Transcriber's note: A few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text.

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{1}

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. 192.] SATURDAY, JULY 2. 1853.. [Price Fourpence. Stamped Edition 5d.

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CONTENTS.

NOTES:— Page Oblation of a white Bull 1 Newstead Abbey, by W. S. Hasleden 2 On a celebrated Passage in "Romeo and Juliet," Act III. Sc. 2., by S. W. Singer 3 On the Passage from "King Lear" 4 Manners of the Irish, by H. T. Ellacombe, &c. 4

MINOR NOTES:—Burial in an Erect Posture—The Archbishop of Armagh's Cure for the Gout, 1571—The last known Survivor of General Wolfe's Army in Canada—National Methods of applauding—Curious Posthumous Occurrence 5

QUERIES:— Did Captain Cook first discover the Sandwich Islands? by J. S. Warden 6 Superstition of the Cornish Miners 7

MINOR QUERIES:—Clerical Duel—Pistol—Council of Laodicea, Canon 35.—Pennycomequick, adjoining Plymouth—Park the Antiquary—Honorary D.C.L.'s— Battle of Villers en Couche—Dr. Misaubin—Kemble, Willet, and Forbes—Piccalyly—Post-Office about 1770—"Carefully examined and well-authenticated"— Sir Heister Ryley—Effigies with folded Hands 7

MINOR QUERIES WITH ANSWERS:—Passage in Bishop Horsley—"Marry come up!"—Dover Court— Porter—Dr. Whitaker's ingenious Earl—Dissimulate 9

REPLIES:— Bishop Ken, by the Rev. J. H. Markland 10 Bohn's Edition of Hoveden, by James Graves 11 Coleridge's Christabel, by J. S. Warden 11 Its 12 Family of Milton's Widow, by T. Hughes 12 Books of Emblems—Jacob Behmen, by C. Mansfield Ingleby 13 Raffaelle's Sposalizio 14 Windfall 14 Mr. Justice Newton, by the Rev. H. T. Ellacombe and F. Kyffin Lenthall 15

PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE:—Mr. Lyte's Treatment of Positives—Stereoscopic Angles—Query respecting Mr. Pollock's Process—Gallo-nitrate of Silver 15

REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES:—Verney Note decyphered—Emblems by John Bunyan—Mr. Cobb's Diary—"Sat cito si sat bene"—Mythe versus Myth—The Gilbert Family—Alexander Clark—Christ's Cross—The Rebellious Prayer—"To the Lords of Convention"— Wooden Tombs and Effigies—Lord Clarendon and the Tubwoman—House-marks—"Amentium haud amantium"— The Megatherium in the British Museum—Pictorial Proverbs—"Hurrah," and other War-cries 17

MISCELLANEOUS:— Notes on Books, &c. 20 Books and Odd Volumes wanted 21 Notices to Correspondents 21 Advertisements 21

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Notes.

OBLATION OF A WHITE BULL.

By lease dated 28th April, 1533, the Abbat of St. Edmund's Bury demised to John Wright, glazier, and John Anable, pewterer, of Bury, the manor of Haberdon appurtenant to the office of Sacrist in that monastery, with four acres in the Vynefeld, for twenty years, at the rent of 5l. 4s. to the Sacrist; the tenants also to find a white bull every year of their term, as often as it should happen that any gentlewoman, or any other woman, should, out of devotion, visit the shrine of the glorious king and martyr of St. Edmund, and wish to make the oblation of a white bull. (Dodsw. Coll. in Bibl. Bodl., vol. lxxi. f. 72.)

If we are to understand a white bull of the ancient race of wild white cattle, it may be inferred, I suppose, that in some forest in the vicinity of Bury St. Edmund's they had not disappeared in the first half of the sixteenth century. The wild cattle, probably indigenous to the great Caledonian forest, seem to have become extinct in a wild state before the time of Leland, excepting where preserved in certain ancient parks, as Chillingham Park, Northumberland, Gisburne Park in Craven, &c., where they were, and in the former at all events still are, maintained in their original purity of breed. They were preserved on the lands of some abbeys; for instance, by the Abbats of Whalley, Lancashire.

Whitaker (History of Craven, p. 34.) mentions Gisburne Park as chiefly remarkable for a herd of wild cattle, descendants of that indigenous race which once roamed in the great forests of Lancashire, and they are said by some other writer to have been originally brought to Gisburne from Whalley after the dissolution. One of the descendants of Robert de Brus, the founder of Gainsborough Priory, is stated by Matthew Paris to have conciliated King John with a present of white cattle. The woods of Chillingham Castle are celebrated at this day for the breed of this remarkable race, by which they are inhabited; and I believe there are three or four other places in which they are preserved.

In the form and direction of the horns, these famous wild white oxen seem to be living {2} representatives of the race whose bones are found in a fossil state in England and some parts of the Continent in the "diluvium" bone-caves, mixed with the bones of bears, hyenas, and other wild animals, now the cotemporaries of the Bos Gour, or Asiatic Ox, upon mountainous slopes of Western India. I have read that white cattle resembling the wild cattle of Chillingham exist in Italy, and that it has been doubted whether our British wild cattle are descendants of an aboriginal race, or were imported by ecclesiastics from Italy. But this seems unlikely, because they were not so easily brought over as the Pope's bulls (the pun is quite unavoidable), and were undoubtedly inhabitants of our ancient forests at a very early period.

However, my present object is only to inquire for any other instances of the custom of offering a white bull in honour of a Christian saint. Perhaps some of your correspondents would elucidate this singular oblation.

I am not able to refer to Col. Hamilton Smith's work on the mythology and ancient history of the ox, which may possibly notice this kind of offering.

W. S. G.

Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

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NEWSTEAD ABBEY.

The descent of property, like the family pedigree, occasionally exhibits the most extraordinary disruptions; and to those who may be ignorant of the cause, the effect may appear as romance. I have been particularly struck with the two interesting papers contained in the April number of the Archaeological Journal, having reference to the Newstead Abbey estate, formerly the property of Lord Byron's family, which, amongst other matters, contain some severe remarks on the conduct of one of its proprietors, the great uncle and predecessor of our great poet, and having reference to dilapidation. Mr. Pettigrew, in his paper, states that—

"Family differences, particularly during the time of the fifth Lord Byron, of eccentric and unsocial manners, suffered and even aided the dilapidations of time. The castellated stables and offices are, however, yet to be seen."

And Mr. Ashpitel adds that—

"The state of Newstead at the time the poet succeeded to the estate is not generally known: 'the wicked lord' had felled all the noble oaks, destroyed the finest herds of deer, and, in short, had denuded the estate of everything he could. The hirelings of the attorney did the rest: they stripped away all the furniture, and everything the law would permit them to remove. The buildings on the east side were unroofed; the old Xenodochium, and the grand refectory, were full of hay; and the entrance-hall and monks' parlour were stable for cattle. In the only habitable part of the building, a place then used as a sort of scullery, under the only roof that kept out wet of all this vast pile, the fifth Lord Byron breathed his last; and to this inheritance the poet succeeded."

It is not necessary for me to refer to the lofty expression of the poet's feelings on such his inheritance, nor to the necessity of his parting from the estate, which appears now to be happily restored to its former splendour; but possessing some knowledge of a lamentable fact, that neither Mr. Pettigrew nor Mr. Ashpitel appears to be aware of, I feel inclined to soften the asperity of the reflections quoted; and palliate, although I may not justify, the apparently reckless proceedings of the eccentric fifth Lord, as he is called. In the years 1796 and 1797, after finishing my clerkship, I had a seat in the chambers of the late Jas. Hanson, Esq., an eminent conveyancer of Lincoln's Inn; and while with him, amongst other peers of the realm who came to consult Mr. Hanson regarding their property, we had this eccentric fifth Lord Byron, who apparently came up to town for the purpose, and under the most painful and pitiable load of distress,—and I must confess that I felt for him exceedingly; but his case was past remedy, and, after some daily attendance, pouring forth his lamentations, he appears to have returned home to subside into the reckless operations reported of him. His case was this:—Upon the marriage of his son, he, as any other father would do, granted a settlement of his property, including the Newstead Abbey estate; but by some unaccountable inadvertence or negligence of the lawyers employed, the ultimate reversion of the fee-simple of the property, instead of being left, as it ought to have been, in the father as the owner of the estates, was limited to the heirs of the son. And upon his death, and failure of the issue of the marriage, the unfortunate father, this eccentric lord, found himself robbed of the fee-simple of his own inheritance, and left merely the naked tenant for life, without any legal power of raising money upon it, or even of cutting down a tree. It is so many years ago, that I now do not remember the detail of what passed on these consultations, but it would appear, that if the lawyers were aware of the effect of the final limitation, neither father nor son appear to have been informed of it, or the result might have been corrected, and his lordship would probably have kept up the estate in its proper order. Whether this case was at all a promoting cause of the alteration of the law, I do not know; but, as the law now stands, the estate would revert back to the father as heir of this son. This case made a lasting impression on me, and I once had to correct a similar erroneous proposition in a large intended settlement; and I quoted this unfortunate accident as an authority. Now, although this relation may not fully justify the reckless waste that appears to have been committed, it certainly is a palliative. I do not recollect whether {3} our fifth lord had any surviving daughter to provide for; but if he had, his situation would be a still more aggravated position.

W. S. HASLEDEN.

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ON A CELEBRATED PASSAGE IN "ROMEO AND JULIET," ACT III. SC. 2.

Few passages in Shakspeare have so often and so ineffectually been "winnowed" as the opening of the beautiful and passionate soliloquy of Juliet, when ardently and impatiently invoking night's return, which was to bring her newly betrothed lover to her arms. It stands thus in the first folio, from which the best quarto differs only in a few unimportant points of orthography:

"Gallop apace, you fiery footed steedes, Towards Phoebus' lodging, such a wagoner As Phaeton should whip you to the wish, And bring in cloudie night immediately. Spred thy close curtaine, Loue-performing night, That run-awayes eyes may wincke, and Romeo Leape to these armes, untalkt of and unseene", &c.

The older commentators do not attempt to change the word run-awayes, but seek to explain it. Warburton says Phoebus is the runaway. Steevens has a long argument to prove that Night is the runaway. Douce thought Juliet herself was the runaway; and at a later period the Rev. Mr. Halpin, in a very elegant and ingenious essay, attempts to prove that by the runaway we must understand Cupid.

