{421}

NOTES AND QUERIES:

A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC.

"When found, make a note of."—CAPTAIN CUTTLE.

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No. 183.] SATURDAY, APRIL 30. 1853. [Price Fourpence. Stamped Edition 5d.

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CONTENTS.

NOTES:— Page

Proclamation of Henry VIII. against the Possession of Religious Books, by Joseph Burtt 421

Latin: Latiner 423

Inedited Poems, by W. Honeycombe 424

Round Towers of the Cyclades 425

Shakspeare Correspondence, by C. Mansfield Ingleby, &c. 426

General Monk and the University of Cambridge 427

MINOR NOTES:—Curiosities of Railway Literature— Cromwell's Seal—Rhymes upon Places—Tom Track's Ghost 427

QUERIES:—

Jacob Bobart and his Dragon, &c., By H. T. Bobart 428

Bishop Berkeley's Portrait, by Dr. J. H. Todd 428

MINOR QUERIES:—Life—"The Boy of Heaven"— Bells—Captain Ayloff—Robert Johnson—Selling a Wife— Jock of Arden—Inigo Jones—Dean Boyle—Euphormio— Optical Query—Archbishop King—Neal's Manuscripts— Whence the Word "Cossack?"—Picts' Houses and Argils— The Drummer's Letter—The Cardinal Spider—New England Genealogical Society, &c. 429

MINOR QUERIES WITH ANSWERS:—Dr. John Harcliffe, Dr. Wm. Cokayne, Dr. Samuel Kettilby—"Haulf Naked" 431

REPLIES:—

The Legend of Lamech: Hebrew Etymology, by H. Walter, T. J. Buckton, and Joseph Rix 432

Lord Coke's Charge to the Jury 433

White Roses, by James Crossley 434

Burial of Unclaimed Corpse 435

Psalmanazar, by James Crossley 435

Grafts and the Parent Tree 436

PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE:—Glass Baths—Securing Calotype Negatives 437

REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES:—Wood of the Cross—Bishops' Lawn Sleeves—Inscriptions in Books—Lines quoted by Charles Lamb—Parochial Libraries—Huet's Navigations of Solomon—Derby Municipal Seal—Annueller—Rev. Richard Midgley, Vicar of Rochdale—Nose of Wax—Canongate Marriages—Sculptured Emaciated Figures—Do the Sun's Rays put out the Fire?—Spontaneous Combustion—Ecclesia Anglicana—Wyle Cop—Chaucer—Campvere, Privileges of—Sir Gilbert Gerard—Mistletoe—Wild Plants and their Names—Coninger or Coningry 437

MISCELLANEOUS:—

Notes on Books, &c. 441

Books and Odd Volumes wanted 442

Notices to Correspondents 442

Advertisements 442

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Notes.

PROCLAMATION OF HENRY VIII. AGAINST THE POSSESSION OF RELIGIOUS BOOKS.

The progress of the Reformation in England must have been greatly affected by the extent to which the art of printing was brought to bear upon the popular mind. Before the charms of Anne Boleyn could have had much effect, or "doubts" had troubled the royal conscience, Wolsey had been compelled to forbid the introduction or printing of books and tracts calculated to increase the unsettled condition of the faith.

The following proclamation, now for the first time printed, may have originated in the ineffectual result of the cardinal's directions. The readers of Strype and Fox will see that the threats which both contain were no idle ones, and that men were indeed "corrected and punisshed for theyr contempte and disobedience, to the terrible example of other lyke trangressours."

The list of books prohibited by the order of 1526 contains all those mentioned by name in the present proclamation, except the Summary of Scripture; and it will be seen that such full, general terms are used that no obnoxious production could escape, if brought to light. The Revelation of Antichrist was written by Luther.

Strype does not seem to have been aware of the existence of this particular proclamation, which was issued in the year 1530. Under the year 1534 (Ecclesiastical Memorials, &c., Oxford, 1822, vol. i. part i. p. 253.), he thus refers to what he thought to be the first royal proclamation upon the subject:

"Much light was let in among the common people by the New Testament and other good books in English, which, for the most part being printed beyond sea, were by stealth brought into England, and dispersed here by well-disposed men. For the preventing the importation and using of these books, the king this year issued out a strict proclamation, by the petition of the clergy now met in Convocation, in the month of December.

"Nor was this the first time such books were prohibited to be brought in: for us small quantities of them were secretly conveyed into these parts from time to time, for the discovering, in that dark age, the {422} gross papal innovations, as well in the doctrine of the Sacrament as in image-worship, addressing to saints, purgatory, pilgrimages, and the like.

"A previous order (in the year 1526) was issued by the Bishop of London, by the instigation of Cardinal Wolsey, calling in all English translations of the Scripture. And other books of this nature were then forbid."

This proclamation, therefore, well merits preservation in your pages, as one of the hitherto unknown "evidences" of the terrible and trying times to which it refers.

It shows, too, the value of the class of papers upon which the Society of Antiquaries are bestowing so much attention. The original was found among a miscellaneous collection in the Chapter House, Westminster.

JOSEPH BURTT.

A PROCLAMATION.

... nse Junii Anno regni metuendissimi Domini nostri Regis Henrici Octavi xxij.

A PROCLAMATION, made and divysed by the Kyngis Highnes, with the advise of His Honorable Counsaile, for dampning of erronious bokes and heresies, and prohibitinge the havinge of Holy Scripture translated into the vulgar tonges of englische, frenche, or duche, in suche maner as within this proclamation is expressed.

The Kinge, oure most dradde soveraigne lorde, studienge and providynge dayly for the weale, benefite, and honour of this his most [n]oble realme, well and evidently perceiveth, that partly through the malicious suggestion of our gostly enemy, partly by the yvell and perverse inclination and sedicious disposition of sundry persons, divers heresies and erronio[us] [o]pinions have ben late sowen and spredde amonge his subjectes of this his said realme, by blasphemous and pestiferous englishe bokes, printed in other regions and sent into this realme, to the entent as well to perverte and withdrawe the people from the catholike and true fayth of Christe, as also to stirre and incense them to sedition and disobedience agaynst their princes, soveraignes, and heedes, as also to cause them to contempne and neglect all good lawes, customes, and vertuous maners, to the final subversion and desolacion of this noble realme, if they myght have prevayled (which God forbyd) in theyr most cursed [p]ersuasions and malicious purposes. Where upon the kynges hignes (sic), by his incomparable wysedome, forseinge and most prudently considerynge, hath invited and called to hym the primates of this his gracis realme, and also a sufficient nombre of discrete, vertuous, and well-lerned personages in divinite, as well of either of the universites, Oxforde and Cambrige, as also hath chosen and taken out of other parties of his realme; gyvinge unto them libertie to speke and declare playnly their advises, judgmentes, and determinations, concernynge as well the approbation or rejectynge of suche bokes as be in any parte suspected, as also the admission and divulgation of the Olde and Newe Testament translated into englishe. Wher upon his highnes, in his owne royall person, callynge to hym the said primates and divines, hath seriously and depely, with great leisure and longe deliberation, consulted, debated, inserched, and discussed the premisses: and finally, by all their free assentes, consentes, and agrementes, concluded, resolved, and determyned, that these bokes ensuynge, that is to say, the boke entitled the wicked Mammona, the boke named the Obedience of a Christen Man, the Supplication of Beggars, and the boke called the Revelation of Antichrist, the Summary of Scripture, and divers other bokes made in the englisshe tonge, and imprinted beyonde y^e see, do conteyne in them pestiferous errours and blasphemies; and for that cause, shall from hensforth be reputed and taken of all men, for bokes of heresie, and worthy to be dampned, and put in perpetuall oblivion. The kingis said highnes therfore straitly chargeth and commandeth, all and every his subjectes, of what astate or condition so ever he or they be, as they wyll avoyde his high indignacion and most grevous displeasure, that they from hensforth do not bye, receyve, or have, any of the bokes before named, or any other boke, beinge in the englisshe tonge, and printed beyonde the see, of what matter so ever it be, or any copie written, drawen out of the same, or the same bokes in the frenche or duche tonge. And to the entent that his highnes wylbe asserteyned, what nombre of the said erronious bokes shal be founde from tyme to tyme within this his realme, his highnes therfore chargeth and commaundeth, that all and every person or persones, whiche hath or herafter shall have, any boke or bokes in the englisshe tonge, printed beyonde the see, as is afore written, or any of the sayde erronious bokes in the frenche or duche tonge: that he or they, within fyftene dayes nexte after the publisshynge of this present proclamation, do actually delyver or sende the same bokes and every of them to the bisshop of the diocese, wherin he or they dwelleth, or to his commissary, or els before good testimonie, to theyr curate or parisshe preest, to be presented by the same curate or parisshe preest to the sayd bisshop or his commissary. And so doynge, his highnes frely pardoneth and acquiteth them, and every of them, of all penalties, forfaitures, and paynes, wherin they have incurred or fallen, by reason of any statute, acte, ordinaunce, or proclamation before this tyme made, concernynge any offence or transgression by than commytted or done, by or for the kepynge or holdynge of the sayde bokes.

Forseen and provided alwayes, that they from hensforth truely do observe, kepe, and obey this {423} his present gracis proclamation and commaundement. Also his highnes commaundeth all mayres, sheriffes, bailliffes, constables, bursholders, and other officers and ministers within this his realme, that if they shall happen by any meanes or wayes to knowe that any person or persons do herafter bye, receyve, have, or deteyne any of the sayde erronious bokes, printed or written anywhere, or any other bokes in englisshe tonge printed beyonde the see, or the saide erronious bokes printed or written in the frenche or duche tonge, contrarie to this present proclamation, that they beinge therof well assured, do immediatly attache the said person or persons, and brynge hym or them to the kynges highnes and his most honorable counsayle; where they shalbe corrected and punisshed for theyr contempte and disobedience, to the terrible example of other lyke transgressours.

