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Transcriber's note: A few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text.
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{557} 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. 215.] SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10. 1853. [Price Fourpence. Stamped Edition 5d.
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CONTENTS.
NOTES:— Page Original Royal Letters to the Grand Masters of Malta, by William Winthrop 557 Penny Sights and Exhibitions in the Reign of James I., by A. Grayan 558 The Impossibilities of our Forefathers 559 Parallel Passages, by the Rev. John Booker 560 Astrology in America 561
MINOR NOTES:—"Hierosolyma est perdita"—Quaint Inscription in a Belfry—The Chronicles of the Kings of Israel and Judah—The Using a Circumstance as a "Peg," or "Nail," to hang an Argument on, &c.—Turkish and Russian Grammars— Chronograms in Sicily—Stone Pulpits—Advertisements and Prospectuses 561
Queries:—
English Refugees at Ypenstein 562
MINOR QUERIES:—Petrarch's Laura—"Epitaphium Lucretiae"— McDowall Family—Arms of Geneva—Webb of Monckton Farleigh— Translation Wanted—Latin Translation from Sheridan, &c.— Gale of Rent—Arms of Sir Richard de Loges—Gentile Names of the Jews—Henry, Earl of Wotton—Kicker-eating—Chadderton of Nuthurst, co. Lancashire—George, first Viscount Lanesborough, and Sir Charles Cotterell—"Firm was their faith," &c.—The Mother of William the Conqueror—Pedigree of Sir Francis Bryan 562
MINOR QUERIES WITH ANSWERS—"The Whole Duty of Man"—"It rained cats and dogs and little pitchforks:" Helter-skelter— Father Traves—Precise Dates of Births and Deaths of the Pretenders—Clarence 564
REPLIES:— Mackey's "Theory of the Earth" 565 Sincere, Simple, Singular 567 Poetical Tavern Signs 568 Homo Unius Libri 569 The Forlorn Hope, by W. R. Wilde 569 Tieck's "Comoedia Divina" 570 Liveries worn by Gentlemen 571
PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE.—Queries on Dr. Diamond's Calotype Process—Albumenized Paper 572
REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES:—Marcarnes—X on Brewers' Casks— No Sparrows at Lindham—Theobald le Botiller—Vault at Richmond, Yorkshire—Lord Audley's Attendants at Poictiers— Portraits at Brickwall House—The Words "Mob" and "Cash"— English Clergyman in Spain—The Cid—Exterior Stoups—Green Jugs used by the Templars—"Peccavi," I have Scinde— Raffaele's "Sposalizio"—Early Use of Tin: Derivation of the Name of Britain—Unpublished Epigram by Sir Walter Scott— Derivation of the Word "Humbug"—Bees—Topsy Turvy—Parish Clerks and Politics, &c. 572
MISCELLANEOUS:— Notes on Books, &c. 577 Books and Odd Volumes wanted 578 Notices to Correspondents 578 Advertisements 578
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Notes.
ORIGINAL ROYAL LETTERS TO THE GRAND MASTERS OF MALTA.
(Continued from p. 99.)
In my first communication I did myself the pleasure to send you a correct list of all the royal letters which had been sent by different English monarchs to the Grand Masters of Malta, with their dates, the languages in which they were written, and stating to whom they were addressed. I now purpose to forward with your permission from time to time, literal translations of these letters, which Mr. Strickland of this garrison has kindly promised to give me. The subjoined are the first in order, and have been carefully compared, by Dr. Vella and myself, with the originals now in the Record Office.
No. I.
Henry by the grace of God, King of England and France, Defender of the Faith, and Lord of Ireland, to the Rev. Father in Christ, Philip Villiers de L'Isle Adam, Grand Master of the Order of Jerusalem.
Our most dear friend—Greeting:
The venerable and religious men, Sir Thomas Docreus, Prior of St. John's in this kingdom, and Sir W. Weston of your convent, Turcoplerius, have lately delivered to us the epistle of your Reverence, and when we had read it, they laid before us the commission which they had in charge, with so much prudence and address, and recommended to us the condition, well being, and honour of their Order with so much zeal and affection, that they have much increased the good will, which of ourselves we feel towards the Order, and have made us more eager in advancing all its affairs, so that we very much hope to declare by our actions the affection which we feel towards this Order.
And that we might give some proof of this our disposition, we have written at great length to His Imperial Majesty, in favour of maintaining the occupation of Malta, and we have given orders to our envoys there to help forward this affair as much as they are able. The other matters, indeed, {558} your Reverence will learn more in detail from the letters of the said Prior.
From our Palace at Richmond, Eighth day of January, 1523, Your good friend, HENRY REX.
No. II.
Henry by the grace of God, King of England and France, Defender of the Faith, and Lord of Ireland, to the Rev. Father in Christ, Philip Villiers de L'Isle Adam, Grand Master of the Order of Jerusalem.
Our most dear friend—Greeting:
By other of our letters we have commended to your Reverence our beloved Sir W. Weston, Turcoplerius, and the whole Order of Jerusalem in our kingdom; but since we honour the foresaid Sir W. Weston with a peculiar affection, we have judged him worthy that we should render him more agreeable and more acceptable to your Reverence, by this our renewed recommendation; and we trust that you will have it the more easily in your power to satisfy this our desire, because, on account of the trust which you yourself placed in him, you appointed him special envoy to ourselves in behalf of the affairs of his Order, and showed that you honoured him with equal good will. We therefore most earnestly entreat your Reverence not to be backward in receiving him on his return with all possible offices of love, and to serve him especially in those matters which regard his office of Turcoplerius, and his Mastership. Moreover, if any honours in the gift and disposal of your Reverence fall due to you, with firm confidence we beg of you to vouchsafe to appoint and promote the foresaid Sir William Weston to the same, which favour will be so pleasing and acceptable to us, that when occasion offers we will endeavour to return it not only to your Reverence, but also to your whole Order. And may every happiness attend you.
From our Palace at Windsor, First day of August, 1524, Your good friend, HENRY REX.
No. III.
Henry by the grace of God, King of England and France, Defender of the Faith, and Lord of Ireland, to the Rev. Father in Christ, Philip Villiers de L'Isle Adam, Grand Master of the Order of Jerusalem.
Our most dear friend—Greeting:
Ambrosius Layton, our subject, and brother of the same Order, has delivered to us your Reverence's letter, and from it we very well understand the matters concerning the said Order, which your Reverence had committed to his charge to be delivered to us; but we have delayed to return an answer, and we still delay, because we have understood that a general Chapter of your whole Order will be held in a short time, to which we doubt not that the more prudent and experienced of the brethren of the Order will come, and we trust that, by the general wish and counsel of all of you, a place may be selected for this illustrious Order which may be best suited for the imperial support and advancement of the Republic, and for the assailing of the infidels. When therefore your Reverence shall have made us acquainted with the place selected for the said Chapter, you shall find us no less prompt and ready than any other Christan prince in all things which can serve to the advantage and support of the said Order.
From our Palace at Richmond, Fourth day (month omitted), 1526, Your good friend, HENRY REX.
That the subject of the above letters may be better understood, it may be necessary to state that L'Isle Adam was driven out of Rhodes by the Sultan Solyman, after a most desperate and sanguinary struggle, which continued almost without intermission from the 26th of June to the 18th of December, 1523. From this date to the month of October, 1530, nearly seven years, the Order of St. John of Jerusalem had no fixed residence, and the Grand Master was a wanderer in Italy, either in Rome, Viterbo, Naples, or Syracuse, while begging of the Christian Powers to assist him in recovering Rhodes, or Charles V. to give him Malta as a residence for his convent. It was during this period that the above letters, and some others which I purpose sending hereafter, were written.
WILLIAM WINTHROP.
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PENNY SIGHTS AND EXHIBITIONS IN THE REIGN OF JAMES I.
The following curious list may amuse some of your readers. I met with it among the host of panegyrical verses prefixed to Master Tom Coryate's Crudities, published in 1611. Even in those days it will be admitted that the English were rather fond of such things, and glorious Will himself bears testimony to the fact. (See Tempest, Act II. Sc. 2.) The hexameter verses are anonymous; perhaps one of your well-read antiquaries may be able to assign to them the author, and be disposed to annotate them. I would particularly ask when was Drake's ship broken up, and is there any date on the chair[1] made from the wood, which is now to be seen at the Bodleian Library, Oxford?
"Why doe the rude vulgar so hastily post in a madnesse To gaze at trifles, and toyes not worthy the viewing? {559} And thinke them happy, when may be shew'd for a penny The Fleet-streete Mandrakes, that heavenly motion of Eltham, Westminster Monuments, and Guildhall huge Corinaeus, That horne of Windsor (of an Unicorne very likely), The cave of Merlin, the skirts of Old Tom a Lincolne, King John's sword at Linne, with the cup the Fraternity drinke in, The tombe of Beauchampe, and sword of Sir Guy a Warwicke, The great long Dutchman, and roaring Marget a Barwicke, The mummied Princes, and Caesar's wine yet i' Dover, Saint James his ginney-hens, the Cassawarway[2] moreover, The Beaver i' the Parke (strange Beast as e'er any man saw), Downe-shearing Willowes with teeth as sharpe as a hand-saw, The lance of John a Gaunt, and Brandon's still i' the Tower, The fall of Ninive, with Norwich built in an hower. King Henries slip-shoes, the sword of valiant Edward, The Coventry Boares-shield, and fire-workes seen but to bedward, Drake's ship at Detford, King Richard's bed-sted i' Leyster, The White Hall Whale-bones, the silver Bason i' Chester; The live-caught Dog-fish, the Wolfe, and Harry the Lyon, Hunks of the Beare Garden to be feared, if he be nigh on. All these are nothing, were a thousand more to be scanned, (Coryate) unto thy shoes so artificially tanned."
In explanation of the last line, Tom went no less than 900 miles on one pair of soles, and on his return he hung up these remarkable shoes for a memorial in Odcombe Church, Somersetshire, where they remained till 1702.
Another "penny" sight was a trip to the top of St. Paul's. (See Dekker's Gul's Horne Book, 1609.)
A. GRAYAN.
[Footnote 1: The date to Cowley's lines on the chair is 1662.]
[Footnote 2: "An East Indian bird at Saint James, in the keeping of Mr. Walker, that will carry no coales, but eate them as whot as you will."]
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THE IMPOSSIBILITIES OF OUR FOREFATHERS.
In turning over the pages of old authors, it is amusing to note how the mountains of our primitive ancestors have become mole-hills in the hands of the present generation! A few instances would, I think, be very instructive; and, to set the example, I give you the following from my own note-book.
The Overland Journey to India.—From the days of Sir John Mandeville, until a comparatively recent period, how portentous of danger, difficulty, and daring has been the "Waye to Ynde wyth the Maruelyes thereof!"
In Lingua, or the Combat of the Tongue, by Brewer, London, 1657, originally published in 1607, Heursis complains that Phantases had interrupted his cogitations upon three things which had troubled his brain for many a day:
"Phant. Some great matters questionless; what were they?