MR. KNIGHT and MR. COLLIER have both of them adopted Jackson's conjecture of unawares, and have admitted it to the honour of a place in the text, but MR. DYCE has pronounced it to be "villainous;" and it must be confessed that it has nothing but a slight similarity to the old word to recommend it. MR. DYCE himself has favoured us with three suggestions; the first two in his Remarks on Collier and Knight's Shakspeare, in 1844, where he says—

"That ways (the last syllable of run-aways) ought to be days, I feel next to certain; but what word originally preceded it I do not pretend to determine:

'Spread thy close curtain, love-performing Night! That rude/soon (?) Day's eyes may wink, and Romeo Leap to these arms, untalk'd of and unseen,' &c."

The correctors of MR. COLLIER's folio having substituted—

"That enemies eyes may wink,"

MR. DYCE, in his recent Few Notes, properly rejects that reading, and submits another conjecture of his own, founded on the supposition that the word roving having been written illegibly, roavinge was mistaken for run-awayes, and proposes to read—

"That roving eyes may wink."

Every suggestion of MR. DYCE, certainly the most competent of living commentators on Shakspeare, merits attention; but I cannot say that I think he has succeeded in either of his proposed readings.

Monck Mason seems to have had the clearest notion of the requirements of the passage. He saw that "the word, whatever the meaning of it might be, was intended as a proper name;" but he was not happy in suggesting renomy, a French word with an English termination.

In the course of his note he mentions that Heath, "the author of the Revisal, reads 'Rumour's eyes may wink;' which agrees in sense with the rest of the passage, but differs widely from run-aways in the trace of the letters."

I was not conscious of having seen this suggestion of Heath's, when, in consequence of a question put to me by a gentleman of distinguished taste and learning, I turned my thoughts to the passage, and at length came to the conclusion that the word must have been rumourers, and that from its unfrequent occurrence (the only other example of it at present known to me being one afforded by the poet) the printer mistook it for runawayes; which, when written indistinctly, it may have strongly resembled. I therefore think that we may read with some confidence:

"Spread thy close curtains, love-performing Night, That rumourers' eyes may wink, and Romeo Leap to these arms, untalk'd of and unseen."

It fulfils the requirements of both metre and sense, and the words untalk'd of and unseen make it nearly indisputable. I had at first thought it might be "rumorous eyes;" but the personification would then be wanting. Shakspeare has personified Rumour in the Introduction to the Second Part of King Henry IV.; and in Coriolanus, Act IV. Sc. 6., we have—

"Go see this rumourer whipp'd."

I am gratified by seeing that I have anticipated your able correspondent, the REV. MR. ARROWSMITH, in his elucidation of "clamour your tongues," by citing the same passage from Udall's Apophthegmes, in my Vindication of the Text of Shakspeare, p. 79. It is a pleasure which must console me for having subjected myself to his just animadversion on another occasion. If those who so egregiously blunder are to be spared the castigation justly merited, we see by late occurrences to what it may lead; and your correspondent, in my judgment, is conferring a favour on all true lovers of our great poet by exposing pretension and error, from whatever quarter it may come,—a duty which has been sadly neglected in some late partial reviews of MR. COLLIER's "clever" corrector. MR. ARROWSMITH's communications have been so truly ad rem, that I think I shall be expressing the sentiments of all your readers interested in such {4} matters, in expressing an earnest desire for their continuance.

S. W. SINGER.

Mickleham.

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ON THE PASSAGE FROM "KING LEAR."

(Vol. vii., p. 592.)

Will you allow me to suggest to your ingenious Leeds correspondent (whose communications would be read with only the more pleasure if they evinced a little more respect for the opinions of others) that before he asserts the existence of a certain error which he points out in a passage in King Lear to be "undeniable," it would be desirable that he should support this improved reading by other passages from Shakspeare, or from cotemporary writers, in which the word he proposes occurs? For my own part, I think A. E. B.'s suggestion well worthy of consideration, but I cannot admit that it "demonstrates itself," or "that any attempt to support it by argument would be absurd," for it would unquestionably strengthen his case to show that the verb "recuse" was not entirely obsolete in Shakspeare's time. Neither can I admit that there is an "obvious opposition between means and defects," the two words having no relation to each other. The question is, which of two words must be altered; and at present I must own I am inclined to put more faith in the authority of "the old corrector" than in A. E. B.

Having taken up my pen on this subject, allow me to remark upon the manner in which MR. COLLIER's folio is referred to by your correspondent. I have carefully considered many of the emendations proposed, and feel in my own mind satisfied that so great a number that, in the words of your correspondent, demonstrate themselves, could not have been otherwise than adopted from some authority. Even in the instance of the passage from Henry V., "on a table of green friese," which A. E. B. selects, I presume, as being especially absurd, I think "the old corrector" right; although I had frequently cited Theobald's correction as particularly happy, and therefore the new version was at first to me very distasteful. But, whatever opinion may be held as to the value of the book, it is surely unbecoming to the discussion of a literary question to indulge in the unsparing insinuations that have been thrown out on all sides respecting it. I leave out of question the circumstance, that the long and great services of MR. COLLIER ought to protect him at least from such unworthy treatment.

SAMUEL HICKSON.

P.S.—Since writing the above, I have seen MR. KEIGHTLEY's letter. I hope he will not deprive the readers of "N. & Q." of the benefit of his valuable communications for the offences of one or two. He might consider, first, that his own dignity would suffer least by letting them pass by him "as the idle wind;" and, secondly, that some allowance should be made for gentlemen who engage in controversy on a subject which, strangely enough, next to religion, seems to be most productive of discord.

S. H.

"I have no way, and therefore want no eyes; I stumbled when I saw. Full oft 'tis seen Our means secure us; and our mere defects Prove our commodities."

Does not Shakspeare here use secure as a verb, in the sense "to make careless?" If so, the passage would mean, "Our means," that is, our power, our strength, make us wanting in care and vigilance, and too self-confident. Gloucester says, "I stumbled when I saw;" meaning, When I had eyes I walked carelessly; when I had the "means" of seeing and avoiding stumbling-blocks, I stumbled and fell, because I walked without care and watchfulness. Then he adds, "And our mere defects prove our commodities." Our deficiencies, our weaknesses (the sense of them), make us use such care and exertions as to prove advantages to us. Thus the antithesis is preserved.

How scriptural is the first part of the passage!

"Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall."—1 Cor. x. 12.

"He hath said in his heart, Tush, I shall never be cast down; there shall no harm happen unto me."—Ps. x. 6.

The second part is also scriptural:

"My strength is made perfect in weakness."—2 Cor. xii. 9.

"When I am weak then am I strong."—2 Cor. xii. 10.

In Timon of Athens we find secure used as verb "Secure thy heart."—Act II. Sc. 2.

Again, in Othello:

"I do not so secure me in the error."—Act I. Sc. 3.

In Du Cange's Gloss. is the verb "Securare nude pro securum reddere." In the "Alter Index sive Glossarium" of Ainsworth's Dictionary is the verb "Securo, as ... to live carelessly." In the "Verba partim Graeca Latine scripta, partim barbara," &c., is "Securo, as securum reddo."

The means of the hare in the fable for the race (that is, her swiftness) secured her; the defects of the tortoise (her slowness) proved her commodity.

F. W. J.

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MANNERS OF THE IRISH.

The following are extracts from a MS. volume of the sixteenth century, containing, inter alia, notes of the Manners and Superstitions of the {5} Celtic Irish. Some of our readers may be able to elucidate the obscure references:

"The Irish men they have a farme, They kepp the bread, And make boyranne. They make butter and eatt molchan. And when they haue donne They have noe shamm. They burne the strawe and make loisbran. They eatt the flesh and drinke the broth, And when they have done they say Deo gracias is smar in Doieagh."

The next appears to be a scrap of a woman's song:

"Birch and keyre 'tis wal veyre a spyunyng deye a towme. I am the geyest mayed of all that brought the somer houme. Justice Deyruse in my lopp, and senscal in my roame," &c.

John Devereux was Justiciary of the Palatinate Liberty of Wexford in the early part of Henry VIII.'s reign. That Palatinate was then governed by a seneschal or "senscal." The justice would seem to have been a gallant and sensual man, and the song may have been a little satirical. Among the notes of the "Manners" of the Irish, it is declared that—

"Sett them a farme—the grandfather, father, son, and they clayme it as their own: if not, they goe to rebellion."

Will any antiquary versed in Celtic customs explain whether this claim of possession grew out of any Celtic usage of tenancy? And also point out authorities bearing upon the customs of Celtic agricultural tenancy?

The next extract bears upon the communication at Vol. vii., p. 332.:

"An Ultagh hath three purses. He runneth behind dore to draw his money: one cutteth the throte of another."

Now, was an Ultagh an Irish usurer or money-lender? Your correspondent at page 332. requests information respecting Roger Outlaw. Sir William Betham, in a note to the "Proceedings against Dame Alice Ugteler," the famous pseudo-Kilkenny witch, remarks that "the family of Utlagh were seated in Dublin, and filled several situations in the corporation." Utlagh and Outlaw are the same surnames. The named Utlagh also occurs in the Calendar of Printed Irish Patent Rolls. William Utlagh, or Outlaw, was a banker and money-lender in Kilkenny, in the days of Edward I. He was the first husband of the witch, and brother of Friar Roger Outlaw. In favour of the latter, who was Prior of Kilmainham, near Dublin, a mandamus, dated 10 Edw. II., was issued for arrears due to him since he was "justice and chancellor, and even lieutenant of the justiciary, as well in the late king's time as of the present king's." He was appointed Lord Justice, or deputy to the Lord Lieutenant, by patent dated Mar. 15, 9 Edw. III.

Many of the Irish records having been lost, your correspondent will do an obliging service in pointing out the repository of the discovered roll. Perhaps steps might be taken for its restoration.

H.

[The following communication from our valued correspondent, the REV. H. T. ELLACOMBE, affords at once a satisfactory reply to H's Query, and a proof of the utility of "N. & Q."]

Roger Outlawe (Vol. vii., p. 559.).—Thanks to ANON. and others for their information.

As for "in viiij mense," I cannot understand it: I copied it as it was sent to me. B. Etii was an error of the press for R. Etii, but I purposely avoided noticing it, because my very first communication on the subject to "N. & Q.," under my own name and address, opened a very pleasing correspondence, which has since led to the restoration of these Irish documents to their congeners among the public records in Dublin; a gentleman having set out most chivalrously from that city at his own cost to recover them, and I am happy to say he has succeeded; and in the English Quarterly Magazine there will soon appear, I believe, an account of the documents in question. It would not, therefore, become me to give in this place the explanation which has been kindly communicated to me as to the meaning of the last conquest of Ireland; but I have no doubt it will be explained in the English Quarterly.