Moreover his highnes commaundeth, that no maner of person or persons take upon hym or them to printe any boke or bokes in englisshe tonge, concernynge holy scripture, not before this tyme printed within this his realme, untyll suche tyme as the same boke or bokes be examyned and approved by the ordinary of the diocese where the said bokes shalbe printed: And that the printer therof, upon every of the sayde bokes beinge so examyned, do sette the name of the examynour or examynours, with also his owne name, upon the saide bokes, as he will answere to the kynges highnes at his uttermost peryll.

And farthermore, for as moche as it is come to the herynge of our sayde soveraigne lorde the kynge, that reporte is made by dyvers and many of his subjectes, that it were to all men not onely expedyent, but also necessarye, to have in the englisshe tonge bothe the newe testament and the olde, and that his highnes, his noble men, and prelates, were bounden to suffre them so to have it: His highnes hath therfore semblably there upon consulted with the sayde primates ... discrete, and well lerned personages, in divinite forsayde, and by them all it is thought, that it is not necessary th ... to be in the englisshe tonge, and in the handes of the commen people; but that the distrib ... the said scripture ... denyenge therof dependeth onely upon the discretion of the superiours, as ... to the malignite of this present tyme, with the inclination of the people to erroni ... the olde in to the vulgare tonge of englysshe, shulde rather be the occasyon of ... people, than any benfyte or commodite to warde the weale of their soules. And ... e have the holy scripture expouned to them by preachers in theyr sermons, ac ... this tyme, All be it if it shall here after appere to the kynges highnes, that his sa ... rse, erronious, and sedicious opinyons, with the newe testment and the olde, corrup ... ge in printe: And that the same bokes and all other bokes of heresye, as well ... termynate and exiled out of this realme of Englande for ever: his highnes e ... great lerned and catholyke persones, translated in to the englisshe tonge, if it sha[ll] than seme t ... conv ... his highnes at this tyme, by the hoole advise and full determination of all the said primates, and ... discrete and subs ... lerned personages of both universites, and other before expressed, and by the assent of his nobles and others of his moste hon[orab]le Counsayle, wylleth and straytly commaundeth, that all and every person and persones, of what astate, degre, or condition so ever he or they be, whiche hath the newe testament or the olde translated in to englysshe, or any other boke of holy scripture so translated, beynge in printe, or copied out of the bokes nowe beinge in printe, that he or they do immediatly brynge the same boke or bokes, or cause the same to be broughte to the bysshop of the dyocese where he dwelleth, or to the handes of other the sayde persones, at the daye afore limytted, in fourme afore expressed and mencioned, as he wyll avoyde the kynges high indignation and displeasure. And that no person or persons from hensforth do bye, receyve, kepe, or have the newe testament or the olde in the englisshe tonge, or in the frenche or duche tonge, excepte suche persones as be appoynted by the kinges highnes and the bisshops of this his realme, for the correction or amending of the said translation, as they will answere to the kynges highnes at theyr uttermost perils, and wyll avoyde suche punisshement as they, doynge contrary to the purport of this proclamation shall suffre, to the dredefull example of all other lyke offenders.

And his highnes further commaundeth, that all suche statutes, actes and ordinances, as before this tyme have been made and enacted, as well in y^e tyme of his moste gracious reigne, as also in the tyme of his noble progenitours, concernying heresies, and havynge and deteynynge erronyous bokes, contrary and agynst the faythe catholyke, shall immediatly be put in effectuall and due execution over and besyde this present proclamation.

And god save the kynge.

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THO. BERTHELETUS, Regius impressor excusit. Cum privilegio.

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LATIN—LATINER.

It is interesting to note the great variety of significations in which the word Latin has been used. Sometimes it means Italian, sometimes Spanish, sometimes the Romance language. Again, it has been used as synonymous with language, learning, discourse; or to express that a matter is plain and intelligible. {424}

Muratori, in describing the "Cangiamento dell' Lingua Latina nella volgare Italiana," observes,—

"Cosi a poco a poco il volgo di questa bella Provincia [Italia], oltre adottare moltissimi vocaboli forestieri, ando ancora alterando i proprj, cioe i Latini, cambiando le terminazioni delle parole, accorciandole, allungandole, e corrompendole. In somma se ne formo un nuovo Linguaggio, che Volgare si appellava, perche usato dal Volgo d'Italia."—Muratori, Della Perfetta Poesia Italiana, tomo i. p. 6., ed. Venez., 1730.

So Boccaccio, giving an account of the intention of his poem, the "Teseide," writes,—

"Ma tu, o libro, primo al lor cantare Di Marte fai gli affanni sostenuti, Nel vulgar latino mai non veduti,"

where, as in the letter to La Fiammetta, prefixed to this poem, vulgar latino is evidently Italian ("Trovata una antichissima storia ... in latino volgare ... ho ridotta"), and not the Provencal tongue, as Mr. Craik suggests in his Literature and Learning in England, vol. ii. p. 48., where he supposes Boccaccio to have translated from, and not, as is clear, into, latino volgare.

Dante repeatedly uses Latino for Italiano, as in Purgatorio, xi. 58.:

"Io fui Latino, e nato d'un gran Tosco."

And in Inf. xxii. 65.:

"Conosci tu alcun, che sia Latino."

In Paradiso, iii. 63.,

"Si che il raffigurar m' e piu latino,"

latino evidently means easy, clear, plain. "Forse contrario di barbaro, strano," says Volpi, "noi Lombardi in questo significato diciamo ladin." The "discreto latino" of Thomas Aquinas, elsewhere in Paradiso (xii. 144.), must mean "sage discourse." Chaucer, when he invokes the muse, in the proeme to the second book of "Troilus and Creseide," only asks her for rhyme, because, saith he,—

"Of no sentement I this endite, But out of Latine in my tongue it write."

Where "Latine," of course, means Boccaccio's Filostrato, from which Chaucer's poem is taken.

In the "Poema del Cid," latinado seems to mean person conversant with the Spanish or Romance language of the period:

"Quando esta falsedad dicien los de Carrion, Un Moro Latinado bien gelo entendio."—v. 2675.

Mr. Ticknor remarks, that when the Christian conquests were pushed on towards the south of Spain, the Moors, who remained inclosed in the Christian population, and spoke or assumed its language, were originally called Moros Latinados; and refers to the Cronica General, where, respecting Alfaraxi, a Moor, afterwards converted, and a counsellor of the Cid, it is said he was "de tan buen entendimento, e era tan ladino que semejava Christiano."—Ticknor, Hist. Span. Lit., iii. 347.

Cervantes (Don Q. Parte I. cap. xli.) uses ladino to mean Spanish:

"Servianos de interprete a las mas destas palabras y razones el padre de Zoraida como mas ladino."

Latin, in fact, was so much the language as to become almost synonymous with a language. So a Latiner was an interpreter, as it is very well expressed in Selden's Table Talk, art. "Language":

"Latimer is the corruption of Latiner: it signifies he that interprets Latin; and though he interpreted French, Spanish, or Italian, he was the king's Latiner, that is, the king's interpreter."

This use of the word is well illustrated in the following extracts:

"A Knight ther language lerid in youth; Breg hight that Knight, born Bretoun, That lerid the language of Sessoun. This Breg was the Latimer, What scho said told Vortager."—Robert de Brunne's Metrical Chronicle.

"Par soen demein latinier . . . . Icil Morice iert latinier Al rei Dermot, ke mult l'out cher."—Norman-French Chronicle of Conquest of Ireland, edited by F. Michel (as quoted in Wright's Essays, vol. ii. p. 215.).

I here conclude, as I must not seek to monopolise space required for more valuable contributions.

J. M. B.

Tunbridge Wells.

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INEDITED POEMS.

I send you two poems which I have found in a little rough scrap-book of a literary character of last century, and which, not having myself met with in print, I trust you will consider worth preserving in your pages. The one styled "A Scotch Poem on the King and the Queen of the Fairies," has a vein of playful satire running through it, but I do not detect any word which justifies the ascription of its paternity to Scotland. Perhaps some of your readers would oblige me by indicating the source from which this poem has been taken, if it is already in print.

A SCOTCH POEM ON THE KING AND THE QUEEN OF THE FAIRIES.

Upon a time the Fairy Elves, Being first array'd themselves, Thought it meet to clothe their King In robes most fit for revelling.

He had a cobweb shirt more thin Than ever spider since could spin, Bleach'd in the whiteness of the snow, When that the northern winds do blow.

{425} A rich waistcoat they did him bring, Made of the troutfly's golden wing, Dy'd crimson in a maiden's blush, And lin'd in humming-bees' soft plush.

His hat was all of lady's love, So passing light, that it would move If any gnat or humming fly But beat the air in passing by.

About it went a wreath of pearl, Dropt from the eyes of some poor girl, Pinch'd because she had forgot To leave clean water in the pot.

His breeches and his cassock were Made of the tinsel gossamer; Down by its seam there went a lace Drawn by an urchin snail's slow pace.

No sooner was their King attir'd As never prince had been, But, as in duty was requir'd, They next array their Queen.

Of shining thread shot from the sun And twisted into line, In the light wheel of fortune spun, Was made her smock so fine.

Her gown was ev'ry colour fair, The rainbow gave the dip; Perfumed from an amber air, Breath'd from a virgin's lip.

Her necklace was of subtle tye Of glorious atoms, set In the pure black of beauty's eye As they had been in jet.

