of your correspondents inform me if there exists any _good_ collection;
that is, a collection, of such only as are excellent of their respective
kinds? That the English language possesses materials for forming such a
collection, and an extensive one too, I have no doubt, though I have
never met with one. And, if there be none that answers the description I
give, I should be glad of information respecting the best that exist.
It is scarcely necessary to add, that my standard of excellence would
admit only those which bore the character of "immortal verse," rejecting
such as had been saved merely by the music to which they had been
"married."
SAMUEL HICKSON.
Dec. 14. 1850.
_Baron Münchausen._--Who was the author of this renowned hero's
adventures? The _Conversations-Lexicon_ (art. _Münchausen_) states that
the stories are to be found under the title of "Mendacia Ridicula," in
vol. iii. of _Deliciæ Academicæ_, by J.P. Lange (Heilbronn, 1665); and
that "at a later period they appeared in England, where a reviewer
supposed them to be a satire on the ministry." I remember to have read
when a boy (I think in _The Percy Anecdotes_), that the book was written
by an Englishman who was styled "M----," and was described as having
been long a prisoner in the Bastille.
Since writing thus far I have seen the note by J.S. (Vol. ii., pp.
262-3.) on Münchausen's story of the horn. The idea of sounds frozen in
the air, and thawed by returning warmth, was no invention of "Castilian,
in his _Aulicus_" (_i.e._ Castiglione, author of _Il Cortegiano_); for,
besides that, it is found in his contemporary Rabelais (liv. iv. cc.
55-6), I believe it may be traced to one of the later Greek writers,
from whom Bishop Taylor, in one of his sermons, borrows it as an
illustration.
J.C.R.
_"Sing Tantararara Rogues all," &c._--The above is the chorus of many
satirical songs written to expose the malpractices of peculators, &c.
Can any of your readers point out who was the author of the _original
song_, and where it is to be found?
A SUBSCRIBER.
_Meaning of "Cauking."_--An old dame told me the other day, in Cheshire,
that her servant was a {520} good one, and among other good qualities
"she never went _cauking_ into the neighbours' houses." Unde derivatur
"cauking?"
CHAS. PASLAM.
* * * * *
REPLIES.
THE WISE MEN OF GOTHAM.
(Vol. ii., p. 476.)
The proverb, "As wise as the men of Gotham." is given in Fuller's
_Worthies_ (ed. 1662, pp. 315, 316.). Ray, in his note upon this,
observes
"It passeth for the _Periphrasis_ of a fool, and an hundred
fopperies are feigned and fathered on the townsfolk of _Gotham_, a
village in this county [Nottinghamshire]. Here two things may be
observed:
"1. Men in all ages have made themselves merry with singling out
some place, and fixing the staple of stupidity and solidity therein.
So the _Phrygians_ in _Asia_, the _Abderitæ_ in _Thrace_, and
_Boeotians_ in _Greece_, were notorious for dulmen and blockheads.
"2. These places thus slighted and scoffed at, afforded some as
witty and wise persons as the world produced. So _Democritus_ was an
_Abderite_, _Plutarch_ a _Boeotian_, &c.
"As for _Gotham_, it doth breed as wise people as any which
causelessly laugh at their simplicity. Sure I am _Mr. William de
Gotham_, fifth Master of _Michael House_ in _Cambridge_, 1336, and
twice Chancellor of the University, was as grave a governor as that
age did afford."--3d. ed. p. 258.
In Thoroton's _Nottinghamshire_, vol. i. pp. 42, 43., the origin of the
saying, as handed down by tradition, is thus given:--King John intending
to pass through this place towards Nottingham, was prevented by the
inhabitants, they apprehending that the ground over which a king passed
was for ever after to become a public road. The king, incensed at their
proceedings, sent from his court, soon afterwards, some of his servants
to inquire of them the reason of their incivility and ill-treatment,
that he might punish them. The villagers hearing of the approach of the
king's servants, thought of an expedient to turn away his majesty's
displeasure from them. When the messengers arrived at Gotham, they found
some of the inhabitants engaged in endeavouring to drown an eel in a
pool of water; some were employed in dragging carts upon a large barn,
to shade the wood from the sun; and others were engaged in hedging a
cuckoo, which had perched itself upon an old bush. In short, they were
all employed upon some foolish way or other, which convinced the king's
servants that it was a village of fools.
Should J.R.M. not yet have seen it, I beg to refer him to Mr.
Halliwell's interesting edition of _The Merry Tales of the Wise Men of
Gotham_ (Lond. 1840) for fuller and further particulars.
J.B. COLMAN.
* * * * *
Replies To Minor Queries.
