NOTES AND QUERIES:
A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES,
GENEALOGISTS, ETC.
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"When found, make a note of."--CAPTAIN CUTTLE.
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NO. 40.] SATURDAY, AUGUST 3, 1850. [Price Threepence Stamped Edition 4d.
* * * * * {145}
CONTENTS.
NOTES:--Page
Translations of Juvenal--Wordsworth
Dedication to Milton by Antonio Malatesti, by S.W. Singer
Pulteney's Ballad of "The Honest Jury," by C.H. Cooper
Notes on Milton
Folk Lore:--High Spirits considered a Sign of impending
Calamity or Death--Norfolk Popular Rhymes--Throwing
Salt over the Shoulder--Charming for
Warts
Notes on College Salting; Turkish Spy; Dr. Dee: from
"Letters from the Bodleian, &c.," 2 vols. 1813
Minor Notes:--Alarm--Taking a Wife on Trial--Russian
Language--Pistol and Bardolph--Epigram
from Buchanan
QUERIES:--
Calvin and Servetus
Etymological Queries
Minor Queries:--Countess of Desmond--Noli me tangere--Lines
in Milton's "Penseroso"--"Mooney's
Goose"--Translation of the Philobiblon--Achilles
and the Tortoise--Dominicals--Yorkshire Dales
REPLIES:--
Tobacco in the East
"Job's Luck," by Coleridge, by J. Bruce
Eccius Dedolatus
Replies to Minor Queries:--Hiring of Servants--George
Herbert--Lord Delamere--Execution of
Charles I.--Charade--Discursus Modestus--"Rapido
contrarius Orbi"--"Isabel" and "Elizabeth"--Hanap--Cold
Harbour
MISCELLANEOUS:--
Notes on Books, Sales, Catalogues, &c.
Books and Odd Volumes Wanted
Notices to Correspondents
Advertisements
* * * * *
NOTES.
TRANSLATIONS OF JUVENAL--WORDSWORTH.
Mr. Markland's ascertainment (Vol. i., p. 481.) of the origin of
Johnson's "From China to Peru," where, however, I sincerely believe our
great moralist intended not so much to borrow the phrase as to profit by
its temporary notoriety and popularity, reminds me of a conversation,
many years since, with the late William Wordsworth, at which I happened
to be present, and which now derives an additional interest from the
circumstance of his recent decease.
Some mention had been made of the opening lines of the tenth satire of
Juvenal:
"Omnibus in terris, quae sunt a Gadibus usque
Auroram, et Gangem pauci dignoscere possunt
Vera bona, atque illis multum diversa, remotâ
Erroris nebulâ."
"Johnson's translation of this," said Wordsworth, "is extremely bad:
"'Let Observation, with extensive view,
Survey mankind from China to Peru.'
"And I do not know that Gifford's is at all better:
"'In every clime, from Ganges' distant stream,
To Gades, gilded by the western beam,
Few, from the clouds of mental error free,
In its true light, or good or evil see.'
"But", he added, musing, "what is Dryden's? Ha! I have it:
"'_Look round the habitable world_, how few
Know their own good, or, knowing it, pursue.'
"This is indeed the language of a poet; it is better than the original."
The great majority of your readers will without doubt, consider this
compliment to Dryden well and justly bestowed, and his version, besides
having the merit of classical expression, to be at once concise and
poetical. And pity it is that one who could form so true an estimate of
the excellences of other writers, and whose own powers, it will be
acknowledged, were of a very high order, should so often have given us
reason to regret his puerilities and absurdities. This language,
perhaps, will sound like treason to many; but permit me to give an
instance in which the late poet-laureate seems to have admitted (which
he did not often do) that he was wrong.
In the first edition of the poem of Peter Bell (the genuine, and not the
pseudo-Peter), London, 8vo. 1819, that personage sets to work to bang
the poor ass, the result of which is this, p. 36.:
"Among the rocks and winding crags--
Among the mountains far away--
Once more the ass did lengthen out
More ruefully an endless shout,
The long dry see-saw of his horrible bray."{146}
After remarks on Peter's strange state of mind when saluted by this
horrible music, and describing him as preparing to seize the ass by the
neck, we are told his purpose was interrupted by something he just then
saw in the water, which afterwards proves to be a corpse. The reader is,
however, first excited and disposed to expect something horrible by the
following startling conjectures:--
"Is it the moon's distorted face?
The ghost-like image of a cloud?
Is it a gallows these pourtrayed?
Is Peter of himself afraid?
Is it a coffin--or a shroud?
"A grisly idol hewn in stone?
Or imp from witch's lap let fall?
Or a gay ring of shining fairies,
Such as pursue their brisk vagaries
In sylvan bower or haunted hall?
"Is it a fiend that to a stake
Of fire his desperate self is tethering?
Or stubborn spirit doomed to yell
In solitary ward or cell,
Ten thousand miles from all his brethren."
"Is it a party in a parlour?
Cramm'd just as they on earth revere cramm'd--
Some sipping punch, some sipping tea,
But, as you by their faces see,
All silent and all damn'd!
"A throbbing pulse the gazer hath," &c.
Part i., pp. 33, 39.
This last stanza was omitted in subsequent editions. Indeed, it is not
very easy to imagine what it could possibly mean, or how any stretch of
imagination could connect it with the appearance presented by a body in
the water.
To return, however, from this digression to the subject of translations.
In the passage already quoted, the reader has been presented with a
proof how well Dryden could compress the words, without losing the
sense, of his author. In the following, he has done precisely the
reverse.
"Lectus erat Codro Procula minor."--_Juv. Sat._ iii. 203.
"Codrus had but one bed, so short to boot,
That his short wife's short legs hung dangling out!"
In the year 1801 there was published at Oxford, in 12mo., a translation
of the satires of Juvenal in verse, by Mr. William Rhodes, A.M.,
superior Bedell of Arts in that University, which he describes in his
title-page as "nec verbum verbo." There are some prefatory remarks
prefixed to the third satire in which he says:
"The reader, I hope, will neither contrast the following, nor the tenth
satire, with the excellent imitation of a mighty genius; though similar,
they are upon a different plan. I have not adhered rigidly to my author,
compared with him; and if that were not the case, I am very sensible how
little they are calculated to undergo so fiery an ordeal."