H. T. ELLACOMBE.

Rectory, Clyst St. George.

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Minor Notes.

Burial in an erect Posture.—In the north transept of Stanton Harcourt Church, Oxon, the burial-place of the Harcourt family, is a circular slab of blue marble in the pavement, in which is inlaid a shield of brass bearing the arms of Harcourt,—two bars, dimidiated with those of Beke; the latter, when entire, forming a cros ancree. The brass is not engraved, but forms the outline of the shield and arms. It is supposed to be the monument of Sir John, son of Sir Richard Harcourt and Margaret Beke, who died 1330. (See extracts from Lord Harcourt's "Account," in the Oxford Architectural Guide, p. 178.) Tradition relates, if my memory does not mislead me, that the knight was buried beneath this stone in an erect posture, but assigns no reason for this peculiarity. Is the probability of this being the case supported by any, and what instances? Or does the legend merely owe its existence to the circular form of the stone? {6} I think that its diameter is about two feet. If MR. FRASER has not met with the information already, he may be interested, with reference to his Query on "Dimidiation" (Vol. vii., p. 548.), in learning that the above mentioned Margaret was daughter and coheiress of John Lord Beke of Eresby, who by his will, made the 29th of Edw. I., devised the remainder of his arms to be divided between Sir Robert de Willoughby and Sir John de Harcourt. And this may lead to the farther Query, whether dimidiation was originally or universally resorted to in the case of coheiresses?

CHEVERELLS.

The Archbishop of Armagh's Cure for the Gout, 1571.—Extracted from a letter from Thomas Lancaster, Archbishop of Armagh, to Lord Burghley, dated from Dublin, March 25, 1571:—

"I am sorofull for that yo^r honor is greved w^{th} the goute, from the w^{ch} I beseche Almighty God deliver you, and send you health; and yf (it) shall please y^r honor to prove a medicen for the same w^{ch} I brought owt of Duchland, and have eased many w^{th} it, I trust in God it shall also do you good, and this it is. Take ij spaniel whelpes of ij dayes olde, scald them, and cause the entrells betaken out, but wash them not. Take 4 ounces brymstone, 4 ounces torpentyn, 1 ounce parmacete, a handfull nettells, and a quantyte of oyle of balme, and putt all the aforesayd in them stamped, and sowe them up and rost them, and take the dropes and anoynt you wheare your grefe is, and by God's grace yo^r honor shall fynd helpe."—From the Original in the State Paper Office.

SPES.

The last known Survivor of General Wolfe's Army in Canada.—In a recent number of the Montreal Herald, mention is made of more than twenty persons whose ages exceed one hundred years. The editor remarks that—

"The most venerable patriarch now in Canada is Abraham Miller, who resides in the township of Grey, and is 115 years old. In 1758 he scaled the cliffs of Quebec with General Wolfe, so that his residence in Canada is coincident with British rule in the province. He is attached to the Indians, and lives in all respects like them."

W. W.

Malta.

National Methods of Applauding.—Clapping with the hands is going out of use in the United States, and stamping with the feet is taking its place. When Mr. Combe was lecturing on phrenology at the Museum building in Philadelphia twelve or thirteen years ago, he and his auditors were much annoyed by the pedal applause of a company in the room above, who were listening to the concerts of a negro band. Complaint was made to the authorities of the Museum Society; but the answer was, that nothing could be done, as stamping of the feet was "the national method of applauding."

The crying of "hear him! hear him!" during the delivery of a speech, is not in use in the United States, as an English gentleman discovered who settled here a few years ago. He attended a meeting of the members of the church to which he had attached himself, and hearing something said that pleased him, he cried out "hear him! hear him!" Upon which the sexton came over to him, and told him that, unless he kept himself quiet, he would be under the necessity of turning him out of church.

M. E.

Philadelphia.

Curious Posthumous Occurrence.—If the following be true, though in ever so limited a manner, it deserves investigation. Notwithstanding his twenty-three years' experience, the worthy grave-digger must have been mistaken, unless there is something peculiar in the bodies of Bath people! But if the face turns down in any instance, as asserted, it would be right to ascertain the cause, and why this change is not general. It is now above twenty years since the paragraph appeared in the London papers:—

"A correspondent in the Bath Herald states the following singular circumstance:—'Having occasion last week to inspect a grave in one of the parishes of this city, in which two or three members of a family had been buried some years since, and which lay in very wet ground, I observed that the upper part of the coffin was rotted away, and had left the head and bones of the skull exposed to view. On inquiring of the grave-digger how it came to pass that I did not observe the usual sockets of the eyes in the skull, he replied that what I saw was the hind part of the head (termed the occiput, I believe, by anatomists), and that the face was turned, as usual, to the earth!!—Not exactly understanding his phrase 'as usual,' I inquired if the body had been buried with the face upwards, as in the ordinary way; to which he replied to my astonishment, in the affirmative, adding, that in the course of decomposition the face of every individual turns to the earth!! and that, in the experience of three-and-twenty years in his situation, he had never known more than one instance to the contrary.'"

A. B. C.

* * * * *

Queries.

DID CAPTAIN COOK FIRST DISCOVER THE SANDWICH ISLANDS?

In a French atlas, dated 1762, in my possession, amongst the numerous non-existing islands laid down in the map of the Pacific, and the still more numerous cases of omission inevitable at so early a period of Polynesian discovery, there is inserted an island styled "I. St. Francois," or "I. S. Francisco," which lies in {7} about 20deg N. and 224deg E. from the meridian of Ferro, and, of course, almost exactly in the situation of Owhyhee. That this large and lofty group may have been seen by some other voyager long before, is far from improbable; but, beyond a question, Cooke was the first to visit, describe, and lay them down correctly in our maps. Professor Meyen, however, as quoted in Johnston's Physical Atlas, mentions these islands in terms which would almost lead one to suppose that he, the Professor, considered them to have been known to the Spaniards in Anson's time or earlier, and that they had been regular calling places for the galleons in those days! It is difficult to conceive such a man capable of such a mistake; but if he did not suppose them to have been discovered before Cook's voyage in 1778, his words are singularly calculated to deceive the reader on that point.

J. S. WARDEN.

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SUPERSTITION OF THE CORNISH MINERS.

MR. KINGSLEY records a superstition of the Cornish miners, which I have not seen noted elsewhere. In reply to the question, "What are the Knockers?" Tregarva answers:

"They are the ghosts, the miners hold, of the Old Jews that crucified our Lord, and were sent for slaves by the Roman emperors to work the mines: and we find their old smelting-houses, which we call Jews' houses, and their blocks of the bottom of the great bogs, which we call Jews' tin: and then, a town among us, too, which we call Market Jew, but the old name was Marazion, that means the Bitterness of Zion, they tell me; and bitter work it was for them no doubt, poor souls! We used to break into the old shafts and adits which they had made, and find old stags-horn pickaxes, that crumbled to pieces when we brought them to grass. And they say that if a man will listen of a still night about those old shafts, he may hear the ghosts of them at working, knocking, and picking, as clear as if there was a man at work in the next level."—Yeast; a Problem: Lond. 1851, p. 255.

Miners, as a class, are peculiarly susceptible of impressions of the unseen world, and the superstitions entertained by them in different parts of the world would form a curious volume. Is there any work on Cornish folk lore which alludes to this superstition respecting the Jews? It would be useless, I dare say, to consult Carew, or Borlase; besides, I have not them by me.

Apropos to Cornish matters, a dictionary with a very tempting title was advertised for publication two or three years ago:

"Geslevar Cernewac, a Dictionary of the Cornish Dialect of the Cymraeg or ancient British Language, in which the words are elucidated by numerous examples from the Cornish works now remaining, with translations in English: and the synonyms in Welsh, Armoric, Irish, Gaelic, and Manx, so as to form a Celtic Lexicon. By the Rev. Robert Williams, M.A., Oxon., to be published in one vol. 4to. price 31s. 6d."

When shall we see this desirable lexicon? I was reminded of it the other day by hearing of the subscriptions on foot for the publication of the great Irish dictionary, which the eminent Irish scholars Messrs. O'Donovan and Curry have had in hand for many years.

EIRIONNACH.

* * * * *

Minor Queries.

Clerical Duel.—I shall be obliged to any correspondent who will supply the name of the courtier referred to in the following anecdote, which is to be found in Burckhardt's Kirchen-Geschichte der Deutschen Gemeinden in London, Tub. 1798, p. 77.

Anton Wilhelm Boehme, who came over as chaplain with Prince George of Denmark, officiated at the German Chapel, St. James's, from the year 1705 to 1722. He was a favourite of Queen Anne, and a friend of Isaac Watts. On one occasion he preached against adultery in a way which gave great offence to one of the courtiers present, who conceived that a personal attack on himself was intended. He accordingly sent a challenge to the preacher, which was without hesitation accepted; and at the time and place appointed the chaplain made his appearance in full canonicals, with his Bible in his hand, and gave the challenger a lecture which led to their reconciliation and friendship.

I should like also to know whether there is any other authority for the story than that which I leave quoted.

S. R. MAITLAND.

Gloucester

Pistol.—What is the date of the original introduction of this word into our vocabulary in either of the senses in which it is equivocally used by Falstaff in 1 Henry IV., Act. V. Sc. 3.? In the sense of fire-arms, pistols seem to have been unknown by that name as late as the year 1541; for the stat. 33 Hen. VIII. c. 6., after reciting the murders, &c. committed "with cross-bows, little short hand-guns, and little hagbuts," prohibits the possession of "any hand-gun other than such as shall be in the stock and gun of the length of one whole yard, or any hagbut or demihake other than such as shall be in the stock and gun of the length of three quarters of one yard." But throughout the act there is no mention of the word "pistol."

J. F. M.

Council of Laodicca, Canon 35.—Can any of your readers inform me whether, in any early work on the Councils, the word angelos is in the text, without having angulos in the margin? If so, oblige me by stating the editions.

CLERICUS (D).

{8}

Pennycomequick, adjoining Plymouth.—The Bath and West of England Agricultural Society held their recent annual meeting here. Will any of your correspondents oblige me with the derivation of this remarkable word?

