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NOTES AND QUERIES:
A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION
FOR
LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC.
"When found, make a note of."--CAPTAIN CUTTLE.
VOL. IV.--No. 90. SATURDAY, JULY 19. 1851.
Price Threepence. Stamped Edition, 4_d._
CONTENTS.
Page
NOTES:--
A Caxton Memorial suggested, by Bolton Corney 33
Supposed Witchcraft 35
The late Sir John Graham Dalyell 35
Appropriation of a Thought, by James Cornish 36
The "Eisell" Controversy, by Samuel Hickson 36
Minor Notes:--"Miserrimus"--The Dog and Duck, St. George's
Fields--The Habit of profane Swearing by the
English--Tennyson's Use of the Word "Cycle"--A Moiety 37
QUERIES:--
Etymology of Fontainebleau, by H. H. Breen 38
Force of Conscience 38
English Literature in the North, by George Stephens 38
Minor Queries:--Painted Portraits of Overton--Fourth
Fare--John Wood, Architect--Derivation of "Spon"--Dell, in
what County--Bummaree or Bumaree--Thread the Needle--Proof
of a Sword--Shelley's Children--Ackey Trade--Baskerville
the Printer--Statue of Charles II.--La Mère Jeanne--Man
Of War, why a Ship Of War so called--Secret Service Money
of Charles II.--Hampton Court 39
MINOR QUERIES ANSWERED:--De Rebus Hibernicis--Abridgment
of the Assizes--Life Of Cromwell 41
REPLIES:--
Written Sermons and Extempore Preaching 41
Fest Sittings 42
Histoire des Sévérambes, by H. H. Breen 43
Salting the Dead 43
Replies to Minor Queries:--Bogatsky--Baronette--Rifles
--Miss--Lady Flora Hastings' Bequest--English Sapphics--
Welwood--Bellarmio's Monstrous Paradox--Jonah and the
Whale--Book Plates 44
MISCELLANEOUS:--
Notes on Books, Sales, Catalogues, &c. 46
Books and Odd Volumes wanted 46
Notices to Correspondents 47
Advertisements 47
Notes.
A CAXTON MEMORIAL SUGGESTED.
After Caxton had slept with his fathers for three centuries, remembered
only by a few antiquaries, it was deemed fit that a public monument
should record his merits.
The Roxburghe club, much to the honour of its members, undertook to bear
the cost of it, and to superintend its execution. With regard to its
location, there was no question as to the paramount claims of
Westminster. It was proposed, in the first instance, to place it in the
collegiate church of St. Peter, within the precincts of which church
Caxton had exercised his art. The want of a convenient space was rather
an obstacle to that plan: a more serious obstacle was the amount of fees
demanded on such occasions. It was then decided, and perhaps with more
propriety, that it should be placed in the parish church of St.
Margaret; and the execution of the monument, which was to be of the
tablet form, was entrusted to the younger Westmacott.[1] An engraving of
it has been published.[2] The inscription is
"_To the memory_
of William Caxton
who first introduced into Great Britain
the art of printing
and who A.D. 1477 or earlier
exercised that art
in the abbey of Westminster.
This tablet
_in remembrance_ of one
to whom
the literature of his country
is so largely indebted
was raised
anno Domini MDCCCXX
by the Roxburghe club
earl Spencer, K.G. president."
[Footnote 1: T. F. Dibdin, _Reminiscences of a literary life_.
London, 1836. 8vo. i. 386.]
[Footnote 2: J. Martin, _A catalogue of books privately printed_.
London, 1834. 8vo. p. 486.]
The monument, as a piece of sculpture, is simplicity itself, and
therefore suitable to the place of its destination. To the inscription I
venture to make some slight objections: 1. Whether Caxton "introduced
into Great Britain the art of printing" admits of a doubt. There is no
evidence to invalidate the colophon of the _Exposicio S. Jeronimi in
simbolo Apostolorum_.[3] Dibdin fully believed in its authenticity.[4]
2. Caxton is very imperfectly designated. He was a well-informed writer,
a most assiduous translator, and a very careful editor. As early as
1548, he was classed among the _Illustres majoris Britanniæ
scriptores_[5]--but we are on the decline, it seems, in point of tact
and intelligence. 3. The date of his decease, and the place of his
burial, should have been stated. The facts are recorded in the accounts
of the churchwardens of this very parish, and _nowhere else_.[6] 4. The
inscription, as a composition, wants terseness: on this point, I content
myself with giving a hint _typographically_.
[Footnote 3: S. W. Singer, _Some account of the book printed at
Oxford in 1468_. London, 1812. 8vo. p. 44.]
[Footnote 4: _Typographical antiquities_, by Joseph Ames, etc.
London, 1810. 4to. _Life of Caxton_, p. 75.]
[Footnote 5: _Illvstrivm maíoris Britanniae scriptorvm summari[=u]
avtore Ioanne Balaeo._ Gippeswici, 1548. 4to. fol. 208.]
[Footnote 6: John Nichols, _Illustrations of the manners and
expences of ancient times_. London, 1797. 4to. p. 3.]
In 1847 a fresh attempt as made to revive the memory of Caxton. After
due notice, a public meeting was held on the 12th of June to "promote
the erection of a monument to commemorate the introduction of printing
into England, and in honour of William Caxton, the earliest English
printer"--the lord Morpeth in the chair. The meeting was extremely well
attended. The form of monument proposed was, the combination of a
fountain by day and a light by night--the poetical conception of the
rev. H. H. Milman. Some excellent speeches were made--and I cannot but
particularize that of the noble chairman; considerable sums were
subscribed--the messieurs Clowes tendering 100_l._; a committee, a
sub-committee, a treasurer, and a secretary, were appointed.[7]--With
the proceedings of that meeting, as publicly reported, my information
terminated.