Heur. The quadrature of the circle, the philosopher's stone, and the next way to the Indies.
Phant. Thou dost well to meditate on these things all at once, for they'll be found out altogether, ad graecas calendas."
Dr. Robertson's Disquisition on the Knowledge the Ancients had of India, shows that communications overland existed from a remote period; and we know that the East India Company had always a route open for their dispatches on emergent occasions; but let the reader consult the Reminiscences of Dr. Dibdin, and he will find an example of its utter uselessness when resorted to in 1776 to apprize the Home Government of hostile movements on the part of an enemy. To show, however, in a more striking light, the difference between the "overland route" a century back, and that of 1853, I turn up the Journal of Bartholomew Plaisted: London, 1757. This gentleman, who was a servant of the East India Company, tells us that he embarked at Calcutta in 1749 for England; and, after encountering many difficulties, reached Dover via Bussorah, Aleppo, and Marseilles in twelve months! Bearing this in mind, let the reader refer to the London daily papers of this eighth day of November, 1853, and he will find that intelligence reached the city on that afternoon of the arrival at Trieste of the Calcutta steamer, furnishing us with telegraph advices from—
Bengal, Oct. 3. 36 days! Bombay, Oct. 14. 25 days!! Hong Kong, Sept. 27. 46 days!!!
Rapid as this is, and strikingly as it exemplifies the gigantic appliances of our day, the cry of Heursis in the play is still for the next, or a nearer way to India; and, besides the Ocean Mail, the magnificent sailing vessels, and the steamers of fabulous dimensions said to be building for the Cape route to perform the passage from London to Calcutta in thirty days, we are promised the electric telegraph to furnish us with news from the above-named ports in a less number of hours than days now occupied!
{560}
We have thus seen that the impetus once given, it is impossible to limit or foresee where this tendency to knit us to the farthermost parts of the world will end!
"Steam to India" was nevertheless almost stifled at its birth, and its early progress sadly fettered and retarded by those whose duty it was to have fostered and encouraged it—I mean the East India Company. From this censure of a body I would exclude some of their servants in India, and particularly a name that may be new to your readers in connexion with this subject, that of the late Mr. Charles P. Greenlaw of Calcutta, to whom I would ascribe all honour and glory as the great precursor of the movement, subsequently so triumphantly achieved by the Peninsular and Oriental Company. This gentleman, at the head of the East India Company's Marine Establishment in Bengal, brought all the enthusiasm of his character to bear upon the question of steam via the Red Sea; and raised such an agitation in the several Presidencies, that the slow coach in Leadenhall Street was compelled to move on, and Mr. Greenlaw lived to see his labours successful. Poor Greenlaw was as deaf as a post, and usually carried on his arm a flexible pipe, with an ivory tip and mouth-piece, through which he received the communications of his friends. How often have I seen him, after an eloquent appeal on behalf of his scheme, hand this to the party he would win over to his views: and if the responses sent through it were favourable, he was delighted; but, if the contrary, his irascibility knew no bounds; and snatching his pipe from the mouth of the senseless man who could not see the value of "steam for India," he would impatiently coil it round his arm, and, with a recommendation to the less sanguine to give the subject the attention due to its importance, would whisk himself off to urge his point in some other quarter! I have already said that Mr. Greenlaw lived to see the overland communication firmly established; and his fellow citizens, to mark their high estimation of his character, and the unwearied application of his energies in the good cause, have embellished their fine "Metcalfe Hall" with a marble bust of this best of advocates for the interests of India.
J. O.
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PARALLEL PASSAGES.
(Vol. viii., p. 372.)
Adopting the suggestion of F. W. J., I contribute the following parallel passages towards the collection which he proposes:
1. "And He said unto them, Take heed and beware of covetousness, for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth."—Luke xii. 15.
"Non possidentem multa vocaveris Recte beatum; rectius occupat Nomen beati, qui Deorum Muneribus sapienter uti, Duramque callet pauperiem pati; Pejusque leto flagitium timet."—Hor. Carm., lib. IV. ode ix.
2. "For that which I do I allow not: for what I would that do I not; but what I hate that do I."—Rom. vii. 15.
"Sed trahit invitam nova vis; aliudque Cupido, Mens aliud suadet. Video meliora, proboque: Deteriora sequor."—Ovid, Metam., lib. VII. 19-21.
"Quae nocuere sequar, fugiam quae profore credam."—Hor., lib. I. epist. viii. 11.
3. "Without father, without mother, without descent," &c.—Heb. vii. 3.
"Ante potestatem Tulli atque ignobile regnum, Multos saepe viros, nullis majoribus ortos Et vixisse probes," &c.—Hor. Sat. I. vi. 9.
4. "For I have said before, that ye are in our hearts to die and live with you."—2 Cor. vii. 3.
"Tecum vivere amem, tecum obeam libens."—Hor. Carm., lib. III. ix.
5. "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die."—1 Cor. xv. 32.
"Convivae certe tui dicunt, Bibamus moriendum est."—Senec. Controv. xiv.
6. "Be not thou afraid though one be made rich, or if the glory of his house be increased; for he shall carry nothing away with him when he dieth, neither shall his pomp follow him."—Ps. xlix. 16, 17.
"How loved, how honoured once, avails thee not; To whom related, or by whom begot: A heap of dust alone remains of thee. 'Tis all thou art, and all the proud shall be."—Pope.
"Divesne, prisco natus ab Inacho, Nil interest, an pauper, et infima De gente sub divo moreris, Victima nil miserantis Orci."—Hor. Carm., lib. II. iii.
The following close parallelism between Ben Jonson and Horace, though a little wide of your correspondent's suggestion, is also worthy of notice. I have never before seen it remarked upon. It would, perhaps, be more correct to describe it as a plagiarism than as a parallelism:
"Mosca. And besides, Sir, You are not like the thresher that doth stand With a huge flail, watching a heap of corn, And, hungry, dares not taste the smallest grain, But feeds on mallows, and such bitter herbs; Nor like the merchant, who hath filled his vaults With Romagnia, and rich Candian wines, Yet drinks the lees of Lombard's vinegar: You will lie not in straw, whilst moths and worms {561} Feed on your sumptuous hangings and soft beds; You know the use of riches."—Ben Johnson, The Fox.
"Si quis ad ingentem frumenti semper acervum Prorectus vigilet cum longo fuste, neque illinc Audeat esuriens dominus contingere granum, Ac potius foliis parcus vescatur amaris: Si, positis intus Chii veterisque Falerni Mille cadis—nihil est, tercentum millibus, acre Potet acetum; age, si et stramentis incubet, unde— Octoginta annos natus, cui stragula vestis, Blattarum ac tinearum epulae, putrescat in arca."—Hor. Sat., lib. II. iii.
JOHN BOOKER.
Prestwich.
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ASTROLOGY IN AMERICA.
The six following advertisements are cut from a recent Number of the New York Herald:
"Madame Morrow, seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, and a descendant of a line of astrologers reaching back for centuries, will give ladies private lectures on all the events of life, in regard to health, wealth, love, courtship, and marriage. She is without exception the most wonderful astrologist in the world, or that has ever been known. She will even tell their very thoughts, and will show them the likenesses of their intended husbands and absent friends, which has astonished thousands during her travels in Europe. She will leave the city in a very short time. 76. Broome Street, between Cannon and Columbia. Gentlemen are not admitted."
"Madame la Compt flatters herself that she is competent, by her great experience in the art of astrology, to give true information in regard to the past, present, and future. She is able to see clearly any losses her visitors may have sustained, and will give satisfactory information in regard to the way of recovery. She has and continues to give perfect satisfaction. Ladies and gentlemen 50 cents. 13. Howard Street."
"Mad. la Compt has been visited by over two hundred ladies and gentlemen the past week, and has given perfect satisfaction; and, in consideration of the great patronage bestowed upon her, she will remain at 13. Howard Street for four days more, when she will positively sail for the South."
"Mrs. Alwin, renowned in Europe for her skill in foretelling the future, has arrived, and will furnish intelligence about all circumstances of life. She interprets dreams, law matters, and love, by astrology, books, and science, and tells to ladies and gentlemen the name of the persons they will marry; also the names of her visitors. Mrs. Alvin speaks the English, French and German languages. Residence, 25. Rivington Street, up stairs, near the Bowery. Ladies 50 cents, gentlemen 1 dollar."
"Mrs. Prewster, from Philadelphia, tenders her services to the ladies and gentlemen of this city in astrology, love, and law matters, interpreting dreams, &c., by books and science, constantly relied on by Napoleon; and will tell the name of the lady or gentleman they will marry; also the names of the visitors. Residence, No. 59. Great Jones Street, corner of the Bowery. Ladies 50 cents, gentlemen 1 dollar."
"The celebrated Dr. F. Shuman, Swede by birth, just arrived in this city, offers his services in astrology, physiognomy, &c. He can be consulted on matters of love, marriage, past, present, and future events in life. Nativity calculated for ladies and gentlemen. Mr. S. has travelled through the greater part of the world in the last forty-two years, and is willing to give the most satisfactory information. Office, 175. Chambers Street, near Greenwich."
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Minor Notes.
"Hierosolyma est perdita."—Whilst studying in Germany, I remember seeing one day some Jews in a great passion because a few little boys had been shouting "Hep! hep!" On information I heard, that whenever the German knights headed a Jew-hunt in the Middle Ages, they always raised the cry "Hep! hep!" This is remembered even to the present day.
HENRI VAN LAUN.
King William's College, Isle of Man.
Quaint Inscription in a Belfry.—I think the following unique piece of authorship deserves, for its quaint originality, a corner in "N. & Q." It is copied from an inscription dated Jan. 31, 1757, in the belfry of the parish church of Fenstanton, Hunts:
"January y^e 31, 1757. Hear was ten defran^t Peals Rung in 50 minutes which is 1200, Changes by thouse, names who are Under.
1. Jn^o Allin 2. Jm^s Brown 3. Jno. Cade 4. Rob^t Cole 5. Will^m How."
"All you young Men y^t larn y^o Ringen Art, Besure you see & will perform your part no Musick with it Can Excell. nor be compared to y^e Melodeus bells."
Perhaps I may as well add that this is a faithful copy of the original inscription, both in orthography and punctuation.
W. T. WATTS.
St. Ives, Hunts.
The Chronicles of the Kings of Israel and Judah.—After the many conjectures which have been formed respecting the [Hebrew: SPR DBRY HYMYM] of the kings of Israel and Judah, allow me to suggest the probability of their bearing some resemblance to the records of the "wars" and "might" of the monarchs of Assyria, recently brought to light by Mr. Layard.
[Hebrew: P].
The Using a Circumstance as a "Peg," or "Nail," to hang an Argument on, &c.—In the parliamentary debates we frequently read of one honorable member accusing another honorable member of dragging in a certain expression or quotation for the mere sake of hanging upon it some argument or observation apposite to his motion or resolution.—Query, The origin of this term?
