Part 1 contains WARREN HASTINGS, by T. B. Macaulay.

Produced by Charlene Taylor, Jonathan Ingram and the Online

Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This

file was produced from images generously made available

by The Internet Library of Early Journals.)

[Transcriber's note: Original spelling varieties have not been

standardized. In the Niniveh Inscriptions character frequency list the

Hebrew letters "Resh" and "Gimel" seem to be missing, while characters

marked with [?] may have been used more than once. Characters with

macrons have been marked in brackets with an equal sign, as [=e] for a

letter e with a macron on top. Underscores have been used to indicate

_italic_ fonts. A list of volumes and pages in "Notes and Queries" has

been added at the end.]

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. 100. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27. 1851.

Price Sixpence. Stamped Edition 7_d._

CONTENTS.

Page

Our Hundredth Number 217

NOTES:--

Notes on the Calendar, by Professor de Morgan 218

Inedited Letters of Swift 218

Nineveh Inscriptions, by T. J. Buckton 220

Inedited Letter of Alfieri 222

Stanzas in Childe Harold 223

Notes on Oxford Edition of Jewel 225

Anagrams, by Henry H. Breen 226

Folk Lore:--Cure for Hooping Cough--Cure for the

Toothache--Medical Use of Pigeons--Obeism 227

Notes on Julin, No. II., by K. R. H. Mackenzie 228

Minor Notes:--Curious Epitaph in Dalkeith Churchyard--Device

of SS.--Lord Edward Fitzgerald--The Michaelmas

Goose--Gravesend Boats--Scullcups 230

QUERIES:--

Minor Queries:--Equestrian Figure of Elizabeth--Indian

Ants--Passage in George Herbert--The King's-way,

Wilts--Marriages within ruined Churches--Fees

for Inoculation--"Born in the Eighth Climate"--Aubrey

de Montdidier's Dog--Sanford's Descensus--Parish

Registers--Briefs for Collections--Early Printing

Presses--Bootikins--Printers' Privilege--Death of

Pitt--"A Little Bird told me"--Baroner--William III.

at Exeter--History of Hawick--Johannes Lychtenberger

--Lestourgeon the Horologist--Physiological Query--De

Grammont's Memoirs--"Frightened out of his Seven

Senses"--Fides Carbonaria--Bourchier Family--Warnings

to Scotland--Herschel anticipated--Duke of Wellington 231

MINOR QUERIES ANSWERED:--An Early Printer--"Nimble

Ninepence"--Prince Rupert's Balls--Knock

under--Freemasons 234

REPLIES:--

Conquest of Scotland 234

Borough-English 235

Pendulum Demonstration 235

Lord Mayor not a Privy Councillor 235

Collars of SS. 236

Written Sermons 237

Replies to Minor Queries:--Authoress of "A Residence on

the Shores of the Baltic"--Winifreda--Querelle

d'Alleman--Coins of Constantius II.--Proverb, what

constitutes one?--Dr. Matthew Sutcliffe--Pope's

Translations of Horace--M. Lominus, Theologus--Corpse

passing makes a Right of Way--Horology--Curfew--"Going

the whole Hog"--John Bodley--Language of Ancient

Egypt--William Hone--Bensley--John Lilburne--School

of the Heart--Sir W. Raleigh in Virginia--Siege

of Londonderry--Cowper Law--Decretorum Doctor--Nightingale

and Thorn--Carli the Economist--Tale of a Tub--Wyle

Cop--Visiting Cards--Absalom's Hair--MS. Book of

Sentences--The Winchester Execution--Locke's MSS.--Peal of

Bells--Pope's "honest Factor"--Bells in Churches--Passage

from Virgil--Duke of Berwick--Nullus and

Nemo--Grimsdyke--Coke, how pronounced--Marcus Ælius

Antoninus 237

MISCELLANEOUS:--

Notes on Books, Sales, Catalogues, &c. 245

Books and Odd Volumes wanted 245

Notices to Correspondents 246

Advertisements 246

OUR HUNDREDTH NUMBER.

It is the privilege of age to be garrulous; and as we have this

week reached our Hundredth Number--an age to which comparatively

few Periodicals ever attain--we may be pardoned if, on thus

completing our first _Century of Inventions_, we borrow a few

words from the noble author of that well-known work, and beg you,

Gentle Reader, "to cast your gracious eye over this summary

collection and there to pick and choose:" and when you have done

so, to admit that, thanks to the kind assistance of our friends

and correspondents, we have not only (like Master Lupton)

presented you with _A Thousand Notable Things_, but fulfilled the

objects which we proposed in the publication of "NOTES AND

QUERIES."

During the hundred weeks our paper has existed we have received

from Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Belgium, and France--from

the United States--from India--from Australia--from the West

Indies--from almost every one of our Colonies--letters expressive

of the pleasure which the writers (many of them obviously scholars

"ripe and good," though far removed from the busy world of

letters), derive from the perusal of "_Notes and Queries_;" and it

is surely a good work to put to students so situated,

"---- all the learning that our time

Can make them the receivers of."

And, on the other hand, our readers cannot but have noticed how

many a pertinent Note, suggestive Query, and apt Reply have

reached us from the same remote quarters.

Our columns have, however, not only thus administered to the

intellectual enjoyment of our brethren abroad, but they have

rendered good service to men of letters here at home: and We could

set forth a goodly list of works of learning and research--from

Mr. Cunningham's _Handbook of London Past and Present_, published

when we had been but a few months in existence, down to Wyclyffe's

_Three Treatises on the Church_, recently edited by the Rev. Dr.

Todd--in which the utility of "NOTES AND QUERIES" is publicly

recognised in terms which are highly gratifying to us.

We do not make these statements in any vainglorious spirit. We

believe our success is due to the manner in which, thanks to the

ready assistance of zealous and learned Friends and

Correspondents, we have been enabled to supply a want which all

literary men have felt more or less: and believing that the more

we are known, and the wider our circulation, the greater will be

our usefulness, and the better shall we be enabled to serve the

cause we seek to promote. We feel we may fairly invite increased

support for "NOTES AND QUERIES" on the grounds of what it has

already accomplished.

And so, wishing ourselves many happy returns of this

Centenary--and that you, Gentle Reader, may be spared to enjoy

them, We bid you heartily Farewell!

Notes.

NOTE ON THE CALENDAR.

What every one learns from the almanac, over and above Easter and its

consequences for the current year, is that what happens this year is no

index at all to what will happen next year. And even those who preserve

their almanacs, and compare them in long series, never have been able,

so far as I know, to lay hands upon any law connecting the Easters of

different years, without having had recourse to the very complicated law

on which the whole calendar is constructed.

Nevertheless there does exist a simple relation which reduces the

uncertainty in the proportion of five to two; so that by means of one

past almanac, we may name _two_ Sundays, one or the other of which must

be Easter Sunday. I have never seen this relation noticed, though I have

read much (for these days) on the calendar: has any one of your readers

ever met with it?

Let us make a _cycle_ of the days on which Easter day can fall, so that

when we come to the last (April 25), we begin again at the first (March

22). Thus, six days in advance of April 23, comes March 25; seven days

behind March 24, comes April 21.

The following is the _rule_, after which come two cases of

_exception_:--

Take any year which is _not_ leap year, then, by passing over _eleven_

years, we either leave Easter day unaltered, or throw it back a week;

and it is nearly three to one that we have to leave it unaltered. Thus

1941 is not leap year, and eleven years more give 1952; both have April

13 for Easter day; but of 1943 and 1954, the first gives April 25, the

second April 18.

Take any year which _is_ leap year, then, by passing over _eleven_

years, we either throw Easter one day forward, or six days back; and it

is about three to two that it will be thrown forward. Thus 1852 (leap

year) gives April 11, but 1863 gives April 5.

But when, in passing over eleven years, we pass over 1700, 1800, or any

Gregorian omission of leap year, the common year takes the rule just

described for leap year; while, if we begin with leap year, the passage

over eleven years throws Easter _two_ days forward, or _five_ days back.

There is another class of single exceptions, occurring at long

intervals, which it is hardly worth while to examine. The only case

which occurs between 1582 and 2000, is when the first year is 1970.

Any number of instances may be taken from my _Book of Almanacs_, and the

general rule may be easily seen to belong also to the old style. Those

who understand the construction of the calendar will very easily find

the explanation of the whole.

A. DE MORGAN.

INEDITED LETTERS OF SWIFT.

[By the great kindness of a correspondent who has placed at our

disposal two hitherto inedited letters written by Swift, we are

enabled to present the following literal copies of them to our

readers.

They are obviously addressed to Frances Lady Worsley, only

daughter of Thomas Lord Viscount Weymouth, and wife of Sir Robert

Worsley, Baronet, and the mother of Lady Carteret. In Sir Walter

Scott's edition of Swift's _Works_ (vol. xvii. p. 302.) will be

found one letter from the Dean of St. Patrick to Lady Worsely; and

in vol. xviii. p. 26. is the letter from that lady to the Dean

which accompanied the escritoire alluded to in the second of the

two letters which we now print. This appears from Swift's

endorsement of it--"Lady Worsley, with a present of a writing-box

japanned by herself."]

"Madam,--It is now three years and a half since I had the Honor to see

Your Ladyship, and I take it very ill that You have not finished my Box

above a Month. But this is allways the way that You Ladyes treat your

adorers in their absence. However upon Mrs. Barber's account I will

pardon You, because she tells me it is the handsomest piece of work she

ever saw; and because you have accepted the honor to be one of her

protectors, and are determined to be one of her principall recommenders

and encouragers. I am in some doubt whether envy had not a great share

in your work, for you were I suppose informed that my Lady Carteret had

made for me with her own hands the finest box in Ireland; upon which you

grew jealous, and resolved to outdo her by making for me the finest box

in England; for so Mrs. Barber assures me. In short, I am quite

overloaden with favors from Your Ladyship and your Daughter; and what is

worse, those loads will lye upon my Shoulders as long as I live. But I

confess my self a little ungrateful, because I cannot deny Your Ladyship

to have been the most constant of all my Goddesses, as I am the most

constant of all your Worshippers. I hope the Carterets and the Worsleys

are all happy and in health, and You are obliged to let Sir Robert

Worsley know that I am his most humble Servant; but You need say nothing

of my being so long his Rival. I hear my friend Harry is returning from

the fiery Zone, I hope with more money than he knows what to do with;

but whether his vagabond Spirit will ever fix is a question. I beg your

Ladyship will prevail on S'r Robert Worsley to give me a Vicarage in the

Isle of Wight; for I am weary of living at such a distance from You. It

need not be above forty pounds a year.

"As to Mrs. Barber, I can assure you she is but one of four Poetesses in

this town, and all Citizens' wives; but she has the vogue of being the

best: yet one of them is a Scholar, and hath published a new edition of

Tacitus, with a Latin dedication to My Lord Carteret.

"I require that Your Ladyship shall still preserve me some little corner

in your memory; and do not think to put me off onely with a Box, which I

can assure you will not contribute in the least to[1] ... my esteem and

regard for Your Ladyship.... I have been always, and shall ever remain,

"Madam,

"Your Lady ...

"Obedient and ...

humble...

JON'N....

"Dublin, May 1're, 1731."

[Footnote 1: A small portion of the original letter has been lost.]

[As Lady Worsley's letter serves to explain several allusions in

Swift's letters, and is obviously the one to which the second

letter we print is the reply, we here insert it.]

"August 6th, 1732.

"Sir,--I flatter myself, that if you had received my last letter, you

would have favoured me with an answer; therefore I take it for granted

it is lost.

"I was so proud of your commands, and so fearful of being supplanted by

my daughter, that I went to work immediately, that her box might not

keep her in your remembrance, while there was nothing to put you in mind

of an old friend and humble servant. But Mrs. Barber's long stay here

(who promised me to convey it to you) has made me appear very negligent.

I doubt not but you think me unworthy of the share (you once told me) I

had in your heart. I am yet vain enough to think I deserve it better

than all those flirting girls you coquet with. I will not yield (even)

to _dirty Patty_, whom I was the most jealous of when you were last

here. What if I am a great-grandmother, I can still distinguish your

merit from all the rest of the world; but it is not consistent with your

good-breeding to put one in mind of it, therefore I am determined not to

use my interest with Sir Robert for a living in the Isle of Wight[2],

though nothing else could reconcile me to the place. But if I could make

you Archbishop of Canterbury, I should forget my resentments, for the

sake of the flock, who very much want a careful shepherd. Are we to have

the honour of seeing you, or not? I have fresh hopes given me; but I

dare not please myself too much with them, lest I should be again

disappointed. If I had it as much in my power as my inclination to serve

Mrs. Barber, she should not be kept thus long attending; but I hope her

next voyage may prove more successful. She is just come in, and tells me

you have sprained your foot, which will prevent your journey till next

summer; but assure yourself the Bath is the only infallible cure for

such an accident. If you have any regard remaining for me, you will shew

it by taking my advice; if not, I will endeavour to forget you, if I

can. But, till that doubt is cleared, I am as much as ever, the Dean's

"Obedient humble Servant,

"F. WORSLEY."

[Footnote 2: Where her husband, Sir Robert Worsley, possessed the

estate of Appuldercombe.]

"Madam,--I will never tell, but I will always remember how many years

have run out since I had first the honor and happiness to be known to

Your Ladyship, which however I have a thousand times wished to have

never happened, since it was followed by the misfortune of being

banished from You for ever. I believe you are the onely Lady in England

that for a thousand years past hath so long remembered a useless friend

in absence, which is too great a load of favor for me and all my

gratitude to support.

"I can faithfully assure your Ladyship that I never received from You

more than one letter since I saw you last; and that I sent you a long

answer. I often forget what I did yesterday, or what passed half an hour

ago; and yet I can well remember a hundred particulars in Your

Ladyship's company. This is the memory of those who grow old. I have no

room left for new Ideas. I am offended with one passage in Your

Ladyship's letter; but I will forgive You, because I do not believe the

fact, and all my acquaintance here joyn with me in my unbelief. You make

excuses for not sooner sending me the most agreeable present that ever

was made, whereas it is agreed by all the curious and skilfull of both

sexes among us, that such a piece of work could not be performed by the

most dextrous pair of hands and finest eyes in Christendom, in less than

a year and a half, at twelve hours a day. Yet Mrs. Barber, corrupted by

the obligations she hath to you, would pretend that I over reckon six

months, and six hours a day. Be that as it will, our best virtuosi are

unanimous that the Invention exceeds, if possible, the work itself. But

to all these praises I coldly answer, that although what they say be

perfectly true, or indeed below the truth, yet if they had ever seen or

conversed with Your Ladyship as I have done, they would have thought

this escritoire a very poor performance from such hands, such eyes, and

such an imagination. To speak my own thoughts, the work itself does not

delight me more than the little cares you were pleased to descend to in

contriving ways to have it conveyed so far without damage, whereof it

received not the least from without; what there was came from within;

for one of the little rings that lifts a drawer for wax, hath touched a

part of one of the Pictures, and made a mark as large as the head of a

small pin; but it touches onely an end of a cloud; and yet I have been

carefull to twist a small thread of silk round that wicked ring, who

promiseth to do so no more.

"Your Ladyship wrongs me in saying that I twitted you with being a

great-grandmother. I was too prudent and carefull of my own credit to

offer the least hint upon that head, while I was conscious that I might

have been great-grandfather to you.

"I beg you, Madam, that there may be no quarrells of jealousy between

Your Ladyship and My Lady Carteret: I set her at work by the authority I

claymed over her as your daughter. The young woman showed her

readynesse, and performed very well for a new beginner, and deserves

encouragement. Besides, she filled the Chest with Tea, whereas you did

not send me a single pen, a stick of wax, or a drop of Ink; for all

which I must bear the charge out of my own pocket. And after all if Your

Ladyship were not by I would say that My Lady Carteret's Box (as you

disdainfully call it instead of a Tea-chest) is a most beautiful piece

of work, and is oftener used than yours, because it is brought down for

tea after dinner among Ladyes, whereas my escritoire never stirrs out of

my closet, but when it is brought for a sight. Therefore I again desire

there may be no family quarrells upon my account.

"As to Patty Blount, you wrong her very much. She was a neighbor's

child, a good Catholick, an honest Girl, and a tolerable Courtier at

Richmond. I deny she was dirty, but a little careless, and sometimes

wore a ragged gown, when she and I took long walks. She saved her money

in summer onely to be able to keep a Chair at London in winter: this is

the worst you can say; and she might have a whole coat to her back if

her good nature did not make her a fool to her mother and sanctifyed

sister Teresa. And she was the onely Girl I coquetted in the whole half

year that I lived with Mr. Pope in Twitenham, whatever evil tongues

might have informed your Ladyship, in hopes to set you against me. And

after this usage, if I accept the Archbishoprick of Canterbury from your

Ladyship's hands, I think you ought to acknowledge it as a favor.

"Are you not weary, Madam? Have you patience to read all this? I am

bringing back past times; I imagine myself talking with you as I used to

do; but on a sudden I recollect where I am sitting, banished to a

country of slaves and beggars; my blood soured, my spirits sunk,

fighting with Beasts like St. Paul, not at Ephesus, but in Ireland.

"I am not of your opinion, that the flocks (in either Kingdom) want

better Shepherds; for, as the French say, 'à tels brebis tel pasteur:'

and God be thanked that I have no flock at all, so that I neither can

corrupt nor be corrupted.

"I never saw any person so full of acknowledgment as Mrs. Barber is for

Your Ladyship's continued favors to her, nor have I known any person of

a more humble and gratefull spirit than her, or who knows better how to

distinguish the Persons by whom she is favored. But I will not honor

myself so far, or dishonor you so much, as to think I can add the least

weight to your own naturall goodness and generosity.

"You must, as occasion serves, Present my humble respects to My Lord and

Lady Carteret, and my Lady Dysert, and to S'r Robert Worsley.

"I am, and shall be ever, with the truest respect, esteem, and

gratitude,

"Madam,

"Your Ladyship's most obedient

and most humble Servant,

"JONATH. SWIFT.