[Footnote 7: _The Times_, June 14, 1847.]
After a lapse of four years, a meeting of the subscribers to the _Caxton
Testimonial_ was advertised for the 10th of July, to "consider an offer
made by the Coalbrookdale Iron Company to erect an _iron statue of
Caxton_--and, in the event of the proposal being adopted, to determine
the best means of carrying the same into effect." I was much astonished
at this announcement. A meeting to consider an offer to perpetuate a
fiction in connexion with an art which surpasses all other arts in its
power of establishing truth! On reflection, I became calm; and felt that
Mr. Henry Cole, the honorary secretary, was perfectly right in adopting
the customary phraseology. The result of this meeting is a desideratum.
It seems to have been private; for an examination of 300 columns of _The
Times_, being, the history of four days, did not lead to the discovery
of one word on the _iron statue of Caxton_.
If the statue-mania did not now prevail to an unexampled extent, I
should feel much confidence in the sound sense of the subscribers--but I
have my misgivings.
According to _my_ feelings, which I avail myself of this opportunity of
recording, we may commemorate an eminent individual in better ways than
by the erection of a statue; the philanthropist, by an alms-house--the
scholar, by scholarships--the naval commander, by a sea-mark--etc.
Admitting that a statue may sometimes be the most desirable form of
monument, the _statue_ of an individual of whose features we are in
entire ignorance is a misnomer. It is scarcely less than an absurdity.
As I have intimated that there is no authentic portrait of Caxton, I
must now justify my conviction. Ames published a woodcut as a portrait
of our venerable Caxton[8]: Dibdin discovered it to be a "portrait of
Burchiello,"[9] an eccentric Florentine barber!--le poète le plus
bizarre qui ait jamais écrit! Horace Walpole published a print said to
represent earl Rivers "introducing Caxton to Edward IV."[10] It was
copied from an illuminated MS. in the archiepiscopal library at Lambeth,
No. 265. Now, what says Mr. Todd? "That Caxton _printed this book_ in
1477, is well known. But what has that circumstance to do with the earl
_presenting or attending the presentation of his own manuscript_? The
figure here introduced by the earl is evidently, by the tonsure and
habit, a _priest_; which Caxton was not."[11] I have heard of no other
engraved portraits of Caxton.
[Footnote 8: _Typographical antiquities._ London, 1749. 4to. p.
54.]
[Footnote 9: _The bibliographical decameron._ London, 1817. 8vo.
ii. 288.]
[Footnote 10: _Catalogue of royal and noble authors._
Strawberry-hill, 1758. 8vo. i. 60.]
[Footnote 11: _Catalogue of the archiepiscopal manuscripts at
Lambeth._ London, 1812. Fol. p. 37.]
Viewing Caxton as a man of considerable literary abilities, and as the
_first English printer_, I have now to propose for him a monument which
shall do justice to his merits in both capacities--a monument which
shall be visible at all times, and in all places: I propose a collective
impression of his original compositions. Such a volume would be the best
account of his life and works. It would also exhibit much of the
literary history of the times--some sound criticism and notions on
editorship--and curious specimens of the style of our forefathers. It
would comprise what no wealth could procure--what no single library
could produce. It would be, to use the forcible words of messieurs
Visconti and Castellan, on a somewhat similar occasion, "un monument
plus utile et plus durable que ceux même que l'on peut ériger avec le
marbre et le bronze."[12]
[Footnote 12: _Journal des savans._ 1818. 4to. p. 389.]
_Proposed Conditions._
1. A volume, to be entitled THE CAXTON MEMORIAL, shall be printed
for subscribers under approved editorship, and shall contain all
the original compositions of WILLIAM CAXTON, as proems, notes,
colophons, etc., with specimens of his translations, and
fac-simile cuts of his device and types.
2. In order to expedite the progress of the volume, and to ensure
the _perfect accuracy_ of its contents, there shall be three
co-editors--one of whom shall act as secretary.
3. The volume shall be printed in Roman type, with the ancient
orthography and punctuation; and in two sizes--in royal octavo,
and in demy octavo.
4. Subscribers of 1_l._ 1_s._ shall be entitled to a copy on royal
paper, and subscribers of 10_s._ 6_d._ to a copy on demy paper.
5. Each editor shall be entitled to the same number of copies as
are allowed by the Camden and other similar societies.
6. The number of copies printed shall not exceed the number for
which subscriptions shall have been received, except as required
by the fifth rule, and as presents to such public libraries, or
private collectors, as may furnish a part of the materials.
7. Printers and publishers subscribing for six copies shall be
allowed a discount of 25 per cent.
8. The names of the subscribers, and an account of the receipts
and expenditure, shall be added to the volume.
The project now announced was formed by me, as to its principal
features, at the close of the year 1849; but not a line was written
before the appearance of the advertisement of the 5th instant. It had
been communicated, however, in private, to the editor of "NOTES AND
QUERIES." To this fact I have no doubt he will cheerfully bear witness.
As the previous scheme of a _Caxton Testimonial_ was then almost
forgotten, the idea could not have been conceived in spirit of rivalry.
Nevertheless, if need be, I would oppose to the utmost of my ability,
and fearless of any array of names which the rolls of literature may
furnish, the PERPETUATION OF A FICTION.
BOLTON CORNEY.
Barnes Terrace, Surrey, July 15.