The revels ended, she put off, Because her Grace was warm; She fann'd her with a lady's scoff, And so she took no harm.

Mrs. Barbauld wrote the following lines on a scroll within a kind of wreath, which hung over the chimney, the whole parlour being decorated with branches of ivy, which were made to run down the walls and hang down every pannel in festoons, at a country place called Palgrave:

Surly Winter, come not here, Bluster in thy proper sphere; Howl along the naked plain; There exert they joyless reign. Triumph o'er the wither'd flow'r, The leafless shrub, the ruin'd bower; But our cottage come not near, Other Springs inhabit here, Other sunshine decks our board Than they niggard skies afford. Gloomy Winter, hence away, Love and fancy scorn they sway; Love, and joy, and friendly mirth Shall bless this roof, these walls, this hearth, The rigor of the year control, And thaw the winter in the soul.

WILL. HONEYCOMBE.

Liverpool.

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ROUND TOWERS OF THE CYCLADES.

On Friday evening, Nov. 19, 1852, a lecture was delivered before the members of the Literary and Scientific Institute of this island, by Capt. Graves, R.N., from which I have been permitted to take the following extract. The information contained in it, will doubtless be the more interesting to many of the reader of "N. & Q.," when informed that the round towers of Greece are fast disappearing; either from being pulled down for the erection of dwellings, or to be burnt into lime, by the Greeks who dwell in their neighbourhood. What the original dimensions of these towers may have been in ancient times, or for what purposes they were erected, are alike unknown; but their present proportions are as follow, and drawn by the learned lecturer from personal observation:

Feet. In. "A. Andros, near the port Height 60 0

B. Zea overlooking Perses Bay { Height 5 5 { Diameter 26 6 { Wall 2 0

C. Thermia { Height 11 0 { Diameter 28 5

D. Serpho { Height 15 0 { Diameter 27 0

E. Beach of Port Pharos { Height 7 0 { Diameter 31 8 { Wall 2 6

F. Hillock, west side of Pharos { Height 16 6 { Diameter 42 10 { Wall 3 0

G. Village of Herampili { Height 15 8 { Diameter 38 3 { Wall 4 to 2 6

H. Valley beyond villages { Height 11 10 { Diameter 33 5 { Wall 4 0

J. Short distance west of Mount Elias { Height 6 0 { Diameter 24 7 { Wall 5 0

K. Between Elias and west coast { Height 6 6 { Diameter 28 0 { Wall 4 0

L. Naxos, south-east end of the island Height 50 0

M. Paros, north, port Naussa. Of this tower only a few courses of the stones are left. It is however supposed to have been of the same dimensions as that of Naxos."

W. W.

Malta.

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{426}

SHAKSPEARE CORRESPONDENCE.

Songs and Rimes of Shakspeare.—I find in Mr. J. P. Collier's History of Dramatic Poetry (a work replete with dramatic lore and anecdote) the following note in p. 275., vol. iii.:

"The Mitre and the Mermaid were celebrated taverns, which the poets, wits, and gallants were accustomed to visit. Mr. Thorpe, the enterprising bookseller of Bedford Street, is in possession of a manuscript full of songs and poems, in the handwriting of a person of the name of Richard Jackson, all copied prior to the year 1631, and including many unpublished pieces, by a variety of celebrated poets. One of the most curious is a song in five seven-line stanzas, thus headed: 'Shakespeare's Rime, which he made at the Mytre in Fleete Streete.' It begins: 'From the rich Lavinian shore;' and some few of the lines were published by Playford, and set as a catch. Another shorter piece is called in the margin,—

'SHAKESPEARE'S RIME.

Give me a cup of rich Canary wine, Which was the Mitres (drink) and now is mine; Of which had Horace and Anacreon tasted, Their lives as well as lines till now had lasted.'

"I have little doubt," adds Mr. Collier, "that the lines are genuine, as well as many other songs and poems attributed to Ben Jonson, Sir W. Raleigh, H. Constable, Dr. Donne, J. Sylvester, and others."

Who was the purchaser of this precious MS.? In this age of Shakspearian research, when every newly discovered relic is hailed with intense delight, may I inquire of some of your numerous readers, who seem to take as much delight as myself in whatever concerns our great dramatist and his writings, whether they can throw any light upon the subject?

Again: "A peculiar interest," Mr. Collier says, "attaches to one of the pieces in John Dowland's First Book of Songs (p. 57.), on account of the initials of 'W. S.' being appended to it, in a manuscript of the time preserved in the Hamburgh City Library. It is inserted in England's Helicon, 4to., 1600, as from Dowland's Book of Tablature, without any name or initials; and looking at the character and language of the piece, it is at least not impossible that it was the work of our great dramatist, to whom it has been assigned by some continental critics. A copy of it was, many years ago, sent to the author by a German scholar of high reputation, under the conviction that the poem ought to be included in any future edition of the works of Shakspeare. It will be admitted that the lines are not unworthy of his pen; and, from the quality of other productions in the same musical work, we may perhaps speculate whether Shakspeare were not the writer of some other poems there inserted. If we were to take it for granted, that a sonnet in The Passionate Pilgrim, 1599, was by Shakspeare, because it is there attributed to him, we might be sure that he was a warm admirer of Dowland,

'whose heavenly touch Upon the lute doth ravish human sense.'

However, it is more than likely, that the sonnet in which this passage is found was by Barnfield, and not by Shakspeare: it was printed by Barnfield in 1598, and reprinted by him in 1605, notwithstanding the intermediate appearance of it in The Passionate Pilgrim."

May I inquire if any new light has been thrown upon this disputed song since the publication of Mr. Collier's Lyric Poems in 1844?

The song is addressed to Cynthia, and, as Mr. Collier says, is not unworthy of Shakspeare's muse. As it is not of any great length, perhaps it may be thought worthy of insertion in "N. & Q."

"TO CYNTHIA.

"My thoughts are wing'd with hopes, my hopes with love; Mount, love, unto the moone in cleerest night, And say, as she doth in the heavens move, In earth so wanes and waxes my delight: And whisper this, but softly, in her eares, Hope oft doth hang the head, and trust shed teares.

"And you, my thoughts, that some mistrust do cary, If for mistrust my mistresse do you blame, Say, though you alter, yet you do not vary, As she doth change, and yet remaine the same. Distrust doth enter hearts, but not infect, And love is sweetest season'd with suspect.

"If she for this with cloudes do maske her eyes, And make the heavens darke with her disdaine, With windie sighes disperse them in the skies, Or with the teares dissolve them into rain. Thoughts, hopes, and love return to me no more, Till Cynthia shine as she hath done before."

J. M. G.

Worcester.

Mr. Collier's "Notes and Emendations:" Passage in "All's Well that Ends Well."—

"O you leaden messengers, That ride upon the violent speed of fire, Fly with false aim; move the still-peering air, That sings with piercing, do not touch my lord!"

Such is the text of the first folio. MR. PAYNE COLLIER, at p. 162. of his Notes and Emendations, informs us that the old corrector of his folio of 1632 reads volant for "violent," wound for "move," and still-piecing for "still-peering."

Two of these substitutions are easily shown to be correct. In the Tempest, Act III. Sc. 3., we read:

"The elements, Of whom your swords are tempered, may as well Wound the loud winds, or with bemockt-at stabs Kill the still-closing waters."

What is still-closing but still-piecing, the silent reunion after severance? What is to wound the loud winds but to wound the air that sings with piercing?

But as to the third substitution, I beg permission through your pages to enter a caveat. If {427} we had no proof from the text of Shakspeare that violent is the correct reading, I fancy that any reader's common sense would tell him that it is more an appropriate and trenchant term than volant. "What judgment would stoop from this to this?" Volant, moreover, is not English, but French, and as such is used in Henry V.; but happily, in this case, we have most abundant evidence from the text of Shakspeare that he wrote violent in the above passage. In Henry VIII., Act I. Sc. 1., we have the passage,

"We may outrun, By violent swiftness, that which we run at, And lose by over-running."

In Othello, Act III. Sc. 3., we have the passage,

"Even so my bloody thoughts, with violent pace, Shall ne'er look back."

These passages prove that violent is a true Shakspearian epithet for velocity. But how exquisitely appropriate is the epithet when applied to the velocity of a ball issuing from the mouth of a cannon: and here we have full confirmation from Romeo and Juliet, Act V. Sc. 1., where we read:

"As violently as hasty powder fir'd Doth hurry from the fatal cannon's womb."

I trust that MR. COLLIER will not, in the teeth of such evidence, substitute volant for violent in correcting the text of his forthcoming edition.

C. MANSFIELD INGLEBY.

Birmingham.

* * * * *

GENERAL MONK AND THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE.

A document has recently come into my possession which may perhaps be deemed worth preserving in the pages of "N. & Q." It is a letter from the University of Cambridge to General Monk, and, from the various corrections which occur in it, it has every appearance of being the original draft. Unfortunately it is not dated; but there can, I presume, be little doubt of its having been written shortly before the assembling of the parliament in April, 1660, which led to the Restoration, and in which Monk sat as member for the county of Devon. The words erased in the original are here placed between parentheses, and those substituted are given in Italics:

My Lord,

As it hath pleased God to make your Excell^{cie} eminently instrumental for the raising up of three gasping and dying nations, into the faire hopes and prospect of peace and settlement, so hath He engraven you (r name) in characters of gratitude upon the hearts of all (true) to whom (cordially wish) the welfare of this church and state (are) is deare and pretious. (Out) From this principle it is that our University of Cambridge hath, with great alacrity and unanimity, made choyse of your Excellency with whom to deposite the(ire) managing of theire concernments in the succeeding Parl^t, w^{ch}, if your Excell^{cy} shall please to admitt into a favourable (interpretation) acceptance, (you will thereby) you will thereby (add) put a further obligation of gratitude upon us all; w^{ch} none shalbe more ready to expresse than he who is

Your Excell^{cies} most humble serv^t, W. D.