My attention was drawn to it by reading the First Lesson at Morning Prayer for 25th May, viz. Ezra ix. 8., where the expression means something to hold by, or some resting-place.
In the following verse, the term is changed into "a wall," meaning some support or help.
Has this passage ever challenged the attention of any of your numerous readers, or can the common saying fairly be referred to it?
ANON.
Norwood.
Turkish and Russian Grammars.—At the present moment it may be found interesting to make a note of it for "N. & Q.," that the first {562} Turkish and Russian grammars published in this country appeared at Oxford; the Turkish, by Seaman, in 1670, and the Russian, by Ludolf, in 1696. Both are written in Latin.
J. M.
Oxford.
Chronograms in Sicily.—After the opening of the gold mines at Fiume-di-Nisi, which are now being reworked, the Messinese struck coins bearing the motto—
"eX VIsCerIbVs MeIs haeC fVnDItVr."
Giving XVICIVMICVDIV. 1734?
On a fountain near the church of St. Francesco di Paola:
"D. O. M. Imperante Carlo VI., Vicregente Comite de Palma, Gubernante Civitatem Comite de Wallis.
P. P. P. Vt aCtIonIbVs nostrIs IVste proCeDaMVs."
Which gives VCIIVIIVCDMV. 1724.
The death of Charles, Infanta of Spain, is thus indicated:
"FILIVs ante DIeM patrIos InqVIrIt In annos."
1568.
G. E. T. S. R. N.
Stone Pulpits.—A complete list of ancient stone pulpits in England and Wales would be desirable. Their positions should be specified; and whether in use or not, should be stated. I have seen the following:
Nantwich, Cheshire; at the junction of north transept and chancel (not used).
Bristol Cathedral; adjoining one of the north pillars of nave (not used).
Wolverhampton Collegiate Church; adjoining one of south pillars of nave (in use?)
T. H. KERSLEY, B.A.
Audlem, Nantwich.
Advertisements and Prospectuses.—It is, I believe, the custom for the most part to make wastepaper of the advertisements and prospectuses that are usually stitched up, in considerable numbers, with the popular reviews and magazines. Now, as these adventitious sheets often contain scraps and fragments of contemporaneous intelligence, literary and bibliographical, with occasional artistic illustrations, would it not be well to preserve them, and to bind them up in a separate form at the end of the year; connecting them with the particular review or magazine to which they belonged, but describing also the contents of the volume by a distinct lettering-piece?
If the work of destruction of such frail, but frequently interesting records, should go on at the present rate, posterity will be in danger of losing many valuable data respecting the state of British literature at different periods, as depicted by a humbler class of documents, employed by it for the diffusion of its copious productions.
JOHN MACRAY.
* * * * *
Queries.
ENGLISH REFUGEES AT YPENSTEIN.
When I was at Alkmaar about thirty years ago, I strolled to the neighbouring village of Heilo, on the road to Limmen, where I saw, surrounded by a moat, the foundations of the castle of Ypenstein. A view of this once noble pile is to be found in the well-known work of Rademaker, Kabinet van Nederlandsche en Kleefsche Oudheden. This place, as tradition tells, once witnessed the perpetration of a violent deed. When the son of the unfortunate Charles I. was an exile in our country, this house Ypenstein was occupied by a family of English emigrants, high in rank, who lived here for a while in quiet. How far these exiles were even here secure from the spies of Cromwell appeared on a certain dark night, after a suspicious vessel had been seen from the village of Egmond, when an armed band of the Protector's Puritans, led by a guide, marched over the heath to the house Ypenstein, seized all the inhabitants, and carried them off, by the way they had come, to the coast, put them on board, and transported them most probably to England. In such secresy and silence was this violation of territory and the rights of hospitality perpetrated, that no one in the neighbourhood perceived anything of the occurrence, except a miller who saw the troop crossing the pathless heath in the direction of the coast, but could not conceive what had brought so many persons together in such a place at midnight.
I would gladly learn whether anything is known of this transaction; and if so, where I may find farther particulars of this English family, their probable political importance, &c. To investigate the truth of this tradition, that we may acquit or convict the far-famed Cromwell of so foul a crime, cannot certainly be untimely now that two celebrated learned men have undertaken to vindicate his memory.—From the Navorscher.
INQUAERITOR.
* * * * *
Minor Queries.
Petrarch's Laura.—Mr. Mathews, in his Diary of an Invalid in Italy, &c., p. 380., in speaking of the outrages and indignities which, during the Revolution, were committed throughout France on the remains of the dead, and were amongst the most revolting of its horrors, mentions, on the authority of a fellow-passenger, an eye-witness, that the body of Petrarch's Laura had been seen exposed to the most brutal indignities in the streets of Avignon. He told Mr. Mathews that {563} it had been embalmed, and was found in a mummy state, of a dark brown colour. I have not met with any mention of these these circumstances elsewhere. Laura is stated to have died of the plague (which seems to render it unlikely that her body was embalmed): and according to Petrarch's famous note on his MS. of Virgil, she was buried the same day, after vespers, in the church of the Cordeliers. The date was April 1, 1348. That church was long celebrated for her tomb, which contained also the body of Hugues de Sade, her husband. The edifice is stated to be ruined, its very site being converted into a fruit-garden; but the tomb is said to be still entire under the ground: and more than twenty years after the French Revolution, a small cypress was pointed out as marking the spot where Laura was interred.
Is the circumstance of the desecration of her tomb mentioned by any other writer? If it really took place, are we to conclude that the tree—if it still exists—marks only the place where she had been interred: for, that the body was rescued and recommitted to the tomb, can hardly be supposed?
WM. SIDNEY GIBSON.
"Epitaphium Lucretiae."—The following lines are offered for insertion, not because I doubt their being known to many of your readers, but with a view to ask the name of the author:
"Epitaphium Lucretiae. Dum foderet ferro tenerum Lucretia pectus Sanguinis et torrens egrederetur: ait, 'Accedant testes me non cessisse tyranno 'Ante virum sanguis, spiritus ante Deos.'"
BALLIOLENSIS.
McDowall Family.—More than a century ago there was a family (since extinct) of the name of McDowall, in the county Cavan, Ireland, belonging to some branch of the ancient and noble Scottish family of that name, who had migrated to these shores. Perhaps some of your readers could inform me as to what branch they belonged, and when they settled in Ireland, as also if there be any pedigree of them extant, as I am very anxious to learn something of them at all events?
GULIELMUS.
Dublin.
Arms of Geneva.—Will any of your correspondents oblige me with a technical blazon of the arms of the town of Geneva?
F. F. B.
Bury St. Edmunds.
Webb of Monckton Farleigh.—Perhaps some reader of "N. & Q." would be so good as to inform me what were the arms, crest, and motto of the Webbs of Monckton Farleigh, co. Wilts; also, if there be any pedigree of them extant, and where it is to be found; or otherwise would direct me what would be my best means to ascertain some account of that family, who are now represented by the Duke of Somerset?
HENRI.
Dublin.
Translation Wanted.—Can any of your correspondents inform me where I may meet with a translation by the Rev. F. Hodgson, late Provost of Eton, &c., of the Atys of Catllus?
P. J. F. GANTILLON, B.A.
Latin Translation from Sheridan, &c.—My treacherous memory retains one line only of each of two translations into Latin verse, admirably done, of two well-known pieces of English poetry. The first from a song by Sheridan, of the lines:
"Nor can I believe it then, Till it gently press again."
"Conscia ni dextram dextera pressa premat."
The second:
"Man wants but little here below, Nor wants that little long."
is thus rendered:
"Poscimus in terris pauca, nec illa diu."
If in the circle of your correspondents the complete translations can be furnished, you will by their insertion, gratify other lovers of modern Latin poetry besides
BALLIOLENSIS.
Gale of Rent.—I can imagine what is meant by a gale of rent, and be thankful I have not to pay one. But what is the origin of the term gale as thus applied?
Y. B. N. J.
Arms of Sir Richard de Loges.—What were the arms borne by Sir Richard de Loges, or Lodge, of Chesterton, in the county of Warwick, temp. Henry IV.?
LN.
Gentile Names of the Jews.—Are the Jews known to each other by their Gentile names of Rothschild, Montefiore, Davis, &c.? or are these only their nommes de guerre, assumed and abandoned at will on change of country?
G. E. T. S. R. N.
Henry, Earl of Wotton (Vol. viii., pp. 173. 281.).—The editors of the Navorscher express their thanks to BROCTUNA for his reply to their Query, but hope he will kindly increase their debt of gratitude by elucidating three points which seem to them obscure:
1. Which Lord Stanhope died childless? Not Henry, Lord Stanhope, for he (see p. 281.) left a son and two daughters; nor yet Philip, for his widow had borne him daughters. Or have we wrongly understood the letters s. p. to signify sine prole?
2. Was it the Earl of Chesterfield, half-brother of Charles Henry van den Kerckhove, or Charles {564} Stanhope his nephew, who took the name of Wotton?
3. Knight's National Cyclopaedia of Useful Knowledge (vol. xi. p. 374.) names James Stanhope, Earl Stanhope, the eldest son of the Hon. Alexander Stanhope, second son of Philip Stanhope, first Earl of Chesterfield. Had the latter then, besides the above-named (see p. 281.) Henry, Lord Stanhope, also other sons?
Kicker-eating.—Can any of your West Yorkshire readers supply me with information relative to a practice which is said formerly to have prevailed at Cleckheaton, of eating "kicker," or horseflesh? It is a fact that natives of that locality who come to reside at Leeds are still subjected to the opprobrium of being kicker-eaters.
H. W.
Chadderton of Nuthurst, co. Lancashire.—When did the family of Chadderton become extinct? Had Edmund Chadderton, son and heir of George Chadderton by Jane Warren of Poynton, any descendants? and if so, what were their names and the dates of their respective births, marriages, and deaths? In short, any particulars relating to them down to the period of the extinction of this family would be most acceptable.
J. B.
George, first Viscount Lanesborough, and Sir Charles Cotterell.—G. S. S. begs to submit the following questions to the readers of "N. & Q.:" When did George Lane, first Viscount Lanesborough, in Ireland, die? And when Sir Charles Cotterell, the translator of Cassandra? Where were they both buried?
"Firm was their faith," &c.—Who was the writer of those beautiful lines, of which the following, the only verse I remember, is a portion?
"Firm was their faith, the ancient bands, The wise in heart, in wood and stone, Who rear'd with stern and trusting hands, The dark grey towers of days unknown. They fill'd those aisles with many a thought, They bade each nook some truth recall, The pillar'd arch its legend brought, A doctrine came with roof and wall!"
And where can they be met with entire?