SUPPOSED WITCHCRAFT.
Cole, in his manuscript volume xlvi. p. 340, gives the copy of a paper
written at the beginning of the seventeenth century, addressed to some
Justices in Quarter Sessions, though of what county is not mentioned:--
"Maye it please your worships to understand what troubles,
sicknesse, and losses the Petitioner hath suffered, and in what
manner theye happened, and by plaine tokens and lyklyhood, by the
meanes of this woman and others; but chiefly by her, as is
gathered by all conjectures. And first of all, a Boare which I
have, was in such case, that he could not crye nor grunt as
beforetyme; neither could he goe, but creepe, until we used some
meanes to recover him; but all was to no purpose, untill such tyme
as we sent for Nicholas Wesgate, who, when he saw him, said, 'He
was madd or bewitched;' and my Wyfe using meanes to give him some
Milke, he bit her by the hand, and I fearing he was madd, sent
after my wyfe, being toward Norwich, that she might get something
at the Apothecaries to prevent the danger we feared: and that
Horse which my man did ryde upon after my wife, was taken lame as
he returned back again, and suddenly after was swollen lyke a
Bladder which is blown, and died within eight dayes. Nexte a Calfe
was taken lame, the legg turning upward, which was a strange sight
to them whoe did beholde the same. Suddenly after that I had fyve
Calves more, which should have sold for xiij_s._ iiij_d._ the
Calfe, being sound and well in the evening, and the next daye in
the morning they were in such case as wee could not endure to come
nigh them, by reason of a filthy noisome savour, theyre hayre
standinge upright on theyre backes, and theye shakinge in such
sorte as I never sawe, nor any other, I suppose, lyveynge. Againe
within a short space I had another Calfe, which was taken so
strangely, as if the backe were broken, and much swollen, and
within the space of three or four dayes it dyed. And within two or
three dayes after, another Calfe was taken in such sorte that it
turned round about, and did goe as if the backe were broken. Then
was I wished to burne it, and I carried the Calfe to burne it, and
after it was burned, I was taken with paynes and gripings, and soe
continued in such sort, untyll shee came to my House; whereupon I
did earnestly chide her, and said I would beate her, and that
daye, I prayse God, I was restored to my former health."
H. E.
THE LATE SIR JOHN GRAHAM DALYELL, BARONET, OF BINNS, N.B.
This learned and accomplished gentleman was born in 1776. He was
educated for the Scottish bar, to which he was called in the year 1797.
Within a year or two after he was enrolled as a member of the Faculty,
he produced his first quarto, _Fragments of Scottish History_. This was
followed, in the year 1801, by a collection of _Scottish Poems of the
Sixteenth Century_, in two octavo volumes. In 1809 appeared a _Tract
chiefly relative to Monastic Antiquities, with some Account of a recent
Search for the Remains of the Scottish Kings interred in the Abbey of
Dunfermline_, the first of four or five thin octavos, in which Mr.
Graham Dalyell called attention to those ecclesiastical records of the
north, so many of which have since been printed by the Bannatyne,
Maitland, and Spalding Clubs, under the editorial care of Mr. Cosmo
Innes. A later and more laborious work was his _Essay on the Darker
Superstitions of Scotland_; a performance which embodies the fruit of
much patient study in rare and little read works, and affords many
curious glimpses of the popular mythology of the north. The long list of
the productions of Sir John Graham Dalyell closes with his _Musical
Memoirs of Scotland_, published little more than a twelvemonth ago. The
deceased baronet was distinguished also by his acquaintance with
mechanical science, and still more by his knowledge of Natural History.
Of the zeal with which he prosecuted this last pursuit, he has left a
signal monument in his _Rare and Remarkable Animals of Scotland_. Sir
John succeeded to the family title and estates, as sixth baronet, on the
death of his elder brother, Sir James Dalyell, on February 1, 1841. He
had previously been advanced to the honours of knighthood, by patent
under the Great Seal, in the year 1836. He had been for some time in
infirm health, and died at his residence, Great King Street, Edinburgh,
on May 17, 1851, in his seventy-fourth year. Dying unmarried, he is
succeeded by his younger brother, now Sir William Cunningham Cavendish
Dalyell, of Binns, baronet, Commander R.N., Royal Hospital, Greenwich.
ABERDENIENSIS.
APPROPRIATION OF A THOUGHT--OLDHAM, DRYDEN, AND BYRON.--THE STATE OF
MIND IN THE PROGRESS OF COMPOSITION.
"How when the Fancy, lab'ring for a birth,
With unfelt Throws brings its rude issue forth:
How after, when imperfect, shapeless thought
Is by the judgment into Fashion wrought,
When at first search I traverse o'er my mind,
Nought but a dark and empty void I find:
Some little hints at length like sparks break thence,
_And glimmering thoughts just dawning into sense:
Confus'd awhile the mixt ideas lie,
With nought of mark to be discover'd by,
Like colours undistinguish'd in the night,
Till the dusk images, moved to the light,
Teach the discerning Faculty to choose
Which it had best adopt and which refuse._"
"Some New Pieces" in Oldham's Works,
pp. 126-27., 1684.
Dryden, alluding to his work:
"When it was only a confused mass of thoughts _tumbling_ over one
another in the dark; when the fancy was yet in its _first work_,
moving the _sleeping images of things_ towards the light, there to
be distinguished, and there either to be _chosen_ or rejected by
the _judgment_."--Dedication to the _Rival Ladies_.
