or six and forty years ago, my father, one day as we were passing by
the churchyard, mentioned that stone to me; but as I had then several
cousins living whose claims were prior to mine, the matter made but
little impression upon my mind.
My father was Thomas, the second son of Garrett, who was the son of
Thomas, down to whom the genealogy from the first Earl was traced upon
the stone.
That stone and another, as I learn, were removed and destroyed, or
concealed, many years ago, doubtless through some interested motive;
and, unfortunately, no copies of the inscriptions have, that I can
discover, been preserved by any branch of the family.
When the late Earl became a claimant, it was not known whether
the descendants of Patrick, my father's elder brother, who had all
emigrated, were living or dead; which circumstance, it was considered,
would be an impediment to my claim.
Besides which it was also thought, the testimony on the stone having
been lost, that the traditions in the family would not be sufficient
to establish a claim: under these circumstances I refrained from
coming forward to oppose the claims of the late Earl. But now, as
it is believed that there are none of my cousins living, I am
endeavouring to collect evidence in support of my claim; and proof of
what your correspondent states would be exceedingly useful.
Garrett Dillon, M.D.
8. Queen's Parade, Bath.
_The Word "after" in the Rubric_ (Vol. ii., p. 424.).--In the edition
of the _Latin Common Prayer_, published in 12mo., Londini, 1574, which
must be a very early edition (probably the fourth or fifth), there is
a great verbal difference in the conclusion of the exhortation from
the English original. It stands thus:
"Quapropter omnes vos qui praesentes hic adestis, per Dei nomen
obtestor, ut interni sensus vestri, cum meo conjuncti pariter,
ad caelestis clementiae thronum subvolent, ut in hunc, qui
sequitur, sermonem, succedatur."
Then follows the rubric, "Generalis confessio, ab universa
congregatione dicenda, genibus flexis." It would appear from this,
that the confession was repented at the same time by the minister and
the congregation, and not by the congregation after the minister.
Of the authenticity of this edition there can be no doubt. It bears
the royal arms on the titlepage, and is printed "Cum privilegio Regiae
majestatis. Excudebat Thomas Vautrollerius." I have not seen the
earlier editions. A Greek version was printed with the Latin, in one
volume, one year before; and the Latin was republished in 1584. The
edition of 1574 was printed before the Catechism was completed by the
questions on the sacraments. In the rubrics of the Lord's Prayer, in
the Post Communion, and in the last prayers the Commination Service,
the word _after_ is rendered by _post_.
The difference between the Latin and the English in the exhortation
is very remarkable, for it does not make the priest dictate the
confession, but repeat it with them; whereas the English services of
Edward and Elizabeth, unaltered in any subsequent editions, distinctly
make the priest dictate the confession. There can be no doubt about
the sense of the word _after_, when we find it in the rubrics of the
Post Communion and Commination translated _post_. Some of your readers
may be able to give an account of the Latin versions, and explain by
what influence the alteration {499} was made, and how it came to be
sanctioned, while the English remained unchanged.
E.C.H.
_Disputed Passage in the Tempest_ (Vol. ii., pp. 259. 299. 337.
429.).--Allow me to remind Mr. George Stephens, who takes credit for
adhering to the "primitive" text of a certain disputed passage in
the _Tempest_, that neither he nor any one else does so; that the
"primitive" text, that is, the text of the first folio, is mere
nonsense, and that he simply adopts the first attempt at correction,
instead of the second, or the third, or the fourth.
Enough has been written, perhaps, on the meaning of this passage; and
opinion will always be divided between those who adopt the prosaical,
and those who prefer the more poetical reading: but when Mr. Stephens
says the construction is merely an instance of a "common ellipsis,"
I cannot but think it would be an advantage if he would inform us
whether he uses this term in its common acceptation, and if so, if he
would give the meaning stated at first. If this be a common ellipsis,
I must confess myself to be so stupid as not to understand it.
I dissent, too, altogether from the opinion that the comma is of
any importance in the construction of this passage. Assuming, as one
correspondent says, and as Mr. Stephens (for I don't quite understand
his brief judgment) seems to say, that "_most busie least_" means
_least busy_, the placing a comma between "least" and the conjunction
"when" can in no way affect the sense, though, as a matter of taste, I
should decidedly object to it.
To show that I am not wedded to any particular interpretation, I have
another suggestion to make which has struck me even while writing.
Taking "lest" for _least_, can it have been used for _at least_, or as
some people say, _leastwise_? The sense would still be the same as I
have contended for, expressed something like this: "But these sweet
thoughts do even refresh my labours: at least they are most busy when
I forget myself in my occupation."
Samuel Hickson.
