Notes and Queries, Number 47, September 21, 1850 | Page 8

have heaved a sigh that hurts by easing."
Dr. Johnson saw its true meaning:
"It is," he says, "a notion very prevalent, that sighs impair the strength, and wear out the animal powers."
In allusion to this popular notion, by no means yet extinct, Herbert says, p. 71.:
"Or if some years with it (a sigh) escape The sigh then only is A gale to bring me sooner to my bliss."
D.S.
"_Crede quod habes_," &c.--The celebrated answer to a Protestant about the real presence, by the borrower of his horse, is supposed to be made since the Reformation, by whom I forget:--
"Quod nuper dixisti De corpore Christi Crede quod edis et edis; Sic tibi rescribo De tuo palfrido Crede quod habes et habes."
But in Wright and Halliwell's _Reliqui? Antiqu?_, {264} p. 287., from a manuscript of the time of Henry VII., is given--
"Tu dixisti de corpore Christi, crede et habes De palefrido sic tibi scribo, crede et habes."
M.
_Grant to the Earl of Sussex of Leave to be covered in the Royal Presence._--In editing Heylyn's _History of the Reformation_, I had to remark of the grant made by Queen Mary to the Earl of Sussex, that it was the only one of Heylyn's documents which I had been unable to trace elsewhere (ii. 90.). Allow me to state in your columns, that I have since found it in Weever's Funeral Monuments (pp. 635, 636).
J.C. ROBERTSON.
Bekesbourne.
The first Woman formed from a Rib (Vol. ii., p. 213.).--As you have given insertion to an extract of a sermon on the subject of the creation of Eve, I trust you will allow me to refer your correspondent BALLIOLENSIS to Matthew Henry's commentary on the second chapter of Genesis, from which I extract the following beautiful explanation of the reason why the rib was selected as the material whereof the woman should be created:--
"Fourthly, that the woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to top him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him; but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved."
IOTA.
_Beau Brummel's Ancestry._--Mr. Jesse some years back did ample justice to the history of a "London celebrity," George Brummell; but, from what he there stated, the following "Note" will, I feel assured, be a novelty to him. At the time that Brummell was considered in everything the _arbiter elegantiarum_, the writer of this has frequently heard Lady Monson (the widow of the second lord, and an old lady who, living to the age of ninety-seven, had a wonderful fund of interesting recollections) say, that this ruler of fashion was the descendant of a very excellent servant in the family. Not long ago, some old papers of the family being turned over, proofs corroborative of this came to light. William Brummell, from the year 1734 to 1764, was the faithful and confidential servant of Charles Monson, brother of the first lord: the period would identify him with the grandfather of the Beau; the only doubt was, that as Mr. Jesse has ascertained that William Brummell, the grandfather, was, in the interval above given, married, had a _son William_, and owned a house in Bury Street, how far these facts were compatible with his remaining as a servant living with Charles Monson, both in town and country. Now, in 1757, Professor Henry Monson of Cambridge being dangerously ill, his brother Charles sent William Brummell down, as a trustworthy person, to attend to him; and in a letter from Brummell to his master, he, with many other requisitions, wishes that there may be sent down to him a certain glass vessel, very useful for invalids to drink out of, and which, if not in Spring Gardens, "may be found in Bury Street. It was used when Billy was ill." From the familiarity of the word "Billy," he must be speaking of his son. These facts are certainly corroborative of the old dowager's statement.
M(2).
* * * * *
QUERIES.
GRAY'S ELEGY AND DODSLEY POEMS.
I have here, in the country, few editions of Gray's works by me, and those not the best; for instance, I have neither of those by the Rev. J. Mitford (excepting his Aldine edition, in one small volume), which, perhaps, would render my present Query needless. It relates to a line, or rather a word in the _Elegy_, which is of some importance. In the second stanza, as the poem is usually divided (though Mason does not give it in stanzas, because it was not so originally written), occurs,
"Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight."
And thus the line stands in all the copies (five) I am able at this moment to consult. But referring to Dodsley's _Collection of Poems_, vol. iv., where it