Lord Byron's appropriation of the same idea:
---- "As yet 'tis but a chaos
Of darkly brooding thoughts: my fancy is
In her _first work_, more nearly to the light
Holding the sleeping images of things
For the selection of the pausing judgment."
_Doge of Venice._
Had Oldham or Dryden the prior claim to the thought? Byron derived _his_
plagiarism from D'Israeli, "On the Literary Character" (vol. i. p. 284.,
1828), where Dryden's Dedication to his _Rival Ladies_ is quoted, and
_not_ from the Dedication itself, as the _Retrospective Review_ imagined
(vol. vii. p. 158.), "by levying contributions in the most secret and
lonely recesses of our literature."
JAMES CORNISH.
THE "EISELL" CONTROVERSY.
When Polonius proposed to use the players according to their desert,
Hamlet rebuked him with "Much better man! use every man after his
desert, and who shall 'scape whipping? Use them after your own honour
and dignity!" I do not think it necessary to notice that what is merely
coarse and vulgar in an unprovoked attack upon myself, feeling that I
have no right to expect the man who has no consideration for his own
dignity to think of mine. But when an attempt is made to sow dissension
between me and those whose opinions I value, and whose characters I
esteem, I feel that in justice to myself and in satisfaction to them, a
few words are not out of place.
Some few of your readers may have seen a pamphlet in reply to MR.
SINGER, on the meaning of _eisell_ and from certain insinuations about
"pegs and wires," and a "literary coterie," it might be supposed that
there existed some other bond for the support of "NOTES AND QUERIES"
than a common object affords. I wish then to inform such of them as may
not happen to belong to the "coterie" in question (which I suppose
exists somewhere--perhaps holds a sort of witch's-sabbath on some
inaccessible peak in the pamphleteer's imagination), that I have never,
to my knowledge, even seen either MR. SINGER or the editor of "NOTES AND
QUERIES;" and that, so far from meaning offence to the angry gentleman
who seems disposed to run-a-muck against all who come in his way, I
actually supposed all meant in good part, and characterised his remarks
as "pleasant criticism."
From an apparent inability, however, of this pamphleteer to distinguish
between pleasantry and acrimony, he has attempted to fix on me offences
against others when I have ventured to dissent from their conclusions.
All I can say is, that I have never written anything inconsistent with
the very high respect I feel for the abilities and the great services
rendered by the gentlemen I have had occasion to allude to.
Dire is the wrath of the pamphleteer that he should have been charged by
MR. SINGER with "want of truth." That gentleman doubtless saw what I did
not, the implied insinuation--since burst into full flower--about a
"coterie." Yet the candid controversialist, now, after due deliberation,
insinuates that a "canon of criticism," which I ventured to suggest, and
at which he now finds it convenient to sneer, was remembered for the
purpose of "bolstering up" MR. SINGER'S "bad argument." So far from this
being the case, he knows that I used MR. SINGER'S argument--at the close
of, and apart from the main purpose of my letter, to illustrate mine.
So, in another place, in the attempt to show up my "charming and
off-hand modesty," he quotes my opinion that the meaning of "rack"
might be "settled at once and for ever," suppressing the fact that I
made the assertion with a view of "testing the correctness of my opinion
that the question was not one of etymology, but of construction. In
short, an adept in the use of those weapons which are of value only
where victory seems a higher aim than truth, his honesty would appear to
be upon a level with his taste.
I have now done with this gentleman. Of the importance of inquiries into
nice verbal distinctions there might be a question, but that they
sometimes furnish a clue to more valuable discoveries but for this fact
I should little regard them. At all events, the remark about the
difference "'twixt tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee," comes with strange
inconsistency from one who has written fifty-two pages with no other
result than raising the question whether "bitter" was not "sour," and
proving how both qualities may be combined in a truly "nauseous
medicament."
SAMUEL HICKSON.
St. John's Wood.
[Our attention having, been directed by the preceding letter to
Mr. Causton's pamphlet, we procured and read it, with feelings of
deep pain, not for ourselves but for the writer. We are content to
rest the justification of our conduct in abridging, or, as Mr.
Causton terms it, "mutilating," that gentleman's communication, on
the very passages which we omitted, and he has reprinted. Mr.
Causton's pamphlet, written in defence of his literary reputation,
proves that that reputation has no enemy so dangerous as himself.
We may add that we propose next week publishing a summary of the
evidence on both sides of this disputed question, written not by
Mr. Causton nor Mr. Hickson, but by a correspondent who, like
those gentlemen, is personally unknown to us.]
Minor Notes.
"_Miserrimus._"--I have an extraordinary little volume, which, I am
told, was written by Frederic Mansell Reynolds, who died in June, 1850,
entitled, "_Miserrimus_. On a gravestone in Worcester Cathedral is this
inscription, 'Miserrimus,' with neither name, date, nor comment. NOT
PUBLISHED. Printed by Davison, Simmons, & Co., 1832," 12mo.
The work purports to be a sort of autobiography of a most miserable
wretch, and we are left to suppose that his remains lie under the stone
in question, for we are not furnished with any preface or introduction.
Whether the author was aware of the name of the person over whom so
singular an inscription was placed does not appear; but there is no
reason to believe that the repulsive and painful aberrations he details
had any relation to the individual buried under the memorial of
"Miserrimus," whose name is recorded in Chambers's _Biographical
Illustrations of Worcestershire_, p. 310., as the Rev. Thomas Morris,
who was deprived of all ecclesiastical preferment for refusing to
acknowledge the king's supremacy at the Revolution, and died, it is
stated, in 1748, silvered over with the weight and infirmities of
eighty-eight years--"Miserrimus."
