NOTES AND QUERIES:
A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES,
GENEALOGISTS, ETC.
* * * * *
"When found, make a note of."--CAPTAIN CUTTLE.
* * * * *
No. 30.] SATURDAY, MAY 25, 1850 [Price Threepence. Stamped Edition 4d.
* * * * * {481}
CONTENTS
NOTES:--
Dr. Johnson and Dr. Warton, by F.H. Markland. 481
Spenser's Monument. 481
Borrowed Thoughts, by S.W. Singer. 482
Folk Lore:--Easter Eggs--A Cure for Warts--Charm
for Wounds--Fifth Son--Cwm Wybir. 482
Bartholomew Legate, the Martyr. 483
Bohn's Edition of Milton's Prose Works. 483
Reprint of Jeremy Taylor's Works. 483
Dr. Thos. Bever's Legal Polity of Great Britain. 483
QUERIES:--
Dr. Richard Holsworth and Thos. Fuller. 484
Queries upon Cunningham's Handbook of London. 484
On a Passage in Macbeth. 484
Minor Queries:--As throng as Throp's Wife--Trimble
Family--"Brozier." 485
REPLIES:--
The Dodo Queries, by S.W. Singer. 485
Abbey of St. Wandrille. 486
Origin of the Word "News." 487
Replies to Minor Queries:--Dr. Whichcot and Lord
Shaftesbury--Elizabeth and Isabel--Trunck Breeches--Mercenary
Preacher--Abdication of James II.--Toom Shawn Cattie--Wotton's
Poem to Lord Bacon--"My Mind to Me a Kingdom is"--Gesta
Grayorum--Marylebone Gardens--Mother of Thomas à Becket--Dr.
Strode's Poem--Lord Carrington--Esquires
and Gentlemen--Early Inscriptions--American Aborigines--Vox
Populi--Dutch Language--Salting, &c. 488
MISCELLANIES:--
Bishop Burnet as an Historian--Dance Thumbkin--King's
Coffee House--Spur Money. 493
MISCELLANEOUS:--
Notes on Books, Catalogues, Sales, &c. 494
Books and Odd Volumes wanted. 494
Notice to Correspondents. 494
Advertisements. 495
* * * * *
NOTES
DR. JOHNSON AND DR. WARTON.
Amongst the poems of the Rev. Thos. Warton, vicar of Basingstoke, who is
best remembered as the father of two celebrated sons, is one entitled
_The Universal Love of Pleasure_, commencing--
"All human race, from China to Peru,
Pleasure, howe'er disguised by art, pursue."
&c. &c.
Warton died in 1745, and his Poems were published in 1748.
Johnson's _Vanity of Human Wishes_ appeared in 1749; but Boswell
believes that it was composed in the preceding year. That Poem, as we
well remember, commences thus tamely:--
"Let observation with extensive view,
Survey Mankind from China to Peru."
Though so immeasurably inferior to his own, Johnson may have noticed
these verses of Warton's with some little attention, and unfortunately
borrowed the only prosaic lines in his poem. Besides the imitation
before quoted, both writers allude to Charles of Sweden. Thus Warton
says,--
"'Twas hence rough Charles rush'd forth to ruthless war."
Johnson, in his highly finished picture of the same monarch, says,--
"War sounds the trump, he rushes to the field."
J.H. MARKLAND.
Bath.
* * * * *
SPENSER'S MONUMENT.
In the _Lives of English Poets_, by William Winstanley (London, printed
by H. Clark for Samuel Manship, 1687), in his account of Spenser, p.
92., he says, "he died anno 1598, and was honourably buried at the sole
charge of Robert, first of that name, Earl of Essex, on whose monument
is written this epitaph:--
"Edmundus Spenser, Londinensis, Anglicorum poetarum nostri
seculi fuit princeps, quod ejus Poemata, faventibus Musis, et
victuro genio conscripa comprobant. Obiit immatura morte, anno
salutis 1598, et prope Galfredum Chaucerum conditur, qui
foelicisime Poesin Anglicis literis primus illustravit. In quem
hæc scripta sunt Epitaphia.
