[Transcriber's note: Original spelling variations have not been
standardized. Characters with macrons have been marked in brackets with
an equal sign, as [=e] for a letter e with a macron on top; [p=] shows a
letter p with a stroke through the descender. {Old English style}
letters have been shown in {braces}. Underscores have been used to
indicate _italic_ fonts. A list of volumes and pages in "Notes and
Queries" has been added at the end.]
NOTES AND QUERIES:
A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION
FOR
LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC.
"When found, make a note of."--CAPTAIN CUTTLE.
VOL. V.--No. 134. SATURDAY, MAY 22. 1852.
Price Fourpence. Stamped Edition, 5_d._
CONTENTS.
Page
NOTES:--
A few Things about Richard Baxter, by H. M. Bealby 481
Latin Song by Andrew Boorde, by Dr. E. F. Rimbault 482
Shakspeare Notes 483
Publications of the Stuttgart Society, by F. Norgate 484
Manuscript Shakspeare Emendations, by J. O. Halliwell 484
The Grave-stone of Joe Miller 485
Folk Lore:--Swearing on a Skull--New Moon--Rust 485
Minor Notes:--Epitaph at Low Moor--Sir Thomas Overbury's
Epitaph--Bibliotheca Literaria--Inscription at Dundrah
Castle--Derivation of Charing 486
QUERIES:--
Poem by Nicholas Breton 487
The Virtuosi, or St. Luke's Club 487
The Rabbit as a Symbol 487
Is Wyld's Great Globe a Plagiarism from Molenax? by
John Petheram 488
Minor Queries:--Poem on the Burning of the Houses of
Parliament--Newton's Library--Meaning of Royd--The
Cromwell Family--Sir John Darnell, Knt.--Royal
"We"--Gondomar--Wallington's Journal--Epistola
Lucifera, &c.--Cambrian Literature--"VCRIMDR" on
Coins of Vabalathus--Lines on Woman--Penkenol--Fairfax
Family Mansion--Postman and Tubman in the Court of
Exchequer--Second Exhumation of King Arthur's Remains,
&c. 488
MINOR QUERIES ANSWERED:--Welsh Women's Hats--Pancakes
on Shrove Tuesday--Shakspeare, Tennyson, and Claudian 491
REPLIES:--
The Ring Finger 492
The Moravian Hymns 492
Cagots 493
Sheriffs and Lords Lieutenant 494
St. Christopher 494
General Pardons: Sir John Trenchard, by E. S. Taylor 496
Replies to Minor Queries:--Dayesman--Bull; Dun--Algernon
Sidney--Age of Trees--Emaciated Monumental Effigies--Bee
Park--Sally Lunn--Baxter's Pulpit--Lothian's Scottish
Historical Maps--British Ambassadors--Knollys
Family--'Prentice Pillars; 'Prentice Windows--St.
Bartholomew--Sun-dial Inscription--History of
Faction--Barnacles--Family Likenesses--Merchant
Adventurers to Spain--Exeter Controversy--Corrupted
Names of Places--Poison--Vikingr Skotar--Rhymes on
Places--"We three"--Burning Fern brings Rain--Plague
Stones--Sneezing--Abbot of Croyland's Motto--Derivation
of the Word "Azores"--Scologlandis and Scologi 497
MISCELLANEOUS:--
Notes on Books, &c. 501
Books and Odd Volumes wanted 502
Notices to Correspondents 502
Advertisements 503
Notes.
A FEW THINGS ABOUT RICHARD BAXTER.
In the year 1836, I visited Kidderminster for the purpose of seeing the
place where Richard Baxter spent fourteen of the most valuable years of
his life; and of ascertaining if any relics were to be found connected
with the history of this remarkable man. Baxter thought much of
Kidderminster, for with strong feeling he says, respecting this place,
in his poem on "Love breathing Thanks and Praise" (_Poetical Fragments_,
1st edit. 1681):--
"But among all, none did so much abound,
With fruitful mercies, as that barren ground,
Where I did make my best and longest stay,
And bore the heat and burden of the day;
Mercies grew thicker there than summer flowers:
They over-numbered my daies and hours.
There was my dearest flock, and special charge,
Our hearts in mutual love thou didst enlarge:
'Twas there that mercy did my labours bless,
With the most great and wonderful success."
While prosecuting my inquiries, I was shown the house in which he is
said to have resided. It is situated in the High Street, and was, at the
time of my visit, inhabited by a grocer; but I had my doubts, from a
difference of opinion I heard stated as to this being the actual house.
After looking at this house, I visited the vestry of the Unitarian
Chapel, and examined the pulpit; the description of which given by your
correspondent is very correct. He omits to mention Job Orton's chair,
which was shown me, as well as that of Bishop Hall. From all I could
learn at the time, and since, I should say that there is not the
slightest probability of any engraving having been published of this
pulpit. Sketches may have been made by private hands, but nothing I
believe in this way has ever been given to the public. I have long taken
a deep interest in everything, pertaining to Richard Baxter. I some
years ago collected ninety-seven out of the one hundred and sixty-eight
works which he wrote, most of them the original editions, and
principally on controversial subjects. After they had served the purpose
for which I purchased them, I parted with them, reserving to myself the
first editions of the choicest of his practical writings. The folio
edition of his works contains only his practical treatises. One of the
most remarkable facts connected with the history of Baxter, is the
prodigious amount of mechanical drudgery to which he must have patiently
submitted in the production of his varied publications. He had a very
delicate frame: he was continually unwell, and often greatly afflicted.
To this constant ailment of body he refers in a very affecting note in
his _Paraphrase on the New Testament_ under the fifth verse in the fifth
chapter of the Gospel of St. John. The reference is to the impotent man
at the pool of Bethesda, who had an infirmity thirty and eight years.