F. R. A.
_The Dog and Duck, St. George's Fields._--It is not generally known,
that the _old stone sign_ of that celebrated place of public resort is
still in existence, and is preserved by being imbedded in the brick wall
of the garden of Bedlam Hospital (visible from the road), representing a
dog squatting on his haunches with a duck in his mouth; and the date
1617. It was placed here on removal of the old house which stood on, or
very close to, the spot; and in the superintendent's (Mr. Nicholl's)
room is a very pretty drawing of that ancient place of amusement. I have
had a sketch made of it in large.
Any information respecting the Dog and Duck, its guests, visitors, or
landlords, would be most acceptable to
G. CREED.
_The Habit of Profane Swearing by the English._--The revolting habit of
swearing--which, of late years, has happily diminished--has been a
marked characteristic of the English for _many centuries_; and the
national adjuration which has given us a _nick-name_ on the continent,
appears to have prevailed at an earlier period than is generally
supposed.
"The English," observes Henry, "were remarkable in this period (between
1399 and 1485) among the nations of Europe, for the absurd and impious
practice of profane swearing in conversation."
The Count of Luxemburg, accompanied by the Earls of Warwick and
Stafford, visited the Maid of Orleans in her prison at Rouen, where she
was chained to the floor and loaded with irons. The Count, who had sold
her to the English, pretended that he had come to treat with her about
her ransom. After addressing him with contempt and disdain, she turned
her eyes towards the two Earls, and said,--"I know that you English are
determined to put me to death, and imagine that, after I am dead, you
will conquer France: but, though there were a hundred thousand
_G----dammees_ more in France than there are, they will never conquer
that kingdom." So early had the English got this odious nick-name by
their frequent and common use of that horrid and disgusting imprecation.
T. WE.
_Tennyson's Use of the Word "Cycle."--A Moiety._--There is a line in
_Locksley Hall_ which has always appeared to me a sad blemish in a fine
poem, and which may, perhaps, puzzle posterity as much as any of those
which have been illustrated by G. P. (Vol. iii., p. 319.) I allude to
that in stanza 92.:
"Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay."
Posterity will easily learn that the Chinese cycle was just "sixty
years," and will have some difficulty in believing that Tennyson should
have rated the disparity between life in Europe and in China no higher
than as six to five. It is evident that the poet used a "cycle" in the
signification of a long period of years; but will posterity be able to
find any authority for this use of the word? Can any one refer to a
dictionary which explains it in that sense, or to any other good author
who has so used it?
This use of the word "cycle" is associated in my mind with a use (or
rather _abuse_) of the word "moiety," which prevails in the north of
Ireland, and perhaps elsewhere. It properly signifies "one half," but
many employ it in the sense of a very small portion. I hope no one will
introduce it into poetry with this signification.
MATTER OF FACT.
QUERIES.
ETYMOLOGY OF FONTAINEBLEAU.
The _Description Routière et Géographique de l'Empire Français_, already
cited by me on the subject of Bicêtre, furnishes the following
particulars respecting the derivation of Fontainebleau:
"Ce bassin sert de décharge à la fontaine, qui a donné, dit-on,
son nom à Fontainebleau. Elle est nommée, dans les anciennes
chartes, _Fons Blaudi_. Quelques modernes substituent à cette
étymologie celle de _belle eau_, d'où ils font également dériver
Fontainebleau. L'une et l'autre sont rejetées par Expilly, et
remplacées par une troisième de sa façon, qui est évidente, selon
lui, et qui, selon ses lecteurs, est la plus absurde de toutes. Je
vais citer ce passage pour faire sentir jusqu'à quel travers
d'esprit peut conduire la manie des étymologies. 'Pourquoi,'
dit-il, 'se donner la torture à ce sujet? Il suffit de la moindre
notion de la chasse pour savoir que, quand le chasseur appellè les
chiens, il crie: _Thia hillaut!_ N'est-il pas vraisemblable que le
château ayant été bâti en pays de chasse, les habitans des
environs, entendant continuellement le mot _hillaut_,
l'appellèrent de ce nom, auquel ils joignirent celui de la
fontaine près de laquelle il avait été bâti. De _Fontaine hillaut_
on fit insensiblement Fontainebleau.'"
TWO Queries suggest themselves here. Who or what was _Blaudus_ or
_Blaudum_? Is our _Tally-ho_ derived from _Thia hillaut_, or _vice
versâ_? As to the "travers d'esprit," so gravely imputed to Expilly, it
is clear to me that his solution of the matter must be taken as a
burlesque on etymologists, rather than as any evidence of his own
extravagance in that respect.
HENRY H. BREEN.
St. Lucia, June, 1851.
FORCE OF CONSCIENCE.
The following relation has often been reprinted in religious magazines
and the like. It is given by Dr. Fordyce, Professor of Philosophy at
Aberdeen, in his _Dialogues concerning Education_ (London, 1748, vol.
ii. p. 401.), as "a true story, _which happened in a neighbouring state
not many years ago_." Can any of your readers furnish me with Dr. F.'s
authority for the assertion?--the Doctor himself gives none. One would
think that, if true, its truth might be easily verified. If its truth
cannot be satisfactorily established, to reprint such tales cannot but
be most mischievous:--
"A jeweller of considerable wealth having occasion to travel to
some distance from the place of his abode, took with him a servant
in order to take care of his portmanteau. Having occasion to
dismount on the road, the servant, watching his opportunity, took
a pistol from his master's saddle and shot him dead on the spot;
then rifled him of his money and jewels, and threw the body into
the nearest river. With this booty he made off to a distant part
of the country.... He was at length admitted to a share of the
government of the town, and rose from one post to another, till at
length he was chosen to be chief magistrate.... One day as he sat
on the bench with some of his brethren in the magistracy, a
criminal was brought before him who was accused of murdering his
master. The evidence was full; the jury brought in their verdict
that the prisoner was guilty; and the whole assembly awaited the
sentence of the President of the court, which he happened to be on
that day.... At length coming down from the bench he placed
himself by the guilty man at the bar and made a full confession of
his own guilt, and of all its aggravations.... We may easily
suppose the great amazement of all the assembly, and especially of
his fellow-judges. They proceeded, however, upon this confession,
to pass sentence upon him, and he died with all the symptoms of
penitent mind."
