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Title: Notes and Queries, Number 27, May 4, 1850
Author: Various
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Notes and Queries, Number 27, May 4, 1850" ***
NOTES AND QUERIES:
A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES,
GENEALOGISTS, ETC.
* * * * *
"When found, make a note of."--CAPTAIN CUTTLE.
* * * * *
No. 27.] SATURDAY, MAY 4, 1850 [Price Threepence. Stamped Edition 4d.
* * * * * {425}
CONTENTS
NOTES:--
The Mosquito Country. 425
Notes on Bacon and Jeremy Taylor. 427
Duke of Monmouth's Correspondence. 427
Poem by Parnell, by Peter Cunningham. 427
Early English and Early German Literature, by S. Hickson. 428
Folk Lore:--Charm for the Toothache--The Evil
Eye--Charms--Roasted Mouse. 429
The Anglo-Saxon Word "Unlæd," by S.W. Singer. 430
Dr. Cosin's MSS.--Index to Baker's MSS., by J.E.B.
Mayor. 433
Arabic Numerals. 433
Roman Numerals. 434
Error in Hallam's History of Literature. 434
Notes from Cunningham's Handbook for London. 434
Anecdote of Charles I. 437
QUERIES:--
The Maudelyne Grace, by E.F. Rimbault, LL.D. 437
"Esquire" and "Gentleman". 437
Five Queries (Lines by Suckling, &c.) 439
Queries proposed, No. I., by Belton Corney. 439
Minor Queries:--Elizabeth and Isabel--Howard Earl
of Surrey--Bulls called "William"--Bawn--Mutual--Versicle
and Response--Yeoman--Pusan--Iklynton Collar--Lord
Karinthen--Christian Captives--Ancient Churchyard
Customs--"Rotten Row" and "Stockwell Street". 439
REPLIES:--
Early Statistics. 441
Byron's Lara. 443
Replies to Minor Queries:--Dr. Whichcot and Lord
Shaftesbury--Black Doll--Journal of Sir W.
Beeston--Shrew--Trunk Breeches--Queen's
Messengers--Dissenting Ministers--Ballad of the
Wars in France--Monody on Death of Sir J. Moore. 444
Iron Rails round St. Paul's. 446
MISCELLANEOUS:--
Notes on Books, Sales, Catalogues, &c. 446
Books and Odd Volumes Wanted. 446
Notices to Correspondents. 446
Advertisements. 447
* * * * *
THE MOSQUITO COUNTRY.--ORIGIN OF THE NAME.--EARLY CONNECTION OF THE
MOSQUITO INDIANS WITH THE ENGLISH.
The subject of the Mosquito country has lately acquired a general
interest. I am anxious to insert the following "Notes and Queries" in
your useful periodical, hoping thus to elicit additional information, or
to assist other inquirers.
1. As to the origin of the name. I believe it to be probably derived
from an native name of a tribe of Indians in that part of America. The
Spanish Central Americans speak of _Moscos_. Juarros, A Spanish Central
American author, in his _History of Guatemala_, names the Moscos among
other Indians inhabiting the north-eastern corner of that tract of
country now called _Mosquito_: and in the "Mosquito Correspondence" laid
before Parliament in 1848, the inhabitants of Mosquito are called
_Moscos_ in the Spanish state-papers.
How and when would _Mosco_ have become _Mosquito_? Was it a Spanish
elongation of the name, or an English corruption? In the former case, it
would probably have been another name of the people: in the latter,
probably a name given to the part of the coast near which the Moscos
lived.
The form _Mosquito_, or _Moskito_, or _Muskito_, (as the word is
variously spelt in our old books), is doubtless as old as the earliest
English intercourse with the Indians of the Mosquito coast; and that may
be as far back as about 1630: it is certainly as far back as 1650.
If the name came from the synonymous insect, would it have been given by
the Spaniards or the English? _Mosquito_ is the Spanish diminutive name
of a fly: but what we call a mosquito, the Spaniards in Central America
call by another name, _sanchujo_. The Spaniards had very little
connexion at any time with the Mosquito Indians; and as mosquitoes are
not more abundant on their parts of the coast than on other parts, or in
the interior, where the Spaniards settled, there would have been no
reason for their giving the name on account of insects. Nor, indeed,
would the English, who went to the coast from Jamaica, or other West
India Islands, where mosquitoes are quite as abundant, have had any such
reason either. At Bluefields where the writer has resided, which was one
of the first places on the Mosquito coast frequented by English, and
which derives its name from an old English buccaneer, there are no
mosquitoes at all. At Grey Town, at the mouth of the river San Juan,
there are plenty; but not more than in Jamaica, or in the towns of the
interior state of Nicaragua. However names are not always given so as to
be argument-proof. {426}
How did the word _mosquito_ come into our language? From the Spanish,
Portuguese, or Italian? How old is it with us? Todd adds the word
_Muskitto_, or _Musquitto_, to Johnson's _Dictionary_; and gives an
example from Purchas's _Pilgrimage_ (1617), where the word is spelt more
like the Italian form:--"They paint themselves to keep off the
muskitas."
There is a passage in Southey's _Omniana_ (vol. i. p. 21.) giving an
account of a curious custom among the Mozcas, a tribe of New Granada:
his authority is _Hist. del Nuevo Reyno de Granada_, l. i. c. 4. These
are some way south of the other Moscos, but it is probably the same
word.
One of the Virgin Islands in the West Indies has the name of Mosquito.
Some "Mosquito Kays" are laid down on the chart off Cape Gracias à Dios,
on the Mosquito coast; but these probably would have been named from the
Mosquito Indians of the continent. And these Mosquito Indians appear to
have spread themselves from Cape Gracias à Dios.
It is stated, however, in Strangeways' _Account of the Mosquito Shore_,
(not a work of authority), that these Mosquito Kays give the name to the
country:--
"This country, as is generally supposed, derives its name from a
clustre of small islands or banks situated near its coasts, and
called the _Mosquitos_."
I should be glad if these Notes and Queries would bring assistance to
settle the origin of the name of the Mosquito country from some of your
correspondents who are learned in the history of Spanish conquest and
English enterprise in that part of America, or who may have attended to
the languages of the American Indians.
2. I propose to jot down a few Notes as to the early connexion between
the English and the Mosquito Indians, and shall be thankful for
references to additional sources of information.
I have read somewhere, that a Mosquito king, or prince, was brought to
England in Charles I.'s reign by Richard Earl of Warwick, who had
commanded a ship in the West Indies; but I forget where I read it. I
remember, however, that no authority was given for the statement. Can
any of your readers give me information about this?
Dampier mentions a party of English who, about the year 1654, ascended
the Cape River (the mouth of which is at Cape Gracias à Dios) to
Segovia, a Spanish town in the interior; and another party of English
and French who, after the year 1684, when he was in these parts, crossed
from the Pacific to the Atlantic, descending the Cape River. (Harris's
_Collection of Voyages_, vol. i. p. 92.) Are there any accounts of these
expeditions?
Dampier also speaks of a confederacy having been formed between a party
of English under a Captain Wright and the San Blas Indians of Darien,
which was brought about by Captain Wright's taking two San Blas boys to
be educated "in the country of the Moskitoes," and afterwards faithfully
restoring them, and which opened to the English the way by land to the
Pacific Sea. (Harris, vol. i. p. 97.) Are there any accounts of English
travellers by this way, which would be in the very part of the isthmus
of which Humboldt has lately recommended a careful survey? (See _Aspects
of Nature_, Sabine's translation.)
Esquemeling, in his _History of the Buccaneers_, of whom he was one,
says that in 1671 many of the Indians at Cape Gracias spoke English and
French from their intercourse with the pirates. He gives a curious and
not very intelligible account of Cape Gracias, as an island of about
thirty leagues round (formed, I suppose, by rivers and the sea),
containing about 1600 or 1700 persons, who have no king; (this is quite
at variance with all other accounts of the Mosquito Indians of Cape
Gracias); and having, he proceeds to say, no correspondence with the
neighbouring islands. (I cannot explain this; there is certainly no
island ninety miles in circumference at sea near Cape Gracias.)
A quarto volume published by Cadell in 1789, entitled _The Case of His
Majesty's Subjects having Property in and lately established upon the
Mosquito Shore_, gives the fullest account of the early connexion
between the Mosquito Indians and the English. The writer says that
Jeremy, king of the Mosquitos, in Charles II.'s reign, after formally
ceding his country to officers sent to him by the Governor of Jamaica to
receive the cession, went to Jamaica, and thence to England, where he
was generously received by Charles II., "who had him often with him in
his private parties of pleasure, admired his activity, strength, and
manly accomplishments; and not only defrayed every expense, but loaded
him with presents." Is there any notice of this visit in any of our
numerous memoirs and diaries of Charles II.'s reign?
A curious tract, printed in the sixth volume of Churchill's _Voyages_,
"The Mosquito Indian and his Golden River, being a familiar Description
of the Mosquito Kingdom, &c., written in or about the Year 1699 by
M.W.," from which Southey drew some touches of Indian manners for his
"Madoc," speaks of another King Jeremy, son of the previous one; who, it
is said, esteemed himself a subject of the King of England, and had
visited the Duke of Albemarle in Jamaica. His father had been carried to
England, and received from the King of England a crown and commission.
The writer of this account says that the Mosquito Indians generally
esteem themselves English:--
"And, indeed, they are extremely courteous to all Englishmen,
esteeming themselves to be such, although some Jamaica men have
very much abused them."
I will conclude this communication, whose length will I hope be excused
for the newness of the subject, {427} by an amusing passage of a speech
of Governor Johnstone in a debate in the House of Commons on the
Mosquito country in 1777:--
"I see the noble lord [Lord North] now collects his knowledge by
piecemeal from those about him. While my hon. friend [some one
was whispering Lord North] now whispers the noble lord, will he
also tell him, and the more aged gentlemen of the House, before
we yield up our right to the Mosquito shore, that it is from
thence we receive the greatest part of our delicious turtle? May
I tell the younger part, before they give their consent, that it
is from thence comes the sarsaparilla to purify our
blood?"--_Parl. Hist._ vol. xix. p. 54.
C.
* * * * *
NOTES ON BACON AND JEREMY TAYLOR.
In his essay "On Delays," Bacon quotes a "common verse" to this
effect:--"Occasion turneth a bald noddle after she hath presented her
locks in front, and no hold taken." As no reference is given, some
readers may be glad to see the original, which occurs in an epigram on
[Greek: Kairos] (Brunck's _Analecta_, ii. 49.; Posidippi Epigr. 13. in
Jacob's _Anthol._ ii. 49.).
[Greek:
Hae de komae, ti kat' opsin; hupantiasanti labesthai,
nae Dia. Taxopithen d' eis ti phalakra pelei;
Ton gar apax ptaenoisi parathrexanta me possin
outis eth' himeiron draxetai exopithen.]
In Jermey Taylor's _Life of Christ_ (Pref. § 29. p. 23. Eden's edition),
it is said that Mela and Solinus report of the Thracians that they
believed in the resurrection of the dead. That passage of Mela referred
to is, l. ii. c. ii. § 3., where see Tzschucke.
In the same work (Pref. § 20. p. 17.), "Ælian tells us of a nation who
had a law binding them to beat their parents to death with clubs when
they lived to a decrepit age." See Ælian, _Var. Hist._ iv. 1. p. 330.
Gronov., who, however, says nothing of clubs.
In the next sentence, the statement, "the Persian _magi_ mingled with
their mothers and all their nearest relatives," is from Xanthus (Fragm.
28., Didot), apud Clem. Alexandr. (Strom. iii. p. 431 A.). See Jacob's
_Lect. Stob._ p. 144.; Bahr, _On Herodotus_, iii. 31.
In the same work (Part I. sect. viii. § 5. note _n_, p. 174.) is a
quotation from Seneca, "O quam contempta res est homo, nisi super humana
se erexerit!" which is plainly the original of the lines of Daniel, so
often quoted by Coleridge ("Epistle to the Countess of Cumberland"):--
"Unless above himself he can
Erect himself, now mean a thing is man!"
Perhaps some of your readers can supply the reference to the passage in
Seneca; which is wanting in Mr. Eden's edition.
In Part III. sect. xv. § 19. p. 694. note _a_, of the _Life of Christ_,
is a quotation from Strabo, lib. xv. _Add._ p. 713., Casaub.
As the two great writers on whom I have made these notes are now in
course of publication, any notes which your correspondents can furnish
upon them cannot fail to be welcome. Milton also, and Pope, are in the
hands of competent editors, who, doubtless, would be glad to have their
work rendered more complete through the medium of "NOTES AND QUERIES."
J.E.B. MAYOR
Marlborough Coll., April 8.
* * * * *
DUKE OF MONMOUTH'S CORRESPONDENCE.
Thomas Vernon, author of _Vernon's Reports_, was in early life private
secretary to the Duke of Monouth, and is supposed to have had a pretty
large collection of Monmouth's correspondence. Vernon settled himself at
Hanbury Hall, in Worcestershire, where he built a fine house, and left a
large estate. In course of time this passed to an heiress, who married
Mr. Cecil (the Earl of Exeter of Alfred Tennyson), and was divorced from
him. Lord Exeter sold or carried away the fine library, family plate,
and nearly everything curious or valuable that was not an heirloom in
the Vernon family. He laid waste the extensive gardens, and sold the
elaborate iron gates, which now adorn the avenue to Mere Hall in the
immediate neighbourhood. The divorcée married a Mr. Phillips, and dying
without surviving issue, the estates passed to a distant branch of her
family. About ten years ago I made a careful search (by permission) at
Hanbury Hall for the supposed Monmouth MSS., but found none; and I
ascertained by inquiry that there were none at Enstone Hall, the seat of
Mr. Phillips's second wife and widow. The MSS. might have been carried
to Burleigh, and a friend obtained for me a promise from the Marquis of
Exeter that search should be made for them there, but I have reason to
believe that the matter was forgotten. Perhaps some of your
correspondents may have the means of ascertaining whether there are such
MSS. in Lord Exeter's library. I confess my doubt whether so cautious a
man as Thomas Vernon would have retained in his possession a mass of
correspondence that might have been fraught with danger to himself
personally; and, had it been in the Burleigh library, whether it could
have escaped notice. This, however, is to be noted. After Vernon's death
there was a dispute whether his MSS. were to pass to his heir-at-law or
to his personal representatives, and the court ordered the MSS.
(Reports) to be printed. This was done very incorrectly, and Lord Kenyon
seems to have hinted that private reasons have been assigned for that,
but these could hardly have related to the Monmouth MSS.
SCOTUS.
* * * * *
PARNELL.
The following verses by Parnell are not included in any edition of his
poems that I have seen. {428} They are printed in Steele's _Miscellany_
(12mo. 1714), p. 63., and in the second edition of the same _Miscellany_
(12mo. 1727), p. 51., with Parnell's name, and, what is more, on both
occasions among other poems by the same author.