R. H. B.

Park the Antiquary.—In a note to the third volume (p. lxxiii.) of the Grenville Correspondence the following passage: "Barker has printed a second note, which Junius is supposed to have written to Garrick, upon the authority of Park the antiquary, who states that he found it in a cotemporary newspaper," &c. This is not strictly correct. Barker says (p. 190.), "The letter was found in a copy of Junius belonging to [Query, which had belonged to?] T. Park, &c. He had [Query, it is presumed?] cut it out of a newspaper; but unfortunately has omitted to furnish the date of the newspaper." [Query, How then known to be cotemporary?] The difference is important; but where is the copy containing this letter? By whom has it been seen? By whom and when first discovered? Where did Barker find the story recorded? When and where first printed?

P. T. A.

Honorary D.C.L.'s.—It was mentioned in a report of proceedings at the late Installation, that the two royal personages honoured with degrees, having been doctored by diploma, would be entitled to vote in Convocation,—a privilege not possessed by the common tribe of honorary D.C.L.'s.

Can you inform me whether Dr. Johnson had, or ever exercised, the right referred to in virtue of his M.A. degree (conferred on the publication of the Dictionary), or of the higher academical dignity to which his name has given such a world-wide celebrity?

CANTABRIGIENSIS.

Battle of Villers en Couche.—Some of your correspondents, better versed than myself in military matters, will doubtless render me assistance by replying to this Query. Where can I find a copious and accurate account of the battle, or perhaps I should rather say skirmish, of Villers en Couche? If I am rightly informed, it must be one of the most remarkable actions on record, when the comparative numbers of the troops engaged are taken into consideration. We have, as an heirloom in our family, a medal won by an officer on that occasion: it is suspended from a red and white ribbon, and is inscribed thus:

"FORTITUDINE VILLERS EN COUCHE. 24th APRIL, 1794."

I do not remember to have read any account of the battle; but, as I have heard from the lips of one who gained his information from the officer before alluded to, the particulars were these:—General Mansell, with a force consisting of two squadrons of the 15th Hussars, and one squadron of the German Legion, two hundred and seventy-two in all, charged a body of the French army, ten thousand strong. The French were formed in a hollow square: but five times, as I am informed, did our gallant troops charge into and out of the square, till the French, struck with a sudden panic, retreated with a loss of twelve hundred men. I am desirous of authenticating this almost incredible account, and shall be thankful for such information as may guide me to an authoritative record of the action in question.

W. SPARROW SIMPSON, B.A.

Dr. Misaubin.—Will any of your numerous correspondents give me any information, or refer me to any work where I can find it, respecting Dr. Misaubin, who appears to have practised in London during the first half of the last century? What was the peculiarity of his practice?

GRIFFIN.

Kemble, Willet, and Forbes.—What are the two concluding lines of an epigram published ten or twelve years ago, beginning,—

"The case of Kemble, Willet, and Forbes, Much of the Chancellor's time absorbs; If I were the Chancellor I should tremble At the mention of Willet, Forbes, and Kemble"?

UNEDA.

Philadelphia.

Piccalyly.—The ornament, somewhat between a hood, a scarf, and an armlet, worn hanging over the right shoulder of judges and serjeants at law, is called a piccalyly. What is the origin of this peculiarity of judicial costume, what are the earliest examples of it, and what its etymology?

NO JUDGE.

Post-Office about 1770.—Mr. Smith, in the notes prefixed to the Grenville Correspondence, says several of Junius's letters appear to have been sent from the same post-office "as the post-mark is 'peny post payd,'"—a peculiarity of spelling not likely to occur often. Have any of your correspondents letters of that date with a like post-mark? and, if so, can they tell us where posted?

P. A. O.

"Carefully examined and well-authenticated."—I agree with MR. CRAMP (Vol. vii., p. 569.) that "the undecided question of the authorship of Junius requires that every statement should be carefully examined, and (as far as possible) only well-authenticated facts be admitted as evidence." I take leave, therefore, to remind him that my question (Vol. iii., p. 262.) remains unanswered; that I am anxious that he should authenticate his statement (p. 63.), and name some of the "many" {9} persons in whose libraries vellum-bound copies of Junius have been found.

V. B.

Sir Heister Ryley.—Who was the author of the Visions of Sir Heister Ryley, and whence did it derive its name? It was published in 1710, and consists of papers periodically published on serious subjects. It was one of the many short-lived periodicals that sprung up in imitation of the Tatler, and appears to have died a natural death at the end of the so-called first volume.

H. T. RILEY.

Effigies with folded Hands.—On the south side of Llangathen Church, Carmarthenshire, is a huge monument (of the style well designated as bedstead) for Dr. Anthony Rudd, Bishop of St. David's, and Anne Dalton, his wife, 1616, with their recumbent effigies, and those of four sons kneeling at their head and feet. From all these figures the iconoclasts had smitten the hands upraised in prayer, and they have been replaced by plaister hands folded on the bosom. The effect is singular. Is there any other instance of such restoration?

E. D.

* * * * *

Minor Queries with Answers.

Passage in Bishop Horsley.—In the Introduction to Utrum Horum, a rather curious work by Henry Care, being a comparison of the Thirty-nine Articles with the doctrines of Presbyterians on the one hand, and the tenets of the Church of Rome on the other, is an extract from Dr. Hakewill's Answer (1616) to Dr. Carier, "an apostate to Popery." In it occurs the following passage: "And so, through Calvin's sides, you strike at the throat and heart of our religion." Will you allow me to ask if a similar expression is not used by Bishop Horsley in some one of his Charges?

S. S. S.

[The following passage occurs in the bishop's Charge to the clergy of St. Asaph in 1806, p. 26. "Take especial care, before you aim your shafts at Calvinism, that you know what is Calvinism, and what is not: that in that mass of doctrine, which it is of late become the fashion to abuse under the name of Calvinism, you can distinguish with certainty that part of it which is nothing better than Calvinism, and that which belongs to our common Christianity, and the general faith of the Reformed Churches; lest, when you mean only to fall foul of Calvinism, you should unwarily attack something more sacred and of higher origin."]

"Marry come up!"—What is the origin of this expression, found in the old novelists? It perhaps originates in an adjuration of the Virgin Mary. If so, how did it gain its present form?

H. T. RILEY.

[Halliwell explains it as an interjection equivalent to indeed! Marry on us, marry come up, Marry come out, interjections given by Brockett. Marry and shall, that I will! Marry come up, my dirty cousin, a saying addressed to any one who affects excessive delicacy.]

Dover Court.—What is the origin of the expression of a "Dover Court, where all are talkers and none are hearers?" There is a place called by this name in the vicinity of Harwich?

H. T. RILEY.

[There is a legend, that Dover-Court Church in Essex once possessed a miraculous cross which spoke, thus noticed in the Collier of Croydon:

"And how the rood of Dovercot did speak, Confirming his opinions to be true."

So that it is possible, as Nares suggests, that this church was the scene of confusion alluded to in the proverb: "Dover Court, all speakers and no hearers." Fox, in his Martyrology, vol. ii. p. 302., states, that "a rumour was spread that no man could shut the door, which therefore stood open night and day; and that the resort of people to it was much and very great."]

Porter.—In what book is the word porter, meaning the malt liquor so called, first found? I have an impression that the earliest use of it that I have seen is in Nicholas Amherst's Terrae Filius, about 1726.

H. T. RILEY.

[We doubt whether an earlier use of this word, as descriptive of a malt liquor, will be found than the one noticed by our correspondent; for it was only about 1722 that Harwood, a London brewer, commenced brewing this liquor, which he called "entire," or "entire butt," implying that it was drawn from one cask or butt. It subsequently obtained the name of porter, from its consumption by porters and labourers.]

Dr. Whitaker's Ingenious Earl.—

"To our equal surprise and vexation at times, we find the ancients possessed of degrees of physical knowledge with which we were mostly or entirely unacquainted ourselves. I need not appeal in proof of this to that extraordinary operation of chemistry, by which Moses reduced the golden calf to powder, and then give it mingled with water as a drink to the Israelites; an operation the most difficult in all the processes of chemistry, and concerning which it is a sufficient honour for the moderns to say, that they have once or twice practised it. I need not appeal to the mummies of Egypt, in which the art of embalming bodies is so eminently displayed, that all attempts at imitation have only showed the infinite superiority of the original to the copy. I need not appeal to the gilding upon those mummies so fresh in its lustre; to the stained silk of them, so vivid in its colours after a lapse of 3000 years; to the ductility and malleability of glass, discovered by an artist of Rome in the days of Tiberius, but instantly lost by the immediate murder of the man under the orders of the emperor, and just now boasted vainly to be re-discovered by the wildly eccentric, yet vividly vigorous, genius of that earl who professes to teach law to my lord chancellor, and divinity to my lords the {10} bishops, who proposes to send ship, by the force of steam, with all the velocity of a ball from the mouth of a cannon, and who pretends by the power of his steam-impelled oars to beat the waters of the ocean into the hardness of adamant; or to the burning-glasses of Archimedes, recorded in their effects by credible writers, actually imitated by Proclus at the siege of Constantinople with Archimedes' own success, yet boldly pronounced by some of our best judges, demonstrably impracticable in themselves, and lately demonstrated by some faint experiments to be very practicable, the skill of the moderns only going so far as to render credible the practices of the ancients."—The Course of Hannibal, by John Whitaker, B.D., 1794, vol. ii. p. 142.

Who was the earl whose universality of genius is described above by this "laudator temporis acti?"

H. J.

[Charles Earl Stanhope, whose versatility of talent succeeded in abolishing the old wooden printing-press, with its double pulls, and substituting in its place the beautiful iron one, called after him the "Stanhope Press." His lordship's inventive genius, however, failed in the composing-room; for his transmogrified letter-cases, with his eight logotypes, once attempted at The Times' office, were soon abandoned, and the old process of single letters preferred.]

Dissimulate.—Where is the earliest use of this word to be found? It is to be met with in Bernard Mandeville's Fable of the Bees, 1723; but is not to be found, I think, in any dictionary. I was once heavily censured at school for using it in my theme; but I have more than once of late seen it used in a leading article of The Times.

H. T. RILEY.

[Dissimulate occurs in Richardson's Dictionary, with the two following examples:

"Under smiling she was dissimulate, Prouocatiue with blinkes amorous." Chaucer, The Testament of Creseide.

