Wit's Theatre of the Little World, and England's Helicon. He seems to have less claim to be considered the author of the Wit's Theatre than of the Wit's Commonwealth, for in the original edition of the former, "printed by J. R. for N. L., and are to be sold at the VVest doore of Paules, 1599," the dedication is likewise addressed "To my most esteemed and approved loving friend, Maister J. B. I wish all happines." After acknowledging his obligations to his patron, the author proceeds: "Besides this History or Theatre of the Little World, suo jure, first challengeth your friendly patronage, by whose motion I vndcrtooke it, and for whose love I am willing to vndergoe the heavy burden of censure. I must confesse that it might have been written with more maturitie, and deliberation, but in respect of my promise, I have made this hast, how happy I know not, yet good enough I hope, if you vouchsafe your kind approbation: which with your Judgement I hold ominous, and as vndcr which Politeuphuia was so gracious." I. F. M.
TRAVELLING IN ENGLAND.
Sir,—I beg to acknowledge the notice which two of your correspondents have taken of my query on this subject. At the same time I must say that the explanations which they offer appear to me to be quite unsatisfactory. I shall be happy to give my reasons for this, if you think it worth while; but perhaps, if we wait a little, some other solution may be suggested.
For the sake of the inhabitants, I hope that your work is read at Colchester. Is there nobody there who could inform us at what time the London coach started a century ago? It seems clear that it arrived in the afternoon but I will not at present trespass further on your columns. I am, &c.,G. G.
MINOR NOTES.
Ancient Inscribed Alms Dish.
L. S. B. informs us that in the church of St. Paul, Norwich, is a brass dish, which has been gilt, and has this legend round it four times over:—"HER : I: LIFRID : GRECHO : WART."[1]
This seems to be another example of the inscription which was satisfactorily explained in No. 5. p. 73.
The Bishop that burneth.
I do not think Major Moor is correct in his application of Tusser's words, "the bishop that burneth," to the lady-bird. Whether lady-birds are unwelcome guests in a dairy I know not, but certainly I never heard of their being accustomed to haunt such places. The true interpretation of Tusser's words must, I think, be obtained by comparison with the following lines from his Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, quoted in Ellis's Brand, iii. 207.:—
"Blesse Cisley (good mistress) that bishop doth ban
For burning the milk of her cheese to the pan."
The reference here, as well as in the words quoted by Major Moor, is evidently to the proverb relating to burnt milk, broth, &c.—"the bishop has put his foot in it;" which is considered by Ellis to have had its origin in those times when bishops were much in the habit of burning heretics. He confirms this interpretation by the following curious passage from Tyndale's Obedyence of a Crysten Man:—
"If the podech be burned to, or the meate ouer rested, we save the Byshope hath put his fote in the potte, or the Byshope hath playd the coke, because the Bishopes burn who they lust, and whosoeuer displeaseth them."
I fear the origin of the appellation "Bishop Barnaby," applied to the lady-bird in Suffolk, has yet to be sought. D. S.
Iron Manufactures of Sussex.
Sir,—I have made two extracts from a once popular, but now forgotten work, illustrative of the iron manufacture which, within the last hundred years, had its main seat in this county, which I think may be interesting to many of your readers who may have seen the review of Mr. Lower's Essay on the Ironworks of Sussex in the recent numbers of the Athenæum and Gentleman's Magazine. The anecdote at the close is curious, as confirming the statements of Macaulay; the roads in Sussex in the 18th century being much in the condition of the roads in England generally in the 17th. "Sowsexe," according to the old proverb, has always been "full of dirt and mier."
"From hence (Eastbourne) it was that, turning north, and traversing the deep, dirty, but rich part of these two counties (Kent and Sussex), I had the curiosity to see the great foundries, or ironworks, which are in this county (Sussex), and where they are carried on at such a prodigious expense of wood, that, even in a county almost all overrun with timber, they begin to complain of their consuming it for those furnaces and leaving the next age to want timber for building their navies. I must own, however, that I found that complaint perfectly groundless, the three counties of Kent, Sussex, and Hampshire (all which lye contiguous to one another), being one inexhaustible storehouse of timber, never to be destroyed but by a general conflagration, and able, at this time, to supply timber to rebuild all the royal navies in Europe, if they were all to be destroyed, and set about the building them together.
"I left Tunbridge . . . and came to Lewes, through the deepest, dirtiest, but many ways the richest and most profitable country in all that part of England.
- ↑ Blomefield's Norfolk. Folio. 1739. Vol. ii. p. 803.
