives a sufficient clue to the contents. Mr.
Sharpe's strict orthodoxy did not prevent
him from having an interest in German
literature, which was then generally regarded
with suspicion by those holding his views.
In March, 1802, he contributed a trans-
lation of Herder's apologue of the * Offspring
of Mercy,' showing that it is taken from
the Bereschith Rabba ' (sect. 8). This is but
one of several Talmudical studies. As one
of his notes relates to the copies of the
Talmud in Sion College, it is possible that
he may have used that library. In a series of
articles he gave translations of the Targumim
of Onkelos, of the pseudo-Jonathan ben
Uzziel, and of Jerusalem, on the first seven
chapters of Genesis. There is also a general
account of the nature of the Talmud, and a
translation of the tract 'Joma' and of the
tract 'Shekalim.' Of greater interest is a
complete version of the ' Pirke Aboth,' which
begins in the number for October, 1802. It
thus appears that the present learned Master
of St. John's had an English predecessor in
the translation of this curious and interesting
piece of Hebrew literature.* It is another
instance of the many things that are hidden
away in the files of old periodicals. Mr.
Sharpe contributed to the Orthodox Church-
man's Magazine several Biblical notes. Per-
haps the most interesting is a collection of
the Hebrew passages, with the translation
in the Septuagint and the English version,
bearing, or supposed to bear, upon the inter-
mediate state. Two of Mr. Sharpe's com-
munications have a personal interest. From
one we learn that he considered it his duty
to refuse to bury an infant that had been
baptized according to the form of the Kirk
of Scotland. His view was that baptism was
only valid if performed by a person who had
been episcopally ordained. From the other
it appears that he would have felt bound to
refuse burial to any suicide, although the
- See " Sayings of the Jewish Fathers, comprising
Pirqe Aboth, in English and Hebrew, with Notes and Excursuses, edited for the Syndics of the Cam- bridge University Press by Charles Taylor, D.D., Master of St. John's College, Cambridge (second edition, Cambridge, 1897)," and ' An Appendix con- taming a Catalogue of MSS. and Notes on the Text of Aboth' (Cambridge, 1900).
coroner's jury might have returned a verdict
of lunacy.
To the European Magazine Mr. Sharpe contributed an interesting and scholarly series of literary notes under the title of ' Nugse,' extending over thirty-two months. These show a wide range of reading, and exhibit familiarity with Hebrew, French, classical, and the earlier English literature. They are very good specimens of the old- fashioned ana once so popular.
Of the articles in the Satirist the most amusing is one poking fun somewhat broad in character at Lempriere's statement that the ' Golden Ass ' of Apuleius is " replete with morality." Interest of a different cha- racter attaches to the articles dealing with 'Samuel Spitfire, Author.' These form an outrageous attack on Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Whilst most of the statements regarding " Spitfire " are absurdly false and absolutely impossible as applied to the poet, a sufficient number of circumstances are mentioned which show that the satire, such as it is, was meant to be applied by the public to Coleridge. As a specimen of the length to which ill- natured and mendacious criticism will go it has a certain interest of its own. Samuel Spitfire, we are told, was one of 4< a few hare- brained young men, whose irregularities" had led them to contemplate emigration and the formation of a Pantisocracy on the banks of the Susquehanna. He is also identified as a Cambridge man : " Spitfire, who used to be the most dashing buck (it was, however, between you and me, Mr. Satirist, upon tick] that ever lounged upon Clare Piece, or strutted with Fanny Wells at Pot Fair." The only Pantisocrat who had been at Cambridge University was Coleridge, and the choice of the first name further identifies him as the object of the satire. He is represented as a hack author writing books of travel, &c., for Sir Richard Phillips, who is clearly indicated, though not named. Spitfire invites " Ezekiel Jackson " (so the articles are signed) to dine, and introduces his wife and five children : Master Tom Paine Spitfire, Master Benjamin Flower Spitfire, Master Buonaparte Spitfire, Miss Josephine Spitfire, and a child in arms, Master Despard Home Burdett Waithman Spitfire. The dinner provided is so poor and scanty that the guest, " telling Sam that he knew I was always a stickler for old customs, asked if he would permit me to indulge one now and to size my dinner, as we used to do now and then at Cambridge." This, with some show of reluctance, is allowed, and of the more generous viands thus pro- vided Spitfire eats so greedily that he is