TO A YOUNG LADY
_On her Translation of the Story of Phoebus and Daphne, from Ovid._
In Phoebus, Wit (as Ovid said)
Enchanting Beauty woo'd;
In Daphne beauty coily fled,
While vainly Wit pursu'd.
But when you trace what Ovid writ,
A diff'rent turn we view;
Beauty no longer flies from Wit,
Since both are join'd in you.
Your lines the wond'rous change impart,
From whence our laurels spring;
In numbers fram'd to please the heart,
And merit what they sing.
Methinks thy poet's gentle shade
Its wreath presents to thee;
What Daphne owes you as a Maid,
She pays you as a Tree.
The charming poem by the same author, beginning--
"My days have been so wond'rous free,"
has the additional fourth stanza,--
"An eager hope within my breast,
Does ev'ry doubt controul,
And charming Nancy stands confest
The fav'rite of my soul."
Can any of your readers supply the name of the "young lady" who
translated the story of Phoebus and Daphne?
C.P.
* * * * *
EARLY ENGLISH AND EARLY GERMAN LITERATURE.--"NEWS" AND "NOISE."
I am anxious to put a question as to the communication that may have
taken place between the English and German tongues previous to the
sixteenth century. Possibly the materials for answering it may not
exist; but it appears to me that it is of great importance, in an
etymological point of view, that the extent of such communication, and
the influence it has had upon our language, should be ascertained. In
turning over the leaves of the _Shakspeare Society's Papers_, vol. i.,
some time ago, my attention was attracted by a "Song in praise of his
Mistress," by John Heywood, the dramatist. I was immediately struck by
the great resemblance it presented to another poem on the same subject
by a German writer, whose real or assumed name, I do not know which, was
"Muscanblüt," and which poem is to be found in _Der Clara Hätzlerin
Liederbuch_, a collection made by a nun of Augsburg in 1471. The
following are passages for comparison:--
"Fyrst was her skyn,
Whith, smoth, and thyn,
And every vayne
So blewe sene playne;
Her golden heare
To see her weare,
Her werying gere,
Alas! I fere
To tell all to you
I shall undo you.
"Her eye so rollyng,
Ech harte conterollyng;
Her nose not long,
Nor stode not wrong;
Her finger typs
So clene she clyps;
Her rosy lyps,
Her chekes gossyps,"
&c. &c.
_S.S. Papers_, vol. i. p. 72
"Ir mündlin rott
Uss senender nott
Mir helffen kan,
Das mir kain man
Mit nichten kan püssen.
O liechte kel,
Wie vein, wie gel
Ist dir dein har,
Dein äuglin clar,
Zartt fraw, lass mich an sehen.
Und tu mir kund
Uss rottem mund, &c.
Dein ärmlin weisz
Mit gantzem fleisz
Geschnitzet sein,
Die hennde dein
Gar hofelich gezieret,
Dem leib ist ran,
Gar wolgetan
Sind dir dein prust,"
&c. &c.
_Clara Hätzlerin Liederbuch_, p. 111.
In all this there is certainly nothing to warrant the conclusion that
the German poem was the original of Heywood's song; but, considering
that the latter was produced so near to the same age as the former, that
is, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, and considering that the
older German poetical literature had already passed its culminating
point, while ours was upon the ascending scale, there is likeness
enough, both in manner and measure, to excite the suspicion of direct or
indirect communication.
The etymology of the word "news," on which you have recently had some
notes, is a case in illustration of the importance of this point. I have
never had the least doubt that this word is derived immediately from the
German. It is, in fact, "das Neue" in the genitive case; the German
phrase "Was giebt's Neues?" giving the exact sense of our "What is the
news?" This will appear {429} even stronger if we go back to the date of
the first use of the word in England. Possibly about the same time, or
not much earlier, we find in his same collection of Clara Hätzlerin, the
word spelt "new" and rhyming to "triu."
"Empfach mich uff das New
In deines hertzen triu."
The genitive of this would be "newes," thus spelt and probably
pronounced the same as in England. That the word is not derived from the
English adjective "new"--that it is not of English manufacture at all--I
feel well assured: in that case the "_s_" would be the sign of the
plural: and we should have, as the Germans have, either extant or
obsolete, also "the new." The English language, however, has never dealt
in these abstractions, except in its higher poetry; though some recent
translators from the German have disregarded the difference in this
respect between the powers of the two languages. "News" is a noun
singular, and as such must have been adopted bodily into the language;
the form of the genitive case, commonly used in conversation, not being
understood, but being taken for an integral part of the word, as
formerly the Koran was called "_The Alcoran_."
"Noise," again, is evidently of the same derivation, though from a
dialect from which the modern German pronunciation of the diphthong is
derived. Richardson, in his _English Dictionary_, assumes it to be of
the same derivation as "noxious" and "noisome;" but there is no process
known to the English language by which it could be manufactured without
making a plural noun of it. In short, the two words are identical;
"news" retaining its primitive, and "noise" adopting a consequential
meaning.
SAMUEL HICKSON.
* * * * *
FOLK LORE.
_Charm for the Toothache._--A reverend friend, very conversant in the
popular customs and superstitions of Ireland, and who has seen the charm
mentioned in pp. 293, 349, and 397, given by a Roman Catholic priest in
the north-west of Ireland, has kindly furnished me with the genuine
version, and the form in which it was written, which are as follows:--
"As Peter sat on a marble stone,
The Lord came to him all alone;
'Peter, what makes thee sit there?'
'My Lord, I am troubled with the toothache.'
'Peter arise, and go home;
And you, and whosoever for my sake
Shall keep these words in memory,
Shall never be troubled with the toothache.'"
T.J.
_Charms._--_The Evil Eye._--Going one day into a cottage in the village
of Catterick, in Yorkshire, I observed hung up behind the door a
ponderous necklace of "lucky stones," i.e. stones with a hole through
them. On hinting an inquiry as to their use, I found the good lady of
the house disposed to shuffle off any explanation; but by a little
importunity I discovered that they had the credit of being able to
preserve the house and its inhabitants from the baneful influence of the
"evil eye." "Why, Nanny," said I, "you surely don't believe in witches
now-a-days?" "No! I don't say 'at I do; but certainly i' former times
there _was_ wizzards an' buzzards, and them sort o' things." "Well,"
said I, laughing, "but you surely don't think there are any now?" "No! I
don't say at ther' are; but I _do_ believe in a _yevil_ eye." After a
little time I extracted from poor Nanny more particulars on the subject,
as viz.:--how that there was a woman in the village whom she strongly
suspected of being able to look with an evil eye; how, further, a
neighbour's daughter, against whom the old lady in question had a grudge
owing to some love affair, had suddenly fallen into a sort of pining
sickness, of which the doctors could make nothing at all; and how the
poor thing fell away without any accountable cause, and finally died,
nobody knew why; but how it was her (Nanny's) strong belief that she had
pined away in consequence of a glance from the evil eye. Finally, I got
from her an account of how any one who chose could themselves obtain the
power of the evil eye, and the receipt was, as nearly as I can
recollect, as follows:--
"Ye gang out ov' a night--ivery night, while ye find nine
toads--an' when ye've gitten t' nine toads, ye hang 'em up ov' a
string, an' ye make a hole and buries t' toads i't hole--and as
't toads pines away, so 't person pines away 'at you've looked
upon wiv a yevil eye, an' they pine and pine away while they
die, without ony disease at all!"
I do not know if this is the orthodox creed respecting the mode of
gaining the power of the evil eye, but it is at all events a genuine
piece of Folk Lore.
The above will corroborate an old story rife in Yorkshire, of an
ignorant person, who, being asked if he ever said his prayers, repeated
as follows:--
"From witches and wizards and long-tail'd buzzards,
And creeping things that run in hedge-bottoms,
Good lord, deliver us."
MARGARET GATTY.
Ecclesfield, April 24. 1850.
_Charms._--I beg to represent to the correspondents of the "NOTES AND
QUERIES," especially to the clergy and medical men resident in the
country, that notices of the superstitious practices still prevalent, or
recently prevalent, in different parts of the kingdom, for the cure of
diseases, are highly instructive and even valuable, on many accounts.
Independently of their archæological {430} interest as illustrations of
the mode of thinking and acting of past times, they become really
valuable to the philosophical physician, as throwing light on the
natural history of diseases. The prescribers and practisers of such
"charms," as well as the lookers-on, have all unquestionable evidence of
the _efficacy_ of the prescriptions, in a great many cases: that is to
say, the diseases for which the charms are prescribed _are cured_; and,
according to the mode of reasoning prevalent with prescribers, orthodox
and heterodox, they must be cured by them,--_post hoc ergo propter hoc_.
Unhappily for the scientific study of diseases, the universal
interference of ART _in an active form_ renders it difficult to meet
with _pure specimens_ of corporeal maladies; and, consequently, it is
often difficult to say whether it is nature or art that must be credited
for the event. This is a positive misfortune, in a scientific point of
view. Now, as there can be no question as to the non-efficiency of
_charms_ in a material or physical point of view (their action through
the imagination is a distinct and important subject of inquiry), it
follows that every disease getting well in the practice of the charmer,
is curable and cured by Nature. A faithful list of such cases could not
fail to be most useful to the scientific inquirer, and to the progress
of truth; and it is therefore that I am desirous of calling the
attention of your correspondents to the subject. As a general rule, it
will be found that the diseases in which charms have obtained most fame
as curative are those of long duration, not dangerous, yet not at all,
or very slightly, benefited by ordinary medicines. In such cases, of
course, there is not room for the display of an imaginary
agency:--"For," as Crabbe says,--and I hope your medical readers will
pardon the irreverence--
"For NATURE then has time to work _her_ way;
And doing nothing often has prevailed,
When ten physicians have prescribed, and failed."
The notice in your last Number respecting the cure of hooping-cough, is
a capital example of what has just been stated; and I doubt not but many
of your correspondents could supply numerous prescriptions equally
scientific and equally effective. On a future occasion, I will myself
furnish you with some; but as I have already trespassed so far on your
space, I will conclude by naming a few diseases in which the charmers
may be expected to charm most wisely and well. They will all be found to
come within the category of the diseases characterised above:--Epilepsy,
St. Vitus's Dance (_Chorea_), Hysteria, Toothache, Warts, Ague, Mild
Skin-diseases, Tic Douloureux, Jaundice, Asthma, Bleeding from the Nose,
St. Anthony's Fire or The Rose (_Erysipelas_), King's Evil (_Scrofula_),
Mumps, Rheutmatic Pains, &c., &c.
EMDEE.
April 25. 1850.
_Roasted Mouse._--I have often heard my father say, that when he had the
measles, his nurse gave him a roasted mouse to cure him.
SCOTUS.
* * * * *
THE ANGLO-SAXON WORD "UNLAED."
A long etymological disquisition may seem a trifling matter; but what a
clear insight into historic truth, into the manners, the customs, and
the possessions of people of former ages, is sometimes obtained by the
accurate definition of even a single word. A pertinent instance will be
found in the true etymon of _Brytenwealda_, given by Mr. Kemble in his
chapter "On the Growth of the kingly Power." (_Saxons in Engl._ B. II.
c. 1.) Upon this consideration I must rest for this somewhat lengthy
investigation.
The word UNLAED, as far as we at present know, occurs only five times in
Anglo-Saxon; three of which are in the legend of Andreas in the Vercelli
MS., which legend was first printed, under the auspices of the Record
Commission, by Mr. Thorpe; but the Report to which the poetry of the
Vercelli MS. was attached has, for reasons with which I am unacquainted,
never been made public. In 1840, James Grimm, "feeling (as Mr. Kemble
says) that this was a wrong done to the world of letters at large,"
published it at Cassell, together with the Legend of Elene, or the
Finding of the Cross, with an Introduction and very copious notes. In
1844, it was printed for the Aelfric Society by Mr. Kemble, accompanied
by a translation, in which the passages are thus given.--
"Such was the people's
peaceless token,
the suffering of the _wretched_."
l. 57-9.
"When they of _savage spirits_
believed in the might,"
l. 283-4.
"Ye are _rude_,
of poor thoughts."
The fifth instance of the occurrence of the word is in a passage cited
by Wanley, Catal. p. 134., {431} from a homily occurring in a MS. in
Corpus Christi College, s. 14.:--
"Men ða leoçes can hep re3þ se hal3a se[~s] Io[~hs] þaep re
Hael. eode ofen þone bupnan the Ledpoc hatte, on in[=e]n aenne
p[.y]ptun. Tha piste se unlaesde iudas se þe hune to deaþe
beleaped haefde."
In Grimm's _Elucidations to Andreas_ he thus notices it:--
"Unlaed, miser, improbus, infelix. (A. 142. 744. _Judith_, 134,
43.). A rare adjective never occurring in Beowulf, Coedmon, or
the Cod. Exon., and belonging to those which only appear in
conjunction with _un_. Thus, also, the Goth. unleds, pauper,
miser; and the O.H.G. unlât (Graff, 2. 166.); we nowhere find a
lêds, laed, lât, as an antithesis. It must have signified
_dives, felix_; and its root is wholly obscure."
In all the Anglo-Saxon examples of unlaed, the sense appears to be
_wretched_, _miserable_; in the Gothic it is uniformly _poor_[1]: but
_poverty_ and _wretchedness_ are nearly allied. Lêd, or laed, would
evidently therefore signify _rich_, and by inference _happy_. Now we
have abundant examples of the use of the word ledes in old English; not
only for _people_, but for _riches_, _goods_, _movable property_. Lond
and lede, or ledes, or lith, frequently occur unequivocally in this
latter sense, thus:--
"He was the first of Inglond that gaf God his tithe
Of isshue of bestes, of londes, or of _lithe_."
_P. Plouhm_.
"I bed hem bothe lond and _lede_,
To have his douhter in worthlie wede,
And spouse here with my ring."
_K. of Tars_, 124.
"For to have lond or _lede_,
Or _other riches_, so God me spede!
Yt ys to muche for me."
_Sir Cleges_, 409.
"Who schall us now geve londes or _lythe_,
Hawkys, or houndes, or stedys stithe,
As he was wont to do."
_Le B. Florence of Rome_, 841.
"No asked he lond or _lithe_,
Bot that maiden bright."
_Sir Tristrem_, xlviii.
In "William and the Werwolf" the cowherd and his wife resolve to leave
William
"Al here godis
Londes and _ludes_ as ether after her lif dawes."
p. 4
In this poem, _ludes_ and _ledes_ are used indiscriminately, but most
frequently in the sense of men, people. Sir Frederick Madden has shown,
from the equivalent words in the French original of Robert of Brunne,
"that he always uses the word in the meaning of _possessions_, whether
consisting of tenements, rents, fees, &c.;" in short, _wealth_.
If, therefore, the word has this sense in old English, we might expect
to find it in Anglo-Saxon, and I think it is quite clear that we have it
at least in one instance. In the _Ancient Laws and Institutes of
England_, vol. i. p. 184., an oath is given, in which the following
passage occurs:
"Do spa to lane
beo þé he þinum
I leat me be minum
ne 3ypne le þines
ne laedes ne landes
ne sac ne socne
ne þu mines ne þeapst
ne mint ic þe nan þio3."
