"THE GOOD OLD CAUSE" (6th S. ii. 306, 437, 478; iii. 237, 317).—I have long had in my memory the "verse of a ballad" quoted by MR. PICKFORD, and certainly less than "forty years ago" possessed, or read, the entire ballad, but now, unhappily, can recall only the verse already quoted. Will any reader of "N. & Q." favour me with a copy of the ballad, or state where it can be found? GEORGE JULIAN HARNEY.

Cambridge, near Boston, U.S.

"WAS" USED FOR "WERE" (6th S. iii. 287). -This collocation is probably due, as ANON. suggests, to the social degradation of the word thou. When "thou wast" had ceased to be polite and proper and "ye were" had disappeared, the plural you was adopted as a singular, and the singular was grew on to it by way of showing that the you was not plural. This, at least, is my own feeble, and possibly futile, theory. Anyhow, the phrase is good eighteenth century English, and may be found in the writings not only of William Law but of many other educated people, including that extremely fastidious personage, Horace Walpole. I should not be surprised if it were shown to exist in early nineteenth century authors too, such as Walter Scott; and, thank goodness, it survives in full vigour among the English who do not write. They still say, "What was you a-doing of?" with a just confidence that their native tongue entitles them so to do. A. J. M.

I was lately in the company of two elderly Scotch ladies of education, who used, and commonly use, the word "was" for "were" when in connexion with the pronoun you. One of these ladies was from the west and the other from the east of Scotland; and I infer that, in common with many other old fashions, this custom of good society lingered longer in the north than here. The father of one of them, my grandfather, was in the habit, so lately as 1842, of marking the German Umlaut over the letter u in his correspondence. W. C. J. "FORTHLOT" OR "FORLOT" (6th S. iii. 289).Conf. Cowel's Interpreter under Forlet land. R. S. CHARNOCK. Junior Garrick.

"DUTCH COURAGE" (6th S. iii. 289).-This is an ironical expression, dating its origin as far back as 1745, and conveys a sneering allusion to the conduct of the Dutch at the battle of Fontenoy. At the commencement of the engagement the onslaught of the English allied army promised victory, but the Dutch betook themselves to an ignominious flight. WILLIAM PLATT.

published by Bell & Sons, York Street, Covent Garden, in August, 1879. As a subscriber to the work I can safely say that the time which this single volume has already saved me might almost be computed by days instead of hours.

J. PAUL RYLANDS. JAMES AUGUSTUS ST. JOHN (6th S. iii. 429).— He died Sept. 22, 1875. There is a memoir of him in Men of the Time, ninth edition, 1875, pp. 875-6. FREDERIC Boase.

15, Queen Anne's Gate, Westminster.

DR. BELL AND MR. LANCASTER (6th S. iii. 306, 417).-Bell's system and Lancaster's were not identical. Bell was a D.D. and Joseph Lancaster, who founded the Lancasterian (not Lancastrian) system, was a Quaker. Lancastrian would indicate connexion with the county, which might lead to mistakes.

P. P.

(6th S. iii. 409, 438).

"The king may forget," &c.

ESTE'S quotation from Burns, as the original of this passage, is not quite accurate. In the first line "mither" and "bairn" should be mother and child, and in the fourth line "all" should be a' The second correction is imdid not intend the first and third lines to rhyme with portant, since a reference to the poem shows that Burns each other, and therefore purposely used "child" instead of "bairn" in this stanza, on account of "Glencairn " following. It will also be observed that he uses the Lowland Scotch forms but sparingly throughout the piece. C. S. JERRAM.

Miscellaneous.

NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.

Three Fifteenth Century Chronicles. Edited by James Gairdner. (Camden Society)

Register of the Visitors of the University of Oxford, 16471658. Edited by Montagu Burrows, M.A., Chichele Professor of Modern History in the University. (Same Society.)

