Handy-book of Literary Curiosities

While Zephaniah, Haggai calls,
Wrapt Zachariah builds his walls;
And Malachi, with garments rent,
Concludes the ancient Testament.

THE BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.

Mattnew, Mark, Luke, and John wrote the life of their Lord;
The Acts, what Apostles accomplished, record;

Rome, Corinth, Galatus, Ephesus, hear

What Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians revere :

Timotheus, Titus, Philemon, precede

The Epistle which Hebrews most gratefully read;

James, Peter, and John, with the short letter Jude,

The rounds of Divine Revelation conclude.

At Oxford and at Cambridge many of these aids to memory have been handed down traditionally. A correspondent of Notes and Queries tells us that the Rev. Charles Simeon, curate of Trinity College, Cambridge, for fiftythree years, used to remember the books of the New Testament by retaining in mind abbreviated words indicating the order of the books, and forcing them into a rude sort of rhythm while repeating them to himself, as thus: "Rom., Cor. 1 and 2, Gal., Eph., Phil., Col., Thess. I and 2, Tim. 1 and 2, Tit., Phil., Heb., Jas., Pet. 1 and 2, John 1, 2, and 3, Jud., Rev."

Whereupon another correspondent (April 30, 1881) wrote to say that 'more than fifty years ago" the following mnemonic verses were current at Exeter College, Oxford:

Shem, Arphaxad, Salah,
Eber, Peleg, Reu,

Serug, Nahor, Terah,

Tooral looral loo (=Abraham).

The following absurdly-sounding line is a rapid mnemonic summary of the Ecumenical Councils in their chronological order:

Of course the same number of Ecumenical Councils is not accepted by all. But the reader may easily decipher the above line if he will bear in mind that the following were the names of the places where the Councils were held : Nice, Constantinople, Ephesus, the Lateran, Lyons, Vienna, Florence, Trent. A very curious bit of legal lore is a volume of Sir Edward Coke's Reports in rhyme, which was published by J. Worrall "at the Dove in Bellyard, near Lincoln's Inn, London," in the year 1742.

The bookseller's preface is as follows:

An ancient manuscript of the following verses falling accidentally into my hands, in which no small pains must have been taken; the publication thereof needs little apology, when it is considered these lines may at the same time not only refresh the memory, and instruct, but also afford a pleasing recreation to gentlemen of the law, and others, by shewing them in a narrow compass a copious and learned body of the law, supported with authority of no less than the great Sir Edward Coke, whose name so long as laws endure will probably be esteemed and revered for his great knowledge, penetrating judgment, and fine reasoning therein.

To make the work more useful, I have distinguished every path and case with references to the pages in all the edition of said reports. JOHN WORRALL. Bell-yard, 24th of June, 1742.

The volume quotes the opinions of all the learned judges England had prior to the date of compilation, and every phase of the law is dealt with. Several

thousand verses are given, and nearly all express law that is as good to-day as it was one hundred and fifty years ago. Here are some of the verses from the volume:

None convict upon appeal shall be
Indicted for the selfsame felony.
Indictments shall not harmed be
By surplusage, if no repugnancy.
But one appeal may be against all
The accessories and the principal.

It is no policy, if you indict,

To recite statutes, lest you misrecite.

On the subject of contempt of court the report says,—

For contempt of court only those

Who're judges of record can fine impose.

If it did,

This is one principle of law that does not hold good in America. justices of the peace would be debarred from assessing fines for contempt. Here is a verse giving a decision credited to Cromwell:

The law which doth a pain enact

For slander of a peer is a general act.

Several verses are devoted to defining what will justify an action for slander. Cutler's opinion is summed up thus:

Bert says,

For scand'lous articles to tie,

To good behavior, action will not lie.

Action lies whene'er the words are such

As they his life on whom they're spoke may touch.

Barham, one of the noted jurists of the time, said,—

Where words will yield a milder sense,

An innuendo shall not make the offence.

Davis probably made the rule more clear than any of them when he said,—

For slander action will not lie

Unless some temp'ral loss incur thereby.

Several of the learned judges quoted in the verse of the volume lay down some law for London :

Sue not in the Court of Aldermen ;
A prohibition for't,

says one, and another holds that

Administrators debts must pay

On simple contract, London customs say.

The famous rule in Shelley's case is thus given:

Where ancestors a freehold take,

The words (his heirs) a limitation make.

Among the decisions relating to ordinances and by-laws is one that speaks some sound sense. It is,

By-laws made by inhabitants of ville,

For publick, good; for private, ill.

Grammar, anatomy, literature, and history are illustrated in these concluding examples:

GRAMMAR IN RHYME.

Three little words you often see

Are articles, a, an, and the.

A noun's the name of anything:
As, school or garden, hoop or swing.

Adjectives tell the kind of noun;
As, great, small, pretty, white, or brown.
Instead of nouns the pronouns stand:
Her head, his face, your arm, his hand.
Verbs tell of something being done :
To read, count, sing, laugh, jump, or run.
How things are done the adverbs tell;
As, slowly, quickly, ill or well.
Conjunctions join the words together;
As, men and women, wind or weather.
The preposition stands before

A noun; as, in or through a door.
The interjection shows surprise;

As, oh! how pretty! ah! how wise!

The whole are called nine parts of speech,
Which reading, writing, speaking, teach.

THE BONES OF THE BODY.
How many bones in the human face?
Fourteen, when they're all in place.
How many bones in the human head?
Eight, my child, as I've often said.
How many bones in the human ear?
Three in each, and they help to hear.
How many bones in the human spine?
Twenty-six, like a climbing vine.