Mr. Thorpe has not translated the word, nor is it noticed in his
Glossary; but I think there can be no doubt that it should be rendered
by _goods_, _chattels_, or _wealth_, i.e., movable property.
This will be even more obvious from an extract given by Bishop
Nicholson, in the preface to Wilkin's _Leges Saxonicæ_ p. vii. It is
part of the oath of a Scotish baron of much later date, and the sense
here is unequivocal:--
"I becom zour man my liege king in land, _lith_[2], life and
lim, warldly honour, homage, fealty, and leawty, against all
that live and die."
Numerous examples are to be found in the M.H. German, of which I will
cite a few:
"Ir habt doch zu iuwere hant
Beidin _liute_ unde lant."
_Tristr._ 13934.
"Und bevelhet ir _liute_ unde lant."
_Iwein._ 2889. {432}
"Ich teile ir _liute_ unde lant."
_Id._ 7714.
And in the old translation of the _Liber Dialogorum_ of St. Gregory,
printed in the cloister of S. Ulrich at Augspurg in 1473:--
"In der Statt waren hoch Türen und schöne Heüser von Silber und
Gold, und aller Hand _leüt_, und die Frawen und Man naÿgten im
alle."
Lastly, Jo. Morsheim in his _Untreuer Frawen_:--
"Das was mein Herr gar gerne hört,
Und ob es _Leut_ und Land bethort."
Now, when we recollect the state of the people in those times, the
serf-like vassalage, the _Hörigkeit_ or _Leibeigenthum_, which
prevailed, we cannot be surprised that a word which signified
_possessions_ should designate also the _people_. It must still,
however, be quite uncertain which is the secondary sense.
The root of the word, as Grimm justly remarks, is very obscure; and yet
it seems to me that he himself has indirectly pointed it out:--
"Goth. liudan[3] (crescere); O.H.G. liotan (sometimes unorganic,
hliotan); O.H.G. liut (populus); A.-S. lëóð; O.N. lióð: Goth.
lauths -is (homo), ju33alauths -dis (adolescens); O.H.G. sumar
-lota (virgulta palmitis, i.e. qui una æstate creverunt, _Gl.
Rhb._ 926'b, Jun. 242.); M.H.G. corrupted into sumer -late (M.S.
i. 124'b. 2. 161'a. virga herba). It is doubtful whether ludja
(facies), O.H.G. andlutti, is to be reckoned among
them."--_Deutsche Gram._ ii. 21. For this last see Diefenbach,
_Vergl. Gram. der Goth. Spr._ i. 242.
In his _Erlauterungen zu Elene_, p. 166., Grimm further remarks:--
"The verb is leoðan, leað, luðon (crescere), O.S. lioðan, lôð,
luðun. Leluðon (_Cædm._ 93. 28.) is creverunt, pullulant; and
3eloðen (ap. Hickes, p. 135. note) onustus, but rather cretus.
Elene, 1227. 3eloðen unðep leápum (cretus sub foliis)."
It has been surmised that LEDE was connected with the O.N.
hlÿt[4]--which not only signified _sors, portio_, but _res
consistentia_--and the A.-S. hlet, hlyt, lot, portion, inheritance:
thus, in the A.-S. Psal. xxx. 18., on hanðum ðinum hlÿt mín, _my
heritage is in thy hands_. Notker's version is: Mín lôz ist in dínen
handen. I have since found that Kindlinger (_Geschichte der Deutchen
Hörigkeit_) has made an attempt to derive it from _Lied, Lit_, which in
Dutch, Flemish, and Low German, still signify a _limb_; I think,
unsuccessfully.
Ray, in his _Gloss. Northanymbr._, has "unlead, nomen opprobrii;" but he
gives a false derivation: Grose, in his _Provincial Glossary_, "unleed
or unlead, a general name for any crawling venomous creature, as a toad,
&c. It is sometimes ascribed to a man, and then it denotes a sly wicked
fellow, that in a manner creeps to do mischief. See Mr. Nicholson's
Catalogue."
In the 2d edition of Mr. Brockett's _Glossary_, we have: "Unletes,
displacers or destroyers of the farmer's produce."
This provincial preservation of a word of such rare occurrence in
Anglo-Saxon, and of which no example has yet been found in old English,
is a remarkable circumstance. The word has evidently signified, like the
Gothic, in the first place _poor_; then _wretched_, _miserable_; and
hence, perhaps, its opprobrious sense of _mischievous_ or _wicked_.
"In those rude times when wealth or movable property consisted
almost entirely of living money, in which debts were contracted
and paid, and for which land was given in mortgage or sold; it
is quite certain that the serfs were transferred with the land,
the lord considering them as so much live-stock, or part of his
_chattels_."
A vestige of this feeling with regard to dependants remains in the use
of the word _Man_ (which formerly had the same sense as _lede_). We
still speak of "a general and his men," and use the expression "our
men." But, happily for the masses of mankind, few vestiges of serfdom
and slavery, and those in a mitigated form, now virtually exist.
S.W. SINGER.
April 16. 1850.
[Footnote 1: It occurs many times in the Moeso-Gothic version of
the Gospels for [Greek: ptochos]. From the Glossaries, it
appears that iungalauths is used three times for [Greek:
neaniskos], a young man; therefore lauths or lauds would signify
simply _man_; and the plural, laudeis, would be _people_. See
this established by the analogy of vairths, or O.H.G. virahi,
also signifying people. Grimm's _Deutsche Gram._ iii. 472.,
note. "Es konnte zwar _unlêds_ (pauper) aber auch _unlêths_
heissen."--_D. Gr._ 225.]
[Footnote 2: Sir F. Palgrave has given this extract in the
Appendix to his _Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth_,
p. ccccvii., where, by an error of the press, or of
transcription, the word stands _lich_. It may be as well to
remark, that the corresponding word in Latin formulas of the
same kind is "catallis," _i.e. chattels_. A passage in Havelok,
v. 2515., will clearly demonstrate that _lith_ was at least one
kind of _chattel_, and equivalent to _fe_ (fee).
"Thanne he was ded that Sathanas
Sket was seysed al that his was,
In the King's hand il del,
_Lond_ and _lith_, and other _catel_,
And the King ful sone it yaf
Ubbe in the hond with a fayr staf,
And seyde, 'Her ich sayse the
In al the _lond_ in al the _fe_.'"]
[Footnote 3: The author of _Tripartita seu de Analogia
Linguacum_, under the words "Leute" and "Barn," says:--"Respice
Ebr. Id. Ebr. ledah, partus, proles est. Ebr. lad, led, gigno."
A remarkable coincidence at least with Grimm's derivation of
léôd from the Goth. liudan, crescere.]
[Footnote 4: Thus, Anthon, _Teutschen Landwirthschaft_, Th. i.
p. 61.:--"Das Land eines jeden Dorfes, einer jeden Germarkung
war wirklich getheilt und, wie es sehr wahrscheinlich, alsdan
verlost worden. Daher nannte man dasjenige, was zu einem
Grunstüke an Äkern, Wiesen gehörte, ein _Los_ (Sors). Das
Burgundische Gesetz redet ausfdrücklich vom Lande das man in
_Lose_ erhalten hat (Terra _sortis_ titulo acquisita, Tit. i. §
1.)" Schmeller, in his _Bayrishces Wort. B._ v. _Lud-aigen_,
also points to the connection of _Lud_ with hluz-hlut, sors,
portio; but he rather inclines to derive it from the Low-Latin,
ALLODIUM. It appears to me that the converse of this is most
likely to have been the case, and that this very word LEDS or
LÆDS is likely to furnish a more satisfactory etymology of
ALLODIUM than has hitherto been offered.]
* * * * * {433}
BP. COSIN'S MSS.--INDEX TO BAKER'S MSS.
Your correspondent "J. SANSOM" (No. 19. p. 303.) may perhaps find some
unpublished remains of Bp. Cosin in Baker's MSS.; from the excellent
index to which (Cambridge, 1848, p. 57.) I transcribe the following
notices, premising that of the volumes of the MSS. the first
twenty-three are in the British Museum, and the remainder in the
University Library, (not, as Mr. Carlyle says in a note in, I think, the
3d vol. of his _Letters. &c. of Cromwell_ in the library of Trin.
Coll.).
"Cosin, Bp.--
Notes of, in his Common Prayer, edit. 1636, xx. 175.
Benefactions to See of Durham, xxx. 377-380.
Conference with Abp. of Trebisond, xx. 178.
Diary in Paris, 1651, xxxvi. 329.
Intended donation for a Senate-House, xxx. 454.
Letters to Peter Gunning, principally concerning
the authority of the Apocrypha, vi. 174-180.
230-238.
Manual of Devotion, xxxvi. 338."
As the editors of the Index to Baker's MSS. invite corrections from
those who use the MSS., you will perhaps be willing to print the
following additions and corrections, which may be of use in case a new
edition of the Index should be required:--
Preface, p. vii. _add_, in _Thoresby Correspondence_, one or two
of Baker's _Letters_ have been printed, others have appeared in
Nichols's _Literary Anecdotes_.
Index, p. 2. Altars, suppression of, in Ely Diocese, 1550, xxx.
213. Printed in the _British Magazine_, Oct. 1849, p. 401.
P. 5. Babraham, Hullier, Vicar of, burnt for heresy. _Brit.
Mag._ Nov. 1849, p. 543.
P. 13. Bucer incepts as Dr. of Divinty, 1549, xxiv. 114. See Dr.
Lamb's _Documents from MSS. C.C.C.C._ p. 153.
Appointed to lecture by Edw. VI., 1549, xxx. 370. See Dr. Lamb,
p. 152.
Letter of University to Edw., recommending his family to care,
x. 396. Dr. Lamb, p. 154.
P. 14. Buckingham, Dr. Eglisham's account of his poisoning James
I., xxxii. 149-153. See _Hurl. Misc._
Buckmaster's Letter concerning the King's Divorce, x. 243. This
is printed in _Burnet_, vol. iii. lib. 1. collect. No. 16., from
a copy sent by Baker, but more fully in Dr. Lamb, p. 23., and in
Cooper's _Annals_.
P. 25. Renunciation of the Pope, 1535. See Ant. Harmer,
_Specimen_, p. 163.
P. 51. Cowel, Dr., charge against, and defence of his
Antisanderus. _Brit. Mag._ Aug. 1849, p. 184.
Cranmer, extract from C.C.C. MS. concerning. _Brit. Mag._ Aug.
1849, p. 169, _seq_.
Cranmer, life of, xxxi. 1-3. _Brit. Mag._ Aug. 1849, p. 165.
P. 57. Convocation, subscribers to the judgment of, xxxi. 9.
_British Magazine_, Sept. 1849, p. 317.
P. 68. Ely, Altars, suppression of, 1550, xxx. 213. _Brit. Mag._
Oct. 1849, p. 401.
P. 77. Several of the papers relating to Bishop Fisher will be
found in Dr. Hymers' edition of _The Funeral Sermon on Lady
Margaret_.
P. 80. Gloucester, Abbey of, &c., a Poem by Malvern, v. 285-7.
_Brit. Mag._ xxi. 377.; Caius Coll. MSS. No. 391. art 13.
Goodman, Declaration concerning the articles in his book.
Strype's _Annals_, I. i. 184.
P. 89. Henry VII., Letter to Lady Margaret, xix. 262. See Dr.
Hymers, as above, p. 160.
P. 91. Henry VIII., Letter to, giving an account of the death of
Wyngfield, &c. See Sir H. Ellis, _Ser. III._ No. 134.
P. 94. Humphrey, Bishop, Account, &c., xxxv. 1-19. Rend xxvi.
1-19.
Humphrey, Bishop, Images and Relics, &c., xxx. 133-4. _Brit.
Mag._ Sept. 1849, p. 300.
P. 121-2. Lady Margaret. Several of the articles relating to
Lady Margaret have been printed by Dr. Hymers (_ut sup_.).
P. 137. Pole Card. Oratio Johannis Stoyks, &c., v. 310-312. Dr.
Lamb, p. 177.
P. 143. Redman, Dr., Particulars of, xxxii. 495.--_Brit. Mag._
Oct. 1849, p. 402.
P. 151. Spelman's Proposition concerning the Saxon Lecture, &c.
Sir H. Ellis _Letters of Eminent Literary Men_, Camd. Soc. No.
59.
P. 169. Noy's Will, xxxvi. 375., read 379.
Many of the articles relating to Cambridge in the MSS. have been printed
by Mr. Cooper in his _Annals of Cambridge_: some relating to Cromwell
are to be found in Mr. Carlyle's work; and several, besides those which
I have named, are contained in Dr. Lamb's _Documents_.
J.E.B. MAYOR.
Marlborough Coll., March 30.
* * * * *
ARABIC NUMERALS AND CIPHER.
Will you suffer me to add some further remarks on the subject of the
Arabic numerals and cipher; as neither the querists nor respondents seem
to have duly appreciated the immense importance of the step taken by
introducing the use of a cipher. I would commence with observing, that
we know of no people tolerably advanced in civilisation, whose system of
notation had made such little progress, beyond that of the mere savage,
as the Romans. The rudest savages could make upright scratches on the
face of a rock, and set them in a row, to signify units; and as the
circumstance of having ten fingers has led the people of every nation to
give a distinct name to the number ten and its multiples, the savage
would have taken but a little step when he invented such a mode of
expressing tens as crossing his scratches, thus X. His ideas, however,
enlarge, and he makes three scratches, thus [C with square sides], to
express 100. Generations of such vagabonds as founded Rome pass away,
and at length some one discovers that, by using but half the figure for
X, the number 5 may be conjectured to be meant. Another calculator
follows {434} up this discovery, and by employing [C with square sides],
half the figure used for 100, he expresses 50. At length the rude man
procured a better knife, with which he was enabled to give a more
graceful form to his [C with square sides], by rounding it into C; then
two such, turned different ways, with a distinguishing cut between them,
made CD, to express a thousand; and as, by that time, the alphabet was
introduced, they recognised the similarity of the form at which they had
thus arrived to the first letter of _Mille_, and called it M, or 1000.
The half of this DC was adopted by a ready analogy for 500. With that
discovery the invention of the Romans stopped, though they had recourse
to various awkward expedients for making these forms express somewhat
higher numbers. On the other hand, the Hebrews seem to have been
provided with an alphabet as soon as they were to constitute a nation;
and they were taught to use the successive letters of that alphabet to
express the first ten numerals. In this way b and c might denote 2 and 3
just as well as those figures; and numbers might thus be expressed by
single letters to the end of the alphabet, but no further. They were
taught, however, and the Greeks learnt from them, to use the letters
which follow the ninth as indications of so many tens; and those which
follow the eighteenth as indicative of hundreds. This process was
exceedingly superior to the Roman; but at the end of the alphabet it
required supplementary signs. In this way bdecba might have expressed
245321 as concisely as our figures; but if 320 were to be taken from
this sum, the removal of the equivalent letters cb would leave bdea, or
apparently no more than 2451. The invention of a cipher at once
beautifully simplified the notation, and facilitated its indefinite
extension. It was then no longer necessary to have one character for
units and another for as many tens. The substitution of 00 for cb, so as
to write bdeooa, kept the d in its place, and therefore still indicating
40,000. It was thus that 27, 207, and 270 were made distinguishable at
once, without needing separate letters for tens and hundreds; and new
signs to express millions and their multiples became unnecessary.