"Hic prope Chaucerum situs est Spenserius, illi
Prominens ingenio, proximum ut tumulo
Hic prope Chaucerum Spensere poeta poetam
Conderis, et versud quam tumulo proprior,
Anglica te vivo vixit, plausitque l'oesis;
Nunc moritura timet, te moriente mori."
I have also a folio copy of Spenser, printed by Henry Hills for Jonathan
Edwin, London, 1679. In a short life therein printed, it says that he
was buried near Chaucer, 1596; and the frontispiece is an engraving of
his tomb, by E. White, which bears this epitaph:--
"Heare lyes (expecting the second comminge of our Saviour,
Christ Jesus) the body of Edmond Spenser, the Prince of Poets in
his tyme, whose Divine spirit needs noe othir witness than the
works which he left behind {482} him. He was borne in London in
the yeare 1510, and died in the yeare 1596."
Beneath are these lines:--
"Such is the tombs the Noble Essex gave
Great Spenser's learned reliques, such his grave:
Howe'er ill-treated in his life he were,
His sacred bones rest honourably here."
How are these two epitaphs, with their differing dates, to be
reconciled? Can he have been born in 1510, as the first one says "obiit
_immaturâ_ morte?" Now eighty-five is not very immature; and I believe
he entered at Pembroke College, Cambridge, in 1569, at which time he
would be fifty-nine, and that at a period when college education
commenced at an earlier age than now. Vertue's portrait, engraved 1727,
takes as a motto the last two lines of the first epitaph--"Anglica te
vivo," &c.
E.N.W
Southwark, April 29 1850.
* * * * *
BORROWED THOUGHTS.
Crenius wrote a dissertation _De Furibus Librariis_, and J. Conrad
Schwarz another _De Plagio Literario_, in which some curious
appropriations are pointed out; your pages have already contained some
additional recent instances. The writers thus pillaged might exclaim,
"Pereant iste qui _post_ nos nostra dixerunt." Two or three instances
have occurred to me which, I think, have not been noticed. Goldsmith's
_Madame Blaize_ is known to be a free version of _La fameuse La
Galisse_. His well-known epigram,--
"Here lies poor Ned Purdon, from misery freed,"
is borrowed from the following by the Chevalier de Cailly (or d'Aceilly,
as he writes himself) entitled,--
"_La Mort du Sieur Etienne_.
"Il est au bout de ses travaux,
Il a passé le Sieur Etienne;
En ce monde il eut tant des maux,
Qu'on ne croit pas qu'il revienne."
Another well-know epigram,--
"I do not like thee, Doctor Fell,"
is merely a version of the 33d epigram of the first books of those by
the witty Roger de Bussy, Comte de Rabutin:--
"Je ne vous aime pas, Hylas,
Je n'en saurois dire la cause,
Je sais seulement une chose;
C'est que je ne vous aime pas."
Lastly, Prior's epitaph on himself has its prototype in one long
previously written by or for one John Carnegie:--
"Johnnie Carnegie lais heer,
Descendit of Adam and Eve,
Gif ony con gang hieher,
I'se willing gie him leve."
S.W. SINGER
* * * * *
FOLK LORE.
_Easter Eggs_ (No. 25. p. 397.).--The custom recorded by Brande as being
in use in the North of England in his time, still continues in
Richmondshire.
_A Cure for Warts_ is practised with the utmost faith in East Sussex.
The nails are cut, the cuttings carefully wrapped in paper, and placed
in the hollow of a pollard ash, concealed from the birds; when the paper
decays, the warts disappear. For this I can vouch: in my own case the
paper did decay, and the warts did all disappear, and, of course, the
effect was produced by the cause. Does the practice exist elsewhere?
_Charm for Wounds._--Boys, in his _History of Sandwich_, gives, (p.
690.) the following from the Corporation Records, 1568: a woman examined
touching her power to charm wounds who--
"Sayesth that she can charme for fyer and skalding in forme as
oulde women do, sayeng 'Owt fyer in frost, in the name of the
Father, the Sonne, and the Holly Ghost;' and she hath used when
the skyn of children do cleve fast, to advise the mother to
annoynt them with the mother's milk and oyle olyfe; and for
skalding to take oyle olyfe only."