_Master John Shorne_.--As neither MR. THOMS' Notes (Vol. ii.,
p. 387.) nor MR. WAY'S (p. 450.) mention where this reputed
saint lived, or speak of him as connected with Buckinghamshire, I will
offer an extract from Lysons in the hope of casting some little light on
the subject.
"North Marston.--The church is a handsome Gothic structure; there is
a tradition that the chancel was built with the offerings at the
shrine of Sir John Shorne, a very devout man, of great veneration
with the people, who was rector of North Marston about the year
1290, and it is said that the place became populous and flourishing
in consequence of the great resort of persons to a well which he had
blessed. This story stands upon a better foundation than most vulgar
traditions; the great tithes of North Marston are still appropriated
to the dean and canons of Windsor, who, before the Reformation,
might without difficulty have rebuilt the chancel, as it is very
probable they did, with the offerings at the shrine of Sir John
Shorne, for we are told that they were so productive, that on an
average they amounted to 500l. per annum.[1] Sir John Shorne,
therefore, although his name is not to be found, appears to have
been a saint of no small reputation. The common people in the
neighbourhood still keep up his memory by many traditional stories.
Browne Willis, says, that in his time there were people who
remembered a direction-post standing, which pointed the way to Sir
John Shorne's shrine."[2]
North Marston, formerly Merston, is about four miles from Winslow. I
visited it about a year ago, and drank of the well, or spring, which is
about a quarter of a mile from the village; but I know nothing of the
traditions alluded to by Lysons. The chancel of the church is a fine
specimen of perpendicular style, with a vestry of the same date, and of
two stories, with a fireplace in each. I do not find North Marston, in
Bucks, mentioned in Leland, Camden, or Defoe, nor can I meet with any
account of Sir John Shorne in any books of English saints within my
reach. A copy of Browne Willis's MSS. may be seen in the British Museum.
W.H.K.
[Footnote 1: _History of Windsor_, p. 111.]
[Footnote 2: B. Willis's MSS., Bodleian Library.]
For the information of those who may not have the _Norfolk Archæology_
to refer to, let me add that John Shorne appears to have been rector of
North Marston, in Buckinghamshire, about the year 1290, "and was held in
great veneration for his virtues, which his benediction had imparted to
a holy well in his parish, and for his miracles, one of which, _the feat
of conjuring the devil into a boot_, was considered so remarkable that
it was represented in the east window of his church."
E.S.T.
_Antiquity of Smoking._--The passage is in Herodian. In the time of
Commodus there was a {521} pestilence in Italy. The emperor went to
Laurentum for the benefit of the smell of the laurel trees.
"In ipsa quoque urbe de medicorum sententia plerique unguentis
suavissimus nares atque aures opplebant, suffituque[3] et
odoramentis assidua utebantur, quod meatus sensuum (ut quidem
dicunt) odoribus illis occupati, neque admittant aëra tabificum: et
si maxime admiserint, tamen eum majore quasi vi longe superari."
This has nothing to do with the practice of smoking, nor is it clear
that they smoked these things with a pipe into the mouth at all. The
medical use of fumigation, as Sir William Temple observes, was greatly
esteemed among the ancients. But it is very probable that, being
sometimes practised by means of pipes, it was what led to the practice
of smoking constantly, either for general medical protection, or merely
for luxury, in countries and times too, when these epidemics from bad
air were very common. The great love of smoking among the Turks may be
originally owing to the plague.
C.B.
[Footnote 3: [Greek: "thumiamasi te kai arômasi sunechôs echrônto."]]
_Antiquity of Smoking_ (Vol. ii., pp. 41. 216. 465.).--Mr. Lane, in his
edition of the _Arabian Nights_, infers the very late date of that book
from there being no mention of tobacco or coffee in it.
As two of the ancient authorities have broken down, it occurred to me
that others might.
The reference to Strabo, vii. 296. leads me only to this; that the
Mysians were called [Greek: kapnobatai] (some correct to [Greek:
kapnopatai]) because they did not eat animals, but milk, cheese, and
honey; but of religion, living quietly.
One cannot imagine that this can be meant. I referred to Almaloveen's
edition, the old paging.
In the next page he repeats the epithet, coupling it, as before, with
the word religious, and arguing from both as having the same meaning.
It occurred to me that somebody might have read [Greek: kapnopotai],
"fumum bibentes," which might have given occasion to the reference to
this passage: and I find in the English Passow that [Greek: kapnobotai],
"smoke-eaters," has been proposed.
[Greek: Kapnopatai], is there derived from [Greek: paomai].