J. K.
ENGLISH LITERATURE IN THE NORTH.
English letters are exciting a daily increasing interest in the north of
Europe--that hardy and romantic country whence we ourselves are
descended. But their means for purchase are very scanty, and I have been
requested by the chief librarians of the Royal Library, Stockholm, and
the University Library, Copenhagen, to endeavour to procure them English
books _by gift_ from private individuals and public societies and
libraries.
Can you assist me in this work by making this their prayer known in your
widely-spread columns?
Any English works, large or small, old or new, in any department of
literature, but especially in archæology, folk-lore, history, theology,
belles-lettres, &c., particularly books _privately printed_, or
otherwise scarce or dear, will be most acceptable. Every donor will
have the goodness to state for which library his gift is intended. So
many have duplicates, or copies of books, which they no longer use or
need, that many will doubtless be able to assist in this pleasant
book-gathering for our Scandinavian cousins.
GEORGE STEPHENS,
Professor of English Literature in the
University of Copenhagen.
Mill Farm, Barnes, Surrey, July, 1851.
[We have good reason to know the great interest which our
Scandinavian brethren take in the literature of this country, and
hope this appeal of MR. STEPHENS will be liberally responded to.
Any donations for the libraries in question, which, we believe,
are both public libraries, may be left for him at the office of
"NOTES AND QUERIES."]
Minor Queries.
1. _Painted Prints of Overton._--In Vol. iii., pp. 324, 325., under the
title "The Bellman and his History," are quoted some lines from Gay's
_Trivia_, book ii. p. 482. The last line is--
"The colour'd prints of Overton appear."
Who was Overton, and what were his prints that Gay in these lines makes
the companions of the bellman's song?
F. L. H.
2. _Fourth Fare._--In the accounts of the churchwardens of St. Edmund's,
Sarum, temp. Edw. IV., this item often occurs, for which a payment was
made. Does it not mean the dying knell, from the German "to depart."
H. T. E.
Clyst St. George, June 3. 1851.
3. _John Wood, Architect._--Can any of your readers inform me if any
likeness is in existence of the author of _An Essay towards a
Description of Bath_? or if any of his descendants are still living? He
built the Bristol Exchange; and Bath is indebted to him for many of its
most noble edifices. He was a magistrate for the county of Somerset, and
died in 1754.
GAMMA.
4. _Derivation of "Spon."_--Can you or your readers give me a derivation
of the word "spon," in its application to street names? There is "Spon
End," and also "Spon Street," in Coventry, "Spon Lane" at West Bromwich,
and "Spon Terrace" at Birmingham. Can you supply any other instances?
Mr. Halliwell merely says, "_Spon_, a shaving of wood;" and it is used
in this sense in Scott's _Sir Tristrem_, p. 119.:
"Bi water he sent adoun
Light linden spon."
C. H. B.
Clarence Street, Islington.
5. _Dell, in what County?_--I shall feel obliged if any of your
correspondents can tell me whereabouts this place is, and in what
county?
J. N. C.
6. _Bummaree or Bumaree._--There is a large class of salesmen in
Billingsgate Market not recognised as such by the trade, but styled
Bumarees, who get a living by purchasing large parcels of fish of the
factor or common salesman, and selling it out in smaller quantities to
the fishmongers and other retailing buyers. This whole-sale retailing of
fish is also called bummareeing it, hence the name of these
(self-styled) salesmen.
I have not been able to find any clue to the meaning of this word thus
used in any authority that I possess, though the word has been
recognised in statutes and bye-laws of the markets for upwards of one
hundred years.
As I feel very interested in this matter, may I be allowed to call the
attention of some of your very learned correspondents to this matter,
and ask for the probable etymology and exact orthography of the word.
I have been informed that the only other use of the word known is with
the confectioners, who use _Bummaree_ pans.
The prefix "bum" is used to express the lowest of the kind in
bum-bailiff, and also further additionally in connexion with selling in
"bum-boat." I cannot think that "bona venalia," goods set to sale, among
the Romans, give any clue to Bummaree. This, and other derivations
equally unsatisfactory, have been submitted by those who have hitherto
directed their attention to this subject.
BLOWEN.
7. _Thread the Needle._--What is the game so called? and what its
origin?
In it these words occur:
"How far hence to Hebron?
Threescore miles and ten!
Can I be there to-night?
Yes! and back again!"
I have somewhere seen the name of Thread-the-Needle-Gate. Where is, or
was, it? and whence was the London street so named?
R. S. H.
Morwenstow.
8. _Proof of a Sword._--Is the following statement correct and true (I
mean, as to the trial of the sword blade, not the anecdote)?
