nature and propriety." In Strutt's 16th Plate, specimens will
be found of the whimsical habit and attire in which the mummers were
wont to appear.
My impression that the Merry-Lwyd was by no means a diversion
exclusively Welsh is corroborated by the fact noticed in your Number
of the 23rd of Feb., of its being found to exist in Cheshire. And we
know that many ancient customs lingered in the principality long after
they fell into disuse in England.
GWYNN AB NUDD.
Glamorganshire, March 1. 1850.
_Death-bed Superstition._--When a curate in Exeter I met with the
following superstition, which I do not remember to have seen noticed
before. I had long visited a poor man, who was dying of a very painful
disease, and was daily expecting his death. Upon calling one morning
to see my poor friend, his wife informed me that she thought he would
have died during the night, and consequently she and her friends
unfastened every lock in the house. On my inquiring the reason, I was
told that any bolt or lock fastened was supposed to cause uneasiness to,
and hinder the departure of the soul, and consequently upon the
approach of death all the boxes, doors, &c., in the house were unlocked.
Can any of your readers tell me whether this is in any way a general
superstition amongst the lower orders, or is it confined to the West of
England?
R.H. {316}
[This remarkable superstition forms the subject of a communication of
the _Athenæum_ (No. 990.) of 17th Oct. 1846: in a comment upon
which it is there stated "that it originates from the belief which formerly
prevailed that the soul flew out of the mouth of the dying in the
likeness of a bird."]
* * * * *
PASSAGE IN L'ALLEGRO--NOTES ON MILTON'S MINOR
POEMS.
The suggestion of your correspondent B.H.K. (No. 18. p. 286.) has
been anticipated by Mr. Warton, who, in his 1st edition of _Milton's
Poems_, notices a similar interpretation of the passage, as the
suggestion of an unknown correspondent. In the 2nd edition this
correspondent is mentioned to have been Mr. Headley; and the editor
discusses the point in a note of upwards of a page, illustrating it with
parallel passages, and an analysis of the context. As the book is one of
ready access, I need not trouble you with a quotation; but I may
mention that Mr. Gilchrist has added, in a MS. note in my copy, that
"Among the poems appended to those of Lord Surrey and Sir Thomas
Wyatt, is one of considerable elegance in the same measure as those of
Milton, nor is it unlike in its subject: the following lines may throw
some light on the present inquiry (p. 200. ed. 1717):--
'On hills then shewe the ewe and lambe And every young one with his
damme; Then lovers walke and tell their tale Both of their bliss and of
their bale.'"
[The passage is at p. 57. of the 1st vol. of Dr. Nott's edition.]
I am glad of the present opportunity of mentioning, for the benefit of all
whom it may concern, that my copy of the 1st edition of Warton's
Milton is enriched with numerous notes and parallel passages by Mr.
Gilchrist; and a copy of the 2nd edition has been similarly, but less
copiously, illustrated by Mr. Dunston. I shall be glad if my mention of
them should lead to their being made useful--or, if you wish it, I shall
be happy to transcribe the notes for occasional insertion in your
Journal.
May I be allowed to suggest that similar notifications to intending
editors would have some tendency to do the same good results which
may be expected from the announcements by intending editors
suggested by your correspondent R.R. at p. 243? There must be
hundreds of volumes enriched by the notes of scholars, such as those I
have had occasion to mention, which are dispersed in private libraries,
and might, by means of similar announcements, be made available to
the cause of literature.
J.F.M.
[We are much indebted to our valued correspondent for the offer he has
so kindly made us of the MS. Notes in question, which we shall gladly
receive; and also for his extremely useful suggestion of the advantage
of such notifications to intending editors, as he describes.]
_Milton's L'Allegro._--Your correspondent (No. 18. p. 286.) has been
anticipated by Headley, who suggested, long ago, that the word tale
here implied the numbering sheep. When Handel composed his
beautiful air, "Let me wander not unseen," he plainly regarded this
word in the more poetical sense. The song breathes the shepherd's tale
of love (perhaps addressed to "the milkmaid singing blithe") far more
than it conveys a dull computation of the number of "his fleecy care."
Despite
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