to an inquiry (1st S. xi. p. 206) as to the age and author of the old nursery hymn,
Gentle Jesus, meek and mild,
Look upon a little child,
Pity my simplicity,
And suffer me to come to Thee.
to which at page 313 Mr. W. J. Bernhard Smith wrote as follows:—
"The nursery hymn is probably in part derived from the Paternostre blanche, pour aller infalliblement en Paradis," to be found in the Enchiridion Papæ Leonis, Romæ, mdclx., which, absurd and almost profane as it is, I quote for his information, as the work which contains it is by no means common—
"Petite Patenôtre blanche que Dieu fit, que Dieu dit, que Dieu mit en Paradis. Au soir m'allant coucher, je trouvis trois anges à mon lit couchés, un aux pieds, deux au chevet, la bonne Vierge Marie au milìeu, qui me dit que je me couchis, que rien ne doutis.
"Le bon Dieu est mon Pere, la bonne Vierge ma Mere, les trois apôtres sont mes Freres, les trois Vierges sont mes Sœurs. La chemise où Dieu fut né, mon corps en est enveloppé; la croix Sainte Marguerite à ma poitrine est écrite; Madame s'en va sur les champs à Dieu pleurant, rencontrit Monsieur Saint Jean. Monsieur Saint Jean, d'où venez vous? Je viens d'Ave Salus. Vous n'avez point vu le bon Dieu; si est, il est dans l'arbre de la croix, les pieds pendans, les mains clouans, un petit chapeaux d'épine blanche sur la tête.
"Qui la dira trois fois, au soir, trois fois au matin, gagnera le Paradis à la fin."Of this book, quoted by Mr. Smith, another correspondent P P.P. in the same volume, p. 511, gives a very interesting notice; from which it appears that it was first published at Rome in Latin in 1502, and was several times reprinted and early translated into French, in which language it has passed through many editions. It consists of a collection of prayers, many of which are those used by the Church, but for the most part burlesqued or disfigured and adopted for the purposes of sorcery as practised in the Middle Ages; among whom the book held the rank of a text-book; while it enjoyed great popu-