_Note._ "How great a mercy is it, to live eight and thirty years
under God's wholesome discipline? How inexcusable was this man, if
he had been proud, or worldly, or careless of his everlasting
state? O my God! I thank thee for the like discipline of eight and
fifty years. How safe a life is this, in comparison of full
prosperity and pleasure."
His ministerial duties were of an arduous nature, and yet he found time
to write largely on theological subjects, and to plunge perpetually into
theological controversy. The _Saint's Rest_, by which his fame will ever
be perpetuated, was published in 1619, 4to. It is in four parts, and
dedicated respectively to the inhabitants of Kidderminster, Bridgenorth,
Coventry, and Shrewsbury. It was the first book he wrote, and the second
he published (_The Aphorisms of Justification_ being the first
published): it was written under the daily expectation of dying. The
names of Brook, Hampden, and Pym, which have a place in the first
edition, are, singularly enough, omitted in the later ones. Fifty years
after the appearance of the _Saint's Rest_, and a few months only before
his death, he published the strangest of all his productions; it is--
"The Certainty of the World of Spirits, fully evinced by
unquestionable Histories of Apparitions and Witchcrafts,
Operations, Voices, &c. Proving the Immortality of Souls, the
Malice and Misery of Devils and the Damned, and the Blessedness of
the Justified. Written for the Conviction of Sadducees and
Infidels."
12mo. 1691.
His _Reliquiæ Baxterianæ_, folio, 1686, is the text-book for the actual
every-day life of this eminent divine.
H. M. BEALBY.
North Brixton.
LATIN SONG BY ANDREW BOORDE.
The life of this "progenitor of Merry Andrew," as he is termed, would,
if minutely examined, doubtless prove a curious piece of biography. Wood
furnishes many particulars, but some of his statements want
confirmation. He tells us that Boorde was borne at Pevensey in Sussex;
but Hearne corrects him, and says it was at Bounds Hill in the same
county. It then becomes a question whether he was educated at Winchester
school. Certain it is that he was of Oxford, although he left without
taking a degree, and became a brother of the Carthusian order in London.
We next find him studying physic in his old university, and subsequently
travelling through most parts of Europe, and even of Africa. On his
return to England, he settled at Winchester, and practised as a
physician. Afterwards we find him in London occupying a tenement in the
parish of St. Giles-in-the-Fields. This appears to have been the period
when, in his professional capacity, King Henry VIII. is said to have
consulted him. How long he remained in London is uncertain, but in 1541
he was living at Montpelier in France, where he is supposed to have
taken the degree of doctor in physic, in which he was afterwards
incorporated at Oxford. He subsequently lived at Pevensey, and again at
Winchester. At last we find him a prisoner in the Fleet--the cause has
yet to be learned,--at which place he died in April, 1549. The following
curious relic is transcribed from the flyleaf of a copy of _The Breviary
of Health_, 4to., London, 1547. It is signed "Andrew Boord," and if not
the handwriting of the facetious author himself, is certainly that of
some one of his cotemporaries:
"Nos vagabunduli,
Læti, jucunduli,
Tara, tantara teino.
Edimus libere,
Canimus lepide,
Tara, &c.
Risu dissolvimur,
Pannis obvolvimur,
Tara, &c.
Multum in joculis,
Crebro in poculis,
Tara, &c.
Dolo consuimus,
Nihil metuimus,
Tara, &c.
Pennus non deficit,
Præda nos reficit,
Tara, &c.
Frater Catholice,
Vir apostolice,
Tara, &c.
Dic quæ volueris
Fient quæ jusseris,
Tara, &c.
Omnes metuite
Partes gramaticæ,
Tara, &c.
Quadruplex nebulo
Adest, et spolio,
Tara, &c.
Data licencia,
Crescit amentia,
Tara, &c.
Papa sic præcipit
Frater non decipit
Tara, &c.
Chare fratercule,
Vale et tempore,
Tara, &c.
Quando revititur,
Congratulabimur,
Tara, &c.
Nosmet respicimus,
Et vale dicimus,
Tara, &c.
Corporum noxibus
Cordium amplexibus,
Tara tantara teino."
Andrew Boorde's printed works are as follows:
1. _A Book of the Introduction to Knowledge_, 4to., London, 1542.
2. _A Compendious Regiment or Dietary of Health, made at Mountpyller_,
8vo., 1542.
3. _The Breviary of Health_, 4to., London, 1547.
4. _The Princyples of Astronomye_, 12mo., R. Copland, London, n. d.
Wood tells us he wrote "a book on prognosticks," and another "of
urines." _The Merry Tales of the Wise Men of Gotham_ are also ascribed
to him, as well as _A Right Pleasant and Merry History of the Mylner of
Abington_, &c.
The origin of the _Merry Tales_ is pointed out by Horsfield, in his
_History of Lewes_, vol. i. p. 239.:--
"At a _last_, holden at Pevensey, Oct. 3, 24 Hen. VIII., for the
purpose of preventing unauthorised persons 'from setting nettes,
pottes, or innyances,' or anywise taking fish within the
privileges of the Marsh of Pevensey, the king's commission was
directed to John, Prior of Lewes; Richard, Abbot of Begham; John,
Prior of Mychillym; Thomas, Lord Dacre, and others ... Dr. Boorde
(the original Merry Andrew) founds his tale of the 'Wise Men of
Gotham' upon the proceedings of this meeting, Gotham being the
property of Lord Dacre, and near his residence."
The inhabitants of Gotham in Nottinghamshire have hitherto been
considered the "biggest fools in christendom;" but if the above extract
is to be depended upon, the _Gothamites_ of Sussex have a fair claim to
a share of this honourable distinction.
The quotation from the _History of Lewes_ was first pointed out by your
learned correspondent, MR. M. A. LOWER, in a communication to Mr.
Halliwell's _Archæologist_, 1842, p. 129. The investigation of the
origin of this popular collection of old _Joe Millerisms_ is of some
importance, because upon them rests Dr. Boorde's title to be the
"progenitor of Merry Andrew."
EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.