"A troop of horse are riding along under the command of 'Duke
William' of Cumberland, in the '45. A little old Highlander joins
the march; a strong lusty soldier laughs at, and insults him. He
is allowed to demand satisfaction, and fight it out at once: he
craves the loan of a sword; one is handed to him. But Donald had
seen too many snows to trust his life to the blade of untried
metal: he minutely examined the handle, the edge, the point, and
the _spring_, and finally turning aside to _a pool_ of water, and
applying the _flat_ side of the blade to its surface, with one
smart stroke broke it in two."
Is this a good test of a sword blade? Would _any_ sword stand it?
Would the Toledo blade, at the Crystal Palace, that _rolls_ up into the
form of a serpent, bear it?
What is the usual test of a good blade?
ENSIS.
9. _Shelley's Children._--Are any of Shelley's children, by his first
wife, still living and where?--a friend of mine, who was her companion,
having a relic of her, which she would gladly give into their
possession.
PHILO.
10. _Ackey Trade._--I have in my cabinet a silver coin (shilling size)
which has on the obverse, besides the bust of the kind, the date 1818,
and the legend, the following under the head (between it and the
legend), "_½ Ackey Trade_;" and I shall be glad to have an explanation
of what is meant by the "_Ackey Trade_?" The reverse has the arms and
crest of the African Company. The legend is "Free Trade to Africa by Act
of Parliament, 1750."
J. N. C.
11. _Baskerville the Printer._--I was informed in 1835, by a friend
living at Birmingham, that the coffin containing the body of that
celebrated printer was then lying in a timber yard in that town under a
pile of deals--a fact which was well known there.
Is it still in the same place? And why? And is there any portrait,
engraved or otherwise, of him? Mr. Merridew of Coventry, and others,
have assured me there was not.
G. C.
12. _Statue of Charles II._--What became of the fine statue of Charles
II. on horseback which formerly stood in Stock's Market, the site of the
present Mansion House?
It was placed on a conduit at the "sole cost and charges of that worthy
citizen and alderman Sir Robert Viner, Bart." I have seen a print of it,
folio. (London, pub. 1708.)
G. CREED.
13. _La Mère Jeanne._--In Hallam's _Literature of Europe_, 2nd edition,
vol. i. p. 461., I read this passage:--
Two crude Attempts at introducing the Eastern tongues were made
soon afterwards (1530). One of these was by William Postel, a man
of some parts, and more reading; but chiefly known, while he was
remembered at all, for mad reveries of fanaticism, and an
idolatrous veneration for a saint of his own manufacture, La Mère
Jeanne, the Joanna Southcote of the sixteenth century."
Has any account of the character and proceedings of "La Mère Jeanne"
been handed down to us; and, if so, where is it to be found?
HENRY H. BREEN.
St. Lucia, June, 1851.
14. _Man of War, why a Ship of War so called._--Will any of your readers
inform me the origin of a ship of a certain number of guns being called
"a man of war?" In Shakspeare the term is applied to Falstaff: Davy
inquires of Shallow:
"Doth the man of war stay all night, Sir?"
And it is singular to remark, in the same scene, the first of Act V.,
the Second Part of _Henry IV._, that the dinner ordered by Shallow for
Falstaff is just such as any country gentleman would now provide for an
unexpected guest:--
Some pigeons, Davy; a couple of short-legged hens; a joint of
mutton; and any pretty little tiny kickshaws, tell William cook."
The only difference is the sex of the cook, as country gentlemen in
these days have females in that capacity.
AN M. D.
15. _Secret Service Money of Charles II._--In Mr. Akerman's preface to
this work, just published by the Camden Society, I find this passage:
"Amongst these (sums lavished on female favourites) the payments
to the Duchess of Portsmouth are most conspicuous. No less a sum
than 136,688_l._ 10_s._ appears to have been bestowed by the
profligate monarch on this woman _within the space of one
year_."--See _Payments under the year 1681_, p. 42.
Now, on turning to the year and page designated, I find that the _whole
of the class_ in which the Duchess's name appears amounts for _that
year_ only to about 22,000_l._, of which the Duchess of Portsmouth
appears to have received about 12,000 in several quarterly payments on
account of an annual pension or pensions of that amount: so in other
years. This is a very different sum from 136,000_l._ I would beg leave
to inquire of the editor, or of any of your _Camdenite_ correspondents,
whether there is an error in Mr. Akerman's statement, or only in my way
of reading it?
C.
16. _Hampton Court._--Miss Strickland, in the _Queens of England_, after
saying that the Queen (Elizabeth of York, Henry VII.'s wife) had stayed
at Hampton Court eight days, continues:
"It is worth noticing that Hampton Court was a favourite residence
of Elizabeth of York long before Cardinal Wolsey had it."
Now, in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for January, 1834, is a copy of the
lease from the prior of St. John of Jerusalem to Cardinal Wolsey of
their manor of Hampton Court, it having been in the possession of the
Knights Hospitallers of St. John since 1211, when Joan Lady Grey left it
by will to that order. Where, then, was Elizabeth of York's residence?
Did she hold a lease of the manor and manor-house of Hampton of the
Knights Hospitallers? Or was there another royal residence in that
locality?
TEE BEE.
Minor Queries Answered.
_De Rebus Hibernicis._--1. Silvester Giraldus Cambrensis, born in Wales,
A.D. 1145, was the author of numerous works. Can any one furnish a list
of them?
2. What is the date of the _Annals of the Four Masters_?
3. Who was Tigernach, and when did he live?
4. What are the _Annals of Ulster_, and when were they written?
WILLIAM E. C. NOURSE.
[1. The printed works, as well as the manuscript collections, of
Giraldus, are so numerous, and deposited in so many different
libraries, that we must refer our correspondent to Sir R. C.
