278
NOTES AND QUERIES. m s. iv. sw. :*>, 1911.
SELDEN'S ' TABLE TALK ' : " FORCE '
(11 S. iv. 229). T should say that " force '
is here a form of " farce " or " farse," that is
interpolation. ST. SWITHIN.
HISTORY OP ENGLAND WITH RIMING VERSES (US. iv. 168, 233). I have an old book, cr. 8vo, leather-bound, 68 pp. (ex- clusive of a 24-page introduction), entitled ' Poetical Chronology of Ancient and English History ; with Historical and Explanatory Notes,' London, printed by A. J. Valpy, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street ; sold by Longman & Co., Baldwin & Co., G. B. Whittaker, Rivingtons, and Simpkin Marshall, 1827. In the preliminary "Ad- vertisement" the author, R. V. (R. Valpy, D.D., F.A.S.), gives us to understand that the "'Ancient " part is a reprint from a series of ' Chronological Verses ' by Mr. Hooke, the Roman historian, revised by Bishop Lowth ; the second (English) poem, revised version of a ' Poetical Chronology of the Kings of England,' preserved in The Gentleman's Magazine. This revision was considered "absolutely necessary" "from a sense of moral and political propriety," the author of the ' Poetical Chronology ' 1 laving, seemingly,
' cast a shade of unmerited obloquy over the character of some English Princes. Much altera- tion was therefore required. For the lines from the time of Charles I. to the present reign, both inclusive with the exception of James II. the writer of these sheets is responsible."
We may thus, I presume, infer that the earliest printed English metrical chronology was the one published in The Gent. Mag. The "Ancient History" verses in my book commence :
Anno Mundi, 1656.
O'er sixteen cent'ries the revolving sun, And summers fifty-six, his course had run, When sinful man drew heav'n's just vengeance
down, In one wide deluge the whole earth to drown.
The poem concludes with the birth of the " Prince of Peace."
The " English History " starts :
Normans. William the Conqueror.
1066.
When years one thousand and threescore and six Had pass'd, since Christ in Bethlem's manger lay. Then the stern Norman, red from Hastings' field, Bruis'd Anglia's realm beneath his iron sway.
The final verse, " George the Fourth," runs :
1820.
In eighteen hundred twenty, George the Fourth, Whose Regent arm the toils of State had prov'd, Ascends the throne : O may he florish long, Loving his people, by his people lov'd !
Riming chronologies were much in vogue
during the early years of the last century.
One I used to learn when a child began :
First William the Norman,
Then William his son, Henry, Stephen, and Henry,
Then Richard and John.
Then came Henry the Third,
Edwards One, Two, and Three ;
And again, after Richard, Three Henries we see.
I forget all the rest, except the last two lines :
God sent us Victoria,
May she long be the last !
I cannot recall the date, nor the name of the author if, indeed, his name was men- tioned. There was an old song written on the same principle, the chorus at the end of each verse proclaiming " They were all of them kings in their turn ! " but I cannot distinctly remember the words, though I am quite familiar with the tune.
HERBERT B. CLAYTON.
39, Renfrew Road, Lower Kennington Lane.
When a small boy, I had to learn the history of England by rime, and I do not remember having known the lines given by ST. SWITHIN as the commencement of the verse relating to William the Conqueror. To the best of my recollection, the verse with which I was familiar ran as follows :
In 1027 William the First was born, In 1066 on Christmas morn O'er England he doth reign.
Some of the subsequent verses are still ? resh in my memory, but unfortunately I iave forgotten the name of the work from which they come. R. VAUGHAN GOWER.
Ince and Gilbert in their ' Outlines of English History : with Notices of the National Manners and Customs, Dress. Arts, &c.' (W. Kent & Co., Paternoster rlow, 1867), include eight pages of metrical composition. They emphasize its " evident utility," on the ground that " this method f teaching history is at once sure and easy." They recommend teachers to give portions of these rimes as home lessons and to insist on the learning of the metre. "The metres," he authors point out, " may be sung to Dopular tunes." The Roman period is thus netrically opened :
In 43 a Roman host
From Gaul assailed our southern coast ;
Caractacus in nine years more,
A captive, left his native shore ;
Boadicea, from loss in strife,
In 61 destroyed her life.