"Dublin, Nov. 4're, 1732.

"I know not where my old friend Harry Worsley is, but I am his most

humble servant."

[On the back of the Letter is the following Postscript.]

"Madam,--I writ this Letter two months ago, and was to send it by Mrs.

Barber; but she falling ill of the gout, and I deferring from day to

day, expecting her to mend, I was at last out of patience. I have sent

it among others by a private hand.

"I wish Your Ladyship and all your family many happy new years.

"Jan. 8'e, 1732."

NINEVEH INSCRIPTIONS.

The accumulation of these treasures in London and Paris, leads to the

belief that they will soon be decyphered. The following remarks are

offered in promotion of so desirable an object. It must be premised that

a printer, when requiring type from the type-founder for English books,

does not order the same quantity for each letter; but, according to a

scale adapted to the requirements of printing, he orders only so many of

each letter as he is likely to use. That scale may be nearly represented

in the following way: the letter _z_ being the one least used in

English, he will require

Twice the number of letter z for letter x

Twice also -- -- j

2-1/2 times -- -- q

4 " -- -- k

6 " -- -- v

8 " -- -- b

8-1/2 " -- -- p

8-1/2 " -- -- g

10 " -- -- y

10 " -- -- w

15 " -- -- m

15 " -- -- c

17 " -- -- u

20-1/2 " -- -- l

21 " -- -- f

22 " -- -- d

31 " -- -- r

32 " -- -- h

40 " -- -- s

40 " -- -- n

40 " -- -- o

41-1/2 " -- -- i

42-1/2 " -- -- a

45 " -- -- t

60 " -- -- e

Suppose now a person to write English in cypher, using unknown

characters for the well-known letters; it would be easy to decypher his

writing, _if of sufficient length_ to make the general rule acted on in

the printing trade applicable. The decypherer, by selecting each

distinct unknown character, and numbering them respectively, would find

that the character oftenest occurring was _e_, the next oftenest _t_,

and so on to the character having the lowest number, being least used,

which would of course be _z_. Persons accustomed to decypher European

correspondence for diplomatic purposes, will pronounce best on the

practicability of this method for the decyphering of modern languages.

It is proposed then to apply the same method in the several languages

_supposed_ nearest of kin to that of the Nineveh inscriptions. Without

entering into the reasons for that opinion, it may suffice, for the

present purpose of illustration, to assume that the language of these

inscriptions is Chaldee. To apply this method the numbers of each letter

occurring in the Targum of Onkelos on Genesis, or the whole Pentateuch,

should be taken. This enumeration has been made as regards the Hebrew

(see Bagster's _Family Bible_, at the end of Deuteronomy). The readiest

mode of effecting such enumeration would be to employ twenty-two persons

knowing the Chaldee letters, and to assign a letter to each, calling out

to them each letter as it occurred in Onkelos, whilst each person kept

count of his own letter on a tally, and summing up the total gave in the

result to the reader _at the end of each chapter_. This would be

necessary with a view to ascertain what _quantity_ of unknown

inscription was required to evolve the rule, as the proposed method is

clearly inapplicable when the quantity of matter to be decyphered is

inconsiderable.

Having gone over sufficient ground to satisfy himself of the

_certainty_ of the rule, the decypherer would next count the

numbers of each distinct character in all the cuneiform

inscriptions accessible to him, making allowance for _final_

letters, also for vowel points which may be attached to the

character, as in Ethiopic. Assuming the rule in Chaldee to be the

same as in Hebrew (it is in fact very different), he would find

the character oftenest occurring in the Nineveh inscriptions to be

[Hebrew: Vav], the next [Hebrew: Mem], the rest in the following

order as to frequency of occurrence, [Hebrew: Yod], [Hebrew: Tav],

[Hebrew: Kaf], [Hebrew: He], [Hebrew: Alef], [Hebrew: Nun],

[Hebrew: Lamed]; [Hebrew: Bet ?], [Hebrew: Dalet ?], [Hebrew:

Shin], [Hebrew: Bet ?], [Hebrew: Het ?], [Hebrew: Qof], [Hebrew:

Zayin], [Hebrew: Pe], [Hebrew: Dalet ?], [Hebrew: Tsadi], [Hebrew:

Ayin], [Hebrew: Samekh], [Hebrew: Tet]; the first letter, [Hebrew:

Vav], _vau_, occurring nearly seven times as often as [Hebrew:

Tet], _teth_. The order of the letters would, in fact, vary much

from this in Chaldee; the servile letters being different would

alone much disturb the assumed order, actually ascertained

nevertheless, as respects the Hebrew letters, in the five books of

Moses. One word as to the order in which the several languages

should be experimented on. The Chaldee would be the first, and

next in succession, (2) the Syriac, (3) the Ethiopic, (4) the

Arabic, (5) the Hebrew (_die jungste Schwester_[3]), and (6) the

Pehlvi. The Indo-European languages would, in case of failure in

the above, claim next attention: of these first the _Zend_, next

(2) the Sanscrit, then (3) the Armenian, &c. &c.

[Footnote 3: Adelung in _Mithridates_.]

The resemblance of many of the characters on the Babylonian

bricks, as well as on the stones of Nineveh, is very great to the

characters known in our Bibles as Hebrew, but which are in fact

not Hebrew but Chaldee, and were introduced by the Jews subsequent

to their Babylonish captivity: the original Hebrew character was

that still existing on coins, and nearly approximates in many

respects to the Samaritan character. In some MSS. collated by

Kennicott, he found the tetragrammaton "Jehovah" written in this

ancient character, whilst the rest was Chaldee. The characteristic

of the unknown letters is their resemblance to nails, to

arrow-heads, and to wedges, from which, indeed, they are commonly

designated. In the Chaldee (the Hebrew of our Bibles) this is also

strikingly visible, notwithstanding the effect of time in wearing

down the arridges: thus, in the oftenest recurring letter,

[Hebrew: Vav], in the left leg of the [Hebrew: Tav], in [Hebrew:

Ayin], in [Hebrew: Tsadi], in [Hebrew: Tet], in [Hebrew: Nun], in

[Hebrew: Mem], and especially in [Hebrew: Shin], the cuneiform

type is most clearly traceable. One of the unknown characters,

[Shin-like Symbol], seems almost identical with [Hebrew: Shin],

allowance being made for the cursive form which written characters

assume after centuries of use.

The horn is very conspicuous on the heads of men in the Nineveh (Asshur)

sculptures, still, as a fashion, retained in Ethiopia (Cush,

Abyssinia[4]), the origin of the Chaldeans, through Nimrod the Cushite

(Gen. x. 8.), who probably derived their chief sustenance from the river

Tigris (Hiddekel). Subsistence from (1) fishing, (2) hunting (_e.g._

Nimrod), (3) grazing, and (4) agriculture, seems to have succeeded in

the order named. The repeated appearance of _fish_ on the same

sculptures, is in allusion, doubtless, to the name Nineveh (= fish +

habitation); and their worship of the half-man, half-fish (the fabulous

mermaid or merman), to which many of the _Cetaceæ_ bear a close

resemblance (the sea-horse for example), common with them and the

Phoenicians (in the latter tongue named Dagon), is probably allusive, in

their symbolic style, to the abstract notion of _fecundity_, so general

an element of veneration in all the known mythological religions of

ancient and modern times. See Nahum _passim_.

[Footnote 4: Alexander the Great adopted the horns as Jupiter

Ammon. See Vincent's _Periplus of the Erythrean Sea_, and

frontispiece. The women of Lebanon have, it appears, retained the

fashion. See _Pict. Bible_ on Zech. i. 18.]

From an attentive examination of these monuments in the British Museum,

it appears highly probable that the writing is from left to right, as in

the Ethiopic and Coptic, and in the Indo-European family generally, and

is the reverse of all the other Shemitic tongues. This inference is

derived from the fact that each line (with few exceptions) ranges with

those above and below, as in a printed book, perpendicularly on the

_left_, and breaks off on the _right_ hand, as at the termination of a

sentence, whilst some of the characters seem to stretch beyond the usual

line of limit to the right, as if the sculptor had made the common error

of not having _quite_ space enough for a word not divisible.

The daguerreotype might be advantageously used in copying all the

inscriptions yet discovered, of each of which three or four copies

should be taken, to obviate mistakes and accidents. These being brought

to England and carefully examined by the microscope, should be legibly

engraved and stereotyped, and sent to all the linguists of Europe and

elsewhere, and copies should also be deposited in all public libraries.

A comparison of the twelve cursive letters in Mr. Layard's _Nineveh_,

vol. ii. p. 166., with Büttner's tables at the end of the first volume

of Eichhorn's _Einleitung in das Alte Testament_ (Leipzic, 1803), has

led to an unexpected result. The particular table with which the

comparison was instituted, is No. II. Class i. Phoenician, col. 2.,

headed "Palæstinæ in nummis;" any person therefore can verify it. This

result is the following reading in the proper Chaldee character:--

[Hebrew: RaBKaLBeNO--VeSheeSh--DiN]

RaBKaLBeNO--VeSheeSh--DiN.

The meaning is "_Rabbi_ (Mr.) _Kalbeno_"--"_And six_"--"_Judge_."

Perhaps Kalbeno should be Albeno, the initial letter being obscure. The

above is put forth as a curious coincidence, not by any means with the

certainty which a much more extended examination than a dozen letters

can afford.

T. J. BUCKTON.

Lichfield.

INEDITED LETTER OF ALFIERI.

[The circumstances which led to Alfieri's hasty retreat from

England in 1771, and to Lord Ligonier's successful application for

a divorce, are doubtless familiar to all who have read the very

amusing Autobiography of the Italian poet. At all events we must

presume so, as they are scarcely of a nature to be reproduced in

"NOTES AND QUERIES." Twenty years after that event, when about to

embark for the Continent with the Countess of Albany, Alfieri, as

he was stepping on board the packet, saw again for the first time

since 1771 Lady Ligonier, who was on the quay. They recognised

each other, but that was all.

Alfieri, after describing this event in the 21st chapter of his

Autobiography, proceeds:--"Si arrivo a Calais; di dove io molto

colpito di quella vista cosi inespettata le volli scrivere per

isfogo del cuore, e mandai la mia lettera al Banchiere de Douvres,

che glie la rimettesse in proprie mani, e me ne trasmettesse poi

la risposta a Bruxelles, dove sarei stato fra pochi giorni. _La

mia lettera, di cui mi spiace di non aver serbato copia_ era

certamente piena d' affetti, non gia d' amore, ma di una vera e

profonda commozione di vederla ancora menare una vita errante e si

poco decorosa al suo stato e nascita, e di dolore che io ne

sentiva tanto più pensando di esserne io stato ancorche

innocentement o li cagione o li pretesto."

The original letter of Alfieri (which we presume he would have

inserted in his Autobiography, had he kept a copy of it, seeing

that he has there printed Lady Ligonier's reply) is in the

possession of a nobleman, a relative of the unfortunate lady; and

we are enabled by the kindness of a correspondent to lay before

our readers the following copy of it.

How far it bears out the writer's description of it we do not stop

to ask; but certainly if the reader will take the trouble to turn

to the conclusion of the chapter to which we have referred, we

think he cannot fail to be struck with the difference between the

terms in which the quondam lover writes _of_ the lady, and those

which he addresses _to_ her in the following Epistle.[5]]

[Footnote 5: In the only edition of the _Vita_ (12mo. 1809) to

which we have an opportunity of referring, this event is

represented as occurring in 1791: it will be seen that it really

took place in 1792. The lady's reply is there dated (tom. ii. p.

193.) "Dover, 25th _April_," instead of 24th _August_.]

"Calais, Mercredi, 24 Aout, 1792.

"Madam,--Mon silence en vous revoyant après vingt années d'absence, a

été le fruit de l'étonnement, et non pas de l'indifférence. C'est un

sentiment qui m'est inconnu pour les personnes qui m'ont intéressé une

fois, et pour vous surtout, dont j'ai à me reprocher toute ma vie

d'avoir été la principale cause de toutes vos vicissitudes. Si j'avois

eu le courage de m'approcher de vous, ma langue n'auroit certainement

jamais retrouvé d'expression pour vous rendre tous les mouvemens

tumultueux de mon âme et de mon coeur à cette apparition si subite et si

momentanée. Je n'aurois trouvé que des larmes pour vous dire tout ce que

je sentais; et en vous le traçant confusement sur ce papier, elles

viennent encore m'interrompre. Ce n'est pourtant pas de l'amour qui me

parle pour vous, mais c'est un mélange de sentimens si tendres, de

souvenirs, de regrets, et d'inquiétude pour votre sort présent et

future, que vous pouvez seule comprendre ou diviner. Je n'ai dans le

cours de ces vingt ans jamais sçu au juste de vos nouvelles. Un mariage

d'inclination que j'appris que vous aviez fait, devoit faire votre

bonheur. J'apprends à présent que cela n'a pas rempli vos espérances: je

m'en afflige pour vous. Au nom de Dieu, faites-moi seulement sçavoir si

vous êtes heureuse au moins; c'est là l'objet de mes voeux les plus

ardents. Je ne vous parle point de moi; je ne sçais pas si mon sort peut

vous intéresser de même; je vous dirai seulement que l'âge ne me corrige

point du défaut de trop sentir; que, malgré cela, je suis aussi heureux

que je puis l'être, et que rien ne manqueroit à ma félicité, si je vous

sçavois contente et heureuse. Mais au cas que cela ne soit pas,

adoucissez-moi du moins l'amertume de cette nouvelle en me disant

expressément que ce n'est point moi qui en ai été la cause, et que vous

ne désespérez pas d'être encore heureuse et d'accord avec vous-même.

"Je finis, parce que j'aurois trop de choses à vous dire, et que ma

lettre deviendroit plustôt celle d'un père, que celle d'un ancien amant.

Mais la cause de mes paroles étant dans le sensibilité de mon coeur, je

ne doute point que la sensibilité du vôtre, dont j'ai été convaincu, ne

les reçoive avec indulgence, et avec un reste d'affection que je n'ai

pas mérité de perdre de votre part. Si vous voulez donc me dire quelque

chose de vous, et que ma lettre ne vous a point déplu, vous pouvez

addresser votre réponse à Bruxelles, poste restante. Si vous ne jugez

point à-propos de me répondre, faites seulement sçavoir à la personne

qui vous fera remettre celle-ci, que vous l'avez reçue. Cela me

consolera un peu de la douleur que m'a causé le rétracement subit de vos

infortunes, que votre vue a toute réveillées dans mon âme. Adieu, donc,

adieu.

"VITTORIO ALFIERI."

STANZAS IN "CHILDE HAROLD."

There is a famous passage in one of Lord Byron's most famous poems,

which I am ashamed to confess that, though I am English born, and a

constant reader of poetry, I cannot clearly understand. It seems to

present no difficulties to anybody else, for it has been quoted a

thousand times over and over, without any intimation that it is not as

clear as light. It is in the sublime Address to the Ocean at the end of

Canto IV. of _Childe Harold_, stanza 182.:

"Thy shores are empires, changed in all save thee--

Assyria, Greece, Rome, Carthage, what are they?

Thy waters wasted them while they were free,

And many a tyrant since; their shores obey

The stranger, slave, or savage; their decay

Has dried up realms to deserts:--not so thou,

Unchangeable save to thy wild waves' play--

Time writes no wrinkle on thine azure brow--

Such as creation's dawn beheld, thou rollest now."

I have copied out to the end of the stanza; for in fact it is not easy

to stop the pen when copying such stanzas as these: but my business is

with the fourth and fifth lines only. In the fourth line, as you will

observe, a semicolon is inserted after the word "since." I find it there

in the first edition of the fourth canto of _Childe Harold_, published

in 1818; it is there in the standard edition of Lord Byron's _Works_,

issued by Murray about 1832; it is there in the splendid illustrated

edition of _Childe Harold_ published by Murray in 1841,--one of the

finest books of the kind, if not the finest, that has yet done honour to

the English press. This punctuation is found, therefore, in the earliest

edition that was issued, and in those on which the most care has been

bestowed. Yet what is the sense which the lines thus punctuated present?

"Thy waters wasted them [_i.e._ the empires] while

they were free,

And many a tyrant since."

They waters wasted many a tyrant? How, in the name of wonder? What sort

of an occupation is this to assign to the majestic ocean? Does the poet

mean to assert that anciently it wasted empires, and now it only wastes

individuals. Absurd! Yet such is the only meaning, as far as I see,

that can be assigned to the lines as they stand.

If the punctuation be altered, that is, if the semicolon after "since"

be removed, and a comma placed at the end of the line, the whole becomes

luminous:

"Thy waters wasted them while they were free,

And many a tyrant since their shores obey."

That is (I beg pardon if I am unnecessarily explanatory), "The waters

wasted these empires while they were free, and since they have been

enslaved,"--an apt illustration of that indifference to human affairs

which the poet is attributing to the ocean. The words, "the stranger,

slave, or savage," which follow in the next line, are to be taken in

connexion with the phrase "many a tyrant," and as an enumeration of the

different sorts of tyrants to which these unhappy empires have been

subjected.

This is my view of the sense of this famous passage: if any of your

correspondents can point out a better, I can only say "candidus

imperti," &c.

There was a very elaborate article on Lord Byron's Address to the Ocean

in _Blackwood's Magazine_ for October, 1848; but the writer, who

dissects it almost line by line, has somehow, as is the wont of

commentators, happened to pass over the difficulty which stands right in

his way. To make up for this, however, he contrives to find new

difficulties of his own. The following is a specimen:

"Recite," he says, "the stanza beginning,

'Thy shores are empires, changed in all save thee;'

and when the sonorous roll has subsided, try to understand it. You

will find some difficulty, if we mistake not, in knowing who or

what is the apostrophized subject. Unquestionably the world's

ocean, and not the Mediterranean. The very last verse we were far

in the Atlantic:

'Thy shores are empires.'