W. DURRANT COOPER.
_Fifth Son._--What is the superstition relating to a fifth son? I
should be glad of any illustrations of it. There certainly are instances
in which the fifth son has been the most distinguished scion of the
family.
W.S.G.
_Cwn Wybir, or Cwn Annwn_--_Curlews_ (No. 19. p. 294).--The late
ingenious and well-informed Mr. William Weston Young, then residing in
Glamorgan, gave me the following exposition of these mysterious _Dogs of
the Sky_, or _Dogs of the Abyss_, whose aërial cries at first perplexed
as well as startled him. He was in the habit of traversing wild tracts
of country, in his profession of land surveyor and often rode by night.
One intensely dark night he was crossing a desolate range of hills, when
he heard a most diabolical yelping and shrieking in the air, horrible
enough in such a region and at black midnight. He was not, however, a
superstitious man, and, being an observant naturalist, had paid great
attention to the notes of birds, and the remarkable variations between
the day and night notes of the same species. He suspected these strange
unearthly sounds to be made by some gregarious birds on the wing; but
{483} the darkness was impenetrable, and he gazed upwards in vain. The
noises, meanwhile, were precisely those which he had heard ascribed to
the _Cwn Wybir_, and would have been truly appalling to a superstitious
imagination. His quick ear at length caught the rush of pinions, and, in
a short time, a large flight of curlews came sweeping down to the
heather, so near his head, that some of their wings brushed his hat.
They were no sooner settled, than the _Cwn Wybir_ ceased to be heard.
Mr. Young then recollected having noticed similar nocturnal cries from
the curlew, but had never before encountered such a formidable flying
legion of those birds, screaming in a great variety of keys, amidst
mountain echoes.
ELIJAH WARING.
* * * * *
BARTHOLOMEW LEGATE, THE MARTYR.
An erroneous date, resting on such authorities as Mr. Hallam and Mr. J.
Payne Collier, deserves a note. The former in his _Const. Hist._ (ii.
275. note, second edition), and the latter in the _Egerton Papers_,
printed for the Camden Society (p. 446.), assigns the date 1614 to the
death of Bartholomew Legate at Smithfield. The latter also gives the
date March 13. Now the true date is March 18, 1611-12, as will appear by
consulting--1. The commissions and warrants for the burning of Legate
and Wightman, inserted in _Truth brought to Light, or the Narrative
History of King James for the first Fourteen Years_, 4to. 1651; 2.
Chamberlain's _Letters to Sir Dudley Carleton_, dated Feb. 26, 1611
(1611-12), and March 25, 1612, printed in _The Court and Times of James
I._, vol. i. pp. 136. 164.; and 3. Wallace's _Antitrinitarian
Biography_, vol. ii. p. 534. Fuller, in his _Church History_, gives the
correct date, and states that his "burning of heretics much startled
common people;" "wherefore King James politicly preferred that heretics
hereafter, though condemned, should silently and privately waste
themselves away in the prison."
Legate and Wightman were, in fact, the last martyrs burnt at the stake
in England for their religious opinions.
A.B.R.
* * * * *
BOHN'S EDITION OF MILTON'S PROSE WORKS.
Three volumes of this edition have already appeared, the last bearing
the date of 1848, and concluding thus:--"End of Vol. III." In the latest
Catalogue, which Mr. Bohn has appended to his publications, appears a
notice of "Milton's Prose Works, _complete_ in 3 vols." This word
_complete_ is not consistent with the words terminating the last volume,
nor with the exact truth. For instance, the History of Britain does not
find a place in this edition; and I can hardly believe that Mr. Bohn
originally intended that the Prose Works of Milton should be issued from
his press without a full index. Without such an index, this edition is
comparatively worthless to the investigator of history. I would
therefore suggest to Mr. Bohn (whose services to literature I most
gratefully acknowledge), that he should render his edition of Milton's
Prose Works _really complete_, by issuing a fourth volume, which _inter
alia_, might contain the _Latin_ prose works of Milton, reprinted in
Fletcher's edition of 1834, together with any omitted English prose work
of the author, and be terminated, as is usual in Mr. Bohn's
publications, with a full alphabetical index, embracing both persons and
things. The lover of historical pursuits would then have _fresh_ reason
to thank Mr. Bohn.