SHAKSPEARE NOTES.
Who was the editor of _The Poems and Plays of William Shakspeare_, eight
vols. 8vo., published by Scott and Webster in 1833?
In that edition the following passage from _The Merchant of Venice_, Act
III. Sc. 2., is _pointed_ in this way:--
"Thus ornament is but the guiled shore
To a most dangerous sea; the beauteous scarf
Veiling an Indian; beauty's, in a word,
The seeming truth which cunning times put on
To entrap the wisest."
To which the anonymous editor appends the following note:--
"I have deviated slightly from the folio--the ordinary reading
represents ornament as '_the beauteous scarf veiling an Indian
beauty_,' a sentence which by no means serves to illustrate the
reflexion which Bassanio wishes to enforce. Sir Thomas Hanmer
proposed to read _dowdy_ for beauty!"
My object in this quotation is not that of commending the emendation,
but of affording an opportunity of recording the following reasons which
induce me to reject it; not only as no improvement to the sense, but as
a positive injury to it.
1st. The argument of Bassanio is directed against the deceptiveness of
ornament in general, of which seeming beauty is only one of the
subordinate illustrations. These illustrations are drawn from _law_,
_religion_, _valour_, and _beauty_; all of which are finally summed up
in the passage in question, beginning "_Thus ornament_," &c. and still
further concentrated in the phrase "_in a word_." Therefore this summing
up cannot refer singly to _beauty_, no more than to any other of the
subordinate illustrations, but it must have general reference to
adventitious ornament, against which _the collected argument_ is
directed.
2ndly. The word _beauty_ is necessarily attached to Indian as
designative _of sex_: "an Indian," unqualified by any other distinction,
would imply a male; but an "Indian beauty" is at once understood to be a
female.
3rdly. The repetition, or rather _the opposition_, of "_beauteous_" and
"_beauty_," cannot seriously be objected to by any one conversant with
the phraseology of Shakspeare. Were it at all necessary, many similar
examples might be cited. How the anonymous annotator, already quoted,
could say that the sentence, as it stands in the folio, "_by no means
serves to illustrate Bassanio's reflexion_," I cannot conceive. "The
beauteous scarf" is the deceptive ornament which leads to the
expectation of something beneath it _better_ than an _Indian_ beauty!
Indian is used adjectively, in the sense of wild, savage, hideous--just
as we, at the present day, might say a Hottentot beauty; or as
Shakspeare himself in other places uses the word "Ethiop:"
"Thou for whom Jove would swear
Juno but an Ethiop were."
"_Her mother was her painting._"--_Cymbeline_, Act III. Sc. 4.--I have
read Mr. Halliwell's pamphlet upon this expression, noticed in "N. & Q."
of the 10th of April (p. 358.) I would beg to suggest to that gentleman
that he has overlooked one text in Shakspeare that would tell more for
his argument than the whole of those he has cited. All his examples are
drawn from the word _father_, metaphorically applied in the sense of
_creator_ to inanimate objects; and the same sense he extends, by
analogy, to _mother_. But in the following lines from _As You Like It_
(Act III. Sc. 5.), _mother_ is directly used as a sort of warranty of
female beauty! Rosalind is reproving Phebe for her contempt of her
lover, and in derision of her beauty, she asks:
"Who might be your mother?
That you insult, exult, and all at once,
Over the wretched?"
Now if Phebe had been one who _smothered her in painting_, an
appropriate answer to Rosalind's question might have been--her mother
was _her painting_!
Most certainly, this latter phrase is the more graceful mode of
expressing the idea--far more in unison with the language one would
expect from the refined, the delicate, the bewitching Imogen--from her
who wished to set "_that parting kiss betwixt two charming words_."
A. E. B.
Leeds.
PUBLICATIONS OF THE STUTTGART SOCIETY.
The following is a list of the works which have appeared under the
auspices of the Stuttgart Society, referred to in my Note respecting
Felix Faber:--
I. 1. Closener's Strassburgische Chronik.
2. Des Ritters Georg von Ehingen Reisen.
(_a_). Nach der Ritterschaft.
(_b_). Æneas Sylvius Piccolomineus de Viris illustribus.
(_c_). Ott Ruland's Handlungsbuch.
(_d_). Codex Hirsaugiensis.
II.-IV. Fratris Felicis Fabri Evagatorium, 3 vols.
V. (_a_). Die Weingartner Liederhandschrift.
(_b_). Italiänische Lieder des Hohenstaufischen Hofes in Sicilien.
VI. Briefe der Prinzessin Elisabeth Charlotte v. Orleans an die
Raugräfin Louise (1676-1722).
VII. (_a_). Des Böhmischen Herrn Leo's von Rozmital Reise durch die
Abendländer in den Jahren 1465, 1466, und 1467.
(_b_). Die Livländische Reimchronik.
VIII. Chronik des Edlen En Ramon Muntaner.
IX. (_a_). Bruchstück über den Kreuzzug Friederichs I.
(_b_). Ein Buch von guter Speise.
(_c_). Die alte Heidelberger Liederhandschrift.
X. Urkunden, Briefe und Actenstücke zur Geschichte Maximilians I. und
seiner Zeit.
XI. Staatspapiere zur Geschichte des Kaisers Karl V.
XII. Das Ambraser Liederbuch vom Jahre 1582.
XIII. Li Romans d'Alixandre par Lambert, Li Tors et Alexandre de Bernay.
XIV. Urkunden zur Geschichte des Schwäbischen Bundes (1488-1533), Erster
Theil, 1488-1506.
XV. Cancionero Geral I.
XVI. (_a_). Carmina Burana (from a MS. of thirteenth century).
(_b_). Albert v. Beham u. Regerten Papst Innocenz IV.