"The shores of the world's ocean are empires. There are, or have

been, the British empire, the German empire, the Russian empire,

and the empire of the Great Mogul, the Chinese empire, the empire

of Morocco, the four great empires of antiquity, the French

empire, and some others. The poet does not intend names and things

in this very strict way, however," &c.

What empires the poet _did_ mean there is surely no difficulty in

discovering, for those who wish to understand rather than to cavil. The

very next line to that quoted is--

"_Assyria, Greece, Rome, Carthage,_ what are they?"

and it would require some hardihood to assert that these empires were

not on the shores of the Mediterranean.

After all, the best commentators are translators: they are obliged to

take the difficulties by the horns. I find, in a translation of Byron's

_Works_ published at Pforzheim in 1842, the lines thus rendered by Dr.

Duttenhofer:

"Du bleibst, ob Reiche schwinden an den Küsten,--

Assyrien, Hellas, Rom, Carthago--schwand,

Die _freien_ könnte Wasserfluth verwüsten

Wie die Tyrannen; es gehorcht der Strand

Dem Fremdling, Sclaven, Wilden," &c.

Duttenhofer has here taken the text as he found it, and has given it as

much meaning as he could; but alas for those who are compelled to take

their notion of the poetry of _Childe Harold_ from his German, instead

of the original English! There is one passage in which the reader finds

this reflection driven hard upon him. Who is there that does not know

Byron's stanza on the Dying Gladiator, when, speaking of

"The inhuman shout which hail'd the wretch who won,"

he adds, in lines which will be read _till_ Homer and Virgil are

forgotten:

"He heard it, but he heeded not--his eyes

Were with his heart, and that was far away;

He reck'd not of the life he lost nor prize,

But where his rude hut by the Danube lay,

_There_ were his young barbarians all at play,

_There_ was their Dacian mother--he, their sire,

Butcher'd to make a Roman holiday--

All this gush'd with his blood--shall he expire

And unavenged? Arise, ye Goths! and glut your ire!"

There are two phrases in this stanza which seem to me to have never been

surpassed: "young barbarians," and "all this _gushed with his blood_."

How inimitable is "young barbarians!" The "curiosa felicitas" of Horace

never carried him farther,--or perhaps so far. Herr Duttenhofer contents

himself by saying--

"fern am Donaustrand

Sind seine Kinder, freuend sich am Spiel."

"Afar on the shore of the Danube are _his children_, diverting

themselves at play." Good heavens! is this translation, and German

translation too, of which we have heard so much? Again:

"wie sein Blut

Hinfliesst, denkt er an dies."

"As his blood flows away, he thinks of this!" What could Herr

Duttenhofer be thinking of?

To my surprise, on turning to the passage this moment in Byron's poems,

I find it stands--

"All this _rush'd_ with his blood,"

instead of "_gush'd_." It is so in the original edition, in the _Works_,

and in the splendid edition of 1841, all three. Can there be any doubt

of the superiority of "gush'd?" To me there seems none; and, singularly

enough, it so happens that twice in conversation with two of the most

distinguished writers of this age--one a prosaist and the other a poet,

whose names I wish I were at liberty to mention--I have had occasion to

quote this passage, and they both agreed with me in ascribing the

highest degree of poetical excellence to the use of this very word. I

wish I could believe myself the author of such an improvement; but I

have certainly somewhere seen the line printed as I have given it; very

possibly in Ebenezer Elliott the Corn-law Rhymer's _Lectures on Poetry_,

in which I distinctly remember that he quoted the stanza.

T. W.

"NOTES" ON THE OXFORD EDITION OF BISHOP JEWEL'S WORKS.

I send, with some explanation, a few Notes, taken from among others that

I had marked in my copy of the edition of Bishop Jewel's Works, issued

by the Oxford university press, 8 vols. 8vo. 1848.

Vol. ii. p. 352., l. 6., has, in Jewel's _Reply to Harding's Answer_,

Article v., "Of Real Presence," seventh division, the following: "And

therefore St. Paul saith, 'That I live now, I live in the flesh of the

Son of God.'" To this the following is appended by the Oxford editor:

"[Galatians ii. 20 '... And the life which I now live in the flesh

I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave

himself for me?' It cannot be denied that Jewel is here guilty, to

say the least, of very unjustifiable carelessness.]"

The true state of the case is, that Bishop Jewel, in the original _Reply

to Harding_, published in his lifetime, 1565, had given the text with

entire correctness--"That I live now in the flesh, I live in the faith

of the Son of God:" but this, long after the Bishop's death, was

misprinted in the editions of 1609 and 1611. The Oxford Jewel, moreover,

of 1848 does not even profess to follow the editions of 1609 and 1611;

and it is stated, vol. i. p. 130., that "this edition of the Reply in

passing through the press has been collated with the original one of

1565." Still in this vital case, where the very question was, what Jewel

himself had written, it is plain that the early edition of 1565 was

never consulted. The roughness of the censure might surely in any case

have been spared. It may be noted (vol. viii. p. 195. Oxf. edit.), that

Jewel in 1568 wrote to Archbishop Parker: "I beseech your grace to give

strait orders that the Latin Apology be not printed again in any case,

before either your grace or some other have well perused it. _I am

afraid of printers: their tyranny is intolerable._"

In vol. iv. p. 92., l. 1. _et seq._, in the _Recapitulation of Jewel's

Apology_, the words of the original Latin, "quid de Spiritu sancto,"

marked in the following extract by Italics, are omitted in the Oxford

edition "Exposuimus tibi universam rationem religionis nostræ, quid de

Deo Patre, quid de ejus unico Filio Jesu Christo, _quid de Spiritu

sancto_, quid de ecclesia, quid de sacramentis ... sentiamus." And in

vol. vi. p. 523., l. 6., where Bishop Jewel gives that passage as

rendered by Lady Bacon, namely: "We have declared at large unto you the

very whole manner of our religion, what our opinion is of God the

Father, and of his only Son Jesus Christ, _of the Holy Ghost_, of the

church, of the sacrament," the following is appended:--

"[In the Latin Apology no words occur here relating to the Third

Person of the Blessed Trinity.]"

A similar notice is also given in vol. viii. p. 385.--The fact is, that

the words "quid de Spiritu sancto" do occur in the Latin Apology, 1562,

which was the first edition of that work, and, so far as I am aware, the

only edition printed in Jewel's life, from which too the Oxford reprint

professes to be taken, and a copy of which any one can consult in the

British Museum. Those words will also be found, within six or eight

pages of the end, in the various later editions, as for example those of

Vautrollier, London, 1581; Forster, Amberg, 1606; Boler, London, 1637;

and Dring, London, 1692 (which are in my own possession); as also in the

editions of Bowier, 1584; Chard, 1591; and Hatfield, London, 1599. The

editions of Jewel's works printed in 1609 and 1611, edited by Fuller,

under the sanction of Archbishop Bancroft, did not contain the Latin

Apology. There is not a shadow of authority for the omission. All the

modern reprints too, with which I am acquainted, only excepting a small

edition printed at Cambridge, 1818, p. 140., give the words in question.

It would seem that the Oxford editor must have used the very inaccurate

reprint of 1818, for supplying copy for the printer[6]; and reference

either to that first edition of 1562, which the reprint of 1848

professes to follow, or to any early edition, even in this case, where

the context clearly requires the omitted words, was neglected.

[Footnote 6: I have observed another error in the Cambridge

edition, 1818, p. 115., last line but five, "domum manere" instead

of the original and classical reading, "domi manere." That

misprint of 1818 is followed by the Oxford edition of 1848, vol.

iv. p. 77. l. 12., Apol. pars vi. cap. 8. div. 1.]

I have said that the Oxford Jewel of 1848 professes to follow the Latin

Apology of 1562, as a copy of the Latin title, with the date 1562, is

prefixed to the Oxford edition, vol. iv. p. 1.: but the colophon

appended to that reprint, p. 95., is strangely dated 1567. Was there any

Latin edition of the Apology printed in that year? And, if so, why are

different dates given for the title and colophon of the Oxford reprint?

One can only conclude that the date 1567 is itself an error.

The following is printed in vol. viii. p. 290., l. 11., from Lady

Bacon's translation of Jewel's Apology, 1564, part ii. ch. 7. div. 5.:

"As touching the Bishop of Rome, for all his parasites state and ringly

sing those words in his ears, 'To thee will I give the keys of the

kingdom of heaven,'" &c. This case is different from those mentioned

above, in the respect that the words "state and ringly" do occur in the

printed edition of 1564; but it scarcely need be observed that the words

"state & ringly" are a misprint for "flatteringly," when it is added

that Jewel himself, in his revised edition of Lady Bacon's translation,

in the _Defence of the Apology_, 1567 and 1570, reads: "for all that his

flattering parasites sing these words in his ears." The original Latin

is "quamvis illi suaviter cantilentur illa verba a parasitis suis."

There are also various errors and several omissions in the Oxford Jewel,

in the verification of the numerous references. Among various notes (I

would however add) which are inaccurate, and several that appear to me

superfluous, there are some which are most useful, as, for example, that

in vol. ii. p. 195., on the Gloss in the Canon Law, "Our Lord God the

Pope."

COLET.

ANAGRAMS.

You have now completed the third volume of "NOTES AND QUERIES," and, to

the no small surprise of all lovers of "jeux de mots," not a single

specimen of the genus Anagram has found its way into your columns. To

what are we to ascribe such a circumstance? The ancients were not

ashamed to indulge in this intellectual pastime, and their anagrams,

says Samuel Maunder, occasionally contained some happy allusion. The

moderns have given unequivocal proofs of their fecundity in the same

line, and the anagrammatic labours of the French nation alone would form

several volumes. Indeed, to that nation belongs the honour of having

introduced the anagram; and such is the estimation in which "the art"

was held by them at one time, that their kings were provided with a

salaried Anagrammatist, as ours are with a pensioned Laureate. How comes

it then that a species of composition, once so popular, has found no

representative among the many learned correspondents of your popular

periodical? Has the anagram become altogether extinct, or is it only

awaiting the advent of some competent genius to restore it to its proper

rank in the republic of letters?

To me it is clear that the real cause of the prevailing dearth of

anagrams is the great difficulty of producing good ones. Good anagrams

are, to say the least of it, quite as scarce as good epic poems; for, if

it be true that the utmost efforts of the human intellect have not given

birth to more than six good epic poems, it is no less true that the

utmost exertion of human ingenuity has not brought forth more than half

a dozen good anagrams. Some critics are of opinion that we do possess

six good epic poems. Now, where shall we find six good anagrams? If they

exist, let them be _exhibited_ in the pages of "NOTES AND QUERIES."

Indeed, it may be said that the anagram and the epic poem are the alpha

and omega of literature. I am aware that by thus placing them in

juxtaposition the contrast may have the effect of disparaging the

anagram. The epic poem will naturally enough suggest the idea of the

sublime, and the anagram, as naturally, that of the ridiculous: and then

it will be said that between the two there is but a step. But let any

gentleman make the experiment, and he will find that, instead of a step,

the intermediate space will present to his astonished legs a surface

co-extensive with the wide field of modern mediocrity. As for myself, I

have ransacked in search of anagrams every hole and corner in ancient

and modern literature, and have found very few samples worthy of the

name. Reserving the ancients for future consideration, let us see what

the moderns have to boast of in this respect.

And first, what says Isaac Disraeli? Anagrams being literary

curiosities, one would naturally expect to meet with some respectable

samples of them in that writer's _Curiosities of Literature_. Yet, what

do we find? Among about a score which he quotes, there is not one that

can be reckoned a tolerable anagram, while by far the greater number are

no anagrams at all. An anagram is the change of a word or sentence into

another word or sentences by an _exact_ transposition of the letters.

Where a single letter is either omitted or added, the anagram is

incomplete. Of this description are the following, cited by Disraeli:--

"Thomas Overburie,

"O! O! base murther."

"Charles James Stewart,

"Claims Arthur's Seat."

"Martha Nicholson,

"Soon calm at heart."

I next turned to Samuel Maunder and his _Scientific and Literary

Treasury_, little suspecting that, in a repertory bearing so ambitious a

title, I should fail to discover the object of my search. True, he

quotes the anagram made by Dr. Burney after the battle of the Nile:

"Horatio Nelson,

"Honor est a Nilo."

And this, it must be confessed, is one of the best on record. The

transposition is complete, and the allusion most apposite. But with that

exception, what does this pretended _Treasury_ disclose? A silly attempt

to anagrammatise the name of our beloved queen; thus:

"Her most gracious Majesty Alexandrina Victoria,

"Ah! my extravagant joco-serious radical Minister!"

coupled with the admission that nothing can be more ridiculous or

inapplicable, and that one-half of the anagrams in existence are not a

whit less absurd. And yet, for this piece of absurdity, as well as for

another of the same calibre, on--

"His Grace the Duke of Wellington,

"Well fought, K--! no disgrace in thee,"

Mr. Maunder claims the merit of originality. In other words (which are

no other than his own), he claims merit for being "puerile,"

"ridiculous," and "absurd." Alas! for the credit of anagrams! Alas! for

the reputation of Galileo, Newton, and other philosophers, who could

make great discoveries, and resort to anagrams to announce them to the

world, but who were incapable of discovering that an anagram was an

absurdity!

Finding matters at so low an ebb in our own literature, and that English

anagrams are little better than Irish bulls, I directed my attention to

the literary records of the French, among whom the anagrammatic bump is

very prominent. From its character, and the process of its formation,

the anagram is peculiarly adapted to the genius of that people. It is

light and airy: so are they. It is conceited and fantastical: so are

they. It seems to be what it is not: so do they. Its very essence is

transposition, involution; what one might call a sort of

Jump-Jim-Crow-ism: and so is theirs. Hence the partiality which they

have always shown for the anagram: their Rebuses, Almanacs, Annuaires,

and collections of trifles are full of them. One-half of the disguises

adopted by their anonymous writers are in the shape of anagrams, formed

from their names; and one of them has gone the length of composing and

publishing a poem of 1200 lines, every line of which contains an

anagram. The name assumed by the author (Gabriel Antoine Joseph Hécart)

is L'Anagramme d'Archet; and the book bears the title of _Anagramméana,

Poëme en VIII Chants, XCVe Edition, à Anagrammatopolis, l'An XIV de

l'Ere anagrammatique_. But it so happens that out of the 1200 anagrams

not a single one is worth quoting. Quérard describes this poem, not

inaptly, as a "débauche d'esprit;" and the author himself calls it "une

ineptie;" to which I may add the opinion of Richelet, that "l'anagramme

est une des plus grandes inepties de l'esprit humain: il faut être sot

pour s'en amuser, et pis que sot pour en faire."

With such an appreciation of the value of anagrams, is it surprising

that the French should have produced so few good ones? M. de Pixérécourt

mentions two which he deems so unexceptionable, that they might induce

us to overlook the general worthlessness of that kind of composition.

They are as follows:

"Bélître,

"Liberté."

"Benoist,

"Bien sot."

Now, the first is only true in France, where true liberty was never

understood: and the second is true nowhere. _Benoist_ is merely a vulgar

name, and the adoption of it does not necessarily imply that the bearer

is a "sot." M. De Pixérécourt might have quoted some better samples; the

famous one, for instance, on the assassin of Henri III.:--

"Frère Jacques Clement,

"C'es l'enfer qui m'a créé."

Or the following Latin anagrams on the names of two of his most

distinguished countrymen:--

"De la Monnoi,

"A Delio nomen."

"Voltaire,

"O alte vir!"

I was on the point of relinquishing in despair my search for anagrams,

when an accidental circumstance put me in possession of one of the best

specimens I have met with. Some time ago, in an idle mood, I took up a

newspaper for the purpose of glancing at its contents, and as I was

about to read, I discovered that I held the paper by the wrong end.

Among the remarkable headings of news there was one which I was desirous

of decyphering before I restored the paper to its proper position, and

this happened to be the word "[inverted: DNALERI]". Instead, however, of

making out the name from letters thus inverted, I found the anagram--

"Daniel R."

My first impression, on ascertaining this result, was one of horror at

the treasonable "jeu de mots" I had so unwittingly perpetrated.

Remembering, however, that Daniel O'Connell is dead, and that Irish

loyalty has nothing to fear from Daniel the Second, I resolved to give

the public the benefit of the discovery by sending it to you for "NOTES

AND QUERIES."

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia, August, 1851.

FOLK LORE.

_Cure for Hooping Cough._--It is said by the inhabitants of the forest

of Bere, East Hants, that new milk drank out of a cup made of the wood

of the variegated holly is a cure for the hooping cough.

[Arrow symbol]

_Cure for the Toothache._--In the village of Drumcondra, about a mile

and half on the northern side of Dublin, there is an old churchyard,

remarkable as the burying-place of Gandon the architect, Grose the

antiquary, and Thomas Furlong the translator of Carolan's Remains. On

the borders of this churchyard there is a well of beautiful water, which

is resorted to by the folks of the village afflicted with toothache,

who, on their way across the graves pick up an old skull, which they

carry with them to drink from, the doing of which they assert to be an

infallible cure. Others merely resort to the place for the purpose of

pulling a tooth from a skull, which they place on or over the hole or

stump of the grown tooth, and they affirm that by keeping it there for a

certain time the pain ceases altogether. There is a young woman at this

instant in the employment of my mother, who has practised these two

remedies, and who tells me she knows several others who have done the

same.

C. HOEY.

Near Drumcondra, County Dublin.

_Medical Use of Pigeons._--

"Spirante columba

Suppositu pedibus, revocantur adima vapores."

"'They apply pigeons to draw the vapours from the head.'"--Dr.

Donne's "Devotions upon Emergent Occasions," _Works_, vol. iii. p.

550. Lond. 1839.

Mr. Alford appends to the above-cited passage the following note:

"After a careful search in Pliny, Burton's _Anatomy of

Melancholy_, and Sir Thomas Browne's _Vulgar Errors_, I can find

no mention of this strange remedy."

