"
And goes on to tell how Long Lonkin crept in at "one little window"
which was left unfastened, and was counselled by the wicked maiden to--
"Prick the babe in the cradle"
as the only means of bringing down the poor mother, whom he wished to
kill.
Are there any other traditions of him, and can he have any connection
with the name bestowed by children on the middle finger, in the
following elegant rhyme?--
"Tom Thumbkin,
Will Wilkins,
Long Lonkin," &c.?
This I had always supposed merely to refer to the length of the finger,
but the coincidence of names is curious.
SELEUCUS.
* * * * *
REPLIES.
TREATISE OF EQUIVOCATION.
I can now inform you that the MS. _Treatise of Equivocation_, about
which J.M. inquired (Vol. i., p. 263.), is preserved in the Bodleian
Library (Laud, _Miscellaneous MSS. 655_.). Dodd, in his _Church History_
(vol. ii. pp. 381. 428.), under the names Blackwell and Francis Tresham,
mentions the work by its second title, _A Treatise against Lying and
fraudulent Dissimulation_, and states that the MS. is in the Bodleian.
Through the kindness of Dr. Baudinel, I have seen the tract; and as
there is a certain historical interest attached to it, some information
on the subject may be acceptable to your readers.
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