Hoare's description of them in his Introduction to the translation
of Giraldus' _Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin through Wales_, vol.
i. pp. liv.-lxxii. 4to. 1806.
2. _The Annals of Dunagall_, otherwise called _The Annals of the
Four Masters_, were compiled between A.D. 1632 and 1636. From a
MS. in the Duke of Buckingham's library at Stowe, Dr. O'Conor
published the first part of these _Annals_, extending from the
earliest period to A.D. 1172, in his _Rerum Hibernicarum
Scriptores_. The latter portion has since been edited, with a
translation and notes, by John O'Donovan, Esq., M.R.I.A., in 3
vols. 4to.
3. Tigernach was Abbot of Cluain-mac-nois, and died A.D. 1088. He
wrote the _Annals of Ireland_, from A.M. 3596 to his own time.
4. _The Annals of Ulster_ were compiled by Cathald Mac Magnus
(Charles Maguire), who died A.D. 1498. They commence with the
reign of Feradach Fionnfachtnach, monarch of Ireland, A.D. 60, and
are carried down to the author's own time. They were afterwards
continued to the year 1504, by Roderick O'Cassidy, Archdeacon of
Clogher. See O' Reilly's _Chronological Account of Irish
Writers_.]
_Abridgment of the Assizes._--Where can one see, or what is the correct
title of the book containing _Abridgment of the Assizes, and Iters of
Pickring and Lancaster_? It is referred to in Manwood _on Forest Laws_.
S. S.
[Richard Tottle, dwelling at the Hand and Star in Fleet Street,
and who was "licensed to print all manner of books touching the
common laws of England," published in the middle of the sixteenth
century the following work:--"_The Abridgment of the Book of
Assises_, lately perused over and corrected, and now newely
imprinted by Richard Tottle, the last day of September, 1555." It
is probable that the _Iters of Pickring and Lancaster_ are still
in manuscript.]
_Life of Cromwell._--I have in my possession a _Life of Cromwell_,
written by R. B. "without passion or partiality," printed by N. Crouch
in the Poultry, 1715. Query, who was this R. B.?
PHILO.
[The author was Richard or Robert Burton, _alias_ Nathaniel
Crouch, who, says Dunton in his _Life and Errors_, "melted down
the best of our English histories into twelve penny books, which
are filled with wonders, rarities, and curiosities." The first
edition of _The History of Cromwell_ was published in 1693,
"relating only matters of fact without reflection or
observation."]
Replies.
WRITTEN SERMONS AND EXTEMPORE PREACHING.
(Vol. iii., pp. 478. 526.; Vol. iv., p. 8.)
Your versatile correspondent MR. GATTY has been led astray by an
incorrect assertion of Bingham's (magni nominis vir), that Origen was
the first who preached extempore. The passage to which Bingham refers
us, in Eusebius, asserts nothing of this sort; but simply that Origen
would not suffer his sermons to be taken down by the short-hand writers
till he was sixty years old,--a sufficient proof, if any were needed,
that the custom of taking down sermons by notaries in the third century
was not unusual.
Some rogue has stolen my Number of the "NOTES AND QUERIES" in which the
inquiry on the subject of written sermons was made; but, if I remember
rightly, the _question_ was put correctly, it having been asked when
written sermons were first preached. As I at one time took some pains to
look into this point, and as no one else seems inclined to take it up,
perhaps you will allow me space for a few remarks.
1. I suppose no one will be disposed to question the extreme
improbability of the "sermons" in the Apostolic are having been
_written_ discourses: if, however, this be considered doubtful, I am
willing to argue the point, and be set right if I am wrong in thinking
it unquestionable.
2. I believe it is almost as improbable, that in what Professor Brunt
calls the "post-Apostolic" times sermons were written, not only from the
complete silence of the Apostolic Fathers on the point--for that would
really prove next to nothing,--but because it seems quite incredible
that no vestige of any such sermon should have come down to us; no
forgery of one, no legend or tradition of the existence of one if the
practice of writing sermons had prevailed at all.
3. In the Apologies of Justin and Tertullian [Justin, ed. Otto, i. 270.;
Tertullian, _Ap._ ch. xxxix.] there is a description of the addresses
delivered in the congregations of their times, which appears to me to
prove that they knew of no such practice as reading a sermon and the
passage from Origen contra Cels., which De la Cerda gives in his note on
Tertullian, though it is only quoted in the Latin, surely shows the same
(vol. i. p. 190.). I came across something of the sort in Cyprian about
two years ago and, if I may dare trust my memory, it appeared to me at
the time to be more satisfactory than the passages above referred to;
but I made no note of it,--and I was hunting for other game when I met
with it. Still, if your querist is going into the subject as a student
into a matter of history, I dare stay I could find the paragraph.
4. I have really no acquaintance with the post-Nicene fathers, the mere
desultory reading out of some few of the works of the Arian period
counting for something less than nothing; but, as far as secondary
sources are to be trusted, I certainly never met with anything that
would lead me to conclude that sermons were ever read in the fourth or
fifth centuries. [I shall come to the only shadow of an argument in
favour of such a practice having prevailed so early, presently.]
Certainly, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, St. Chrysostom, St. Cyril of
Jerusalem, were extempore preachers by Bingham's showing. Gregory the
Great, much later, for all that appears to the contrary, never wrote his
sermons at all, and even preached his homilies on Ezekiel almost without
any preparation. Indeed the prevalence of that most abominable system of
applauding the preacher, which St. Chrysostom protests against in the
magnificent sermon on 1Cor.xiv.38., could scarcely have been universal
where sermons were read.