of them, Tarsilla, a lady of pious and beatified life, and of very
advanced age, had one night a vision of Pope Felix, who was then dead.
He seemed to point towards the mansions of eternal glory, and to invite
her to enter. She soon after sickened, and her end visibly approached.
While a number of her friends were standing around her couch, she
suddenly exclaimed, looking upwards, "Stand aside, stand aside, Jesus is
coming;" and with a look of ineffable love, she presently expired. This
story is related by St. Gregory.
This Pope is the best known of the four on account of his relationship
to St. Gregory.
The fourth of the name was also a confessor. His festival occurs on the
30th January.
J. A. S.
Edinburgh, May 27. 1850.
* * * * *
REPLIES TO NUMISMATIC QUERIES.
I beg to offer the following remarks in reply to the numismatic queries
of E. S. T. (Vol. i., p. 468.):--
1. I can only account for the Macedonian coin being struck in lead, by
supposing it to be the work of an ancient forger.
2. Third brass coins of Tiberius are not uncommon; I have one in my
cabinet of the sort described. Obv. head of Tiberius, TI. CAESAR. DIVI.
AVG. F. AVGVSTVS; Rev. the altar of Lyons, ROM. ET. AVG.
3. The coin of Herennia Etruscilla is probably a base or plated
denarius, the silver having been worn off. Silver coins sometimes
acquire a black tarnish, so that they are not to be distinguished from
brass without filing the edge, or steeping them in acid. If a genuine
brass coin, it should have the S. C. for _Senatus Consultum_.
4. The coin of Macrinus was struck at Antioch in Syria, of which famous
city there exists a regular series of imperial coins from Augustus to
Valerian. One in my possession has ~Delta~ above the S. C., and
~Epsilon~ below for ~DÊMARCH. EXOUSIAS~, _Tribunitia Potestate_. May not
these be the letters described by E. S. T. as L. C.?
J. C. WITTON.
_Coins of Constantius II._--Can any numismatist kindly inform me by what
marks the coins of Constantius II., the son of Constantine the Great,
are distinguished from those of Constantius Gallus, his nephew? Mr.
Akerman, in his _Rare and Inedited Roman Coins_, gives the following
titles as common to both, but does not afford any rule for appropriating
their coins:--
CONSTANTIVS. NOB. CAES.
FL. IVL. CONSTANTIVS. NOB. CAES.
D. N. CONSTANTIVS. NOB. C.
D. N. CONSTANTIVS. NOB. CAES.
J. C. WITTON.
* * * * *
AS LAZY AS LUDLUM'S DOG.
(Vol. i., p. 382.)
I feel obliged by the extract from the _Doctor_ given by J. M. B. (Vol.
i., p. 475.), though it only answers by a kind of implication the Query
I proposed. That implication is, that, instead of Ludlum and his dog
being personages of distinction in their own way and in their own day,
the proverb itself is merely one framed on the principle of
alliteration, and without precise or definite "meaning." This is very
full of meaning, as anyone may convince himself by observing the active
energy of every muscle of all dogs in the act of barking. What can
typify "laziness" more emphatically than a dog that "lays him[self] down
to bark?"
A _jingle_ of some kind is essential to a proverb. If a phrase or
expression have not this, it never "takes" with the masses; whilst,
having this, and being capable of any possible and common application,
it is sure to live, either as a proverb or a "saw," as the case may be.
Alliteration and rhyme are amongst the most frequent of these "jingles;"
and occasionally a "pun" supplies their place very effectively. We find
these conditions fulfilled in the proverbs and saws of every people in
the eastern and western world, alike in the remotest antiquity and in
our own time. But are they therefore "without meaning?" Do not these
qualities help to give them meaning, as well as to preserve them through
their long and varied existence?
But there is another principle equally essential to the constitution of
a legitimate and lasting proverb; or rather two conjointly, _metre_ {43}
and _euphony_. These may be traced in the proverb as completely as in
the ballad; and precisely the same contrivances are employed to effect
them in both cases where any ruggedness in the natural collocation of
the words may present itself. For instance, change in the accent, the
elision or the addition of a letter or syllable, the lengthening of a
vowel, transposition, and a hundred other little artifices. The euphony
itself, though sometimes a little imperfect, is also studied with the
same kind of care in the older and purer proverbs of all languages.
