Your correspondent was not mistaken in his belief that he had met with an imperfect transcript of this prose, for the original consists not of "twenty-seven," but of _fifty-seven_ lines. I may add that I do not remember to have found the text more correctly given than in the beautiful folio missal of the church of Augsburg, partly printed on vellum in 1555 (fol. 466. b.). R.G. The _Dies Iræ_ is truly said by Mr. SPARROW SIMPSON (Vol. ii., p. 72.) to be an extremely beautiful hymn. Who was its author is very doubtful, but the probabilities are in favour of Thomas de Celano, a Minorite friar, who lived during the second half of the fourteenth century. It consists of nineteen strophes, each having three lines. Bartholomew of Pisa, A.D. 1401, in his _Liber Conformitatum_, speaks of it; but the earliest printed book in which I have ever seen this hymn, is the _Missale Romanum_, printed at Pavia, A.D. 1491, in 8vo., a copy of which I have in my possession. D. ROCK. Buckland, Faringdon. * * * * * DR. SAMUEL OGDEN. In reply to your correspondent TWYFORD (Vol. ii., p. 73.), the original of the common surname _Ogden_ is doubtless Oakden. A place so called is situated in Butterworth, Lancashire, and gave name to a family,--possibly extinct in the sixteenth century. A clergymam, whose name partook both of the original and its corruption, was vicar of Bradford, 1556, viz Dus Tho. _Okden_. The arms and crest borne by the Oakdens were both allusive to the name, certainly without any reference to King Charles's hiding-place. Dr. Samuel Ogden, born in 1716 at Winchester, was the son of Thomas Ogden, a man of very humble origin: but he had the merit of giving a liberal education to one whose natural talents well deserved culture; and both his parents, in the decline of life, owed their support to Ogden's filial piety and affection. Cole is quite mistaken in fixing the father's residence at Mansfield, and in stating that he had been in the army. The monument, spoken of by Cole, is not at Mansfield, but in the cathedral of Manchester: nor is it a memorial of Dr. Ogden. It was placed by him in memory of his _father_. Ogden was buried in his own church, St. Sephlchre's, Cambridge. The following epigram, it is believed, has not been printed. It is transcribed from a letter in my possession, addressed by the first Lord Alvanley, when at college, to his former tutor, Mr. Thyer, editor of _Butler's Remains_:-- "When Ogden his prosaic verse In Latin numbers drest, The Roman language prov'd too weak To stand the Critic's test. "To English Rhyme he next essay'd, To show he'd some pretence; But ah! Rhyme only would not do-- They still expected Sense. "Enrag'd, the Doctor said he'd place In Critics no reliance, So wrapt his thoughts in Arabic, And bad them all defiance." J.H. MARKLAND. * * * * * {106}