N.
* * * * *
REPRINT OF JEREMY TAYLOR'S WORKS.
A reprint being called for of vol. iv. of _Bishop Jeremy Taylor's
Works_, now in course of publication, I would beg permission to make it
known to your readers, that assistance in regard to any references which
were not verified in the former edition of that volume would be very
acceptable to me. They should be sent within the next fortnight.
C. PAGE EDEN.
* * * * *
DR. THOMAS BEVER'S LEGAL POLITY OF GREAT BRITAIN.
I do not know if such a notice as this is intended to be, is admissible
into your publication.
Many years ago, I bought of a bookseller a MS. intitled "A Short History
of the Legal and Judicial Polity of Great Britain, attempted by Thos.
Bever, LL.D., Advocate in Doctor's Commons, and Fellow of All Souls
College, Oxford, 1759." It is presented to Richard Pennant, Esq.; and
there is a letter from Mr. Bever to Mr. Pennant wafered to the fly-leaf.
At the close of the "Advertisement," the author "earnestly requests that
it [the work] may not be suffered to fall into the hands of a
bookseller, or be copied, without his consent: and whenever it shall
become useless, and lose its value (if any it ever had) with the present
owner, that he will be kind enough to return it to the author if living,
or if dead, to any of his surviving family at Mortimer near Reading,
Berks."
In pious sympathy with this wish, I more than thirty years since wrote a
letter, addressed to "---- Bever, Esq., Mortimer, near Reading, Berks,"
offering to give up the volume to any one entitled to it under the above
description; but my letter was returned from the post office with the
announcement "Not found" upon it. I make this other attempt, if you are
pleased to admit it, through you; and immediate attention will be paid
to any claim which may appear in your pages.
J.R.
* * * * * {484}
QUERIES.
DR. RICHARD HOLSWORTH AND THOS. FULLER.
Can any of your readers inform me who was the author of _The Valley of
Vision_, published in 1651 as the work of Dr. Richard Holsworth, the
Master of Emmanuel College, and Dean of Worcester. In a preface to the
reader, Fuller laments "that so worthy a man should dye issulesse
without leaving any books behind him for the benefit of learning and
religion." He adds that the private notes which he had left behind him
were dark and obscure; his hand being legible only to himself, and
almost useless for any other. The sermon published as _The Valley of
Vision_ appears to have been prepared for publication from the notes of
a short-hand writer. When Fuller published, about eleven years
afterwards, his _Worthies of England_, he wrote thus:--
"Pity it is so learned a person left no monuments (save a
sermon) to posterity; for _I behold that posthume work as none
of his, named by the transcriber The Valley of Vision_, a
Scripture expression, but here misplaced.... This I conceived
myself in credit and conscience concerned to observe, because I
was surprised at the _preface_ to the book, and will take the
blame rather than clear myself, when my innocency is complicated
with the accusing of others."
If, as is probable, Dr. Holsworth, in this instance, preached other
men's sermons, which the short-hand writer afterwards gave to the world
as his, it is a singular fact, that in the preface of this
supposititious volume, Fuller speaks of the abuse of printed sermons by
some--
"Who lazily imp their wings with other men's plumes, wherewith
they soar high in common esteeme, yet have not the ingenuity
with that son of the Prophet to confesse, Alasse! it was
borrowed."
A.B.R.
* * * * *
QUERIES UPON CUNNINGHAM'S HANDBOOK OF LONDON.
We promised to make a few QUERIES on this amusing volume, and thus
redeem our promise.