I have been induced to trespass on your columns with this extended
notice of the difficulty which was never solved by either the Hebrews or
Greeks, from understanding your correspondent "T.S.D." p. 367, to say
that "the mode of obviating it would suggest itself at once." As to the
original query,--whence came the invention of the cipher, which was felt
to be so valuable as to be entitled to give its name to all the process
of arithmetic?--"T.S.D." has given the querist his best clue in sending
him to Mr. Strachey's Bija Ganita, and to Sir E. Colebrooke's Algebra of
the Hindus, from the Sanscrit of Brahmegupta. Perhaps a few sentences
may sufficiently point out where the difficulty lies. In the beginning
of the sixth century, the celebrated Boethius described the present
system as an invention of the Pythagoreans, meaning, probably, to
express some indistinct notion of its coming from the east. The figures
in MS. copies of Boethius are the same as our own for 1, 8, and 9; the
same, but inverted, for 2 and 5; and are not without vestiges of
resemblance in the remaining figures. In the ninth century we come to
the Arabian Al Sephadi, and derive some information from him; but his
figures have attracted most notice, because though nearly all of them
are different from those found in Boethius, they are the same as occur
in Planudes, a Greek monk of the fourteenth century, who says of his own
units, "These nine characters are Indian," and adds, "they have a tenth
character called [Greek: tziphra], which they express by an 0, and which
denotes the absence of any number." The date of Boethius is obviously
too early for the supposition of an Arabic origin; but it is doubted
whether the figures are of his time, as the copyists of a work in MS.
were wont to use the characters of their own age in letters, and might
do so in the case of figures also.
H.W.
* * * * *
ROMAN NUMERALS.
There are several points connected with the subject of numerals that are
important in the history of practical arithmetic, to which neither
scientific men nor antiquaries have paid much attention. Yet if the
principal questions were brought in a definite form before the
contributors to the "NOTES AND QUERIES," I feel quite sure that a not
inconsiderable number of them will be able to contribute each his
portion to the solution of what may till now be considered as almost a
mystery. With your permission, I will propose a few queries relating to
the subject,
1. When did the abacus, or the "tabel" referred to in my former letters,
cease to be used as calculating instruments?
The last printed work in which the _abacal_ practice was given for the
purposes of tuition that I have been able to discover, is a 12mo.
edition, by Andrew Mellis, of Dee's _Robert Recorde_, 1682.
2. When did the method of _recording results_ in Roman numerals cease to
be used in mercantile account-books? Do any ledgers or other
account-books, of ancient dates, exist in the archives of the City
Companies, or in the office of the City Chamberlain? If there do, these
would go far towards settling the question.
3. When in the public offices of the Government? It is probable that
criteria will be found in many of them, which are inaccessible to the
public generally.
4. When in the household-books of royalty and nobility? This is a class
of MSS. to which I have paid next to no attention; and, possibly, had
the query been in my mind through life, many fragments {435} tending
towards the solution that have passed me unnoticed would have saved me
from the necessity of troubling your correspondents. The latest that I
remember to have particularly noticed is that of Charles I. in the
Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge; but I shall not be surprised to find
that the system was continued down to George I., or later still.
Conservatism is displayed in its perfection in the tenacious adherence
of official underlings to established forms and venerable routine.
T.S.D.
Shooter's Hill, April 8.
[Our correspondent will find some curious notices of early dates
of Arabic numerals, from the Rev. Edmund Venables, Rev. W.
Gunner, and Mr. Ouvry, in the March number of the _Archæological
Journal_, p. 75-76.; and the same number also contains, at p.
85., some very interesting remarks by the Rev. Joseph Hunter,
illustrative of the subject, and instancing a warrant from Hugh
le Despenseer to Bonefez de Peruche and his partners, merchants
of a company, to pay forty pounds, dated Feb. 4, 19 Edward II.,
i.e. 1325, in which the date of the year is expressed in Roman
numerals; and on the dorso, written by one of the Italian
merchants to whom the warrant was addressed, the date of the
payment, Feb. 1325. in Arabic numerals, of which Mr. Hunter
exhibited a fac-simile at a meeting of the Institute.]
* * * * *
_Arabic Numerals._--In the lists of works which treat of Arabic
Numerals, the following have not been noticed, although they contain a
review of what has been written on their introduction into this part of
Europe:--_Archæologia_, vols. x. xiii.; _Bibliotheca Literaria_, Nos. 8.
and 10., including Huetiana on this subject; and Morant's _Colchester_,
b. iii. p. 28.
T.J.
* * * * *
ERROR IN HALLAM'S HISTORY OF LITERATURE.
If Mr. Hallam's accuracy _in parvis_ could be fairly judged by the
following instance, and that given by your correspondent "CANTAB." (No.
4, p. 51.), I fear much could not be said for it. The following passage
is from Mr. Hallam's account of Campanella and his disciple Adami. My
reference is to the first edition of Mr. Hallam's work; but the passage
stands unaltered in the second. I believe these to be rare instances of
inaccuracy.
"Tobias Adami, ... who dedicated to the philosophers of Germany
_his own Prodromus Philosophiæ Instauratio_, prefixed to his
_edition_ of Campanella's _Compendium de Rerum Naturæ_,
published at Frankfort in 1617. Most of the other writings of
the master seem to have preceded _this edition_, for Adami
enumerates them in _his Prodromus_."--_Hist. of Literature_,
iii. 149.
The title is not _Prodromus Philosophiæ Instauratio_, which is not
sense; but _Prodromus Philosophiæ Instaurandæ_ (Forerunner of a
philosophy to be constructed). This _Prodromus_ is a treatise of
Campanella's, not, as Mr. Hallam says, of Adami. Adami published the
_Prodromus_ for Campanella, who was in prison; and he wrote a preface,
in which he gives a list of other writings of Campanella, which he
proposes to publish afterwards. What Mr. Hallam calls an "edition," was
the first publication.
Mere accident enabled me to detect these errors. I am not a
bibliographer and do not know a ten-thousandth part of what Mr. Hallam
knows. I extract this note from my common-place book, and send it to
you, hoping to elicit the opinions of some of your learned
correspondents on the general accuracy in biography and bibliography of
Mr. Hallam's _History of Literature_. Has Mr. Bolton Corney, if I may
venture to name him, examined the work? His notes and opinion would be
particularly valuable.
As a few inaccuracies such as this may occur in any work of large scope
proceeding from the most learned of men, and be accidentally detected by
an ignoramus, so a more extensive impeachment of Mr. Hallam's accuracy
would make a very trifling deduction from his great claims to respect
and well-established fame. I believe I rightly understand the spirit in
which you desire your periodical to be the medium for emending valuable
works, when I thus guard myself against the appearance of disrespect to
a great ornament of literature.
C.
* * * * *
NOTES FROM CUNNINGHAM'S HANDBOOK FOR LONDON.
We have already shown pretty clearly, how high is the opinion we
entertain of the value of our able contributor Mr. Peter Cunningham's
amusing _Handbook for London_, by the insertion of numerous Notes _upon_
his first edition. We will now give our readers an opportunity of
judging how much the second edition, which is just published, has been
improved through the further researches of that gentleman, by giving
them a few Notes _from_ it, consisting entirely of new matter, and very
curious withal. When we add that the work is now enriched by a very
copious Index of Names, it will readily be seen how much the value and
utility of the book has been increased.
_Hanover Square._--"The statue of William Pitt, by Sir Francis Chantrey,
set up in the year 1831, is of bronze, and cost 7000l. I was present at
its erection with Sir Francis Chantrey and my father, who was Chantrey's
assistant. The statue was placed on its pedestal between seven and eight
in the morning, and while the workmen were away at their breakfasts, a
rope was thrown round the neck of the figure, and a vigorous attempt
made by several sturdy Reformers to pull it down. When word of what they
were about was brought to my father, he exclaimed, with a smile {436}
upon his face, 'The cramps are leaded, and they may pull to doomsday.'
The cramps are the iron bolts fastening the statue to the pedestal. The
attempt was soon abandoned."
_Hyde Park Corner._--"There were cottages here in 1655; and the middle
of the reign of George II. till the erection of Apsely House, the small
entrance gateway was flanked on its east site by a poor tenement known
as 'Allen's stall.' Allen, whose wife kept a moveable apple-stall at the
park entrance, was recognised by George II. as an old soldier at the
battle of Dettingen, and asked (so pleased was the King at meeting the
veteran) 'what he could do for him.' Allen, after some hesitation, asked
for a piece of ground for a permanent apple-stall at Hyde Park Corner,
and a grant was made to him of a piece of ground which his children
afterwards sold to Apsley, Lord Bathurst. Mr. Crace has a careful
drawing of the Hyde Park Corner, showing Allen's stall and the Hercules'
Pillars."
_Pall Mall._--"Mr. Fox told Mr. Rogers, that Sydenham was sitting at his
window looking on the Mall, with his pipe in his mouth and a silver
tankard before him, when a fellow made a snatch at the tankard, and ran
off with it. Nor was he overtaken, said Fox, before he got among the
bushes in Bond Street, and there they lost him."
_Lansdowne House._--"The iron bars at the two ends of Lansdowne Passage
(a near cut from Curzon Street to Hay Hill) were put up late in the last
century, in consequence of a mounted highwayman, who had committed a
robbery in Piccadilly, having escaped from his pursuers through this
narrow passage by riding his horse up the steps. This anecdote was told
by the late Thomas Grenville to Sir Thomas Frankland Lewis. It occurred
while George Grenville was Minister, the robber passing his residence in
Bolton Street full gallop."
_Newcastle House._--"The old and expensive custom of 'vails-giving,'
received its death-glow at Newcastle House. Sir Timothy Waldo, on his
way from the Duke's dinner table to his carriage, put a crown into the
hand of the cook, who returned it, saying: 'Sir, I do not take silver.'
'Don't you, indeed?' said Sir Timothy, putting it in his pocket; 'then I
do not give gold.' Hanway's 'Eight Letters to the Duke of ----,' had
their origin in Sir Timothy's complaint."
_Red Lion Square._--"The benevolent Jonas Hanway, the traveller, lived
and died (1786) in a house in Red Lion Square, the principal rooms of
which he decorated with paintings and emblematical devices, 'in a
style,' says his biographer, 'peculiar to himself.' 'I found,' he used
to say, when speaking of these ornaments, 'that my countrymen and women
were not _au fait_ in the art of conversation, and that instead of
recurring to their cards, when the discourse began to flag, the minutes
between the time of assembling and the placing the card-tables are spent
in an irksome suspense. To relieve this vacuum in social intercourse and
prevent cards from engrossing the whole of my visitors' minds, I have
presented them with objects the most attractive I could imagine--and
when that fails there are the cards.' Hanway was the first man who
ventured to walk the streets of London with an umbrella over his head.
After carrying one near thirty years, he saw them come into general
use."
_Downing Street._--"Baron Bothmar's house was part of the forfeited
property of Lee, Lord Lichfield, who retired with James II., to whom he
was Master of the Horse. At the beginning of the present century there
was no other official residence in the street than the house which
belonged, by right of office, to the First Lord of the Treasury, but by
degrees one house was bought after another: first the Foreign Office,
increased afterwards by three other houses; then the Colonial Office;
then the house in the north corner, which was the Judge Advocate's,
since added to the Colonial Office; then a house for the Chancellor of
the Exchequer; and lastly, a whole row of lodging-houses, chiefly for
Scotch and Irish members."
_Whitehall._--"King Charles I. was executed on a scaffold erected in
front of the Banqueting House, towards the park. The warrant directs
that he should be executed 'in the open street before Whitehall.' Lord
Leicester tells us in his Journal, that he was 'beheaded at Whitehall
Gate.' Dugdale, in his _Diary_, that he was 'beheaded at the gate of
Whitehall;' and a single sheet of the time reserved in the British
Museum, that 'the King was beheaded at Whitehall Gate.' There cannot,
therefore, be a doubt that the scaffold was erected in front of the
building facing the present Horse Guards. We now come to the next point
which has excited some discussion. It appears from Herbert's minute
account of the King's last moments, that 'the King was led all along the
galleries and Banqueting House, and there was a passage _broken through
the wall_, by which the king passed unto the scaffold.' This seems
particular enough, and leads, it is said, to a conclusion that the
scaffold was erected on the north side. Where the passage was broken
through, one thing is certain, the scaffold was erected on the west
side, or, in other words, 'in the open street,' now called Whitehall;
and that the King, as Ludlow relates in his Memoirs, 'was conducted to
the scaffold out of the window of the Banqueting House.' Ludlow, who
tells us this, was one of the regicides, and what he states, simply and
straightforwardly, is confirmed by any engraving of the execution,
published at Amsterdam in the same year, and by the following memorandum
of Vertue's on the copy of Terasson's large engraving of the Banqueting
House, preserved in the library of the Society of Antiquaries:--'It is,
according to the truest reports, said that out of this window King
Charles went upon the scaffold to be beheaded, the window-frame being
taken out purposely to make the passage on to the scaffold, which is
equal to the landing-place of the hall within side.' The window marked
by Vertue belonged to a small building abutting from the north side of
the present Banqueting House. From this window, then the King stept upon
the scaffold."
We shall probably next week indulge in a few QUERIES which have
suggested themselves to us, and to which Mr. Cunningham will perhaps be
good enough to reply.
* * * * * {437}
ANECDOTE OF CHARLES I.
I have great pleasure in forwarding to you an anecdote of the captivity
of Charles I., which I think will be considered interesting to your
readers. Of its authenticity there can be no doubt. I extract it from a
small paper book, purchased some fifty years since, at Newport, in the
Isle of Wight, which contains the history of a family named Douglas, for
some years resident in that town, written by the last representative,
Eliza Douglas, at the sale of whose effects it came into my
grandfather's hands. There are many curious particulars in it besides
the anecdote I have sent you; especially an account of the writer's
great-great-grandfather (the husband of the heroine of this tale), who
"traded abroad, and was took into Turkey as a slave," and there gained
the affections of his master's daughter, after the most approved
old-ballad fashion; though, alas! it was not to her love that he owed
his liberty, but (dreadful bathos!) to his skill in "cooking fowls, &c.
&c. in the English taste;" which, on a certain occasion, when some
English merchants came to dine with his master, "so pleased the company,
that they offered to redeem him, which was accepted; and when freed he
came home to England, and lived in London to an advanced age; so old
that they fed him with a tea-spoon."
After his death his wife married again; and it was during this second
marriage that the interview with King Charles took place.
