510 NOTES AND QUERIES, p* s. vi. DEC, 20,1900, tion so easily answered. In vol. i. of the Bohn edition of the 'Works' I have given a facsimile title-page of the first edition. A glance at this should relieve F. M.'s doubts. G. S. Blackheath, S. 1C. YOUNG AND WORDSWORTH (9th S. vi. 426).— I should have thought that the passage quoted from Young was written in conscious imi- tation of Shakespeare's " sermons in stones," and I must say that I do not see any real resemblance in thought between either of these and Wordsworth's "primrose by a river's brim." Surely we miss the key to Peter's character, and to the poem to which his name is given, if we suppose that he is blamed for not moralizing nature after the manner of the exiled duke. His insensibility was deadlier far than that: Nature could not touch his heart By lovely forms, and silent weather, And tender sounds; he was blind to her beauty and deaf to her music. He might possibly have been in a measure alive to both without perceiving her moral significance; but there was apreliminary step to be taken : he had first to feel the soul of Nature, to realize that she was a living creature akin to himself ; and this, I take it, is the " moral " of the poem. C. C. B. ATWOOD FAMILY (9th S. vi. 409).—This is the entry in marriage licences at the Faculty Office :— "1663, July 14.—Josia Child, of S« Botolph's, Billingsgate, London, Widr, 32, and Mary Attwood, alias Stone, of S' Margaret's, Lothbury, Widow, 20, at S' James's, Duke's Place, S' Barthol" the Less, London, or S' Mary, Islington, Middx." From this it appears to be possible that Attwood was the name of Mary's former husband, and the name of Stone might be searched for. There is a pedigree of Atwooc in ' Visitation of Essex,' 1634. They are of Little Bury in Stamford Rivers, co. Essex one son, John, is of Gray's Inn. It mentions th« first one, " William Attwood," in the pedi gree, as having been born in Kent. B. FLORENCE SCARLETT. " MITHERED " (9th S. vi. 410).—See Halliwell " Moithered, tired out. Glouc." ; and " Moider to distract, bewilder; also to labour very hard North." It is probably cognate with Icel •m&dkr and Ger. miide, tired. H. P. L. From the way I have heard this word pro nounced locally, I should agree with Misi Baker, and spell it "moithered." In hei 'Glossary' she gives also the following •ariants from other sourees i "moyther," 'moyder," and "moider." Here one might till occasionally come across such a sentence is " Don't bother me, I 'm all of a moither," ndicating a flustered or confused condition. tfo one would use " moither " as=" to smother, incumber, muffle up." JOHN T. PAGE. West Haddon, Northamptonshire. "Moider" is an old word used in Lancashire and Cheshire, with the meaning of " to con- 'use or to bother." I cannot at the moment
- ive a reference, but are not "mither" and
" moider " different forms of A.-S. mefte. weary, tired ? E. MEIN. Blundellsands. "Moither" is used in^ exactly the same sense in Lancashire and Yorkshire. LIONEL CRESSWELL. Wood Hall, Calverlcy, Yorks. How is this word pronounced in Warwick- shire ? Has the t the same value as in him or as in mindt I know "moithered" in^ the same sense in S. Lancashire and W. York- shire. Q- V. PASSAGE IN GOETHE (9th S. vi. 409).—As showing that the beautiful encompasses and dignifies the true, one of the stanzas in the artists' song of chap. xiv. in ' Meister's Travels,' although possibly not the passage inquired for, deserves citation as illustrative of an idea akin to the one mentioned :— As all Nature's thousand changes But one changeless God proclaim ; So in Art's wide kingdoms ranges One sole meaning still the same: This is Truth, eternal Reason, Which from Beautjr takes its dress, And serene through time and season Stands for aye in loveliness. See Carlyle's 'Wilhelm Meister,' iii. 128, Popular Edition. THOMAS BAYNE. " NOTHING LIKE LEATHER " (9th S. yi. 426). —Surely the source of this phrase is "not far to seek." I have been familiar with it for over threescore years as deduced from an an- cient school octavo edition of '^Esop's Fables,' with the original woodcut illustrations of dear old Bewick. In a fable entitled, I think, The Besieged Town,' of which the speaker cited by MR. HOLCOMBE INGLEBY gave a variant, each burgess commends for defensive (not offensive, as in the communication to which I am essaying a reply) armour the product of his own handicraft. The farmer from the outlying country sought the employ- ment of his hands in raising earthworks ; the urban mason and bricklayer sought contracts for constructing granite ramparts and raising