Attention to metre and euphony will generally enable us to assign,
amongst the forms in which we pick up and note any particular proverb,
the original and legitimate one; especially when combined with brevity
and "pith." As a case in point, our friend Ludlum will serve our purpose
for comparison. Who does not see at a glance, taking account of the
principles which govern the construction of a proverb, that the
Sheffield version, as I gave it, _must be_ more genuine than Southey's
version, quoted by J. M. B.? Besides this, I may add, that a friend,
whose early days were spent in Sheffield, has told, me (since the Query
was proposed) that he has heard his mother tell some legend of "the fat
Miss Ludlum." After all, therefore, the proverb may be founded on a fat
old maid and her fat poodle. I can hardly, then, deem my inquiry
answered.
J. M. B. quotes two others from the _Doctor_; one for the purpose, as
would appear by his marking the words, to illustrate the alliterative
principle. The following are variations which I have heard:--"As proud
as the cobbler's dog, that took [or _as_ took--the most general
vernacular form, for the sake of euphony] the wall of a dung-cart, and
got crushed for his pains." "As queer as Dick's hatband as went nine
times round and wouldn't tie."
On these I will only remark, that few persons would pronounce dung-cart
as J. M. B. implies, even for alliteration; and, indeed, when so even
marked to the eye, it is not without an effort that we can read
accordingly. As to Dick's hatband, it is expressed in a peculiarly
clumsy and round-about manner by Southey.
One word more. J. M. B. quotes as a _proverb_--one of those without
meaning--"As busy as Batty;" and says, "no one knows who Batty was."
Surely, the inference that Batty was not a real personage in some
distant age--that he was a mere myth--must be a _non sequitur_ from the
premises before us. Perhaps Mr. Batty was a person of notable
industry--perhaps remarkable for always beings in a "fluster"--perhaps
the rural Paul Pry of his day and district. He has left, too, a large
progeny; whether as regards the name alone, or whichever of the
characters he bore.
This jingle upon words partakes largely of the character of the _pun_.
It, however, reminds me of a mode of speech which universally prevailed
in the north of Lincolnshire thirty years ago, and which probably does
so yet. A specimen will explain the whole:--"I'm as throng as throng."
"He looks as black as black." "It's as wet as wet." I have heard this
mode used so as to produce considerable emphasis; and it is more than
possible, that some of the jingles have thus originated, and settled
into proverbs, now without any obvious meaning, but originally very
forcible ones.
D. V. S.
Shooter's Hill, May 18.
* * * * *
Replies to Minor Queries.
_Lord John Townshend's Poetical Works_ (Vol. ii., p. 9.)--were never, I
believe, collected, nor indeed distinctly known, though they well
deserve to be. He told me himself that he wrote "Jekyl," in what is
called _The Rolliad_; and he mentioned some other of his contributions;
but I did not _make a note_, and regret that I can say no more. Mr.
Rogers or Lord Lansdowne might.
C.
_When Easter ends._--Mr. H. Edwards, in this day's number (No. 31., p.
9.), asks when Easter ends. I fancy this question is in some degree
answered by remarking, that it, together with other festivals of the
Church, viz. The Nativity, &c., are celebrated for eight days, which is
the octave. The reason, says Wheatley, of its
"Being fixed to eight days, is taken from the practice of the
Jews, who, by God's appointment, observed the greater festivals,
some of them for seven days, and one, the Feast of Tabernacles,
for eight days. And therefore the Primitive Christians
lengthened out their higher feast to eight days."
If this be true, Easter will end on the conclusion of the Sunday after
Easter day; but whether our present Parliament is sufficiently Catholic
to admit this, in the interpretation of the Act, is questionable.
In the Spanish Church Easter continues till the feast of Whitsuntide is
past; and during this period all fasts are forbidden.
The Romish Church has ten high festivals having octaves.
I trust this slight sketch may in some way help Mr. Edwards to a
conclusion.
R. J. S.
_When does Easter end?_ (Vol. ii., p. 9.).--In the case stated, at 12
o'clock on the night of Easter Sunday.
C.
_Holdsworth and Fuller._--In A. B. R.'s communication (Vol. i., p. 484.)
some symptoms of inaccuracy must be noted before a satisfactory reply
can be given to his Query.
1. He has erred in adopting the spelling of Holdsworth's name (viz. {44}
Holsworth) which appears in the title-page of _The Valley of Vision_. 2.
This work is very incorrectly styled "the sermon," inasmuch as it
consists of twenty-one sermons. 3. My copy bears date 1661, not 1651. 4.
If Holdsworth's hand was "legible only to himself," we may sincerely
commiserate the misfortune of his nephew, Dr. Richard Pearson, who had
to prepare for the press 737 folio pages of his _Prælectiones
Theologicæ_, &c.: Lond. 1661. 5. There is not the smallest reason for
thinking it "probable" that Dean Holdsworth "preached other men's
sermons." Respecting our great Caroline divines it would seldom have
been right to say--
"Quos (Harpyiarum more)
Convectare juvat prædas, et vivere rapto."