"We commaunde as kynges, and pray as men, that al thyng be forgiuen to theim that be olde and broken, and to theim that be yonge and lusty, to dissimulate for a time, and nothyng to be forgiuen to very yong children."—Golden Boke, c. ix.

* * * * *

Replies.

BISHOP KEN.

(Vol. vii., p. 526.)

By converting a noun into a surname, Dodsley has led J. J. J. into a natural, but somewhat amusing mistake. The lines quoted are in Horace Walpole's well-known epistle, from Florence, addressed to his college friend T[homas] A[shton,] tutor of the Earl of P[lymouth].

In Walpole's Fugitive Pieces, printed at Strawberry Hill, 1758 (the copy of which, now before me, was given by Walpole to Cole in 1762, and contains several notes by the latter), the passage stands correctly thus:

"Or, with wise ken, judiciously define, When Pius marks the honorary coin, Of Carnealla, or of Antonine."

Your correspondent refers to an edition of the Collection of Poems of 1758. In a much later edition of that work, viz. 1782, the line is again printed—

"Or with wise KEN," &c.

It is strange that the mistake was not corrected, at the instance of Walpole himself, during this long interval.

Turning to Bishop Ken, I would observe that in his excellent Life of this prelate, Mr. Anderdon has given the three well-known hymns "word for word," as first penned. These, Mr. A. tells us, are found, for the first time, in a copy of the Manual of Prayers For the Use of the Winchester Scholars, printed in 1700. The bishop's versions vary so very materially from those to which we have been accustomed from childhood, that these original copies are very interesting. Indeed, within five years after their first appearance, and during the author's life, material changes were made, several of which are retained to the present hour. It must be admitted that some of the stanzas, as they first came from the bishop's pen, are singularly rugged and inharmonious, almost justifying the request made by the lady to Byrom (as I have stated elsewhere[1]), "to revise and polish the bishop's poems." How came these hymns, so far the most popular of his poetical works, to be omitted by Hawkins in the collected edition of the poems, printed in 4 vols., 1721?

My present object is, to call your attention to a "Midnight Hymn," by Sir Thomas Browne, which will be found in his works (vol. ii. p. 113., edit. Wilkin). Can there be question that to it Ken is indebted for some of the thoughts and expressions in two of his own hymns?

The good bishop's fame will not be lessened by his adopting what was good in the works of the learned physician. He doubtless thought far more of the benefit which he could render to the youthful Wykehamists, than of either the originality or smoothness of his own verses.

Sir Thomas Browne. "While I do rest, my soul advance; Make my sleep a holy trance: That I may, my rest being wrought, Awake into some holy thought, And with as active vigour run My course as doth the nimble sun.

"Sleep is a death: O make me try, By sleeping, what it is to die! {11} And as gently lay my head On my grave, as now my bed.

"These are my drowsy days; in vain I do now wake to sleep again. O come that hour when I shall never Sleep again, but wake for ever!

"Guard me 'gainst those watchful foes, Whose eyes are open while mine close; Let no dreams my head infest, But such as Jacob's temples blest."

Bishop Ken. "Awake, my soul, and with the sun Thy daily stage of duty run.

"Teach me to live that I may dread The grave as little as my bed.

"O when shall I in endless day For ever chase dark sleep away, And endless praise with th' Heavenly choir, Incessant sing and never tire.

"You, my blest Guardian, whilst I sleep, Close to my bed your vigils keep; Divine love into me instil, Stop all the avenues of ill.

"Thought to thought, with my soul converse Celestial joys to me rehearse; And in my stead, all the night long, Sing to my God a grateful song."

In the work referred to—one of the most valuable and best edited of modern days—Mr. Wilkin, when speaking of a fine passage on music in the Religio Medici (vol. ii. p. 106.), asks whether it may not have suggested to Addison the beautiful conclusion of his Hymn on the Glories of Creation:

"What tho' in solemn silence, all," &c.

This passage in Sir Thomas Browne appears forcibly to have struck the gifted author of Confessions of an English Opium-eater (see p. 106. of that work).

J. H. MARKLAND.

[Footnote 1: Sketch of Bishop Ken's Life, p. 107.]

* * * * *

BOHN'S EDITION OF HOVEDEN.

(Vol. vii., p. 579.)

MR. RILEY mistakes my purpose if he thinks that my object was to make a personal attack on him; and for anything in my last communication which may have appeared to possess that tendency, I hereby freely express my regret. Still I cannot allow that he has explained away the mistakes of which I complained, and of which I still have to complain. The kingdom of Cork never "extended to within a short distance of Waterford;" and the territory of Desmond was never co-extensive with Cork, having been always confined to the county of Kerry. MR. RILEY, therefore, is in error when he uses "Cork" and "Desmond" as synonymous. Again, he falls into the same mistake by assuming "Crook, Hook Point, or The Crook," to be synonyms. I never heard that Henry II. landed at Hook Point, which is in the county of Wexford, and from which a land journey to Waterford would be very circuitous. At Crook, however, on the opposite side of Waterford Harbour, and within the shelter of Creden Head, he is said to have done so; and as that point answers pretty exactly to the Crock of Hoveden, why assume some indefinite point of the "Kingdom of Cork" as the locality, even supposing that its boundary did approach Waterford city? Really MR. RILEY's explanations but make matters worse.

With regard to "Erupolensis" being an alias of Ossoriensis, I may quote the authority of the learned De Burgo, who, speaking of the diocese of Ossory, observes:

"Quandoque tamen nuncupata erat Eyrupolensis ab Eyro Flumine, vulgo Neoro, quod Kilkenniam alluit."—Hibernia Dominicana, p. 205. note i.

I maintain that the reading public has just cause to complain, not (as I said on a former occasion) because the editor of such a book as Hoveden's Annals does not know everything necessary to elucidate his author, but because baseless conjectures are put forward as elucidations of the text.

JAMES GRAVES.

Kilkenny.

* * * * *

COLERIDGE'S CHRISTABEL.

(Vol. vii., pp. 206. 292.)

It is difficult to believe that the third part of Christabel, published in Blackwood for June, 1819, vol. v. p. 286., could have either "perplexed the public," or "pleased Coleridge." In the first place, it was avowedly written by "Morgan Odoherty;" and in the next, it is too palpable a parody to have pleased the original author, who could hardly have been satisfied with the raving rhapsodies put into his mouth, or with the treatment of his innocent and virtuous heroine. This will readily be supposed when it is known that the Lady Geraldine is made out to have been a man in woman's attire, and that "the mark of Christabel's shame, the seal of her sorrow," is neither more nor less than the natural consequence of her having shared her chamber with such a visitor.

Is your correspondent A. B. R. correct in stating this parody to have been the composition of Dr. Maginn? In the biography of this brilliant writer in the twenty-third volume of the Dublin University Magazine, Dr. Moir, who had undoubtedly good opportunities of knowing, mentions that his first contribution to Blackwood was the Latin translation of "Chevy Chase," in the number for November 1819; if this be correct, many of the cleverest papers that appeared under the name of Odoherty, and which are all popularly attributed {12} to Maginn, must have been the work of other authors, a circumstance which I had been already led to suspect from the frequent local allusions to Scotland in general, and to Edinburgh in particular, which could have scarcely proceeded from the pen of a native of Cork, who had then never visited Scotland. Since Dr. Moir's own death, it appears that the Eve of St. Jerry, and the Rhyme of the Auncient Waggonere, have been claimed for him, as well as some other similar pieces; and I believe that the series of Boxiana, which also appeared under the name of the renowned ensign and adjutant, was written by Professor Wilson. Maginn's contributions were at first under various signatures, and some time elapsed before he made use of the nom de guerre of Morgan Odoherty, which eventually became so identified with him.

J. S. WARDEN.

Paternoster Row.

* * * * *

ITS.

(Vol. vii., p. 578.)

I am sorry to intrude upon your valuable space again in reference to this little word, but the inquiry of MR. RYE (p. 578.), and other reasons, render it desirable. The truth is that MR. KEIGHTLEY, MR. RYE and myself, are more or less mistaken. 1. MR. KEIGHTLEY, in his quotation from Fairfax's Tasso (MR. SINGER's accurate reprint, 1817), has his in both lines. 2. MR. RYE, in understanding me to refer to any translation proper; unless Sternhold and Hopkins are to be considered as having produced one. 3. Myself, in supposing the old metrical version in the Book of Common Prayer originally had the word its. I copied from the Oxford edition in fol. of 1770; but a 4to. edition, "printed by Iohn Daye, dwelling over Aldersgate, anno 1574," does not exhibit the word in the places specified; we have instead her in both places.

Hitherto, then, the oldest examples of the use of this word have been adduced from Shakspeare. These are to be found in the first folio, but are in each case printed with the apostrophe after the t,—it's. This method of writing the word, however, soon disappeared, for in a treatise of Pemble's, printed 1635 (the author died in 1623), it appears as we write it now:

"If faith alone by its own virtue and force."—Works, fol. p. 171.

I have not observed the fact remarked, that besides the use of his, her, hereof, thereof, of it, and the, it was customary to employ the unchanged word it for the possessive case. I will give an example or two. In the Genevan version, at Rom. viii. 20., we read "Not of it owne wille." This passage is thus quoted in 1611 and in 1622, but in a later edition of the same work, 1656, its is substituted for it. I have a note of one other instance from Perkins on Rev. ii. 28. (ed. 1606): "For as the sunne in the spring time quickeneth by it warme beames."

In conclusion, may I request that if any genuine instance of the use of this word its, is observed by any of your many contributors, they will communicate the fact to you? At present we can only go back to Shakspeare, in his Winter's Tale and Henry VIII.

B. H. C.

* * * * *

FAMILY OF MILTON'S WIDOW.

(Vol. vii., p. 596.)

As your correspondent CRANMORE has long been a deserter from the ranks of "N. & Q.," I may perhaps, without presumption, for once "stand in his shoes," and reply to the challenge addressed to him by V. M.