And speaking particularly of the third satire, he adds:
"This part has been altered, as already mentioned, to render it more
applicable to London: nothing is to be looked for in it but the
ill-humour of the emigrant."
The reader will perhaps recollect, that in the opening of the third
satire, Juvenal represents himself about to take leave of his friends
Umbritius, who is quitting Rome for Canæ: they meet on the road (the Via
Appia), and turning aside, for greater freedom of conversation, into the
Vallis Egeriæ, the sight of the fountain there, newly decorated with
foreign marbles, leads to an expression of regret that it was no longer
suffered to remain in the simplicity of the times of Numa:
"In valem Egeriæ descendimus, et speluncas
Dissimiles veris. Quanto præstantius esset
Numen aquæ, viridi si margine clauderet undas
Herba, nec ingenuum violarent marmora tophum?"
_Sat._ iii. 17.
In imitating this passage, Mr. Rhodes, finding no fons Egeriæ, no Numa,
and perhaps no Muses in London, transfers his regrets from a rivulet to
a navigable stream; and makes the whole ridiculous, by suggesting that
the Thames would look infinitely better if it flowed through grass, as
every ordinary brook would do.
"Next he departed to the river side,
Crowded with buildings, tow'ring in their pride.
How much, much better would this river look,
Flowing 'twixt grass, like every other brook,
If native sand its tedious course beguil'd,
Nor any foreign ornament defil'd."
W (1.)
* * * * *
DEDICATION TO MILTON BY ANTONIO MALATESTI.
Dr. Todd, in his _Life of Milton_, ed. 1826, mentions the accidental
discovery of a manuscript by Antonio Malatesti, bearing the following
title:
"La Tina Equivoci Rusticali di Antonio Malatesti, c[=o]posti nella sua
Villa di Taiano il Settembre dell' Anno 1637. Sonetti Cinqu[=a]nta.
Dedicati al' III'mo Signore et Padrone Oss'mo Signor Giovanni Milton,
Nobil' Inghilese."
It seems that this MS. had been presented, together with Milton's works,
to the Academy della Crusca, by Mr. Brand Hollis, but had by some chance
again found its way to England, and was sold by auction at Evans's some
short time before Mr. Todd published this second edition of Milton's
Life.
I know not if there has been any further notice of this MS., which is
interesting as a monument of the respect and attention our great poet
received from the most distinguished literary men of Italy at the time
of his visit, and I should be glad if any of your correspondents can
indicate its existence, {147} and the place where it is now preserved.
When it was on sale, I had permission to copy the title and a few of the
sonnets, which were such as we could not imagine would have given
pleasure to the chaste mind of Milton; each of them containing, as the
title indicates, an _équivoque_, which would bear an obscene sense, yet
very ingeniously wrapped up. The first sonnet opens thus:--
"Queste Sonnetti, o Tina, ch' i' hó composto,
Me gl' há dettati una Musa buffona,
Cantando d' improviso, alla Carlona,
Sul suono, spinto dal oalor del Mosto."
The second may serve to show the nature of the _équivoque_:--
"Tina, I' so legger bene, e rilevato
La Storia di Liombrune, e Josafatte,
Se ben, per esser noto in queste fratte
Sotto il Maestro mai non sono stato.
"E il lere del dificio m' ha giurato,
Quand' egli ha visto le Poesie ch' i' hó fatte,
Ch' elle son belle, e i piedi in terra batte,
E vuol ch' io mi sia in Pisa adottorato.
"Io canto, quand' io son ben ben satollo,
Sul Chitarrin con voce si sottile,
Ch'io ne disgrado insien Maestro Apollo.
"Vien un poco da me, Tina gentile,
Che s' egli avvien che tu mi segga in collo,
M' sentirai ben tosto alzar lo stile."
Antonio Malatesti was a man of mark in his time, being distinguished for
his talent as an improvisatore. Among his friends were Galileo,
Coltellini, and Valerio Chimentelli, who have all commendatory poems
prefixed to Malatesti's "Sphinx," a collection of poetical enigmas,
which has been frequently reprinted. Beside his poetical talent, he
studied astronomy, probably under Galileo; and painting, in which he was
a pupil of Lorenzo Lippi, author of the "Malmantile Raqquistato," who
thus designates him under his academical name of _Amostante Latoni_
(canto i. stanza 61.):--
"E General di tutta questa Mandra
Amostante Laton Poeta insigne.
Canta improviso, come un Calandra:
Stampa gli Enigmi, 'Strologia, e Dipigne."
Malatesti was a member of the Academy degli Apatisti, of which Milton's
friends Coltellini and Carlo Dati had been the principal founders. The
house of the latter was a court of the Muses, and it was at the evening
parties there that all who were distinguished for science or literature
assembled: "Era in Firenze la sua Casa la Magione de' Letterati,
particolarmente Oltramontani, da lui ricevuti in essa, e trattati con
ogni sorta di gentilezza."[1] Heinsius, Menage, Chapelain, and other
distinguished foreigners were members of this academy; and it is more
than probable that, were its annals consulted, our poet's name would
also be found there.
S.W. SINGER.
Mickleham, July 15, 1850.
[Footnote 1: Salvino Salvini Fasti Consolari dell' Academia Fiorentina,
1717, p. 548. Milton's stay of two months at Florence must have been to
him a period of pure enjoyment, and seems to have been always remembered
with delight:--"Illa in urbe, quam prae ceteris propter elegantiam cum
linguæ tum ingeniorum semper colui, ad duos circiter menses substiti;
illie multorum et nobilium sanè et doctorum hominum familiaritatem
statim contraxi; quorum etiam privatas academias (qui mos illie cum ad
literas humaniores assiduè frequentavi). Tui enim Jacobe Gaddi, Carole
Dati, Frescobalde, Cultelline, Bonmatthaei, Chimentille Francine,
aliorumque plurium memoriam apud me semper gratam atque jucundam, nulla
dies delebit."--_Defensio Secunda_, p. 96., ed. 1698.]