Now, as to what Dr. Holdsworth really wrote, and with regard to that for
which he is not responsible, it is to be observed, that he was so averse
to the publication of any of his works, that he printed but a single
sermon (on Psalm cxliv. 15.), and that not until he had been three times
urged to the task by his royal master King Charles I. The pagination of
this discourse is quite distinct from that of the twenty unauthentic
sermons which follow it in the quarto volume, and which commence at
signature B. These are thus described by Dr. Pearson, _ad Lectorem_:
"Cæteræ quæ prostant Anglicè venales, à prædone illo stenographico tam
laceræ et elumbes, tam miserè deformatæ sunt, ut parum aut nihil
agnoscas genii et spiritûs Holdsworthiani."
R. G.
_Gookin_ (Vol. i., pp. 385, 473, 492.).--Vincent Gookin was nominated by
Cromwell one of the six representatives of Ireland in the Barebones
Parliament; and he was returned for Bandon and Kinsale (which together
sent one member) in each of the three subsequent Cromwellian
Parliaments.
Lord Orrery, writing to the Duke of Ormond, June 15, 1666, speaks of
Captain Robert Gooking, as one of the chief persons in the west of Cork
county, and describes him as rich and having good brains, loyal, and
ready to fight against French or Irish, as every thing he has depends on
his new title. (Orrery's _State Letters_, ii. p. 13. Dublin edition.) A
little further on (p. 43.), Lord Orrery names the same Robert Gooking as
recommended by the chief gentlemen in the west of Cork to be captain of
a troop of horse in the militia.
CH.
"_Brozier_" (Vol. i., p. 485.), "_Sock_," "_Tick._"--I well remember the
phrase, "brozier my dame," signifying to "eat her out of house and
home." I had forgotten that a boy at Eton was "brozier," when he had
spent all his pocket-money. As a supplemental note, however, to Lord
Braybrooke's remarks upon this latter signification, I would remind old
Etonians of a request that would sometimes slip out from one in a
"broziered" state, viz. that a schoolfellow would _sock_ him, _i.e._
treat him to _sock_ at the pastrycook's; and this favour was not
unfrequently granted _on tick, i.e._ on credit with the purveyor of
sweets.
In reply to your noble correspondent's Query, I beg to say that
Halliwell, in his _Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words_, both
spells and defines thus: "Brosier. A bankrupt. _Chesh._" Mr. H. says no
more; but this seems to decide that the word does not exclusively belong
to Eton. I could have fancied that on such classic ground it might
possibly have sprung from ~brôskô~, fut. ~-sô~, _to devour_.
Is _sock_ only a corruption of _suck_, indicating a lollipop origin? or
what is its real etymological root?
Richardson most satisfactorily says, that to "go on _tick_" is to give a
note or _ticket_ instead of payment.
ALFRED GATTY.
Ecclesfield, May 27. 1850.
This Eton phrase, the meaning of which is very correctly explained LORD
BRAYBROOKE (Vol. i., p. 485.), appears to be connected with the Cheshire
provincialism, which is thus interpreted in Wilbraham's _Cheshire
Glossary_:--
"'Brosier, _s._ a bankrupt.' It is often used by boys at play,
when one of them has nothing further to stake."
The noun _brosier_, as Mr. Wilbraham indicates, seems to be derived from
the old word _brose_, or, as we now say, _bruise_. A _brosier_ would
therefore mean a broken-down man, and therefore a bankrupt. The verb _to
brosier_, as used at Eton, would easily be formed from the substantive.
In the mediæval Latin, _ruptura_ and _ruptus_ were used to signify
_bankruptcy_ and a _bankrupt_. See Duncange, _Gloss._ in vv.
ETONIENSIS.
The word _brozier_, or (as I always heard it pronounced) _brosier_, does
not, or did not exclusively belong to Eton. It was current at Hackney
School, an establishment formerly on the site of the present Infant
Orphan Asylum, and had the precise meaning attributed to it by Lord
Braybrooke. It was used both as a verb and as a substantive, but of its
origin and etymology I am ignorant. The last master of Hackney School
was the Rev. Dr. Heathcote, who died, I believe, about 1820. The
schoolhouse was a very large and a very old building. May I take this
opportunity of asking if anything is known of its history? There was a
tradition prevalent among the boys, that it had been an hospital in the
time of the Plague.