_Lady Compton's Letter_ (Vol. ii., p. 424.).--Mr. C.H. Cooper inquires
whether this letter appeared before 1839? Gifford gives an extract
from it in Massinger's _City Madam_, Act II., where the daughters of
Sir John Frugal make somewhat similar stipulations from their suitors.
When speaking of this letter as "a modest and consolatory one,"
Gifford adds, "it is _yet extant_." The editor of a work entitled
_Relics of Literature_ (1823) gives it at length, with this reference,
"Harleian MSS. 7003." The property of Lady Compton's father, Sir John
Spencer, is stated variously from 300,000l. to 800,000l. In this case,
riches brought with them their customary share of anxieties. Lysons,
in his _Environs of London_, informs us that a plot was actually laid
for carrying off the wealthy merchant from his house at Canonbury, by
a pirate of Dunkirk, in the hope of obtaining a large ransom.
J.H.M.
_Midwives licensed_ (Vol. ii., p. 408.).--I have a manuscript volume
which belonged to Bishop Warburton, and apparently to other Bishops
of Gloucester before him; containing, amongst other Pontificalia, in
writing of various ages, a number of forms of licences, among which
occurs "Licentia Obstetricis," whereby the bishop
"eandem A.B. ad exercendam Artem et Officium Obstetricis in et
per totam Diocesin Gloucestrensem praedietam admisit et Literas
Testimoniales superiade fieri decrevit."
There is no mention of charms or incantations in the licence, but the
oath "de jure in hac parte requisito," is required to have been made.
The form is of the same writing as several others which bear dates
from 1709 to 1719. Below is a memorandum of the fees, amounting to
17s. 6d.
Thomas Kerslake.
Bristol.
_Echo Song_ (Vol. ii., p. 441.).--Although I cannot supply Llyd Rhys
Morgan with the name of the writer, I may refer him to D'Israeli's
_Curiosities of Literature_, p. 257. (Moxon's edit. 1840), where he
will find another Echo Song, by a certain Francis Cole, so similar to
the one he quotes as to induce me to think that they either come from
the same pen, or that the one is an imitation of the other.
Y.
_The Irish Brigade_ (Vol. ii., pp. 407. 452.).--It is understood John
C. O'Callaghan, Esq., author of the _Green Book_, contemplated a
much more copious work on the subject than that by the late Matthew
O'Connor, mentioned by your correspondent (p. 452.). The _Union
Quotidienne_ of 23rd April last announced a work by M. de la Ponce,
_Essai sur l'Irlande Ancienne, et sur les Brigades Irlandaises au
Service de France, depuis leur Organisation en 1691_; but whether
published or not I am not aware. Perhaps some of your correspondents
may know.
Drumlethglas.
_To save one's Bacon_ (Vol. ii., p. 424.).--May I venture to suggest
that this phrase has reference to the custom at Dunmow, in Essex, of
giving a flitch of bacon to any married couple residing in the parish,
who live in harmony for a year and a day. A man and his wife who
stopped short when on the verge of a quarrel might be said to have
"just saved their bacon;" and in course of time the phrase would be
applied to any one who barely escaped any loss or danger.
X.Z.
_"The Times" Newspaper and the Coptic Language_ (Vol. ii., p.
377.).--J.E. quotes a passage from _The Times_ newspaper respecting
the Coptic language, and asks if any correspondent can furnish a
clearer account of its structure than the writer of that article has
given. A reference to the work {500} which he was reviewing (Kenrick's
_Ancient Egypt under the Pharaohs_) will show the origin of the
apparent inconsistency on which J.E. animadverts. In that work it is
said (vol. i. p. 100.):
"The roots of the Coptic language appear to have been
generally monosyllabic, and the derivatives have been formed
by a very simple system of prefixing, inserting, and affixing
certain letters, which have usually undergone but little
change, not having been incorporated with the root, nor melted
down by crasis, nor softened by any euphonic rules."
Again (vol. i. p. 107.), speaking of the supposed connexion between
India and Egypt:
"The Sanscrit is the most polished and copious language ever
spoken by man; the Coptic, the most rude of all which were
used by the civilised nations of antiquity."
The writer in _The Times, currente calamo_, has thrown the contents
of these two sentences together, and somewhat strengthened the
expressions of his author, who does not call the Coptic system of
inflexion rude, nor assert that it is totally different from the
Syro-Arabian system, but quotes the opinion of Benfey, that they
differ so much that neither can have originated from the other, but
both from a parent language. The distinction between a system of
_inflexion_ and one of _affixes_ and _prefixes_ is not permanent. What
we call the inflexions of the Greek verb were once, no doubt, affixes;
but while, in the Greek, they have become incorporated with the root,
in the Coptic they stand rigidly apart from it.
Herampion.
_Luther's Hymns_ (Vol. ii., p. 327.).--A writer in the _Parish Choir_
of September last (p. 140.) has traced the words "In the midst of life
we are in death" to a higher source than the Salisbury Service-book.