XVII. Cancionero Geral II.
XVIII. Konrads von Weinsberg Einnahmen- und Ausgaben-Register.
XIX. Das Habsburg.-Oesterreichische Urbarbuch.
XX. Hadamars v. Laber Jagd.
XXI. Meister Altswert.
XXII. Meinauer Naturlehre (_circa_ 1300).
XXIII. Der Ring, von Heinrich Wittenweiler.
XXV. Ludolfi de Itinere terræ sanctæ liber (_circa_ 1350).
Vol. XXIV. is in the press.
F. NORGATE.
MANUSCRIPT SHAKSPEARE EMENDATIONS.
Your able correspondent MR. S. W. SINGER, in Vol. v., p. 436., gives his
positive adhesion to MR. COLLIER'S emendation of the corruption "bosom
multiplied" in _Coriolanus_, Act III. Sc. 1. Agreeing with MR. SINGER in
his opinion of the value of this emendation, there is yet an importance
attached to it which I feel sure MR. COLLIER will not object to have
pointed out, although doubtlessly all the argument respecting the
_sources_ of his early MS. corrections will be carefully considered in
the volume he so liberally intends presenting to the Shakspeare Society.
Shakspearian criticism is a field so open to varied opinions, and is a
subject on which so few can be brought exactly to agree, it is a mere
chance if, in addressing these few lines, I in any degree anticipate MR.
COLLIER'S conclusions.
MR. COLLIER'S discovery was, perhaps, of even greater interest to myself
than to others, not merely on account of its being an important evidence
for the state of the text, _but because I had long since had the
opportunity of using a volume of precisely similar character_, namely,
the copy of the third folio, with numerous MS. emendations in a coeval
hand, mentioned by Lowndes, p. 1646., as having some years since sold
for 65_l._, on account of those MS. emendations. This volume contains
several hundred very curious and important corrections, amongst which I
may mention an entirely new reading of the difficult passage at the
commencement of _Measure for Measure_, which carries conviction with it,
and shows, what might have been reasonably expected, that _that to_ is a
misprint _for a verb_. There are numerous other corrections of equal
importance, but I forbear at present to notice them, under the
conviction it is not safe to adopt MS. corrections, unless we know on
what authority they are made. It was on this account I ventured to
indicate the extreme danger of adopting any of the MS. readings of MR.
COLLIER'S second folio, without a most rigid examination, or until their
authority was unquestionably ascertained. Now, in MR. COLLIER'S first
two communications to the _Athenæum_ there was scarcely a single example
which indicated it was derived from an authentic source, but many, on
the other hand, which could be well believed to be mere guess-work; and
it was rather alarming to see the readiness with which they were
received, threatening the loss of Shakspeare's genuine text.
A ray of light, however, at length appears in the new reading in
_Coriolanus_. This, more than any other, gives hopes of important
results; and it does something more than this: it opens a reasonable
expectation that the MS. corrector had, in some cases, recollection of
the passages as they were delivered in representation. Once establish a
probability of this, and although many of the corrections must still be
looked upon as conjectural, the volume will be of high value. The
correction "_bisson multitude_" seems to me to be clearly one of those
alterations that no conjectural ingenuity could have suggested. The
volume has evidently been used for stage purposes; and it may be taken
as almost beyond a doubt that that particular correction was made on
authority. We can scarcely imagine that authority to be a MS. of the
play, and are therefore thrown on the supposition the corrector
sometimes altered from memory, and sometimes from conjecture, writing as
he thought Shakspeare _ought_ to have written, even if he did not.
It is scarcely necessary to say these observations are grounded solely
on what is already before the public. The appearance of MR. COLLIER'S
volume may modify their effect either one way or the other; and perhaps
I am committing a literary trespass on my friend's manor in thus
prematurely entering into an argument on the subject. But MR. COLLIER,
with his usual liberality, has invited rather than deprecated
discussion; and having expressed in print opinions grounded on his first
two communications, it would be uncandid in me not to acknowledge they
are in some degree modified by the very important correction since
published.
J. O. HALLIWELL.
THE GRAVE-STONE OF JOE MILLER.
In consequence of the disfranchisement of St. Clement's burial-ground,
Portugal Street, Clare Market, the last memorial of "honest Jo" is
condemned for removal; and this being the case, I have forwarded for "N.
& Q." a copy of the inscription. The epitaph written by Stephen Duck,
and the stone itself, were, about the beginning of the present century,
in jeopardy of obliteration, but for the compassion of Mr. Bulgen, the
grave-digger; and being still in a very bad condition, Mr. Buck a few
years afterwards repaired it. The following is the inscription:
"Here Lye the Remains of
honest Jo. Miller
who was
a tender Husband,
a sincere Friend,
a facetious Companion,
and an excellent Comedian.
He departed this Life the 15th day of
August 1738, aged 54 years.
If humour, wit, and honesty could save
The humorous, witty, honest from the grave,
The grave had not so soon this tenant found,
Whom honesty, and wit, and humour crowned;
Could but esteem and love preserve our breath,
And guard us longer from this stroke of death,
The stroke of death on him had later fell,
Whom all mankind esteemed and loved so well.
S. DUCK.
From respect to social worth,
mirthful qualities, and histrionic excellence,
commemorated by poetic talent, humble life,
the above inscription, which Time
had nearly obliterated, has been restored
and transferred to this stone by order of
MR. JARVIS BUCK, Churchwarden.
A.D. 1816."
UNICORN.
FOLK LORE.
_Swearing on a Skull._--In April, 1851, a man was committed to Mayo
prison for cutting off the head of a corpse but a few days interred. His
object in severing the head was that of clearing himself of some imputed
crime by swearing on a skull, a superstition said to be very common in
that part of Ireland.
PHILIP S. KING.
_New Moon._--If, when you look at the new moon for the first time, you
think of one particular thing which you greatly desire to have, or to
have accomplished, your wishes on that same point will be realised
before the close of the year.
R. VINCENT.
_Rust._--If, without any neglect on your part, but even with care,
articles of steel belonging to you, such as keys, knives, &c.,
continually become rusty, some kindhearted person is laying up money for
_your_ benefit.