[Endorsed] To the L^d General Monk.

Who was "W. D."? Was he the then Vice-Chancellor?

LEICESTRIENSIS.

* * * * *

Minor Notes.

Curiosities of Railway Literature.—Has "Bradshaw" had any reviewers? If not, an example or two from this neighbourhood, of the absurdities which reappear month after month in the time-tables, may show the necessity of them. A Midland train proposes to leave Gloucester at 12.40 p.m., and reach Cheltenham at 1 p.m. The Great Western Company advertise an express train, on the very same line, to leave two minutes later and arrive five minutes earlier. It is therefore obvious, that if these trains were to keep their proper time, the express must run into the slow coach in front. The Great Western Railway Company have also, in a very unassuming manner, been advertising a feat hitherto unparalleled in the annals of railway speed,—the mail from Cheltenham at 8.20 a.m. to leave Gloucester at 8.27; that is to say, seven miles, including starting, slackening speed at two or three "crossings," stopping, starting again, all in seven minutes! Let the narrow gauge beat this if it can.

H. H.

Gloucester.

Cromwell's Seal.—I am in possession of a fine seal; it is a beautiful engraving of the head of Oliver Cromwell, and was once his property: he presented it to a favourite officer, whose nephew, to whom it was bequeathed, gave it to the father of the lady from whom I received it a few years ago. Thus I am in the singular position of being the fifth holder of it from the Protector.

Y. S. M.

Dublin.

Rhymes upon Places.—Buckinghamshire:

"Brill upon the Hill, Oakley in the Hole, Shabby little Ickford, Dirty Worminghall."

H. T.

Ingatestow.

Tom Track's Ghost.—The following piece of metrical romance has dwelt in my memory as long {428} as I have been able to remember. I have never seen it in print, nor heard it, at least for some years, from any one else; and have not been able to discover who wrote it:

"Tom Track he came from Buenos Ayres; And now, thought I, for him who cares: But soon his coming wrought me woe; He misled Poll,—as you shall know. All in the togs that I had bought, With that ere Tom she did consort, Which gave my feelings great concern, And caused a row,—as you shall learn. So then challenge Tom I did; We met, shook hands, and took a quid; I shot poor Tom.—The worse for me; It brought his ghost,—as you shall see. Says he, 'I'm Tom Track's ghost, that's flat.' Says I, 'Now only think on that.' Says he, 'I'm come to torment you now;' Which was hard lines,—as you'll allow. 'So, Master Ghost, belay your jaw; For if on me you claps a claw, My locker yonder will reveal, A tight rope's end, which you shall feel.' Then off his winding-sheet he throwed, And by his trousers Tom I knowed; He wasn't dead; but come to mess, So here's an end,—as you may guess."

The implicatio, the agnitio, and the peripetia are so well worked out, that Aristotle would, I think, be compelled to admit it as an almost perfect specimen of that most ancient kind of drama which was recited by one actor. I refer especially to C. XXII. of the Poetics, which says, that that agnitio is most beautiful which is joined with the peripetia, of which here we have so striking an example. These reasons embolden me to ask if it be worth preserving in "N. & Q," and who was the author?

W. FRASER.

Tor-Mohun.

* * * * *

Queries.

JACOB BOBART AND HIS DRAGON, ETC.

Dr. Zachary Grey, in his edition of Hudibras, vol. i. p. 125., relates the following anecdote:

"Mr. Jacob Bobart, Botany Professor of Oxford, did, about forty years ago (in 1704), find a dead rat in the Physic Garden, which he made to resemble the common picture of dragons, by altering its head and tail, and thrusting in taper sharp sticks, which distended the skin on each side till it mimicked wings. He let it dry as hard as possible. The learned immediately pronounced it a dragon, and one of them sent an accurate description of it to Dr. Maliabechi, Librarian to the Grand Duke of Tuscany: several fine copies of verses were wrote upon so rare a subject, but at last Mr. Bobart owned the cheat: however, it was looked upon as a masterpiece of art, and as such deposited in the anatomy schools (at Oxford), where I saw it some years after."

Can any of the readers of "N. & Q." inform me where I can procure the several fine copies of verses, or where they are to be seen, and any other particulars relating to Jacob Bobart?

Where can I procure copies of the following, mentioned in Wood's Athenae Oxon., vol. iii. p. 757.:

"Poem upon Mr. Jacob Bobards Yew-man of the Guards to the Physic Garden, to the tune of the 'Counter-Scuffle.' Oxon. 1662."

On one side of a sheet of paper.

Also:

"A Ballad on the Gyants in the Physic Garden in Oxon, who have been breeding Feet as long as Garagantua was Teeth."

On one side of a sheet of paper.

H. T. BOBART.

* * * * *

BISHOP BERKELEY'S PORTRAIT.

The following letter may perhaps have some interest in itself; but I send it for insertion in the pages of "N. & Q." in the hope of obtaining some information about the pictures which it mentions. It is addressed on the back, "The Reverend the Provost and Fellows, Dublin College;" and in the corner, "Pr. Favour of The Right Hon. Lord Viscount Molesworth;" and does not appear to have ever passed through the post.

Reverend Sir, and Gentlemen,

My late dear Husband, the Rev. Dr. Berkeley, Prebendary of Canterbury, son of the late Lord Bishop of Cloyne, having most generously appointed me sole executrix of his will, and having bequeathed to me all his fine collection of pictures, &c., I trouble you with this to beg to know whether a very remarkably fine, universally admired portrait of Bishop Berkeley, in his lawn sleeves, &c., painted by that famous artist Vanderbank, which, together with its frame (now much broken by frequent removals), cost five hundred pounds: the back-ground, the frontispiece to his Lordship's Minute Philosopher, and the broken cisterns from the Prophet Jeremiah: "They have hewn them out broken cisterns." The late Archbishop of Canterbury was perpetually entreating Dr. Berkeley to present it to the Gallery of Lambeth Palace, where there is already a very good portrait of Bishop B.—But justice to my dear excellent son, then living, as Dr. B. told his Grace, precluded a possibility of his complying with his request.

If this picture will be an acceptable present to the Rev. the Provost, and the Gentlemen Fellows of the University of Dublin, it is now offered for their acceptance, as a most grateful acknowledgment for the very high honour[1], they were pleased {429} so graciously to confer on his Lordship's only descendant, the late learned accomplished George Monk Berkeley, Esq. (Gentleman Commoner of Magdalene Hall, in the University of Oxon., and student of the Inner Temple, London), from his very sincerely grateful mother.

Some time after the death of his son, Dr. Berkeley told me that at my death he wished the wonderfully fine portrait of his father to be presented to some place of consequence. I immediately replied, "To Dublin College." He said, "They have one already; perhaps it would be well to leave it as an heir-loom to the Episcopal Palace at Cloyne." I said perhaps the gentlemen of Dublin College would prefer this, esteemed one of the very finest pieces of painting in Europe. The face certainly looks more like a fine cast in wax, than a painting on canvas, as numbers of the best judges have always exclaimed on seeing it.

I request Dr. Berkeley's noble relation, the excellent Lord Molesworth, now on a visit in Ireland, to deliver this, and to learn from the Provost and Gentlemen of the University of Dublin, whether it would be agreeable to them to receive this, and transfer the one they at present have to Dr. Berkeley's highly respected friend, the present Bishop of Cloyne, for the Palace. Lord Molesworth will have the goodness to receive and transmit the answer of the Provost and Gentlemen to her who has the honour to subscribe herself, with the most perfect respect, their

Very sincerely grateful and (Thro' her unspeakably dear excellent Son) Most highly obliged, ELIZA BERKELEY.

Chertsey, Surrey, England. The 18th of Feb., 1797.

I cannot find any evidence to prove that this letter was ever so much as received by the University. It came into my possession amongst the papers of a private friend, a late distinguished ornament of the University, whose death has been an irreparable loss to the public, to the Church of England, and to a large circle of friends. No notice of such a letter, or of so liberal a donation, is to be found in the Register of the University, nor is there such a picture in our possession. I have made inquiry also, and find that it is not at Cloyne. The conclusion therefore is, either that Mrs. Berkeley changed her mind, or that from some accident the letter never was presented: at all events, it is certain that the picture of Bishop Berkeley, to which it relates, was never in the possession of the University for whose halls it was intended.

Can any one tell me where it now is; and what was the fate of "the fine collection of pictures" which was the property of Dr. Berkeley of Canterbury, and bequeathed by him to his widow, the writer of the above letter?

J. H. TODD.

[Footnote 1: This alludes to the honourable degree of LL.B. conferred upon George M. Berkeley by the University of Dublin, Nov. 8, 1788.]

* * * * *

Minor Queries.

Life.—Is it not the general feeling that man, in advancing years, would not like to begin his life again? I have noted that Edgeworth, Franklin, and Sismondi express the contrary.

A. C.

"The Boy of Heaven."—I have a poem entitled The Boy of Heaven, copied some years ago from a manuscript. Can any of your readers inform me who is the author, whether it has ever appeared in print, or give me any other information respecting it?

W. P.

Bells.—Can any of your readers inform me why the bells of the Convent of Santa Theresa, at Madrid, alone have the privilege of tolling on Good Friday, in that city? In all Roman Catholic countries the bells on that day are forbidden to be rung; and there is no exception made, even in Rome.

