9*8. viii. JULY 20, 1901.) NOTES AND QUERIES.
71
arisen regarding the 'Ode,' which is not
uniformly attributed to Bruce. For instance,
the ' Oxford Book of Poetry,' edited by Mr.
Quiller-Couch, and the 'Anthology' of Prof.
Arber, both recently issued, give Logan as
the author. In Robert Louis Stevenson's
- Letters/ 1900, edited by Mr. Sidney Colvin,
the following reference occurs in a note pre- fixed to a letter of Robert Louis Stevenson's to Mrs. Sitwell. The editor remarks :
" On the question of the authorship of the ' Ode to the Cuckoo,' which Burke thought the most beautiful lyric in our language, the debate is between the claims of John Logan, minister of South Leith, 1745-85 [this should be 1748-88], and his friend and fellow- worker, Michael Bruce. Those of Logan have, I believe, been now vindicated past doubt."
The letter is dated (Edinburgh) Saturday, 4 October, 1873. Stevenson says :
" I want to let you see these verses from an ' Ode to the Cuckoo,' written by one of the ministers of Leith in the middle of last century the palmy days of Edinburgh who was a friend of Hume and Adam Smith and the whole constellation. The authorship of these beautiful verses has been most truculently fought about, but whoever wrote them (and it seems as if this Logan had) they are lovely."
Three verses are quoted (five, six, and seven as usually printed). Considerable discussion took place in the Glasgow Herald and other Scottish newspapers and magazines in 1897, in which the present writer advocated the claims of Logan. I am anxious to obtain a sight of any MSS. in the handwriting of Bruce and Logan. The late Mr. Douglas J. Maclagan, in his exhaustive monograph 'The Scottish Paraphrases ' (Edinburgh, Andrew Elliot, 1889), was a strong supporter of Logan. He mentions, pp. 186 et seq., two MSS. of the Paraphrases, and says that "our efforts to trace them have proved fruitless." Can any of your readers supply information regarding them or any other documents bearing on this subject? ADAM SMAIL.
13, Cornwall Street, Edinburgh.
We are told in the note referred to that Michael Bruce was the author of the * Ode to the Cuckoo.' Is it proved that he was? Archbishop Trench, who at first attributed it to Logan, afterwards changed his mind and gave it to Bruce (see note on the poem in * A Household Book of English Poetry,' 1870) , but I understand that a good defence of Logan's claim has since been made, and Mr. Quiller-Couch attributes the poem to him in his 'Oxford Book of English Verse.'
C. C. B.
"THE BIBLE, CROWN, AND CONSTITUTION (9 th S. vii. 469). Nothing remains of either the house or sign of James Asperne, publisher,
at the "Bible, Crown, and Constitution,"
which was No. 32, Cornhill, and had a shop
front, judging from a small engraving in my
possession, like that still standing of Messrs.
Ring & Brymer, No. 15, Cornhill, with the
number 32 on the doorpost, while the sign
over the centre of the shop- window consisted
of an open Bible supporting another book,
presumably containing the laws of the realm
and signifying the constitution, while upon
this rested a royal crown. The sign was also
adopted by Cobbett when publishing in Pall
Mall, presumably when he started his Weekly
Register as an aid originally to the Tory
party, and before it began to change its views
in 1803. The " Constitution " alone, without
the " Bible and Crown," was not an uncommon
sign, of which four instances, according to the
' London Directory' for 1901, survive. Until
1879, perhaps later, a popular tavern called
the " Constitution " was still standing at
No. 32, Bedford Street, and was renowned for
its "peerless punch." Its sign was painted
symbolically, and represented Westminster
Abbey and Westminster Hall, signifying
Church and State (see ' Epicure's Almanack,'
1815). Neither the "Constitution" nor the
particular sign in question is mentioned in
Larwood and Hotten's 'History of Sign-
boards.' J. HOLDEN MAcMlCHAEL.
William Cobbett, M.P. for Oldham, the celebrated political writer, and for forty years connected with the periodical press of England, chose, at the beginning of the last century, for the sign of his publishing office
The Bible, Crown, and Constitution." J. Asperne issued his broadsheets (of which I possess many) from No. 32, Cornhill, but the sign no longer exists.
EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road.
DENDRITIC MARKINGS IN PAPER (9 th S. vii. 389, 477). I possess a copy of the 'Mathe- matical and Philosophical Works of Bishop John Wilkins ' (2 vols. 8vo, 1802). The book- sellers' catalogue (Messrs. J. W. Jarvis & Son) states that " this copy is one of a few printed on paper made from wood "; and the appear- ance of the book leaves little doubt that the experiment of manufacturing paper from wood pulp was tried at the very beginning of the nineteenth century. C. E. D.
Oxford.
ECCLESIASTICAL " PECULIARS " (9 th S. vii. 421, 463). The custom by which the Arch- bishop of Canterbury reserved to himself all episcopal jurisdiction in places where he had property did not originate with Lanfranc,