* * * * *
PULTENEY'S BALLAD OF "THE HONEST JURY."
On the application for a new trial, in the case of The King _against_
William Davies Shipley, Dean of St. Asaph (1784), wherein was raised the
important and interesting question, whether in libel cases the jury were
judges of the law as well as the fact, Lord Mansfield, in giving
judgment, remarked in reference to trials for libel, before Lord
Raymond:
"I by accident (from memory only I speak now) recollect one
where the _Craftsman_ was acquitted; and I recollect it from a
famous, witty, and ingenious ballad that was made at the time by
Mr. Pulteney; and though it is a ballad, I will cite the stanza
I remember from it, because it will show you the idea of the
able men in opposition, and the leaders of the popular party in
those days. They had not an idea of assuming that the jury put
it upon another and much better ground. The stanza I allude to
is this:--
"'For Sir Philip well knows,
That his _innuendos_
Will serve him no longer,
In verse or in prose;
For twelve honest men have decided the cause,
Who are judges of fact, though not judges of laws.'
"It was the admission of the whole of that party; they put it
right; they put it upon the meaning of the _innuendos_; upon
_that_ the jury acquitted the defendant; and they never put up a
pretence of any other power, except when talking to the jury
themselves."
In Howell's _State Trials_ (xxi. 1038.) is a note on this passage. This
note (stated to be from the _Speeches of Hon. Thomas Erskine_) is as
follows:--
"It appears by a pamphlet printed in 1754, that Lord Mansfield
is mistaken. The verse runs thus:--
"'Sir Philip well knows,
That his innuendos
Will serve him no longer in verse or in prose:
For twelve honest men have determined the cause,
_Who are judges alike of the facts and the laws._'"{148}
Lord Campbell, in his _Lives of the Chancellors_ (v. 25.) and _Lives of
the Lord Chief Justices_ (ii. 543.), and Mr. Harris, in his _Life of
Lord Chancellor Hardwicke_ (i. 221.), give the lines as quoted by Lord
Mansfield, with the exception of the last and only important line, which
they give, after the note to Erskine's speeches, as
"Who are judges alike of the facts and the laws."
And Lord Campbell (who refers to _State Trials_, xxi.) says that Lord
Mansfield, in the Dean of St. Asaph's Case, misquoted the lines "to suit
his purpose, or from lapse of memory."
I know not what is the pamphlet referred to as printed in 1754; but on
consulting the song itself, as given in the 5th volume of the
_Craftsman_, 337., and there entitled "The Honest Jury; or, Caleb
Triumphant. To the tune of 'Packington's Pound,'" I find not only that
Lord Mansfield's recollection of the stanza he referred to was
substantially correct, but that the opinion in support of which he cited
it is expressed in another stanza besides that which he quoted. The
first verse of the song is as follows:
"Rejoice, ye good writers, your pens are set free;
Your thoughts and the _press_ are at full liberty;
For your _king_ and your _country_ you safely may write,
You may say _black_ is _black_, and prove _white_ is _white_;
Let no pamphleteers
Be concerned for their ears;
For every man now shall be tried by his _peers_.
_Twelve good honest men_ shall decide in each cause,
And be judges of _fact_, tho' not judges of _laws_."
In the third verse are the lines Lord Mansfield cited from memory:--
"For Sir Philip well knows
That _innuen-does_
Will serve him no longer in verse or in prose;
Since _twelve honest men_ have decided the cause,
And were judges of _fact_, tho' not judges of _laws_."
Lord Campbell and Mr. Harris both make another mistake with reference to
this ballad which I may perhaps be excused if I notice. They say that it
was composed on an unsuccessful prosecution of the _Craftsman_ by Sir
Philip Yorke, and that this unsuccessful prosecution was subsequent to
the successful prosecution of that paper on December 3rd, 1731. This was
not so: Sir Philip Yorke's unsuccessful prosecution, and to which of
course Pulteney's ballad refers, was in 1729, when Francklin was tried
for printing "The Alcayde of Seville's Speech," and, as the song
indicates, acquitted.
C.H. COOPER.
Cambridge, July 29. 1850.
* * * * *
NOTES ON MILTON.
(Continued from Vol. ii., p. 115)
_Comus._
On l. 8. (G.):--
"After life's fitful fever he sleeps well."
_Macbeth_, iii. 2.
On l. 101. (M.):--
"The bridegroom Sunne, who late the Earth had spoused,
Leaves his star-_chamber_; early in the _East_
He shook his sparkling locks."
Fletcher's _Purple Island_ C. ix. St. 1.
On l. 102. (M.):--
"And welcome him and his with _joy and feast_."
Fairfax's _Tasso_, B. i. St. 77.
On l. 155. (D.):--
"For if the sun's bright beams do _blear_ the sight
Of such as fix'dly gaze against his light."
Sylvester's _Du Bartas_. Week i. Day 1.
On l. 162. (G.):--
"Such reasons seeming plausible."
Warners _Albion's England_, p. 155. ed. 1612.
On l. 166. (G.):--
"We are a few of those collected here
That ruder tongues distinguish _villager_."
Beaumont and Fletcher's _Two Noble Kinsmen_, iii. 5.
On l. 215. (G.) "Unblemished" was originally (_Trin. Coll. Cam. MSS._)
written "unspotted," perhaps from Drayton:--
"Whose form unspotted chastity may take,"
On l. 254. (G.) Add to Mr. Warton's note, that after the creation of Sir
Robert Dudley to be Earl of Leicester by Queen Elizabeth in 1564, "He
sat at dinner in his _kirtle_." So says Stow in _Annals_, p. 658. edit.
1633.
On l. 290. (G.):--
"My wrinckl'd face,
Grown _smooth as Hebe's_."
Randolph's _Aristippus_, p. 18. 4to. ed. 1630.
On l. 297. (G.):--
"Of frame more than celestial."
Fletcher's _Purple Island_, C. 6. S. 28. p. 71. ed. 1633.
On l. 331. (G.):--
"Night begins to _muffle up_ the day."
Wither's _Mistresse of Philarete_.