work to the support of our readers. It is no small service to have rendered to the cause of historical studies in this country that this now, we may say, venerable publishing society should have gone on year by year placing in the hands of the student materials hitherto inedited. or, at least, imperfectly edited-thus, as it were, bringing history to our own doors, and compelling us to its study. The two latest issues of the Camden Society appeal to somewhat different classes of readers. Mr. Gairdner gathers together for us what may be called disjecta membra of fifteenth century history, relics of John Stowe, and quaint touches of contemporary light on the days when "great frays" between the City of London and the "men of court" were so numerous that many remain unrecorded. The fifteenth century is a very important and interesting period in the history of Western Europe. Standing, as it does, between the dying world of the middle ages-all unconscious how mortally that world was stricken-and the world of the New Learning, the modern world to which we belong, it is not too much to say that he who brings us any additional fragment of information concerning its history deserves well of the Republic of Letters. The Chichele Professor of Modern History has done an excellent work, alike in his carefully annotated transcript of the Register of the Puritan Visitation, and in the historical essay which he has prefixed to it. Those who know anything of the Oxford of the present day will know how long and how unweariedly Prof. Burrows has laboured in the field of seventeenth century history, both in Church and State. Studying to make us understand the times and the men with whom he has to bring us in contact, the editor of the Register warns us to think for ourselves, to keep ourselves from being persuaded by partisan accounts on either side, and himself holds the balance right honestly between Churchman and Presbyterian, Conformist and Nonconformist. The times when a Vice-Chancellor of the University might have to appear, like Owen, as a member of the "Church Militant," with sword and pistol instead of cap and gown, are happily gone, it may well be hoped, never to return. But the times when Latin was still the daily language of official life are also gone; and gone, too, we suspect, is that intimate knowledge of Greek which enabled Conant frequently to dispute in it. Other branches of learning have come to the front, other manners and customs have succeeded to those of the days of Owen and Reynolds, "incomparable" Dr. Fell, and loyal Sir Leoline Jenkins. Yet is the continuity of the life of our ancient universities unbroken, both in itself and as a part of the life of the nation. The history of that life, at so critical a time as that during which it is here told for us by Prof. Burrows, is well worthy of the most careful study. We wish long life to the Camden Society and many more euch valuable publications.

Pre-Socratic Philosophy. By Dr. E. Zeller. Translated by S. F. Alleyne. 2 vols. (Longmans & Co.) MISS ALLEYNE has done most useful work in giving to the English public this translation of Zeller's PreSocratic Philosophy. At the same time, we regret that this part of the professor's Philosophie der Griechen, which contains the general introduction to the whole subject, should have been issued subsequently to portions dealing with later periods. The work will fully confirm the high reputation which Dr. Zeller has already earned for perseverance. diligence in research, and width of treatment. He touches his subject with the firm hand of a master, and evolves order out of the chaos of early philosophy with admirable clearness and critical power. He begins by discussing the Oriental origin of Greek

philosophy, and rejects this theory of its development as improbable. He derives it rather from such natural sources as the religion, moral life, social and political conditiors of Greece. and the early cosmologies of Hesiod and others. He divides Greek philosophy into three periods, the second of which begins with Socrates and ends with Aristotle. Though it may be true that history recognizes no such divisions, the student is always grateful for such resting-places, artificial though they often are, for the assistance which they afford to memory. Pre-Socratic philosophy commences with Thales and falls into four schools, the Ionian, the Pythagorean, the Eleatic, and the Sophistic. With the theories of each of these schools the professor has dealt in a masterly manner in the two volumes now before us. The four schools have the common element that their philosophy was a philosophy of nature, for though the Sophistic school renounced the physical explanation of nature, they never had anything higher than nature to work upon. Some writers have assigned to each of these schools a distinct scope of inquiry, while the Sophists, by breaking down the exclusive science, prepared the way for more comprehensive treatment. Dr. Zeller prefers to treat the Ionians, Pythagoreans, and Eleatics as closely united not only in point of time, but in scientific character. He shows that they each directed inquiry into the explanation of nature, and searched for the substantial ground of things. The Ionians sought this substance in corporeal matter, the Pythagoreans in number, the Eleatics in being as such. In other words, the Ionians regarded nature sensuously, the Pythagoreans mathematically, and the Eleatics metaphysically. The standpoint of the three schools, in fact, illustrates the passage from the concrete to the abstract, since number is only a middle term. In the course of these two volumes Dr. Zeller has to treat of some of the subtlest questions which have perplexed the human intellect, and the work is one of the greatest interest. The translation appears to be admirably done; it is idiomatic, clear, and, in the highest sense of the word, faithful.

Of the Imitation of Christ. By Thomas à Kempis. (C. Kegan Paul & Co.)

THE treatise De Imitatione Christi, if the popularity of books may be inferred from the extent and continuance of their circulation, is incomparably the most popular of uninspired writings. That the book was written either in the fourteenth century or at the commencement of the fifteenth is an undoubted fact, and internal evidence seems to prove that its author was a monk. Beyond this the origin of the work is shrouded in mystery. The principal claimants to the honour of its authorship are three: Thomas Hammerchen, or Malleolus, a canon of Mont St. Agnes, in the neighbourhood of Kempen and diocese of Cologne; John Gerson, the "very Christian doctor," Chancellor of the University of Paris, and the moving spirit of the reforming movement at the Councils of Pisa and of Constance; and John Gersen, abbot of the monastery of St. Stephen at Verceil. It has been doubted whether this last person ever existed, though his name occurs in the Benedictine menology, and some have supposed that he was created to meet the chronological difficulty which stood in the way of Chancellor Gerson. The claims of these candidates were disputed with such vehemence that in the seventeenth century the Prevôt of Paris considered the discussion dangerous to the peace of that excitable city, and forbade the further shedding of ink in the cause of either claimant. A council, at which Mabillon was present, confirmed the claim of Gerson to the authorship of the treatise; a second assembly, over which Du Cange presided, regarded his title with suspicion; and finally both parties were

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