P. M.
The Mother of William the Conqueror.—Can you or any of your correspondents say which is right? In Debrett's Peerage for 1790 the genealogy of the Marchioness Grey gives her descent from "Rollo or Fulbert, who was chamberlain to Robert, Duke of Normandy; and of his gift had the castle and manor of Croy in Picardy, whence his posterity assumed their surname, afterwards written de Grey. Which Rollo had a daughter Arlotta, mother of William the Conqueror." Now history says that the mother of the Conqueror was Arlette or Arlotte, the daughter of a tanner at Falaise. We know how scrupulous the Norman nobility were in their genealogical records; and likewise that in the lapse of time mistakes are perpetuated and become history. Can history in this instance be wrong? and if so, how did the mistake arise? I shall feel obliged to any one who can furnish farther information on the subject.
ALPHA.
Pedigree of Sir Francis Bryan.—This accomplished statesman, and ornament of Henry VIII.'s reign, married Joan of Desmond, Countess Dowager of Ormonde, and died childless in Ireland A.D. 1550. Query, Did any cadet of his family accompany him to that country? I found a Louis Bryan settled in the county of Kilkenny in Elizabeth's reign, and suspect that he came in through the connexion of Sir F. Bryan with the Ormonde family. Any information as to the arms and pedigree of Sir F. Bryan will greatly oblige
JAMES GRAVES.
Kilkenny.
* * * * *
Minor Queries with Answers.
"The Whole Duty of Man."—Of what nature is the testimony that this book was written by Dorothy Coventry, "the good Lady Pakington?"
QUAESITOR.
[The supposition that Lady Packington was the author of The Whole Duty of Man, arose from a copy of it in her handwriting having been found at Westwood after her death. (Aubrey's Letters, vol. ii. p. 125.) But the strongest evidence in favour of Lady Packington is the following note: "Oct. 13, 1698. Mr. Thomas Caulton, Vicar of Worksop, in Nottinghamshire, in the presence of William Thornton, Esq., and his lady, Mrs. Heathcote, Mrs. Ashe, Mrs. Caulton, and John Hewit, Rector of Harthill, declared the words following: 'Nov. 5, 1689. At Shire-Oaks, Mrs. Eyre took me up into her chamber after dinner, and told me that her daughter Moyser, of Beverley, was dead. Among other things concerning the private affairs of the family, she told me who was the author of The Whole Duty of Man, at the same time pulling out of a private drawer a MS. tied together, and stitched in 8vo., which she declared was the original copy written by Lady Packington her mother, who disowned ever having written the other books imputed to be by the same author, excepting The Decay of Christian Piety. She added, too, that it had been perused in MS. by Dr. Covel, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, Dr. Stamford, Prebendary of York, and Mr. Banks, Rector of the Great Church at Hull.' Mr. Caulton declared this upon his death-bed, two days before his decease. W. T. and J. H." This is quoted from the Rev. W. B. Hawkins's Introduction to Pickering's edition of 1842; and a similar account, with unimportant variations, is given in "N. & Q.," Vol. ii. p. 292.: see also Vol. v., p. 229., and Vol. vi., p. 537.]
{565}
"It rained cats and dogs and little pitchforks."—Helter-skelter.—What can be the origin of this saying? I can imagine that rain may descend with such sharpness and violence as to cause as much destruction as a shower of "pitchforks" would; but if any of your readers can tell me why heavy rain should be likened to "cats and dogs," I shall be truly obliged. Many years ago I saw a most cleverly drawn woodcut, of a party of travellers encountering this imaginary shower; some of the animals were descending helter-skelter from the clouds; others wreaking their vengeance on the amazed wayfarers, while the "pitchforks" were running into the bodies of the terrified party, while they were in vain attempting to run out of the way of those which were threatening to fall upon their heads, and thus striking them to the ground. So strange an idea must have had some peculiar origin.—Can you or your readers say what it is?
M. E. C.
P. S.—I find I have used a word above, of which every one knows the signification, "helter-skelter;" but I, for one, confess myself ignorant of its derivation. And I shall be glad to be informed on the subject.
[As to the etymology of helter-skelter, Sir John Stoddart remarks, "The real origin of the word is obscure. If we suppose the principal meaning to be in the first part, it may probably come from the Islandic hilldr pugna; if in the latter part, it may be from the German schalten, to thrust forward, which in the dialect of the north of England means 'to scatter and throw abroad as molehills are when levelled;' or from skeyl, which in the same dialect is 'to push on one side, to overturn.'"]
Father Traves.—Can any of your Lancashire readers refer me to a source whence I might obtain information on matters pertaining to the life of one Father Travers [Traves], the friend and correspondent of the celebrated martyr John Bradford?
As yet I have but met with the incidental mention of his name in the pages of Fox, and in Hollingworth's Mancuensis, pp. 75, 76.
A JESUIT.
[The name is spelt by Fox sometimes Traves and sometimes Travers; but who he was there is no particular mention; except that it appears from Bradford's letters that he was some friend of the family, and from the superscription to one of them, that he was the minister of Blackley, near Manchester, in which place, or near to which, Bradford's mother must then have resided. Strype says, he was a learned and pious gentleman, his patron and counsellor.—Mem. Eccles., vol. iii. part I. p. 364.]
Precise Dates of Births and Deaths of the Pretenders.—Will any one be so kind as to tell me the date of the birth and death of James VIII. and his son Charles III. (commonly called Prince Charles Edward Stuart)? These dates are given so variously, that I am anxious to ascertain them correctly.
L. M. M. R.
[We believe the following to be the precise dates:—James VIII., born June 10, 1688; died January 2, 1765-6. Charles Edward, born December 20, 1720 (sometimes printed as New Style, Dec. 31); died January 31, 1788.]
Clarence.—Whence the name of this dukedom? Was the title borne by any one before the time of Lionel, son of Edward III.?
W. T. M.
[The title CLARENCE was, as we learn from Camden (Britannia, edit. Gough, vol. ii. pp. 73, 74.), derived from the honour of Clare, in Suffolk; and was first borne by Lionel Plantagenet, third son of Edward III., who married Elizabeth de Burgh, daughter and heir of William, Earl of Ulster, and obtained with her the honour of Clare. He became, jure uxoris, Earl of Ulster, and was created, September 15, 1362, Duke of Clarence.]
* * * * *
Replies.
MACKEY'S "THEORY OF THE EARTH".
(Vol. viii., p. 468.)
About the year 1827, when the prosecutions for blasphemy were leading hundreds and thousands to see what could be said against Christianity, with a very powerful bias to make the most of all that they could find, some friends of mine, of more ingenuity than erudition, strongly recommended to my attention the works of a shoemaker at Norwich, named Mackey, who they said was more learned than any one else, and had completely shown up the thing. It is worth a note that I perfectly remember the cause of their excitement to have been the imprisonment of the Rev. Robert Taylor, for publishing various arguments against revelation. I examined several works of Mackey's, and I have yet one or two bound up among my wonders of nature and art. As in time to come, when neither love nor money will procure a copy of these books, some tradition may set inquirers looking after them, perhaps it may be worth while to preserve a couple of extracts for the benefit of those who have the sense to hunt the index of "N. & Q." before they give up anything.
"The Virgin Andromeda, the daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeia, was the representative of Palestina; a long, narrow, rocky strip of land; figuratively called the daughter of Rocks and Mountains; because it is a country abounding with rocks and stones. And the Greeks, really supposing Cepha, a rock or stone, to have been the young ladies father, added their sign of the masculine gender to it, and it became Cepha-us. And mount Cassius being its southern boundary was called Cassiobi; from its being also the boundary of the overflowed Nile, called Obi, which the Greeks {566} softened into Cassiopeia, and supposed it to have been her mother;..."—Mythological Astronomy, part second, Norwich, 1823, 12mo., p. xiii.
"The story of ABRAHAM, notwithstanding all the endeavours of theologians to give it the appearance of the history of human beings, has preserved its mythological features with an outline and colouring, easily to be recognised by every son of Urania [Ur of the Chaldees is subsequently made to contain the root of Uranus]. We have just seen that the Egyptians have their harvest about the time which the sun passes over the equator, and if we go back to the time of Abraham we shall find that the equator [perhaps he means equinox] was in Taurus; the Egyptians must, then, have had their harvest while the sun was in the Bull; the Bull was, therefore, in their figurative way of speaking, the father of harvest, not only because he ploughed the ground, but because the sun was there when they got in their harvest: thus the Bull was doubly distinguished as their benefactor; he was now, more than ever, become the Bull of life, i. e. he was not only called Abir, the Bull, but Abir-am or Ab'-r-am, the Bull of life,—the father of harvest. And as their harvest was originally under the direction of Iseth, or Isis, whatever belonged to harvest was Isiac; but the Bull, Abiram, was now become the father of Isiac! and to give this the appearance of a human descent, they added to Abir, the masculine affix ah; then it became AB'-RH-AM who was the father of Isiac. And we actually find this equivoque in the hebrew history of Abram whom the Lord afterwards called Abraham, who was the father of Isaac, whose seed was to be countless as the sand on the sea-shore for multitude; even this is truly applied to Isiac the offspring of Ab'-rh-am; for countless indeed are the offspring of the scythe and sickle! but if we allow Isiac to be a real son of Ab-rah-am we must enquire after his mother. During the time that the equator [perhaps he means the sun] is passing through the constellation of the Bull in the spring, the Bull would rise in the east every morning in the harvest time, in Egypt,—but in the poetical language of the ancients, it would be said that, when ABIR-AM consorts with Aurora he will produce Isiac. But Aurora is well known to be the golden splendour of the east, and the brightness of the east is called Zara, and the morning star is Serah, in the eastern languages, and we find a similar change of sound in the name of Isaac's mother, whom the Lord would no longer call Sarai but Sarah. These ARE remarkable coincidences!"—Companion to the Mythological Astronomy, Norwich, 1824, 12mo. pp. 177-179.
M.
In answer to the inquiry respecting this singular man, I beg to say that I remember him between the years 1826 and 1830, as a shoemaker in Norwich. He was in a low rank of trade, and in poor circumstances, which he endeavoured to improve by exhibiting at private houses an orrery of his own making. He was recognised as a "genius;" but, as may be seen by his writings, had little reverence for established forms of belief. At the period of which I speak, which was soon after the publication of his first work, I knew but little of his mind, and lost sight of him altogether till about 1840. Then circumstances connected with my own line of study led me to call on him in Doughty's Hospital, Norwich, an asylum for aged persons. I found him surrounded by astronomical apparatus, books, the tools of his former trade, and all kinds of strange litters. In the conversation that ensued, I learned much of the workings of his mind; though his high self-appreciation could not descend to unreserved converse with a woman. My object was, to ascertain by what steps he had arrived at his theory of the earth's motion, but I could gain nothing distinct. He mentioned the Asiatic Researches as containing vast information on his peculiar subject; quoted Latin, and I think Greek, authors; and seemed to place great dependence on Maurice and Bryant; but, above all, on Capt. Wilford's Essays. He showed me some elaborate calculations, at which he was then working and still fancied himself qualified, perhaps destined, to head a great revolution in the astronomical world. I cannot say how far his knowledge of geology went, as I am not well acquainted with that science. He had evidently read and studied deeply, but alone; his own intellect had never been brushed by the intellects and superior information of truly scientific men, and it appeared to me that a vast deal of dirt, real dirt, had accumulated in his mind. My visit disappointed and pained me, but he seemed gratified, and I therefore promised to call again, which I did, but he was not at home. I think this visit was soon after he had removed into the hospital, for I then purchased his last work, The Age of Mental Emancipation, published 1836, before he obtained that asylum. He died before 1849, but I do not know the exact year.