But if these are the readings, they can have nothing to do with smoking,
but with religion. From the context they would mean as we say, "living
on air;" like Democritus, who subsisted three days upon the steam of new
loaves.
[Greek: Kapnobatai] meant, as I believe, to describe their religiousness
more directly; treading on the clouds, living _in_ the air: like
Socrates in Aristophanes, [Greek: Neph]. 225.:
[Greek: "Aerobatô kai periphronô ton hêlion,"]
And in v. 330. [Greek: kapnos] is used of the clouds:
[Greek: "Ma Di all homichlên kai droson autas hêgoumên kai kapnon
einai."]
There is nothing in Solinus, cap. 15.; and Mela, lib. ii., is too wide a
reference.
C.B.
_Meaning of the Word "Thwaites"_(Vol. ii., p. 441.).--The word "Thwayte"
occurred in the ancient form of the Bidding Prayer: "Ye shalle byddee
for tham, that this cherche honour with book, with bell, with
vestiments, with _Thwayte_," &c. This form is said to be above four
hundred years old; and Palmer says (_Orig. Lit._, iii. p. 60.) that we
have memorials of these prayers used in England in the fourteenth
century. Hearne remarks that the explication of this word warranted by
Sir E. Coke is "a wood grubbed up and turned to arable." This land being
given to any church, the donors were thus commended by the prayers of
the congregation.
In Yorkshire the word is so understood: Thwaite, or "stubbed ground,
ground that has been essarted or cleaned."
J.H.M.
_Meaning of "Thwaites"_ (Vol. ii., p. 441.).--Hearne took the word
"Thwayte" to signify "a wood grubbed up and turned into arable." His
explanation, with other suggestions as to the meaning, of this word, may
be found in a letter from Hearne to Mr. Francis Cherry, printed in vol.
i. p. 194. of _Letters written by Eminent Persons in the Seventeenth and
Eighteenth Centuries_, published by Longman and Co. in 1813.
J.P. JR.
December 5. 1850.
_Thomas Rogers of Horninger_ (Vol. ii., p. 424.).--Your correspondent
S.G. will find a brief notice of this person in Rose's _Biographical
Dictionary_, London, 1848. It appears he was rector of Horninger, and a
friend of Camden; who prefixed some commendatory verses to a work of
his, entitled _The Anatomy of the Mind_. I would suggest to S.G. that
further information may probably be collected respecting him from these
verses, and from the prefaces, &c. of his other works, of which a long
list is given in Rose's _Dictionary_.
T.H. KERSLEY, A.B.
King William's Col., Isle of Man.
_Thomas Rogers of Horninger_ (Vol. ii., p 424.).--If S.G. will apply to
the Rev. J. Perowne, of his own college, who is understood to be
preparing an edition of Rogers's work for the Parker Society, he will
doubtless obtain the fullest information.
A.H.
_Earl of Roscommon_ (Vol. ii., p. 468.).--A pretended copy of the
inscription at Kilkenny West, mentioned by your correspondent AN
HIBERNIAN, was produced in evidence, on the claim of Stephen
Francis Dillon to the earldom of Roscommon, before the House of Lords.
As there was reason to doubt the evidence of the person who produced
that copy, or the genuineness of the inscription itself, the House
decided against that claim; and by admitting that of the late earl
(descended {522} from the youngest son of the first earl) assumed
the extinction of all the issue of the six elder sons. The
evidence adduced altogether negatived the presumption of any such
issue. Your correspondents FRANCIS and AN HIBERNIAN will find a
very clear and succinct account of the late earl's claim, and Stephen
Francis Dillon's counter-claim, in _The Roscommon Claim of Peerage_, by
J. Sidney Tayler, Lond. 1829.
W.H.C.
_Parse_ (Vol. ii., p. 430.).--Your correspondent J.W.H. is far from
correct in supposing that this word was not known in 1611, for he will
find it used by Roger Ascham, in a passage quoted by Richardson in his
_Dictionary_ sub voce.
In Brinsley's curious _Ludus Literarius_, 1612, reprinted 1627, 4to.,
the word is frequently used. At page 69. he recommends the "continual
practice of _parsing_." At p. 319., enumerating the contents of chap.
vi., we have "The Questions of the Accidence, called the _Poasing_ of
the English Parts;" and chap. ix. is "Of _Parsing_ and the kinds
thereof, &c."
At the end of a kind of introduction there is an "Advertisement by the
Printer," intimating that the author's book, "The _Poasing_ of the
Accidence," is likely to come forth. From all this, it seems as if the
two words were used indifferently.
F.R.A.