Much obscurity has all along prevailed among the many biographers of Milton, in reference to the family of Elizabeth Minshull, his third wife, and eventually, for more than fifty years, his widow. Philips, Warton, Todd, and numerous others, state her to have been "the daughter of Mr. Minshull, of Cheshire,"—a very vague assertion when we consider that there were at least three or four different families of that name then existing in the county. Pennant, who delighted in particularities, sometimes even at the expense of historical fact, tells us, for the first time, in 1782, that she was the daughter of Mr. (or Sir) Edward Minshull, of Stoke, near Nantwich, and that she died at the latter town in March, 1726, at an advanced age. Mr. Ormerod, again, whose splendid History of Cheshire will be the standard authority of the county for ages after he himself is carried to his fathers, has unfortunately adopted the same conclusion, and so given a colour, as it were, to this erroneous statement of our Cambrian antiquary. The Rev. Benjamin Mardon's paper, printed in the Journal of the British Archaeological Association for 1849, is another and more recent instance of the way in which such errors as this may become perpetuated. Another writer (Palmer) conjectures her to have been the daughter of Minshull of Manchester; but this also has been proved to be entirely destitute of foundation.

The truth of the matter is (and I am indebted to Mr. Fitchett Marsh's clear and succinct dissertation in the Miscellany of the Chetham Society for the information), the poet's widow was daughter of Mr. Randle Minshull, of Wistaston in the county of Chester, whose great-great-grandfather, a younger son of Minshull of Minshull, settled on a small estate there in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and so founded the house of Minshull of Wistaston. Milton was introduced to his Cheshire wife by his friend Dr. Paget; and {13} it was by his advice that the author of Paradise Lost once more entered into the bonds of wedlock. Mr. Marsh, to clear up all doubt upon the subject, and having previously established the identity of the family, examined the parish register at Wistaston, and there found that "Elizabeth, the daughter of Randolph Mynshull, was baptized the 30th day of December, 1638;" so that, if baptized shortly after birth, she must have been about twenty-six years old when united to Milton in 1664, and about eighty-nine at her death, which occurred in 1727.

V. M., and all others who desire farther enlightenment on the subject, will do well to refer to the volume before mentioned, which forms the twenty-fourth of the series published by the Chetham Society.

T. HUGHES.

Chester.

* * * * *

BOOKS OF EMBLEMS—JACOB BEHMEN.

(Vol. vii., pp. 469. 579.)

Perhaps you will allow poor old Jacob Behmen, the inspired cobbler of Gorlitz, a niche in your temple of writers of emblems. I think he is legitimately entitled to that distinction. His works are nearly all couched in emblems; and, besides his own figures, his principles were pictorially illustrated by his disciple William Law (the author of The Way to Divine Knowledge, The Serious Call, &c.), in some seventeen simple, and four compound emblematic drawings. Of these the most remarkable, and in fact the most intelligible, are three compound emblems representing the Creation, Apostasy, and Redemption of Man. Every phase of each stage in the soul's history is disclosed to view by means of double and single doors. We are now concerned only with such of Behmen's emblematic works as have been translated into English. The following list contains only those in my own library. I am acquainted with no others:

(1.) "The Works of Jacob Behmen, the Teutonic Theosopher, to which is prefixed the Life of the Author, with Figures illustrating his Principles, left by the Rev. William Law, M.A. In four thick Volumes, royal 4to. London: printed for M. Richardson in Paternoster Row, MDCCLXIV." With a fine portrait of Behmen facing the title-page of the first volume. This edition contains the following works:

1. Aurora: the Day-spring, or Dawning of the Day in the East; or Morning-redness in the Rising of the Sun: that is, the Root or Mother of Philosophy, Astrology, and Theology, from the True Ground; or, A Description of Nature.

2. The Three Principles of the Divine Essence of the Eternal: Dark, Light, and Temporary World.

3. Mysterium Magnum: or an Explanation of the First Book of Moses called Genesis.

4. Four Tables of Divine Revelation.

5. The High and Deep-Searching of the Threefold Life of Man, through or according to the Three Principles.

6. Forty Questions concerning the Soul, proposed by Dr. Balthasar Walter, and answered by Jacob Behmen.

7. The Treatise of the Incarnation.

8. The Clavis, or an Explanation of some Principal Points and Expressions.

9. Signatura Rerum.

10. Of the Election of Grace; or of God's Will towards Man, commonly called Predestination.

11. The Way to Christ discovered in the following Treatises:—I. Of True Repentance. II. Of True Resignation. III. Of Regeneration. IV. Of Supernatural Life.

12. A Discourse between a Soul hungry and thirsty after the Fountain of Life, the sweet Love of Jesus Christ, and a Soul enlightened.

13. A Treatise of the Four Complexions, or a Consolatory Instruction for a Sad and Assaulted Heart in the Time of Temptation.

14. A Treatise of Christ's Testament, Baptism, and the Supper.

(2.) "Theosophic Letters, or Epistles of the Man from God enlightened in Grace, Jacob Behmen, of Old Seidenburgh, wherein everywhere [are?] Divine Blessed Exhortations to true Repentance and Amendment, as also Plaine Instructions concerning the highly worthy and precious Knowledge of the Divine and Natural Wisdome; together with a Right Touchstone or Triall of these Times, for an Introduction to the Author's other Writings: published in English for the good of the sincere Lovers of true Christianitie, by I. S.[2]" (I have only a MS. copy of this publication.)

(3.) A beautiful MS. translation of "The Way to Christ." This is hardly so accurate as the one already referred to, though some of the expressions are better chosen. The date of this MS. is about 1730, or earlier.

(4.) A fair MS. translation of Jacob Behmen's treatise called "A Fundamental Instruction concerning the Earthly and concerning the Heavenly Mystery; how they two stand in one another, and how in the Earthly the Heavenly becometh manifested or revealed, wherein then you shall see Babell the great citty upon Earth stand with its Forms and Wonders; and wherefore, or out of what, Babell is generated, and where Antichrist will stand quite naked. Comprised in Nine Texts. Written May 8, 1620, in High Dutch." (I have seen no printed translation of this treatise.)

(5.) MS. translation of the fourth treatise of "The Way to Christ," viz. "of the Supersensual Life." This is a less accurate rendering than either of the others above mentioned.

Perhaps your mystic correspondents will kindly furnish lists of other publications and MSS. of {14} "the Teutonick Theosopher." There are sixteen more of his works, of which fifteen are now extant in High Dutch. As old Behmen is but little known in this country, save by ill-repute, as having led astray William Law in his old age, and, through him, having tinctured the religious philosophy of Coleridge, it way be worth noting, that no less a philosopher than Schelling (to whom, as we know, Coleridge stood so greatly indebted) stole from the Lusatian shoemaker the corner-stones of his Philosophy of Nature.

C. MANSFIELD INGLEBY.

Birmingham.

[Footnote 2: J. Sparrow.—ED.]

* * * * *

RAFFAELLE'S SPOSALIZIO.

(Vol. vii., p. 595.)

With regard to your correspondent MR. G. BRINDLEY ACKWORTH's Query respecting Raffaelle's Sposalizio, I am induced to think that the custode at the church of the Santa Croce at Florence was right as to his information. In the copy which I have of the "Ordo ad faciendum Sponsalia," according to the ancient use of Salisbury, the ring is undoubtedly to be placed on the bride's right hand. Wheatly indeed says, that "when the man espouses his wife with it (i.e. the ring), he is to put it upon the fourth finger of her left hand;" and then refers, for the reason of this, to the rubric of Salisbury Manual, which speaks of the vein going from this finger directly to the heart.

Now, what are the precise words of this rubric? After giving directions for the benediction of the ring, provided it has not previously been blessed, the rubric goes on thus:

"Si autem antea fuerit annulus ille benedictus tunc statim postquam vir posuerit annulum super librum, accipiens sacerdos annulum tradat ipsum viro: quem vir accipiat manu sua dextera cum tribus principalioribus digitis, et manu sua sinistra tenens dexteram sponsae docente sacerdote dicat."

The man is to receive the ring from the priest with the three principal fingers of the right hand; and then, holding the right hand of the bride with his own left hand, he shall say, "With this ring," &c. He is then to place the ring on her thumb, saying, "In nomine Patris;" then on her second finger, saying "et Filii;" then on the third finger, saying "et Spiritus Sancti;" then on the fourth finger, saying "Amen;" and there he is to leave it. There is not a word said about the bride's left hand, the right is alone mentioned; and why should the man hold her right hand with his left, but that with his right hand he may the more easily place the ring, first on the thumb, then on the other fingers of her right hand, until it arrives at its ideal destination?

While I am upon this subject, allow me to point out another singular direction given in a rubric in this same "Ordo ad faciendum Sponsalia." When the woman is, as we term it, given away, if she be a spinster, she is to have her hand uncovered; if a widow, covered: the words are—

"Deinde detur femina a patre suo, vel ab amicis ejus: quod si puella sit, discoopertam habeat manum, si vidua, tectam."

There is no reason given for this distinction, nor do I ever remember to have seen it noticed.

F. B. W.

The Sposalizio, or "espousals," or betrothing, is certainly a different ceremony from the marriage. Is not the fact of young ladies popularly considering and calling the third finger of the right hand the engaged finger, and wearing a ring on that finger when engaged, a confirmation of your correspondent's idea, that at this "betrothal" or "espousals" (compare the phrase "his espoused wife" of Mary before her marriage with Joseph) the ring was placed in the right hand; at the marriage ceremony on the left?

SC.

* * * * *

WINDFALL.

(Vol. vii., p. 285.)

W. W. is desirous of interpreting windfall, as necessarily from its origin denoting a gain. He is, perhaps, expecting a handsome bequest; I wish he may get it; but he may rely on it that the windfall of the bequest will be accompanied by the windfall of the "Succession Act." Let us hear what our great Doctor says; his first explanation is, "Fruit blown down from the tree."

W. W.'s little boys and girls would deem a windfall of unripe apples, at this time of the year, a good; they will make a pie for dinner. W. W. himself would call it an evil; the ripe crop is ruined.

But let us see how Johnson illustrates his explanation:

"Their boughs were too great for their stem, they became a windfall upon the sudden."—Bacon, Essay 29.

Webster copies this for his first explanation, as he does also our Dr's. second for his second; but as it is not his plan to illustrate by examples, he is saved from the eccentricity of his original.

If we refer to Bacon we shall be reminded of Johnson's warning, that by "hasty detruncation the general tendency of a sentence may be changed." The sentence here so hastily detruncated, stands thus in the Essay:

"The Spartans were a nice people in point of naturalisation, whereby while they kept their compasse, they stood firme. But when they did spread, and their boughes were becommen too great for their stemme, they became a windfall upon the suddaine. 'Potentia eorum subito corruit.'"

They, in Johnson's mutilated sentence, refers to the boughs; in Bacon, to the Spartans; so that, in {15} the first place, the Spartans are transformed into boughs, and, in the next place, the boughs into fruit. Detruncation, however, had nothing to do with this latter metamorphosis; and I am afraid this is not a solitary instance of lexicographical incongruity.