This superstitious notion is very prevalent in Wales.
R. VINCENT.
Minor Notes.
_Epitaph at Low Moor._--The following curious epitaph is on a tombstone
in the Low Moor churchyard, near this town:--
"In Memory of Christopher Barlow, Blacksmith, of Raw Nook, who
died Oct. 9th, 1824, aged 56.
"My stithy and my hammer I reclin'd;
My bellows, too, have lost their wind;
My fire's extinguish'd, and my forge decay'd,
And in the silent dust my vice is laid.
My coal is spent, my stock of iron's gone,
My last nail driven, and my work is done."
C. WILLIAMS.
Bradford, Yorkshire.
_Sir Thomas Overbury's Epitaph._--I do not think that the epitaph of the
unfortunate Sir Thomas Overbury, poisoned by Carr, Earl of Somerset, in
1613-14, has ever been published. I send it to you, copied from a
manuscript on a blank leaf of a black-letter copy of Howe's _Abridgement
of Stow's Chronicle_ in my possession.
"1614.
SR. THOMAS OVERBURY HIS EPITAPH.
"The Span of my daies measured, heare I rest
That is my body, but my Soule his Guest
Is hence assended whither neither Tyme
Nor Fayth nor Hope: but only Love can Clyme.
Wheare beinge nowe enlightned Shee doeth knowe
The trueth of all men argue of belowe.
Only this Dust doeth heare in pawne remaine,
That when the Worlde dissolves, Shee com againe.
THOMAS OVERBURY,
1614."
RICHARD F. LITTLEDALE.
Dublin.
_Bibliotheca Literaria._--I possess a copy of the _Bibliotheca
Literaria_, 1722-4, in which the names of some of the authors are
appended in manuscript to various papers, as follows:
In No. 4., Dr. Brett's name is appended to the first paper.
In No. 5., the first paper, concerning the pillar of fire and cloud, has
the name "Sam. Jebb."
In No. 6., the third paper has the name of Dr. Brett; also, the first in
No. 7., continuation of it.
In No. 8., the first and third papers have "Carol. Ashton;" the second,
Dr. Brett.
In No. 9. the first and second papers have "Thos. Wagstaffe."
Finally, the second in No. 10. has the name of Dr. Brett.
In the hope that this may be of some utility, I send it, on the chance
that these names may not have been published already, which I have not
time to ascertain.
W. H. S.
Edinburgh.
[All the above contributors to this valuable literary journal were
Nonjurors. It may not be generally known that the principal editor
was Samuel Jebb, M.D., of Peter House, Cambridge, who subsequently
attached himself to the Nonjurors, and accepted the office of
librarian to the celebrated Jeremy Collier. Dr. Jebb was also
assisted by Mr. Wasse, Dr. Wotton, Dr. Jortin, Dr. Pearce, and
others.--ED.]
_Inscription at Dundrah Castle._--In the course of a summer spent in
Argyleshire, I paid a visit to old Dundrah, or Dundarrow Castle, which
stands between Inverary and Cairndhu, on the southwest. It is now a
small farm-house. The tenant refused me admission under half-a-crown, so
I contented myself with a survey of the exterior. Over the doorway I
found the following inscription carved in the stone:
"I ' MAN ' BEHALD ' THE ' END ' DE ' NOCHT '
VISER ' NOR ' HEIEST ' HOIP ' IN ' GOD."
The meaning is evident, though what connexion it has with the old castle
I am not able to say. I send it you, as I have not seen it noted in any
book.
C. M. I.
_Derivation of Charing._--Mr. Peter Cunningham, in his most entertaining
work, _The Handbook of London_, tells us that the origin of _Charing
Cross_ has never been discovered.
It lies buried in the venerable pages of Somner and Skinner. It was
first propounded by the former in his Notes on Lipsius, appended to
Meric Causaubon's _Commentatio de Quatuor Linguis_, in v. SCURGI. The
A.-S. _cyrrung_ (from _cyrran_, avertere) is, as he tells us, _aversio_:
"Atque hinc, a viarum (scil.) et platearum diverticulis, ut in
compitis, pluribus apud nostrates locis hoc nomen olim inditum,
quod postea in _Cerring_ mutatum, tandem transiit (ut nunc dierum)
in _Charing_; quomodo quadrivium sive compitum illud nuncupatur in
suburbiis Londinensibus, ab occidente, prope Westmonasterium,
_Charing Crosse_, vulgo dictum; _Crosse_ addito, ob crucem ibidem,
ut in compitis solitum, olim erectam."
Q.
Queries.
POEM BY NICHOLAS BRETON.
I have recently purchased a small manuscript in quarto, containing
fifteen leaves, written about the year 1590, which consists of a poem in
six cantos, without title or name of the author, but which, I feel
convinced, from the style, is one of the numerous works of Nicholas
Breton. In the hope that some of your correspondents may be able to
identify the poem, which may possibly be printed in some of Breton's
very rare works, I subjoin the commencing stanzas:
"Where should I finde that melancholy muse,
That never hard of any thinge but mone,
And reade the passiones that her pen doth use,
When she and sorrow sadlye sitt alone
To tell the world more then the world can tell
What fits indeed most fitlye figure hell.
"Lett me not thinke once of the smalest thought
May speake of less then of the greatest gref,
Wher every sence with sorrowes overwrought
Lives but in death, dispayring of relef,
While thus the harte with torments torne asunder
Maye of the worlde be cal'd the wofull wonder."
These two stanzas are by no means favourable specimens of the entire
poem, but I prefer to give them, because the work itself may be printed.
If it appears, on inquiry, to be still inedited, I may venture to submit
a few other extracts from it of a more illustrative character. Our
bibliographers would be more useful guides, were they always to give the
first lines of old poems. I have a tolerably good library, but can find
no work sufficiently descriptive of Breton's works to enable me to trace
the above.
H.