It occurs in the choir-book of the monks of St. Gall in Switzerland,
and was probably composed by Notker, surnamed the Stammerer, about the
end of the ninth century, or the beginning of the tenth.
C.H.
St. Catherine's Hall, Cambridge.
_Osnaburg Bishopric_ (Vol. ii., pp. 358. 484.).--The occupiers of this
bishopric were princes ecclesiastical of the empire, and had not
only the ordinary authority of bishops in their dioceses, but were
sovereigns of their provinces and towns in the same manner as were the
princes temporal.
The bishopric of Osnaburg was founded by Charlemagne, and was filled
by various princes until 1625, when Cardinal Francis William, Count of
Wartemburg, was elected by the chapter.
By the Treaty of Osnaburg, 1642, which was ratified at the Peace of
Westphalia, 1648, the House of Brunswick resigned all claims to the
archbishoprics of Magdeburg and Bremen, and to the bishoprics of
Halberstadt and Ratzburg; and received the alternate nomination of
the bishopric of Osnaburg, which was declared to belong jointly to the
Catholic and the Protestant branch of Brunswick.
Under this arrangement, on the death of Count Wartemburg in 1662,
Ernest Augustus I., the sixtieth bishop, patriarch of the present
royal family of England, succeeded to the government of Osnaburg,
which he held for thirty-six years.
Ernest Augustus II, sixty-second bishop, Duke of Brunswick and
Lunenburg, was made Duke of York and Albany, and Bishop of Osnaburg,
in 1716, in the room of Charles Joseph of Lorraine. He died in 1748.
Frederick, second son of George III., was appointed bishop at an early
age; he being called, in a work dedicated to him in 1772, "An infant
bishop."
By the Treaty of Vienna, the bishopric of Osnaburg was made part of
the kingdom of Hanover.
The ancient territory of the Bishop of Osnaburg consisted of Osnaburg,
Iborg, Forstenau, Bostel, Quakenburg, Vorde Gronsburg, Hunteburg on
the lake Dummer, Witlage, Melle, and Holte.
In Halliday's _History of the House of Guelph_, 4to., 1821, at
p. 133., the conditions of the Treaty of Osnaburg relative to the
bishopric are given at length.
Whilst preparing the above I have seen the reply of F.E. at p. 447.,
and would beg to correct the following errors:--
The Treaty of Osnaburg was 1642, not 1624.
Halliday's _House of Guelph_ was published 1821, not 1820.
Reference to the conditions of the treaty at p. 133. is omitted.
F.B. Relton.
_Scandal against Queen Elizabeth_ (Vol. ii., p. 393.).--There is a
current belief in Ireland that the family of Mapother, in Roscommon,
is descended from Queen Elizabeth: and there are many other traditions
completely at variance with the ordinarily received opinion as to
her inviolate chastity. A discussion of the matter might discover the
foundation on which they rest.
R. Ts.
_Pretended Reprint of Ancient Poetry_ (Vol. ii., p. 463.).--The late
Rev. Peter Hall was the person at whose expense the two copies of the
work mentioned by Dr. Rimbault were reprinted. At the sale of that
gentleman's library, in May last, one of these two reprints was sold
for 20s.
Cato.
_Martin Family_ (Vol. ii., p. 392.).--If your correspondent Clericus
will refer to Morant's _History of Essex_, vol. ii. p. 188., he will
find some account of the family of Martin. There do not appear to
be any families of the name of Cockerell or Hopkins in the same
neighbourhood.
J.A.D.
"_Ge-ho_," _Meaning of_.--I am a little girl, only two years and five
months old, and my kind aunt Noo teaches me to spell. Now I hear the
men, when driving their horses, say "Ge-ho;" {501} and I think they
say so because G, O, spells "Go." Is it so, can anybody say?
I am, your youngest correspondent,
Katie.
[Better etymologists than Katie have made far worse guesses
than our youngest correspondent. But in Brand's _Popular
Antiquities_, by Ellis, vol. i. p. 294. ed. 1841 (the
passage is not in the last edition), is the following curious
illustration of the phrase _Ge-ho_.
"A learned friend, whose communications I have frequently had
occasion to acknowledge in the course of this work, says,
the exclamation '_Geho, Geho_,' which carmen use to their
horses, is probably of great antiquity. It is not peculiar to
this country, as I have heard it used in France. In the story
of the Milkmaid, who kicked down her pail, and with it all her
hopes of getting rich, as related in a very ancient collection
of apologues, entitled _Dialogus Creaturarum_, printed
at Gonda in 1480, is the following passage: 'Et cum sic
gloriaretur, et cogitaret cum quanta gloria duceretur ad illum
virum super equum dicendo _gio gio_, cepit percutere terram
quasi pungeret equum calcaribus.'"