As much has been said about the baptizing of bells, as if it were a custom nearly or entirely obsolete, I beg to say that I was present at the baptizing of a bell in the south-west of France not very long ago; and have no doubt that the great bell at Bordeaux, which is to have the emperor and empress as its sponsors, will undergo the full ceremony.

CERIDWEN.

Captain Ayloff.—Where can I find any notices of Captain Ayloff, one of the coadjutors of Tom Brown in the eccentric Letters from the Dead to the Living?

V. T. STERNBERG.

Robert Johnson.—Perhaps some of your correspondents could give me some information relative to the pedigree of Robert Johnson, Esq., who was a baron of the Exchequer in Ireland in 1704; his parentage and descent; his wife's name and family; his armorial bearings; and date of his birth and death.

Was he the Robert Johnson who entered Trinity College, Dublin, in 1671, as a Fellow Commoner at the age of fourteen? If so, his birthplace was London, and his father's name was also Robert.

E. P. L.

Co. Westmeath.

Selling a Wife.—What is the origin of the popular idea, that a man may legally dispose of his spouse by haltering her, and exposing her for sale in a public market? Some time ago the custom appears to have been very prevalent; and only a few months back there was a paragraph in The Times, describing an occurrence of the kind at Nottingham.

French romancers and dramatists have seized upon it as a leading trait of English society; and in their remarkably-faithful delineations of English life it is not unusual to find the blue-beard milord Anglais carting milady to Smithfield, and {430} enlarging upon her points in the cheap-jack style to the admiring drovers.

V. T. STERNBERG.

Jock of Arden.—This worthy of the Robin Hood class of heroes, is understood to figure very prominently in the legendary history of Warwickshire. Where can any references to his real or supposed history be found, and what are the legends of which he is the hero?

W. Q.

Inigo Jones.—Where can a full list of mansions and other important buildings, erected from designs after that great master architect Inigo Jones, be found?

A CORRESPONDENT.

Dean Boyle.—Wanted, the pedigree of Richard Boyle, Dean of Limerick, and Bishop of Leighlin in 1661. He had a brother Roger, also in the church. Was he a grandson of John Boyle of Hereford, eldest brother of Roger, father of Richard, first Earl of Cork? This John married Alice, daughter of Alex. Hayworth, of Burdun Hall, Herefordshire.

Y. S. M.

Dublin.

Euphormio (Vol. i., p. 27.).—Mention is made of Censura Euphormionis and other tracts, called forth by Barclay's works: where can some account of these be found?

P. J. F. GANTILLON, B.A.

Optical Query.—Last summer the following illusion was pointed out to me at Sandwich, Kent. The ingenious horizontal machine to enable the treadmill to grind the wind, in default of more substantial matter, although certainly revolving only in one direction, say from right to left, at intervals appeared to change its direction and turn from left to right. This change appeared to several persons to take place at the same time, and did not seem to be owing to any shifting of the perpendicular shutters for regulating the resistance of the air. The point from which I viewed it was near the south door of St. Clement's Church. Have any of the readers of "N. & Q." noticed a similar illusion, and can they explain it?

H. H.

Gloucester.

Archbishop King.—The well-known William King, Archbishop of Dublin, was interred in the graveyard of the parish of St. Mary, Donnybrook, near Dublin, as appears from the following entry in the Register of Burials: "Buried, Archbishop King, May 10th, 1729." There is no stone to mark his grave. I would be glad to know whether there is any monument elsewhere,

I would likewise be glad to know whether there is any good engraving of the archbishop in existence. I have lately procured a copy of a small and rather curious one, engraved by "Kane o' Hara," and "published, Sept. 20th, 1803, by William Richardson, York House, 31. Strand;" and I am informed by a friend that a portrait (of what size I am not aware) was sold by auction in London, 15th February, 1800, for the sum of 3l. 6s. It was described at that time as "very rare."

Donnybrook graveyard, I may add, is rich in buried ecclesiastics, containing the remains of Dr. Robert Clayton, Bishop of Clogher (a man of note in his day), and other dignitaries of our church.

ABHBA.

Neal's Manuscripts.—In Neal's History of the Puritans, he frequently refers at bottom of the page to a manuscript in his possession thus (MS. penes me, p. 88.): will any of your readers inform me where this MS. is preserved, and whether I can have access to it? It was evidently a voluminous compilation, as it extended to many hundred pages.

T. F.

Whence the Word "Cossack?"—Alison says, on the authority of Koramsin (vi. 476.), "The word Cossack means a volunteer or free partisan," &c. (Vide History of Europe, vol. ix. p. 31.) I have found the word "Kasak" in the Gulistan of Saadi, which there means a robber of the kind called rahzan. From the word being spelt in the Gulistan with a [Arabic: q], it appears to me to be an Arabic word. Can any reader enlighten

MUHAMMED?

A. N. Club

Picts' Houses and Argils.—The Cimmerians, a people mentioned by Herodotus, who occupied principally the peninsula of the Crimea, are distinguished by Prichard from the Cimbri or Kimbri, but supposed by M. Amedee Thierry to be a branch of the same race, and Celtic. Many of their customs are said to present a striking conformity with those of the Cimbri of the Baltic and of the Gauls. Those who inhabited the hills in the Crimea bore the name of Taures or Tauri, a word, Thierry says, signifying mountaineers in both the Kimbric and Gaulish idioms. The tribe of the plains, according to Ephorus, a Greek writer cotemporary with Aristotle, mentioned in Strabo, lib. v., dug subterraneous habitations, which they called argil or argel, a pure Kimbric word, which signifies a covered or deep place:

[Greek: Ephoros phesin autous en katageiois oikiais oikein has kalousin argillas.]

Having seen several of the rude and miserable buildings underground in the Orkneys, called Picts' houses, I should like to know something of these argils or argillae, but suppose them to be calculated for the requirements of a more advanced state of society than that of the dwellers in Picts' houses. Perhaps some of your correspondents could give information on this matter. {431} For the above, vide Introduction to Amedee Thierry's Histoire des Gaulois, &c., 1828, p. 57.

W. H. F.

The Drummer's Letter.—The letter from the drummer to the corporal's wife in The Sentimental Journey (it is hardly possible to give a precise reference to any part of this little work) ends thus:

"Je suis, Madame,

"Avec toutes les sentimens les plus respectueux et les plus tendres, tout a vous,

"JAQUES ROCQUE."

Why is the first of the adjectives agreeing with les sentimens in the wrong gender? The blot may be a trifling one, but I think I may say that it defaces every copy of this well-known billet-doux. I have seen many editions of The Sentimental Journey, some by the best publishers of the time in which they lived, and I find the same mistake in all: I do not know of a single exception. If Sterne wrote toutes, it must have been by accident; there is nothing to prove that he wished to make the poor drummer commit the solecism, for the rest of his letter is not only correctly, but even elegantly written.

C. FORBES.

Temple.

The Cardinal Spider.—I have read somewhere an account of a singular species of spider, which is of unusually large size, and is said to be found only in Hampton Court Palace.

It is supposed by superstitious persons that the spirits of Cardinal Wolsey and his retinue still haunt the palace in the shape of spiders; hence the name "Cardinal."

Can any of your correspondents inform me where such an account is to be met with, as I have forgotten the name of the book in which I have seen it?

W. T.

Norwich.

New England Genealogical Society, &c.—Can any of your correspondents inform me where I can address a letter to, for Dr. Jenks, Secretary to the New England Genealogical Society? And where can I see a copy of Farmer's New England Genealogical Register, 1829, and The New England Genealogical Register and Magazine for 1847, mentioned by your correspondent T. WESTCOTT, "N. & Q.," Vol. vi., p. 495.?

J. K.

* * * * *

Minor Queries with Answers.

Dr. John Hartcliffe, Dr. Wm. Cokayne, Dr. Samuel Kettilby.—Can any of your correspondents tell me whether John Hartcliffe, D.D., Fellow of King's, Cambridge, and Head-master of Merchant Taylors' from 1681 to 1686, is the Dr. Hartcliffe whom James II. wishes to instal illegally in the Provostship of King's, as he attempted to impose a President on Magdalen, Oxon?

I should be glad also to know whether there is any continuation of Ward's Lives of the Gresham Professors, reaching to the present time; and, in particular, the dates of the appointments or deaths of William Cokayne, D.D., Professor of Astronomy, and William Roman, B.C.L., Professor of Geometry?

Likewise, of what faculty was Samuel Kettilby, D.D., Professor; and when did he die?

JAMES HESSEY.

Merchant Taylors'.

[It was Dr. John Hartcliffe, of Merchant Taylors', that wished to become Provost of King's College: but the mandate was obtained from King William, not from James II. Hartcliffe's Discourse against Purgatory, 1685, which Anthony a Wood thinks was publicly burnt in France, was not likely to recommend him to the favour of the latter king. The affair of the Provostship is thus stated by Cole (Hist. of King's College, vol. iv. Addit. MSS. 5817.)—"On the death of Dr. Copleston, Hartcliffe made a great stir, in order to become Provost, and actually obtained a mandate of King William to the society to choose him; but he was far from being agreeable to the Fellows of the college, who, when they heard he was in town, and upon what errand he came, directly shut up the college gates, and proceeded to an election, when Dr. Roderick was chosen, with the odds of ten votes to one. This being transacted in the infancy of King William's reign, he chose not to stir much in it; but after having shown the Fellows, by the very petition they made to him, which was presented by Mr. Newborough and Mr. Fleetwood, that he had a right to present, he dismissed them." A biographical notice of Dr. Hartcliffe is given in Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, vol. i. pp. 63, 64., and in Wood's Athenae (Bliss), vol. iv. p. 790.

