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{33}
NOTES AND QUERIES:
A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES,
GENEALOGISTS, ETC.
* * * * *
"WHEN FOUND, MAKE A NOTE OF."--CAPTAIN CUTTLE.
* * * * *
NO. 33.]
SATURDAY, JUNE 15. 1850.
{Price Threepence.
{Stamped Edition, 4d.
* * * * *
CONTENTS. Page
NOTES:--
Dr. Whichcote and Lord Shaftesbury, by S. W. Singer 33
The Rebel 34
Notes on the Hippopotamus 35
Folk Lore:--Northamptonshire Charms for Wens,
Cramp, Tooth-ache, West or Sty, &c. 36
Brasichellen and Serpilius, by J. Sansom 37
QUERIES:--
Sir George Buc, by Rev. T. Corser 38
Cosas de España 39
Carter's Drawings of York Cathedral, by J. Britton 40
Minor Queries:--"Imprest" and "Debenture"--Cosen's
MSS.--Barclay's Argenis--Clergy sold for Slaves--
Meaning of Pallet--Tobacco in the East--Stephanus
Brulifer 40
REPLIES:--
Asinorum Sepultura 41
Pope Felix 42
Replies to Numismatic Queries 42
"As Lazy as Ludlum's Dog" 42
Replies to Minor Queries:--Lord John
Townshend--When Easter ends--Holdsworth and
Fuller--Gookin--"Brozier"--Symbols of Four
Evangelists--Catacombs and Bone-houses--Tace Latin
for Candle--Members for Durham--"A Frog he would,"
&c.--Cavell--To endeavour ourselves--Three
Dukes--Christabel--Derivation of "Trianon" 43
MISCELLANEOUS:--
Notes on Books, Catalogues, Sales, &c. 47
Books and Odd Volumes Wanted 47
Notices to Correspondents 47
Advertisements 48
* * * * *
Notes.
DR. WHICHCOTE, MICHAEL AYNSWORTH, AND LORD SHAFTESBURY.
Not less remarkable and interesting than the publication of Dr.
Whichcote's Sermons by the noble author of the _Characteristics_, is a
posthumous volume (though never designed for the press) under the
following title:--
"Several Letters written by a Noble Lord to a Young Man at the
University.
"Quo semel est imbuta recens servabit odorem Testa diu.--_Hor.
Epist._ ii. 1.
"Printed for J. Roberts, near the Oxford Arms, in Warwick Lane,
1716. 8vo."
The young man was Michael Aynsworth, of University College, Oxford,
afterwards vicar of Cornhampton, in Hampshire, and master of the Free
School there. He was a native of Dorsetshire; his father, who was in
narrow circumstances, living near Wimborne St. Giles's, the seat of Lord
Shaftesbury, by whom the son seems to have been nobly patronised, on
account of his inclination to learning and virtuous disposition.
The published letters are only _ten_ in number; but I have an accurate
manuscript transcript of _fifteen_, made from the originals by R.
Flexman (who had been a pupil of Aynsworth) in 1768. The transcriber's
account is as follows:--
"After Mr. Aynsworth's death, these letters remained in the
possession of his daughter, and at her decease passed into the
the hands of the Rev. Mr. Upton, the then vicar of Cornhampton;
by him they were lent to my brother John Baker, of Grove Place,
in Hampshire, who lent them to me. It will be perceived that the
ten printed letters are not given as they were written, every
thing of a private nature being omitted, and passages only given
of other letters, just as the editor judged proper."
R. Flexman has made some remarks illustrative of the letters at the end
of his transcript, and added some particulars relating to Lord
Shaftesbury. He justly says,--
"I think these letters will show his lordship in a more
favourable light with respect to the Christian religion than his
_Characteristics_, which, though they may be condemned on that
account, will ever remain a lasting monument of the genius of
the noble writer. It is certain, too, the friends of
Christianity are obliged to him for the publication of one of
the best volumes of sermons that ever appeared in the English
language. They are twelve in number, by Dr. Benjamin Whichcote.
These sermons (as well as the preface, which is admirable)
breathe such a noble spirit of Christianity, as I think will
efface every notion that his lordship was an enemy to the
Christian religion. In this preface he calls Dr. Whichcote (from
his pleading in defence of natural goodness) the 'preacher of
good nature.'"
What follows will, I think, be acceptable to your correspondents C H.
and C. R. S.
"I have heard that the way in which Lord Shaftesbury got
possession of the manuscript sermons was this:--Going one day to
visit his grandmother, the Countess Dowager, widow of the first
Earl, he found her reading a manuscript; on inquiring what she
was reading, she replied, that it was a sermon. His {34}
lordship expressed his surprise that she should take so much
trouble as to read a manuscript sermon when there were such
numbers in print. She said, she could find none so good as those
she had in manuscript. Lord Shaftesbury then requested the
favour of being allowed to peruse it, and having done so, he
inquired of the Countess if she had any more, as he should like
to read them all if she had. Having received and read them, he
was so much pleased, that he resolved to print them; and having
them prepared for the press, he published them with a preface
recommending the sermons and highly praising the author."
It appears that the sermons were prepared for the press, at Lord
Shaftesbury's instance, by the Rev. William Stephens, rector of Sutton,
in Surrey; but the fact of the preface being by himself rests on the
undoubted evidence of his sister, Lady Betty Harris (wife of James
Harris of Salisbury, the author of _Hermes_), who mentioned having
written it from her brother's dictation, he being at that time too ill
to write himself.