In any next visit to Norwich, I will make inquiries on all points relating to Mackey, of the very few persons now left who took interest in him, and I think I can find the printer of his last pamphlet.
I have not the work mentioned in "N. & Q.;" but, besides his last work, I have The Mythological Astronomy of the Ancients demonstrated, which is partly in poetry.
I have been obliged to write this Note in the first person, as I can give only my own impressions respecting Mackey; and I wish that ere this you may have received clearer information from more competent persons. If your Querist have the least grain of faith in the theory of Mackey, I hope he will not let the subject drop, for I have long been deeply interested in it.
F. C. B.
Diss.
Mackey, of whom your correspondent inquires, was an entirely self-educated man, but a learned shoemaker, residing in Norwich. He devoted all his leisure time to astronomical, geological, and {567} philological pursuits; and had some share in the formation of a society in his native town, for the purpose of debating questions relative to these sciences. I have understood that he was for some time noticed by a small portion of the scientific world, but afterwards neglected, as, from his own account, he appears also to have been by his literary fellow townsmen; and at last to have died in a Norwich alms-house. This is but a meagre account of the man, but it is possible that I may be able to glean farther particulars on the subject; for a medical friend of mine, who some time ago lent me Mythological Astronomy, promised to let me see some papers in his possession relative to this learned shoemaker's career, and to a few of his unpublished speculations. When I have an opportunity of seeing these, I shall be glad to communicate to your correspondent through "N. & Q." anything of interest. The title-page of Mythological Astronomy runs thus:
"The Mythological Astronomy of the Ancients demonstrated by restoring to their Fables and Symbols their Original Meanings. By Sampson Arnold Mackey, Shoemaker. Norwich: printed by R. Walker, near the Duke's Palace. Published May 1, 1822, by S. A. Mackey, Norwich."
The book contains a variety of subjects, but principally treats of the Hindoo, Greek, and Roman mythology; and endeavours to deduce all the fables and symbols of the ancients from the starry sphere. It also contains a singular hypothesis of the author's upon the celebrated island of Atlantis, mentioned by Plato and other Greek authors; and some very curious speculations concerning the doctrine of the change in the angle which the plane of the ecliptic makes with the plane of the equator.
Urania's Key to the Revelations is bound up with the above work. I forgot to say that his Ancient Mythology demonstrated is written in verse, and afterwards more fully explained by notes. His poetical abilities, however, neither suit the subject, nor are of a very high order. His prose is better, but here and there shows the deficiency of education.
E. M. R.
Grantham.
* * * * *
SINCERE, SIMPLE, SINGULAR.
(Vol. viii., pp. 195. 328. 399.)
When a hive of bees is taken, the practice is to lay the combs upon a sieve over some vessel, in only that the honey may drain out of the combs. Whilst the combs are in the hive, they hang perpendicularly, and each cell is horizontal; and in this position the honey in the cells which are in the course of being filled does not run out; but when the combs are laid on the sieve horizontally, the cells on the lower side of the combs hang perpendicularly, and then the honey begins to run out of those that are not sealed up. The honey that so runs out is perfectly pure, and free from wax. The cells, however, that are sealed up with wax still retain their honey; and the ordinary process to extract it is to place the sieve with the combs upon it so near a fire as gradually to melt the wax, so as to let the honey escape. During this process, some portion of wax unavoidably gets mixed with the honey. Here then we have two kinds of honey: one in a perfectly pure state, and wholly sine cera; the other in some degree impure, and mixed cum cera. Can anything be more reasonable than to suppose that the former was called sincerum mel, just as we call it virgin honey? And this accords with Ainsworth's derivation, "ex sine et cera: ut mel purum dicitur quod cera non est permixtum." If it be said that there is nothing to show that the old Romans adopted the process I have described, I reply it is immaterial what process they followed in order to extract what would not flow out of itself; as whatever did flow out of itself would be mel sine cera.
If such were the origin of the term, it is easy to see how appropriately, in a secondary sense, it would denote whatever was pure, sweet, unadulterated, and ingenuous.
Now if we apply this sense to the line:
"Sincerum est nisi vas quodcunque infundis acescit,"—
it will mean, "unless the vessel be sweet and pure, it will turn whatever you pour into it sour."
This is the interpretation that has always hitherto been put upon the line; which is thus translated by Tommaso Gargallo, vol. iii. p. 19. edit. 1820:
"Se non e puro il vase, ecco gia guasto Che che v' infondi."
And by Francis (vol. iv. p. 27., 6th edit.):—
"For tainted vessels sour what they contain."
The context shows that this is the correct translation, as sincerum vas is obviously in opposition to "auriculas collecta sorde dolentes," in the preceding line.
The line itself plainly refers to the well-known fact, that if wine or other liquor be poured into a foul vessel, it will be polluted by it. Nor can I avoid noticing the elegant opposition, according to this construction, between the sweetness in sincerum, and the acidity in acescit.
I also think that MR. INGLESBY'S version cannot be correct for the following reason. Cracks may exist in every part of a vessel alike; and as the part filled by the liquor is always many times greater than the remainder of the vessel, cracks would more frequently occur in the former; and, as where air can get in the liquor can get out, it {568} is plain that in the majority of instances the liquor would run away instead of turning sour. Now the line plainly contains a general affirmative proposition that all liquor whatsoever will be turned sour, unless the vessel be sincerum; and therefore that version cannot be right which applies only to a few instances.
"Sincerum cupimus vas incrustare" is well rendered by Gargallo (vol. ii. p. 37.):
" . . . . Insudiciar bramiamo Anco il vase piu puro;"
and by Francis (vol. iii. p. 39.):
"And joy th' untainted vessel to begrime."
The passage is well explained in the note to Baxter's Hor. (p. 310. edit. 1809):
"Incrustari vas dicitur cum aliquo vitioso succo illinitur atque inquinatur."
And the passage in the 18th satire of Lucilius shows that this is an accurate explanation:
" . . . . . Regionibus illis Incrustatu' calix ruta caulive bibetur."
A practice, I rather think, prevails in some parts of England of rubbing the inside of a vessel with sweet herbs, in order to flavour cyder or other liquor.
It appears from the same note:
"Fracta vasa et gypsare et pelliculare Veteres consuevere. Gypsantur et pelliculantur vasa plena ad aera et sordes excludendas. Sincerum proprie mel sine cera, vel, quod magis huc pertinet, vas non ceratum: nam a ceratura odorem vel saporem trahit."
If these passages show the practice of sealing vessels with wax, they also show that the wax was what affected the flavour of the liquor.
MR. JEFFCOCK plainly errs in saying that simplex "does not mean without a fold, but once folded." In Latin we have the series simplex, duplex, triplex, &c., corresponding precisely to the English single, double, treble, &c. And as single denotes a thing without a fold, so does simplex. MR. JEFFCOCK'S derivation would make simplex and duplex mean the same thing. Now duplex does not mean twice folded, but double.
Nor can I think that singulus can be "semel and termination." Ainsworth derives it from the Hebrew [Hebrew: SGLH], which denotes whatever is peculiar or singular. It occurs to me to suggest whether it may not be derived from sine angulis. The term denotes unity—one person, one thing. Now the Roman mark for one is a straight line, and that is "that which lies evenly between its extreme points;" it is emphatically a line without bend, angle, or turning—"linea sine angulis:" angulus, like its Greek original, denoting any bend, whether made by a straight or curved line.
Though I cannot at this moment refer to any other Latin words compounded of sine, we have in Spanish simpar, without equal: sinigual, sinjusticia, sinrazon, sinnumero, sinsabor.
The delight I take in endeavouring to attain the correct meaning of the classics will, I hope, form some apology for the length of this Note.
S. G. C.
Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
* * * * *
POETICAL TAVERN SIGNS.
(Vol. viii., p. 242.)
In an old collection of tavern signs of the last century, among many others I find the following. On the sign of the "Arrow," at Knockholt, in Kent,—
"Charles Collins liveth here, Sells rum, brandy, gin, and beer; I made this board a little wider, To let you know I sell good cyder."
On the sign of the "Shoulder of Mutton and Cat," at Hackney, in Middlesex,—
"Pray Puss don't tear, For the mutton is so dear; Pray Puss don't claw, For the mutton yet is raw."
On the sign of the "Gate," at Blean Hill, in Kent,—
"Stop, brave boys, and squench your thirst, If you won't drink, the horses must."
On the sign of the "Ship in Distress," in Middle Street, Brighton, Sussex,—
"With sorrows I am compass'd round; Pray lend a hand, my ship's aground."
On the sign of the "Waggon and Horses," in Black Lion Street, Brighthelmstone,—
"Long have I travers'd both far and near, On purpose to find out good beer, And at last I found it here."
RUBY.
At a small way-side beer-shop in the parish of Werrington in the county of Devon, a few years since there was the following sign:
"The Lengdon Inn, kept by M. Vuller. Gentlemen walk in and sit at your aise, Pay for what you call for, and call for what you plaise; As tristing of late has been to my sorrow, Pay me to-day and I'll tristee to-morrow."
J. D.
Launceston.
Not far from Kilpeck, Herefordshire, I have seen a wayside public-house, exhibiting the sign of the "Oak," under which is the following couplet:
"I am an oak, and not a yew, So drink a cup with good John Pugh."
{569} As "good John Pugh" sold excellent cider, I did not repent complying with the injunction.
W. J. BERNHARD SMITH.
Temple.
This is at a roadside public-house near Maidenhead, known by the sign of the "Gate." It is thus:
"This gate hangs high, It hinders none; Drink hearty, boys, And travel on."
I remember a sign near Marlborough of the "Red Cow," and the landlord, being also a milkman, had inscribed under the rude drawing of a cow these lines:
"The Red Cow Gives good milk now."
NEWBURIENSIS.
* * * * *
HOMO UNIUS LIBRI.
(Vol. viii., p. 440.)
I have not verified in the works of St. Thomas this saying ascribed to him, but I subjoin a passage from Bishop Taylor, where it is quoted:
"A river cut into many rivulets divides also its strength, and grows contemptible and apt to be forded by a lamb and drunk up by a summer sun; so is the spirit of man busied in variety, and divided in itself; it abates its fervour, cools into indifferency, and becomes trifling by its dispersion and inadvertency. Aquinas was once asked, with what compendium a man might best become learned? He answered, By reading of one book; meaning that an understanding entertained with several objects is intent upon neither, and profits not." —Life of Christ, part ii. s. xii. 16.