No one appears to have continued Ward's Lives of the Gresham Professors. Maitland, in his History of London, has brought the history of the institution down to 1755. Dr. Ward himself had prepared a new edition, containing considerable additions, which was presented to the British Museum by his residuary legatee. Among the Additional MSS. also will be found a large mass of papers and correspondence relating to the Lives. From one document, entitled "Minutes relating to the Lives of the Professors of Gresham College, being Additions to the printed Work," we extract the following notice of "William Cokayne, who was the son of George Cokayne, of Dovebridge in Devonshire, clerk. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, in London, and from thence elected probationer Fellow of St. John's College, where he was matriculated 9th July, 1736. He commenced A.M. 9th July, 1744; made Junior Proctor 1750; and B.D. 4th July, 1751." The date of his appointment as Astronomy Professor is not given; but his resignation, in 1795, will be found in the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. lxv. p. 711. He appears to have died in 1798 (see Ib., vol. lxviii. p. 641.), when the Rev. Joseph Monkhouse succeeded him as Rector of Kilkhampton, co. Cornwall.

{432}

The MS. "Minutes" also contain a notice of William Roman, the thirteenth Geometry Professor, "who was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, London, and from thence elected to St. John's College, Oxford, in 1740, being matriculated as the son of Richard Roman, of London, Gent., aetat. 17. He commenced B.C.L., May 5th, 1747; Deacon at Christ Church, 21st Sept., 1746; Priest at Christ Church, 20th Sept., 1747." No date of his appointment, but he was Professor in 1755, when Maitland wrote his account of the college. Dr. Samuel Kettilby succeeded the Rev. Samuel Birch as Geometry Lecturer, and died June 25, 1808.—See Gentleman's Magazine, vol. lxxviii. p. 657.]

"Haulf Naked."—In poring over an old deed the other night, I stumbled upon the above name, which I take to be that of a manor in the county of Sussex. Is it so? and, if so, by what name is the property now known?

CHARLES REED.

[In Dallaway's Western Sussex, art. WASHINGTON, vol. ii. pt. ii. p. 133., is the following entry:—"In 1310, Henry Balduyne sold to Walter de Halfenaked one messuage, two acres of arable, and two acres of meadow, in Washington and Sullington. Ped. fin. 3 Edw. II."]

* * * * *

Replies.

THE LEGEND OF LAMECH—HEBREW ETYMOLOGY.

(Vol. vii., p. 363.)

Etymologists are a race who frequently need to be drawn up with a somewhat tight rein. Our Celtic fellow-subjects will not, perhaps, be much gratified by MR. CROSSLEY's tracing the first indications of their paternal tongue to the family of Cain; and as every branch of that family was destroyed by the deluge, they may marvel what account he can give of its reconstruction amongst their forefathers. But as his manner of expressing himself may lead some of your readers to imagine that he is explaining Cain, Lamech, Adah, Zillah, from acknowledged Hebrew meanings of any parts of those words, it may be as well to warn them that the Hebrew gives no support to any one of his interpretations. If fancy be ductile enough to agree with him in seeing a representation of a human arm holding a sling with a stone in it in the Hebrew letter called lamed, there would still be a broad hiatus between such a concession, and the conclusion he seems to wish the reader to draw from it, viz. that the word lamed must have something to do with slinging, and that consequently lamed must be a slinger. The Hebrew scholar knows that lamed indisputably signifies to teach; and though perhaps he may not feel sure that the Hebrew consonant l obtained its name from any connexion with that primary meaning of the root lamed, he will not think it improbable that as the letter l, when prefixed to a noun or verb, teaches the reader the construction of the sentence, that may have been the reason for its being so named.

As to a legend not traceable to within some thousand years of the facts with which it claims to be connected, those may take an interest in it who like so to do. But as far as we may regard Lamech's address to his wives in the light of a philological curiosity, it is interesting to observe how naturally the language of passion runs into poetry; and that this, the most ancient poetry in existence, is in strict unison with the peculiar character of subsequent Hebrew poetry; that peculiarity consisting of the repetition of clauses, containing either the same proposition in a slightly different form, or its antithesis; a rhyme of thoughts, if we may so say, instead of a rhyme of sounds, and consequently capable of being preserved by a literal translation.

And Lamech said unto his wives,—

"Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; Ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech, For I have slain a man to my wounding, And a young man, to my hurt. If Cain shall be avenged seventy-fold, Truly Lamech, seventy and seven-fold."

The construction is more favourable to the belief that the man of line third is the same as the young man of the parallel clause, than that he had slain two; the word rendered hurt is properly a wheal, the effect of a severe strife or wound.

As to the etymologies of the names mentioned by MR. CROSSLEY, we gather from God's words that she called her first son Cain, an acquisition (the Latin peculium expresses it more exactly than any English word), because she had gotten (literally acquired, or obtained possession of) a man. As for Lamech, or more properly Lĕmĕch, its etymology must be confessed to be uncertain; but there is a curious and interesting explanation of the whole series of names of the patriarchs, Noah's forefathers, in which the name of the other Lemech, son of Methusaleh, is regarded as made up of Lĕ, the prefixed preposition, and of mech, taken for the participle Hophal of the verb to smite or bruise. Adah, [Hebrew: 'DH], is ornament; Zillah, [Hebrew: TSLH] may mean the shade under which a person reposes; or if the doubling of the l is an indication that its root is [Hebrew: TSLL], it may mean a dancer.

H. WALTER.

Allow me, in reference to MR. CROSSLEY's remarks, to say, that from the accidental resemblance of the Hebrew and Celtic words Lamech and Lamaich, no philological argument can be drawn of identical meaning, any more than from the fact that the words Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazar, or Belteshassar[2], are significant in Russian {433} and Sclavonian, as well as in Chaldee. Lamache in Arabic means (see Freytag) "levi intuitu et furtim adspicere aliquem;" also to shine, as lightning, or a star. Lamech, therefore, is an appropriate designation for a man known to prowl about for plunder and murder, and whose eye, whether taking aim or not, would give a sudden and furtive glance.

The word lamed signifies, in Hebrew, teaching; the word Talmud is from the same root. It is the same in Syriac and Chaldee. The original significant of these three languages is to be found in the Arabic Lamada: "Se submisit alicui; humiliter se gessit erga aliquem." (Freytag.) No argument can be drawn from the shape of the letter [Hebrew: L] (lamed), because, although popularly so called, it is not a Hebrew letter, but a Chaldee one. The recent discoveries, published in Layard's last work, demonstrate this fact; Mr. Layard falls into the mistake of calling the basin inscriptions Hebrew, although Mr. Ellis, who had translated them, says expressly that the language is Chaldee (Nineveh and Babylon, p. 510.), one of them only being Syriac (p. 521.). Chaldee and Syriac, indeed, differ from each other as little as Chaucer's and Shakspeare's English, although the written characters are wholly distinct.

Davis, in his Celtic Researches, has done all that was possible, taking a very limited view, however, in fixing upon certain linguistic resemblances in some ancient tongues to the Celtic; but a clear apprehension of the proper place which the Celtic language and its congeners hold in comparative philology, can only be learnt from such works as Adelung's Mithridates, and Adrien Balbi's Atlas Ethnographique du Globe.

T. J. BUCKTON.

[Footnote 2: The accidental resemblances are curious. Thus, Nebucadnetzar is in Russian nebe kazenniy Tzar, "A Lord or Prince appointed by heaven;" or, nebu godnoi Tzar, "A Prince fit for heaven." Belshatzar is also in Russian bolszoi Tzar, "A great Prince;" and Belteshtzar, Daniel's Chaldean pagan name, is byl tesh Tzar, "he was also a Prince," i. e. "of the royal family."]

The interpretation of Hessius (Geschichte der Patriarchen, i. 83.) is preferred by Rosenmueller:

"Ex hujus Doctissimi Viri sententia Lamechus sese jactat propter filios suos, qui artium adeo utilium essent inventores: Cainum progenitorem suum propter caedem non esse punitum, multo minus se posse puniri, si vel simile scelus commisisset. Verba enim non significant, caedam ab eo revera esse paratam, sed sunt verba hominis admodum insolentis et profani. Ceterum facile apparet, haec verba a Mose ex quodam carmine antiquo inserta esse: tota enim oratio poeticam quandam sublimitatem spirat."

The sense of these two verses (Gen. iv. 23, 24.) is, according to Dathe:

"Si propter viri aut juvenis caedem vulnera et plagae mihi intendantur, cum de Caino poena septuplex statuta fuerit, in Lamecho id fiet septuagies septies."

Herder, in his Geist der ebraeischen Poesie (i. 344.) says:

"Carmen hoc Lamechi laudes canere gladii a filio inventi, cujus usum et praestantiam contra hostiles aliorum insultus his verbis praedicet: Lamechi mulieres audite sermonem meum, percipite dicta mea: Occido jam virum, qui me vulneravit, juvenem, qui plagam mihi infligit. Si Cainus septies ulciscendus, in Lamecho id fiet septuagies septies."

T. J. BUCKTON.

Birmingham.

The legend of the shooting of Cain by Lamech is detailed in The Creation of the World, with Noah's Flood, a Cornish mystery, translated into English by John Keigwin, and edited by Davies Gilbert, Esq. The legend and translation, in parallel columns, are given also at pp. 15, 16. of Mr. Gilbert's "Collections and Translations respecting St. Neot," prefixed to descriptive account (in 4to., with sixteen coloured plates) of the windows of St. Neot's Church in Cornwall, by Mr. Hedgeland, who restored them, 1805-1829, at the expense of the Rev. Richard Gerveys Grylls, patron, and formerly incumbent of the living.

JOSEPH RIX.

St. Neot's, Huntingdonshire.

* * * * *

LORD COKE'S CHARGE TO THE JURY.