_The Meaning of "Version"_ (Vol. ii., p. 466.).--T. appears to apply a
peculiar meaning of his own to the word "version," which it would have
been quite as well if he had explained in a glossarial note.
He thinks A.E.B. was _mistaken_ in using that phrase in reference to
Lord Bacon's translation into Latin of his own English original work,
and he proceeds to compare (to what end does not very clearly appear) a
sentence from Lord Bacon's English text, with the same sentence as
re-translated back again from Lord Bacon's Latin by Wats. Finally, T.
concludes with this very singular remark: "Wats' version is the more
exact of the two!"
Does T. mean to call Lord Bacon's English text a _version_ of his Latin,
by anticipation of eighteen years?
The only other authority for such meaning of the word would seem to be
the facetious Dr. Prout, who accused Tom Moore of a similar _version_ of
his celebrated papers.
A.E.B.
_First Paper-mill in England_ (Vol. ii., p. 473).--The birthplace of the
"High Germaine Spilman" (_Spielmann_), celebrated by Churchyard, your
English readers may not easily discover by his description as quoted by
DR. RIMBAULT.
"Lyndoam Bodenze" is _Lindau am Boden-see_, on the Lake of Constance (in
German, _Bodensee_), once a free imperial city, called, from its site on
three islets in the lake, "the Swabian Venice," now a pretty little town
belonging to the kingdom of _Bavaria_.
V.
"_Torn by Horses_" (Vol. ii., p. 480.).--This cruel death was suffered
by _Ravaillac_, who accomplished what Jean Châtel failed in doing.
The execution took place on the 27th of May, 1610, with the most
atrocious severities of torture, of which the drawing by horses was but
the last out of a scene that continued for many hours. The day before he
had been racked to the very extremity of human suffering. The horses
dragged at the wretch's body for an hour in vain; at length a nobleman
present sent one of his own, which was stronger; but this even would not
suffice. The executioner had to sever the mangled body with his knife,
before the limbs would give way. I could add more of these details, but
the subject is intolerable.
The execution of _Ravaillac_ was followed with the utmost exactness, but
with more cruelty, if possible, in the case of _Damiens_ (sentenced for
the attempt on Louis le Bien-Aimé), who suffered on the Place de Grève,
March 28. 1757. The frightful business lasted from morning till dusk!
Here again the knife was used before the body gave way, the horses
having dragged at it for more than an hour first; the poor wretch
living, it is said, all the while!
I believe this was the last instance of the punishment in France, if not
in Europe.
A concise summary of the trials of these men, and all the hideous
details of their tortures and execution, will be found, by those who
have a taste for such things, in the third volume of the new series of
the _Neuer Pitaval_, edited by Hitzig and Haring (Leipzig,
Brockhaus),--a collection of _causes célèbres_ which has been in course
of publication at intervals since 1842. The volume in question appeared
in the present year (1850).
V.
Belgravia.
_Vineyards_ (Vol. ii., p. 392.).--At Ingatestone Hall, in Essex, one of
the seats of Lord Petre, a part of the ground on the south side of the
house still goes by the name of "the Vineyard." And this autumn grapes
came to great perfection on the south wall.
J.A.D.
_Cardinal_ (Vol. ii., p. 424.).--The expression referred to by O.P.Q.
was in some degree illustrated at the coronation of Edward II., 1308,
when the Pope, wishing the ceremony to be performed by a cardinal, whom
he offered to send for the purpose, was strenuously opposed by the king,
and compelled to withdraw his pretensions. (See Curtis's _History of
England_, vol. ii. p. 309.)
C.H.
St. Catherine's Hall, Cambridge.
_Weights for weighing Coins_ (Vol. ii., p. 326.).--If the question of
your correspondent, who wishes to know at what period weights were
introduced {523} for weighing coins, is intended to have a general
reference, he will find many passages alluding to the practice amongst
the ancient Romans, who manufactured balances of various kinds for that
purpose: one for gold (_statera auraria_, Varro _Ap. Non._, p. 455., ed.
Mercer.; Cic. _Or._ ii. 38.); another for silver (Varro _De Vit. P.R._
lib. ii.); and another for small pieces of money (_trutina momentana
pro parva modicaque pecunia._ Isidor. _Orig._, xvi. 25. 4.). The mint
is represented on the reverse of numerous imperial coins and medals
by three female figures, each of whom holds a pair of scales, one for
each of the three metals; and in Rich's _Illustrated Companion to the
Latin Dictionary_, under the word LIBRA, there is exhibited a balance
of very peculiar construction, from an original in the cabinet of the
Grand Duke at Florence, which has a scale at one end of the beam, and
a fixed weight at the opposite extremity, "to test the just weight of
a given quantity, and supposed to have been employed at the mint for
estimating the proper weight of coinage."