He also quotes Ecclus (xi. 10.), St. Gregory, St. Bernard, Seneca, Quintillian, and Juvenal to the same purpose.
Southey quotes part of this passage from Bishop Taylor (in the Doctor) and adds:
"Lord Holland's poet, the prolific Lope de Vega, tells us to the same purport. The Homo Unius Libri is indeed proverbially formidable to all conversational figurantes: like your sharpshooter, he knows his piece, and is sure of his shot."
The truth of this dictum of St. Thomas cannot be too much insisted on in this age of many books, which affords such incentives to literary dissipation and consequent shallowness.
"An intellectual man, as the world now conceives of him, is one who is full of 'views,' on all subjects of philosophy, on all matters of the day. It is almost thought a disgrace not to have a view at a moment's notice on any question from the Personal Advent to the Cholera or Mesmerism. This is owing in a great measure to the necessities of periodical literature, now so much in request. Every quarter of a year, every month every day, there must be a supply for the gratification of the public, of new and luminous theories on the subjects of religion, foreign politics, home politics, civil economy, finance, trade, agriculture, emigration, and the colonies. Slavery, the gold fields, German philosophy, the French empire, Wellington, Peel, Ireland, must all be practised on, day after day, by what are called original thinkers."—Dr. Newman's Disc. on Univ. Educ., p. xxv. (preface).
This writer follows up the subject very ably, and his remarks on that spurious philosophism which shows itself in what, for want of a better word, he calls "viewiness," are worth the attention of all homines unius libri.
P.S.—As I think of it, I shall make a cognate Query. Some facetious opponent of the schoolmen fathered on St. Thomas Aquinas an imaginary work in sundry folio volumes entitled De Omnibus Rebus, adding an equally bulky and imaginary supplement—Et Quibusdam Aliis. This is as often used to feather a piece of unfledged wit, as the speculation concerning the number of angels that could dance on the point of a needle, and yet I have never been able to trace out the inventor of these visionary tomes.
EIRIONNACH.
* * * * *
THE FORLORN HOPE.
(Vol. viii., p. 411.)
My attention was directed to the consideration of this expression some years ago when reading in John Dymmoks' Treatise of Ireland, written about the year 1600, and published among the Tracts relating to Ireland, printed for the Irish Archaeological Society, vol. ii., the following paragraph:
"Before the vant-guard marched the forelorn hope, consisting of forty shott and twenty shorte weapons, with order that they should not discharge untill they presented theire pieces to the rebells' breasts in their trenches, and that sooddenly the short weapons should enter the trenches pell mell: vpon eyther syde of the vant-guarde (which was observed in the batle and reare-guarde) marched wings of shott enterlyned with pikes, to which were sent secondes with as much care and diligence as occasion required. The baggage, and a parte of the horse, marched before the battell; the rest of the horse troopes fell in before the rearewarde except thirty, which, in the head of the rearelorne hope, conducted by Sir Hen. Danvers, made the retreit of the whole army."—P.32.
The terms rearelorne hope and forlorne hope occur constantly in the same work, and bear the same signification as in the foregoing.
Remarking upon this circumstance to my friend the late Dr. Graves, he wrote the following notice of the word in the Dublin Quarterly Journal of Medical Science, of which I was then the editor, in Feb. 1849:
"Military and civil writers of the present day seem quite ignorant of the true meaning of the words {570} forlorn hope. The adjective has nothing to do with despair, nor the substantive with the 'charmer which lingers still behind;' there was no such poetical depth in the words as originally used. Every corps marching in any enemy's country had a small body of men at the head (haupt or hope) of the advanced guard; and which was termed the forlorne hope (lorn being here but a termination similar to ward in forward), while another small body at the head of the rere guard was called the rear-lorn hope (xx.). A reference to Johnson's Dictionary proves that civilians were misled as early as the time of Dryden by the mere sound of a technical military phrase; and, in process of time, even military men forgot the true meaning of the words. It grieves me to sap the foundations of an error to which we are indebted for Byron's beautiful line:
'The full of hope, misnamed forlorn.'"
W. R. WILDE.
Dublin.
* * * * *
TIECK'S "COMOEDIA DIVINA."
(Vol. viii., p. 126.)
The title-page of this work is: Comoedia Divina, mit drei Vorreden von Peter Hammer, Jean Paul, und dem Herausgeber, 1808. The absence of publisher's name and place of publication leaves little doubt that the name W. G. H. Gotthardt, and the date "Basel, Mai 1, 1808," are both fictitious.
But for finding the passage cited by M. M. E. at p. 38., I should have supposed that the Munich critic had referred to some other book with the same title. No one who has read this can suppose it was written by Tieck. The Catholic-romantic school, of which he was the most distinguished member, furnishes the chief objects of the author's ridicule. Novalis, Goerres, and F. Schlegel are the most prominent; but at p. 128. is an absurd sonnet "an Tieck."
The Comoedia Divina is a very clever and somewhat profane satire, such as Voltaire might have written had he been a German of the nineteenth century. It opens with Jupiter complaining to Mercury of ennui (eine langweilige Existenz), and that he is not what he was when young. Mercury advises a trip to Leipzig fair, where he may get good medical advice for his gout, and certainly will see something new. They go, and hear various dealers sing the catalogues of their goods. The lines quoted by M. M. E. are sung by a young man with a puppet-show and barrel-organ to the burden:
"Orgelum Orgelei, Dudeldum Dudeldei."
He exhibits things taken from the physics of Oken, the metaphysics of Schelling, and the aesthetics of Goerres. The whole of the song is good; and I quote one stanza as showing a sound appreciation of the current metaphysicians:
"Die Intelligenz construirt sich in der Zeit Als Object, und erkennt sich, und das ist gescheidt, Denn aus diesen und andern Constructuren Entstehen Lehrbuecher und Professuren."
They visit the garret of Herr Novalis Octavianus Hornwunder, a maker of books to order upon every subject: they learn the mysteries of the manufacture. The scene is clever, but much of the wit is unappreciable as directed against productions which have not survived. Jupiter, in compassion to Hornwunder, changes him to a goose, immediately after which a bookseller enters, and, mistaking the gods for authors, makes them an offer of six dollars and twelve groschen the octavo volume, besides something for the kitchen. Jupiter, enraged, changes him to a fox, which forthwith eats the goose "feathers and all."
They then go to see the play of the Fall of Man (Der Suendenfall). The subject is treated after the manner of Hans Sachs, but with this difference, that the simple-minded old Nuremberger saw nothing incongruous in making Cain and Abel say their catechism, and Cain go away from the examination to fight with the low boys in the street; whereas the author of Der Suendenfall is advisedly irreverent. Another proof, if one were wanted, that he was not Tieck.
Die Ungoettliche Comoedie is not by Batornicki, but translated by him from the Polish. In the preface he apologises for inelegant German, as that is not his native language; and I presume he is a Pole, as he says the author's name is known among us (unter uns). As he calls it a poem (Dichtung) the original is probably in verse. I think the Munich critic could have seen only some extracts from the Comoedia Divina; for, so far from Batornicki "plundering freely," I do not find any resemblance between the works except in the sole word comoedia. The Comoedia Divina is a mockery, not political, but literary, and as such anti-mystic and conservative. Die Ungoettliche Comoedie is wild, mystical, supernatural, republican, and communistic. It contains passages of great power, eloquence, and pathos. German critics are often prosy and inefficient, but not given to wilful misrepresentation or carelessness in examining the books they review. The writer in the Munich journal must be held an exception.
H. B. C.
U. U. Club.
* * * * *
{571}
LIVERIES WORN BY GENTLEMEN.
(Vol. vi., p. 146.; Vol. viii., p. 473.)
The prevalence of the custom of the liveries of noble and other persons being worn by others than the retainers of the family, in the reigns of Henry VI. and Elizabeth, is exemplified by two documents preserved amongst the MSS. of the corporation of this borough. The first, which is also curious as a specimen of the language of the period, is an award under the seal of Margaret of Anjou; under whom, as they had previously done under Katherine, queen of Henry V., the corporation farmed the bailiwick of the town:
"Margaret, by the grace of God, Quene of England and of Ffraunce and Lady of Irland, Doughter of the Kyng of Sicile and Jerlm. Be it knawen to all men to whom this p'sent writyng (endented) shall come, that whereas a certeyn Comission of my fuldoutfull Lord was directed to c'teyn psones to enquere as well of yevyng of lyu'e, as of other diu's articles ... before the Comissioners of the seyd Comission it was p'sented by William Neuby and other of our tenntz of Leycestre ... that c'teyn psones, in Leycestre, had taken clothyng of diu'rez p'sones, ayenst the forme of the statut; that ys to wete, that some of hem had taken clothyng of the Viscount Beaumont, and some of S^r Edward Grey, Lord Fferrers of Growby, and some of hem had taken clothyng of other diu'res psones, by cause of which p'sentement diu'res psones, some of the houshold of the seyd Lord Fferrers, and some of the clothing of the said Lord, with other wele wilners to the said Lord, as yet not to us knawen, by supportacon and favour, and for pleasance to the said Lord, as we ben enfo'med ... betyn and sore woundetyn the said William Neuby, and manesten to bete other of our tenntz of Leycestre." ... She doth therefore "ordeyn, deme, and awarde" that the said Lord Ferrers pay c. marks to William Neuby, that he "be goode lorde to the said William Neuby; and to all other tenntz in our lordship of Leycestre; and that the said lord shall not geve any clothyng or liue'y to any psone dwellyng within our said lordship," &c.... "Yeven the xx day of May, the yere of the reign of my most douted Lord Kyng Henr' the Sext, xxvii."
The above extracts show one of the evils to which the practice led; another, mentioned in the deed, was that of deerstealing. William Newby was mayor of the town in 1425, 1433, and 1444-5.
The second document is a curious letter from the mayor and some members of the corporation to George Earl of Huntington, lord-lieutenant of the county, and a frequent resident in the town, where a part of his mansion, called "Lord's Place," and in which James I. was entertained, still exists. The draft of this letter forms part of an interesting series of correspondence between the corporation and the earl, respecting the nomination of the parliamentary representatives of the town in 1601.
The earl recommended that Mr. (afterwards Sir) William Herrick and Mr. Bromley should be chosen, and in strong language warned them against electing Mr. George Belgrave of Belgrave (who had greatly offended him), as he hears "that Belgrave still contineweth his great practising in labouring to be chosen;" and he adds, "Goode Mr. Mayor, be carefull of this, as you and the rest will looke to make accompt of me."