Mr. Cunningham has been the first to point out the precise situation of
a spot often mentioned by our old dramatists, which had baffled the
ingenuity of Gifford, Dyce, and in fact of all the commentators,--the
notorious Picthatch. He thus describes it:--
"_Picthatch_, or _Pickehatch_.--A famous receptacle for
prostitutes and pickpockets, generally supposed to have been in
_Turnmill Street_, near Clerkenwell Green, but its position is
determined by a grant of the 33rd of Queen Elizabeth, and a
survey of 1649. What _was_ Picthatch is a street at the back of
a narrow turning called Middle Row (formerly Rotten Row)
opposite the Charter-house wall in Goswell Street. The name is
still preserved in 'Pickax Yard' adjoining Middle Row."
Why then, among the curious illustrations which he has brought to bear
upon the subject, has Mr. Cunningham omitted that of the origin of the
name from the "picks upon the hatch?" which is clearly established both
by Malone and Steevens, in their notes upon "'twere not amiss to keep
our door hatch'd," in Pericles.
The following is an excellent suggestion as to the origin of the--
"_Goat and Compasses._--At Cologne, in the church of Santa Maria
in Capitolio, is a flat stone on the floor professing to be the
Grabstein der Brüder und Schwester eines ehrbaren Wein-und
Fass-Ampts, Anno 1693; that is, as I suppose, a vault belonging
to the Wine Coopers' Company. The arms exhibit a shield with a
pair of compasses, an axe, and a dray, or truck, with goats for
supporters. In a country like England, dealing so much at one
time in Rhenish wine, a more likely origin for such a sign could
hardly be imagined. For this information I am indebted to the
courtesy of Sir Edmund Head."
Can Mr. Cunningham, Sir E. Head, or any of our correspondents point out
any German "Randle Holme" whose work may be consulted for the purpose of
ascertaining the arms, &c. of the various professions, trades, &c. of
that country?
Why has not Mr. Cunningham, in his description of _St. James' Street_,
mentioned what certainly existed long after the commencement of the
present century, the occasional "steps" which there were in the
foot-path--making the street a succession of terraces. This fact renders
intelligible the passage quoted from Pope's letter to Mr. Pearse, in
which he speaks of "y'e second Terras in St. James' Street." Why, too,
omit that characteristic feature of the street, the rows of _sedan
chairs_ with which it was formerly lined? The writer of this perfectly
remembers seeing Queen Charlotte in her sedan chair, going from the
Queen's Library in the Green Park to Buckingham House.
Mr. Cunningham states, we dare say correctly, that Sheridan died at No.
17 Saville Row. We thought he had died at Mr. Peter Moore's, in Great
George Street, Westminster. Was he not living there shortly before his
death? and did not his funeral at Westminster Abbey proceed from Mr.
Moore's?
* * * * *
ON A PASSAGE IN MACBETH.
If any of your correspondents would favour me, I should like to be
satisfied with respect to the following passage in Macbeth; which, as at
present punctuated, is exceedingly obscure:--
"If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well
It were done quickly: If the assassination
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch,
With his surcease, success; that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all here, {485}
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,--
We'd jump the life to come."
Now, I think by altering the punctuation, the sense of the passage is at
once made apparent, as thus,--
"If it were done when 'tis done then 'twere well.
It were done quickly, if the assassination
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch,
With his surcease, success, that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end all here," &c.
but to make use of a paradox, it is _not_ done when it _is_ done; for
this reason, there is the conscience to torment the evil-doer while
living, and the dread of punishment in another world after death: the
"bank and shoal of time" refers to the interval between life and death,
and to "_jump_" the life to come is to _hazard_ it. The same thought
occurs in _Hamlet_, when he alludes to--
"That undiscovered country, from whose bourne
No traveller returns."
But that is clear enough, as in all probability the annotators left the
passage as they found it. I have not the opportunity of consulting Mr.
Collier's edition of Shakespeare, so that I am unaware of the manner in
which he renders it; perhaps I ought to have done so before I troubled
you. Possibly some of your readers may be disposed to coincide with me
in the "new reading;" and if not, so to explain it that it may be shown
it is my own obscurity, and not Shakespeare's, with which I ought to
cavil.