I am inclined to suspect that the application of pigeons was by no means

an uncommon remedy in cases particularly of fever and delirium. To quote

one passage from Evelyn:

"Neither the cupping nor the _pidgeons_, those last of remedyes,

wrought any effect."--_Life of Mr. Godolphin_, p. 148. Lond. 1847.

Some of your correspondents may possibly be able to furnish additional

information respecting this custom; for I am confident of having seen it

alluded to, though at the moment I cannot remember by whom.

RT.

Warmington.

_Obeism._--In the _Medical Times_ of 30th Sept. there is a case of a

woman who fancied herself under its influence, in which the name (in a

note) is derived from Obi, the town, district, or province in Africa

where it was first practised; and there is appended to it the following

description of one of the superstitions as given by a witness on a

trial:

"Do you know the prisoner to be an Obeah man?--Ees, massa; shadow

catcher true.

"What do you mean by shadow catcher?--Him hab coffin [a little

coffin was here produced]; him set to catch dem shadow.

"What shadow do you mean?--When him set Obeah for somebody him

catch dem shadow, and dem go dead."

The derivation of the name from a place is very different from the

supposition so cleverly argued in the Third Vol. connecting it with Ob;

but I cannot find in any gazetteer to which I at present have had

access, any place in Africa of the name, or a similar name. I do not

remember in the various descriptions I have read of the charms

practised, that one of catching the shadow mentioned.

E. N. W.

NOTES ON JULIN, NO. II.

(Vol. ii., pp. 230. 282. 379. 443.; Vol. iv., p. 171.)

I resume the chain of evidence where I left off in my last

communication.

The account given by Pomerania's best and most trusty historian, Thomas

Kanzow, Kantzow, Kamzow, Kansow, Kahnsow, Kantzouw, or Cantzow[7] (born

1505; died 25th September, 1542), of Stralsund, in his _Pomerania_ (ed.

Meden, p. 405., 1841, W. Dietze, Anclam.), of Wollin, only previously

alluded to by your correspondents, is as follows:

"_Of Wollin._--Wollin was before, as it appears from heretofore

written histories, a powerful city; and one yet finds far about

the town foundations and tokens that the city was once very great;

but it has since been destroyed, and numbers now scarcely 300 to

400 citizens.[8] It has a parish church and nunnery

(_jungfrauenkloster_), and a ducal government. It lies on a piece

of marshland, on the Dievenow, called the Werder. The citizens are

customed like the other Pomeranians, but they are considered

somewhat awkwarder (_unhandlicher_ = unhandier). It is a curious

custom of this land and city that generally more inhuman things

take place there than anywhere else; and that I may relate

something, I will tell of a dreadful occurrence that lately

happened there.[9] Of Wollyn there is nothing more to be written,

except that the revered Master Doctor Joannes Buggenhagen was born

in this city, who is no insignificant ornament both of the holy

New Testament and of his fatherland."

[Footnote 7: The publication of whose works in English I strongly

recommend.]

[Footnote 8: In later times, however, the population has become

greater.]

[Footnote 9: Not to be found.]

On Vineta he writes (_High German Chronicle_, ed. Meden, lib. ii. pp.

32-35.):--

"Not long after this Schwenotto threw off Christianity, and set

himself against his father Harald, king in Denmark, and drove him

from the kingdom. So Harald fled to Wollyn, in Pomerania. There

the Wends, notwithstanding that he was a Christian, and they still

of the ancient faith, received him kindly, and, together with the

other Wends and Pomeranians, fitted out ships and an armament, and

brought him with force back into his kingdom, and fought the whole

day with Schweno, so that it was uncertain who had or had not won

there. Then the next day they arose and made a smiting[10], and in

the fray Harald was shot by a Dane, and perhaps by his son's

command. Then brought the Wollyners him to their ships, and

carried him away to their city that there they might doctor

(_artzten_) him. But he died of the wound, and was buried there,

after he had reigned about fifty years, about the thousandth year

after the birth of Christ. So writeth Saxo. But Helmold writes,

that he came to Vineta: these holp him into his kingdom again,

and when he was shot in the skirmish, they brought him back to

their town, where he died[11] and was buried. And that I myself

believe; for though Wollyn was a mighty state at that time, still

Vineta was much mightier; and it is therefore to be concluded that

he fled to Vineta, rather than to Wollyn, and that Vineta was on

that account afterwards destroyed: and as we are come to Vineta,

we will say what Helmold writes thereof, which is this:--

[Footnote 10: I have in the translation adopted the phrase of Holy

Writ, "made a smiting."]

[Footnote 11: This shows that the MSS. of Helmold were corrupted

at a very early period. I have seen one uncorrupted. A list of

them would be a thing desirable.]

"Vineta has been a powerful city, with a good harbour for the

surrounding nations; and after so much has been told of the city

which is totally (_schyr_ = sheerly) incredible, I will relate

this much. It is said to have been as great a city as any which

Europe contained at that time, and it was promiscuously inhabited

by Greeks, Slavonians, Wends, and other nations. The Saxons, also,

upon condition of not openly practising Christianity, were

permitted to inhabit with them; for all the citizens were

idolaters down to the final destruction and fall of the city. Yet

in customs, manners, and hospitality there is not a more worthy

nation, or so worthy a one, to be found. The city was full of all

sorts of merchandise (_kaufwahr_) from all countries, and had

everything which was curious, luxurious (_lustig_ = lustful), and

necessary; and a king of Denmark destroyed them a great fleet of

war. The ruins and recollection of the town remain even to this

day, and the island on which it lay is flowed round by three

streams, of which one is of a green colour, the other greyish, and

the third dashes and rushes by reason of storm and wind. And so

far Helmold, who wrote about 400 years ago.

"And it is true that the remains exist at the present day: for

when one desires to go from Wolgast over the Pene, in the country

of Usedom, and comes by a village called Damerow, which is by

[about] two miles[12] from Wolgast, so sees one about a long

quarter way into the sea (for the ocean has encroached upon the

land so much since then), great stones and foundations. So have I

with others rowed thither, and have carefully looked at it. But no

brickwork is there now; for it is so many hundred years since the

destruction of the city, that it is impossible that it can have

remained so long in the stormy sea. Yet the great

foundation-stones are there still, and lie in a row, as they are

usually disposed under a house, one by the other; and in some

places others upon them. Among these stones are some so great, in

three or four places, that they reach ell high above the water; so

that it is conjectured that their churches or assembly-houses

stood there. But the other stones, as they still lie in the order

in which they lay under the buildings (_geben_), show also

manifestly how the streets went through the length and breadth

(_in die lenge und übers quer_) of the city. And the fishermen of

the place told us that still whole paving-stones of the streets

lay there, and were covered with moss[13] (_übermoset_), so that

they could not be seen; yet if one pricked therein with a

sharp-pointed pole or lance, they were easily to be felt. And the

stones lay somehow after that manner: and as we rowed backward and

forward over the foundations, and remarked the fashion of the

streets, saw we that the town was built lengthways from east to

west. But the sea deepens the farther we go, so that we could not

perceive the greatness of the city fully; but what we could see,

made us think that it was very probably of about the size of

Lübeck: for it was about a short quarter[14] long, and the breadth

broader than the city Lübeck. By this one may guess what was the

size of the part we could not see. And according to my way of

thinking, when this town was destroyed, Wisbu in Gottland was

restored."

[Footnote 12: German, answering to about eight English.]

[Footnote 13: I have translated _übermoset_ as above, though

nothing at the bottom could be covered with moss. I suspect the

true lection to be _übermodert_, as _moder_ exists in the present

German, answering to our word "mother."]

[Footnote 14: This expression, as well as a previous one, alludes

to the distance. "Of a mile" is, in both cases, to be understood.]

Wisby, _en passant_, may be described as a merchant town of great

importance in the mediæval period, and whence we have derived our

navigation laws. It has now about 4000 inhabitants, and has many ruined

buildings and sculptured marble about it.

So far Kantzow in the _High German Chronicle_: in the _Low German

Chronicle_ (ed. Böhmer, Greifswald, 1832), I find nothing bearing on the

subject.

Indistinct and wavering is Kantzow in his account, but thus much is to

be gathered from it.

1. That the _soi-disant_ Vineta lay east and west; Julin or Wollin lies

north and south.

2. That the destruction of Wollin ensued on its aiding an enemy against

Denmark.

3. That in the mind of Kantzow the two towns were not confounded, and

that he had heard both legends, but had not sufficient critical sagacity

to disentangle the mess.

The oldest MSS. of Helmold have not this error. I have myself, as

previously stated, seen one uncorrupted. The closing words of Kantzow

seem to make it necessary to search for the date of the rebuilding of

Wisby, which I have not at present the means of doing, though I will

take an early opportunity of settling this, oddly enough, contested

point.

Von Raumer emphatically brands the legend of Vineta as a fable; as also

my friend M. de Kaiserling. And I myself am forcibly reminded of an old

Irish legend I read long ago somewhere or other, of the disappearance of

a city in the Lake of Killarney, of which, my authority stated, the

towers were occasionally to be perceived. Another legend, of which the

scene was laid in Mexico, I recollect, was to the same effect; and in

this I am confirmed by a friend, who has traveled much in that country.

I must myself totally deny the existence of Vineta, except as the

capital city of the Veneti, when I would place it in Rügen.

I may as well add that M. de Kaiserling dug up his coins in the

north-western corner of Wollin, near the Rathhaus.

The Salmarks are in the neighbourhood of the town, the Greater one to

the north, the Lesser to the south.

I will now close the paper, already too long, and hope for elucidations

and remarks from abler pens.

KENNETH R. H. MACKENZIE.

September 25, 1851.

Minor Notes.

_Curious Epitaph in Dalkeith Churchyard._--The following inscription is

on the tombstone of one Margaret Scott, who died in the town of

Dalkeith, February 9, 1738, aged 125 years:--

"Stop passenger, until my life you read:

The living may get knowledge by the dead.

Five times five years I lived a virgin's life:

Ten times five years I was a virtuous wife:

Ten times five years I lived a widow chaste;

Now, weary'd of this mortal life, I rest.

Between my cradle and my grave have been

Eight mighty kings of Scotland and a queen.

Four times five years the Commonwealth I saw;

Ten times the subjects rose against the law.

Twice did I see old Prelacy pull'd down;

And twice the cloak was humbled by the gown.

An end of Stuart's race I saw: nay, more!

My native country sold for English ore.

Such desolations in my life have been,

I have an end of all perfection seen."

I thought that the above instance of what might be termed "historical

longevity" was worthy of a place in your pages, along with others

proving how "traditions from remote periods may come through few hands."

BLOWEN.

_Device of SS._--However doubtful may be the derivation of our English

"Collar of Esses," there is a pretty explanation given of a similar

device granted to a Spanish nobleman.

It is said that Gatierre de Cardenas was the first person who announced

to the young Princess Isabella of Castile the approach of her future

husband, Ferdinand of Aragon (after his romantic journey to Valladolid

in 1469), exclaiming, "Esse es, esse es,"--"This is he!" He obtained

permission to add to his escutcheon the letters SS. to commemorate this

circumstance.

O. P. Q.

_Lord Edward Fitzgerald._--Having seen in "NOTES AND QUERIES" a remark

about Lord Edward Fitzgerald, I wish to add the following.

The body of Lord Edward Fitzgerald has never been removed by his

relatives, but has lain in an outside vault or passage, under the parish

church of St. Werburgh, Dublin, until very lately, when (I believe

within the last year) Lady Campbell, widow of General Sir Guy Campbell,

Bart., and daughter of Pamela, caused it to be placed in an oak coffin,

the old one being greatly decayed. It is now removed into what is called

the chancel vault.

L. M. M.

_The Michaelmas Goose._--Why it is that here in England--

"---- by custom (right divine)

Geese are ordained to bleed at Michael's shrine,"

is a mystery still unsolved by English antiquaries. For, even if the

story that Queen Elizabeth was eating a goose on Michaelmas Day when she

received the news of the defeat of the Spanish Armada, rested on

unquestionable authority, it would not explain the origin of the custom,

since Brand has shown, by a reference to Blount's _Jocular Tenures_,

that it existed as early as the tenth year of Edward IV. If we seek an

illustration from the practice of our continental neighbours, we shall

fail; or only learn that we have transferred to the Feast of St. Michael

a practice which is observed abroad on that of St. Martin, the 11th

November: indeed, St. Martin's Bird is a name by which the goose is

known among many of the continental nations. In the Runic Calendar the

11th November is marked by a goose. In the old _Bauern Practica_ (ed.

1567), _Wintermonat_ or November boasts, in one of the Rhymes of the

Month,--

"Fat geese unto the rich I sell."

And in the curious old Story Book of Peter Leu, reprinted by von der

Hagen in his _Narrenbuch_, one of the adventures commences:

"It fell upon St. Martin's Day,

When folks are wont goose-feasts to keep."

A learned German, however, Nork (_Festkalender_, s. 567.), sees in our

Michaelmas Goose the last traces of the goose offered of old to

Proserpina, the infernal goddess of death (on which account it is that

the figure of this bird is so frequently seen on monumental remains);

and also of the offerings (among which the goose figured) formerly made

to Odin at this season, a pagan festival which on the introduction of

Christianity was not abolished, but transferred to St. Michael.

WILLIAM J. THOMS.

_Gravesend Boats_ (Vol. ii., p. 209.).--In a letter from Sir Thomas

Heneage to Sir Christopher Hatton, dated 2nd May, 1585, given in

Nicolas's _Memoir of the Life and Times of Sir Christopher Hatton_ (p.

426.), is this passage:

"Her Highness thinketh your house will shortly be like a Gravesend

barge, never without a knave, a priest, or a thief," &c.

"Her Highness" was Queen Elizabeth, and the purport of the letter was to

convey "her Highness's pleasure" touching one Isaac Higgins, then in

the custody of Sir Christopher Hatton.

C. H. COOPER.

Cambridge, Sept. 19. 1851.

_Skull-cups._--There are so very few consecutive and methodical readers

left, that it is not surprising that Mr. Blackwell, the editor of Bohn's

_Mallet_, should have adopted the groundless charge of one Magnusen

against Olaus Wormius, who understood Ragnar's death-song much better

than certain ironical dilettanti of Cockneyland. Charlemagne's

secretary, Paul Warnefrid, the Lombard deacon of Aquileia, swears that,

about 200 years after the event, King Ratchis had shown him _the cup

made out of Cunimund's skull_, in which Queen Rosamund, his daughter,

refused to drink, in the year 574.[15] (_Paul. Diac._ ii. 8.) Open the

_Acta Sanctorum_ for the 1st of May, and they will tell you that the

monks of Triers had enchased in silver the skull of St. Theodulf, out of

which they administered fever-drink to the sick. Moreover, when, in the

year 1465, Leo von Rozmital came to Neuss, he saw a costly tomb wherein

lay the blessed Saint Quirinus, and he drank out of his skull-cup. St.

Sebastian's skull at Ebersberg, and St. Ernhart's at Ratisbonne, had

also been converted into chalices.

[Footnote 15: See Grotius's valuable Collection of Gothic and

Lombard Historians.]

I refer the reader to Jacob Grimm's _Geschichte der Deutschen Sprache_,

pp. 143. 146., for further details: he shows that to drink ale out of

_buigvîdum hausa_, can only mean out of "hollow skulls," literally

"_vacuitas_ curva."

To prove the antiquity of the custom, Grimm alleges likewise a passage

of the Vilkinasaga, in which Völundr, the smith, our Belenger[16], or

Will o' the Wisp, enchases in silver the amputated skulls of Nidads' two

boys.

[Footnote 16: Foeu _Bélenger_, in one of the dialects of the

Low-Norman Isles.]

GEORGE MÉTIVIER.

Queries.

Minor Queries.

168. _Elizabeth, Equestrian Figure of._--Doubtless many of your readers

have seen in the Exhibition a large equestrian figure of Elizabeth; it

is in the N.W. gallery, in one of the large plate cases. Now the horse

is described as pacing, which the explanation states was a step taught

the horses belonging to the ladies of that period. Query, where a

description of pacing, or rules for teaching horses to pace, amble, &c.,

may be found? for what appears so extraordinary in the figure is that

the fore and hind legs of the same side of the horse are extended

together, or simultaneously. I have in the _Graphic Illustrator_ a

picture of Elizabeth hawking (the figure in the Exhibition may have been

copied from the original), where the horse is in the same attitude. I

feel anxious to know if that unnatural gait is possible, or whether it

is a part or the whole of the pacing step.

THOS. LAWRENCE.

Ashby de la Zouch.

169. _Indian Ants._--Is there any foundation for Pliny's account of the

Indian ants, which were, according to Herodotus, "not so large as a dog,

but bigger than a fox?"

A. C. W.

170. _Passage in Geo. Herbert._--What is the meaning of the following?

(Herbert's _Poems_, "Charms and Knots," ver. 8.):--

"Take one from ten, and what remains?

Ten still: if sermons go for gains."

H. T. G.

171. _"The King's-way," Wilts._--Mention of this road, in the

neighbourhood of Malmsbury, occurs in two charters of the Saxon kings

Athelstan and Eadwig, Nos. 355. & 460. Cod. Dipl. Aevi. Sax. The road is

said to be known in Wiltshire as King Athelstan's Way. Can any of your

correspondents oblige me by pointing out its course, and the immediate

purpose for which it was constructed? There is a King's-way Field

(Cyngwey-ffeld) mentioned in the ancient terriers of Bampton, Oxon, and

still known there.

B. W.

172. _Marriages within ruined Churches._--I have heard of marriages

solemnized within _ruined_ churches in Ireland within the last twenty

years. What is the origin of this custom; was it general, and is it

still observed?

R. H.

173. _Fees for Inoculation._--In an old Account Book of a Sussex county

gentleman I find the following items:--

"1780. I paid for the inoculation of William and Polly Parker, £5

15_s._ 6_d._"

and again in 1784:

"Paid towards R. Stephen's inoculation, £1 11_s._ 0_d._"

from which it would appear that the process was a very expensive one in

those days. I should feel obliged to any of your correspondents to give

me some information on this point.