THE VIRTUOSI, OR ST. LUKE'S CLUB.
Where is to be found that intensely interesting MS. Lot 120., Sixth
Day's Sale, at Strawberry Hill, a _folio tract_ entitled _The
"Virtuosi," or St. Luke's Club, held at the Rose Tavern, first
established by Sir Anthony Vandyke; with Autographs of all the eminent
Artists of the day_?
Such is the account of Mr. George Robins, to the sound of whose hammer
it fell, let us hope, into worthy hands.
By the aid of a note made whilst the several precious contents of that
"Gothic Vatican of Greece and Rome," as I think Pope described it, were
on view, I hope to whet the appetite of some of our literary vultures:
"Rose Tavern, Mar. 5. 1697.
"An order for raising an annual fund for pictures; with twenty
names of stewards."
What say you, Mr. Editor, to such subscribing parties as, among others,
"Grinling Gibbons, Michael Dahl, J. Closterman, and Christopher Wren?" I
cannot remember more, but I think "Alex. Verrio" was among them.
Mem. the second: as entries in a sort of journal:
"That our steward, John Chicheley, Esquire, gave us this day a
Westphalia Ham, which had been omitted in his entertainment on St.
Luke's day."
Again:
"Paid and spent at Spring Gardens, by Knightsbridge, forfeiture
£3 15_shgs._"
Why, Mr. Editor, here are the new Roxburgh Revels of the Knights of the
Brush and Palette. And now that the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the
day is expected to take out his diploma, and the ex-Premier is to be the
new Professor of Perspective, _vice_ the author of the _Fallacies of
Hope_, it becomes a question of prevailing interest, which I commend to
the research of your dilettanti querists. It may be a thread of
connexion with those stores of precious materials obtained by Walpole
from the widow of that persevering investigator George Virtue.
J. H. A.
THE RABBIT AS A SYMBOL.
The 29th vol. of the _Archæologia_ contains an interesting "description
of a monumental effigy of Richard Coeur de Lion, recently discovered in
the cathedral of Notre Dame at Rouen," by Alfred Way, Esq., who, with
his usual precision, has noticed what he very properly calls "some
singular details" beneath the figure of the lion crouching at the king's
feet; among these details is "the head of _a rabbit_[1] peeping out of
its burrow, and, a little above, a dog warily watching the mouth of the
hole." Mr. Way adds:
"I have met with nothing among the accessory ornaments of
monumental sculpture analogous to this; and though convinced that
what in itself may appear a trifling detail, _was not placed here
without design_, I am quite at a loss to conjecture what could
have been its import."
[Footnote 1: Mr. Way says _a hare_ or rabbit, forgetting that the
hare does not burrow.]
The same symbol or device, well known to all lovers of ancient
wood-engraving, appears in some of the earliest specimens of that art.
It is found in an impression of one of the oldest known playing-cards,
representing the knave of diamonds, now in the print-room of the British
Museum, of which a fac-simile is inserted at p. 214. of Chatto's
_History of Playing Cards_. Another instance of this device occurs
(without the dog) in an old woodcut, dated 1418, discovered a few years
ago at Malines, of which a copy appeared in the _Athenæum_ of Oct. 4,
1845. And a third example is contained in that celebrated and unique
woodcut of St. Christopher, dated 1423, in the possession of Earl
Spencer, copies of which may be found in Janson's _Essai sur l'Origine
de la Gravure_, and in Ottley's work. Being as fully convinced as Mr.
Way that the symbols he observed on the effigy of Richard at Rouen were
_never introduced without design_, but that they were meant to convey
some esoteric signification, I have for many years consulted both books
and friends to obtain an explanation of this allegorical device, but
without success. As a last resource, I address myself to the "N. & Q.,"
in hopes, from their having now obtained so wide a circulation, that I
may receive through their medium, and the kindness of a more learned
correspondent, a solution of this enigma.
P.S.--In addition to the above _four_ instances of the device of _a
rabbit_ occurring in ancient sculpture and wood-engraving, a French
writer, M. Th. Gautier, in the feuilleton of _La Presse_ of the 27th
September, 1851, describes the Madonna of Albert Durer as being "presque
toujours accompagnée _d'un lapin_," derived (in his opinion) from a
"vague ressouvenir du panthéisme Germanique."
SYMBOL.
IS WYLD'S GREAT GLOBE A PLAGIARISM FROM MOLENAX?
(Vol. v., p. 467.)
Some time ago I made the following Notes, which, though they throw some
light on the subject of Molineux's globe, yet they do not bear out MR.
EASTWOOD'S conjecture. The first is from Richard Hakluyt's Address to
the Reader in _The Principal Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries of
the English Nation_, folio, 1589:
"Nowe, because peraduenture it would bee expected as necessarie,
that the descriptions of so many parts of the world would farre
more easily be conceiued of the Reader, by adding Geographicall
and Hydrographicall tables thereunto, thou art by the way to be
admonished that I haue contented myselfe with inserting into the
worke one of the best generall mappes of the world onely, vntill
the comming out of a very large and most exact terrestriall Globe,
collected and reformed according to the newest, secretest, and
latest discoueries, both Spanish, Portugall, and English, composed
by M. _Emmerie Mollineux_ of Lambeth, a rare Gentleman in his
profession, being therein for divers yeeres greatly supported by
the purse and liberalitie of the worshipfull marchant M. _William
Sanderson_."
My second Note is from the rare little volume by John Davis, entitled,
_The Worlde's Hydrographical Discription_, 12mo., London, 1595:
"The cause why I vse this particular relation of all my
proceedinges for this discouery, is to stay this obiection, why
hath not _Dauis_ discouered this passage [the North-west] being
thrise that waies imploied, and how far I proceeded, and in what
fourme this discouery lyeth, doth appeare vpon the Globe which
Master _Sanderson_ to his verye great charge hath published, whose
labouring indevour for the good of his countrie deserueth great
fauour and commendations, made by Master _Emery Mullineux_, a man
wel qualited, of a good iudgement and verye expert in many
excellent practises, in myselfe being the onely meane with Master
_Sanderson_ to imploy Master Mullineux therein, whereby he is nowe
growne to a most exquisite perfection."