It appears that many members of the corporation were secretly favourable to Mr. Belgrave, and he was elected, as explained in the following letter:
"Right Ho^e, oure humble dewties remeberd, &c., may yt please yo^r good Lpp. to be c'tified, that upon Tuesday morninge laste, being assembled for the choice of o^r Burgesses, Mr. George Belgrave p'sented himselfe amongest us, in a blewe coat w^{th} a bull head, affirminge and protestinge he was yo^r Lp's s'vt, and that S^r Henrie Harrington, verye late the night before, had obteyned that favour of yo^r ho^r in his behalfe; and muche bemoned his former undewtifull cariage towards yo^r Lp, w^{th} a remorsive remembrance of many most ho. favours receaved from yo^r Lp and yo^r house, towards his auncestors, him, and his; and, recommendinge his former suite to be one of oure Burgesses, being demanded whether he had any letter from yo^r Lp, answered, that this (poyntinge at his coat and cognizance) he hoped was a sufficient testimonie of y^r Lp's favour towards him, and of his submission towards yo^r ho^r; and further, that it was so late before S^r Henrie cold pcure yo^r Lp's said favour, as that you cold not well write, and, for the truth of the pmises, he offered his corporal oathe. Whereupon we, thinkinge all this to be true, made choyce of him, w^{th} Mr. Willm Herricke, to be o^r Burgesses. And now, this evening, wee are credibly certified that y^r Lp hath geven him no suche entertaynem^t; and thus by his said lewde and most dishonest dealinge, being much abused, we thought it o^r dewties forthew^{th} to signifie the same unto yo^r Lp, humbly cravinge yo^r Lp's most ho^rable favor for some reformacon of this vile practize. And thus, w^{th} remembrance of oure dewties, wee humbly take o^r leaves. From Leic^r, this xx^{th} day of October, 1601.
"Youre honor's most humble to comaunde, Signed by "Willm ROWES, Maior, ROBERT HEYRICKE," And ten others.
An angry and characteristic reply from the earl follows, but with which, as it is printed in Thompson's History of Leicester (p. 318.), I will not trespass upon your valuable space. It may be sufficient to say, that he tells the mayor that—
"Notwithstanding this treacherous devise of that cunninge practisore, I feare it will appeare, upon due scanninge of this accydent, y^t there remaynes a false brother amongst you.... And as for y^e p'sone hymself whoe hathe thus shameleslye sought to dishonoure me and deceave you, I will, by the grace of God, take suche order as in honor and lawfullye I maye, bothe {572} for y^e better unfouldinge of this, as also for suche punnyshm^t as the law will inflict."
In pursuance of this determination, the earl exhibited an information against Mr. Belgrave in the Star Chamber. The subsequent proceedings which took place on the subject in parliament will be found noticed in D'Ewes's Journal, and quoted in Thompson's History of Leicester, pp. 319-323.
WILLIAM KELLY.
Leicester.
* * * * *
PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE.
Queries on Dr. Diamond's Calotype Process.—Would you kindly ask DR. DIAMOND, to whom I should imagine all of us are more or less indebted, the following questions respecting the very valuable paper on the calotype in the last Photographic Journal?
1. As to the white spots which make their appearance in developing, on Turner's paper especially, and which he says are owing to minute pieces of metal in the paper, what is the best way of hiding them in the negative, so that they may as little as possible injure the positive? I have suffered sadly from this cause; and have tried to stop them with ammonio-nitrate, which turns after a time to red, and stops the light effectually; but I should prefer some black colouring the strength of which one could measure by seeing its immediate effect.
2. And again, when one has black spots, what is the best means of lessening their intensity, if not of wholly removing them?
[Greek: Photographos.]
[Where light spots occur in a negative, DR. DIAMOND recommends, as the most effectual mode of stopping them, a little gamboge neatly applied with a camel-hair pencil. Where a great intensity is desired, Indian ink may be applied in the same manner, taking care in both cases to smooth off the edges with a dry brush. The cyanide of potassium applied in the same way, but with very great care, will remove the black spots. Before it appears to have quite accomplished its object, a negative should be immersed in water, as its action is so energetic.]
Albumenized Paper.—I have followed DR. DIAMOND'S directions for albumenizing paper (thin Canson negative) as accurately as I can, but I cannot prevent the albumen in drying, when pinned up, from forming into waves or streaks. This will be best understood from a specimen of a sheet which I inclose, and I shall be much obliged if you can tell me how this can be avoided. Some albumenized paper which I have purchased is quite free from this defect, but being at a distance from London, it is both convenient and economical to prepare my own paper.
C. E. F.
[We would recommend our correspondent to remove his paper from the albumen still more slowly; and to take care not to draw it along, but so to lift it that the last corner is not moved until it is raised from the albumen. In pinning up be careful that the paper takes the inward curl, otherwise the appearances exhibited will be almost sure to take place. As the albumenizing liquid is of very trifling cost, we recommend the use of two dishes, as by that means a great economy of time is obtained.]
* * * * *
Replies to Minor Queries.
Marcarnes (Vol. viii., p. 365.).—Can this curiously sounding name be an archaic form of Mackarness, a name, I think, still borne by living persons?
FRANCIS JOHN SCOTT.
Tewkesbury.
X on Brewers' Casks (Vol. viii., p. 439.).—Your correspondent B. H. C., though ingenious, is in error. The X on brewers' casks originated in the fact, that beer above a certain strength paid 10s. duty; and the X became a mark to denote beer of that better quality. The doubling and tripling of the X are nothing but inventions of the brewers to humbug the public.
[Hebrew: B]. [Hebrew: D].
No Sparrows at Lindham (Vol. vii., p. 233.).—Amongst the various responses in connexion with the Queries given on the page above noted, communicated direct, the only one which I have thought worthy of insertion in my MSS. is as follows:
"As for there being no sparrows at Lindham, it may be accounted for in the following legend:—A few years ago I was in that district when I heard some account of a person called 'Tom of Lindham;' who, by the way, was a curious personage, and performed some very extraordinary and out-of-the-way feats. At one time he was left at home to protect the corn from the sparrows; when, to save trouble, he got all of them into the barn, and put a harrow into the window to keep them in; and so starved (i. e. hungered) them to death."
Furthermore Mr. Whittaker kindly communicated of the above Yorkshire worthy:
"At the close of Tom's life he took it into his head to make a road across a part of Hatfield Chase to his own dwelling; when, according to the legend, he employed supernatural aid: with this clause in the contract, that he, Tom, should not inquire any particulars as to the character of his assistants or helpmates. One day, however, being more curious than prudent, he looked behind him; his workmen immediately disappeared, and Tom of Lindham was no more heard of. His road still remains in the state he left it."
M. AISLABIE DENHAM.
Piersebridge, near Darlington, Durham.
Theobald le Botiller (Vol. viii., p. 366.).—Theobald le Botiller was an infant at his father's death, 1206. He had livery in 1222; and in 9 Hen. III., {573} 1225, married Rohesia or Rose de Verdun, not Vernon. She was so great an heiress that she retained her own name, and her posterity also bore it. She founded the Abbey of Grace Dieu, Leicestershire, in 1239; and died 1247-8. Her husband died in 1230, leaving two sons: John de Verdun, who inherited, and Nicholas, who died in Ireland without issue; and one daughter Maud, who married John FitzAlan, Earl of Arundel.
WALTER DEVEREUX.
Hampton Court Palace.
Vault at Richmond, Yorkshire (Vol. viii., p. 388.).—Touching the "vault," or underground passage, "that goeth under the river" of Swale, from the Castle of Richmond to the priory of St. Martin, every tradition, i. e. as to its whereabouts, is, I believe, now wholly lost.
Your Querist, however, who seems to feel an interest in that beautiful and romantic portion of the north countrie, will perhaps welcome the following mythe, which is connected, it is possible, with the identical vault which is depictured by Speed in his Plan of Richmond. It was taken down from the lips of a great-grand-dame by one of her descendants, both of whom are still living, for the gratification of your present correspondent, who, like Luther,
"Would not for any quantity of gold part with the wonderful tales which he has retained from his earliest childhood, or met with in his progress through life."
But to my legend:
Once upon a time a man, walking round Richmond Castle, was accosted by another, who took him into a vennel, or underground passage, below the castle; where he beheld a vast multitude of people lying as if they were sleeping. A horn and a sword were presented to him: the horn to blow, and the sword to draw; in order, as said his guide, to release them from their slumbers. And when he had drawn the sword half out, the sleepers began to move; which frightened him so much, that he put it back into the sheath: when instantly a voice exclaimed,
"Potter! Potter Thompson! If thou had either drawn The sword, or blown the horn, Thou had been the luckiest man that ever was born."
So ends the Legend of the Richmond Sleepers and Potter Thompson; which, mayhap, is scarcely worth preserving, were it not that it has preserved and handed down the characteristic, or rather trade, cognomen and surname of its timorous at least, if not cowardly, hero.
M. AISLABIE DENHAM.
Piersebridge, near Darlington, Durham.
Lord Audley's Attendants at Poictiers (Vol. viii., p. 494.).—A notice of the arguments in opposition to the statement, rested mainly on the grant of arms by John Touchet, Lord Audley, to the descendant of Sir James de Mackworth, in consideration of his having been one of these esquires, occurs in Blore's Rutland, p. 130. and p. 224. And it appears to be satisfactorily shown by the grant itself, that it was not made on account of the services of Sir James.
J. P. Jun.
Portraits at Brickwall House (Vol. vii., p. 406.).—Immerzeel says, in his Levens der Kunstschilders (Lives of the Painters), vol. iii. pp. 238, 239.:
"Thomas van der Wilt, born at Piershil in the district of Putten, was a disciple of Verkolje at Delft, where he also settled. He painted portraits, domestic scenes, &c., which were not free from stiffness. He also engraved in mezzotinto after Brouwer, Schalken, and others. His drawings were engraved by his son William, who died young."
He was living in 1701, and was probably grandson of a person of the same name who resided in 1622 at Soetermeer near Leyden, for in the register of the villages of Rhynland are found:
"Jan Thomas van der Wilt and Maritgen Pietersdr, his wife, with Thomas, Maritgen, Pieter, Cornelis, Grietge, Jannetge, and Ingethen, their children."
The portrait painted by Terburgh probably represents Andries de Graeff, who, in 1672, is called by Wagenaar, in his Vaderlandsche Hist. of that year (p. 82.), late burgomaster of Amsterdam. It is then necessary to ascertain whether this late burgomaster died in 1674. The family de Graeff also resided at Delft, where several of its members became magistrates.
ELSEVIR.
The portrait of the old gentleman is, in my opinion, doubtless that of Andries de Graeff, who was elected burgomaster of Amsterdam in 1660, and filled the office several times afterwards, although after the year 1670 his name no more appears on the list of burgomasters, which can very well agree with the date of death (1674) on the portrait.—From the Navorscher.
A. J. VAN DER AA.
Gorinchem.
The Words "Mob" and "Cash" (Vol. viii., pp. 386. 524.).—CLERICUS RUSTICUS will find the origin and first introduction of the word mob fully stated in Trench's Lectures on the Study of Words (p. 124. fourth ed.). In addition to the quotations there made, CLERICUS RUSTICUS may refer to Dryden's preface to Cleomenes (1692), to the 230th number of The Tatler, written by Swift (an. 1710), and to the Dean's Introduction to Polite Conversation.