How many bones in the human chest?
Twenty-four ribs, and two of the rest.
How many bones in the shoulder bind?
Two in each,-
-one before and behind.
How many bones in the human arm?
In each one, two in each forearm.
How many bones in the human wrist?
Eight in each, if none are missed.

How many bones in the palm of the hand?
Five in each, with many a band.
How many bones in the fingers ten?
Twenty-eight, and by joints they bend.
How many bones in the human hip?
One in each, like a dish they dip.

How many bones in the human thigh?

One in each, and deep they lie.

How many bones in the human knees?

One in each, the kneepan, please.

How many bones from the leg to the knee?

Two in each, we can plainly see.

How many bones in the ankle strong?

Seven in each, but none are long.

How many bones in the ball of the foot?
Five in each, as the palms were put.

How many

bones in the toes half a score?

Twenty-eight, and there are no more.

And now altogether these many bones fix,
And they count in the body two hundred and six.

And then we have the human mouth,

Of upper and under, thirty-two teeth.

And now and then have a bone, I should think,
That forms on a joint or to fill up a chink,-
A sesamoid bone, or a wormian, we call;
And now we may rest, for we've told them all.

FIRST TWENTY-ONE PRESIDENTS.

First stands the lofty Washington,
That noble, great, immortal one.
The elder Adams next we see,
And Jefferson comes number three.
The fourth is Madison, you know,
The fifth one on the list, Monroe.
The sixth an Adams comes again,
And Jackson seventh in the train.
Van Buren eighth upon the line,
And Harrison counts number nine.
The tenth is Tyler, in his turn,
And Polk the eleventh, as we learn.
The twelfth is Taylor that appears,
The thirteenth Fillmore fills his years.
Then Pierce comes fourteenth into view;
Buchanan is the fifteenth due.
Now Lincoln comes two terms to fill,
But God o'errules the people's will,
And Johnson fills the appointed time
Cut short by an assassin's crime.
Next Grant assumes the lofty seat,
The man who never knew defeat.
Two terms to him; then Hayes succeeds,
And quietly the nation leads.

Garfield comes next, the people's choice;
But soon ascends a mourning voice
From every hamlet in the land.

A brutal wretch with murderous hand
Strikes low the country's chosen chief,

And anxious millions, plunged in grief,

Implore in vain Almighty aid

That Death's stern hand might still be stayed

Arthur's term was then begun,

Which made the number twenty-one.

EARLY ROMAN KINGS.

Romulus founded the city:
Numa Pompilius then

Founded the Roman religion,
Striving to elevate men.

Tullus Hostilius, warrior,
Had a belligerent reign;
With Ancus Marcius, ditto,

The Latins contended in vain.

Tarquin the Elder, succeeding,
Built the great circus and sewer;
Servius Tullius, needing

A census, the same did procure,

But a prince soon after committed
A crime that could not be allowed;
And the Roman monarchy ended
By expelling Tarquin the Proud.

Sovereigns OF ENGLAND.

First William the Norman,
Then William his son;
Henry, Stephen, and Henry,
Then Richard and John;
Next Henry the third,

Edwards one, two, and three,
And again after Richard
Three Henrys we see.

Two Edwards, third Richard,
If rightly I guess:

Two Henrys, sixth Edward,
Queen Mary, Queen Bess.
Then Jamie the Scotchman,
Then Charles whom they slew,
Yet received after Cromwell

Another Charles too.

Next James the second
Ascended the throne;

Then good William and Mary
Together came on.

Till, Anne, Georges four,

And fourth William all past,
God sent Queen Victoria:

May she long be the last!

Memory. Though lost to sight, to memory dear. No question is more frequently asked-and answered-than the origin of this quotation. But although the answers are frequent enough, they are always wrong whenever they attempt to clear up the mystery. Probably every one who keeps a scrap-book has treasured away the information, which went the round of the newspapers in 1870, and still goes marching on, that this was the refrain of a poem by Ruthven Jenkins, which appeared in the Greenwich Review for Marines in 1701 or 1702. No such monthly was ever published, in Greenwich or elsewhere; and, indeed, the word "Marines" should have warned the most unwary of a possible hoax. The truth is, the very weak song was deliberately composed (it is said, in Cleveland, Ohio) to lead up to the famous line. It consists of two stanzas, of which the following is the first :

Sweetheart, good-by! that fluttering sail

Is spread to waft me far from thee,
And soon before the favoring gale
My ship shall bound upon the sea.
Perchance, all desolate and forlorn,
These eyes shall miss thee many a year;
But unforgotten every charm—

Though lost to sight, to memory dear.

As late as 1880 this song was republished, in good faith, in London, but the hoax had been exposed seven years before in Notes and Queries. Bartlett's Familiar Quotations" ascribes the line to George Linley (1798–1865), the author of a song beginning,

Though lost to sight, to memory dear

Thou ever wilt remain;

One only hope my heart can cheer,-
The hope to meet again.

The song was composed for and sung by Augustus Braham, probably about 1840. It was set to music and published in London in 1848. But the quotation was a proverb in common use at least as early as 1826, for in the Monthly Magazine for January, 1827 ("Letter on Affairs in General from a Gentleman in Town to a Gentleman in the Country"), it is given as a familiar axiom, and F. C. H., writing to Notes and Queries in 1871, says, "I can safely aver that it is much older than 1828, as I knew it many years before that date."

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