P. 25.
And here a Query may not be out of place. Whose account of Iceland does
Nash refer to?
In the writings of our early navigators, there is frequent allusion to
terrestrial globes. This of Mollineux's, for instance, contains Davis's
own discoveries, and should therefore be of some importance. In the
tract just quoted, Davis says:
"It is wel knowne that we haue globes in the most excellent
perfection of arte, and haue the vse of them in as exquisite sort,
as Master _Robert Hues_ in his book of the globes vse, lately
published, hath at large made known."
P. 41.
And in an unpublished MS. relating to Sir Thomas Button's voyage,
addressed to King James I. in 1610, the writer says:
"I haue left wth Mr. Wright in yor librarie att St James, _a hand
globe terrestriall_ for demonstra[=c]on of these."
Do any of the globes exist, and where?
As I am about to reprint Davis's tract with additional illustrations,
including the MS. above referred to, I shall be glad to receive any
particulars of the life of Davis, and of his connexion with that great
patron of discovery, William Sanderson; of his death, any reference to
his autograph, and to any authentic portrait of him.
JOHN PETHERAM.
Minor Queries.
_Poem on the Burning of the Houses of Parliament._--On the 17th of
October, 1834, the houses of parliament were burnt down, and I believe
you will recollect that very soon afterwards a long serio-comic poem was
published, detailing the event; the following stray morsels of which
just occur to me:
"And poor Mrs. Wright,
Was in a great fright,
For she swore that night,
She saw a great light."
Again--
"She felt a great heat
Come thro' to her feet,
As she sat herself down
In the black rod seat."
I wish very much to find out this poem, or whatever else it may be
called; can you assist me? I am told it was published in one of the
weekly papers at the time, probably the _Sunday Times_ or _Dispatch_.
T. B.
Exeter.
_Newton's Library._--In 1813, Leigh and Sotheby sold the books of Mrs.
Anne Newton, professing to contain the collection of Newton's own books.
As it is fully believed that no _personal_ property of Newton descended
to any relatives of his name, how is this pretension explained? The
statement is copied from Sotheby's catalogue of sales into Hartwell
Horne's _Bibliography_, and will be credited at a future time, if not
now called in question.
M.
_Meaning of Royd._--What is the meaning of the word _Royd_, which is
attached to the names of so many persons and places in Yorkshire, as
Ackroyd, Learoyd, Brownroyd, and Boltonroyd?
C. W.
_The Cromwell Family._--I have in my possession a document, which shows
that my great-grandfather, "William Cromwell of London," mason, was
admitted into
"The freedom aforesaid, and sworn in the Mayoralty of Thomas
Wright, Esq., Mayor, and John Wilkes, Esq., Chamberlain; and is
entered in the book signed with the letter A., relating to the
purchasing of freedom and the admission of freemen, (to wit) the
4th day of April, in the 26th year of the reign of King George the
Third, and in the year of our Lord 1786. In witness whereof," &c.
The parchment bears the initials "J. W."
I am anxious to learn, from some of your numerous correspondents,
whether this person once lived near Bath, and then at Hammersmith? and,
secondly, whether he was descended from the Protector?
J. G. C.
_Sir John Darnell, Knt._--Who was Sir John Darnell, whom did he marry,
who were his father and mother, and what arms did he bear? His daughter
Mary was married to the Hon. Robert Ord, Lord Chief Baron of Scotland
(alive in 1773). Any other particulars regarding his family will be
gratefully received by
E. N.
_Royal "We."_--Can you inform me when, and under what circumstances, the
use by royalty in Europe sprung up, of using the plural "we" instead of
"I," the first person singular?
FRANCIS J. GRUBB.
_Gondomar._--Mr. Macaulay, in one of his "Essays," remarks,
"The skill of the Spanish diplomatists was renowned throughout
Europe. In England the name of Gondomar is still remembered."
True, oft have I heard of thee, Count Gondomar, and have read from time
to time divers anecdotes of thy wit and wisdom, quips and quiddities.
But is it not passing strange that this man, this Spanish Don, who, as
is well known, exercised such a powerful influence over the weak-minded
"Solomon of Whitehall," and who, moreover, bore so large a share in the
murder of the brave and highly gifted Raleigh, should be excluded from a
niche in the biographical temple; for such I am told is the case. Having
deputed a friend to make search for me in the several biographical
dictionaries, he reports that the name of Gondomar is _not_ to be found
in the best book of the kind, the _Biographie Universelle_, nor in the
dictionaries of Rose and Chalmers. This desideratum will, I confidently
hope, ere long be supplied through the medium of "N. & Q.," by some of
its learned contributors.
W. STANLEY SIMMONDS.
_Wallington's Journal._--At the sale of the library of Mr. Joseph
Gulston, 1784, was sold a Journal of Mr. Nehemiah Wallington, a Puritan
divine, written in the year 1630. This volume probably contains some
curious matters respecting the Puritans of the day; and, as it is much
desired, should any person know of its whereabouts, I should feel much
obliged by a note of it.
R.
_Epistola Luciferi, &c._--Nicolas Oresmius, or d'Oresme, bishop of
Lisieux, who died in 1382, wrote _Epistola Luciferi ad prælatos
Ecclesiæ_, afterwards printed, Magd. 1549, 8vo., and in Wolf's _Lect.
Memor._, vol. i. p. 654. So far Fabricius. Who was Lucifer? I mean, was
he the potentate who goes by the opposite name of the Prince of
Darkness? And what is the tenor of his letter? The bishop was a quiet
man, of orthodox fame, and tutor to a king of France.
M.