On l. 335. (G.):--
"That whiles thick _darkness_ blots the light,
My thoughts may cast another _night_:
In which _double shade_," &c.
Cartwright's _Poems_, p. 220. ed. 1651.
On l. 345. (G.):--
"Singing to the sounds of _oaten reed_."
_Drummond_, p. 128.
On l. 373. (G.):--
"Virtue gives herself light thro' darkness for to wade."
Spenser's _F. Queene_. {149}
(D.) For what is here finely said, and again beautifully expressed (v.
381.), we may perhaps refer to Ariosto's description of the gems which
form the walls of the castle of Logistilla, or Reason:--
"Che chi l'ha, ovunque sia, sempre che vuole,
Febo (mal grado tuo) si può far giorno."
_Orl. Fur_. x. 60.
On l. 404. (G.):--
"Whiles a puft and _rechlesse_ libertine,
Himselfe the primrose path of dalliance treads,
And _reakes_ not his owne reed."
_Hamlet>_ i. 3.
On l. 405. (G.):--
"Where death and danger _dog_ the heels of worth."
_All's Well that ends Well_, iii. 4.
On l. 421. (M.):--
"Thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just:
And he but naked, though locked up in steel,
Whose conscience with injustice is corrupted."
2 _Henry IV._, iii. 2.
On l. 424. (G.):--
"And now he treads th' _infamous_ woods and downs."
Ph. Fletcher's _Eclog._, i. p. 4. ed. 1633.
On l. 494. (G.) The same sort of compliment occurs in Wither's
_Sheperd's Hunting_. (See _Gentleman's Mag._ for December 1800, p.
1151.)
"Thou wert wont to charm thy flocks;
And among the massy rocks
Hast so cheered me with thy song,
That I have forgot my wrong."
He adds:--
"Hath some churle done thee a spight?
Dost thou miss a lamb to-night?"
_Juvenilia_, p. 417. ed. 12mo. 1633.
On l. 535. (M.):--
"Not powerful Circe with her _Hecate rites_."
Ph. Fletcher's _Poetical Miscellanies_, p. 65. ed. 1633.
On l. 544. (D.):--
"The soft sweet moss shall be thy bed
With crawling woodbine overspread."
Herrick's _Hesperides_, p. 223.
On l. 554 (G.):--
"And flattery to his sinne _close curtain_ draws."
Ph. Fletcher's _Purple Island_, p. 112. ed. 1633.
On l. 635. (G.):--
"_His clouted shoon_ were nailed for fear of wasting."
Ph. Fletcher's _Purple Island_, p. 113.
On l. 707. (G.) A passage in the Spanish Tragedy confirms Mr. Warton's
reasoning--
"After them doth Hymen hie as fast,
_Clothed in sable_ and a saffron robe."
_Old Plays_, vol. iii. p. 214. ed. 1780.
On l. 734. (G.):--
"Saw you not a lady come this way on a sable horse
_studded with stars_ of white?"
Beaumont and Fletcher's _Philaster_, Act iv.
On l. 752. (G.):--
"A sweet _vermilian tincture_ stained
The bride's fair cheek."
Quarles' _Argalus and Parthenia_, p. 118. ed. 1647.
On l. 812. (G.):--
"_Bathed_ in worldly _bliss_."
_Drayton_, p. 586. ed. 1753.
"The fortunate who bathe in floods of joys."
E. of Sterline's _Works_, p. 251. ed. 1637.
On l. 834. (D.):--
"The lily-wristed morn."
The Country Life, Herrick's _Hesperides_, p. 269.
(G.):--
"Reacht him her ivory hand."
Ph. Fletcher's _Purple Island_, p. 117.
On l. 853. (G.) Compare this line of Drayton in his _Baron's Warrs_:--
"Of gloomy magicks and benumbing charms."
Vol. i. p. 110. ed. 1753.
On l. 861. (G.):--
"Through whose _translucent_ sides much light is born."
Ph. Fletcher's _Pur. Island_, C. 5. St. 31. p. 54.
On l. 862. (M.):--
"All hundred nymphs, that in his rivers dwell,
About him flock, with water-lilies crowned."
Ph. Fletcher's _Poet. Miscell._, p 67. ed. 1633.
On l. 863. (G.) The use of Ambergris, mentioned in Warton's note,
appears from Drayton, v. ii. p. 483.:--
"Eat capons cooked at fifteen crowns apiece,
With their fat bellies stuft with ambergrise."
On l. 886. (G.):--
"The wealth of Tarsus nor the _rocks of pearl_,
_That pave the court of Neptune_, can weigh down
That virtue."
Beaumont and Fletcher's _Philaster_, Act iv.
On l. 894. (G.):--
"Beset at th' end with emeralds and turches."
Lingua iv. 4. _Old Plays_, v. 5. p. 202. ed. 1780.
On l. 924. (M.) Mr. Warton says this votive address was suggested by
that of Amoret in the _Faithful Shepherdess_; but observes that "the
form and subject, rather than the imagery, is copied." In the following
maledictory address from Ph. Fletcher's 2nd eclogue, st. 23., the
imagery is precisely similar to Milton's, the good and evil being made
to consist in the fulness or decrease of the water, the clearness or
muddiness of the stream, and the nature of the plants flowing on its
banks:--
"But thou, proud Chame, which thus hast wrought me spite,
Some greater river drown thy hatefull name;
Let never myrtle on thy banks delight;
But willows pale, the leads of spite and blame,
Crown thy ungratefull shores with scorn and shame: {150}
Let dirt and mud thy lazie waters seize,
Thy weeds still grow, thy waters still decrease;
Nor let thy wretched love to Gripus ever cease."
P. 13. ed. 1633.
See also the "Masque," in Beaumont and Fletcher's _Maid's Tragedy_, Act
I. vol. i. p. 17. edit. 1750.
On l. 936. (G.):--
"And here and there were pleasant arbors pight,
And shadie seats and sundry flowring banks."
Spenser's _F. Queen_, vol. ii. p. 146. ed. 1596.
On l. 958. (G.):--
"How now! back friends! shepherd, go off a little."
_As You Like It_, iii. 2.