MONETA.
_Umbrellas_ (Vol. i., p. 414. etc.).--To the extensive exhibition of
_umbrellas_ formed through the exertions of the right worthy editor of
the "NOTES AND QUERIES" and his very numerous friends, I am happy to
have it in my power to make an addition of considerable curiosity, it
being of much earlier date than any specimen at present in the
collection:--
"Of doues I haue a dainty paire
Which, when you please to take the aier,
About your head shall gently houer,
Your cleere browe from the sunne to couer,
And with their nimble wings shall fan you
That neither cold nor heate shall tan you,
And, like _vmbrellas_, with their feathers
_Sheeld you in all sorts of weathers._"
_Michael Drayton, 1630_.
Had not the exhibition been limited to umbrellas used in England, I
could have produced oriental specimens, very like those now in fashion
here, of the latter part of the sixteenth century.
BOLTON CORNEY.
_Croziers and Pastoral Staves_ (Vol. ii., p. 412.).--The staff with the
cross appears on the monument of Abp. Warham, in Canterbury Cathedral;
on the brass of Abp. Waldeby (1397), in Westminster Abbey and on that of
Abp. Cranley (1417), in New College Chapel, Oxford.
The crook is bent _outwards_ in the brasses to the following
bishops:--Bp. Trellick (1360), Hereford Cathedral; Bp. Stanley (1515),
Manchester Cathedral; Bp. Goodrich (1554), Ely Cathedral; and Bp.
Pursglove (1579), Tideswell Church, Derbyshire.
J.I.D.
* * * * *
Miscellaneous.
NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC.
We never longed so much for greater space for our Notes upon Books as we
do at this season of gifts and good will, when the Christmas Books
demand our notice.
Never did writer pen a sweeter tale than that which the author of _Mary
Barton_ has just produced under the title of _The Moorland Cottage_. It
is a purely English story, true to nature as a daguerreotype, without
one touch of exaggeration, without the smallest striving after effect,
yet so skilfully is it told, so effectually does it tell, so strongly do
Maggie's trials and single-mindedness excite our sympathies, that it
were hard to decide whether our tears are disposed to flow the more
readily at those trials, or at her quiet heroic perseverance in doing
right by which they are eventually surmounted. _The Moorland Cottage_
with its skilful and characteristic woodcut illustrations by Birket
Foster, will be a favourite for many and many a Christmas yet to come.
Rich in all the bibliopolic "pearl and gold" of a quaint and fanciful
binding, glancing with holly berries and mistletoe, Mr. Bogue presents
us with a volume as interesting as it is characteristic and elegant,
_Christmas with the Poets_. A more elegantly printed book was never
produced; and it is illustrated with fifty engravings designed and drawn
on wood by Birket Foster; engraved by Henry Vizetelly, and printed in
tints in a way to render most effective the artist's tasteful,
characteristic, and very able drawings. The volume is, as it were, a
casket, in which are enshrined all the gems which could be dug out of
the rich mines of English poetry; and when we say that the first
division treats of Carols from the Anglo-Norman period to the time of
the Reformation; that these are followed by Christmas Poems of the
Elizabethan period, by Shakspeare, Ben Jonson, and their great
cotemporaries; that to these succeed Herrick's Poems, and so on, till we
have the Christmas verses of our own century, by Southey, Wordsworth,
Scott, Shelley, Tennyson, &c., we have done more than all our praise
could do, to prove that a fitter present to one who loves poetry could
not be found than _Christmas with the Poets_.
While if it be a _little_ lover of poetry--mind, not one who little
loves poetry, but one who listens with delight to those beloved ditties
of the olden times, which as we know charmed Shakspeare's
childhood,--learn that an English lady, with the hand and taste of an
artist, guided and refined by that purest and holiest of feelings, a
mother's love, has illustrated those dear old songs in a way to delight
all children; and at the same time charm the most refined. The
_Illustrated Ditties of the Olden Time_ is in sooth a delightful volume,
and if a love of the beautiful be as closely connected with a love of
the moral as wise heads tell us, we know no more agreeable way of early
inculcating morality than by circulating this splendid edition of our
time-honoured Nursery Rhymes.
But we fancy the taste of some of our readers may not yet have been hit
upon. Let them try _The Story of Jack and the Giants, illustrated by
Richard Doyle_; and {524} they will find this wondrous story rendered
still more attractive by some thirty drawings, from the pencil of one
of the most imaginative artists of the day, and whose artistic spirit
seems to have revelled with delight as he pourtrayed the heroic
achievements of "the valiant Cornish man."