"My mother's great-grandmother, when a-breeding with her
daughter, Mary Craige, which was at y'e time of _King Charles_
being a _prisoner_ in _Carisbrook Castle_, she longed to kiss
the King's _hand_; and when he was brought to Newport to be
carried off, she being acquainted with the gentleman's
housekeeper, where the King was coming to stay, till orders for
him to leave the island, she went to the housekeeper, told her
what she wanted, and they contrived for her to come the morning
he was to go away. So up she got, and dressed herself, and set
off to call her midwife, and going along, the first and second
guard stopped her and asked her where she was going; she told
them 'to call her midwife,' which she did. They went to this
lady, and she went and acquainted his Majesty with the affair;
he desired she may come up to him, and she said, when she came
into the room, his Majesty seemed to appear as if he had been at
_prayers_. He rose up and came to her, who fell on her knees
before him; he took her up by the arm himself, and put his
_cheek_ to her, and she said she gave him a good hearty smack on
his cheek. His Majesty then said, 'Pray God bless you, and that
you go withal.' She then went down stairs to wait and see the
King take coach; she got so close that she saw a gentleman in
it; and when the King stept into the coach, he said, 'Pray, Sir,
what is your name?' he replied, 'I am Col. Pride.' 'Not
miscalled,' says the King. Then Pride says, 'Drive on,
coachman.'"
E.V.
* * * * *
QUERIES.
THE MAUDELEYNE GRACE.
The rector of Slimbridge, in the diocese of Gloucester, is bound to pay
ten pounds a year to Magdalen College, for "choir music on the top of
the College tower on May-day." (See Rudder's _Gloucestershire_.) Some
years ago a prospectus was issued, announcing as in preparation, "The
Maudeleyne Grace, including the Hymnus Eucharisticus, with the music by
Dr. Rogers, as sung every year on May Morning, on the Tower of Magdalene
College, Oxford, in Latin and English. With an Historical Introduction
by William Henry Black." Can any of your readers inform me whether this
interesting work ever made its appearance? I am inclined to think it did
not, and have an indistinct recollection that the _original_ MS. of the
"Grace" was lost through the carelessness of the lithographer who was
entrusted with it for the purpose of making a fac-simile.
Whilst making some researches in the library of Christ Church, Oxford, I
accidentally met with what appears to me to be the _first draft_ of the
"Grace" in question. It commences "_Te Deum Patrem colimus_," and has
the following note:--"This Hymn is sung every day in Magdalen College
Hall, Oxon, dinner and supper throughout the year for the after grace,
by the chaplains, clarkes, and choristers there. Composed by Benjamin
Rogers, Doctor of Musique of the University of Oxon, 1685." It is
entered in a folio volume, with this note on the fly-leaf,--"Ben Rogers,
his book, Aug. 18. 1673, and presented me by Mr. John Playford,
Stationer in the Temple, London." The Latin Grace, _Te Deum Patrem
colimus_, is popularly supposed to be the _Hymnus Eucharisticus_ written
by Dr. Nathaniel Ingelo, and sung at the civic feast at Guildhall on the
5th July, 1660, while the king and the other royal personages were at
dinner; but this is a mistake, for the words of Ingelo's hymn, very
different from the Magdalen hymn, still exist, and are to be found in
Wood's collection in the Ashmolean Museum. The music, too, of the _Te
Deum_ is in a grand religious style, and not of a festal character.
EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.
* * * * *
"ESQUIRE" AND "GENTLEMAN."
The custom of addressing almost every man above the rank of an artizan
or a huckster as "Esquire," seems now to be settled as a matter of
ordinary politeness and courtesy; whilst the degradation of the
gentleman into the "Gent," has caused this term, as the title of a
social class, to have fallen into total disuse. Originally, they were
terms that had their respective meanings as much as Duke, Knight,
Yeoman, or Hind; but now they simply mean courtesy or contempt towards
{438} the person to whom they are applied,--with the exception, indeed,
of certain combinations of circumstances under which the word
"Gentleman" is applied _as a character_.
It would be an interesting occupation to trace the mutations of meaning
which these words have undergone, and the circumstances which gave rise
to the successive applications of them. The subject has been often
touched upon more or less slightly; but I know of no work in which it is
discussed fully, though, indeed, there may be such. Of course, many of
your readers are men whose pursuits have lain in other directions than
social customs, social language, and social tastes; and, as one of them,
I may be permitted to ask either where a full discussion can be found,
or that some of your correspondents will furnish through your medium a
clear and tolerably full exposition of the question. I believe it would
be of general and public interest.
We naturally expect, that in _official correspondence_, the public
boards, through their proper officers, would be very precise in
assigning to every person his proper title, in the address of a letter.
Yet nothing can be more negligent and capricious than the way in which
this is done. I have held an appointment in the public service, which is
generally considered to carry with it the title of "Esquire," (but
really whether it do or not, I am unable to tell), and have at different
times had a good deal of official correspondence, sometimes mere
routine, and sometimes involving topics of a critical character. From my
own experience I am led to think that no definite rule exists, and that
the temper of the moment will dictate the style of address. For
instance, in matter-of-course business, or in any correspondence that
was agreeable to official persons, I was addressed as "Esq.;" but if the
correspondence took a turn that was unpleasant, it was "Mr. ----;" and
on one occasion I received a note addressed with my name denuded of all
title whatever, even of the office I filled. The note, I hardly need
say, was "full of fire and fury;" and yet, in less than half an hour, I
received a second (the writer having discovered his mistake), opening
with "My dear Sir," and superscribed with the "Esquire" at full length.
This, I think, proves the capriciousness of men in public stations in
their assignment of titles of this kind.
I certainly expected to find, however, in the "List of the Fellows of
the Society of Antiquaries," due attention paid to this circumstance.
The one just circulated was therefore referred to, and it would seem to
be as full of anomalies as a "Court Guide" or a "Royal Blue Book." We
have, indeed, the Knights and Baronets duly titled, and the Peers, lay
and spiritual, sufficiently distinguished both by capitals and mode of
insertion. All those who have no other title (as D.D. or F.R.S.)
recognised by the Society, are courteously designated by the affix
"Esq." In this, it will be strange indeed if _all_ be entitled to the
appellation in its legitimate sense; or, in other words, if the
principle of courtesy does not supersede, amongst the otherwise untitled
mass of Fellows, the principle of social rank. To this in itself, as the
distinction of "Gent" after a man's name has become derogatory, there
cannot be the least objection; for antiquarianism does not palliate
rudeness or offensive language.
At the same time, the adoption of this principle should surely be
uniform, and invidious distinctions should not be made. The title
"Esq.," should not be given to one man, and left out in designating
another whose social position is precisely the same. For instance, we
find in this list "----, M.D.," and "----, Esq., M.D.," employed to
designate two different Doctors in Medicine. We find "----, F.R.S." and
"----, Esq., F.R.S." to designate two Fellows of the Society of
Antiquaries, who are also Fellows of the Royal. We see one or two D.D.'s
deprived of their titles of "Rev.," and, as if to make amends (in point
of quantity at least), we have one Fellow with titles at each end of his
name that seem incompatible with each other, viz., "Rev. ----, Esq."
Anomalies like these can only be the result of sheer carelessness, or of
the ignorance of some clerk employed to make out the list without
adequate instructions given to him. It has, in my hearing, been held up
as a specimen of invidious distinction to gratify some petty dislike;
but this notion is simply absurd, and deserves no notice. At the same
time, it betokens a carelessness that it is desirable to avoid.
As a mere question of _dignity_, it appears to me to savour too much of
Clapham-Common or Hampstead-Heath grandeur, to add much to our
respectability or worldly importance. It would, indeed, be more
"dignified" to drop, in the lists, all use of "Esq." under any
circumstances; or, if this be objected to, to at least treat "M.A.,"
"D.D.," "F.R.S." as higher titles, in which the "Esq." may properly be
merged, and thus leave the appellation to designate the absence of any
higher literary or scientific title.
A good deal of this is irrelevant to the primary object of my letter;
but certainly not altogether irrelevant to the dignity of the highest
English representative body of archæology, the Society of Antiquaries. I
hope, at least, that this irrelevancy will give neither pain nor offence
to any one, for nothing could be further from my wish or intention than
such an effect. I have only wished to illustrate the necessity for an
accurate description of what are really the original, subsequent, and
present significations of the words "Esquire" and "Gentleman," and to
urge that either some definite rule should be adopted as to their use in
official {439} and semi-official cases, or else that they should be
discontinued altogether.
BROWN RAPPEE.
April 18.
* * * * *
FIVE QUERIES.
1. _Lines by Sir John Suckling._--Is Sir John Suckling, or Owen Feltham,
the real author of the poem whose first verse runs thus:
"When, dearest, I but think on thee,
Methinks all things that lovely be
Are present, and my soul delighted;
For beauties that from worth arise,
Are like the grace of deities,
Still present with us though unsighted."
I find it in the twelfth edition of Feltham's Works, 1709, p. 593., with
the following title:
"This ensuing copy of the late Printer hath been pleased to
honour, by mistaking it among those of the most ingenious and
too early lost, Sir John Suckling."
I find it also in the edition of Suckling's Works published at Dublin,
1766. As I feel interested in all that relates to Suckling, I shall be
glad to have the authorship of this short poem rightly assigned.
2. What is the origin and exact meaning of the phrase "Sleeveless
errand"? It is mentioned as late even as the last century, by Swift, in
his poem entitled _Reasons for not building at Drapier's Hill_:
"Who send my mind as I believe, less
Than others do on errands sleeveless."
3. What is the origin and derivation of the word "Trianon," the name of
the two palaces, Le Grand and Le Petit, at Versailles? and why was it
applied to them?
4. What is the correct blazon of the arms of _Godin_; with crest and
motto? I have seen an imperfect drawing of the arms, Party per fess, a
goblet transpierced with a dagger.
5. Whose is the line,
"With upward finger pointing to the sky."
I have heard it generally referred to Goldsmith, but cannot find it.
HENRY KERSLEY.
Corpus Christi Hall, Maidstone, April 15. 1850.
* * * * *
QUERIES PROPOSED, NO. I.
The non-appearance of my name as a querist has been rather fortuitous,
and it shall now be made evident that I am neither so rich in materials,
nor so proud in spirit, as to decline such assistance as may be derived
from the information and courtesy of other contributors to the "Notes
and Queries."
1. Did the following critical remarks on Shakspere, by Edward Phillips,
appear _verbatim_ in the _Thesaurus_ of J. Buchlerus, 1669?
The Bodleian library has the London edition of 1636; and the British
Museum that of 1652. Wood cites an edition of 1669. I transcribe from
that of 1679.
"Hoc seculo [sc. temporibus Elizabetha reginæ et Jacobi regis]
floruerunt--Gulielmus Shacsperus, qui præter opera dramatica,
duo poematia _Lucretiæ stuprum à Tarquinio_, et _Amores Veneris
in Adonidem_, lyrica carmina nonnulla composuit; videtur fuisse,
siquis alius, re verâ poeta natus. Samuel Daniel non obseurus
hujus ætatis poeta, etc....
Ex eis qui dramaticè scripserunt, primas sibi vendicant
Shacsperus, Jonsonus et Fletcherus, quorum hic facundâ et polita
quadam familiaritate sermonis, ille erudito judicio et usu
veterum authorum, alter nativa quadam et poetica sublimitate
ingenii excelluisse videntur. Ante hos in hoc genere poeseos
apud nos eminuit nemo. Pauci quidem antea scripserunt, at parum
foeliciter; hos autem tanquam duces itineris plurimi saltem
æmulati sunt, inter quos præter Sherleium, proximum à supra
memorato triumviratu. Suclingium, Randolphium, Davenantium et
Carturitium--enumerandi veniunt Ric. Bromeus, Tho. Heivodus,"
etc.
2. What are the contents of a work entitled, [Old German script:
Schaubune Englischer und Franßofischer Comædianten], printed before
1671?
This work is recorded, but without a date, in the _Historia literaria_
of Simon Paulli, which was printed at Strasbourg in 1671. A statement of
its contents would be very acceptable to myself, and to other admirers
of our early dramatic literature.
3. Who is the fortunate possessor of the _Lives and characters of the
English dramatick poets_ with the marginal marks of Garrick?
The copy in question was sold with the unreserved books of Garrick in
1823, No. 1269. It contained this note:
"All the plays marked thus * in this catalogue, I bought of
Dodsley. Those marked thus O, I have added to the collection
since. D.G."
Each of the above queries would have admitted further remarks, but I
wish to set an example of obedience to the recent editorial injunction
on brevity.
BOLTON CORNEY.
* * * * *
MINOR QUERIES.
_Elizabeth and Isabel._--"A.C." inquires whether these names are not
varied forms of the same name, and if so, what is the common origin of
the two? Camden, in his _Remains_, has--
"ELIZABETH, _Heb._ Peace of the Lord, or quiet rest of the Lord,
the which England has found verified in the most honoured name
of our late sovereign. Mantuan, playing with it maketh it
Eliza-bella; and of Isabel he says 'The same with Elizabeth, if
the Spaniards do not mistake, which always translate Elizabeth
into Isabel, and the French into Isabeau.'" {440}
_Howard, Earl of Surrey._--Dr. Percy is said, in Watt's _Bibliotheca
Britannica_, to have prepared an edition of the poems of the Earl of
Surrey, the whole impression of which was consumed in the fire which
took place in Mr. Nicholl's premises in 1808. Can any of your readers
say whether Dr. Percy had a copy of the sheets, and whether he had
prefixed thereto any life of the Earl of Surrey? or did Sir Egerton
Brydges ever print any account of Surrey amongst his numerous issues
from the Lee or other presses?
G.
_Bulls called William._--In looking into the notes in my Provincial
Glossary, I find that bulls are in Somersetshire invariably called
_William_. Is this peculiar to that county?
C.W.B.
_Bawn.--Mutual._--In vol. iii. p. 506. of Hallam's _Constitutional
History of England_, there occurs the following passage in reference to
the colonisation of Ulster in 1612, after Tyrone's rebellion:
"Those who received 2000 acres were bound within four years to
build a castle and bawn, or strong court-yard; the second class
within two years to build a stone or brick house, with a bawn;
the third class a bawn only."
What was the bawn, which was equally indispensable to the grantee of
2000, 1500, or 1000 acres? Richardson variously describes the term as
almost any kind of dwelling, or "an enclosure of walls to keep cattle
from being stolen at night;" in fact, a court-yard. This, however,
conveys a very unsatisfactory idea, unless I am justified in supposing
that a court-yard was insisted upon, even when a house could not be
built, as insuring a future residential settlement, and thereby warding
off the evils of absenteeism.
At page 514. of the same volume, I read,--
"Wentworth had so balanced the protestant and recusant parties,
employed so skilfully the resources of fair promises and
intimidation, that he procured six subsidies to be granted
before a prorogation, without any _mutual_ concession from the
crown."
Will Dr. Kennedy, or any other strict verbal critic, sanction this use
of the word "mutual?"
ALFRED GATTY.
April 6. 1850.