W. W. may assure himself that a windfall is "whatever falls by the wind, or with similar suddenness or unexpectedness, whether bringing good or ill."

And if he will take the trouble to refer to "The Case of Impeachment of Waste," quoted by MR. ARROWSMITH, Vol. vii., p. 375., he will find, only a few lines before that gentleman's quotation begins, a legal question at issue as to the right of property in windfalls.

Q.

Bloomsbury.

* * * * *

MR. JUSTICE NEWTON.

(Vol. vii., pp. 528. 600.)

It would greatly enhance the value of contributions to "N. & Q.," save much trouble, and often lead to a more direct intercourse between persons of similar pursuits, if contributors would drop initials, and sign their own proper name and habitat; and in saying this, I believe the Editor will second me. If C. S. G. had done this, I should have been happy to send him an envelope full of proofs that Mr. Justice Newton did not die in 1444, for that a fine was levied before him in 1448; that he is not buried in Bristol Cathedral, but in the Wyke Aisle in Yatton Church, Somerset, where may be seen his effigies beautifully carved in alabaster, in his judge's robes, and his head resting on a wheat-sheaf or garb; that there was no relationship between the second baronet of Hather, his arms being cross bones, &c., and those of the judge, who was truly a Cradock, were three garbs, &c. I would now beg leave to refer C. S. G. to my former communications in "N. & Q." about Cradock Newton, particularly Vol. ii., pp. 248. 427.; Chronica Judicialia, 1635; Foss's Lives of the Judges; and a paper of mine in the forthcoming volume of the Proceedings of the Archaeological Institute at Bristol.

H. T. ELLACOMBE.

Rectory, Clyst St. George.

From C. S. G.'s reply to my inquiry respecting Mr. Justice Newton I conclude that at least two individuals of this name have, at different periods, and at a considerable interval apart, occupied the judicial bench.

The portrait I wish to trace is of a well-known character of the Commonwealth era, and could not, of course, have belonged to a judge then some two centuries deceased. My omission to state this circumstance, in the first instance, has very naturally occasioned complete misapprehension throughout.

Since my Query was written, a duplicate of the drawing in the Bodleian (minus the inscription), out of the Strawberry Hill collection, has, curiously enough, appeared in an extensive public sale. It was likewise said to be by Bulfinch; and farther examination leads me to infer that both this and the Oxford copy were, in respect of artist, in all probability not incorrectly described. As Bulfinch lived temp. Charles II., and the Bodleian inscription points to his original painting, as "in the hands of Mr. Justice Newton," it may fairly be presumed that a second judge of the name flourished in this reign.

Substantially, then, my original Query yet remains unanswered, notwithstanding C. S. G.'s obliging reply.

F. KYFFIN LENTHALL.

36. Mount Street, Grosvenor Square.

* * * * *

PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE.

Mr. Lyte's Treatment of Positives.—It would be quite superfluous, after the very excellent communication of MR. POLLOCK, were I to give a detailed account of my method of printing albumen positives, as, in the main, we both follow the process of Mr. Le Gray. But as we both have our own improvements on the original process, I will ask for space in which to record our differences in manipulation.

First, in regard to the chloride of gold, I always find, and I believe such is the experience of many photographers, that all salts of gold, though they heighten the effect at first, have a slow, but sure, destructive action on the picture.

Next, I find that acetic acid, by generating sulphurous acid, has a similar effect, and my care was to try and make a solution which should be free from these defects. I first take my positive, which, as a general rule, I print at least half as dark again as the shade required. This done, I wash it well with water, and next with salt and water in the proportion of about half a grain per gallon, or quite a tasteless solution; this removes all the nitrate of silver from the paper, or if there is any left, the bath of salt decomposes it, leaving none in the texture of the paper to unite with the hypo., which otherwise forms a sticky substance, difficult to remove, which may be readily seen on looking through a positive which has been too hastily finished in the usual way, giving a dark shade, and a want of transparency to the lights. I then place the picture in a bath composed as follows:

Sodae hyposul. 3 oz. Argent. chlorid. 70 grs. Potassii iodidi 5 grs. Pyrogallic acid 1-1/2 to 2 grs.

The iodide of potassium I add on the same principle as MR. POLLOCK's iodide of silver, but as being {16} more convenient, as immediately on being added it decomposes some of the chloride of silver, and forms iodide of silver. I am happy to find that MR. POLLOCK confirms me in the use of this salt; which I had long thought to improve the tone of my pictures. The liquid, which will become rapidly very dark coloured, must be set aside in an open vessel in a warm place for some weeks, e.g. till, when a positive is placed in it, left for a short time, and then washed with water, it shows clean and not mottled in the light. The solution may be kept always exposed, and much improves by this: if much used, it should be replenished with a simple solution of hypo. three ounces or two ounces to the pint; if little used, it may be filled up as much as evaporates with pure water.

The positive is left in this solution till the required tint is obtained, when it is to be placed in plain hypo. two ounces to the pint, and in about a quarter of an hour transferred to a basin of pure water, and well washed in several waters. The other detail of MR. POLLOCK's process is so admirably and clearly given, and so like that I pursue, that I will not trouble your columns with it again.

The after-bath of pure hypo. is not absolutely necessary; and where it is desired to obtain fine olive, and dark sepia, and black tints, a better tone results from washing well, long, and frequently, with water alone.

This bath also gives very rich tints with paper, prepared without albumen: viz.—

Chloride of ammonium 5 grs. Water 1 oz.

Lay the paper on this, and then hang it up to dry, and excite with ammonio-nitrate containing seventy grains of nitrate of silver to one ounce of water. Should the above solution not give the requisite tints soon after being made, add more chloride of silver; but bear in mind that the solution will then soon become saturated when setting positives, and when this occurs it must be rectified by the addition of a small portion of fresh hypo. alone.

F. MAXWELL LYTE.

P.S.—I may add that I have only lately tried the addition of the iodide of potassium to my setting liquid, and so must qualify my recommendation of it by saying so.

Florian, Torquay.

Stereoscopic Angles.—I am obliged to MESSRS. SHADBOLT and WILKINSON for the information given in reply to my Queries (Vol. vii., p. 505.) My mode of operation is precisely that of MR. WILKINSON: "I obtain all the information I can from every source; then try, and judge for myself." Hence the present letter.

I regret to be obliged to differ from MR. SHADBOLT, but there is a point in his communication which appears to me to arise from a misconception of the stereoscopic problem. He says (p. 557.), "for distant views there is in nature scarcely any stereoscopic effect." Now, surely visual distance is merely visual stereosity; for, to see an object solid is merely to see its parts in relief, some of them appearing to project or recede from the others. It is the difficulty of producing this effect in landscapes, by the ordinary camera process, that renders views taken by such means so deficient in air, or, as the artists term it, aerial perspective, most distant objects seeming almost as near as those in the foreground. This indeed is the main defect of all photographs: they are true representations of nature to one eye—cyclopean pictures, as it were—appearing perfectly stereoscopic with one eye closed, but seeming absolutely flattened when viewed by the two eyes. I remember being shown a huge photograph of the city of Berlin, taken from an eminence; and a more violent caricature of nature I never set eyes upon. It was almost Chinese in its perspective: the house-tops appeared to have been mangled. It was a wonderful work of art, photographically considered; but artistically it was positively hideous. But the same defect exists in all monophotographic representations, though in a less degree, and consequently less apparent than in views to which a sense of distance is essential. In portraits, the features appear slightly flattened; and until photographers are able to overcome this, the chief of all obstacles to perfection, it is idle to talk of the art giving a correct rendering of nature. This is what is wanted, more than colour, diactinic lenses, multiplication of impressions, or anything else. And when it is remembered that the law of an ordinary convex lens is, the farther the object from the lens the nearer the focus, and, vice versa, the nearer the object the farther the focus, it becomes evident that by such an instrument distant objects must be made to appear near, and near objects distant, and nature consequently mangled.

The stereoscope gives us the only demonstrably correct representation of nature; and when that instrument is rendered more simple, and the peep-show character of the apparatus disconnected from it, the art of photography will transcend the productions of the painter—but not till then.

I am anxious to obtain all the information I can from such of your photographic readers as are practically acquainted with the stereoscopic portion of the art relative to the angles under which they find it best to take their pictures for given distances.

Mr. Fenton, the secretary of the Photographic Society, takes his stereoscopic pictures, when the objects are 50 feet and upwards from the camera, at 1 in 25. This is, as MR. SHADBOLT states, Professor Wheatstone's rule for distances. {17}

MR. WILKINSON, on the other hand, asserts that 3 feet in 300 yards is sufficient separation for the cameras: this is only 1 in 300,—a vast difference truly.

"For views across the Thames," says the editor of the Photographic Journal, "the cameras should be placed 12 feet apart, and with this separation the effect is declared to be astonishing."

MR. WILKINSON, however, asserts that from 4 to 6 feet in a mile will do well enough!

Farther, Mr. Latimer Clark (the inventor of an ingenious stereoscopic camera) states that with regard to the distance between the two positions of the cameras, he knows no good reason why the natural distance of the eyes, viz. 2-1/2 inches, should be much exceeded. "A little extra relief is obtained," he adds, "without visible distortion, by increasing the separation to about 4 or 5 inches; but if this distance be greatly exceeded, especially for near objects (I give the gentleman's own words), they become apparently diminished in size, and have the appearance of models and dolls rather than natural objects."

The reason for making the separation between the cameras greater than that between the two eyes, is exceedingly simple. The stereograph is to be looked at much nearer than the object itself, and consequently is to be seen under a much larger angle than it is viewed by the two eyes in nature. Hence the two pictures should be taken at the angle under which they are to be observed in the stereoscope. Suppose the object to be 50 feet distant, then of course it is seen by the two eyes under an angle of 2-1/2 inches in 50 feet, or 1 in 240. But it is intended that the stereograph should be seen by the two eyes when but a few inches removed from them, or generally under an angle of 2-1/2 in 12 inches, or nearly 1 in 5. Hence it is self-evident that the stereoscopic angle should be considerably larger than that formed by the optic axes of the two eyes when directed to the object itself.