R. W. B.

174. "_Born in the Eighth Climate._"--Can any of your readers explain

the allusion contained in the following extract from Sir Thomas Browne?

"_I was born in the eighth climate_, but seem for to be framed and

constellated unto all."--_Religio Medici_, ii. 1.

Will the notions of astrology throw any light upon it?

N. H.

175. _Aubry de Montdidier's Dog._--Who was the King of France that

subjected the Chevalier Macaire to the ordeal by combat with this famous

dog? In some of the authorities it is said to be Charles VI., and in

others "Le Roi Jean," meaning, I presume, John II.

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia.

176. _Sanford's Descensus._--Can any of your correspondents say if

Sanford's _Descensus_ has ever been published separately? It is spoken

of in the 2nd vol. of Gale's _Court of the Gentiles_, and was published

in the works of a bishop who survived him. A copy of that prelate's

works is in the Bodleian Library, and contains the _Descensus_. What is

the bishop's name?

ÆGROTUS.

177. _Parish Registers--Briefs for Collection._--What acts of parliament

since the reign of George I. affect parish registers?

On what authority were collections made in churches _by brief_; in what

year was that mode of collection decreed; and when did it cease?

J. B. (A Subscriber.)

178. _Early Printing Presses, Sticks, and Chases._--I am a compositor,

and have read with great interest the "Notes" on Caxton and Printing in

your valuable publication. May I venture to put a Query which has often

crossed my mind, especially when I went to see Mr. Maclise's great

painting at the Royal Academy. What kind of press did Caxton and his

successors use? Also, is anything known of the shape of their "sticks"

and "chases?" Mr. Maclise seems to have taken a modern pattern for all

of these, especially the two last.

EM QUAD.

179. _Bootikins._--Horace Walpole speaks in many of his letters of the

great benefit he had experienced from the use of _bootikins_ in his

attacks of gout. In a letter to George Montagu, Esq., dated July 31,

1767, he says:

"Except one day's gout, which I cured with the _bootikins_, I have

been quite well since I saw you."

Eight years afterwards his expectations of _cure_ from them were not so

high. In a letter to the Rev. Mr. Cole, dated June 5, 1775, he remarks:

"I am perfectly well, and expect to be so for a year and a half. I

desire no more of my _bootikins_ than to curtail my fits."

Dr. E. J. Seymour (_Thoughts on the Nature and Treatment of several

severe Diseases of the Human Body_, i. 107.: London, 1847), says that--

"The _bootikins_ were simply a glove, with a partition for the

thumb, but no separate ones for the fingers, like an infant's

glove, made of oiled silk."

Can any of your readers shed light on this matter?

R. D.

Philadelphia.

180. _Printers' Privilege._--I have heard it confidently stated that

printers have the privilege, if they are disposed to use it, to wear on

all occasions a sword dangling at their sides. If it be so, whence does

it arise? I have heard two explanations, one, bearing _primâ facie_

evidence of incorrectness, a special grant as a mark of favour; the

other, which is the only reasonable way of accounting for such a totally

unsuitable privilege, that when the act passed forbidding arms to be

commonly worn, all kinds and manner of people were mentioned by the name

of their trades, businesses, &c., except printers, who were accidently

omitted. How much of truth might there be in all this? What is the act

alluded to?

TEE BEE.

181. _Death of Pitt._--What authority is there for the accompanying

statement respecting the death of Mr. Pitt?

"Among the anecdotes of statesmen few are more interesting than

that which records the death of Pitt. The hand which had so long

sustained the sceptre of this country found no hand to clasp it in

death. By friends and by servants he was alike deserted; and a

stranger wandering on from room to room of a deserted house, came

at last by chance to a chamber untended but not unquiet, in which

the great minister lay, alone and dead."--See _Edinburgh Review_

for July, 1851, p. 78., on the _Poems and Memoir of Hartley

Coleridge_.

NATHANIEL ELLISON.

182. "_A little Bird told me._"--C. W. wishes to know if any of the

readers of "NOTES AND QUERIES" can tell him the origin of the proverb,

"A little bird told me."

C. W. has an idea that the origin is from the _Koran_, where is an

account of all the birds being summoned before Solomon. The lapwing

absents himself. Upon being questioned why he did not immediately obey,

he says he has been at the court of the Queen of Sheba, who has resolved

upon visiting Solomon. On the hint, Solomon prepares for the queen's

reception. The lapwing sets off to Ethiopia, and tells the Queen that

Solomon wishes to see her. The meeting, as we know, took place.

Not having the _Koran_, C. W. cannot refer to it to see if it is right

or wrong.

183. _Baroner._--At page 105. of the volume of _Bury Wills_ published by

the Camden Society, is the will of William Place, priest, Master of the

Hospital of St. John Evangelist without the south gate of Bury St.

Edmunds, dated 21st July, 1504, whereby he willed that "Damp" William

Carsey (elsewhere in the same will called Karsey), "Baroner" of the

Monastery of Bury St. Edmunds, should assign two children to say _De

profundis_ at his grave for his soul every day from his burying day till

his thirtieth day be past, and they to have each day for their labour

one penny betwixt them. Mr. Tymms's notes to the above publication are

copious and valuable, but he omits to explain the term "Baroner;" and

the object of this Query is to ascertain if he, or any of your numerous

correspondents, can do so. I conjecture that the Baroner was the master

of the children (or song school), but I am not aware of any other

instance of the use of the word as denoting a monastic officer.

C. H. COOPER.

Cambridge, Sept 19. 1851.

184. _William the Third at Exeter--History of Hawick._--1. Mr. Macaulay,

in describing the entrance of William of Orange into Exeter, mentions

that he was preceded, amongst others, by three hundred gentlemen of

English birth. Can any of your correspondents inform me whether the

names of these gentlemen are known, and, if so, where the roll may be

met with?

2. I remember to have read an extract from a work called the _History of

Hawick_ in Teviotdale, but I have never met with any one acquainted with

the work. Is the book now extant, and, if so, where can it be seen? If

any of your correspondents should have seen this volume, perhaps he can

inform me whether it narrates an altercation between the abbot of

Melrose and a neighbouring baron, which ended in the death of the

former?

H. L.

Maen-twrog, North Wales.

185. _Johannes Lychtenberger._--The "Pronosticatio," or "prophecies,"

which bear this name, have been often reprinted since what I believe to

be the first edition was published in the year 1488. In giving an

account of the copies of it in the Lambeth Library, I stated that I knew

of no other copy of this edition, except one in the Douce collection in

the Bodleian. Eight years have elapsed since that time, and I have not

heard of any; and as circumstances have lately led to my being engaged

about the book, I shall be glad if you will allow me to ask whether any

of your many learned correspondents know of a _prior_ edition, or of any

other copies of _this_ one of 1488?

S. R. MAITLAND.

Gloucester.

186. _Lestourgeon the Horologist._--I have in my possession an

apparently very old, though very elegant and very excellent, eight-day

clock, with the maker's name on its face, _Thomas Lestourgeon, London_.

Some years ago there was found among the apparatus of the Natural

Philosophy class, in the University of Edinburgh, what is called in the

inventory "an old watch, maker's name Lestourgeon, London." Can any of

your readers tell me when that excellent horologist flourished? I know

the history of the clock for about a century, but how much older it may

be I should like to know.

JAMES LAURIE.

187. _Physiological Query._--Can any of your correspondents mention the

work of any physiologist in which the _cause_ is given why all

herbivorous animals suck in what they drink, and all carnivorous animals

lap it up by the action of the tongue? Also, what naturalists have

specified that broad distinction, and whether it has been mentioned in

any other work?

ÆGROTUS.

188. _De Grammont's Memoirs._--Is there an earlier edition of De

Grammont's _Memoirs_ than that in 12mo. printed at Cologne in 1713?

PETER CUNNINGHAM.

189. "_Frightened out of his seven Senses._"--Can this expression be met

with in any author; or what is its origin?

Is it simply synonymous to the more usual phrase, "To be frightened out

of one's wits?"

Is there any other passage in the language where the possession of more

than _five_ senses is implied?

G. T. H.

Acton.

190. _Fides Carbonaria._--What is the _origin_ of a phrase known to

readers of a certain Latinity, "Fides Carbonaria?" The French have an

expression apparently equivalent, "Foi de Charbonnier;" but _what_

originated either?

A QUERIST.

191. _Bourchier Family._--I would be very much obliged to any

correspondent who could tell me either the inscriptions on any monuments

to the "Bourchier" family, or in what church they are to be found. I

believe there are some in Northamptonshire.

L. M. M.

Dublin.

192. _Warnings to Scotland._--

"Warnings to Scotland, of the Eternal Spirit, to the City of

Edinburgh, in Scotland, by the mouths of Thomas Dutton, Guy Nutt,

John Glover, in their Mission by the Spirit to the said City, as

they were delivered in the year 1709, and faithfully taken down in

writing as they were spoken. London printed in the year 1710."

The trio also gave "warnings" to the sinful city of Glasgow, &c.

I would be glad if any of your correspondents could give me any

information regarding this _agitation_, and if it produced any sensation

at the time?

ELGINENSIS.

193. _Herschel anticipated._--Can one of your correspondents mention the

name, and any other particulars, of the man who anticipated Herschel

relative to the sun's motion; and was declared to be mad for

entertaining such opinions?

ÆGROTUS.

194. _Duke of Wellington._--Where can a copy of the petition, presented

by the Lord Mayor and Common Council, setting forth the insufficiency of

the Duke of Wellington as a general, and his obvious incapacity, and

begging his immediate recall, be obtained, and the date of it? It is a

droll historical document, which should not sink into oblivion.

ÆGROTUS.

Minor Queries Answered.

_An early Printer._--I have seen an old black-letter book of homilies in

Latin, with the following imprint:--

"Sermones Michaelis de Ungaria prædicabiles per tot[=u] annum

licet breves. Et sic est finis sit laus et gloria trinis

Impress[=u] suburbiis s[=a]cti germani de praetis per Petr[=u]

Leuet, anno d[=n]i millesimo quadring[=e]te sino nonagesimo

septimo primo die vero. xiij. Novembris."

I should be glad if any of your correspondents could furnish any

information regarding the printer.

ABERDONIENSIS.

[Petrus Levet was one of the early Paris printers, and several of

the works printed by him are noticed in Gresswell's _Annals of

Parisian Typography_, pp. 96. 100. 104. At p. 178. will be found

his device, copied from the _Destructorium Vitiorum_, anno 1497.]

_Nimble Ninepence._--What is the origin of this expression?

P. S. KG.

["A nimble ninepence is better than a slow shilling."--_Old

Proverb._]

_Prince Rupert's Balls._--Why are the glass balls filled with floating

bubbles called Rupert balls? Was the prince a glass-blower?

[Arrow symbol]

[The earliest experiments upon glass tears were made in 1656, both

in London and Paris; but it is not certain in what country they

were invented. They were first brought to England by Prince

Rupert, and experiments were made upon them by the Right Hon. Sir

Robert Moray, in 1661, by the command of his Majesty. An account

of these experiments is to be found in the Registers of the Royal

Society, of which he was one of the founders. See _Edinburgh

Encyclopædia_, vol. x. p. 319.]

_Knock under._--To _knock under_, in the sense of succumb, yield: _unde

derivatur_?

NOCAB.

["From the submission expressed among good fellows by knocking

under the table."--_Johnson._]

_Freemasons._--Where can be found a good account of the origin of

freemasons? And is there any truth in the story that Lord Doneraile made

his daughter, the Honorable Miss E. St. Leger, a freemason?

[Arrow symbol]

[For a circumstantial account of the origin of Freemasons, see a

curious pamphlet published in 1812, entitled _Jachin and Boaz; or

an authentic Key to the Door of Freemasonry, both Ancient and

Modern_, &c.; also, Oliver's _Antiquities of Freemasonry_. A very

interesting historico-critical inquiry into the origin of the

Rosicrucians and Freemasons, from the pen of the English

Opium-eater, who in it has abstracted, arranged, and in some

respects re-arranged the German work of J. G. Buhle, _Ueber den

Ursprung und die vornehmsten Schicksale der Orden der Rosenkreuzer

und Freymaurer_, will be found in the _London Magazine_ for

January and February, 1824.

We believe it is perfectly true that the Hon. Miss E. St. Leger

was made a mason, and that she always accompanied her lodge in its

processions.]

Replies.

CONQUEST OF SCOTLAND.

(Vol. iv., p. 165.)

In an article of A. C. in "NOTES AND QUERIES" for 30th August last,

under the head "Plowden of Plowden" from Burke's _Landed Gentry_, I find

this paragraph:

"The names of the followers of William the Conqueror are often

alluded to; but the 'comers over' at the CONQUEST of Wales,

SCOTLAND, and Ireland are but seldom thought of, though they lend

to their descendants' pedigree a degree of historical interest."

I do not read this paragraph without pain, mingled with indignation. Who

ever before heard of the conquest of Scotland? It is true, that, on

repeated occasions, the English made successful inroads into that

kingdom, sometimes of a larger, sometimes of a less extensive character;

but the Scottish nation never did "lie at the proud foot of a

conqueror."

Though Edward I., by means of intrigues unworthy of his high character,

did for a short period, during the interregnum consequent on the death

of the Maid of Norway, assume the government of the Scottish realm, and

put to death some of the most distinguished of her defenders, yet his

successor paid the penalty of this unjust assumption in the battle of

Bannockburn; a battle having justice on the side of the victorious

party, and regarded by all Scotsmen as to be ranked in military prowess

with those of Cressy, Poictiers, and Agincourt.

It is not generally known, that upon the marriage of Mary to the Dauphin

in 1558, Scotsmen were naturalised in France by an _ordonnance_ of Henry

II.; and that, in like manner, by an act of the parliament of Scotland,

all Frenchmen were naturalised in that country. The ordonnance granting

these privileges to Scotsmen within the realm of France, is printed in

the Scottish statute-book along with the Scottish act granting similar

privileges to Frenchmen within Scotland.

One of the most distinguished writers on the law of Scotland, when

dedicating his work to King Charles II., reminds him of the inscription

on the palace of Holyrood: "Nobis hæc invicta miserunt centum sex

Prouvi."

When, in 1707, Scotland treated of an incorporating union with the realm

of England, she treated as an independent and sovereign power, and the

Treaty of Union was concluded with her in that character: a treaty which

was at least as beneficial to England as it was to Scotland, by

precluding in all time to come the intrigues of France with the Scottish

sovereign and nation.

That Scotland was able for so many centuries to defend her liberties and

independence against the powerful kingdom of England, does her great

honour. There is no problem of more difficult solution than this: What

might have happened, if some other great event had happened otherwise

than it did? When England had overcome the kingdom of France, if

Scotland had not afforded the means of annoyance to England, the seat of

government might have been removed to France, and the great English

nation have been absorbed in that country: but Providence ruled

otherwise; England lost her dominion in France, and Scotland remained

independent.

SCOTUS OCTOGENARIUS.

BOROUGH-ENGLISH.

(Vol. iv., p. 133.)

W. FRAZER'S Query, which are the towns or districts in England in which

Borough-English prevails, or has prevailed, and whether there are any

instances on record of its being carried into effect in modern times,

would require more knowledge than any individual can be expected to

possess of local customs throughout the country to give a full answer

to; but if all your legal correspondents would contribute their quotas

of information on the subject, a very fair list might be made, which

would not be uninteresting as illustrative of this peculiar custom. I do

not know any work in which the places where the custom prevails are

collected together. But I send you a short list of such manors and

places as I know of and have been able to collect, in which the custom

of Borough-English is the rule of descent, hoping that other

correspondents will add to the list which I have only made a

commencement of:--

_Manors and Places where the Custom of Borough-English

prevails._

The Manor of Lambeth }

" Kennington } Surrey.

" Hoo (qy.) Kent.

Reve v. Maltster, Croke's _Reports, Trin.

Term_, 11 Chas. I.

The Manor of Tottenham }

" Edmonton } Middlesex.

_Termes de la Ley_, Kitchin, fo. 102.

Turnham Green Middlesex.

Forester's _Equity Reports_, 276.

The Manor of Bray Berks.

_Co. Litt._ Sec. 211.

I am informed that the custom also prevails in some of the Duchy manors

in Cornwall, but I cannot at present give you the names.

I may be able to add to this list in a future communication, and I hope

to see in your pages some considerable additions to this list from other

correspondents.

As to the continuance of the custom to modern times, nothing can alter

it but an act of parliament; so that where the custom has prevailed, it

is still the law of descent: and I have had under my notice a descent of

copyhold property, in the manors of Lambeth and Kennington, to the

youngest brother within the present century.

G. R. C.

There is a farm of about a hundred acres in the parish of Sullescombe in

Sussex, which is held by this tenure; but whether the adjoining land is

so, I am not aware. In case of the owner dying intestate, the land would

go to the younger son; but I am not aware of an instance of this having

occurred.

E. H. Y.

PENDULUM DEMONSTRATION OF THE EARTH'S ROTATION.

(Vol. iv., pp. 129. 177.)

Your correspondent A. E. B. appears, by his suggestion regarding

Foucault's theory, to have rendered confusion worse confounded, mystery

more mysterious. He says:

"If the propounders of this theory had from the first explained,

that they do not claim for the plane of oscillation an exemption

from the general rotation of the earth, but only the difference of

rotation due to the excess of velocity with which one extremity of

the line of oscillation may be affected more than the other, it

would have saved a world of fruitless conjecture and

misunderstanding."

This supposition makes an effect, which it is difficult to believe in,

into one utterly impossible to conceive. It is hard enough to credit the

theory, that the plane of oscillation of a pendulum is partially

independent of the rotatory motion of the earth, but still not

impossible, considering that the effect of the presumed cause is not

inconsistent with the results of _à priori_ calculation. For instance,

during the swing of a two-seconds pendulum, the angular motion of the

earth will have been 1', or thereabouts, which, supposing the

oscillation to be independent, would produce an appreciable angle on an

index circle placed concentric with the pendulum, and at right angles to

its plane of oscillation.