[It is obvious, from the following lines from Swift's poem, _The
Grand Question debated whether Hamilton's Bawn should be turned
into a Barrack or Malt-house_, 1729, that a Bawn was there used
to signify a building, and not an inclosure:--
"This _Hamilton's bawn_, while it sticks in my hand,
I lose by the house what I get by the land;
But how to dispose of it to the best bidder,
For a barrack or malt-house, we now must consider."
And in a foot-note on _Hamilton's bawn_, in the original
edition, it is described as "a large old house, two miles from
Sir Arthur Acheson's seat."]
_Versicle and Response._--What is the meaning of the following versicle
and its response, which occur in both Morning and Evening Prayer?
"Give peace in our time, O Lord,
Because there is none other that fighteth for us
but only thou, O God!"
Surely the "because" &c. is a _non sequitur_!
ALFRED GATTY.
April 6. 1850.
[In Palmer's _Origines Liturgice_, vol. i. p. 241. (2d edit.),
we find the following note on the response, "_Quia_ non est
alius," &c.:--"Brev. Eboracens. fol. 264.; Brev. Sarisb. fol.
85." Bishop Lloyd remarks on this verse and response as
follows:--"I do not know what Burnet means by stating that this
response was made in the year 1549, on the occasion of political
occurrences, for this answer is found in all the foreign
breviaries, in the Salisbury primer, and in the primer of Hen.
VIII. See Burnet's _Hist. Ref._ p. ii. b. 1. anno 1549."]
_Yeoman._--This word, the origin of which Dr. Johnson says is much
doubted, in the general acceptation of it meaning signifies a small
farmer; though several authorities quoted by Johnson tend to show it
also signifies a certain description of servants, and that it is applied
also to soldiers, as Yeoman of the Guard. It is not, however, confined
to soldiers, for we hear of Yeoman of the Chamber; Yeoman of the Robes;
Yeoman of the Pantry; Yeoman Usher of the Black Rod.
I should be glad if any of your readers can give an explanation of the
word as used in the latter instances.
P.R.A.
_Pusan.--Iklynton Collar._--Among the royal orders issued on the
occasion of the marriage of Henry VI., contained in the fifth volume of
Rymer's _Fædera_, p. 142., occurs the following:--
"We wol and charge you, that ye deliver unto oure trusty and
well-beloved Squier, John Merston, keeper of our Jewell, a
_Pusan_ of golde, called _Iklynton colar_, garnished with iv
Rubies, &c., &c."
What is the meaning and derivation of this word _Pusan_, and why called
_Iklynton collar_?
E.V.
_Who was Lord Karinthon, murdered 1665?_--Can any of your readers inform
me who was the English lord, murdered in France by his Flemish valet, in
March, 1665, as stated in the following passage of Gui Patin's
_Letters_, tom. iii. p. 519., ed. 1846:--
"Hier, ce 18 Mars, je vis sur le pont Notre Dame, mené à la
Grève, un certain méchant malheureux coquin, natif de Flandre,
qui avoit poignardé son maître dans Pontoise; c'étoit un
seigneur anglois, doint il vouloit avoir la bourse.... Ce
seigneur anglois qui fut poignardé dans son lit avoit nom de
Milord Karinthon.... Dans le testament de ce bon mais malheureux
maître il se trouve qui'il donnoit à ce pendard de valet 20,000
livres."
C. {441}
_Christian Captives._--Where can any information be obtained respecting
the Christian captives taken by the Barbary pirates--the subscriptions
raised for their relief, by briefs, &c., and what became of the funds?
R.W.B.
_Ancient Churchyard Customs._--In an article in _The Ecclesiologist_ on
churchyards and churchyard crosses,--but not having the volume by me, I
am unable to give an exact reference,--it is stated,
"In them (churchyards) prayers are not now commonly poured forth
to God nor are doles distributed to His poor; the epitsphium is
no longer delivered from the steps of the churchyard cross, nor
does the solemn lamprophoria symbolize the life of the
deceased."
I shall be much obliged for a fuller account of these ancient customs,
more particularly of the last two, and for notes of any allusions to
them in old books. I may say the same with reference to the following
extract from the _Handbook of English Ecclesiology_, p. 190.:
"Under this head may also be mentioned the _Funa'l_ or
_Deadlight_, which was lighted in some churchyards at night."
STOKE.
_"Rotten Row" and "Stockwell" Street._--"R.R.," of Glasgow, inquires the
etymology of these names, which, occurring both in Scotland and in
England, and at a time when the countries were almost always at war,
would scarcely have been copied by the one from the other. He rejects,
as of course, the etymology of the former from its passing by the
buildings which were old and "rotten;" neither does he favour the belief
that the original word was "Routine" Row, so called from the processions
of the church passing in that direction.
* * * * *
REPLIES.
EARLY STATISTICS.--CHART, KENT.
(No. 21. p. 329.)
The Registrar-General, in his Eighth Report, enters at length into the
causes which have brought about the variations in the number of
marriages, and consequently, as I need scarcely say, of births. In
comparing the marriage returns since 1754, which are given in the
report, with the history of events since that period, he certainly makes
it clear, to use his own words, that "The marriage returns in England
point out periods of prosperity little less distinctly than the funds
measure the hopes and fears of the money-market." (p. 26. 8vo. edit.)
And that
"The great fluctuations in the marriages of England are the
results of peace after war, abundance after dearth, high wages
after want of employment, speculation after languid enterprise,
confidence after distrust, national triumphs after national
disasters." (p. 27.)
During the civil wars, the diminishing influences indicated in the
reverse of this statement were at work with an intensity unequalled in
any other period of our modern history, so that there can be no doubt
that our then "unhappy divisions" did most materially retard the
numerical increase of the population, as well as the progress of science
and the useful arts. Such is the inevitable consequence of war: of civil
war in a tenfold degree. And our parish register books, all of which I
doubt not show similar facts, place this in the most unfavourable light;
for, through the spread of nonconformity, the unsettled state of the
times, and the substitution during the protectorate of the registration
of births which might or might not be communicated to the elected parish
register, for that of baptisms which the parish priest would both
celebrate and register, the names of very many of those born into the
world would be altogether omitted from these records. It may be
interesting to show the effects of some of these causes by the subjoined
extracts from the registers themselves, which I transcribe from the
_Chronicon Mirabile_ of the late Sir Cuthbert Sharpe.--(Vide pp. 17. 18.
22. 23. 70. 121. and 156.)
_Staindrop, Durham._--"1644. From this time to 1646, through
want of a Minister, and carelessness of ye Cleark, during ye
wars, much of ye Register is lost, only here and there a name
registered."
"1652. June 14. Mem. From this time till August there was noe
Minister, soe that ye children were carried to other parishes to
be baptized."
_St. Helen's Aukland, Durham_, A.D. 1633.--"Mr. John Vaux, our
minister, was suspended.... Mr. Robert Cowper, of Durham, served
in his place, and left out divers christenings unrecorded, and
regestered others disorderly."
_Gainford, Durham._--"Courteous Reader, this is to let thee
understand that many children were left unrecorded or
redgestered, but the reason and cause was this; some would and
some would not, being of a fickle condition, as the time was
then; this being their end and aim, to save a groate from the
poor Clarke, so they would rather have them unredgestered--but
now ... it is their design to have them redgestered."
_Lowestoft, Suffolk_, 1644 ... "For some time following there
was in this Town neither Minister nor Clarke, but the
inhabitants were inforced to procure now one and then another to
baptize their children, by which means there was no Register
kept, only those few hereafter mentioned weare by myself
baptized in those intervalls when I enjoyed my freedom."
_Hexham, Northumberland_, c. 1655.--"Note y't Mr. Will. Lister,
Minister of S't. John Lees in those distracted times, did both
marry and baptize all that made ther application to him, for
w'ch he was sometimes severely threatened by y'e souldiers, and
had once a cockt pistoll held to his breest, &c., so y't its no
wond'r y't y'e {442} Registers for these times are so imperfect,
and besides, they are extremely confused."
In the Preface to the _Enumeration Abstract of the Census of_ 1841, pp.
34-37., your correspondent will find information and statistics relative
to the estimated population of England and Wales, 1570-1750, compiled
from the parish registers, and--
"calculated on the supposition, that the registered baptisms,
burials, and marriages, on an average of three years, in 1570,
1600, 1630, 1670, 1700, and 1750, bore the same proportion to
the actual population as in the year 1801."
From the Table, pp. 36, 37, it appears, that whilst the population
(estimated) in the thirty years 1600-1630 increased upwards of 16
percent., in the forty years 1630-1670 it increased a mere trifle over 3
per cent. only. In no fewer than twenty English counties, the
population, estimated as before, was absolutely less in 1670 than in
1630; and in Kent, the county in which Chart is situate, the decrease is
striking: population of Kent in 1630, 189,212; in 1670, 167,398; in
1700, 157,833; in 1750, 181,267; and in 1801, the enumerated population
was 307,624.
Your correspondent might also find it useful to consult Sir William
Petty's _Political Arithmetic_, the various documents compiled at the
different censuses, and the Reports of the Registrar-General.
ARUN.
* * * * *
PARISH REGISTER STATISTICS.--CHART, KENT.
Your correspondent "E.R.J.H." (No. 21. p. 330.) inquires whether any
general statistical returns, compiled from our early parish registers,
have been published. It must be a matter of regret to all who are
acquainted with the value of these national records--which for extent
and antiquity are unequalled in any other country--that this question
cannot be answered affirmatively. By the exertions of the late Mr.
Rickman, their importance, in a statistical point of view, has been
shown, but only to a very limited extent. In 1801, being entrusted with
the duty of collecting and arranging the returns of the first actual
enumeration of the population, he obtained from the clergyman of each
parish a statement of the number of baptisms and burials recorded in the
register book in every tenth year from 1700, and of marriages in every
consecutive year from 1754, when the Marriage Act of George II. took
effect. The results were published with the census returns of 1801; but,
instead of each parish being separately shown, only the totals of the
hundreds and similar county divisions, and of a few principal towns,
were given. In subsequent "Parish Register Abstracts" down to that of
1841, the same meagre information has been afforded by an adherence to
this generalising system.
In 1836, with a view of forming an estimate of the probable population
for England and Wales at certain periods anterior to 1801, Mr. Rickman,
acting upon the result of inquiries previously made respecting the
condition and earliest date of the register books in every parish,
applied to the clergy for returns of the number of baptisms, burials,
and marriages registered in three years at six irregular periods, viz.
A.D. 1570, 1600, 1630, 1670, 1700, and 1750. The clergy, with their
accustomed readiness to aid in any useful investigation, responded very
generally to the application, and Mr. Rickman obtained nearly 3000
returns of the earliest date required (1570), and nearly 4000 (from not
much less than half the parishes of England) as far back as 1600; those
for the more recent periods being tolerably complete from all the
counties. The interesting details thus collected have not been
published; nor am I able to say where the original returns, if still
extant, are deposited. In pursuance of this design, however, Mr. Rickman
proceeded with these materials to calculate the probable population of
the several counties on the supposition that the registered baptisms,
&c., in 1570, 1600, and at the other assigned periods, bore the same
proportion to the actual population as in 1801. The numerical results
are embodied in a table which appears in the _Census Enumeration
Abstract_ for 1841 (Preface, pp. 36, 37.), and it is stated that there
is reason for supposing the estimate arrived at to be an approximation
to the truth.
During the Civil Wars and the Protectorate, few parochial registers were
kept with any degree of accuracy; indeed, in many parishes they are
altogether defective at that period, owing to the temporary expulsion of
the clergy from their benefices. It is not improbable, therefore, that
the remarkable decrease of baptismal entries in the register book of
Chart next Sutton Valence may have arisen partly from imperfect
registration, as well as from the other causes suggested. But the
trifling increase observable after the Restoration undoubtedly points to
the conclusion arrived at by your corespondent--that a great diminution
had taken place in the population of the parish: and Mr. Rickman's
estimate above referred to gives a result for the entire county, which,
if it does not fully establish the supposed decrease, shows at least
that the registers of other Kentish parishes were affected in a similar
manner. The following is the estimated population of Kent, deduced from
the baptisms, burials, and marriages, by Mr. Rickman:--
A.D. Population
1570 136,710
1600 161,236
1630 189,212
1670 167,398
1700 157,833
1750 181,267
The population enumerated in 1801 was 307,624, which had increased to
548,337 in 1841.
Applying the average of England to the parish {443} of Chart, the 120
baptisms in the years 1640-1659, if representing the actual births,
would indicate a population of about 200 during that period; while the
246 entries in the previous twenty years would give upwards of 400
inhabitants. According to the several censuses, Chart contained 381
persons in 1801, and 424, 500, 610, 604, respectively, at the subsequent
decades.
While on the subject of parish registers, I may add, that a scheme has
been propounded by the Rev. E. Wyatt Edgell, in a paper read before the
Statistical Society, for transcribing and printing in a convenient form
the whole of the extant parish register books of England and Wales, thus
concentrating those valuable records, and preserving, before it is too
late, their contents from the effects of time and accidental injuries.
The want of funds to defray the cost of copying and printing is the one
great difficulty of the plan.
JAMES T. HAMMACK.
April 2.
* * * * *
EARLY STATISTICS.--PARISH REGISTERS.
In reference to the observations of your correspondent "E.R.J.H.," he
will find, upon closer examination, that no comparison approaching to
accuracy can be made between the population of any place at different
periods of the seventeenth century, founded upon the entries in parish
registers of baptisms, births, or marriages. In 1653 the ecclesiastical
registers ceased to contain much of the information they had before
given. In that year was passed, "An Act how Marriages shall be
solemnised and registered, and also for a Register of Births and
Burials;" which first introduced registers of births and not of
baptisms. The Act treated marriage as a civil contract, to be solemnised
before a justice of the peace; and it directed that, for the entry of
all marriages, and "of all births of children, and burial of all sorts
of people, within every parish," the rated inhabitants should choose "an
honest and able person to be called 'The Parish Register,'" sworn before
and approved by a neighbouring magistrate. Until after the Restoration,
this Act was found practicable; and in many parishes these books
(distinct from the clergyman's register of baptisms, &c., celebrated in
the church) continue to be fairly preserved. In such parishes, and in no
others, a correct comparative estimate of the population may be formed.
The value of the parochial registers for statistical and historical
purposes cannot be overrated; and yet their great loss in very recent
times is beyond all doubt. It was given in evidence before the committee
on registration, that out of seventy or eighty parishes for which
Bridges made collections a century since, thirteen of the old registers
have been lost, and three accidentally burnt. On a comparison of the
dates of the Sussex registers, seen by Sir W. Burrell between 1770 and
1780, and of those returned as the earliest in the population returns of
1831, the old registers, in no less than twenty-nine parishes, had in
the interval disappeared; whilst, during the same half-century, nineteen
old registers had found their way back to the proper repository. On
searching the MSS. in Skelton Castle, in Cleveland, a few years since,
the first register of that parish was discovered, and has been restored.