The letters to Michael Aynsworth are very interesting, from their
benevolent, earnest, and truly pious spirit, and might even now be read
with advantage by a young student of theology: but, being very severe in
many places upon the greater part of the body of the clergy _called_ the
Church of England, could have been by no means palatable to the High
Church party,--
"Who no more esteem themselves a Protestant Church, or in union
with those of Protestant communion, though they pretend to the
name of Christian, and would have us judge of the spirit of
Christianity from theirs; which God prevent! lest men should in
time forsake Christianity through their means."
The eleventh letter in the MS. is important on account of the
observations it contains on the consequences which must inevitably arise
from Locke's doctrine respecting innate ideas. Locke had been tutor both
to Lord Shaftesbury and his father:--
"Mr. Locke, much as I honour him, and well as I know him, and
can answer for his sincerity as a most zealous Christian
believer, has espoused those principles which Mr. Hobbes set on
foot in the last century, and has been followed by the Tindals
and all the other free authors of our time. 'Twas Mr. Locke that
struck the home blow, (for Hobbes' character and base slavish
principles of government took off the poison of his philosophy),
struck at all fundamentals, threw all _order_ and _virtue_ out
of the world, and made the very _ideas_ of these (which are the
same as those of God), unnatural and without foundation in our
minds."
It is remarkable that the volume of Whichcote's Sermons printed by Lord
Shaftesbury should have been republished at Edinburgh in 1742, with a
recommendatory epistle, by a Presbyterian divine, Dr. Wishart, principal
of the College of Edinburgh. In the very neat reprint of the collected
sermons given by Dr. Campbell and Dr. Gerard, in 4 vols., 8vo.,
Aberdeen, 1751, prefixed to the third volume, we also find Lord
Shaftesbury's preface.
S. W. SINGER.
Mickleham, June 4. 1850.
* * * * *
THE REBEL.
Sir,--The printed copy of a song which I inclose is believed, by those
who are the best judges, to be the only copy, either printed or in
manuscript, now in existence. That circumstance may, perhaps, render it
acceptable to you: and I am not collector of curiosities, and I beg you
would do what you please with it. The verses are plainly more modern
than the motto: for there are, I think, two allusions to different plays
of the immortal bard of Stratford-on-Avon. But perhaps you will think
that he copied from it, as it is said he sometimes did from things not
so good as his own. I do not believe, for my own part, that it was
written till after the Great Rebellion. Bishop Christopherson, I take
it, was a Roman Catholic, but resident in England, and we see that he
wrote in English. The paper, you will observe, is foreign by the
texture, as well as by the water-mark, which I cannot very well make
out; but it seems to be a bust of somebody; while the type looks quite
English, and therefore it is no proof that it was printed abroad.
As I give you my real name, I hope you will not consider me as holding,
or wishing to recommend, such opinions as are contained in the verses:
and by way of protest, you will allow me to subscribe myself, your
obedient servant,
PACIFICUS.
"THE REBEL.
"A New Song, or Balade, shewing the naughty conceits of Traytours; that
all loial and true-hearted men may know and eschew the same.
"_They counte Peace to be cause of ydelnes, and that it maketh
men hodipekes and cowardes._"--Bp. Christopherson, _Exh. ag.
Rebel._ 1554.
"Tell me no more of Peace--
'Tis cowardice disguised;
The child of Fear and heartless Ease,
A thing to be despised.
"Let daffodills entwine
The seely Shepherd's brow,
A nobler wreath I'll win for mine,
The Lawrel's manly bough.
"May-garlands fitter shew
On swains who dream of Love;
And all their cherisance bestow
Upon the whining dove--
"I'll have no doves--not I--
Their softness is disgrace;
I love the Eagle's lightning eye,
That stares in Phæbus' face.
"I mark'd that noble thing {35}
Bound on his upward flight,
Scatter the clouds with mighty wing,
And breast the tide of light--
"And scorn'd the things that creep
Prone-visaged on the Earth;
To eat it's fruits, to play, to sleep,
The purpose of their birth.
"Such softlings take delight
In Cynthia's sickly beam--
Give me a heav'n of coal black night
Slash'd with the watch-fire gleam.
"They doat upon the lute,
The cittern and the lyre--
Such sounds mine eare do little sute,
They match not my desire.
"The trumpet-blast--let it come
In shrieks on the fitful gale,
The charger's hoof beat time to the drum,
And the clank of the rider's mail.
"Not for the heaps untold
That swell the Miser's hoard,
I claim the birthright of the bold,
The dowry of the Sword--
"Nor yet the gilded gem
That coronets the slave--
I clutch the spectre-diadem
That marshals on the brave.
"For that--be Sin and Woe--
All priests and women tell--
Be Fire and Sword--I pass not tho'
This Earth be made a Hell.
"Above the rest to shine
Is all in all to me--
It is, unto a soul like mine,
To be or not to be.
"Printed with Permission of Superiours: And are to be had of the
Printer, at his House hard by the sign of the Squirrel,
over-against the way that leadeth to the Quay."
P.S. Query, What is a "hodipeke?" Is it a "hypocrite?" and should not
"Phæbus," in the fourth verse, be "Phoebus?"
* * * * *
THE HIPPOPOTAMUS.
The earliest mention of the hippopotamus is in Herodotus, who in ii. 71.
gives a detailed description of this inhabitant of the Nile. He is
stated by Porphyry to have borrowed this description from his
predecessor Hecatæus (Frag. 292. ap. _Hist. Gr. Fragm._, vol. i. ed.