But as to A. E. B.'s theory, which supposes the variation of the

pendulum's plane to be "due to the excess of velocity with which one

extremity of the line of oscillation may be affected more than the

other," it appears to me quite untenable for a moment. Let him reduce it

to paper, and find what difference of velocity there is on the earth's

surface at the two ends of a line of ten feet, the assumed length of the

arc of a two-seconds pendulum,--a larger one, I presume, than that used

by Foucault in his cellar,--and I believe he will find it to be

practically nothing.

I confess I have had no faith in this theory from the first; the effect,

if any and constant, I believe to be magnetic. The results of

experiments have been stated from the first very loosely, and the theory

itself has been put forth very indistinctly, and not supported by any

name of eminence, except that of Professor Powell.

In the meantime, and until some competent authority has pronounced on

the point, I propose that such of your readers as are interested in the

question make experiments for themselves, dividing them into four

classes, viz., with the plane of oscillation E. and W., N. and S., N.E.

and S.W., N.W. and S.E.; take the mean of a great many, and communicate

them to the editor of "NOTES AND QUERIES;" and I venture to say that

such a collection will do more towards confirming or disproving the

theory absolutely, than all the papers we have yet seen on the subject.

I am myself about to make experiments with a twenty-five feet pendulum.

H. C. K.

---- Rectory, Hereford, Sept. 8. 1851.

LORD MAYOR NOT A PRIVY COUNCILLOR.

(Vol. iv., pp. 9. 137. 180.)

In p. 180. I find some observations respecting the rank of the Lord

Mayor of London, which seem to require further elucidation. But I should

not trouble you except for one passage, which leads me to think that the

writer is under some little mistake. He seems to think that upon the

occasion of a new king's accession, only Privy Councillors are summoned.

This is not so. I remember upon the accession of George IV., that I

received a summons, being then a member of the House of Commons and

holding an official appointment; and some other private gentlemen were

also summoned. I _think_ that the summonses were issued from the Home

Office, but of this I am not certain; nor do I know if the same practice

has been adopted upon the subsequent accessions. I remember that we all

met at Carlton House; that we all signed some document, recognising the

new sovereign, which I apprehend to be the authority for the

proclamation; but that the _Privy Councillors only_ went in to the

presence.

I understand that the theory for summoning me and others was that some

persons of various ranks and grades of society should concur in placing

the new king upon the throne.

All this is, however, mere speculation of my own. The _fact_ of my

summons is certain. As to the Lord Mayor being Right Honorable, why need

we look for other authority than usage? Usage only gives the title of

Right Honorable to a Privy Councillor being a Commoner. Usage only gives

that title to a Peer. Excuse this gossip.

DN.

COLLARS OF SS.

(Vol. iv., p. 147.)

I have the pleasure to add to the early examples of the collar of SS.

given by MR. EDWARD FOSS, the names of some personages whose monuments

are either represented or described in Blore's _Monumental Remains_,

Dugdale's _History of St. Paul's_, Gough's _Sepulchral Monuments_, and

Stothard's _Monumental Effigies_.

1. On the effigy of Sir Simon Burley, engraved by Hollar for Dugdale, is

a collar apparently marked, but very indistinctly, with SS. Sir Simon

was a Knight of the Garter, Chamberlain to Richard II., and was beheaded

in 1388.

2 and 3. Sir Robert Waterton and his wife, in Methley church, Yorkshire.

The collar was issued to this knight, when he was an esquire, out of the

great wardrobe of Henry Earl of Derby, in the 20th year of Richard II.

4. Sir William Ryther, in Harwood church, Yorkshire: he lived in the

time of Richard II.

5. John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset, in the cathedral at Canterbury. He

was Chamberlain of England, and Captain of Calais in the reign of Henry

IV., and died in 1410.

6. Thomas Fitz-Alan, Earl of Arundel, in Arundel church, Sussex; Chief

Butler of England at the coronation of Henry IV., who with his queen was

present at the earl's wedding in 1404; temporary Marshal of England in

1405. Died in 1416, the 4th of Henry V.

7 and 8. Sir Edmund de Thorpe and his wife, in Ashwell-Thorpe church,

Norfolk. Two persons of this name, Mon' Esmond Thorp and Mon' Esmon de

Thor[=p], were summoned to a great council held at Westminster in the

2nd of Henry IV. It is considered that this Sir Edmund is the person

called Lord Thorpe, who was slain in Normandy in 1418; that his wife is

Joan, daughter of Sir Robert Norwood, and widow of Roger Lord Scales;

and that she is the Lady Thorpe who died in 1415.

9. Thomas Duke of Clarence, second son of Henry IV., President of the

Council, and Lieutenant General of the Forces. He died in 1421. Monument

in Canterbury cathedral.

10, 11, and 12. Ralph Nevill, Earl of Westmorland, and his two wives, in

Staindrop church, co. Durham. He was created Earl of Westmorland by

Richard II., made Earl Marshal of England by Henry IV., present at the

battle of Agincourt with Henry V., and died in the 4th of Henry VI.,

1425.

Margaret, his first wife, was the daughter of Hugh Earl of Stafford; and

his second wife was Joan de Beaufort, only daughter of John of Ghent,

Duke of Lancaster, by Catherine Swinford.

13. John Fitz-Alan, Lord Maltravers and Earl of Arundel, in the church

at Arundel, Sussex. He distinguished himself by the capture of many

towns and fortresses in Normandy in the year of his death, 1434.

14. William Phelip Lord Bardolf, in Dennington church, Suffolk.

Treasurer of the household of Henry V., Knight of the Garter, and

Chamberlain to Henry VI. Died in the 19th year of this reign, 1440.

15 and 16. John Beaufort Duke of Somerset, and his wife, in Wimborne

Minster, Dorset, Knight of the Garter, created Duke of Somerset and Earl

of Kendal, and at the same time made Lieutenant and Captain-General of

Aquitaine, France and Normandy. Died in 1444.

17. Robert Lord Hungerford, who served in the wars in France and

Guienne, and died in 1453. His effigy is drawn by Stothard (_Mon. Eff._

p. 98.).

18. Sir John Nevill, in Harwood church, Yorkshire. Died 22nd Edward IV.,

1482.

I presume that MR. EDWARD FOSS would refer to the curious passage in the

printed _Rolls of Parliament_, vol. iii. p. 313., wherein it appears

that Richard II., in the 20th year of his reign, formally declared that

he _assumed_, bore, and used, and that by his leave and wish persons of

his retinue also bore and used, the livery of the collar of his uncle,

the Duke of Lancaster.

Mr. John Gough Nichols, in the _Gent. Mag._ for 1842, quotes the

principal part of this passage, and produces some interesting evidence

in favour of the view that the livery of the collar of the Duke of

Lancaster was the collar of SS.

LLEWELLYN.

WRITTEN SERMONS.

(Vol. iii., pp. 478. 526.; Vol. iv., pp. 8. 41.)

The statement that the reading of sermons did not prevail in the early

ages of Christianity not having been called in question, although

irreconcileable with the practice of the Fathers, as ascertained from

their own writings, I am induced to observe that in _Ferrarius de Ritu

Sac. Concionum_, evidence is adduced that extemporaneous preaching was

occasionally superseded by more elaborate and written discourses,

sometimes committed to memory, sometimes recited, that is, read.

"Narrat Gregorius (Hom. 21. ex Libro Quadraginta Homiliarum)

solemne ibi fuisse dum Concionem haberet, per Dictatum loqui;

additque, Ob languentem stomachum jam _legere_ se non posse quæ

dictaverat; ac proinde velle se Evangelicæ Lectionis explanationem

non amplius per Dictatum, sed per familiares collocutiones

pronunciare. Per Dictatum autem loqui nihil aliud fuit Gregorio

quam de scripto dicere ex eo perspicuum fit, quod verbo Dictare

pro Scribere passim usi sunt Veteres Auctores, Sidonius Epistola

septima Libri primi, undecima quarti, ultima septimi, sexta

octavi, tertia noni; Aldhelmus _de Laudibus Virginitatis_, cap.

vii., Gregorius Magnus, lib. x. _Epistolarum_, Ep. xxii. "ad

Joannem Ravennæ Subdiaconum," et "Epistola ad Leonardum;" quæ

præmittitur Expositioni in Job, et alii: usu nimirum ex prisco

more petito quo Auctores olim, ut est apud Plinium in Epistolis

non uno loco, Notariis dictare consueverant. Vox præterea Legere

qua usus est Gregorius hoc ipsum aperte confirmat; ea enim

dumtaxat legere possumus quaæ scripta sunt et ante oculos

posita."--Ferrarius, _ut suprà_, lib ii. 15.

Fabricius, in his _Bibliothecaria Antiquaria_ (cap. xi., De Concionibus

Christianorum), thus refers to this passage:

"Conciones plerasque dictas ex memoria, quasdam etiam de scripto

recitatas, observatum Ferrario, lib. ii. cap. 15."

It may therefore be inferred that he knew of no other testimony equally

pertinent, but surely we may surmise that other fathers, _e.g._ Gregory

Nazianzen (who, in the words of Bellarmine, "sapientiam mirificè cum

eloquentia copulavit") occasionally were unable to commit to memory the

numerous discussions which they had so diligently prepared.

I have been requested by the Rev. Richard Bingham, Jun., to state that

he has in his possession autograph sermons by his illustrious ancestor,

in some of which are notes only or heads of subjects, and which are

therefore unfavourable to the suspicion expressed (p. 42.), that the

author of the _Antiquities of the Christian Church_ was prejudiced

against extempore preaching.

BIBLIOTHECARIUS CHETHAMENSIS.

Replies to Minor Queries.

_The Authoress of "A Residence on the Shores of the Baltic"_ (Vol. iv.,

p. 113.).--As in a publication such as "NOTES AND QUERIES" the most

precise correctness, even in matters of secondary importance, is, above

all things, to be desiderated, I am sure J. R. will be glad to be

corrected in a statement made by him, in the concluding sentence of his

interesting communication, "Traditions from remote Periods through few

Hands," concerning the above accomplished lady. This elegant writer was

not "one of _four_ congenital children," though it is quite true that

such a birth occurred in her family. The following account of so unusual

an occurrence is taken from Matchett's _Norfolk and Norwich Remembrancer

and Vade Mecum_, a work compiled principally from the columns of _The

Norfolk Chronicle_, of which Mr. Matchett was for many year a

co-proprietor and assistant editor:--

"August 15, 1817. At Dr. R.'s house, at Framingham (a small

village four miles from Norwich), Mrs. R., who in 1804 had first

brought him twins, was safely delivered of four living children,

three sons and a daughter, who were privately baptized by the

names of Primus John, Secundus Charles Henry, Tertius Robert

Palgrave, and Quarta Caroline. They were weighed with their shirts

on by Dr. Hamel, physician to the Grand Duke Nicholas of Russia,

who paid Dr. R. a visit a few days after the quadruple birth, and

were found to be 21 lbs. 2 oz. One lived eighteen days; the other

three from eight to ten weeks. Dr. R. being a grandfather at the

time, the children were born great-uncles and a great-aunt."

They are buried in Framingham Earl churchyard, where is a table monument

over their remains, setting forth the above particulars in full, with

the respective periods of their deaths.

Dr. R. was Mayor of Norwich in 1805, and, as J. R. states, an eminent

physician of that city. He was the author of _An Essay on Animal Heat_,

_On the Agriculture of Framingham and Holkham_, and of other works on

Midwifery, Medicine, and Agriculture. He died Oct. 27, 1821, aged

seventy-three years.

COWGILL.

_Winifreda_ (Vol. iii., p. 27.; Vol. iv., p. 196.).--Notwithstanding the

MS. note referred to by DR. RIMBAULT in a recent number, I cannot think

that G. A. Stevens was the author of "Winifreda," as he had barely

attained his sixteenth year when that song was first printed in 1726.

Neither is it easy to imagine that the commonplace lines quoted in

Reed's _Biographia Dramatica_, vol. i. p. 687., from Stevens's poem

called "Religion, or the Libertine Repentant," and "Winifreda," could

have been the production of the same person. We learn also from Reed,

that, owing to a pirated edition of Stevens's songs being published at

Whitehaven, he in 1772 printed a genuine collection of them at Oxford.

This book I never met with. Should it contain Winifreda, I shall be

satisfied: if not, we may still say of the mysterious author, "Non est

inventus."

BRAYBROOKE.

_Querelle d'Alleman_ (Vol. iii, p. 495.), not _d'Allemand_, as your

correspondent MR. BREEN has written it; this saying deriving its origin

from the _Allemans_, a powerful family of the Dauphiné, in the

thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and having no reference whatever to

the national character of the Germans, as will appear by the following

extract from the _Revue Historique de la Noblesse, voce_ ALLEMAN:--

"Durant le 13e et le 14e siècle, la région montagneuse qui s'élève

entre le Drac et l'Isère était presque en totalité le domaine

d'une immense famille de seigneurs qui portaient tous le nom

_d'Alleman_.... Jamais souche féodale ne produisit plus de

rameaux, et nulle part les membres d'une même famille ne se

groupèrent autour de leurs chefs avec un soin plus jaloux.... Ils

se mariaient entre eux, jugeaient entre eux leurs différends, et

en toute circonstance se pretaient les uns aux autres un

infaillible appui. Malheur à l'imprudent voisin qui eût troublé

dans son héritage ou dans son honneur le plus humble des

_Alleman_. Sur la plainte de l'offensé, un conseil de famille

était réuni, la guerre votée par acclamations, et l'on voyait

bientôt déboucher dans la plaine de Grenoble les bandes armées qui

guidaient au châtiment de l'agresseur les bannières d'Uriage et de

Valbonnais."

Hence, from the ardour with which this family avenged the smallest

injury, came the saying, "_Faire une querelle d'Alleman_;" to which

Oudin, in his _Curiosités Françoises_, gives the following

interpretation:--

"_Querelle d'Alleman_, fondée sur peu de sujet et facile à

appaiser."

Having reference to the same family was also the proverb, known in the

Dauphiné, "_Gare la queue des Alleman_," applied to those entering upon

some difficult enterprise; in other words, "mind the consequences."

In Le Roux de Lincy's _Livres des Proverbes Français_, vol. ii. p. 15.,

I find the following:

"Arces, Varces, Granges et Comiers,

Tel les regarde qui ni les ose ferier,

Mais gare la queue d'Alleman et des Brangiers."

PHILIP S. KING.

_Coins of Constantius II._ (Vol. ii., pp. 42. 254.).--Not being exactly

satisfied with my former reply to MR. WITTON on this subject, I have

made further search on the subject in numismatic works, and I would

refer him to the following note in Banduri, vol. ii. p. 418.:--

"Galli numismata Antiquarii olim cum nummis Constantii Augusti

confundebant; sed Erud. Harduinus numismata omnia Constantii

Cæsaris (Galli) in quibus FEL. TEMP. REPARATIO. item ea in quibus

CONSTANTIVS. IVN. appellatur, aut FL. CL. CONSTANTIVS, ad Gallum

nostrum pertinere ostendit; in quibus omnibus cum eadem effigies

expressa sit a Constantii Augusti effigie plurimum diversa, et

caput nudum semper sit; omnia numismata in quibus et caput nudum,

et idem qui in cæteris vultus conspicitur, ad eundem Gallum

retulimus, tametsi eorum numismatum nonnulla FL. IVL. Constantium

appellant. Haud dissimulandum tamen descripta ab Occone fuisse

numismata duo Constantii Augusti, in quibus FL. CL. Constantius

nominatur, quæ inter numismata illius Principis ex ære incerti

moduli exhibuimus suprà. Cæterum hujus Principis nummi omnes ex

argento rari sunt, et desiderantur in Mediobarbo, excepto hoc,

quem perperam (licet ex Tristano) inter æreos recenset laudatus

Mediobarbus, et duobus sequentibus."

On the whole, therefore, I conclude, that we may more safely assign to

Gallus the _bare_ head; the legends "CONSTANTIVS IVN." and "FL. CL.

CONSTANTIVS," and the _diademed_ head, and the legends, "FL. IVL.

CONSTANTIVS," and "CONSTANTIVS AVG.," to Constantius II. Those with "FL.

VAL. CONSTANTIVS" would seem more properly to belong to Constantius

Chlorus. I may add, that all those coins of Constantius which bear an A

behind the portrait, certainly belong to Gallus.

E. S. TAYLOR.

_Proverb; what constitutes one?_ (Vol. iv., p. 191.).--There can be no

doubt that, according to modern usage, any short sentence which is

commonly used, whether by way of enunciating a principle, foretelling a

consequence, describing a situation, or recommending a course of action,

&c., is a proverb. Brevity is an essential: that is, we apply the term

_proverb_ to nothing but apophthegms. In truth, nothing but what is said

in few words can be frequently said by all. Accordingly a proverb, in

the nineteenth century, is a commonly known and frequently cited

apophthegm. But it was not always so. The _proverb_ was only _one_ of a

class which we may cite under the name of _adage_, because the various

folio collections of them generally have this word in the title, as

descriptive of all. These works contain proverbs properly so called,

sentences (_sententiæ_, pieces of _sententiousness_), parables,

apologues, aphorisms, witticisms, apophthegms, &c. &c., many of the

instances having a right to two or more of these names. According to

Erasmus, all the definitions which he had met with of the _paroemia_ or

_proverb_ might be contained under one or other of the following:--

"Proverbium est sermo ad vitæ rationem conducibilis, moderata

quadam obscuritate multam in sese continens utilitatem."

"Proverbium est sermo, rem manifestam obscuritate tegens."

The old proverb then has a soul of utility, and a body of obscurity: the

modern one has a soul of brevity, and a body of notoriety. This

distinction will be held obscure enough for an old proverb, but not

brief enough for a new one.