On l. 989. (D.) See Bethsabe's address to Zephyr in tire opening of
Peele's _David and Bethsabe_:--
"And on thy wings bring delicate perfumes."
On l. 995. (D.):--
"Her gown should be goodliness
Well ribbon'd with renown,
_Purfil'd_ with pleasure in ilk place
Furr'd with fine fashioun."
Robert Henryson's _Garment of Good Ladies_. See Ellis' _Spec. of Early
Eng. Poets_, i. 362.
J.F.M.
* * * * *
FOLK LORE.
_High Spirits considered a Sign of impending Calamity or Death_ (Vol.
ii., p. 84.).--
"_Westmoreland_. Health to my lord, and gentile cousin, Mowbray.
_Mowbray_. You wish me health in very happy season;
For I am, on the sudden, something ill.
_Archbishop of York_. Against ill chances, men are ever merry;
But heaviness foreruns the good event.
_West_. Therefore be merry, cos; since sudden sorrow
Serves to say thus,--Some good thing comes to-morrow.
_Arch_. Believe me, I am passing light in spirit.
_Mow_. So much the worse, if your own rule be true."
Second Part of _King Henry IV._, Act iv. Sc. 2.
In the last act of _Romeo and Juliet_, Sc. 1, Romeo comes on, saying,--
"If I may trust the flattering eye of sleep,
My dreams presage some joyful news at hand:
My bosom's lord sits lightly on his throne;
And, all this day, an unacustom'd spirit
Lifts me above the ground with cheerful thoughts."
Immediately a messenger comes in to announce Juliet's death.
In Act iii. Sc. 2., of _King Richard III._, Hastings is represented as
rising in the morning in unusually high spirits. This idea runs through
the whole scene, which is too long for extraction. Before dinner-time he
is beheaded.
X.Z.
_Norfolk Popular Rhymes_.--On looking over an old newspaper, I stumbled
on the following rhymes, which are there stated to be prevalent in the
district in which these parishes are situated, viz. between Norwich and
Yarmouth:--
"Halvergate hares, Reedham rats,
Southwood swine, and Cantley cats;
Acle asses, Moulton mules,
Beighton bears, and Freethorpe fools."
They seem to proceed simply on the alliterative principle mentioned by
J.M.B. (Vol. i., p. 475.) as common to many popular proverbs, &c. Two
others I subjoin from my own recollection, which differ in this
particular:--
"Blickling flats, Aylsham fliers,
Marsham peewits, and Hevingham liars."
These are four villages on the road between Norwich and Cromer. A third
couplet alludes merely to the situation of a group of villages near the
sea-coast,--
"Gimingham, Trimingham, Knapton, and Trunch,
Northrepps and Southrepps, hang all in a bunch."
E.S.T.
_Throwing Salt over the Shoulder_.--This custom I have frequently
observed, of taking a pinch of salt without any remark, and flinging it
over the shoulder. I should be glad to know its origin.
E.S.T.
_Charming for Warts_.--In Vol. i., p. 19., a correspondent asks if the
custom of "charming for warts" prevails in England.
A year or two ago I was staying in Somersetshire, and having a wart
myself, was persuaded to have it "charmed." The village-charmer was
summoned; he first cut off a slip of elder-tree, and made a notch in it
for every wart. He then rubbed the elder against each, strictly
enjoining me to think no more about it, as if I looked often at the
warts the charm would fail.
In about a week the warts had altogether disappeared, to the delight of
the operator.
N.A.B.
* * * * *
NOTES ON COLLEGE SALTING; TURKISH SPY; DR. DEE; FROM "LETTERS FROM THE
BODLEIAN, &c." 2 VOLS. 1813.
Having been lately reading through this interesting collection, I have
"noted" some references to subjects which have been discussed in your
columns.
1. _College Salting. Salt at Eton Montem_ (Vol. i., pp. 261. 306. 321.
384. 390. 492.).--I am not quite clear as to the connection between
these two subjects: but an identity of origin is not improbable. A
letter from Mr. Byrom to Aubrey, "On the Custom of Salting at Eton,"
Nov. 15. 1693, is in vol. ii. p. 167.: {151}
"I could send you a long answer to your queries, but have not
the confidence to do it; for all that I can say was only heard
from others when I was at school at Eton, and if I should depend
upon that, perhaps I should make too bold with truth. 'Twas then
commonly said that the college held some lands by the custom of
salting; but having never since examined it, I know not how to
account for it. One would think, at first view, considering the
foundation was designed for a nursery of the Christian religion,
and has not been in being much above 250 years, that it is not
likely any remains of the Gentiles, relating to their
sacrifices, should in so public a manner be suffered in it;
however, I cannot but own with those that understand anything of
antiquity, that the Christians very early assumed some rites of
the heathens; and probably it might be done with this
design,--that the nations, seeing a religion which in its
outward shape was something like their own, might be the sooner
pursuaded to embrace it. To be free, sir, with you, I am apt to
believe, for the honour of that society of which I was once an
unworthy member, that the annual custom of salting alludes to
that saying of our Saviour to His disciples, '_Ye are the salt
of the earth_;' for as salt draws up all that matter that tends
to putrefaction, so it is a symbol of our doing the like in a
spiritual state, by taking away all natural corruption.... If
this will not please, why may it not denote that wit and
knowledge by which boys dedicated to learning ought to
distinguish themselves. You know what _sal_ sometimes signifies
among the best Roman authors: _Publius Scipio omnes sale
facetiisque superabat_, Cic.; and Terent, _Qui habet salem qui
in te est_."
The Editor has a note on this letter:--
"There have been various conjectures relative to the origin of
this custom. Some have supposed that it arose from an ancient
practice among the friars of selling consecrated salt and
others, with more probability, from the ceremony of the _bairn_
or _boy_-bishop, as it is said to have been formerly a part of
the Montem-celebration for prayers to be read by a boy dressed
in the clerical habit."
A letter from Dr. Tanner to Mr. Hearne on _Barne_ or _Boy-bishops_, is
in vol. i., p. 302.