These changes show how great the danger is to which the old registers
are exposed; and in many instances it saves time and trouble to search
the Bishop's transcripts before searching the original registers.
WM. DURRANT COOPER.
81. Guildford Street, March 25. 1850.
* * * * *
BYRON'S LARA.
I cannot agree with your able corespondent "C.B." (No. 20. p. 324., and
No. 17. p. 262.), that Ezzelin in "Lara" is Seyd of the "Corsair." My
interpretation of both tales is as follows:--Lara and Ezzelin both lived
in youth where they afterwards met, viz. in a midland county of
England--time about the fourteenth century. Ezzelin was a kinsman, or,
more probably, a lover of Medora, whom Lara induced to fly with him, and
who shared his corsair life. When Lara had returned home, the midnight
scene in the gallery arose from some Frankenstein creation of his own
bad conscience; a "horrible shadow," an "unreal mockery." Kaled was
Gulnare disguised as a page; and when Lara met Ezzelin at Otho's house,
Ezzelin's indignation arose from his recollection of Medora's abduction.
Otho favours Ezzelin in this quarrel; and, when Kaled looks down upon
the "sudden strife," and becomes deeply moved, her agitation was from
seeing in Ezzelin the champion of Medora, her own rival in the
affections of Lara. Ezzelin is murdered, probably by the contrivance of
Kaled, who had before shown that she could lend a hand in such an
affair. After this, Lara collects a band, like what David gathered to
himself in the cave of Adullam, and what follows suits the mediæval
period of English history.
I will briefly quote in support of this view. Otho shows that Lara and
Ezzelin had both sprung from one spot, when he says,
"I pledge myself for thee, as not unknown,
Though like Count Lara now return'd alone
From other lands, almost a stranger grown."
The 9th section of canto 1. is a description of Byron himself at
Newstead (the two poems are merely vehicles of their authors' own
feelings), with the celebrated skull, since made into a drinking cup,
beside him. The succeeding section is a picture {444} of "our own dear
lake." That Medora was a gentlewoman, and not from the slave-market, is
shown by Conrad's appreciation of her in the 12th section of the first
canto of the "Corsair;" and why not formerly beloved by Ezzelin, and
thus alluded to by him in the quarrel scene?
"And deem'st thou me unknown too? Gaze again!
At least thy memory was not given in vain,
Oh! never canst thou cancel half _her_ debt,
Eternity forbids thee to forget."
The accents, muttered in a foreign tongue by Lara, on recovering from
his swoon in the gallery,--
"And meant to meet an ear
That hears him not--alas! that cannot hear"--
were addressed, I think, to Medora; and I am only the more disposed to
this opinion by their effect on Kaled. (See canto 1. sec. 14.)
I quite agree with "EMDEE" in esteeming "Lara" a magnificent poem.
A.G.
Ecclesfield, March 18, 1850.
* * * * *
REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES.
_Dr. Whichcot and Lord Shaftesbury._--Your correspondent "C." (No. 24.
p. 382.) will find in the _Alumni Etonenses_, by Harwood, printed at
Birmingham by Pearson, and by Caddell, jun., and Davies, Strand, 1797,
at p. 46. in the account of Whichcot, under the head of "Provosts of
King's College," the following passage:--"A volume of his sermons was
published in 1628, from copies taken in short-hand as they were
delivered from the pulpit, with a preface by Lord Shaftesbury." In a MS.
account of the provosts it is stated, "the first volume of his
discourses, published by Lord Shaftesbury, 1698;" and that one of his
brothers was alive in 1749, at Finchley, aged 96.
A letter from Lord Lauderdale to Dr. Whichcot is in MS. Harl. 7045. p.
473. I take the figures from a printed, but not published, account of
some of the proceedings relating to Dr. Whichcot's deprivation of his
provostship at the Restoration, in which Lord Lauderdale says, "For I
took an opportunity, in the presence of my Lord Chamberlain, your
Chancellor, to acquaint his Majesty with those excellent endowments with
which God hath blesst you, and which render you so worthie of the place
you enjoy, (which the King heard very graciously); afterwards he spoke
with my Lord Chamberlain about your concerns, and he and I are both of
opinion there is no fear as to your concerns." Was Shaftesbury ever
Chancellor of Cambridge? or who was the Lord Chamberlain who at that
time was Chancellor of the university? I have no means of referring to
any University History as to these points.
COLL. REGAL. SOCIUS.
_Black Doll at Old Store Shops._--I asked you some time since the origin
of the Black Doll at Old Store Shops; but you did not insert my Query,
which curiously enough has since been alluded to by _Punch_, as a
mystery only known to, or capable of being interpreted by, the editor of
"Notes and Queries."
A.C.
[We are obliged to our correspondent and also to our witty
contemporary for this testimony to our omniscience, and show our
sense of their kindness by giving them two explanations. The
first is, the story which has been told of its originating with
a person who kept a house for the sale of toys and rags in
Norton Falgate some century since, to whom an old woman brought
a large bundle of rags for sale, with a desire that it might
remain unopened until she could call again to see it weighed.
Several weeks having elapsed without her re-appearance, the
ragman opened the bundle, and finding in it a _black doll_
neatly dressed, with a pair of gold ear-rings, hung it over his
door, for the purpose of its being owned by the woman who had
left it. The plan succeeded, and the woman, who had by means of
the black doll recovered her bundle of rags, presented it to the
dealer; and the story becoming known, the black doll was adopted
as the favourite sign of this class of shopkeepers. Such is the
romance of the black doll; the reality, we believe, will be
found in the fact, that cast-off clothes having been formerly
purchased by dealers in large quantities, for the purpose of
being resold to merchants, to be exchanged by them in traffic
with the uncivilised tribes, who, it is known, will barter any
thing for articles of finery,--a black doll, gaily dressed out,
was adopted as the sign of such dealers in old apparel.]
_Journal of Sir William Beeston._--In reply to the inquiry of "C." (No.
25. p. 400), I can state that a journal of Sir William Beeston is now
preserved in the British Museum (MS. Add. 12,424.), and was presented to
the national collection in 1842, by Charles Edward Long, Esq. It is a
folio volume, entirely autograph, and extends from Dec. 10, 1671, when
Beeston was in command of the Assistance frigate in the West Indies, to
July 21, 1673; then from July 6 to September 6, 1680, in a voyage from
Port Royal to London; and from December 19, 1692, to March 9, 1692-3, in
returning from Portsmouth to Jamaica; and, lastly, from April 25 to June
28, 1702, in coming home from Jamaica to England. By a note written by
Mr. Long on the fly-leaf of the volume, it appears that Sir William
Beeston was baptized in Dec. 2, 1636, at Titchfield, co. Hants, and was
the second son of William Beeston, of Posbrooke, the same parish, by
Elizabeth, daughter of Arthur Bromfield. (See _Visit. C. 19. Coll.
Arm._) His elder brother, Henry, was Master of Winchester, and Warden of
New College; and his daughter and heir Jane married, first, Sir Thomas
Modyford, Bart., and, secondly, Charles Long, to whom she was a second
wife. To this may be added, that Sir William received the honour of
knighthood at Kensington, October 30, 1692, and was Governor of Jamaica
from 1693 till 1700. In the Add. MS. {445} 12,430. is contained a
narrative, by Sir William Beeston, of the descent by the French on
Jamaica, in June, 1694; as also the copy of a Journal kept by Col.
William Beeston from his first coming to Jamaica, 1655-1680.
M.
_Shrew_ (No. 24. p. 381.).--I know not whether it will at all help the
inquiry of "W.R.F." to remind him that the local Dorsetshire name of the
shrew-mouse is "_shocrop_" or "_shrocrop_." The latter is the word given
in Mr. Barnes's excellent _Glossary_, but I have just applied for its
name to two labourers, and their pronunciation of it is clearly the
former.
I should be glad to hear any conjecture as to the final syllable. The
only _folk-lore_ connected with it in this part of the country seems to
be that long ago reported by Pennant and others, viz. "Cats will kill,
but not eat it."
C.W.B.
_Trunck Breeches._--"X.Y.Z." (No. 24. p. 384) will also find the
following in Dryden's _Translation of Perseus_:--
"There on the walls by Polynotu's hand,
The conquered Medians in _trunk_-breeches stand."
Certainly a very free translation. See the original, Sat. 3. _Trunck_ is
from the Latin _truncus_, cut short, maimed, imperfect. In the preface
to _Johnson's Dictionary_ we have the following:--
"The examples are too often injudicious _truncated_."
Vide also _Shaw, Museum Liverianum_, or rather examples given in
_Richardson's Dictionary_. Shaw, in speaking of the feathers of certain
birds, says,
"They appear as if cut off transversely towards their ends with
scissors. This is a mode of termination which in the language of
natural history is called _truncated_."
The word _trunck-hose_ is often met with.
WREDJID KOOEZ.
_Queen's Messengers._--"J.U.G.G.," who inquires about Queen's messengers
(No. 12. p. 186.), will, I think, find some such information as he wants
in a parliamentary paper about King's messengers, printed by the House
of Commons in 1845 or 1846, on the motion of Mr. Warburton. Something, I
think, also occurs on the subject in the Report of the Commons'
Committee of 1844 on the Opening of Letters in the Post-office. I am
unable to refer to either of these documents at present.
C.
_Dissenting Ministers_ (No. 24. p. 383.).--The verses representing the
distinctive characteristics of many ministers, by allegorical
resemblance to _flowers_, were written by the lady whose paternal name
is given by your correspondent. She married the Rev. Joseph Brooksbank.
I think it quite improbable that those verses were ever published. It
seems that two of the three names mentioned in your description of this
"nosegay" are erroneous. The first is indisputable, RICHARD WINTER, a
man of distinguished excellence, who died in 1799. "Hugh Washington" is
certainly a mistake for HUGH WORTHINGTON; but for "James Jouyce" I can
offer no conjecture.
J.P.S.
_Ballad of "The Wars in France"_ (No. 20. p. 318.).--Your correspondent
"NEMO" will find two versions of the ballad commencing,
"As our king lay musing on his bed,"
in appendices 20 and 21 to Sir Harris Nicolas's _History of the Battle
of Agincourt_, 2nd edit. They are not, I believe, in the first edition.
I have a copy of the ballad myself, which I took down a few years ago,
together with the quaint air to which it is sung, from the lips of an
old miner in Derbyshire. My copy does not differ very much from the
first of those given by Sir H. Nicolas.
C.W.G.
["J.W." (Norwich), and "A.R." (Kenilworth), have each kindly
sent us a copy of the ballad. "F.M." informs us that it exists
as a broadside, printed and sold in Aldermary Church-yard, Bow
Lane, London, under the title of "King Henry V., his Conquest of
France, in Revenge for the Affront offered him by the French
King, in sending him (instead of the tribute due) a ton of
tennis balls." And, lastly, the "Rev. J.R. WREFORD" has called
our attention to the fact that it is printed in the collection
of _Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of
England_, edited by Mr. Dixon for the Percy Society in 1846.
Mr. Dixon's version was taken down from the singing of an
eccentric character, known as the "Skipton Minstrel," and who
used to sing it to the tune of "_The Bold Pedlar and Robin
Hood_."]
_Monody on the Death of Sir John Moore_ (No. 20. p. 320.).--This Query
has brought us a number of communications from "A.G.," "J.R.W.,"
"G.W.B.," "R.S.," and "The Rev. L. COOPER," who writes as follows:--
"The undoubted author is the late Rev. Charles Wolfe, a young
Irishman, curate of Donoughmore, diocese of Armagh, who died
1823, in the 32nd year of his age. His _Life and Remains_ were
edited by the Archdeacon of Clogher; and a _fifth_ edition of
the vol., which is an 8vo., was published in 1832 by Hamilton,
Adams, and Co., Paternoster Row. At the 25th page of the Memoir
there is the narration of an interesting discussion between Lord
Byron, Shelley, and others, as to the most perfect ode that had
ever been produced. Shelley contended for Coleridge's on
Switzerland; others named Campbell's Hohenlinden and Lord
Byron's Invocation in Manfred. But Lord Byron left the
dinner-table before the cloth was removed, and returned with a
magazine, from which he read this monody, which just then
appeared anonymously. After he had read it, he repeated the
third stanza, and pronounced it perfect, and especially the
lines:-- {446}
"'But he lay like a warrior taking his rest,
With his martial cloak around him.'
"'I should have taken the whole,' said Shelley, 'for a rough
sketch of Campbell's.'
"'No,' replied Lord Byron, 'Campbell would have claimed it, had
it been his.'
"The Memoir contains the fullest details on the subject of the
authorship, Mr. Wolfe's claim to which was also fully
established by the Rev. Dr. Miller, late Fellow of Trinity,
Dublin, and author of _Lectures on the Philosophy of Modern
History_."
[With regard to the French translation, professing to be a
monody on Lally Tollendal, and to be found in the Appendix to
his Memoirs, it was only a clever hoax from the ready pen of
Father Prout, and first appears in Bentley's _Miscellany_. No
greater proof of the inconvenience of facetiæ of this peculiar
nature can be required than the circumstance, that the
_fiction_, after a time, gets mistaken for a fact: and, as we
learn in the present case, the translation has been quoted in a
French newspaper as if it was really what it pretends to be.]
* * * * *
IRON RAILINGS ROUND ST. PAUL'S.
As the removal of the iron railing which surrounds St. Paul's Churchyard
is now said to be in contemplation, P.C.S.S. imagines that it may not be
unacceptable to the readers of "NOTES AND QUERIES," if he transcribes
the following account of it from _Hasted's Kent_, vol. ii. p. 382, which
is to be found in his description of the parish of Lamberhurst:--
"It was called _Gloucester Furnace_ in honour of the Duke of
Gloucester, Queen Anne's son, who, in the year 1698, visited it
from Tunbridge Wells. The _iron rails_ round St. Paul's
Churchyard, in London, were cast at this furnace. They compose
the most magnificent balustrade, perhaps, in the universe, being
of the height of five feet six inches, in which there are, at
intervals, seven iron gates of beautiful workmanship, which,
together with the rails, weigh two hundred tons and eighty-one
pounds; the whole of which cost 6d. per pound, and with other
charges, amounted to the sum of 11,202_l._ 0_s._ 6_d._"
P.C.S.S.
* * * * *
MISCELLANEOUS.
NOTES ON BOOKS, CATALOGUES, SALES, ETC.
If there was any ground, and we are inclined to believe there was, for
the objection urged by the judicious few against that interesting series
of illustrations of English history, Lodge's _Illustrious Portraits_,
namely, that in engraving the portraits selected, truth had often times
been sacrificed to effect; so that one had a better picture, though a
less faithful copy,--such an objection cannot be urged against a work to
which our attention has just been directed, Harding's _Historical
Portraits_. In this endeavour to bring before us the men of past time,
each "in his habit as he lived," the scrupulous accuracy with which Mr.