M.

_Dr. Matthew Sutcliffe_ (Vol. iv., p. 152.).--Your learned correspondent

MR. CROSSLEY is right in his conjecture that this celebrated

controversialist was of a family settled at Mayroyd in the parish of

Halifax in Yorkshire. According to a pedigree certified in 1624 by Sir

William Segar, Garter, he was the second son of John Sutcliffe of

Melroyd, in the county of York, gent., by his wife Margaret, daughter of

---- Owlsworth of Ashley in the same county. The Doctor married Ann,

daughter of John Bradley of Louth, co. Lincoln, Esq., and had issue an

only daughter Ann, the wife of Mr. Halls or Halse, of the county of

Devon. The Doctor had four brothers, viz. Adam, Solomon, Luke, and John.

Adam, the eldest, lived at Grimsby, co. Lincoln, and had an only

daughter, Judith. Solomon was of Melroyd and of Grimsby; he married

Elizabeth, daughter of John Bradley of Louth, Esq., by Frances his wife,

daughter of ---- Fairfax of Denton, co. York, and had issue four

daughters, and also one son, viz. John Sutcliffe, one of the esquires of

the body to King James. His wife was Alice, daughter of Luke Woodhouse

of Kimberley, co. Norfolk, Esq., and he had issue one daughter, Susan.

Segar granted arms to this gentleman in 1624. Of the other brothers of

the Dean, Luke died unmarried, and John married a daughter of Jo. Kirton

of Lincolnshire.

F. R. R.

Milnrow Parsonage.

_Pope's Translations, or Imitations of Horace_ (Vol. i., p. 230.; Vol.

iv., pp. 58. 122. 139.).--Having every wish to accede to the request of

your correspondent C., I have made a search, but am unable to lay my

hand at present on the publication by Curll. There can be no doubt that

I shall ultimately meet with it; and when I do, it will be quite at his

service. Having compared it not very long ago with the folio edition by

Boreman of this Imitation, which I suppose was the first in its complete

state, I can be under no mistake as to the existence of the prior

publication. It occurs in a thin 8vo. published by Curll in 1716,

containing poetical miscellanies, which in my copy are bound up with

other tracts. It is headed "By Mr. P----e," and contains only a portion

of that subsequently printed. Curll afterwards reprinted the Imitation,

as published by Boreman, in one of the volumes, I think the third of the

collection, which he styles "Letters of Mr. Pope."

That the Imitation is by Pope, though I am not aware of any express

acknowledgment of it by him, there can be no doubt, and as little that

it found its way to the press, as published by Boreman, with his

privity. Curll even says, if any weight be due to the assertions of such

a miscreant, that Pope received a sum of money for it from Boreman. But

I do not consider that Pope can be deemed to have affiliated it by its

publication in Dodsley's edition in 1738; which is, as far as I have

always understood, a mere bookseller's collection. The only collection

of his works which can be called his own, and for which he is fairly

responsible, is that in 2 vols., folio and 4to., 1717-35, to each volume

of which a preface or notice by him is prefixed; and in the latter of

these volumes, though previously published, he has not included this

Imitation, which seems to indicate that he did not feel disposed to

acknowledge it publicly, and indeed he had good reason to be ashamed of

it.

JAS. CROSSLEY.

_M. Lominus, Theologus_ (Vol. iv., p. 193.).--The exact title of the

work inquired for is, _Blackloanæ Hæresis, olim in Pelagio et Manichæis

damnatæ, nunc denuo renascentis, Historia et Confutatio_. This 4to.

volume consists of 332 pages, exclusive of the dedicatory epistle and

the appendix; and a "printed account" of the author may be seen in Sir

James Ware's _Writers of Ireland_ (ed. Harris, pp. 191-3), and in Dodd's

_Church History of England_, vol. iii. pp. 284-5.: Brussels, 1742. It is

to be hoped that in the Bodleian Catalogue something further has been

stated respecting this curious and very rare book than that it was

written by "M. Lominus, Theologus," who was merely an imaginary divine.

The real author was the famous PETER TALBOT, brother of "Lying Dick

Talbot" (the Duke of Tyrconnel and Viceroy of Ireland), almoner to

Catharine, queen of Charles II., and titular Archbishop of Dublin.

R. G.

The work referred to, entitled _Blackloanæ Hæresis, olim in Pelagio et

Manichæis damnatæ, nunc denuo renascentis, Historia et Confutatio_,

Gand. 1675, 4to., I have a copy of. It is written against the

Blackloists, the leaders of whom were Thomas White, the follower of Sir

Kenelm Digby, and John Sargeant, the voluminous Roman Catholic writer.

The real author of the book was Peter Talbot, the brother of Richard

Talbot, Duke of Tyrconnel. He also published the _History of Manicheism

and Pelagianism, in which it is shown that Thomas White and his

Adherents have revived those Heresies_: Paris, 1674, 8vo.

JAS. CROSSLEY.

_Corpse passing makes a Right of Way_ (Vol. iii., pp. 477. 507. 519.;

Vol. iv., p. 124.).--This belief is common in East Anglia, and such

paths are called _Bierways_. When the common lands at Alby in Norfolk

were enclosed, much difficulty was experienced in stopping one road, on

account of its being an ancient bierway. In Norwich the passage through

a part of the city called the Bull Close, is accounted public for this

reason; and a very few years since a gentleman at Whittlesey, in

Cambridgeshire, prevented a funeral from taking a shorter road through

his grounds, through fear of its being afterwards esteemed a public

thoroughfare.

E. S. TAYLOR.

_Horology_ (Vol. iv., p. 175.).--H. C. K. will probably find all he

requires in the _Penny Cyclopædia_ (Articles "Horology" and "Pendulum"),

or in a two-shilling volume published by Weale last year, Denison _on

Clocks, Chimes, &c._, or in the other works enumerated below:--Ellicott

_on regulating Clocks_, 4to., 1753; Vulliamy's _Considerations on Public

Clocks_, 4to., 1828; Derham's _Artificial Clock Maker_, 12mo., 1734;

Berthoudi's _Essai sur l'Horlogerie_, 4to., 2 vols. 1763.

H. T. E.

Clyst St. George.

_Curfew_ (Vol. ii., p. 103.).--In Charleston, the capital of the state

of South Carolina, a bell is tolled twice every evening, at eight and

ten o'clock in summer, and at seven and nine in winter: this custom

dates from early times. At the ringing of the _second_ bell the watch

for the night is set, and our servants are prohibited from being abroad

after that hour without a permit from their masters; the first bell

subserves no purpose, and is merely rung in conformity to ancient usage.

I am inclined to think that our ancestors had this bell rung in order to

keep up the old custom of the curfew bell of their cherished

mother-country. It is still a custom when "the first bell rings" for the

younger children of the family to say "Good night," and retire to bed.

This is the only practical use to which this early ringing is put, and a

capital custom it is, though rather distasteful to the young folks when

they are anxious to sit up a little longer.

H. H. B.

Monte Cavallo, South Carolina.

"_Going the whole Hog_" (Vol. iii., p. 250.).--A querist asks

information as to the origin of the American figure of speech "to go the

whole hog." I apprehend its parentage belongs less to America than to

Ireland, where a "hog" is still the synonym for a shilling, and a

"tester" or "taster" for a sixpence. Previously to the assimilation of

the currency of the two countries in 1825, a "white hog" meant the

English shilling or twelve pence, and a "black hog" the Irish shilling,

of thirteen pence. To "go the whole hog" is a convivial determination

_to spend the whole shilling_, and the prevalence of the expression,

with an extension of its applications in America, can be readily traced

to its importation by the multitudes of emigrants from Ireland.

M. R***SON.

Belfast.

_John Bodley_ (Vol. iv., p. 59.).--"---- Burleigh, M.A." who is

mentioned by S. S. S. as one of the translators of the Bible in 1611,

must have been a different person to John Bodley, the father of the

celebrated Sir Thomas Bodley. In the very interesting "History of

English Translations and Translators" prefixed to Bagster's _English

Hexapla_, "Mr. Burgley of Stretford" is mentioned as one, with this

note:--

"In the Lambeth MS. it is 'Mr. Henry Burleigh.' It is added, one

of that name was B.D. in 1594, and D.D. in 1607."--P. 104.

Townley, however, in his _Illustrations of Biblical Literature_, 1821,

vol. iii. p. 293, supposes him to have been the Francis Burleigh, D.D.,

who, according to Newcourt, became vicar of Stortford, or Bishop

Stortford, in 1590. See _Repertorium_, vol. i. p. 896.

JOHN I. DREDGE.

Among my matches in and about London (which I shall always be glad to

search for your correspondents) is the following:

"23 July 1608, _John Bodleigh_, Aldgate, printer B. 34, free of

the stationers and a freeman; and _Elizabeth Hemp_ of Paul's

Wharf, Sp. 30. St. Brides."

J. S. B.

_Ancient Egypt, Language of_ (Vol. iv., p. 152.).--In Adelung's

_Mithridates_ the titles of the best works explanatory of this language

will be found. To these must be added those of Dr. Thomas Young and

Champollian Junior. There are some recent German works on the subject;

your correspondent will, however, be very little benefited after

mastering all the writers, for they have really but little to tell. The

method to be pursued with a feasible prospect of success is, to acquire

the Coptic-Egyptian language from the New Testament and De Woide, with

the special object of mastering the roots, about 200 in number, of that

language. Next, some knowledge of the Chinese language should be

obtained, so far at least as is necessary to comprehend the

_hieroglyphic principle_, whereby 214 letter-keys are made to do duty in

representing 5000, or more, distinct ideas. The next matter, which

admits of a very simple explanation, is to ascertain how the Chinese

_dissevers_ the _idea_ of a character (hieroglyphic) from its _sound_,

and makes his ideas (hieroglyphic characters) stand for syllables alone,

by prefixing the character _more_ (mouth) to indicate that the

characters next following are to be read as _sounds_ and not as _ideas_.

In the Egyptian hieroglyphic such characters (representing the names of

places and persons) are inclosed in a sort of lozenge or parallelogram.

Having found out certain _sounds_ in the Egyptian hieroglyphic, _e.g._

_Cle-o-pa-tra_, turn to the _Coptic Lexicon_ and ascertain what _idea_

(thing) _cle_ represents in Coptic, and so on with _o_, with _pa_, &c.,

and all other with syllable sounds. Here Champollian Junior stuck fast,

and little has been done since his day in the way of _translation_; and

the reason is evident--the separate characters representing sounds found

in these lozenges are too few in number to give any hope that the

Egyptian hieroglyphics will ever be rendered generally intelligible;

their object, however, has been far more effectually secured by the

paintings and representations of objects and actions, which supply an

infinitely better means of knowing what was interesting in Egypt than

mere words, sounds, or ideas (hieroglyphics) could convey.

J. BUCKTON.

Lichfield.

_The late William Hone_ (Vol. iii., p. 477., Vol. iv., pp. 105,

106.).--If E. V. will take the trouble to apply to the Rev. Thomas

Binney, of the Weigh House Chapel, London, he will be in the way of

receiving the most authentic information concerning the happy

conversion, and triumphant death, of William Hone, who adorned the

doctrine of God his Saviour for some years previous to his decease in

communion with a congregation of Protestant Dissenters.

O. T. D.

The interesting letter of the late William Hone, published in Vol. iv.,

pp. 105, 106., scarcely throws any discredit upon an anecdote I often

have heard as to the means of his _first awakening_ to a better mind,

somewhat as follows:--that, asking a drink of milk of a little child,

and observing a book in her hand, he inquired what it was? She answered,

"A Bible:" and, in reply to some depreciatory remarks of his, added, "I

thought everybody loved their Bible, Sir." I hope that this may not be

contradicted, but confirmed.

C. W. B.

_Bensley_ (Vol. iv., p. 115.).--The "Bensley tragedy" was no doubt the

sudden death, in April or May, 1765, by a fall from his horse, of _James

Bensley_, Esq., of Lincoln's Inn; probably an early acquaintance of Hill

and Cowper. The melancholy death of another friend of theirs, poor Lloyd

(which Southey also calls a _tragedy_), had happened three or four

months earlier.

C.

_John Lilburne_ (Vol. iv., p. 134.).--The name of John Lilburne occurs

in Cleveland's _Poems_ more than once, _e.g._ "The General Eclipse:"--

"Thus 'tis a general eclipse,

And the whole world is _al-a-mort_;

Only the House of Commons trips

The stage in a Triumphant sort,

Now e'en _John Lilburn_ take 'em for't."

_Works_, p. 57. Lond. 1687.

And again, "On the Inundation of the River Trent," p. 294.:

"One herd and flock in one kind hill found mercy,

Like _Lilburn_ (and his wool) in the Isle of _Jersey_."

RT.

Warmington.

_School of the Heart_ (Vol. iii., p. 390. Vol. iv., p. 141.).--Is your

correspondent aware of Benedict Haeften's _Schola Cordis_, from which

Harvey's _School of the Heart_ was imitated? It was published at Antwerp

in 1635. The copy I now have before me is dated 1699, but I will give

its full title:

"Schola Cordis, sive aversi a Deo Cordis ad eumdem reductio, et

instructio. Auctore Benedicto Haefteno, Reformati Monast.

Affligeminsis, Ordinis S. Benedicti, præposito. Antverpiæ, apud

Henricum et Cornelium Verdurrin, MDCXCIX."

P. S. The _emblems_ are fifty-five in number.

RT.

Warmington.

_Sir W. Raleigh in Virginia_ (Vol. iv., p. 190.).--That Mr. Hallam

should have forgotten to correct an incidental allusion is natural

enough; and that Raleigh in person discovered Virginia _was_ commonly

believed. Sir Walter Scott, for instance, believed it, as appears by a

passage at the end of _Kenilworth_. But the very title-page of Hariot's

account of the discovery of Virginia (whether in the English of 1588, or

the Frankfort Latin of 1590), negatives the idea of Raleigh assisting in

person. And the _Biographia Britannica_, or, I believe, any similar work

of authority, will show that no biographer of note has affirmed it. It

was an expedition _fitted out_ by Raleigh which discovered Virginia.

M.

It appears by the _Historie of Travaile into Virginia Britannia_, by

Strachey, so ably edited by Mr. Major for the Hakluyt Society, that Sir

Walter Raleigh sent out his first expedition to Virginia in 1584, under

Captain Amadas; in 1585 a fleet under Sir R. Grenville, which he

intended to have commanded in person, but jealousy at court prevented

him. In 1587 a second fleet was sent to Roanoak under Captain White, in

1590 supplies by Captain White, and in 1602 he sent Samuel Mace. Neither

Oldys nor Cayley mention his having gone there; and as they carry on the

events of his life pretty clearly year by year, I think, in reply to the

Query of MR. BREEN, that there is pretty good evidence to show that he

never was there.

E. N. W.

Southwark.

_Siege of Londonderry_ (Vol. iv., p. 162.).--Can B. G. give any

information respecting the list of persons who received grants of land

in the county of Londonderry after the conclusion of the war in 1691?

Also, whether he knows of an old ballad (cotemporary I believe) called

"The Battle of the Boyne?" I have an old history of the siege of Derry,

by Mr. George Walker, 1689. I should be glad to know what the pamphlet

contains, and whether the family of Downing are mentioned in it.

A. C. L.

_Cowper Law_ (Vol. iv., p. 101.).--For the satisfaction of your

correspondent C. DE D., I transcribe from Jamieson's _Dictionary_ the

following:

"COWPER JUSTICE, trying a man after execution: the same with

_Jeddart_, or _Jedburgh justice_[17] [See JEDDART JUSTICE.]

"'Yet let the present swearing trustees

Know they give conscience _Cowper Justice_,

And by subscribing it in gross,

Renounces every solid gloss.--

And if my judgement be not scant,

Some lybel will be relevant,

And all the process firm and fast,

To give the counsel _Jedburgh cast_.'

"Cleland's _Poems_, pp. 109, 110.

"This phrase is said to have had its rise from the conduct of a

Baron-bailie in _Coupar_-Angus, before the abolition of heritable

jurisdictions."

[Footnote 17: Also "_Jedwood_ Justice." See Scott's _Fair Maid of

Perth_, vol. xliii. p. 304.]

CHARLES THIRIOLD.

Cambridge, Sept. 8. 1851.

_Decretorum Doctor_ (Vol. iv., p. 191.).--The precise meaning of this

term is Doctor of the Canon Law. A doctor of laws was a doctor of _both

the laws_ (that is, the Civil Law _and_ the Canon Law). The University

of Cambridge was forbidden to grant degrees in Canon Law in 1535; and

soon afterwards these degrees were discontinued in Oxford, in

consequence of the repudiation of the Papal authority, although three or

more persons took the degree of Bachelor of Decrees there in the reign

of Queen Mary. Further details respecting the Canon Law, and the

graduates in that faculty, will be found in Fuller's _History of the

University of Cambridge_, ed. Priskett and Wright, pp. 220. 225.; Wood's

_History and Antiq. of the University of Oxford_, ed. Gutch, vol. i. pp.

63. 359.; vol. ii. pp. 67. 79. 768, 769, 770. 902.; Hallam's _Middle

Ages_, 9th ed. vol. ii. p. 2.; _Peacock on Statutes of the University of

Cambridge_, Appendix A. xlix. n. 1.

C. H. COOPER.

Cambridge, Sept. 13. 1851.

_Nightingale and Thorn_ (Vol. iv., p. 175.), by A. W. H.:--

"Every thing did banish moan,

Save the nightingale alone:

She, poor bird, as all forlorn,

Leaned her breast up-till a thorn,

And there sung the dolefull'st ditty,

That to hear it was great pity."

Shakspeare: _Passionate Pilgrim_, xix.

W. J. BERNHARD SMITH.

Temple.

The earliest allusion to this fable, that I know of, occurs in the

_Passionate Pilgrim_, Sect. xix.

Ovid, in his version of the fable of Tereus, does not introduce the

thorn; so probably the allusion is not classical.

