Charles I. at Little Woolford._--There is an ancient house at Little
Woolford (in the {220} southeast corner of Warwickshire) connected with
which is a tradition that Charles I., after the battle of Edge Hill, which
is not far distant, secreted himself in an oven there. This oven is
preserved for the inspection of the curious.

B. H. C.

_Coincidences between Sir Thomas Browne and Bishop Ken._--Sir Thomas Browne
wrote his _Religio Medici_ in 1533-5; and in it suggested some familiar
verses of the "Evening Hymn" of his brother Wykehamist Bishop Ken. The
lines are as follows:

_Sir Thomas Browne._

"Guard me 'gainst those watchful foes,
Whose eyes are open, while mine close;
Let no dreams my head infest,
But such as Jacob's temples blest:
Sleep is a death: oh, make me try,
By sleeping, what it is to die!
And as gently lay my head
On my grave, as now my bed.
Howe'er I rest, great God, let me
Awake again at last with Thee."

_Bishop Ken._

"Let no ill dreams disturb my rest;
No powers of darkness me molest.
Teach me to live, that I may dread
The grave as little as my bed:
Teach me to die, that so I may
Rise glorious at the awful day.
Oh, may my soul on Thee repose,
And with sweet sleep mine eyelids close;
Sleep that may me more vigorous make,
To serve my God when I awake."

I have never seen this curious coincidence noticed by any of the good
bishop's biographers, Hawkins, Bowles, or Mr. Anderdon.

MACKENZIE WALCOTT, M.A.

_The English School of Painting._--In a note to a volume of poems by Victor
Hugo, published in 1836, occur these remarks:

"M. Louis Boulanger, a qui ces deux ballades sont dediees, s'est place
bien jeune au premier rang de cette nouvelle generation de peintres,
qui promet d'elever notre ecole au niveau des magnifiques ecoles
d'Italie, d'Espagne, de Flandre, et d'Angleterre."

Does this praise of the English school of painting show a correct
appreciation of its claims to distinction? or am I in error in supposing,
as I have done, that our school of painting is not entitled to the pompous
epithet of "magnifique," nor to be named in the same category with the
Italian, Spanish, and Flemish schools? I am aware of the hackneyed and
somewhat hyperbolical employment, by French writers and speakers, of such
terms as _magnifique_, _superbe_, _grandiose_; and that they do not convey
to a French ear the same idea of superiority