2. _The Turkish Spy_ (Vol. i., p. 324.; vol. ii., p. 12.).--The letter
or the authorship of this work quoted by DR. RIMBAULT from the Bodleian
MSS., is printed in vol. i. p. 233.; and I observe that DR. R. has
incorporated in his communication the Editor's note on the passage.
3. _Dr. Dee_ (Vol. i., pp. 216. 284.).--A letter about Dr. Dee from Mr.
Ballard to T. Hearne occurs in vol. ii. p. 89. It does not throw light
on the question of why Dr. Dee left Manchester College? There are also
notes for a life of Dee among Aubrey's _Lives_, appended to these
_Letters_ (vol. ii. p. 310.) Both letters and notes refer to original
sources of information for Dee's Life.
CH.
* * * * *
MINOR NOTES.
_Alarm_.--A man is indicted for striking at the Queen, with intent
(among other things) to _alarm_ her Majesty. It turns out that the very
judge has forgotten the legal (which is also the military) meaning of
the word. An alarm is originally the signal to arm: Query, Is it not
formed from the cry _à l'arme_, which in modern times is _aux armes_?
The judge said that from the courage of her family, most likely the
Queen was not alarmed, meaning, not frightened. But the illegal intent
to alarm merely means the intent to make another think that it is
necessary to take measures of defence or protection. When an _alarm_ is
sounded, the soldier who is _not_ alarmed is the one who would be held
to be frightened.
M.
_Taking a Wife on Trial_.--The following note was made upon reading _The
Historical and Genealogical Account of the Clan of Maclean_, by a
Seneachie, published by Smith, Elder, and Co., London, 1838. It may be
thought worthy of a corner amongst the Notes on Folk Lore, which form so
curious and entertaining a portion of the "NOTES AND QUERIES."
In the beginning of the year 1608 a commission, consisting of the
Archbishop of Glasgow, the Bishop of the Isles (Andrew Knox), Andrew
Stewart, Lord Ochiltree, and Sir James Hay of Kingask, proceeded to the
Isles with power to summon the chiefs to a conference, for the purpose
of intimating to them the measures in contemplation by the government. A
meeting for this purpose was held at Aross Castle, one of the seats of
Maclean, in Mull, at which the principal barons and heads of houses
attended.
The regulations contemplated had for their object the introduction of an
additional number of pious divines, who were to be provided for out of
the lands of the great island proprietors; the abolishing a certain
remarkable custom which till then prevailed, namely, that of taking a
wife on approbation, or, in plain intelligible terms, _on trial_!
The following are two examples recorded of this singular custom.
John Mac-Vic Ewen, fourth laird of Ardgour, had _handfasted_ (as it was
called) with a daughter of Mac Ian of Ardnamurchan, whom he had taken on
a promise of marriage, if she pleased him. At the expiration of two
years he sent her home to her father; but his son by her, the gallant
John of Invorscaddel, a son of Maclean of Ardgour, celebrated in the
history of the Isles, was held to be an illegitimate offspring by virtue
of the "handfast ceremony."
Another instance is recorded of a Macneil of Borra having for several
years enjoyed the society of a lady of the name of Maclean on the same
principle; but his offspring by her were deprived {152} of their
inheritance by the issue of his subsequent marriage with a lady of the
Clanrannald family.
These decisions no doubt tended to the abolition of a custom or
principle so subversive of marriage and of the legitimacy of offspring.
J.M.G.
Worcester, July 19.
_Russian Language_.--A friend of mine, about to go to Russia, wrote to
me some time since, to ask if he could get a _Russian grammar in
English, or any English books bearing on the language_. I told him I did
not think there were any; but would make inquiry. Dr. Bowring, in his
_Russian Anthology_, states as a remarkable fact, that the first Russian
grammar ever published was published in England. It was entitled _H.W.
Ludolfi Grammatica Russica quæ continet et Manuductionem quandum ad
Grammaticam Slavonicam_. Oxon. 1696. The Russian grammar next to this,
but published in its own language, was written by the great Lomonosov,
the father of Russian poetry, and the renovator of his mother tongue: I
know not the year, but it was about the middle of the last century. I
have a German translation of this grammar "Von Johann Lorenz
Stuvenhagen: St. Petersburgh, 1764." Grotsch, Jappe, Adelung, &c., have
written on the Russian language. Jappe's grammar, Dr. Bowring says, is
the best he ever met with. I must make a query here with regard to Dr.
Bowring's delightful and highly interesting _Anthologies_. I have his
Russian, Dutch, and Spanish _Anthologies_: _Did he ever publish any
others_? I have not met with them. I know he contemplated writing
translations from Polish, Servian, Hungarian, Finnish, Lithonian, and
other poets.
Jarltzberg.
_Pistol and Bardolph_.--I am glad to be able to transfer to your pages a
Shakspearian note, which I met with in a periodical now defunct. It
appears from an old MS. in the British Museum, that amongst canoniers
serving in Normandy in 1436, were "Wm. Pistail--R. Bardolf." Query, Were
these common English names, or did these identical canoniers transmit a
traditional fame, good or bad, to the time of Shakspeare, in song or
story?
If this is a well-known Query, I should be glad to be referred to a
solution of it, if not, I leave it for inquiry.
G.H.B.
EPIGRAM FROM BUCHANAN.
Doletus writes verses and wonders--ahem--When there's nothing in
_him_, that there's nothing in _them_.
J.O.W.H.
* * * * *
QUERIES.
CALVIN AND SERVETUS.
