Notes and Queries, Number 54, November 9, 1850 | Page 8

neo victa recedas."
The latter I have only seen subjoined to a print of Guido's celebrated
Aurora, at Rome; and I should have supposed it might have been
written for the occasion, had I not been told, upon authority in which I
put confidence, that it is to be found in some classic author. If so, the
lines may possibly have given rise to the painting, and not the painting
to the lines.
DAWSON TURNER.
Yarmouth, October 28. 1850.
Avidius Varus.--Can you, or any of your readers, tell me who Avidius
Varus was, referred to in the following passage:
"Sed Avidii Vari illud hic valeat: 'Aut hoc quod produxi testium satis
est, aut nihil satis.'"
I find reference made to him as above, in one of the Smith manuscripts;
but I cannot discover his name in any catalogue or biographical
dictionary. Is he known by any other name?
J. SANSOM.

Death of Richard II.--By what authority has the belief that Richard II.
died in Pontefract Castle, in Yorkshire, arisen? Every history that I
have consulted (with the exception, indeed, of Lord Lyttleton's) coolly
assumes it as a fact, in the teeth of the contemporary Froissart, who
says plainly enough--
"Thus they left the Tower of London where he had died, and paraded
the streets at a foot's pace till they came to Cheapside."--Froissart's
Chronicles, translated by Johnes, vol. vii. p. 708.
It is barely possible that our modern historians may have been misled
by Shakspeare, who makes Pontefract the scene of his death.
Another circumstance which militates against the received story, is the
fact that all historians, I believe, agree that his dead body was conveyed
to burial from the Tower of London. Now, it seems odd, to say the least,
that if he really died at Pontefract, and his corpse was removed to
London, that no one mentions this removal--that Froissart had not
heard of it, although, from the nature of the country, the want of good
roads, &c., the funeral convoy must have been several days upon the
road. Can any one give me any information upon this question? I may
just say that, of course, no reliance can be placed on the fact of the
"very identical tower" in which the deposed king died being shown at
Pontefract.
H. A. B.
Sir W. Herschel's Observations and Writings.--Will you permit me to
propose the following Queries in your excellent paper.
1. I have a note to the following effect, but it is without date or
reference. The late Sir W. Herschel, during an examination of the
heavens in which he was observing stars that have a proper motion, saw
one of the 7.8 magnitude near the 17th star 12 hour of Piazzi's
Catalogue, and noted the approximate distance between them; on the
third night after, he saw it again, when it had advanced a good deal,
having gone farther to the eastward, and towards the equator. Bad
weather, and the advancing twilight, prevented Sir William's getting

another observation. Meantime the estimated movement in three days
was 10" in right ascension, and about a minute, or rather less, towards
the north. "So slow a motion," he says, {392} "would make me suspect
the situation to be beyond Uranus." What I wish to inquire is this: has it
been established by calculation whether the new planet discovered by
Adams and Le Verrier was or was not the star observed at the time and
in the place specified by Sir William Herschel?
2. Have Sir W. Herschel's contributions to the Philosophical
Transactions ever been published in a separate form? and if so, where
they can be obtained?
H. C. K.
Swearing by Swans.--
"At the banquet held on this occasion, he vowed before God and the
swans, which according to usage were placed on the table, to punish the
Scottish rebels."--Keightley's History of England, vol. i. p. 249. ed.
1839.
What authority is there for this statement respecting the swans? What
was the origin and significance of the usage to which allusion is here
made?
R. V.
Winchester.
Automachia.--I am the possessor of a little book, some 2½ inches long
by 1½ wide, bound in green velvet, entitled Automachia, or the
Self-conflict of a Christian, and dedicated
"To the most noble, vertuous, and learned lady, the Lady Mary Nevil,
one of the daughters of the Right Honourable the Earl of Dorcet, Lord
High Treasurer of England."
The book commences with an anagram on the lady's name:

"Add but an A to Romanize your name Another Pallas is your anagram,
Videlicet Maria Nevila Alia Minerva."
And then follow some "Stanzes Dedicatory," subscribed--
Most deuoted to your honourable vertues.--J. S."
On the last page is--
"London, printed by Milch Bradwood, for Edward Blount, 1607."
The Automachia is a poem of 188 lines, in heroic metre, and