Didot). Herodotus, however, had doubtless obtained his account of the
hippopotamus during his visit to Egypt. Cuvier (_Trad. de Pline_, par
Grandsagne, tom. vi. p. 444.) remarks that the description is only
accurate as to the teeth and the skin; but that it is erroneous as to
the size, the feet, the tail and mane, and the nose. He wonders,
therefore, that it should have been repeated, with few corrections or
additions, by Aristotle (_Hist. An._, ii. 1. and 7.; viii. 24.) and
Diodorus (i. 35.). Compare Camus, _Notes sur l'Histoire des Animaux
d'Aristote_, p. 418.
None of the Greek writers appear to have seen a live hippopotamus; nor
is there any account of a live animal of this species having been
brought to Greece, like the live tiger which Seleucus sent to Athens.
According to Pliny (_H. N._, viii. 40.) and Ammianus Marcellinus (xxii.
15.), the Romans first saw this animal in the celebrated edileship of
Æmilius Scaurus, 58 B.C., when a hippopotamus and five crocodiles were
exhibited at the games, in a temporary canal. Dio Cassius, however,
states that Augustus Cæsar first exhibited a rhinoceros and a
hippopotamus to the Roman people in the year 29 B.C. (li. 22.) Some
crocodiles and hippopotami, together with other exotic animals, were
afterwards exhibited in the games at Rome in the time of Antoninus Pius
(A.D. 138-80. See Jul. Capitolin. in _Anton. Pio_, c. 10.) and Commodus,
against his various exploits of animal warfare in the amphitheatre, slew
as many as five hippopotami (A.D. 180-92. See Dio Cass. lxxii. 10. and
19.; and Gibbon, c. 4.). Firmus, an Egyptian pretender to the empire in
the time of Aurelian, 273 A.D., once rode on the back of a hippopotamus
(Flav. Vopiscus, in _Firmo_, c. 6.): but this feat was probably
performed at Alexandria.
The hippopotamus being an inhabitant of the Upper Nile, was imperfectly
known to the ancients. Fabulous anecdotes of its habits are recounted by
Pliny, _H. N._, viii. 39, 40., and by Ælian, _De Nat. An._, v. 53. vii.
19. Achilles Tatius, who wrote as late as the latter half of the fifth
century of our era, says that it breathes fire and smoke (iv. 2.); while
Damascius, who was nearly his contemporary says that the hippopotamus is
an unjust animal, and represents Injustice in the hieroglyphic writing;
because it first kills its father and then violates its mother (ap.
Phot. _Bibl._ cod. 242., p. 322., b. 36. ed. Bekker.).
Strabo (xv. 1.) and Arrian (_Ind._, c. 6.) say that the products of the
Indian rivers are similar to those of Ethiopia and Egypt, with the
exception of the hippopotamus. They add, however, that according to
Onesicritus, even this exception did not exist: for that the
hippopotamus was found in the rivers of India. The report of Onesicritus
was doubtless erroneous.
Herodotus, Aristotle, and the other Greek writers constantly call this
animal ~hippos potamios~. The Latin writers use the improper compound
_hippo-potamus_; which, according to the ordinary rule of Greek
composition, means, not a _river-horse_, but a _horse-river_. The only
Greek writer in whom I have found the compound word ~hippopotamos~ is
Damascius, who wrote in the sixth century. Achilles Tatius, who lived
about the same time, calls the animal ~hippos tou Neilou~, which is, he
says, its Egyptian name. It seems probable that the word _hippopotamus_
is a Roman corruption of the Greek substantive and adjective, and {36}
is not a proper Greek word. Why this animal was called a horse is not
evident. In shape and appearance it resembles a gigantic hog. Buffon
says that its name was derived from its _neighing_ like a horse
(_Quad._, tom. v., p. 165.). But query whether this is the fact?
Bochart (_Hierozoicon_, P. ii., lib. v., c. 15, 16.) identifies the
"behemoth" of Job (c. 40.) with the hippopotamus, and the "leviathan"
with the crocodile. This view seems to be generally adopted by modern
commentators. (See Winer, _Bibl. Real-Wörterbuch_, art. "Nilpferd.")
A _Historia Hippopotami veterum Critica_, by J. G. Schneider, is
appended to his edition of _Artedi Synonymia Piscium_, p. 247.
The accounts of the hippopotamus since the revival of letters, beginning
with that published by Federigo Zerenghi, a Neapolitan surgeon, in 1603
(see Buffon), appear to have been all derived from dead specimens, or
from the reports of travellers in Africa. Query, Has there been a live
hippopotamus in Europe since the reign of Commodus, with the exception
of the young animal now in the Zoological Gardens in the Regent's Park?
L.
* * * * *
FOLK LORE.
_Folk Lore of South Northamptonshire._
_Charming._--There are few villages in this district which are not able
to boast a professor of the healing art, in the person of an old woman
who pretends to the power of curing diseases by "charming;" and at the
present day, in spite of coroners' inquests and parish officers, a
belief in the efficacy of these remedies appears to be undiminished. Two
preliminaries are given, as necessary to be strictly observed, in order
to ensure a perfect cure. First, that the person to be operated upon
comes with a full and earnest belief that a cure _will_ be effected;
and, secondly, that the phrases "please" and "thank you" do not occur
during the transaction. The established formula consists in the
charmer's crossing the part affected, and whispering over it certain
mysterious words--doubtless varied according to the disorder, but the
import of which I have never been able to learn; for as there is a very
prevalent notion that, if once disclosed, they would immediately lose
their virtue, the possessors are generally proof against persuasion or
bribery. In some cases it is customary for the charmer to "bless" or
hallow cords, or leathern thongs, which are given to the invalids to be
worn round the neck. An old woman living at a village near Brackley has
acquired a more than ordinary renown for the cure of agues by this
means. According to her own account, she received the secret from the
dying lips of her mother; who, in her turn, is said to have received it
from her's. As this old dame is upwards of ninety, and still refuses to
part with her charm, the probability of it perishing with her, forms a
constant theme of lamentation among her gossips. It must not be imagined
that these ignorant people make a trade of their supposed art. On the
contrary, it is believed that any offer of pecuniary remuneration would
at once break the spell, and render the charm of no avail; and though it
must be admitted that the influence and position naturally accruing to
the possessor of such attributes, affords a sufficient motive for
imposture, yet I think, for the most part, they may be said to be the
dupes of their own credulity, and as fully convinced of their own
infallibility as can be the most credulous of their admirers.