(Vol. vii., p. 376.)

Saltpetre-man.—An explanation of this title may be found in a proclamation of King Charles I. (1625):

"For the Maintaining and Increasing of the Saltpetre Mines of England, for the Necessary and Important Manufacture of Gunpowder."

This proclamation states:

"That our realm naturally yields sufficient mines of saltpetre without depending on foreign parts; wherefore, for the future, no dovehouse shall be paved with stones, bricks, nor boards, lime, sand, nor gravel, nor any other thing whereby the growth and increase of the mine and saltpetre may be hindered or impaired; but the proprietors shall suffer the ground or floors thereof, as also all stables where horses stand, to lie open with good and mellow earth, apt to breed increase of the said mine. And that none deny or hinder any saltpetre-man, lawfully deputed thereto, from digging, taking, or working any ground which by commission may be taken and wrought for saltpetre. Neither shall any constable, or other officer, neglect to furnish any such saltpetre-man with convenient carriages, that the King's service suffer not. None shall bribe any saltpetre-man for the sparing or forbearing of any ground fit to be wrought for saltpetre," &c.

It would appear that the saltpetre-man abused his authority, and that the people suffered a good deal of annoyance from the manner in which this {434} absurd system was carried out; for two years afterwards we find that another proclamation was published by the King, notifying, "that the practice of making saltpetre in England by digging up the floors of dwelling-houses, &c. &c., tended too much to the grievance of his loving subjects ... that notwithstanding all the trouble, not one third part of the saltpetre required could be furnished." It proceeds to state that Sir John Brooke and Thomas Russell, Esq., had proposed a new method of manufacturing the article, and that an exclusive patent had been granted to them. The King then commands his subjects in London and Westminster, that after notice given, they "carefully keep in proper vessels all human urine throughout the year, and as much of that of beasts as can be saved." This appeared to fail; for at the end of the same year, the "stable" monarch proclaimed a return to the old method, giving a commission to the Duke of Buckingham, and some others, to "... break open ... and work for saltpetre," as might be found requisite; and in 1634, a further proclamation was issued renewing the old ones, but excepting the houses, stables, &c. of persons of quality.

During the Commonwealth the nuisance was finally got rid of; for an act was passed in 1656, directing that "none shall dig within the houses, &c. of any person without their leave first obtained."

BROCTUNA.

Bury, Lancashire.

J. O. treats The Lord Coke, his Speech and Charge, with a Discoverie of the Abuses and Corruptions of Officers, 8vo. London: N. Butter, 1607, as a genuine document; but it is not so; and, lest the error should gain ground, the following account of the book, from the Preface, by Lord Coke, to the seventh part of his Reports, is subjoined:

"And little do I esteem an uncharitable and malicious practice in publishing of an erroneous and ill-spelled pamphlet under the name Pricket, and dedicating it to my singular good lord and father-in-law, the Earl of Exeter, as a charge given at the assizes holden at the city of Norwich, 4th August, 1606, which I protest was not only published without my privity, but (beside the omission of divers principal matters) that there is no one period therein expressed in that sort and sense that I delivered: wherein it is worthy of observation, how their expectation (of scandalizing me) was wholly deceived; for behold the catastrophe! Such of the readers as were learned in the laws, finding not only gross errors and absurdities on law, but palpable mistakings in the very words of art, and the whole context of that rude and ragged style wholly dissonant (the subject being legal) from a lawyer's dialect, concluded that inimicus et iniquus homo superseminavit zizania in medio tritici, the other discreet and indifferent readers, out of sense and reason, found out the same conclusion, both in respect of the vanity of the phrase, and for that I, publishing about the same time one of my commentaries, would, if I had intended the publication of any such matter, have done it myself, and not to have suffered any of my works pass under the name of Pricket; and so una voce conclamaverunt omnes, that it was a shameful and shameless practice, and the author thereof to be a wicked and malicious falsary."

J. G.

Exon.

* * * * *

WHITE ROSES.

(Vol. vii., p. 329.)

The allusion is to the well-known Jacobite badge of the white rose, which was regularly worn on June 10, the anniversary of the Old Pretender's birthday, by his adherents. Fielding refers to the custom in his Amelia:

"On the lovely 10th of June, under a serene sky, the amorous Jacobite, kissing the odoriferous Zephyr's breath, gathers a nosegay of white roses to deck the whiter breast of Celia."—Amelia, edit. 1752, vol. i. p. 48.

The following lines are extracted from a collection of considerable merit, now become uncommon, the authors of the different papers in which were Dr. Deacon and Dr. Byrom, and which is entitled Manchester Vindicated (Chester, 1749, 12mo.). The occasion was on a soldier snatching a white rose from the bosom of a young lady on June 10, 1747:

I.

"Phillis to deck her snowy breast The rival-flowers around display'd, Thraso, to grace his war-like crest Of orange-knots a huge cockade, That reds and whites, and nothing else, Should set the beaux against the belles!

II.

"Yet so it was; for yesterday Thraso met Phillis with her posies, And thus began th' ungentle fray, 'Miss, I must execute those roses.' Then made, but fruitless made, a snatch, Repuls'd with pertinacious scratch.

III.

"Surpriz'd at such a sharp rebuke, He cast about his cautious eyes, Invoking Vict'ry and the Duke, And once again attack'd the prize; Again is taught to apprehend, How guardian thorns the rose defend.

IV.

"Force being twice in vain apply'd, He condescended then to reason; 'Ye Jacobitish ——,' he cry'd 'In open street, the love of treason With your white roses to proclaim! Go home, ye rebel slut, for shame!' {435}

V.

"'Go you abroad to Flanders yonder, And show your valour there, Sir Knight; What bus'ness have you here, I wonder, With people's roses, red or white? Go you abroad, for shame,' says Phillis, 'And from the Frenchmen pluck their lilies.'

VI.

"'Lilies!' says Thraso, 'lilies too! The wench, I find, would be a wit, Had she command of words eno', And on the right one chanced to hit: For pity, once, I'll set her clear: The laurels, you would say, my dear.'

VII.

"'No, but I would not, Sir; you know What laurels are no more than I, Upon your head they'll never grow, My word for that, friend, and good-bye: He that of roses robs a wench, Will ne'er pluck laurels from the French.'"

JAS. CROSSLEY.

* * * * *

BURIAL OF UNCLAIMED CORPSE.

(Vol. vii., pp. 262. 340.)

A tradition of similar character with that mentioned by E. G. R., and noticed by J. H. L., is reported to have occurred between the parishes of Shipdham and Saham Tony in Norfolk, of a corpse being found on the common pasture of Shipdham, which parish refused to bury it, and the parish of Saham Tony, therefore, was at the expense thereof, and claimed a considerable piece of the common pasture from Shipdham, in consequence of the neglect of the latter parish.

A fine continues to be paid by Shipdham to Saham to this time; and although many entries are made of such payments in the early parish accounts, beginning A.D. 1511, yet in no instance is it said the reason or cause of these payments being annually made. The said payments are not always of the same amount; they are sometimes paid in money and sometimes in kind, as the following instances show.

The first entry I meet with is in 1511:

Payd the halffe mark at Saham. 1512. Delyvyrd to same ij buschells of otts, viij^d; in sylv^r, ij^d. 1513. The same payment as in 1512. 1514. No entry of any payment. 1515. Payd for woots to Saham, vj^d, and ij^d of mony. 1516. Payd to y^e hallemarke, j^d (not said if to Saham or not). This entry "to y^e hallemark" may be an error of the scribe for "y^e halffe mark," as in the first entry under 1511. 1517. Payd to y^e halffe mark, j^d (no doubt to Saham). 1518. No entry of payment to Saham. 1519. Payd to same for ij barssels of owte, vj^d; to same, ij^d viij^d 1520. Payd for ij busschellys of otte to same, viij^d; and a henne, ij^d x^d 1521. Payd to same for ij buschells of ots, xj^d, and ij^d in sylver xiij^d 1522. Payd for y^e half marke, j^d; payd for oots to same, vij^d viij^d 1523. Payd for y^e halff mark (no doubt to Saham) j^d 1524. Payd for otts to sam and wodlod viij^d 1525. Similar entry to the last. 1526. Payd for otts to same, viij^d; payd for wod led to same, j^d ix^d 1527. Payd the halffe mark, j^d; paid to the Comon, to (two) bussells otts, ix^d, and a j^d in lieu of a henne xj^d 1539. Payd to same for the task x^d[3] 1541. Payd to Thomas Lubard, for ij bs. of otts to Saham viij^d Payd to y^e seyd Thomas for j heyn (hen) to Saham ij^d

On looking through the town accounts of Shipdham, I find entries of—

Payd to the half mark to Saham j^d Ij bushells oates, and in lieu of a hen ij^d

The only entry in which I find anything at all apparently relative to the common is that under 1527. Whether the court books of Saham would throw any light on the subject, I know not. Should an opportunity offer for my searching them, I will do so.

G. H. I.

P.S.—Although I have given several entries of the customary payments to Saham, they are merely given to show the different modes of making those entries, and not in expectation of your giving all of them, unless you think any further light can be given on the subject. As before, perhaps the court books of the manor of Saham would assist.

It was an annual custom for Shipdham people to "Drive the common" (as it was called) once a year, in a night of an uncertain time, when all the cattle, &c. found within the limits or boundary of Shipdham were impounded in a farm-yard adjoining. Upon the common, all those belonging to owners residing in Shipdham and claimed were set at liberty, while those belonging to Saham had to be replevied by a small payment, which custom continued up to the period of the commons being inclosed. Perhaps this custom was by way of retaliation, by which means the charge of payment of oats and a hen was recovered by the money paid for replevying their cattle, &c. so impounded.