I recollect there was another singular word current at Hackney, viz.
"buckhorse," for a smart box on the ear. {45}
C. M.
[Buckhorse was a celebrated bruiser, whose name has been
preserved in this designation of a blow, in the same way as that
of his successor "Belcher" has been in that of the peculiar
style of silk handkerchief which he always wore.]
_Symbols of Four Evangelists._--Among the several replies to JARTZBERG'S
Query (Vol. i., p. 385.), I do not observe any notice of Sir T. Brown's
account of the symbols of the four Evangelists. I will therefore copy
part of a note I have on the subject, though see it is unfortunately
without any other reference than the _name_ of the author.
After giving _Jonathan's_ opinion of the four principal or legionary
standards among the Israelites, Sir T. Brown adds:
"But Abenegra and others, besides the colours of the field, do
set down other charges,--in Reuben's, the form of a man or
mandrake,--in that of Judah, a lion,--in Ephraim's, an ox; in
Dan's, the figure of an eagle. And thus, indeed, the four
figures in the banners of the principal squadrons of Israel are
answerable unto the Church in the vision of Ezekiel, every one
carrying the form of all these.... And conformable hereunto, the
pictures of the Evangelists (whose Gospels are the Christian
banners) are set forth with the addition of a man or angel, an
ox, a lion, and an eagle. And these symbolically represent the
office of angels and ministers of God's will, in whom is
required, understanding as in a man, courage and vivacity as in
a lion, service and ministerial officiousness as in the ox,
expedition or celerity of execution as in the eagle."
J. SANSOM.
_Catacombs and Bone-houses_ (Vol. i. p. 171.).--Part I. of a _History of
the Hundred of Rowell_ by Paul Cypher (published by J. Ginns, Rowell,)
has recently fallen in my way, and as I understand the writer is a
medical gentleman residing in the village (or town), I condense from the
account of the "Bone Caverns," p. 39-42., such particulars as may answer
the Query of Rev. A. Gatty.
The number of skeletons, as is asserted by those who have taken the
trouble to calculate, is 30,000. The vault in which they are deposited
is a long cryptiform structure, with a low groined roof, and the bones
are carefully packed in alternate strata of skulls, arms, legs, and so
forth. They seem to have been discovered by a gravedigger about 150
years since. Nothing is known with certainty respecting the date of this
vast collection. Some conjecture that the remains here deposited are the
consequence of a sanguinary battle in very early times, and profess to
discover peculiarities in the osseous structure, showing a large
proportion of the deceased to have been natives of a distant land; that
all were in the prime of life; and that most of the skulls are
fractured, as though with deadly weapons. Others, again, say they are
the remains of the slain at Naseby.
"I have examined carefully and at leisure the crania, and can
discover none but the mesobreginate skulls common to these
islands.... I have discovered more than one skull, in which the
alveolar sockets were entirely absorbed,--an effect of age
rarely produced under eighty years, I should imagine. And as to
the marks of injury visible on some, they will be attributed, I
think, by the impartial observer, rather to the spade and foot
of the sexton, than the battle-axe and stout arm of the ancient
Briton."
As to the supposition that these relics were brought from Naseby, it is
sufficient to observe that the number of the slain in that engagement
did not exceed one thousand.
"That most of these bodies were lying in the earth for a number
of years is proved, I think, by these several circumstances:
First, a careful examination of the interior of many of the
skulls, shows that roots have vegetated within them, the dry
fibres of which I have often observed; next, the teeth are
nearly all absent, and it is notoriously one of the first
effects of inhumation upon the osseous system, by which the
teeth are loosened; and lastly, we have two sources from which
bodies may have been exhumed and reinterred beneath the mother
church; and those are the Chapel of the Virgin and that moiety
of the original graveyard, which has evidently at some long
distant time, been taken from the church."
Human bones have been dug up in front of Jesus Hospital, to the
south-east of the church-yard. At the eastern extremity of the cavern is
a rude sketch apparently intended to represent the Resurrection.
ARUN.
_Tace Latin for a Candle_ (Vol. i., p. 385).--I am not aware of "Tace is
Latin for a candle" in any earlier book than Swift's _Polite
Conversation_; but it must have been threadbare in his time, or he would
not have inserted it in that great collection of platitudes:--
"_Lord Smart._ Well, but after all, Tom, can you tell me what is
Latin for a goose?
"_Neverout._ O, my Lord, I know that; why, Brandy is Latin for a
goose, and _Tace_ is Latin for a candle."
H. B. C.
_Members for Durham--why none prior to_ 1673-4 (Vol. ii., p.