Apollodorus also gives this myth, but I have him not to refer to.

H. E. H.

_Carli the Economist_ (Vol. iv., p. 175.).--ALPHA will find in a very

excellent work, entitled _Storia della Economia Pubblica in Italia, &c.,

di Giuseppe Pecchio_, Lugano, 1829, 8vo., the information he requires

regarding the first work on political economy, by an Italian writer, who

seems to have been Gasparo Scaruffi; and also learn that Gian Rinaldo

Carli died in 1795.

F. R. A.

_Tale of a Tub_ (Vol. i., p. 326.; Vol. iii., p. 28.).--It is no wonder

that Henry VIII.'s chancellor Sir Thomas More should have heard of an

extraordinary tale about a tub, since its earliest form--the model of so

many copies--is in Apuleius, at the beginning of the 9th book. It forms

likewise the argument of the second novel of Boccacio's _Seventh Day,

ove_ "Peronella mette un suo amante in un doglio." Girolamo Morlino told

the same objectionable story in Latin; and Agnolo Firenzuola, the

Italian translator of Apuleius, seems to have adopted the witty

Florentine's imagery, forgetting the original which he professed to

follow. See Manni, _Istoria del Decamerone_, Firenze, 1742, pp. 466.

472. "Tale of a tub," like Conte de peau d'âne, Conte de la Cigogne,

Conte de la Mère Oie, denotes a marvellous or cock and bull story--Conte

gras, Conte pour rire. There is no doubt that Jean-Jaques' miniature

French opera, _Le Tonnelier_, was founded, though through certain

strainers well refined, on the wicked Milesian fiction of the African

jester:

"Un tonnelier vieux et jaloux

Aimait une jeune bergère:

Il voulait être son époux,

Mais il n'avait pas su lui plaire:

Travaillez, travaillez, bon tonnelier!

Raccommodez votre cuvier!"

GEORGE MÉTIVIER.

_Wyle Cop_ (Vol. iv., p. 116.).--May not Wyle Cop be derived from the

Anglo-Saxon _wylle_, well or fountain, and _cop_, head or top? SALOPIAN

can perhaps judge whether "_Fountain Hill_" or "_Well Head_" would be at

all applicable to the Wyle Cop in Shrewsbury.

THOS. LAWRENCE.

Ashby de la Zouch.

_Visiting Cards_ (Vol. iv., pp. 133. 195.).--"Marriage à-la-Mode," Plate

IV., supplies an additional proof of playing cards having done duty as

Visiting Cards and Cards of Invitation during the middle of the last

century. There are several lying on the floor, in the right-hand corner

of the picture. One is inscribed--"Count Basset begs to no how Lade

Squander sleapt last nite."

C. FORBES.

Temple.

_Absalom's Hair_ (Vol. iv., p. 131.).--Your correspondent P. P. remarks

in the number of "NOTES AND QUERIES" for August 23, that "Absalom's long

hair had nothing to do with his death; his head itself, and not the hair

upon it, having been caught in the boughs of the tree." Even allowing

the silence of Scripture upon the matter, the tradition has certainly

the basis of respectable antiquity to rest on. Bishop J. Taylor thus

writes in his _Second Sermon upon St. Matthew_, xvi. 26. _ad finem_:--

"The Doctors of the Jews report that when _Absalom hanged among

the oaks by the hair of the head_, he seemed to see under him Hell

gaping wide ready to receive him; and he _durst not cut off the

hair that intangled him_, for fear he should fall into the horrid

Lake, whose portion is flames and torment, but chose to protract

his miserable life a few minutes in that pain of posture, and to

abide the stroke of his pursuing enemies. His condition was sad

when his arts of remedy were so vain."

RT.

Warmington, Sept. 3, 1851.

_MS. Book of Sentences_ (Vol. iv., p. 188.).--The name of the Durham

monk referred to by W. S. W. is more probably "Swallwell" than

"Wallwell," because the former is the name of a township or vill in

Durham county.

E. S.

_The Winchester Execution_ (Vol. iv., p. 191.).--The narrative related

from memory of M. W. B. bears on its face strong indications of fiction:

according to that statement a sheepstealer was "some years ago"

condemned to death; a "warrant" for his execution was made out, but

mislaid, by whom does not appear. After the lapse of years, during which

the prisoner had been employed in "executing commissions in distant

places" for the gaoler, and in obtaining a high character for his

amiable and moral conduct, the fatal warrant arrives, and is "forwarded

to the high sheriff, and to the delinquent himself," who is forthwith

hanged.

Any one acquainted with the course of practice at assizes at the period

to which this anecdote refers, must be aware that no "warrant," in the

sense in which the word is here used, was ever made out in such cases.

The prisoner is legally in the custody of the sheriff when sentence is

passed in court, and he leaves the court in that same custody. The

judgment so pronounced is itself the warrant, though a short memorandum

or note of it is officially made at the time; unless the judge reprieves

or suspends the sentence, no sheriff waits for any further authority,

and as for the unfortunate delinquent, no judge, sheriff, or gaoler ever

supposed that any copy of a warrant was to be handed to the prisoner

himself! During the interval between sentence and execution, if there be

no reprieve or release from imprisonment by the authority of the

executive, the prisoner is, and always has been, kept by the sheriff _in

salvâ et arctâ custodiâ_ in the county gaol. The idea of an employment

for years in rambling about the country on the gaoler's errands, is a

preposterous figment, composed by some novelist who was unacquainted

with the needful machinery for giving an air of verisimilitude to his

story. The legend seems to be a version of the fate of Sir W. Raleigh

adapted to low life; as in his case the scene is laid at Winchester, but

the machinery and decorations are not contrived with a due regard to

probability.

"Quodcunque essendis mihi sic, incredulus odi."

E. S.

_Locke's MSS._ (Vol. iii., p. 337.).--A good account of Locke's MSS. is

to be found in Blakey's _History of Metaphysics_. They were in the

possession of the Forster family, whose representative, Dr. Forster,

M.D., is now, or was very lately, residing at Bruges.

ÆGROTUS.

_Peal of Bells_ (Vol. i., p. 154.).--The definition of a _peal_, viz.,

"a performance of above 5,000 changes," was recently confirmed to me by

the two following inscriptions, which I read in the belfry of the curfew

tower at Windsor:--

"Feb. 21, 1748, was rung in this steeple a complete 5,040 of union

trebles, never performed here before."

"College Youths.--This society rung in this steeple, Tuesday,

April 10, 1787, _a true and complete peal_ of 5,040 grandsire

triples in three hours and fourteen minutes."

A stone tablet in the bell chamber of Ecclesfield church records, that a

few months ago "was rung in this tower _a peal_ of Kent treble bob

major, consisting of 5,024 changes in three hours and five minutes."

ALFRED GATTY.

_Pope's "honest Factor"_ (Vol. iv., p. 6.).--If any one ever made a

rational guess at who this _factor_ may have been, he must have been

still more likely to have known who was meant by _Sir Balaam_, at whose

identity I have never yet heard a guess. I suppose that both _factor_

and _knight_ were fancy characters.

C.

_Bells in Churches_ (Vol. iv., p. 165.).--The judgment stated to have

been given by Lord Chief Justice _Campbell_, was given by Lord Chief

Justice _Jervis_.

C. H. COOPER.

Cambridge.

_Virgil, Passage from_ (Vol. iii., p. 499.).--The line of Virgil

(_Georg._, lib. iv. 87.) quoted,

"Pulveris exigui jactu compressa quiescunt,"

and the preceding line,

"Hi motus animorum atque hæc certamina tanta,"

have been happily applied to the contrasted quiescence of

_Ash_-Wednesday immediately succeeding the tumultuous carnival in Roman

Catholic countries, when the cross marked by _ashes_ on the forehead

lulls to quiet the turbulent spirits of the previous weeks.

J. R.

_Duke of Berwick_ (Vol. iv., p. 133.).--The Duke of Berwick, born in

1671, and so created the 19th of March, 1687, by his father (natural)

James II., was indeed a Spanish grandee, which he was made by Philip V.,

after his victory of Almanza, in 1707; but the title was Liria, not

Alva, which belonged to the great house of Toledo, and was rendered

famous (or infamous) by its bearer under Philip II. Berwick, however,

transferred this Spanish title of Liria to his son James, by his first

wife Honera de Burgh, daughter of William, seventh Earl of Clanrickard,

with the annexed territory, or _majorat_. She was the widow of Patrick

Sarsfield, Earl of Lucan, who conducted 14,000 Irish refugees to France

in 1691, after the surrender of Limerick to Ginkle. She died of

consumption, still young, at Montpelier, in 1698. The Duke of St. Simon,

in his _Mémoires_, tome ii. p. 92., describes her as "belle, faite à

peindre, touchante--une nymphe enfin;" but, though personally acquainted

with her, he names her the daughter, instead of the widow, of Lucan.

Berwick afterwards married Miss Buckley, one of the Queen Mary d'Este's

maids of honour, by whom he had several children, who assumed the name

of Fitz-James. Their descendants were colonels or proprietaires of the

Irish Brigade regiment, called, after their founder, Berwick. The

Spanish branch still maintains its rank and estates. Berwick was killed

at the siege of Philpsburg, in Baden, the 12th June, 1734. His military

talents were of acknowledged superiority; so far more resembling his

uncle Marlborough than his father, whose dastardly flight at the Boyne

he indignantly witnessed. His _Mémoires_, in two volumes 12mo., were

published from his manuscript by his grandson, the Duke of Fitz-James,

in 1778.

J. R.

Cork.

_Nullus and Nemo_ (Vol. iv., p. 153.).--The interpretation of "M.'s"

woodcut will be found in Ulrich von Hutten's elegiac verses, which are

exhibited in his [Greek: OUTIS], NEMO. Your correspondent's amusing

conjecture about "nobody's child" was quite correct, as these lines

prove:

"Quærendus puero pater est: Nemo obtigit. At tu,

Si me audis, alium stulta require patrem."

I suspect that "M.'s" old 4to. tracts bear a somewhat earlier date than

1520-30; but probably, this matter might be determined by Burckhard's

_Commentarius de Ulrici ab Hutten fatis et meritis_, or by his

_Analecta_ (Cf. Freytag, _Adpar. Lit._ iii. 519.), or by means of

Münck's collection of De Hutten's works. I happen to have copies of two

editions of the _Nemo_, which, though they are undated, must appertain

to the year 1518. This was not, however, the period of the first

publication of the poem; for the author, in a letter addressed to

Erasmus in October, 1516, mentions it as having then appeared (Niceron,

_Mémoires_, xv. 266.): but the original impression of this satirical

performance is without the prefatory epistle to Crotus Rubianus [Johan

Jager], who is believed to have had no inconsiderable share in the

composition of the celebrated _Epistolæ obscurorum Virorum_.

R. G.

_Grimsdyke_ (Vol. iv., p. 192.).--I can mention at all events one other

earthwork named Grimsdyke in England--the great earthwork, viz., south

of Salisbury, which is called Grimsdyke. Mr. Guest has stated his belief

that it was not a Belgic work, but a boundary line made by the Welsh

after the treaty of the Mons Badonicus.

W. S. G.

Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

_Coke, how pronounced_ (Vol. iv., pp. 24. 93. 138.).--Respecting the

pronunciation of the name of Coke at page 138., I recollect having some

discussion on it in 1812 with the late Mr. Andrew Lynch, Master in

Chancery, then a student at the Temple, when he corrected me for calling

it _Cooke_, which he maintained should be called _Coake_. We happened to

dine that day at Mr. Charles Butler's, his future father-in-law, and

agreed to refer the matter to him who had been associated with Hargrave

in publishing Sir Edward Coke's _Commentaries on Littleton_ (1809, 7

vols. 8vo.). Mr. Butler at once decided the question in my favour,

adding that he had never heard the name otherwise pronounced, and that

_Coake_ was quite a novelty, which he should never adopt--indeed, I am

sure it is so, though now I find it generally prevalent.

J. R.

Cork.

_Marcus Ælius Antoninus_ (Vol. iv., p. 152.).--I think that your

correspondent will not readily ascertain the owner of this pseudonyme;

but, in the presumed absence of any opposing evidence, I would suggest

that the mask may belong to Marc-Antonio Flaminio. Melancthon's

excellent _Responsio ad scriptum quorundam delectorum à Clero secundario

Coloniæ Agrippinæ_, 4to., Francfurdiæ, 1543, is now before me, but it

does not allude to the _Querela_ set forth in the same year. It is said

that the framer of the Cologne _Judicium_ against Bucer was the

Carmelite Eberhardus Billicus; and TYRO may be assured that he is

fortunate if he be a possessor of the tract by the fictitious Antoninus;

for, in the words of Seckendorf,--

"Ex scriptis reliquis, occasione Reformationis Coloniensis tunc

publicatis, plurima in oblivionem fere venerunt, nec facile hodie

inveniuntur, typis licet olim excusa."--_Comm. de Luther._ lib.

iii. sect. 27. § cvii. p. 437. Francof. 1692.

R. G.

Miscellaneous.

NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC.

The sculptures which have been preserved with comparatively little

injury for upwards of six centuries on the western front of the

venerable cathedral of Wells have long excited the wonder and curiosity,

as well as admiration, of all who looked upon them. All have been ready

to recognise in them the expression of some grand design; but it has

been reserved for Professor Cockerell to penetrate, through the

quaintness of the style and the dilapidations of centuries, into their

noble aim and purpose, and to describe at length this "extensive but

hitherto unedited commentary in living sculpture of the thirteenth

century, upon our earliest dynasties, our churchmen, and religious

creed." This he has done in a handsome and richly illustrated volume,

lately published by Mr. Parker under the title of _Iconography of the

West Front of Wells Cathedral, with an Appendix on the Sculptures of

other Mediæval Churches in England_: and the work will be found of the

highest interest, not only for its valuable illustration of this

"kalender for unlearned men," which we owe to the piety and love of art

of Bishop Trotman, and which Flaxman speaks of as "_the earliest

specimen_ of such magnificent and varied sculpture united in a series of

sacred history that is to be found in western Europe," but also for the

light it throws upon the history of art in this country. For not only

have we in these pages the results of Professor Cockerell's studies of

the extensive and important series of sculptures which form the

immediate subject of them; but also his criticisms and remarks upon the

cognate objects to be found at Exeter, Norwich, Malmesbury, Canterbury,

Rochester, York, Beverley, Lichfield, Worcester, Lincoln, Gloucester,

Salisbury, Peterborough, Croyland, and Bath. And who can speak with

greater authority upon such points? whose opinion would be received with

greater respect?

Surely Rome must have been styled the _Eternal City_ because there is no

end to the books which are published respecting it:

"For every year and month sends forth a new one;"

yet the subject never seems exhausted. Now it is a high churchman who

gives a picture of this "Niobe of nations," tinted _couleur de rose_;

now a low churchman, who talks of nothing but abominations of a deeper

dye; now some classical student tells how--

"The Goth, the Christian, time, war, flood, and fire

Have dealt upon the seven hill'd city's pride;"

now some worshipper of art, who unfolds the treasures garnered within

its walls; now a politician loud in his praises of Young Italy, or his

condemnation of foreign interference. The Chevalier de Chatelaine is

none of these, or rather, he is almost all of them by turns; and

consequently his _Rambles though Rome, descriptive of the Social,

Political, and Ecclesiastical Condition of the City and its

Inhabitants_, is a volume of pleasant gossip, more amusing to the reader

than flattering to the character of the Roman people or those who govern

them.

CATALOGUE RECEIVED.--J. G. Bell's (17. Bedford Street, Covent Garden)

Catalogue of Autograph Letters and other Documents, English and Foreign.

BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES

WANTED TO PURCHASE.

FEARNE'S ESSAY ON HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS, 4to.

BISHOP KIDDER'S LIFE OF ANTHONY HORNECK.

TIGHE'S LIFE OF LAW.

MACROPEDII, HECASTUS FABULA. 8vo. Antwerp, 1539.

OMNES GEORGII MACROPEDII FABULÆ COMICÆ. Utrecht, 1552. 2 Vols. 8vo.

OTHONIS LEXICON RABBINICUM.

PLATO. Vols. VIII. X. XI. of the Bipont Edition.

PARKINSON'S SERMONS. Vol. I.

ATHENÆUM. Oct. and Nov. 1848. Parts CCL., CCLI.

WILLIS' PRICE CURRENT. Nos. I. III. V. XXIV. XXVI. XXVII.--XLV.

RABBI SALOMON JARCHI (RASCHI) COMMENTAR ÜBER DEN PENTATEUCH VON L.

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Bonn, 1833.

No. 3 of SUMMER PRODUCTIONS, or PROGRESSIVE MISCELLANIES, by Thomas

Johnson. London, 1790.

HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. Folio. London, 1624.

THE APOLOGETICS OF ATHENAGORAS, Englished by D. Humphreys. London, 1714.

8vo.

BOVILLUS DE ANIMÆ IMMORTALITATE, ETC. Lugduni, 1522. 4to.

KUINOEL'S NOV. TEST. Tom. I.

THE FRIEND, by Coleridge. Vol. III. Pickering.

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Notices to Correspondents.

MR. J. F. HARKINS _will find the information he wishes respecting the

dramatic works of Bishop Bale, &c., in Mr. Collier's_ History of

Dramatic Poetry. The Arraignment of Paris _is printed in Peele's works;

and the plays attributed to Shakspeare, in a supplement to Knight's_

Pictorial Shakspeare. _The other Queries shall appear very shortly._

A. N. _The communication referred to shall be found_ if possible; _but

the number of papers we receive is not_ small, _as our correspondent

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J. B. C.'s _communication was certainly intended for insertion. It shall

be looked out and printed, with as little delay as possible._

REPLIES RECEIVED.--_Marriage of Bishops--Names of Vermin

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VOLS. I., II., _and_ III., _with very copious Indices, may still be had,

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_Erratum._--Vol. iii., p. 522., after the last word in the article on

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