The fate of Servetus has always excited the deepest commiseration. His
death was a judicial crime, the rank offence of religious pride,
personal hatred, and religious fanaticism. It borrowed from superstition
its worst features, and offered necessity the tyrant's plea for its
excuse. Every detail of such events is of great interest. For by that
immortality of mind which exists for ever as History, or through the
agency of those successive causes which still link us to it by their
effects, we are never separated from the Past. There is also an
eloquence in immaterial things which appeals to the heart through all
ages. Is there a man who would enter unmoved the room in which
Shakspeare was born, in which Dante dwelt, or see with indifference the
desk at which Luther wrote, the porch beneath which Milton sat, or Sir
Isaac Newton's study? So also the possession of a book once their own,
still more of the MS. of a work by which great men won enduring fame,
written in a great cause, for which they struggled and for which they
suffered, seems to efface the lapse of centuries. We feel present before
them. They are before us as living witnesses. Thus we see Servetus as,
alone and on foot, he arrived at Geneva in 1553; the lake and the little
inn, the "Auberge de la Rose," at which he stopped, reappear pictured by
the influence of local memory and imagination. From his confinement in
the old prison near St. Peter's, to the court where he was accused,
during the long and cruel trial, until the fatal eminence of Champel,
every event arises before us, and the air is peopled with thick coming
visions of the actors and sufferer in the dreadful scene. Who that has
read the account of his death has not heard, or seemed to hear, that
shriek, so high, so wild, alike for mercy and of dread despair, which
when the fire was kindled burst above through smoke and flame,--"that
the crowd fell back with a shudder!" Now it strikes me, an original MS.
of the work for which he was condemned still exists; and I, thinking
that others may feel the interest I have tried to sketch in its
existence, will now state the facts of the case, and lay my authorities
before your readers.
"We condemn you, said the council, Michael Servetus, to be bound
and led to Champel, where you are to be fastened to a stake, and
burnt alive together with your book, as well the printed as the
MS."
"About midday he was led to the stake. An iron chain encompassed
his body; on his head was placed a crown of plaited straw and
leaves strewed with sulphur, to assist in suffocating him. At
his girdle were suspended his printed books; and the MS. he had
sent to Calvin."
This MS. had been completed in 1546, and sent
to Geneva for his opinion. Calvin, in a letter to
Farel says:
"Servetus wrote to me lately, and accompanied his letter with a
long volume _of his insanities_."
This long volume was the MS. of the "Restitutio Christianismi," now
ready for the press. We {153} have seen that it was sent to Calvin. It
was never returned, but produced in evidence, and burnt with him at the
stake. Nevertheless, he either possessed another copy or took the pains
of writing it afresh, and thus the work was secretly printed at Vienna,
at the press of Balshazar Arnoullet in 1553. Of this edition, those at
Frankfort were burnt at the instance of Calvin; at Geneva, Robert
Stephens sacrificed all the copies which had come into his hands; so
that of an edition of one thousand, it is said only six copies were
preserved. These facts I owe to the excellent Life of Calvin by Mr. T.H.
Dyer, recently published by Mr. Murray. Now does the following MS. bear
relation to that described as recopied by Servetus, from which Arnoullet
printed? or is it the first rough sketch? Can any of your readers say
into what collection it passed?
The extract is from the Catalogue of the Library of Cisternay Dufay, by
Gabriel Martin, Paris, 8vo. 1725, being lot 764., p. 98., and was sold
for 176 livres.
"Librorum Serveti de Trinitate Codex MS. autographus. In fronte
libri apparet note quæ sequitur, manu ipsius defuncti D. du Fay
exarata.
"Forsan ipsius auctoris autographus Codex hic MS. qui fuit
percelebris Bibliopolæ Basiliensis Coelii Horatii Curionis.
Videtur prima conceptio (vulgò l'Esquisse, en termes de
Peinture) Libri valdè famigerati Mich. Serveti, a Joanne Calvino
cum ipso Serveto combusti, cui Titulus, _Christianismi
Restitutio, hoc est totius Ecclesiæ Apostolicæ ad sua limina
Vocatio_, &c. &c., typis mandati anno 1554, Viennæ Allobrogum,
8vo. pagg. 734," concluding with an anecdote of the rarity of
the volume.
There may be some to whom these "Notes" may be of use, others to whom a
reply to the "Queries" may have interest, and so I send them to you.
Such MSS. are of great historical importance.
S.H.
Athenæum, July 26.
* * * * *
ETYMOLOGICAL QUERIES.
Any remarks on the meaning and derivation of the following words, will
be thankfully received.
_Rykelot_.--A magpie?
_Berebarde_.--"In the fever or the _Berebarde_."
_Wrusum_, or _Wursum_.--"My wounds that were healed gather new _wrusum_,
and begin to corrupt."
_Deale_.--Placed always between two sentences without any apparent
connection with either of them. Is it an abbreviation of "Dieu le sait?"
_Sabraz_.--"He drinks bitter _sabraz_ to recover his health."
_Heteneste_.--"Inclosed _hetenest_ in a stone coffin or tomb."
_Schunche_.--"Schunche away."
_I-menbred_.--"A girdle _i-menbred_."
_Blodbendes_ of silk.
_Hesmel_.--"Let their _hesmel_ be high _istiled_, al without broach."
_Irspille_.--"Wear no iron, nor haircloth, nor _irspilles_ felles."
J. Mn.
* * * * *
MINOR QUERIES
_Countess of Desmond_.--I should be much obliged if any of your readers
would inform me of the manner of the death of Catherine Fitzgerald,
Countess of Desmond, commonly called the "old Countess of Desmond," who
died in 1626, aged above 140 years,--some say, 162 years. I think I
remember reading, some years since, that she died from a fall from a
cherry-tree, at the age of 144 years. If so, where can the account be
found?
K.
Cheetham Hill.
_Noli me tangere_.--Can any of your readers refer me to pictures upon
the subject of _Noli me tangere_. I want to know what artists have
treated the subject, and where their pictures exist.
B.R.
_Line in Milton's "Penseroso."_--In those somewhat hacknied lines,
"And may my due feet never fail," &c.,
I am somewhat puzzled to understand the expression,
"With antique pillars massy _proof_."
Now what is "proof,"--a substantive or adjective? If the latter, no
edition is rightly stopped; for, of course, there should be a comma
after "massy;" and then I somewhat doubt the propriety of "proof" for
"proved," unless joined with another word, as "star-proof,"
"rain-proof."
If "proof" is a substantive, "massy proof" is in apposition to "antique
pillars," and is very meaningless. Can any of your readers suggest an
explanation?
H.A.B.