8.).--Because Durham was an episcopal palatine, which had jurisdictions,
and even, in olden times, a Parliament of its own. Several bills were
brought in between 1562 and 1673, to give M.P.'s to both county and
city; but an act was only passed in the latter year. The first writ was
moved, it is said, in 1675; but the first return is dated in Whitworth,
1679. (Oldfield's _Parl. Hist._, iii. 425.)
C.
"_A Frog he would_," _&c._--I am in my sixth decade, and pretty far on
in it too; and I can recollect this jingle as long as I can recollect
anything. It formed several stanzas (five or six at least), and had {46}
its own tune. There was something peculiarly attractive and humorous to
the unformed ear and mind in the ballad, (for as a ballad it was sung,)
as I was wont to hear it. I can therefore personally vouch for its
antiquity being half a century. But, beyond this, I must add, that my
early days being spent in a remote provincial village (high up the
Severn), and the ballad, as I shall call it, being _universally known_,
I cannot help inferring that it is of considerable antiquity. Anything
of then recent date could hardly be both generally known and universally
popular in such a district and amongst such a people. Whether it had a
local origin there or not, it would be difficult to say but I never
heard it spoken of as having any special application to local persons or
affairs. Of course there are only two ways of accounting for its
popularity,--either its application, or its jingle of words and tune. If
I may venture a "guess," it would be, that it had originally a political
application, in some period when all men's minds were turned to some one
great politico-religious question; and this, not unlikely, the period of
the Cavaliers and Roundheads. We know how rife this kind of warfare was
in that great struggle. Or again, it might be as old as the Reformation
itself, and have a reference to Henry the Eighth and Anna Boleyn.
"The frog he would a-wooing go,
Whether his mother would let him or no,"
would not inaptly represent the "wide-mouthed waddling frog"
Henry--"mother church,"--and the "gleesome Anna" would be the "merry
mouse in the mill." It may be worth the while of gentlemen conversant
with the ballad literature and political squibs of both the periods here
indicated, to notice any traces in other squibs and ballads of the same
imagery that is employed in this. It would also be desirable, if
possible, to get a complete copy of these verses. My own memory can only
supply a part, or rather disjointed parts: but I think it probable that
it may be easily obtained by persons resident in the counties bordering
on North Wales, especially in Shropshire or Herefordshire, and perhaps
in Cheshire or Staffordshire.
I should not have thought of troubling you with my own reminiscences as
an answer to an antiquarian question, but for the fact that even these
go further back than any information that has been sent you.
T. S. D.
Shooter's Hill, June 7.
_Cavell_ (Vol. i., p. 473.).--To cast cavells, _i.e._ to cast lots, is
in constant every-day use in Northumberland. The Teutonic derivation
given is correct.
W.
_To endeavour Ourselves--The Homilies._--Perhaps your correspondents G.
P. (Vol. i., p 125.), and C. I. R. (Vol. i., p. 285) may, from the
following passages, conclude that "ourselves", is the object of the verb
"endeavour."
"He did this to this intent, 'that the whole clergy, in the mean
space, might apply themselves to prayer, not doubting but that
all his loving subjects would occupy themselves to God's honour,
and so endeavour themselves that they may be more ready,'" &c.
&c.--Heylin, _Hist. of the Reform. from an Act passed in Edward
VI.'s Reign_, 1548.
"Let us endeavour ourselves, both inwardly in our hearts, and
also outwardly with our bodies, diligently to exercise this
godly exercise of fasting."--_Homily on Fasting_ (end).
"Only show yourselves thankful in your lives, determine with
yourselves to refuse and avoid all such things in your
conversation as should offend his eyes of mercy. Endeavour
yourselves that way to rise up again, which way ye fell into the
well or pit of sin."--_Hom. on the Resur._ (near the end).
"From henceforth let us endeavour ourselves to walk in a new
life."--_Hom. of Repentance_, Pt. 2. (end).
There are many other similar passages in the "Homilies". I have also
noticed the following Latimer's Sermons:--
"The devil, with no less diligence, endeavoureth himself to let
and stop our prayers."--Vol. i. p. 829. Parker Soc. edit.
"Every patron, when he doth not diligently endeavor himself to
place a good and godly man in his benefice, shall make answer
before God."--Vol. ii. p. 28.
"Let them endeavour themselves." [I have forgotten the reference
in this case, but it is in vol. i.]
"How much, then, should we endeavour ourselves to make ready
towards this day, when it shall not be a money matter, but a
soul matter." (ii. p. 62)