But there is great diversity of opinion as to the extent of the angles requisite for producing the precise stereoscopic or distantial effect of nature. For myself I prefer Professor Wheatstone's rule, 1 in 25 for objects beyond 50 feet distant. For portraits I find the best angle 1 in 10 when the sitter is 10 feet off, and for busts about 1 in 5 when placed about 5 or 6 feet from the cameras. But I should be happy to receive information from any of your readers concerning this important branch of the photographic art. For months past I have been engaged in a series of experiments in connexion with the subject, and wish for larger experience than it is possible for any single operator to acquire for himself.

Mr. Fenton, I may observe, does not keep the cameras parallel in taking landscapes, but inclines them so that the same object may occupy as nearly as possible the centre of the ground glass plate.

Nor is it essential that perfect horizontality or parallelism of the cameras should be maintained in copying trees. For buildings, however, it is absolutely necessary that the cameras be kept straight.

I am sorry thus to trespass on your space, but being anxious, as MR. WILKINSON says, to collect information from every source, and your periodical being a happy medium for conveying and receiving instruction, I am glad to avail myself of such a channel.

[Phi]. (2)

P.S.—Mr. Claudet has, I perceive, been awarded the prize given by the Society of Arts for the best essay on the stereoscope. Can you, or any of your readers, inform me whether this is likely to be published, and when and at what price?

Query respecting Mr. Pollock's Process.—In MR. POLLOCK's directions for obtaining positives which appeared in "N. & Q." (Vol. vii, p. 581.), iodide of silver is to be dissolved in a saturated solution of hypo. Can you give me the quantity of iodide of silver to be dissolved, and the quantity of the saturated solution of hypo. in which it is to be dissolved?

N. T. B.

Gallo-nitrate of Silver.—Can you inform me what the true nature of the decomposition is which takes place after a short time in the gallo-nitrate solution of silver? and if there be any ready means of rendering the silver it contains again available for photographic use?

SIR W. NEWTON, in the description of his calotype process, says: "Bring out with the saturated solution of gallic acid, and when the subject begins to appear, add the aceto-nitrate of silver solution." Which way of doing this is the best,—mixing the two solutions together and applying them to the paper; or applying the paper, when wetted with the gallic acid, to the silver solution?

T. L.

* * * * *

Replies to Minor Queries.

Verney Note decyphered (Vol. vii., p. 568.).—I am extremely obliged to MR. THOMPSON COOPER for his decyphered rendering of Sir Ralph Verney's note of a speech or proceeding in parliament. The note itself is not now in my possession, but I have requested the owner to be good enough to re-collate it with the original, and if any mistakes should appear in the copy, or the printing (which is very likely), I will give you notice of the fact, that the doubtful words in MR. COOPER's version may, if possible, be set right.

Students in the art of decyphering may be pleased to have the key to the cypher recorded in {18} your pages. I therefore give it you as discovered by MR. COOPER, and beg, in the strongest way, to reiterate my thanks to that gentleman.

2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, f, r, k, t, b, h, s, w, c, g, p, d, a, e, i, o, u,

20, 22, 27, 28. l, x, m, n.

The cyphers (if any) for j, q, y, z have not been discovered, and the numbers 1, 19, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26 remain unappropriated.

JOHN BRUCE.

Emblems by John Bunyan (Vol. vii., p. 470.).—This work which MR. CORSER has not met with, is in the folio edition of his works, forming pp. 849. to 868. of vol. ii. (1768). The plates are small woodcuts of very indifferent execution.

E. D.

Mr. Cobb's Diary (Vol. vii., p. 477.).—This volume was printed solely for private distribution by the family, who also presented their relatives and friends (amongst whom the writer was reckoned) with another volume compiled on the decease of Francis Cobb, Esq., the husband of Mrs. Cobb, and entitled, Memoir of the late Francis Cobb, Esq., of Margate, compiled from his Journals and Letters: Maidstone, printed by J. V. Hall and Son, Journal Office, 1835. Both of these are at the service for perusal of your inquiring correspondent, JOHN MARTIN.

E. D.

"Sat cito si sat bene" (Vol. vii., p. 594.).—I have not Twiss at hand; but I think F. W. J. is mistaken in calling it a "favourite maxim" of Lord Eldon. I remember to have heard Lord Eldon tell the story, which was, that the Newcastle Fly, in which he came up to town, in I forget how many days, had on its panel the motto, "Sat cito si sat bene:" he applied it jocularly in defence of his own habits in Chancery.

C.

Mythe versus Myth (Vol. vii., pp. 326. 575.).—It gives me much pleasure to have afforded MR. THIRIOLD an opportunity for displaying so much learning and sagacity; but I hope he does not imagine that he has confuted me. As I only spoke of words which, like [Greek: muthos], had a single consonant between two vowels, such words as plinth, labyrinth, &c. have nothing to do with the question. If mythe, differing from the other examples which are to be found, happens to have the for its termination, and thus resembles words of Anglo-Saxon origin, I cannot help it, but it was formed secundum artem. As to MR. THERIOLD's mȳth, unless so written and printed, it will always be pronounced myth, like the French mythe.

As to the hybrid adjectives, I only wished to avoid increasing the number of them. The French, I believe, have only one, musical; for though, like ourselves, they have made substantives of the Greek [Greek: mousike] (sc. [Greek: techne]), [Greek: phusike], &c., in all other cases they retain the Greek form of the adjective, as in physique, substantive and adjective, while we generally have pairs of adjectives, as philosophic, philosophical; extatic, extatical; &c. Some may think this an advantage; I do not.

THOS. KEIGHTLEY.

The Gilbert Family (Vol. vii., p. 259).—If your correspondent seeking genealogical information in reference to my ancestors, calls on me, I will show him a presentation copy of A Genealogical Memoir of the Gilbert Family in Old and New England, by J. W. Thornton, LL.B., Boston, U. S., 1850, 8vo. pp. 24, only fifty printed.

JAMES GILBERT.

Alexander Clark (Vol. vii., p. 580.).—I should feel obliged if J. O. could find leisure to communicate to "N. & Q." some particulars relative to Clark. He is supposed to have been the author of a curious poem: The Institution and Progress of the Buttery College of Slains, in the Parish of Cruden, Aberdeenshire; with a Catalogue of the Books and MSS. in the Library of that University: Aberdeen, 1700. Mr. Peter Buchan thus mentions him in his Gleanings of Scarce Old Ballads:

"Clark, a drunken dominie at Slains, author of a poetical dialogue between the gardeners and tailors on the origin of their crafts, and a most curious Latin and English poem called the 'Buttery College of Slains,' which resembled much in language and style Drummond of Hawthornden's 'Polemo Middino.'"

This poem is printed in Watson's Collection of Scottish Poems, Edin. 1711; and also noticed in the Edinburgh Topographical and Antiquarian Magazine, 1848, last page. I am anxious to ascertain if the emblem writer, and the burlesque poet, be one and the same person. The dates, I confess, are somewhat against this conclusion; but there may have been a previous edition of the Emblematical Representation (1779). The University Clark is supposed to have been an Aberdeenshire man. Possibly J. O. may be able to throw some light on the subject.

PERTHENSIS.

Christ's Cross (Vol. iii., pp. 330. 465.).—In Morley's Introduction to Practical Music, originally printed in 1597, and which I quote from a reprint by William Randall, in 4to., in 1771, eighteen mortal pages (42-59), which, in my musical ignorance, I humbly confess to be wholly out of my line, are occupied with the "Cantus," "Tenor," and "Bassus," to the following words:

"Christes Crosse be my speed in all vertue to proceede, A, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, & t, double w, v, x, with y, ezod, & per se, con per se, tittle tittle est Amen, When you haue done begin again, begin again."

J. F. M.

{19}

The Rebellious Prayer (Vol. vii., p. 286.).—J. A. may find the poem, of which he quotes the opening lines, in the Churchman's Monthly Penny Magazine, October, 1851, with the signature L. E. P. The magazine is published by Wertheim & Macintosh, 24. Paternoster Row.

M. E.

"To the Lords of Convention" (Vol. vii., p. 596.).—L. EVANS will find the whole of the ballad of "Bonnie Dundee," the first line of which he quotes, in Sir Walter Scott's Doom of Devorgoil, where it is introduced as a song. Singularly enough, his best ballad is thus found in his worst play.

FICULNUS.

Wooden Tombs and Effigies (Vol. vii., pp. 528. 607.).—In a chapel adjoining the church of Heveningham in Suffolk, are (or rather were in 1832) the remains of a good altar tomb, with recumbent effigies carved in chesnut, of a knight and his lady: it appeared to be, from the armour and architecture, of the early part of the fifteenth century; and from the arms, Quarterly or and gules within a border engrailed sable, charged with escallops argent, no doubt belonged to the ancient family of Heveningham of that place; probably Sir John Heveningham, knight of the shire for the county of Suffolk in the 1st of Henry IV.

When I visited this tomb in 1832, it was in a most dilapidated condition: the slab on which the effigy of the knight once rested was broken in; within the head of the lady, which was separated from the body, a thrush had built its nest: notwithstanding, however, the neglect and damp to which the chapel was exposed, these chesnut effigies remained wonderfully sound and perfect.

SPES.

The monument to Sir Walter Traylli and his lady, in Woodford Church in Northamptonshire, is of wood.

There is a wooden effigy in Gayton Church, Northamptonshire, of a knight templar, recumbent, in a cross-legged position, his feet resting on an animal: over the armour is a surcoat; the helmet is close fitted to the head, his right hand is on the hilt of his sword, a shield is on the left arm.

There is also a fine wooden effigy of Sir Hugh Bardolph in Burnham Church in Norfolk.

J. B.

In Fersfield Church, in Norfolk, there is a wooden figure to the memory of Sir Robert Du Bois, Kt., ob. 1311. See Bloomfield's Norfolk, vol. i. p. 68.

J. B.

Lord Clarendon and the Tubwoman (Vol. vii., pp. 133. 211. 634.).—Upon reference to the story of the "tubwoman" in p. 133., it will be seen that Mr. Hyde is distinctly stated to have himself married the brewer's widow, and to have married her for her money. It is farther said that Ann Hyde, the mother of Queen Mary and Queen Ann, was the only issue of this marriage; whereas Ann Hyde had four brothers and a sister. No allusion is made in this account to Sir Thomas Ailesbury. Your correspondent MR. WARDEN says, that "the story has usually been told of the wife of Sir Thomas Ailesbury," and that it may be true of her. Will he have the kindness to furnish a reference to the version of the story in which Sir Thomas Ailesbury is said to have married the tubwoman?