Brand's learned correspondent was, doubtless, the late Mr.
Douce, from whom the writer of this Note has often heard the
same illustration.]
_Lady Norton_ (Vol. ii., p. 480.).--An account of lady Norton may be
seen in _Memoirs of several ladies of Great Britain, who have been
celebrated for their writings or skill in the learned languages arts
and sciences_. By George Ballard. Oxford, 1752. 4º. She is said to
have written two books, viz.: _The applause of virtue. In four parts._
etc. London, 1705. 4º. pp. 262; and _Memento mori: or meditations on
death_. London 1705. 4º. pp. 108. She was living in advanced years,
about 1720.
The same biographical repertory contains an account of her daughter,
lady Gethin--of whom some particulars were given by myself in a small
volume of essays printed for private circulation, under the title of
_Curiosities of literature illustrated_, in 1837. On that occasion
I ventured to express my belief that lady Gethin did not compose one
sentence of the _remains_ ascribed to her; but I hope the claims of
lady Norton to _patristic learning_ may more successfully bear the
test of critical examination.
Bolton Corney.
* * * * *
Miscellaneous.
NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC.
Honour to the University of Oxford, Honour to the Rev. Josiah
Forshall, and though last not least, Honour to the learned Keeper
of the Manuscripts in the British Museum, Sir Frederick Madden, for
giving us _The Holy Bible containing the Old and New Testaments with
the Apocryphal Books, in the earliest English versions made from the
Latin Vulgate, by John Wycliffe and his followers_. Never did the
University Press put forth a more valuable or more important work
than these four handsome quartos, (published, too, at the marvellously
small price of five guineas), in which are now printed, for the first
time, in an entire form, those Versions which may be regarded as
the earliest in the English language which embrace any considerable
proportion of the Holy Scriptures. By this publication, Oxford has
done her part towards wiping away the disgrace which has so long
attached to this country--which boasts, and justly and proudly boasts,
of being _the_ country of Bibles--for its long-continued neglect of
these early versions of the vernacular Scriptures. How great was
the influence which they exercised upon the religious opinions and
sentiments of the nation at large in the interval between the years
1382 and 1526, how great an amount of scriptural truth they diffused,
how effectually they supplied the opponents of the Papal system with
the means of exposing its abuses and errors, and how they thereby
laid a deep foundation for the reform of the sixteenth century, may be
clearly seen by a perusal of the Preface to this great work; on which
the learned editors have employed their learning and industry for two
and twenty years, to their own high credit, and to the vindication
of English scholarship. But our limited space will not admit of
our detailing all the claims which this _editio princeps_ of the
_Wycliffite Scriptures_ has upon the attention of our readers, or of
pointing out all the great services which its editors have rendered
to the literary, no less than to the religious world. When we state
briefly that in the work before us we have the _two_ versions, the
_earlier_ and _later_ versions, printed side by side; that these
are accompanied by various readings gathered from the collection of
upwards of one hundred different manuscripts; introduced by a preface
full of new and most interesting particulars of this first attempt to
give to this country the Scriptures in a tongue "understanded of the
people;" and the whole rendered complete by an extensive and most
valuable glossary, we feel persuaded our readers will agree with us in
giving honour to all who have had hand or heart in the production of
these deeply interesting volumes.
We have received the following Catalogues:--C.J. Stewart's (11.
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Practical, and Devotional Divinity; a well-timed catalogue containing
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Works on the Inquisition; B.R. Wheatley's (44. Bedford Street, Strand)
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Notices to Correspondents.
Our Christmas Number. _This week our able contemporary_, Household
Words, _treats his readers to a Christmas Number. It is one of the
many good things in which our popular friend has anticipated us.
Thanks, however, to the Peace Congress, we are content to be thus
anticipated without giving utterance to the time-honoured_ "Pereant
qui ante nos nostra dixerunt." _Still, as we earnestly desire to
close the year in peace with all the world, or, which is much the same
thing, with all the readers of_ Notes and Queries, _we propose, on
Saturday next, treating them to a_ Christmas Number, _rich in articles
on_ Folk Lore, Popular Literature, &c., _and to use as ballast for our
barque, which will at such occasion be of unwonted lightness, a number
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The Index to Volume the Second _will be ready early in January._
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London: Thomas Hatchard, 187. Piccadilly.
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Just published, 8vo., or 2 vols. 12mo., price 9s.
A PRACTICAL EXPOSITION OF ST. PAUL'S EPISTLES to the THESSALONIANS, to
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"Anything written by the Author of 'Proposals for Christian Union' is
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This Essay concludes the Series. The four preceding numbers on sale,
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London: James Darling, Great Queen Street, Lincoln's-Inn-Fields.
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