The following are a few of the more common traditionary charms (used
without having recourse to the charmer) at present current among the
rural population of this district.
_Warts._--Take one of the large black snails, which are to be found
during summer in every hedgerow, rub it over the wart, and then hang it
on a thorn. This must be done nine nights successively, at the end of
which times the wart will completely disappear. For as the snail,
exposed to such cruel treatment, will gradually wither away, so it is
believed the wart, being impregnated with its matter, will slowly do the
same.
_Wens._--After a criminal is dead, but still hanging, his hand must be
rubbed thrice over the wen. (Vide _Brand_, vol iii. p. 153.) Many
persons are still living who in their younger days have undergone the
ceremony, always, they say, attended with complete success. On execution
days at Northampton, numbers of sufferers used to congregate round the
gallows, in order to receive the "dead-stroke," as it is termed. At the
last execution which took place in that town, a very few only were
operated upon, not so much in consequence of decrease of faith, as from
the higher fee demanded by the hangman.
_Epistaxis._--For stopping or preventing bleeding at the nose, a toad is
killed by transfixing it with some sharp pointed instrument, after which
it is inclosed in a little bag and suspended round the neck. The same
charm is also occasionally used in cases of fever. The following passage
From Sir K. Digby's _Discourse on Sympathy_ (Lond. 1658) may enlighten
us as to the principle:--
"In time of common contagion, they use to carry about them the
powder of a toad, and sometimes a living toad or spider shut up
in a box; or else they carry arsnick, or some other venemous
substance, which _draws unto it the contagious air_, which
otherwise would infect the party." p. 77.
_Another for the Same._--If it be a man who suffers, he asks a female to
buy him a lace, (if a female she asks a man), without either giving
money, saying what it is wanted for, or returning thanks when {37}
received. The lace so obtained must be worn round the neck for the space
of nine days; at the expiration of which, it is said, the patient will
experience no return of the disorder.
_Cramp._--We still retain such a high sense of the efficacy of the form
of the cross, that in case of spasms, or that painful state of the feet
in which they are said to "sleep," it is commonly used, under the
impression that it mitigates, if not entirely allays, the pain. Warts
are also charmed away by crossing them with elder sticks: and a very
common charm for the cramp consists in the sufferer's always taking
care, when he pulls off his shoes and stockings, to place them in such a
position as to form a resemblance to the "holy sign."
Another and very common charm resorted to for the cure of this painful
disorder, consists in the wearing about the person the patella of a
sheep or lamb, here known as the "cramp-bone." This is worn as near the
skin as possible, and at night is laid under the pillow. One instance of
a _human_ patella being thus used has come under my notice, but I
believe this to be by no means common.
_Toothache._--Few ailments have more charms for its cure than this. In
point of efficacy none are reckoned better than a tooth taken from the
mouth of a corpse, which is often enveloped in a little bag, and hung
round the neck. A double nut is also sometimes worn in the pocket for
the same purpose.
_Hooping-cough._--A small quantity of hair is taken frown the nape of
the child's neck, rolled up in a piece of meat, and given to a dog, in
the firm belief that the disease thereby becomes transferred to the
animal. A friend informs me that the same charm is well known in
Gloucestershire.
_Rheumatism._--The right forefoot of a hare, worn constantly in the
pocket, is considered a fine amulet against the "rheumatiz."
_West._--In order to be rid of the painful tumour on the eyelid,
provincially known as the _west_ or _sty_, it is customary for the
sufferer, on the first night of the new moon, to procure the tail of a
black cat, and after pulling from it one hair, rub the tip _nine_ times
over the pustule. As this has a very cabalistic look, and is moreover
frequently attended with sundry severe scratches, a gold ring is found
to be a much more harmless substitute; and as it is said to be equally
beneficial with the former, it is now more commonly used. This
superstition is alluded to by Beaumont and Fletcher, _Mad Lovers_, v.
4.:--
"---- I have a _sty_ here, Chilax.
_Chi._ I have no gold to cure it, not a penny."
_Thorn._--The following word charm is used to prevent a thorn from
festering:--
"Our Saviour was of a virgin born,
His head was crowned with a crown of thorn;
It never canker'd nor fester'd at all,
And I hope in Christ Jesus this never shaull [shall]."
This will remind the reader of the one given by Pepys, vol. ii. p. 415.
T. S.
* * * * *
BRASICHELLEN AND SERPILIUS--EXPURGATORY INDEX.
I have a note, and should be glad to put a query, on the subject of a
small octavo volume, of which the title is, "Indicis Librorum
Expurgandorum, in studiosorum gratiam confecti, tomus primus; in quo
quinquaginta auctorum libri præ cæteris desiderati emendantur. Per Fr.