I have witnessed many representations of _Macbeth_, and in every
instance the passage referred to has been delivered as I object to it:
but that is not to be wondered at, for there are professed admirers of
Shakspeare among actors who read him _not_ as if they understood him,
but who are--
"Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
G. BLINK.
* * * * *
MINOR QUERIES.
_As throng as Throp's Wife._--As I was busy in my garden yesterday, a
parishioner, whose eighty-two years of age render her a somewhat
privileged person to have a gossip with, came in to speak to me. With a
view to eliciting material for a Note or a Query, I said to her, "You
see I am _as throng as Throp's wife_;" to which she replied, "Aye, Sir,
and _she_ hanged herself in the dishcloth." The answer is new to me; but
the proverb itself, as well as the one mentioned by "D.V.S." (No. 24. p.
382.) "As lazy as Ludlum's dog, &c.," has been an especial object of
conjecture to me as long as I can remember. I send this as a pendant to
"D.V.S.'s" Query, in hopes of shortly seeing the origin of _both_ these
curious sayings.
J.E.
Ecclesfield, Sheffield, April 19. 1850.
_Trimble Family._--In a MS. account of the Fellows of King's I find the
following:--
"1530.--Rich. Trimble, a very merry fellow, the fiddle of the
society, who called him 'Mad Trimble.' M. Stokes of 1531 wrote
this distich on him:--
'Os, oculi, mentum, dens, guttur, lingua, palatum
Sunt tibi; sed nasus, Trimbale, dic ubi sit?'
By which it appears he had a very small nose; and this day, July
13, 1739, I hear that there is one Mr. R. Trimble of an English
family, an apothecary at Lisburn in Ireland, who is remarkable
for the same."
As "NOTES AND QUERIES" circulate in Ireland, are there any of the family
of "Trimble" now in that country, and are they distinguished by any such
peculiarity?
J.H.L.
_The Word "Brozier."_--my brother Etonians will feelingly recollect the
word "Brozier," used by the boys for nearly a century to denote any one
who had spent his pocket-money; an event of very frequent occurrence
shortly after the holidays. There were also sometimes attempts made to
"_brozier my dame_," in case a suspicion had arisen that the good lady's
larder was not too well supplied. The supper table was accordingly
cleared of all the provisions, and a further stock of eatables
peremptorily demanded.
I spell the word "brozier" as it is still pronounced; perhaps some of
your readers have seen it in print, and may be able to give some account
of its origin and etymology, and decide whether it is exclusively
belonging to Eton.
BRAYBROOKE.
April 14.
* * * * *
REPLIES.
THE DODO QUERIES.
There is no mention of the Solitaire as inhabiting Bourbon, either in
Père Brown's letter or in the _Voyage de l'Arabic Heureuse_, from whence
the notice of the Oiseau Bleu was extracted. I have since seen Dellon,
_Rélation d'un Voyage des Indes Orientales_, 2 vols. 12mo. Paris, 1685,
in which there is a brief notice of the Isle of Bourbon or Mascarin; but
neither the Dodo, the Solitaire, or the Oiseau Bleu are noticed. The
large Bat is mentioned, and the writer says that the French who were on
the island did not eat it, but only the Indians. He also notices the
tameness of the birds, and says that the Flammand, with its long neck,
is the only bird it was necessary to use a gun against, the others being
readily destroyed with a stick or taken by hand.