Harding copies an old portrait has been well seconded by the engravers,
so that this work is unrivalled for the fidelity with which it exhibits,
as by a Daguerrotype, copies in little of some very curious portraits of
old-world worthies. The collection is limited in extent; but, as it
contains plates of individuals of whom no other engraving exists, will
be a treasure to illustrators of Clarendon, Granger, &c. Among the most
interesting subjects are _Henry VIII._ and _Charles V._, from the
remarkable picture formerly at Strawberry Hill; _Sir Robert Dudley_, son
of Elizabeth's favourite; _Lord Russel of Thornhaugh_, from the picture
at Woburn; _Speaker Lenthall_; and the remarkable portrait of _Henry
Carey Viscount Falkland_, dressed in white, painted by Van Somer, which
suggested to Horace Walpole his _Castle of Otranto_.
Messrs. Sotheby and Co. will sell on Thursday next, a small but superb
collection of drawings by modern artists; and on the following Monday
will commence a six days' sale of the third portion of the important
stock of prints of Messrs. Smith; comprising some of the works of the
most eminent engravers of the continental and English schools, including
a matchless collection of the works of the Master of Fontainebleau,
engraver's proofs of book plates, and a few fine drawings.
We have received the following Catalogues:--J. Peteram's (94. High
Holborn) Catalogue, Part CXI., No. 5. for 1850 of Old and New Books; and
J. Miller's (43. Chandos Street) Catalogue No. 5. for 1850 of Books Old
and New.
* * * * *
BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES
WANTED TO PURCHASE.
(_In continuation of Lists in former Nos._)
ARNOT'S PHYSICS.--The gentleman who has a copy of this to dispose of, is
requested to send his address.
JOLDERVY'S COLLECTION OF ENGLISH EPITAPHS, or any other.
* * * * *
NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.
_Although we have this week again enlarged_ NOTES AND QUERIES _from 16
to 24 pages, in fulfilment of our promise to do so when the number and
extent of our communications called for it, we have been compelled to
omit many Notes, Queries, and Replies of great interest._
_Our attention has been called by more than one of our earliest
contributors to the inconvenience of the single initial, which they had
originally adopted, being assumed by subsequent correspondents, who
probably had no idea that the_ A., B., _or_ C., _by which they thought
to distinguish their communications, was already in use. Will our
friends avoid this in future by prefixing another letter or two to their
favourite_ A., B., _or_ C.
_Errata._.--No. 25. p. 398. col. 2. line 44., for "L.D." read "L.R."; No
26. p. 416. col. 2. line 52., for "Beattie" read "Bentley"; and the
Latin Epigram, p. 422., should commence "Longè" instead of "Longi," and
be subscribed "T.D." instead of "W. (1)."
* * * * * {447}
NEW WORKS.
I. SOUTHEY'S LIFE and CORRESPONDENCE. Edited by his Son. Vol. IV. with
Portrait of Miss Tyler, and Landscape. Post 8vo. 10s. 6d.
II. ESSAYS SELECTED from CONTRIBUTIONS to the EDINBURGH REVIEW. By HENRY
ROGERS. 2 vols. 8vo. 24s.
III. A HISTORY of the ROMANS under the EMPIRE. By the Rev. CHARLES
MERIVALE, B.D. Vols. I. and II. 8vo. 28s.
IV. CRITICAL HISTORY of the LANGUAGE and LITERATURE of ANCIENT GREECE.
By Colonel WILLIAM MURE, M.P., of Caldwell. 3 vols. 8vo. 36s.
V. Col. CHESNEY'S EXPEDITION to SURVEY the EUPHRATES and TIGRIS. With
Plates and Woodcuts. Vols. I. and II. royal 8vo. Map, 63s.--Atlas of
Charts, &c., 31s. 6d.
VI. Mr. S. LAING'S NOTES of a TRAVELLER, 2nd Series:--On the SOCIAL and
POLITICAL STATE of the EUROPEAN PEOPLE in 1848 and 1849. 8vo. 14s.
VII. Mr. W. C. TOWNSEND'S COLLECTION of MODERN STATE TRIALS. Revised and
illustrated with Essays and Notes. 2 vols. 8vo. 30s.
VIII. BANFIELD and WELD'S STATISTICAL COMPANION for 1850. Corrected and
extended to the Present Time. Fcp. 8vo. 5s.
IX. PRACTICAL HORSEMANSHIP. By HARRY HIEOVER. With 2 Plates--"Going like
Workmen," and "Going like Muffs." Fcap. 8vo. 5s.
X. Mr. C. F. CLIFFE'S BOOK of NORTH WALES: a Guide for Tourists. With
large Map and Illustrations. Fcap. 8vo. 5s.
XI. The MABINOGION. With Translations and Notes, by Lady CHARLOTTE
GUEST. 3 vols. royal 8vo. with Facsimiles and Woodcuts, 3l.; calf, 3l.
12s.; or in 7 Parts, 2l. 16s. sd.
XII. JAMES MONTGOMERY'S POETICAL WORKS. New Edition, complete In One
Volume, with Portrait and Vignette. Square crown 8vo., 10s. 6d.;
morocco, 21s.
XIII. ALETHEIA; or, the Doom of Mythology: with other Poems. By WILLIAM
CHARLES KENT. Fcap. 8vo. 7s. 6d.
XIV. The EARLY CONFLICTS of CHRISTIANITY. By the Rev. Dr. W.I. KIP, M.A.
Author of "The Christmas Holydays in Rome." Fcp. 8vo. 5s.
XV. A VOLUME OF SERMONS. By the Rev. JOSEPH SORTAIN, A.B., Minister of
North-street Chapel, Brighton. 8vo. 12s.
XVI. LOUDON'S ENCYCLOPÆDIA of GARDENING. New Edition (1850), corrected
and improved by Mrs. LOUDON, with 1000 Woodcuts. 8vo. 50s.
Also, part I. 5s. To be completed in 10 Monthly parts, 5s. each.
XVII. Dr. REECES'S MEDICAL GUIDE. New Edition (1850), with Additions,
revised and corrected by the Author's Son. 8vo. 12s.
* * * * *
NEARLY READY.
XVIII. Mr. A.K. JOHNSTON'S NEW DICTIONARY of DESCRIPTIVE and PHYSICAL
GEOGRAPHY, forming a complete General Gazetteer. 8vo. (In May.)
XIX. GOD and MAN. By the Rev. ROBERT MONTGOMERY, M.A., Author of "The
Christian Life," &c. 8vo.
XX. LETTERS on HAPPINESS. By the Authoress of "Letters to my Unknown
Friends," &c Fcap. 8vo.
XXI. HEALTH, DISEASE, and REMEDY FAMILIARLY and PRACTICALLY CONSIDERED
in RELATION to the BLOOD. By Dr. GEORGE MOORE, Author of "The Power of
the Soul over the Body," &c. Post 8vo.
London: LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN and LONGMANS.
* * * * *
NEW BOOKS.
I. A HISTORY of POTTERY and PORCELAIN, in the 16th, 17th, and 18th
Centuries. By JOSEPH MARRYAT, Esq. Coloured Plates and Woodcuts. 8vo.
(Just ready.)
II. LIFE of ROBERT PLUMER WARD, Esq. With Selections from his Political
and Literary Correspondence, Diaries, and Unpublished Remains. By the
Hon. EDMUND PHIPPS. Portrait. 2 vols. 8vo. (Next week.)
III. HANDBOOK of LONDON, Past and Present. By PETER CUNNINGHAM, F.S.A. A
New Edition, thoroughly revised, with an INDEX OF NAMES. One Volume.
Post 8vo. 16s.
IV. LIVES of VICE-ADMIRAL SIR C.V. PENROSE, K.C.B., and CAPT. JAMES
TREVENEN. By their Nephew, Rev. JOHN PENROSE, M.A. Portraits. 8vo. 10s.
6d.
V. NINEVEH and its REMAINS; being a Narrative of Researches and
Discoveries amidst the Ruins of Assyria. With an Account of the Chaldeau
Christians of Kurdistan; the Yezidis, or Devil-worshippers, and an
Inquiry into the Manners and Arts of the Ancient Assyrians. By AUSTEN H.
LAYARD, D.C.L. FOURTH EDITION. With 100 Plates and Woodcuts. 2 vols.
8vo. 36s.
VI. LIVES of the CHIEF JUSTICES of ENGLAND. From the Norman Conquest to
the Death of Lord Mansfield. By the Right Hon. LORD CHIEF JUSTICE
CAMPBELL. 2 vols. 8vo., 30s.
VII. HORACE. A NEW EDITION, beautifully printed, and illustrated by
Engravings of Coins, Gems, Bas-reliefs, Statues, &c., taken chiefly from
the Antique. Edited, with a LIFE, BY Rev. H.H. MILMAN, Dean of St.
Paul's. With 300 Vignettes. Crown 8vo.
"Not a page can be opened where the eye does not light upon some antique
gem. Mythology, history, art, manners, topography, have all their
fitting representatives. It is the highest praise to say, that the
designs throughout add to the pleasure with which Horace is read. Many
of them carry us back to the very portraitures from which the old poets
drew their inspirations."--_Classical Museum._
JOHN MURRAY: Albemarle Street.
* * * * *
NUMISMATICS.--Mr. C.R. TAYLOR respectfully invites the attention of
Collectors and others to his extensive Stock of ANCIENT and MODERN COINS
and MEDALS, which will be found to be generally fine in condition, at
prices unusually moderate. This collection includes a magnificent
specimen of the famous Decadrachm, or Medallion of Syracuse: the
extremely rare Fifty-shilling piece and other Coins of Cromwell; many
fine Proofs and Pattern Pieces of great rarity and interest; also, some
choice Cabinets, Numismatic works, &c. orders, however small, punctually
attended to. Articles forwarded to any part of the Country for
inspection, and every information desired promptly furnished,. Coins,
&c., bought, sold, or exchanged; and Commissions faithfully executed.
Address, 2. Tavistock Street, Covent Garden.
* * * * * {448}
ENGLISH HISTORICAL PORTRAITS.
THIS SERIES OF PORTRAITS, ILLUSTRATIVE OF ENGLISH HISTORY, is engraved
from highly-finished Drawings of ORIGINAL PICTURES, existing in various
Galleries and Family Collections throughout the country, made with
scrupulous accuracy by Mr. G.P. HARDING: the greater portion never
having been previously engraved.
M.M. HOLLOWAY, having purchased the whole of the impressions and plates,
now offers the Sets in a Folio Volume, bound in cloth, and including
Biographical Letter-press to each subject, at the greatly reduced price
of _£_2 12s. 6d., and _£_4 4s. 0d., for Proofs before Letters, of which
but 18 copies remain.
The Collection consists of the following Portraits:--
KING HENRY VIII. and the EMPEROR CHARLES V., from the Original, formerly
in the Strawberry Hill Gallery.
QUEEN KATHARINE OF ARRAGON, from a Miniature by HOLBEIN, in the
possession of the Duke of Buccleugh.
SIR ANTHONY BROWNE, K.G., from the Original in the possession of Thomas
Baylis, Esq., F.S.A.
ANTHONY BROWNE, VISCOUNT MONTAGUE, K.G., from the Collection of the
Marquess of Exeter.
EDWARD VERE, EARL OF OXFORD, from the Original Picture in the Collection
of the Duke of Portland.
SIR WILLIAM RUSSELL, BARON THORNHAUGH, LORD DEPUTY OF IRELAND, from the
Original Picture in the Collection of the Duke of Bedford.
WILLIAM CAMDEN, CLARENCEUX KING OF ARMS, from the Picture in the
possession of the Earl of Clarendon.
SIR ANTHONY SHIRLEY, AMBASSADOR FROM THE COURT OF PERSIA TO JAMES I.,
from the Original Miniature by Peter Oliver.
HENRY CAREY, LORD FALKLAND, LORD DEPUTY OF IRELAND, from the Original by
VANSOMER, formerly in the Strawberry Hill Collection.
SIR ROBERT DUDLEY, SON OF THE EARL OF LEICESTER, from the Original
Miniature by N. HILLIARD, in the possession of Lord De l'Isle and
Dudley.
THE RIGHT HON. WILLIAM LENTHALL, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, from a
Miniature by J. COOPER, in the possession of R.S. Holford, Esq.
MARGARET CAVENDISH, DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE, from the Original Picture in
the Collection of F. Vernon Wentworth, Esq.
SIR THOMAS BROWNE, M.D., of NORWICH, from an Original Picture in the
College of Physicians, London.
SIR CHARLES SCARBOROUGH, M.D., PHYSICIAN TO CHARLES II., JAMES II., and
WILLIAM III., from the Original Picture in the Barber-Surgeons' Hall.
FLORA MACDONALD, from the Original by A. RAMSAY, 1749, in the Picture
Gallery, Oxford.
M.M. HOLLOWAY, 25. BEDFORD STREET, COVENT GARDEN.
* * * * *
Originally published at 6l. 6s., now re-issued by WASHBOURNE, New Bridge
Street, in 12 vols. 8vo., at 3l. 3s.
THE COMPLETE WORKS OF VENERABLE BEDE,
Collected and edited by the Rev. Dr. GILES, comprising the COMMENTARY ON
HOLY SCRIPTURE, ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, HOMILIES, TRACTS, LETTERS,
POEMS, LIFE, &c. &c., in Latin and English.--Also,
THE MISCELLANEOUS WORKS AND LIFE OF BEDE,
Published at 3l. 3s., may, for a short period, be had at 1l. 11s. 6d.,
in 6 vols. 8vo., cloth, lettered Contents.
It is intended to raise the price of these immediately on the disposal
of a moiety of the small Stock now on hand.
"A new edition of Bede's Works is now published by Dr. Giles, who has
made a discovery amongst the MS. treasures which can scarcely fail of
presenting the venerable Anglo-Saxon's Homilies in a far more
trustworthy form than the press has hitherto produced them."--_Soames's
Edition of Mosheim's Note_, vol. ii. p 142.
* * * * *
PREPARING FOR PUBLICATION,
With the Sanction of the Society of Arts, and the Committee of the
Ancient and Mediæval Exhibition,
A Description of the Works of Ancient and Mediæval Art
COLLECTED AT THE SOCIETY OF ARTS IN 1850; WITH HISTORICAL INTRODUCTIONS
ON THE VARIOUS ARTS, AND NOTICES OF THE ARTISTS.
By AUGUSTUS W. FRANKS, Honorary Secretary.
The Work will be handsomely printed in super-royal 8vo., and will be
amply illustrated with Wood Engravings by P.H. DE LA MOTTE.
A LARGE PAPER EDITION will be printed if a sufficient number of
Subscribers be obtained beforehand.
GEORGE BELL, 186. FLEET STREET.
* * * * *
Printed by THOMAS CLARK SHAW, of No. 8. New Street Square, at No. 5. New
Street Square, in the Parish of St. Bride, in the City of London; and
published by GEORGE BELL, of No. 186. Fleet Street, in the Parish of St.
Dunstan in the West, in the City of London, Publisher, at No. 186. Fleet
Street aforesaid.--Saturday, May 4. 1850.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Notes and Queries, Number 27, May 4, 1850" ***
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