Io. Mariam Brasichellensem, sacri Palatii Apostolici Magistrum, in unum
corpus redactus, et publicæ commoditati editus. Superiorum permissu,
Romæ, 1607." Speaking of this index, Mendham says:--
"We now advance to perhaps the most extraordinary and scarcest
of all this class of publications. It is the first, and last,
and incomplete Expurgatory Index, which Rome herself has
ventured to present to the world, and which, soon after the deed
was done, she condemned and withdrew.... After a selection of
some of the rules in the last edition of the Expurgatory Index,
the editor in his address informs the reader, that,
understanding the expurgation of books to be not the least
important part of his office, and wishing to make books more
accessible to students than they were without expurgation, he
had availed himself of the labours of his predecessors, and,
adding his own, issued the present volume, intending that a
second, which was in great readiness, should quickly follow;
(but, alas! it was not allowed so to do). Dated Rome, from the
Apostolic Palace, 1607.... Nothing more remains on the subject
of this Index, than to report what is contained in the
inaccessible work of Zobelius, _Notitia Indicis_, &c., but
repeated from by Struvius or Ingler, his editor, in the
_Bibliotheca Hist. Lit._--that Brasichellen or Guanzellus was
assisted in the work by Thomas Malvenda, a Dominican; that
another edition was printed at Bergomi in 1608; that when a
fresh one was in preparation at Antwerp in 1612, it was
suppressed; and that, finally, the author, like Montanus, found
his place in a future index."
The second volume promised never appeared. The work, however, became
exceedingly scarce; which induced Serpilius, a priest of Ratisbon, in
1723, to print an edition so closely resembling the original, as to
admit of its being represented as the same. The imposition, however,
being detected, another edition was prepared by Hesselius, a printer of
Altorf, in 1745; and then the remaining copies of the former threw off
their mask, and appeared with a new title-page as a second edition. The
original and counterfeit editions of this peculiar work are sufficiently
alike to deceive any person, who should not examine them in literal
juxtaposition; but upon such examination, the deception is easily
apparent. The one, however, may be fairly considered as a {38}
fac-simile of the other. (See the Rev. Joseph Mendham's _Literary Policy
of the Church of Rome exhibited_, &c., chap. iii. pp. 116-128.) Mendham
adds, that "there is a copy of the original edition" of this index "in
the Bodleian Library, Oxford," presented to Sir Thomas Bodley by the
Earl of Essex, together with the Belgic, Portuguese, Spanish and
Neapolitan Indices, all which originally belonged to the library of
Jerom Osorius, but had become part of the spoil of the expedition
against Cadiz in 1596. I am acquainted with the Bodleian copy of the
original edition of this rare work; but I wish to put the Query--Where
is a copy of the _counterfeit edition_ of Serpilius to be seen, either
with its original title-page, or as it appeared afterwards, when the
mask was thrown off? I am not aware that any one of our public libraries
(rich as several of them are in such treasures) contains a copy of this
curious little impostor.
J. SANSOM.
8. Park Place, Oxford, May 29. 1850.
* * * * *
Queries
SIR GEORGE BUC.
Can any of your readers inform me on what authority Sir George Buc, the
poet, and Master of the Revels in the reign of James I., is recorded by
his biographers to have been a native of Lincolnshire, and to have died
in 1623? In the _Biogr. Britann._, and repeated by Chalmers, it is
stated that he was born in Lincolnshire, in the sixteenth century,
descended from the Bucs, or Buckes, of West Stanton and Herthill, in
Yorkshire, and Melford Hall, in Suffolk, and knighted by James I. the
day before his coronation, July 13, 1603. Mr. Collier, in his _Annals of
the Stage_, vol. i., p. 374, says, that on the death of Edmund Tylney,
in October, 1610, he succeeded him as Master of the Revels, and wrote
his Treatise on the Office of the Revels prior to 1615. He also says,--
"In the spring of 1622, Sir George Buc appears to have been so
ill and infirm, as to be unable to discharge the duties of his
situation, and on the 2nd of May in that year, a patent was made
out, appointing Sir John Astley Master of the Revels."--_Biogr.
Britann._, p. 419.
Ritson says that he died in 1623. Chalmers supposed his death to have
happened soon after 1622, and states that he certainly died before
August 1629.
My reason for making these inquiries is, that I have in my possession a
4to. manuscript volume, believed to be in the handwriting of this Sir
George Buc, which is quite at variance with these statements in several
particulars. The volume which is without a date in any part, and has
only the initials of the author, is entitled _The Famous History of
Saint George, England's brave Champion. Translated into Verse, and
enlarged. The three first Chapters by G. B. His first Edition._ It is
extended to nineteen chapters, and comprehends also the histories of the
other six champions, as well as that of St. George. It is contained in a
thick 4to. volume of 524 closely written pages, in Russia, and was
formerly in the collection of the Duke of Roxburghe, whose arms are on
the sides; and afterwards in that of Mr. Heber. This MS. is entirely in
the handwriting of Sir George Buc, as prepared by him for publication.
The initials "G. B." correspond with those of his name, and the
handwriting, having been compared, is found to be exactly similar to a
MS. inscription, in Sir George Buc's handwriting, prefixed to a copy of
his poem ~Daphnis Polustephanos~, 4to., 1605, presented by him to
Lord Chancellor Ellesmere, and preserved at Bridgewater House; a
fac-simile of which is given by Mr. Collier in his privately printed
catalogue of that library, p. 41.
The volume commences with a sort of metrical preface, entitled _The
Muse's Apologie_, in which he says,--
"Consider that my Muse is aged growne,
Whose pilgrimage to _seventy-six is knowne_."
And again:--
"Thy nimble steps to _Norfolk_ none forbeare,
I'm confident thou shalt be welcom'd there,
Where that thy autor _hee was bred and borne_,
Though to Parnassus Girles was never sworne."
