_Eulenspiegel--Murner's Visit to England._--Are any of your
correspondents acquainted with the history and literature of the German
tales {358} which go under the name of _Till Eulenspiegel_? I am
searching to find out which are the English translations, but have only
succeeded to trace two. The oldest is a very curious black-letter volume
in small 4to. in the British Museum, C. 21. c/5, formerly in the
possession of Mr. Garrick, as appears from Bishop Percy ("Dissertation
on the Origin of the British Stage," _Reliques_, vol. i. p. 134., ed.
1812). It is entitled, "Here begynneth a merye Jest of a man that was
called Howleglas, and of many marucylous thinges and Jestes that he dyd
in his lyfe, in Eastlande and in many other places." Colophon:
"Imprynted at London in Tamestrete at the Vintre on the thre Craned
wharfe by Wylliam Copland."
Of the second I have only a reference of the title: _The German Rogue,
or the Life of Till Eulenspiegel_, 1709.
I am also anxious to learn whether there are any more notices about the
visit of Thomas Murner, the author of the German _Eulenspiegel_, in
England, besides that in a letter of Thomas More to Cardinal Wolsey in
the _State Papers_, vol. i. p. 125.
~alpha~.
_Aged 116._--When your correspondents were all in a state of excitement
about the old Countess of Desmond, I ventured to ask for proof that some
person had, within the age of registers, insurance offices, and legal
proof, ever lived to 150, or even to within twenty or thirty years of
that age. No answer was given, no such proof offered; all our clever
actuaries were silent. The newspapers now report one such mitigated
case:
"_Singular Longevity._--The Irish papers announce the recent
death of Mrs. Mary Power, widow of J. Power, Esq., and aunt of
the late Right Hon. R. L. Sheil, at the Ursuline Convent, Cork,
at the advanced age of 116 years."
If this story be true, there can be no difficulty in proving it. The
lady was not an obscure person, whose antecedents are unknown. Will some
one connected with the Ursuline Convent, or Mr. Sheil's family,
obligingly tell us where the lady was born, and produce the register of
her birth--give us, in brief, _legal_ evidence that she was born in the
year 1737.