Colonel
Watson's papers; and then to ascertain whether this and what other
writings of Simpson's are amongst them. A _really good_ work on the
mathematical theory of bridges, if such is ever to exist, has yet to be
published. It is, at the same time, very likely that his great
originality, and his wonderful sagacity in all his investigations, would
not fail him in this; and possibly a better work on the subject was
composed ninety years ago than has yet seen the light--involving,
perhaps, the germs of a totally new and more effective method of
investigation.

I have, I fear, already trespassed too far upon your space for a single
letter; and will, therefore, defer my notice of a few other desiderata
till a future day.

T.S.D.

Shooter's Hill, Dec. 15. 1849.

* * * * *

SONG IN THE STYLE OF SUCKLING--THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.

The song in your second number, furnished by a correspondent, and
considered to be in the style {134} of Suckling, is of a class common
enough in the time of Charles I. George Wither, rather than Suckling, I
consider as the head of a race of poets peculiar to that age, as "Shall
I wasting in Despair" may be regarded as the type of this class of
poems. The present instance I do not think of very high merit, and
certainly not good enough for Suckling. Such as it is, however, with a
few unimportant variations, it may be found at page 101. of the 1st vol.
of _The Hive, a Collection of the most celebrated Songs_. My copy is the
2nd edit. London, 1724.

I will, with your permission, take this opportunity of setting Mr. Dyce
right with regard to a passage in the _Two Noble Kinsmen_, in which he
is only less wrong than all his predecessors. It is to be found in the
second scene of the fourth act, and is as follows:--

"Here Love himself sits smiling:
Just such another wanton Ganymede
Set Jove afire with," &c.

One editor proposed to amend this by inserting the normative "he" after
"Ganymede;" and another by omitting "with" after "afire." Mr. Dyce saw
that both these must be wrong, as a comparison between two wanton
Ganymedes, one of which sat in the coutenance of Arcite, could never
have been intended;--another, something, if not Ganymede, was wanted,
and he, therefore, has this note:--"The construction and meaning are,
'With just such another _smile_ (which is understood from the preceding
'smiling') wanton Ganymede set Jove afire." When there is a choice