The work is dedicated "To the vertuous Lady and his most honoured
friend, the Lady Bacon, at Readgrave Hall, in Suffolk, wife to S^r
Edmond Bacon, Prime Baronett of England," commencing thus:--
"Faire madam,--Having nothing at present, I thought was fitt
(_living at so far distance_) to present to y^r ladyship,"
&c.
The distance here alluded to was probably caused by the author's
residence in London at that time. This is followed by some lines "To the
Courteous Reader," beginning,--
"Some certaine Gentlemen did mee ingage
To publish forth this work, done in myne age
That this, my aged act, it may survive
My funerall and keep me still alive."
and by others, entitled "The Autor," signed "Vale, G. B.;" after which
are added the following lines:--
"Some Poets they are poore, and so am I,
_Except I bee reliev'd in Chancery_;
I scorne to begg, my pen nere us'd the trade,
This book to please my friends is only made,
Which is performed by my aged quill,
For to extend my country my good will.
Let not my country think I took this paynes
In expectation of any gaines."
We know from Mr. Collier's Bridgewater Catalogue, that Sir George Buc
had been indebted to Lord Ellesmere for certain favours shown him, {39}
probably in some Chancery suit, to which he here seems to allude, as if
still suffering in his pocket from its ill consequences.
My first quotation from the poem itself is one of some importance, as
serving to show the probable time at which it was written. On the
reverse of fol. 9., at the commencement of the poem, an allusion is thus
made to the destruction of Troy:--
"And wasted all the buildings of the king,
Which unto Priamus did glory bring,
Destroy'd his pallaces, the cittie graces,
And all the lusters of his royall places,
_Just as Noll Cromewell in this iland did,
For his reward at Tiburne buried._"
So also, again, on the reverse of fol. 11., in reference to the abuses
and profanations committed by Cromwell's soldiery in St. Paul's
Cathedral, he says:--
"Pittie it were this faberick should fall
Into decay, derives its name from Paul,
_But yet of late it suffered vile abuses,
Was made a stable for all traytors' uses_,
Had better burnt it down for an example,
As Herostratus did Diana's temple."
And again, at the commencement of the eighth chapter, fol. 104.:--
"In this discourse, my Muse doth here intend,
The honor of Saint Patrick to defend,
And speake of his adventrous accidents,
Of his brave fortunes, and their brave events,
That if her pen were made of _Cromwell's rump_,
Yet she should weare it to the very stump."
At the end of the poem he again alludes to his great age, and to the
time which had been occupied in writing it, and also promised, if his
life should be prolonged, a second part, in continuation, which,
however, appears never to have been accomplished:--
"My Muse wants eloquence and retoricke,
For to describe it more scollerlike,
And doth crave pardon for hir bold adventure,
When that upon these subjects she did enter.
'Tis eight months since this first booke was begun,
Come, Muse, breake off, high time 'tis to adone.
Travell no further in these martiall straines,
Till we know what will please us for our paines.
I know thy will is forward to performe,
What age doth now deny thy quill t' adorne,
Whose age is _seventy-sixe, compleat in yeares_,
Which in the Regester at large appeares."
&c. &c. &c. &c.
Cromwell died Sept. 3. 1658, and was interred in Westminster Abbey; but
his bones were not removed and buried at Tyburn till the 30th of
January, 1660; very soon after which it is most probable that this poem
was written. Now if the author was, as he says, seventy-six at this
time, he must have been born about 1583 or 1584, which will rightly
correspond with the account given by Chalmers and others; and thus he
would be about twenty-two or twenty-three years of age when he wrote his
first poem of ~Daphnis Polustephanos~, and twenty-seven when he
succeeded to the office of Master of the Revels. There appears to be no
reason for supposing, with Ritson, that _The Great Plantagenet_, which
was the second edition of that poem, and published in 1635, was done "by
some fellow who assumed his name;" but that the variations, which are
very considerable, were made by the author himself, and printed in his
lifetime. The Dedication to Sir John Finch, Lord Chief Justice of the
Common Pleas, signed "George Buck," and written exactly in his style;
the three sets of commendatory verses addressed to the author by O.
Rourke, Robert Codrington, and George Bradley, not in the first edition
of the poem "Upon King Henrie the Second, the first Plantagenet of
England," &c., added to this impression; all tend to show that the
author was then living in 1635. We learn by the above quotations from
his MS. poem, that his days were further prolonged till 1660.
Perhaps some of your numerous readers may be able to discover some
corroborative proofs of this statement from other sources, and will be
kind enough to favour me, through your paper, with any evidence which
may occur to then, bearing upon the subject of my inquiries.
THOMAS CORSER.
Stand Rectory.
COSAS DE ESPAÑA.
The things of Spain are peculiar to a proverb, but they are not so
exclusively national but we may find some connection with them in things
of our own country. Any information from readers of NOTES AND QUERIES,
on a few Spanish things which I have long sought for in vain, would
prove most acceptable and useful to me.
1. In _Catalogi Librorum Manuscriptorum, Angliæ et Hiberniæ_, &c., under
"Library of Westminster Abbey," at p. 29., I find mentioned the
following MS.: _Una Resposal del Reverend Padre Thomaso Cranmero_. It is
not now in that library--is it in any other? I suppose it may be a
translation, made by Francisco Dryander or Enzinas, translator of the
Spanish New Testament, 1543, of--"An Answer by the Right Rev. Father in
God, Thomas, Abp. of Canterbury, unto a crafty and sophistical
cavillation devised by Stephen Gardener," &c. Dryander came to this
country with Bucer, recommended to Cranmer by Melancthon, and resided
two months in the Archbishop's house before he went to Cambridge to
lecture in Greek.