[Footnote 3: No payment entered in the accounts between 1527 and 1539. The average tenpence annually.]

* * * * *

PSALMANAZAR.

(Vol. vii., p. 206.)

Your correspondent inquires as to the real name of this most penitent of impostors. I fear that {436} there is now no likelihood of its being discovered. His most intimate friends appear to have been kept in the dark on this subject. With respect to his country, the most probable conclusion seems to be, that he was born in the south of Europe, in a city of Languedoc. A very near approximation seems to be made to the exact locality by a careful collation of the circumstances mentioned in his autobiography, in the excellent summary of his life in the Gentleman's Magazine, vols. xxxiv. and xxxv., which is much better worth consulting than the articles in Aikin or Chalmers; which are poor and superficial, and neither of which gives any list of his works, or notices the Essay on Miracles, by a Layman (London, 1753, 8vo.), which is one of them, though published anonymously. There is a very amusing account of conversations with him at Oxford, in the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. xxxv. p. 78., in which, before a large company of ladies and gentlemen who were curious as to the customs of Formosa, he gravely defended the practice which he said existed in that country, of cutting off the heads of their wives and eating them, in case of misconduct. "I think it is no sin," continued he, "to eat human flesh, but I must own it is a little unmannerly." He admitted that he once ate part of a black; but they being always kept to hard work, their flesh was tough and unsavoury. His grandfather, he said, lived to 117, and was as vigorous as a young man, in consequence of sucking the blood of a viper warm every morning; but they had been forced to kill him, he being attacked with a violent fit of the colic, and desiring them to stab him, which, in obedience to another "custom of the country," they had done. Splendide mendax! was certainly, in his younger days, this much venerated friend of our great moralist. I should, however, feel inclined to forgive much of his extraordinary romancing for the admirable manner in which he settled that chattering twaddler, Bishop Burnet:

"He was one day with Dr. Burnet, Bishop of Sarum, who, after his warm manner, cried, 'Ay, you say so; but what proof can you give that you are not of China, Japan, or any other country?' 'The manner of my flight,' replied he, 'did not allow me to bring credentials: but suppose your lordship were in Formosa, and should say you are an Englishman, might not the Formosan as justly reply, You say you are an Englishman; but what proof can you give that you are not of any other country? for you look as like a Dutchman as any that ever traded to Formosa.' This silenced his lordship."

JAMES CROSSLEY.

* * * * *

GRAFTS AND THE PARENT TREE.

(Vol. vii., p. 365.)

I was surprised to find it stated as "a fact" by MR. INGLEBY, "that grafts, after some fifteen years, wear themselves out." A visit to one of the great orchard counties would assure him of the existence of tens of thousands of grafted apple and pear trees, still in a healthy state, and from forty to fifty years old, and more. There are grafted trees of various kinds in this country, which to my own knowledge are upwards of sixty years old; and I have little doubt but that there are some a good deal older.

The ancient Ribstone pippin, which stood in Ribstone Park, till it died in 1835, was believed to have been grafted. Such was the opinion of one of the gardeners there; and a writer in the Gardeners' Chronicle, 1845, p. 21., states that in 1830 he fell in with the Ribstone pippin in great abundance in Switzerland, in the valley of Sarnen; and he remarks that it is more probable this apple was introduced into England from that country, than the reverse. The question has not been conclusively settled.

Notwithstanding "the belief that the graft perishes when the parent tree decays" is pronounced by MR. INGLEBY to be a fond superstition, yet there are certain facts, well known to orchard growers, which give some warrant for it. Without committing myself altogether to this doctrine, I will state a few of them.

It is well known that no cider or perry fruit is so good, on first being introduced, as it is after fifteen or twenty years of cultivation. A certain period seems to be required to mature the new sort, and bring it to its full vigour (long after it is in full bearing) before it is at its best. The tree, with all its grafted progeny, will last, perhaps fifty, perhaps more than one hundred years, in a flourishing state, and then they will begin everywhere to decay; nor has any device yet been successful in arresting that general decay.

Witness the rise, progress, and fall of the Forest Stire of Gloucestershire, the Foxwhelp and Redstreak of Herefordshire, the Golden Pippin, and, more lately, the Ribstone Pippin, of which there is an increasing complaint, not to mention many others in the same condition. The first-named apple is very nearly extinct, and the small quantity of the fruit that is still to be had fetches enormous prices.

Whether this decay be owing to grafting, is a question which can be decided only by the future behaviour of the suckers from the original tree, several of which from the tree at Ribstone Park are now growing at Chiswick and elsewhere.

I am aware that Dr. Lindley combats very eagerly the doctrine that varieties of the apple and pear, or indeed of any tree, die naturally of old age; but the only incontrovertible fact which he adduces in support of his argument, is the existence of the French White Beurre pear, which has flourished from time immemorial. His denial of the decay of the Golden Pippin, the Golden {437} Harvey, and the Nonpareil, will not, I think, be allowed to be just by the experience of your readers; the existence of the last-named apple for three centuries, supposing it to be true, has not secured it exemption from the general fate.

H. C. K.

—— Rectory, Hereford.

* * * * *

PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE.

Glass Baths.—Several of your correspondents finding a difficulty in making glass baths, I beg to communicate the way in which they may be very easily manufactured. Having obtained two pieces of patent plate glass, grind the edges, which may readily be done by a scythe sand-stone, where other contrivances are not handy. Cut for the bottom of the bath a slip of the same glass three-quarters of an inch in breadth; and for the sides, from ordinary window-glass, four wedges, being about three-fifths of an inch at one end, tapering down to the thickness of the piece of plate glass at the bottom. If several pieces are cut off promiscuously, four may be selected which have exactly the same angle, so as to form an even support to the sides. The glass being perfectly clean, dry, and as warm as can be conveniently held by the hand, fix the bottom and then the sides by means of the very best sealing-wax, which will perfectly adhere to the glass. If the commoner sorts of wax are used, some marine glue must be added to it to temper it. The side slips should be fixed a quarter of an inch apart, so as to form a cavity, which must be entirely filled up with wax. The wax may be used as in sealing a letter in the first instance; but, in order to give the whole bath solidity, and expel every particle of air from between the glass, I use a heated pointed iron, as a plumber does in the act of soldering. This, passed over the external parts of the wax, also gives it a hardness and smooth finish.

These details may appeal trifling, and others may have more ingenious modes of accomplishing the object; but having used baths so constructed upwards of twelve months without leakage, I believe they will be found to be most economical, and far more to be relied on than gutta percha. A good bath so made should require about six ounces of solution of nitrate of silver to take a picture eight inches square. Your observations in a former Number, respecting the uncertainty of gutta percha, I have found to be perfectly true. Samples of gutta percha constantly vary; and one may contain impurities acted upon by the chemicals, which another does not. A small rim formed by sealing-wax dissolved in spirits of wine, and applied twice or thrice along the upper edge of the bath, is sufficient to protect the prepared glass from adhering to the front of the bath when in use.

H. W. D.

Securing Calotype Negatives.—Will any of your correspondents be good enough to say what they consider the best method of securing a calotype paper negative for a few days or a week, in cases where it may be difficult, from lack of conveniences during that time, to use hyposulph., with its consequent washings, &c.? Some, I believe, recommend bromide of potassium; some, the iodide; others, common salt: but I should like to know which is considered the best; what strength, and how applied. Also, whether any subsequent treatment is necessary previous to the final application of the hypo.

W. T.

* * * * *

Replies to Minor Queries.

Wood of the Cross (Vol. vii., pp. 177. 334.).—I find, in your 179th Number, p. 334., a communication on "The Wood of the Cross." Mention is made of the several kinds of wood of which the cross is said to have been made—elder, olive, &c. It is a somewhat curious coincidence, that yesterday I was with a farmer in his garden, and observing on several apple-trees some luxuriant mistletoe, I remarked that it was principally found on that tree, sometimes on the oak, but rarely on other trees. The farmer, after inquiring whether it could be propagated by cuttings, &c., asked if I had ever understood that our Saviour's cross was made of mistletoe? On replying in the negative, and remarking that it was altogether unsuitable for such a purpose, he rejoined, that, previously to that event, it was a large strong tree, but subsequently had been doomed to have only a parasitical (not that he used the term) existence.

As CEYREP said "I never heard of our Lord's cross having been made of elder wood," so I would also add, I never heard before of its being made of mistletoe. Did any one else ever hear of this tradition?

S. S. S.

Bishops' Lawn Sleeves (Vol. vi., p. 271.).—J. G. T. has inquired concerning the date and origin of the present robes of Anglican bishops. Mr. Trevor thus describes the bishop's dress in Convocation, which is the proper dress of the episcopate:

"The chimere is the Convocation habit of a doctor of divinity in Oxford, made of silk instead of cloth, as the rochet is an alb of lawn in place of linen, honoris causa: the detaching the sleeves from the rochet, and sewing them to the upper garment instead, is obviously a contrivance of the robe-makers. Dr. Hody says that the scarlet robe worn by the bishops in the House of Lords is the doctor's gown at Cambridge; the first archbishops after the Reformation being of that university. (Hody, 140.) At Parker's consecration he appeared first in a scarlet gown and hood; then at the Holy Communion he and two of the consecrating bishops {438} wore white surplices, while the senior had a cope: and after his consecration he and the two diocesan bishops endued themselves in the now customary dress of a bishop, the archbishop having about his neck a collar of sables (Cardw. Doc. Ann., i. 243.). Before the Reformation, it was remarked as peculiar to the English bishops, that they always wore their white rochets, 'except when hunting.' (Hody, 141.)"—The Two Convocations, Note on, p. 195.