_Cambrian Literature._--Being a collector of works on Druidical remains
and Cambrian history, I shall feel greatly favoured if any of your
numerous readers will answer me the following questions, viz.:--
1st. The name of the first book or commentary _printed_ in any language
abroad, _previous_ to the introduction of printing into England,
actually written by a _Cambrian_?
2nd. The first book _printed_ in the English language, _actually
written_ by a Cambrian then living?
3rd. The first and second books _printed_ in England in the _Welsh_
language?
4th. The first book printed in the Welsh language abroad?
5th. The first book printed in the Welsh language in Wales?
6th. The most _ancient author_ in MSS. and in print who mentions
Stonehenge and Aubury; also the monument called Cromlêch?
7th. Who has on sale the most extensive collection of Welsh books, and
those relating to British history?
P. B. W
7. Harrington Street, Regent's Park.
"VCRIMDR" _on Coins of Vabalathus_ (Vol. v., p. 148.).--As no professed
Oriental scholar has directed any attention to this word yet, and as,
although root in the words Karimat and Akram appears the same, the
analogy to VCRIMDR is not very obvious, I may mention that on searching
further I have found the adjective _Ucr_, with the various meanings,
_weighty_, _precious_, _esteemed_, _honourable_. I leave it to
Orientalists to tell us if VCRIMDR is a compound or an inflexion of
_Ucr_. I regret that owing to a peculiarity in my handwriting, De Gauley
was twice substituted for De Sauley in my last note, Vol. v., p. 149.
W. H. S.
Edinburgh.
_Lines on Woman._--
"Oh, woman! thou wert born to bless
The heart of restless man; to chase his care;
To charm existence by thy loveliness,
Bright as a sunbeam--as the morning fair.
If but thy foot trample on a wilderness,
Flowers spring up and shed their roseate blossoms there."
Will any of your readers be kind enough to favour me with the completion
of the above stanza, as well as to state who is the author of the same?
J. T.
_Penkenol._--John Aubrey, the antiquary, in his _Collections for North
Wilts_, Part I. p. 51. (Sir Thomas Phillips's edition), describing the
stained glass in Dauntsey Church, uses the following expression:
"Memorandum. The crescents in these coats: Therefore Sir John
[Danvers] was not the _penkenol_."
The word is correctly printed from the original MS. Can any of your
readers explain its meaning?
J. E. J.
_Fairfax Family Mansion._--On the right-hand side of the road between
Tadcaster and Thorpe Arch, Yorkshire, extends the domain of the Fairfax
family. The mansion, a comfortable old fashioned red-brick Tudor-looking
structure, stands some two hundred yards back in the grounds through
which, from the road to the front door of the house, extends a fine
avenue of chestnuts, terminated at the roadside by a pair of venerable,
rusty, and decaying iron gates _which are kept closed_; the entrance to
the park being by a sort of side gateway of insignificant and field-like
appearance further on. Can any of your readers give me the facts, or the
local tradition which accounts for this peculiarity? I believe it is a
family incident of somewhat historical interest, and a subject on which
I am desirous of information.
G. W.
_Postman and Tubman in the Court of Exchequer._--In the _Legal Observer_
of the 24th April, I find the following:
"LAW PROMOTION.--Mr. James Wilde has been appointed to the office
of _Postman_, in the Court of Exchequer. The _Postman_ is the
senior counsel without the bar attending the court, and has
pre-audience of the attorney and solicitor-general in making the
first motion upon the opening of the court. The _Tubman_ is the
next senior counsel without the bar. The _Postman_ and _Tubman_
have particular places assigned them by the Chief Baron in open
court."
My Query is, from whence and at what date these two offices sprang into
existence, with a list of the persons who have occupied them. And it
would be as well to inquire what their duties are: for although
Stephen's _Blackstone_ derives the names from the _places_ in which the
individuals themselves _sit_, still the explanation hardly conveys
sufficient to gather what their duties are.
JOHN NURSE CHADWICK.
_Second Exhumation of King Arthur's Remains._--What chronicle narrates
the circumstances of the _second_ disinterment of King Arthur's bones in
Glastonbury, temp. Edw. I. (A.D. 1298)?
H. G. T.
_Stukeley the Antiquary, and Boston._--In _Anecdotes of British
Topography, &c._ (Lond. 1768), occurs the following, speaking of
Boston:--
"The Churchwardens' account from 1453 to 1597, and the town-book,
wrote by Mr. John Stukeley, 1676, one of his (Dr. Stukeley's)
ancestors, are in the hands of the Doctor's son-in-law, Mr.
Fleming."
Query, into whose hands have the above records fallen? Did Stukeley
leave a family?
The name of "Wm. Stukeley" is appended to sundry parish records, anno
1713, at Boston. I believe he practised here for some years.
THOMAS COLLIS.
_Letters of Arthur Lord Balmerino._--Can any one inform me if there are
any letters extant of Arthur, seventh Lord Balmerino, and where they are
deposited?
W. PELHAM A.
Rochester.
_Portrait of Thomas Percy, Earl of Northumberland._--Is any portrait
known of Thomas Percy, Earl of Northumberland, who was beheaded at York,
A.D. 1572, for the part he took in the "Rising in the North?"
E. PEACOCK, Jr.
_Newtonian System._--Is it known who was the author of a satirical
pamphlet against Newton: _The Theology and Philosophy in Cicero's
"Somnium Scipionis" explained_, London, 1751, 8vo.? And has an absurd
story which it contains, relative to Newton, Locke, and Lord Pembroke
visiting Patrick, the barometer-maker, to be shown that the mercurial
vacuum was not a perfect one, ever been told elsewhere?
M.
_Antiquity of Vanes._--We are informed by Baron Maseres, as quoted by
Lingard, that the Danes, in the last invasion by Sweyn, 1013, had vanes
in the shape of birds or dragons fixed on their masts, to point out the
direction of the wind. Is there any record of an earlier adoption of
this method of ascertaining the way of the wind?
B. B.