Cash.—What Lord Holland may have meant by a legitimate English word it is hard to say. Dr. Johnson derives it from the Fr. caisse (or casse), which Cotgrave interprets "a box, a case, {574} or chest; also, a merchant's cash or counter." Todd confirms the correctness of Johnson's etymology by a usage in Winwood's Memorials; where the Countess of Shrewsbury is said to have 20,000l. in her cash. And Richardson farther confirms it by a quotation from Sir W. Temple; and one from Sherwood, who explains cashier, "Qui garde le casse de l'argent de merchand;" and a merchant's cash, "casse de merchand."
Q.
Bloomsbury.
English Clergyman in Spain (Vol. viii., p. 410.).—The clergyman was perhaps attached to the army of England in Spain, in the capacity of chaplain. I recommend a search for the record of his licence, which will very probably recite his appointment; and this record is most likely to be found with the proper officer of the diocese of London, in Doctors' Commons. I have seen one extraordinary discovery of information of the kind now sought by D. Y., in this quarter; and D. Y. will probably be so kind as to note his success in "N. & Q.," if he obtains his information here or elsewhere.
E.
The Cid (Vol. viii., p. 367.).—I find in the catalogue of my library, the greatest part of which was destroyed by fire in 1849, amongst other books relating to The Cid, the following:
"Romancero, e Historia del muy valeroso Cavallero el Cid Ruy Diaz de Bivar, en lenguaje antiguo, recopilado por Juan de Escobar. En esta ultima impression van anadidos muchos romances, que hasta aora no han sido impressos, ni divulgados, 12mo. con licencia. En Pamplona, por Martin de Zavala, ano 1706."
"Romancero e Historia del mui valeroso Cabellero el Cid Rui-diaz de Vibar, en lenguage antiguo, recopilado por Juan de Escobar, neuva edicion, reformada sobre las antiguas, anadida e illustrada con varias notas y composiciones del mismo tiempo y asunto para su mas facil intelligencia, y adornada con un epitome de la Historia verdadera del Cid. Por D. Vicente Goncales del Reguero. 12mo. con licencia, Madrid, Imprenta de Cano, 1818."
In Thorpe's Catalogue, 1841, No. 1355, is an edition, 12mo., Segovia, 1629.
JOHN ADAMSON.
Exterior Stoups (Vol. v., p. 560.; Vol. vi., pp. 18. 86. 160. 345. 497. 591., &c.).—Having introduced this subject to "N. & Q.," you will perhaps allow me to return to it, by adding to the list of churches where exterior stoups may be seen, the names of Leigh and Shrawley, Worcestershire. A recent visit to these places made me aware of the existence of the stoups. That at Leigh is in a shattered condition, and is on the south side of the western doorway: it is now covered in by a porch of later date. That at Shrawley is on the eastern side of the south door, and is hollowed out within the top of a short column. Shrawley Church possesses many points of interest for the antiquary: among which may be mentioned, a Norman window pierced through one of the buttresses of the chancel. Among the noticeable things at Leigh Church is a rude sculpture of the Saviour placed exteriorly over the north door of the nave, in a recess, with semicircular heading and Norman pillars. The rector is gradually restoring this fine church.
CUTHBERT BEDE, B.A.
Green Jugs used by the Templars (Vol. viii., p. 171.)—In clearing out the ground for the foundation of Raymond Buildings in Gray's Inn, about thirty years since, two earthen green jugs were dug up, which are preserved by the benchers as a memento of "the olden times."
They will hold very little more than half a pint of liquor, are tall and of good proportions, but so small at the top as almost to preclude their being used to drink out of, and having a lip it is surmised that they held the portion assigned to each student, who was also supplied with a drinking horn.
I have seen a jug of the same description in the possession of a gentleman in Lincoln's Inn, which he informed me was brought to light in excavating for the new hall. It is therefore probable that all the inns of court were accustomed to provide jugs of the same description.
F. WHITMARSH.
"Peccavi," I have Scinde (Vol. viii, p. 490.).—Your correspondent MR. G. LLOYD, who says he does "not know on what authority" it is stated that "the old and lamented warrior, Sir Charles Napier, wrote on the conquest of Scinde, Peccavi!" is informed that the sole author of the despatch was Mr. Punch.
CUTHBERT BEDE, B.A.
In a note touching these well-known words, MR. G. LLOYD says, "It is also stated, I do not know on what authority, that the old and lamented warrior, Sir Charles Napier, wrote on the conquest of Scinde, Peccavi!" The author of Democritus in London, with the Mad Pranks and Comical Conceits of Motley and Robin Good-Fellow, thus alludes to this saying in that work. I presume he had good authority for so doing:
Sir P. "What exclaim'd the gallant Napier, Proudly flourishing his rapier! To the army and the navy, When he conquer'd Scinde? 'Peccavi!'"
A SUBSCRIBER.
Raffaelle's Sposalizio (Vol. vii., p. 595.; Vol. viii., p. 61.).—The reason why the ring is placed on {575} the third finger of the right hand of the Blessed Virgin in Raffaelle's "Sposalizio" at Milan, and in Ghirlandais's frescoe of the same subject in the Santa Croce at Florence, is to be found in the fact that the right hand has always been considered the hand of power or dignity, and the left hand of inferiority or subjection. A married woman always wears her ring on the third finger of the left hand to signify her subjection to her husband. But it has been customary among artists to represent the Blessed Virgin with the ring on the right hand, to signify her superiority to St. Joseph from her surpassing dignity of Mother of God. Still she is not always represented so, for in Beato Angelico's painting of the marriage of Mary and Joseph she receives the ring on her left hand. See woodcut in Mrs. Jameson's Legends of Madonna, p. 170. In the Marriage of the Blessed Virgin by Vanloo, in the Louvre, she also receives the ring on the left hand. Giotto, Taddeo Gaddi, Perugino, &c., have painted the "Sposalizio," but I have not copies by me to refer to.
CEYREP.
Early Use of Tin.—Derivation of the Name of Britain (Vol. viii., pp. 290. 344. 445.).—Your correspondent G. W. having been unable to inform DR. HINCKS who first suggested the derivation of Britannia from Baratanac or Bratanac, I have the pleasure to satisfy him on this point by referring him to Bochart's Geographia Sacra, lib. I. c. xxxix. In that great storehouse of historical information, the Memoirs of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres, there are some profound researches by Melot and others, in which may be found answers to all the Queries proposed by G. W.
The islands, rivers, mountains, cities, and remarkable places of Phoenician colonies, had even in the time of the habitation of the Greeks and Romans Phoenician names, which, according to the spirit of the ancient languages of the East, indicated clearly the properties of the places which bore those names. See instances in Bochart, ubi supra; Sammes's Britannia Antiqua Illustrata, or the Antiquities of Ancient Britain derived from the Phoenicians; and D'Hancarville's Preface to Hamilton's Etruscan, &c. Antiquities.
BIBLIOTHECAR. CHETHAM.
Unpublished Epigram by Sir Walter Scott (Vol. vii., pp. 498. 576.).—The following extract is from the Gentleman's Magazine, March, 1824, p. 194.:
"Mr. J. Lawrence of Somers Town observes: 'In the summer of the year 1770 I was on a visit at Beaumont Hall on the coast of Essex, a few miles distant from Harwich. It was then the residence of Mr. Canham.... I was invited to ascend the attics in order to read some lines, imprinted by a cowboy of precocious intellect. I found these in handsome, neatly executed letters, printed and burnished with leaf-gold, on the wall of his sleeping-room. They were really golden verses, and may well be styled Pythagorean from their point, to wit:
'Earth goes upon the earth, glittering like gold; Earth goes to the earth sooner than 'twould; Earth built upon the earth castles and towers; Earth said to the Earth, All shall be ours.'
The curiosity of these lines so forcibly impressed them on my memory, that time has not been able to efface a tittle of them. But from what source did the boy obtain them?"
Permit me to repeat this Query?
J. R. M., M.A.
Derivation of the Word "Humbug" (Vol. viii. passim).—Not being satisfied with any of the derivations of this word hitherto proposed in your pages, I beg to suggest that perhaps it may be traced to a famous dancing master who flourished about the time when the word first came into use. The following advertisement appeared in the Dublin Freeman's Journal in Jan. 1777:
"To the Nobility.
"As Monsieur Humbog does not intend for the future teaching abroad after 4 o'clock, he, at the request of his scholars, has opened an academy for young ladies of fashion to practise minuets and cotillions. He had his first assembly on Friday last, and intends continuing them every Friday during the winter. He does not admit any gentlemen, and his number of ladies is limited to 32; and as Mrs. Humbog is very conversant in the business of the Toilet Table, the ladies may depend on being properly accommodated. Mr. Humbog having been solicited by several gentlemen, he intends likewise to open an academy for them, and begs that those who chuse to become subscribers will be so good as to send him their addresses, that he may have the honour of waiting upon them to inform them of his terms and days. Mr. Humbog has an afternoon school three times a week for little ladies and gentlemen not exceeding 14 years of age. Terms of his school are one guinea per month and one guinea entrance. Any ladies who are desirous of knowing the terms of his academy may be informed by appointing Mr. Humbog to wait upon them, which he will do on the shortest notice. Capel St. 21 Jan. 1777."
OMICRON.
Bees (Vol. viii., p. 440.).—In the midland counties the first migration of the season is a swarm, the second a cast, and the third a spindle.
ERICA.
Topsy Turvy (Vol. viii., p. 385.).—I have always understood this to be a corruption of "Topside t'other way," and I still think so.
WM. HAZEL.
Parish Clerks and Politics (Vol. viii., p. 56.).—In the excitement prevalent at the trial of Queen Caroline, I remember a choir, in a village not a hundred miles from Wallingford, Berks, singing {576} with great gusto the 1st, 4th, 11th, and 12th verses of 35th Psalm in Tate and Brady's New Version.
WM. HAZEL.
Phantom Bells—"The Death Bell" (Vol. vii. passim).—I have never met, in any work on folk-lore and popular superstitions, any mention of that unearthly bell, whose sound is borne on the death-wind, and heralds his doom to the hearer. Mickle alludes to it in his fine ballad of "Cumnor Halle:"
"The death-belle thrice was heard to ring, An aerial voice was heard to calle, And thrice the raven flapp'd its wing, Arounde the towers of Cumnor Halle."
And Rogers, in his lines "To an Old Oak:"
"There once the steel-clad knight reclined, His sable plumage tempest-tossed: And as the death-bell smote the wind, From towers long fled by human kind, His brow the hero crossed."
When ships go down at sea during a terrible tempest, it is said the "death-bell" is often distinctly heard amid the storm-wind. And in tales of what is called Gothic superstition, it assists in the terrors of the supernatural. |
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