2. Ferdinando de Tereda, a Spanish Protestant, came to this country in
1620. The Lord Keeper Williams took him into his house to learn Spanish
of him, in order to treat personally with the Spanish ambassador about
the marriage of Prince Charles and the Infanta. At this instance, {40}
Tereda translated the English Liturgy into Spanish (1623), and was
repaid by presentation to a prebend at Hereford. On the death of James,
in 1625, he left, as he says, the Court, before the Court left him, and
retired to Hereford. Here he adds: "I composed a large volume _De
Monachatu_, in Latin; another _De Contradictionibus Doctrinæ Ecclesiæ
Romanæ_, in the same language; and a third, entitled _Carrascon_, also
in Latin." In 1631-2 he vacated his prebend, and went, I conjecture, to
Holland, where he printed _Carrascon_ in _Spanish_ (1633), being a
selection from the Latin. In the preface to this, which recently had
been reprinted, he proposed to print the other works which he had
prepared, if the Spanish _Carrascon_ brought him "good news." Do his
Latin works exist either in print or in manuscript?
3. Juan de Nicholas y Sacharles was another Spanish Protestant, who came
to this country in 1618. He translated the _Bouclier de la Foi_, by P.
Moulin, into Spanish; he presented it, I conjecture in MS., to Prince
Charles about the year 1620. Is such a MS. known to exist in any of our
libraries?
4. The recent _History of Spanish Literature_, by George Ticknor, has
made us generally acquainted, that the author of the clever "Dialogo de
las Lenguas," printed in _Origines de la Lengua Española_ by Gregorio
Mayans y Siscar, was Juan de Valdes, to whom Italy and Spain herself
owed the dawning light of the religious reformation which those
countries received. Spaniards well informed in their own literature have
of course been long aware of the authorship of the "Dialogo de las
Lenguas." But few even of them are aware that Mayans y Siscar could not,
even at so late a period, venture to reprint the work, as it was written
by Juan de Valdes. He suppressed various passages, for the Inquisition
was in his day too jealous and powerful for him to risk offence.
Notwithstanding, and as _una cosa de España_, he printed a few copies
privately, entire. Expurgated books are always unsatisfactory
mutilations. Does any _Manuscript_ of the "Dialogo de las Lenguas" exist
in this country, in any public or private library?
Wn.
* * * * *
CARTER'S DRAWINGS OF YORK CATHEDRAL.--MEDAL OF STUKELEY.
I shall be glad to ascertain, if possible, through the medium of your
columns, who is now the possessor of a volume of elaborate _Drawings of
York Cathedral_, which were made by the late John Carter, F. S. A., for
Sir Mark M. Sykes, Bart. Mr. Carter was paid a large sum on account of
these drawings during the progress of his task, but after the death of
the baronet, he demanded such an extravagant price that the executors
declined to take the volume. At the sale of the artist's effects it was
sold to Sir Gregory Page Turner, Bart., for 315_l._ It again came to the
hammer, and was purchased by John Broadley, Esq., at whose sale it was
disposed of for 100_l._ I cannot ascertain the purchaser on the last
occasion, and am very desirous to learn where the drawings are now to be
found.
The same artist also prepared a series of drawings illustrative of
English costume from the earliest period. This volume was executed for
Thomas Lister Parker, Esq., but, like the former, has passed into the
custody of other persons, and I am now ignorant of its possessor.
I have not yet received any reply to my inquiry in Vol. i. p. 122.,
respecting a large bronze medal of Dr. Stukeley, with a view of
Stonehenge on the reverse, evidently executed soon after his decease. I
believe it to be unique, but should be glad to know if dies were ever
engraved from this design.
J. BRITTON.
Burton Street, June 1. 1850.
* * * * *
Minor Queries.
_"Imprest" and "Debenture."_--When a person fulfilling any employment
under any of the Government Boards has occasion to draw "money on
account," an "imprest," addressed to the pay-master under that Board, is
issued for the required sum; but when the final payment is made upon the
"closing of the account," the "debenture" takes the place of the
"imprest." Out of what verbal raw material are these words manufactured?
I know of no other use of the word "imprest" as a substantive; and
though we see "debenture" often enough in railway reports, I cannot
perceive the analogy between its meanings in the two cases.
D. V. S.
Home, May 17.
_Cosin's MSS._--Basire, in his _Brief of the Life, &c. of Bishop Cosin_,
appended to his _Funeral Sermon_ (Lond. 1673, p. 69.), after noticing
several MS. works of Cosin's, some of which have not yet seen the light,
adds, "These remains are earnestly recommended to his pious executor's
care for publication."
Can any of your correspondents kindly inform me, who are the lineal
representatives of Cosin's pious executor? Basire mentions three
"imperfect" works of Bishop Cosin's in manuscript: viz. _Annales
Eccles._, _Historia Conciliorum_, _Chronologia Sacra_. Is it known what
has become of them? They appear to have fallen, with other MSS., into
the hands of his executor.
J. SANSOM.
_Barclay's Argenis._--What are the latest editions of this romance--the
best, in Cowper's opinion, ever written, which Coleridge laments as
being so little known, and which has been translated, I believe, {41}
into all the European languages? What are the principal as well as the
latest _English_ translations?
JARTZBERG.
_Clergy sold for Slaves._--Walker, in his _Sufferings of the Clergy_,
says, "There was a project on foot to sell some of the most eminent" (of
the masters of colleges, doctors in divinity, &c.) "to the Turks for
slaves; and a considerable progress was made in that horrid purpose."