_"Mooney's Goose."_--As a pendant to "Ludlam's dog," I beg to insert the
proverb of "Full of fun and _fooster_, like Mooney's goose," with the
hope that your acute and ingenious correspondent D.V.S. may be able to
throw some light upon "Mooney." Let me add that D.V.S. has perhaps
somewhat misconceived my brief comment on Ludlam, which my regard for
conciseness has left some deal obscure; and it does not appear worth
while to go over the ground again. I repeatedly heard "Dick's hat-band"
quoted by Lancashire friends exactly as given by Southey. Does not the
variation "cobbler's dog" tend to prove the alliterative principle for
which I had been contending?
J.M.B.
_Translation of the Philobiblon_.--Where can I procure a translation of
Robert de Bury's _Philobiblon_?
L.S.{154}
_Achilles and the Tortoise_.--Where is the paradox of "Achilles and the
Tortoise" to be found? Leibnitz is said to have given it solution in
some part of his works.
There is also a geometrical treatment of the subject by Gregoire de S.
Vincent. Will some reading man oblige me with information or reference
concerning it.
[Greek: Idiotaes.]
_Dominicals_.--I am desirous of obtaining information on a subject of
much interest to Exeter.
An ancient payment is made to the rectors of each parish within the city
of Exeter, called "Dominicals," amounting to 1d. per week from every
householder within the parish. Payments of a similar nature are made in
London, Canterbury, and I believe Worcester. Can any of your numerous
readers state the origin of Dominicals, and give any information
respecting them.
W.R.C.
_Yorkshire Dales_.--A Pedestrian would be much obliged by being informed
if there is any map, guide, or description published, that would serve
as a hand-book to the Dales in the West Riding of Yorkshire, between
Lancashire and Westmoreland.
* * * * *
REPLIES
TOBACCO IN THE EAST.
In the _Edinburgh Cabinet Library_, vol. iii. p. 383., art. "China," it
is stated that three species of tobacco have been found in India and in
China, under circumstances which can leave no doubt of their being
native plants.
Dr. Bigelow (_American Botany_, 4to., vol. ii. p. 171.) tells us that
_Nicot. fructicosa_ is said to have been cultivated in the East prior to
the discovery of America. Linnæus sets down the same as a native of
China and the Cape of Good Hope. Sir G. Staunton says that there is no
traditional account of the introduction of tobacco into China; nor is
there any account of its introduction into India[2]; though, according
to Barrow, the time when the cotton plant was introduced into the
southern provinces of China is noted in their annals. Bell of Antermony,
who was in China in 1721, says,
"It is reported the Chinese have had the use of tobacco for many
ages," &c.--_Travels_, vol. ii. p. 73., Lond. ed. 4to. 1763.
Ledyard says, the Tartars have smoked from remote antiquity (_Travels_,
326.). Du Halde speaks of tobacco as one of the natural productions of
Formosa, whence it was largely imported by the Chinese (p. 173. Lond.
ed. 8vo. 1741).
The prevalence of the practice of smoking at an early period among the
Chinese is appealed to by Pallas as one evidence that in Asia, and
especially in China, the use of tobacco for smoking is more ancient than
the discovery of the New World. (See _Asiat. Journ_., vol. xxii. p.
137.)
The Koreans say they received tobacco from Japan, as also instructions
for its cultivation, about the latter end of the sixteenth century.
(Authority, I think, Hamel's _Travels, Pink. Coll._, vii. 532.) Loureiro
states that in Cochin China tobacco is indigenous, and has its proper
vernacular name.
Java is said to have possessed it before 1496. Dr. Ruschenberg says,
"We are informed the Portuguese met with it on their first visit
to Java."--_Voy. of U.S.S. Peacock_, vol. ii. p. 456, Lond. ed.
8vo. 1838.
Crauford dates its introduction into Java, 1601, but admits that the
natives had traditions of having possessed it long before. (_Indian
Archipelago_, vol. i. pp. 104. 409, 410. 8vo.) Rumphius, in the latter
part of the seventeenth century, found it universal even where the
Portuguese and Spaniards had never been.
Savary, in his _Parfait Négociant_, states that the Persians have used
tobacco 400 years, and probably received it from Egypt. (See _Med. Chir.
Review_, 1840, p. 335.)
Olearius found it fully established in Persia, 1637, only about fifty
years after its arrival in England. (Lond. 1662, in fol. p. 322.)
Chardin states, the Persians smoked long before the discovery of
America, and had cultivated tobacco time immemorial.
"Coffee without tobacco is meat without salt."--Persian Proverb,
Sale's _Koran_, Preliminary Discourse, 169. ed. 8vo.
In 1634 Olearius found the Russians so addicted to tobacco that they
would spend their money on it rather than bread. (See edit. above
quoted, lib. iii. p. 83.)
According to Prof. Lichtenstein, the Beetjuanen smoked and snuffed long
before their intercourse with Europeans. (_Med. and Chir. Rev._, 1840,
p. 335.)
Liebault, in his _Maison Rustique_, asserts that he found tobacco
growing naturally in the forest of Ardennes. Libavius says that it grows
in the Hyrcinian forest. (Ibid.)
Dr. Cleland shows the three last to be falsehoods(?).
Ysbrants Ides found tobacco in general use among the Ostiaks and other
tribes passed in his route to China, 1692. (Harris's _Coll._, fol. vol.
ii. pp. 925. and 926.)
The story told of Amurath IV. punishing a Turk for smoking seems to be a
mistake, since Amurath only began to reign 1622; whereas Sandys relates
the same story of a certain Morad Bassa, probably Murat III., who began
to reign {155} 1576, and ended 1594. If this be the case, the Turks were
smokers before tobacco was known in England.--In Persia smoking was
prohibited by Shah Abbas. There were two princes of this name. The first
began his reign 1585 A.D., died 1628: the second began 1641, died 1666.
The proclamation against smoking was probably issued by the first, since
(as before mentioned) in 1634 Olearius found the custom firmly
established. If so, the Persians must have been early smokers. Smoking
seems to have obtained at a very remote period among several nations of
antiquity. Dr. Clarke quotes Plutarch on Rivers to show that the
Thracians were in the habit of intoxicating themselves with smoke, which
he supposes to have been tobacco. The _Quarterly Review_ is opposed to
this.