the production of Walter Scott, as they are generally supposed to be; or are they really the fragment of an old ditty? The alteration at the commencement does not seem one that would have found favour in the eyes of an author, but rather the effect of a prompting of memory. I believe, indeed, the lines are inserted in the volume called The Poetry of the Author of the Waverley Novels (which I saw some years ago, but cannot refer to at this moment), but that is not decisive.

There is a case in point, which is worth quoting on its own account. In Peveril of the Peak, in the celebrated scene of the interview between Buckingham and Fenella, where Fenella leaps from the window, and Buckingham hesitates to follow, there is this passage:

"From a neighbouring thicket of shrubs, amongst which his visitor had disappeared, he heard her chant a verse of a comic song, then much in fashion, concerning a despairing lover who had recourse to a precipice.

This verse, also, if I mistake not, appears in The Poetry of the Author of Waverley, and is certainly set down by almost every reader as the production of Sir Walter. But in the sixth volume of Anderson's Poets of Great Britain, at page 574. in the works of Walsh, occurs a song called "The Despairing Lover," in which we are told that—

In this instance it is shown that Sir Walter was not indebted for the comic song to his wonderful genius, but to his stupendous memory; and it is just possible that it may be so in the other, in which case one would be very glad to see the remainder of the "old ditty."

T. W.

Minor Queries.

56. Was Milton an Anglo-Saxon Scholar?

—I have long been very curious to know whether Milton was an Anglo-Saxon scholar. He compiled a history of the Saxon period: had he the power of access to the original sources? Is there any ground for supposing that he had read our Saxon Paradise Lost; I mean the immortal poetry of Cædmon? If he really knew nothing of this ancient relic, then it may well be said, that the poems of Cædmon and of Milton afford the most striking known example of coincident poetic imagination.

I should be extremely obliged to any of your learned correspondents who would bring the faintest ray of evidence to bear upon this obscure question.

The similarity of the two poems has been noticed long ago, e.g. by Sir F. Palgrave in The Archæologia, xxiv. I know not whether he was the first; I think Conybeare was beforehand with him.

J. E.

Oxford, Aug. 2. 1851.

57. Tale of a Tub.

—What is the origin of this popular phrase? It dates anterior to the time of Sir Thomas More, an anecdote in whose chancellorship thus illustrates it. An attorney in his court, named Tubb, gave an account in court of a cause in which he was concerned, which the Chancellor (who, with all his gentleness, loved a joke) thought so rambling and incoherent, that he said at the end of Tubb's speech, "This is a tale of a Tubb;" plainly showing that the phrase was then familiarly known.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

58. Cleopatra's Needle.

—When was the obelisk in Egypt first so called? Why was it so called? What is the most popular work on Egypt for a full description of it?

J. B. J.

Liverpool, July 28. 1851.

59. Pair of Curols.

—In a list of the rating of the incumbents of the diocese of Ely, A. D. 1609, towards the support of the army, preserved by Cole, several are returned for "a pair of curols."

"Mr. Denham for his vicarage of Cherry Hinton to find (jointly with the Vicar of Impington and Caldecote) a pair of Curols with a pike furnished."

What is the meaning of the word "Curol," supposing Cole to have used it aright?

E. V.

60. Cowper Law.

—Lord Mahon, in his History of England, second edit. vol. ii. p. 66., in speaking of the death of the first Earl Cowper, after saying "His memory deserves high respect," &c., adds, "And though it seems that a by-word was current of 'Cowper law, to hang a man first and then judge him,' I believe that it proceeded from party resentment, rather than from any real fault;" and in a note refers to the evidence at Lord Wintoun's trial. Is not Lord Mahon mistaken in supposing that this saying refers to Lord Cowper? Should it not be "Cupar Law," meaning the town of that name? I see in Lord Wintoun's trial, where his lordship uses the expression, he adds, "as we used to say in our country." If my supposition is correct, can any of your correspondents say how the proverb arose?

C. DE D.

61. Order of Greenwich.

—I have an impression of an oval ecclesiastical seal, the matrix of which is said to have been found near Kilkenny. The device is the Ascension of the Virgin, beneath which is a shield charged with the royal arms; the three fleur de lis in the first and fourth quarterings showing the seal to be, comparatively speaking, modern. The legend, in Lombardic capitals, runs as follows:—"+ SGILLVM + GĀRDIĀNI + GRV̅WVCĒSIS +." Query, Does "GRV̅WVCĒSIS" mean "of Greenwich?"

In the State Papers, temp. Hen. VIII., vol. iii. p. 285., an abbey in Ireland is said to be of the "order of Greenewich." Query, What order was this?

JAMES GRAVES.

Kilkenny, July 19. 1851.

62. House of Yvery.

—This work is rarely to be met with in a perfect state; but there is one plate about which there exists a doubt, viz. a folding plate or map of the estates of John Perceval, Earl of Egmont.

It would be satisfactory perhaps to many of the readers of "NOTES AND QUERIES," as well as to myself, to know whether any gentleman possesses a copy of the work with such a plan.

H. T. E.

Clyst St. George.

63. Entomological Query.

—Can any of your botanical or entomological correspondents help me to the name of the grub that is apt to become a chrysalis on the Linaria minor (Antirrhinum minus of Linnæus)? For