And, writing of Dr. Ed. Layfield, under the head of "London Cathedrals,"
Walker again says, that "at last, in the company of others, he was clapt
on shipboard under hatches;" and that "they were threatened to be sold
slaves to the Algerines, or to some of our own plantations." Again, it
is recorded in Bishop Cosin's life, that by his will "he gave towards
the redemption of Christian captives at Algiers, 500_l._; towards the
relief of the distressed loyal party in England, 800_l._:"--upon which I
should be glad to put a Query; viz., Is there sufficient ground for
supposing, that any of the loyal party were really sold for slaves
during the rebellion? If otherwise, will Cosin's bequest throw any light
upon R. W. B.'s Query, vol. i., p. 441.?
J. SANSOM.
_Meaning of Pallet._--About a mile from Hume Castle, on the Scotch
border, is a rock hill, which is called Hume _Pallet_.
The only other name of the kind in this district is Kilpallet, in the
heart of the Lammermuir hills, on the borders of Berwickshire and East
Lothian. There was at this latter place once a religious house of some
kind, and a burying ground, now hardly visible.
What is the meaning of the word _Pallet_?
J. S. Q.
_Tobacco in the East._--Can any of your readers inform me whether
tobacco is indigenous to any part of Asia? Also, whether the habit of
smoking (opium or tobacco), now universal _over the East_, dates there
from before the discovery of America? And if not, from what period?
Z. A. Z.
_Stephanus Brulifer._--Can any of your correspondents kindly refer me to
a library containing a copy of Stephanus Brulifer, in lib. iv. _Sentent.
Seraphici Doctoris Bonaventuræ_, 8vo. Basil. 1507?
J. SANSOM.
* * * * *
Replies.
ASINORUM SEPULTURA.
To discover the origin of this phrase, your correspondent (Vol. ii., p.
8-9.) need not go further than to his Bible.
"Sepultura asini sepelietur, putrefactus et projectus extra
portas Jerusalem."--_Jerem._ xxii. 19.: cf. xxxvi. 30.
With regard to the extract given by Ducange, at the word "Imblocatus,"
from a "vetus formula Excommunicationis præclara," it is evident that
the expressions,--
"Sint cadavera eorum in escam volatilibus coeli, et bestiis
terræ, et non sint qui sepeliant eos,"
have been derived from S. Jerome's Latin version from the Hebrew of
Psal. lxxix. 2, 3.:
"Dederunt cadavera servorum tuorum escam volatilibus coeli;
carnes sanctorum tuorum bestiis terræ. Effuderunt sanguinem
eorum quasi aquam in circuitu Hierusalem, et non erat qui
sepeliret."--Vide Jacobi Fabri Stapulensis _Quincuplex
Psalterium_, fol. 116. b., Paris, 1513; Sabatier, tom. ii. p.
162. Ib. 1751.
R. G.
The use of this term in the denunciation against Jehoiakim, more than
six centuries B.C., and the previous enumeration of crimes in the 22nd
chapter of Jeremiah, would seem sufficiently to account for its origin
and use in regard to the disposal of the dead bodies of excommunicated
or notorious malefactors, by the earliest Christian writers or judges.
The Hebrew name of the ass, says Parkhurst, is "derived from its
turbulence when excited by lust or rage;" and the animal was also made
the symbol of slothful or inglorious ease, in the case of Issachar, B.C.
1609: Genesis, xlix. 14. It is thus probable some reference to such
characteristics of the brute and the criminal, rather than any mere
general allusion to throwing the dead bodies of inferior or unclean
animals (of which the dog was a more common type) under any rubbish
beyond the precincts of the city, may have been intended, by specifying
this animal in prescribing an ignominious sepulture.
LAMBA.
It can hardly have escaped the notice of your Querist (although the
instance is not one adduced by Ducange), that the phrase, "burial of an
ass" #Kevurat Chamor# for "no burial at all," is as old as the time of
the prophet Jeremiah. (Vide chap. xxii. 19.) The _custom_ referred to
being of religious origin, might lead us to the sacred books for the
origin of the _phrase_ denoting it; and it seems natural for the
Christian writers, in any mention of those whose bodies, like that of
Jehoiakim, were for their sins deprived of the rites of sepulture, to
use the striking phrase already provided for them in Scripture; and as
natural for that phrase to continue in use even after the somewhat more
civilised custom of "imblocation" had deprived it of its original
reference to "the dead body's being cast out in the day to the heat, and
in the night to the frost." (Jer. xxxvi. 30.)
J. EASTWOOD.
This phrase is, I think, accounted for by the ass being deprived of
interment in consequence of the uses made of its dead carcass. After a
description of the adaptation of his bones to instrumental music,
Aldrovandus continues as follows:--
"De corio notissimum, post obitum, ne quid asini unquam {42}
_conquiescat_, foraminibus delacerari, indeque factis cribris,
assiduæ inservire agitationi; unde dicebat Apuleius: cedentes
hinc inde miserum corium, nec cribris jam idoneum relinquunt.
Sed et Albertus pollicetur asinorum corium non solum utile esse
ad soleas calceorum faciendas, sed etiam quæ ex illa parte
fiunt, in qua onera fuerunt, non consumi, etsi ille qui utitur,
eis continuo peregrinando in lapidibus portaverit, et tandem ita
indurare ut pedes sustinere nequeant."--_De Quadruped._, p. 351.
T. J.
* * * * *
POPE FELIX.
Four Popes of the name have filled the chair of St. Peter.
The first suffered martyrdom under Aurelian. He is honoured with a
festival at Rome on the 29th May.
The second also received the crown of martyrdom, under Constantine. His
festival is kept on the 29th July.
The third is commemorated as a holy confessor on the 25th February. He
was a collateral ancestor of Pope St. Gregory the Great, who mentions
him in his writings.