Mr. Strickland's correction of the error about the monumental evidence
of the discovery of Bourbon by the Portuguese, in 1545, will aid
research into the period at which it was first visited and named; but my
stock of Portuguese literature is but small, and not all of it
accessible {486} to me at present. In the meantime it may be acceptable
to Mr. Strickland to know, that there is a detailed account of
Portuguese discoveries in a book whose title would hardly indicate it,
in which one passage will probably interest him. I allude to the rare
and interesting folio volume printed at Lisbon in 1571. _De Rebus
Emanuelis Regis Lusitanie, invictissimi Virtute et Auspicio Gestis,
auctore Hieronymo Osorio Episcopo Silvensis_. These annals embrace the
period from 1495 to 1529. In narrating the principal events of Vasco de
Gama's first voyage, after he had rounded the Cape of Good Hope on the
25th November, 1497, steering to the east along the southern coast of
Africa, the vessels anchor in the bay of St. Blaize, where--
"In intimo sinu est parva quædam Insula, ad quam nostri aquandi
gratia naves-appulerunt. Ibi phocarum armenta conspexere
admiranda quædam multitudine. In quibus inerat tanta feritas et
truculentia, ut in homines irruerent. AVES etiam eo in loco visæ
sunt, quas incolas apellant SOLTICARIOS, pares anscribus
magnitudine: plumis minime vestiuntur, alas habent similes alis
verspertionum: volare nequeunt, sed explicatis alarum membranis,
cursum celeritate summa conficiunt."
The islet was probably that of _La Cruz_; but what were the birds? and
what was the indigenous name which is represented by _Solticarios_? It
is possible that some of your correspondents may be familiar with the
original narration which Osorio follows, or Mr. Strickland may be able
to solve the question.
I may just remark, that my observation respecting the improbability of
Tradescant's stuffed specimen having been a fabrication could hardly be
considered superfluous, seeing that some naturalists, Dr. Gray, I
believe, among others, had suggested that it most probably was one.
S.W. SINGER.
May 3. 1850.
* * * * *
ABBEY OF ST. WANDRILLE.
In reply to the Vicar of Ecclesfield (No. 24. p. 382.), I am sorry to
say that the "Chronicle of the Abby of St. Wandrille," to which I
alluded (No. 21. p. 338.), contains nothing relating to the subject of
his inquiry. The Abbey of Fontanelle, or St. Wandrille, was founded A.D.
645; and this chronicle contains a very concise account of a few only of
its abbots and most celebrated members, down to the year 834: written,
it is supposed, by a cotemporary of Ansegisus, the last abbot therein
mentioned. It is followed by an appendix containing a compilation from a
book on miracles wrought in the translation of the body of St. Wilfran,
by an "eye-witness," which also recounts incidentally some of the acts
of the abbots of St. Wandrille to the year 1053. Acheri speaks of
persons who had been long engaged in collecting memorials of the history
of this abbey up to the time of his writing, 1659. Whether these have
ever been published, I have not the means at this moment of
ascertaining. Some account of this abbey, with views of its ruins, will
be found in that splendid work, _Voyages dans L'Ancienne France_, by
Nodier, &c., vol. i.
The following notes from this chronicle may not be without interest, as
showing an early connection between the abbey and this country, and our
attachment to the See of Rome.
Chapter V. is devoted to the praise of BAGGA, a monk and presbyter of
this abbey, who is said to have been "ex Britanniâ Oceani insula
Saxonico ex genere ortus." He died, and was buried in the abbey, between
the years 707 and 723; on which occasion the Abbot Benignus is said to
have exclaimed, "O signifer fortissime Christi militiæ BAGGA, nunc
mercedem laborum lætus accipis tuorum. Deprecare ipsum benignum Dominum,
ut unà tecum mereamur gaudere consortiis justorum per ævum." Here is a
prayer not for, but _to_ the dead.
During the presidency of AUSTRULPHUS (ch. 13.), which began in 747 and
ended in 753, a certain receptacle, in the form of a small _pharos_, was
driven ashore in the district of Coriovallum, which contained a very
fair copy of the four Gospels, beautifully written in Roman characters
on the purest vellum; and part of the precious jaw of St. George the
Martyr, as well as a portion of the "health-bearing" wood of the true
cross, duly labelled. The acquisition of this treasure was of course
ascribed to the immediate interposition of God. And as about the same
period the head of St. George was discovered at Rome, through the
intervention of Pope Zachary, it was conjectured that this pontiff had
given the wonder-working relic to some venerable men from _Britain_, a
country described as being "always on the most intimate footing (_maximè
familiares_) with the Apostolic See;" and that, these being wrecked on
their voyage home, or through some other adventure, the said treasure
was providentially driven ashore at Coriovallum.