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Title: Notes and Queries, Number 61, December 28, 1850
Author: Various
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Notes and Queries, Number 61, December 28, 1850" ***
Ingram, Patricia A Benoy, and the Online Distributed
NOTES AND QUERIES:
A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES,
GENEALOGISTS, ETC.
* * * * *
"When found, make a note of."--CAPTAIN CUTTLE.
* * * * *
NO. 61.] SATURDAY, DECEMBER 28. 1850. [Price Threepence.
Stamped Edition 4d.
* * * * *{505}
CONTENTS.
NOTES:-- Page
Illustrations of Scottish Ballads, by Richard John King 505
The Red Hand--The Holt Family--Vincent Family 506
Vondel's Lucifer, by Janus Dousa 507
A Myth of Midridge 509
Folk Lore Miscellanies:--St. Thomas's Day--Black Doll
at Old Store-shops--Snake Charming--Mice as a
Medicine--"Many Nits, many Pits"--Swans hatched
during Thunder--Snakes--Pixies or Piskies--Straw
Necklaces--Breaking Judas' Bones 509
Local Rhymes and Proverbs of Devonshire 511
A Christmas Carol 513
A Note for little Boys 513
Similarity of Traditions 513
Pixey Legends 514
The Pool of the Black Hound 515
Popular Rhymes 515
Minor Notes:--"Passilodion" and "Berafrynde"--
Inscription on an Alms-dish--The Use of the French
Word "savez"--Job's Luck--The Assassination of
Mountfort in For folk Street, Strand--The Oldenburgh
Horn--Curious Custom--Kite--Epitaph on John
Randal--Playing Cards 515
QUERIES:--
Dragons: their Origin 517
John Sanderson, or the Cushion Dance; and Bab at the
Bowster 517
Did Bunyan know Hobbes? by J.H. Friswell 518
Minor Queries:--Boiling to Death--Meaning of
"Mocker"--"Away, let nought to love displeasing"
--Baron Münchausen--"Sing Tantararara Rogues
all," &c.--Meaning of "Cauking" 519
REPLIES:--
The Wise Men of Gotham, by J.B. Colman 520
Replies to Minor Queries:--Master John Shorne--
Antiquity of Smoking--Meaning of the Word
"Thwaites"--Thomas Rogers of Horninger--Earl
of Roscommon--Parse--The Meaning of "Version"
--First Paper-mill in England--"Torn by Horses"
--Vineyards--Cardinal--Weights for Weighing
Coins--Umbrella--Croziers and Pastoral Staves 520
MISCELLANEOUS:--
Notes on Books, Sales, Catalogues, &c. 523
Notices to Correspondents 524
Advertisements 524
* * * * *
NOTES.
ILLUSTRATIONS OF SCOTTISH BALLADS.
In the ballad of "Annan Water" (_Border Minstrelsy_, vol. iii.) is the
following verse:--
"O he has pour'd aff his dapperpy coat,
The silver buttons glanced bonny;
The waistcoat bursted aff his breast,
He was sae full of melancholy."
A very unexpected effect of sorrow, but one that does not seem to be
unprecedented. "A plague of sighing and grief," says Falstaff. "It blows
a man up like a bladder."
A remarkable illustration of Falstaff's assertion, and of the Scottish
ballad, is to be found in this _Saga of Egil Skallagrimson_. Bodvar, the
son of Egil, was wrecked on the coast of Iceland. His body was thrown up
by the waves near Einarsness, where Egil found it, and buried it in the
tomb of his father Skallagrim. The _Saga_ continues thus:--
"After that, Egil rode home to Borgar; and when he came there, he
went straightway into the locked chamber where he was wont to sleep;
and there he laid him down, and shot forth the bolt. No man dared
speak a word to him. And thus it is said that Egil was clad when he
laid Bodvar in the tomb. His hose were bound fast about his legs,
and he had on a red linen kirtle, narrow above, and tied with
strings at the sides. And men say that his body swelled so greatly
that his kirtle burst from off him, and so did his hose."--P. 602.
It is well known that the subjects of many ballads are common to
Scotland, and to the countries of Northern Europe. Thus, the fine old
"Douglas Tragedy," the scene of which is pointed out at Blackhouse
Tower, on the Yarrow, is equally localised in Denmark:
"Seven large stones," says Sir Walter, "erected upon the
neighbouring heights of Blackhouse, are shown as marking the spot
where the seven brethren were slain; and the Douglas Burn is avowed
to have been the stream at which the lovers stopped to drink; so
minute is tradition in ascertaining, the scene of a tragical tale,
which, considering, the rude state of former times, had probably
foundation in some real event."
The corresponding Danish ballad, however, that of "Ribolt and Guldborg,"
which has been translated by Mr. Jamieson, is not less minute in
pointing out the scene of action. The origin of ballads, which are thus
widely spread, must probably be sought in very high antiquity; and we
cannot wonder if we find them undergoing considerable {506} change in
the passage from one country to another. At least the "Douglas Tragedy"
betrays one very singular mark of having lost something of the original.
In "Ribolt and Guldborg," when the lady's brothers have all but
overtaken the fugitives, the knight addresses her thus:
"Light down, Guldborg, my lady dear,
And hald our steeds lay the renyes here.
And e'en sae be that ye see me fa'
Be sure that ye never upon me ca';
And e'en sae be that ye see me bleed,
Be sure that ye name na' me till dead."
Ribolt kills her father and her two eldest brothers, and then Guldborg
can no longer restrain herself:
"Hald, hald, my Ribolt, dearest mine,
Now belt thy brand, for its 'mair nor time.
My youngest brother ye spare, O spare,
To my mither the dowie news to bear."
But she has broken her lover's mysterious caution, and he is mortally
wounded in consequence:
"When Ribolt's name she named that stound,
'Twas then that he gat his deadly wound."
In the Scottish ballad, no such caution is given; nor is the lady's
calling on her lover's name at all alluded to as being the cause of his
death. It is so, however, as in the Danish version:
"She held his steed in her milk-white hand,
And never shed one tear,
Until that she saw her seven brethren fa',
And her father hard fighting, who loved her so dear.
"O hold your hand, Lord William, she said,
For your strokes they are wondrous sair;
True lovers I can get many a ane,
But a father I can never get mair."
There is no note in the _Kæmpe Viser_, says Mr. Jamieson, on this
subject; nor does he attempt to explain it himself. It has, however, a
clear reference to a very curious Northern superstition.
Thorkelin, in the essay on the Berserkir, appended to his edition of the
_Kristni-Saga_, tells us that an old name of the Berserk frenzy was
_hamremmi_, _i.e._, strength acquired from another or strange body,
because it was anciently believed that the persons who were liable to
this frenzy were mysteriously endowed, during its accesses, with a
strange body of unearthly strength. If, however, the Berserk was called
on by his own name, he lost his mysterious form, and his ordinary
strength alone remained. Thus it happens in the _Svarfdæla Saga:_
"Gris called aloud to Klanfi, and said, 'Klanfi, Klanfi! keep a fair
measure,' and instantly the strength which Klanfi had got in his
rage, failed him; so that now he could not even lift the beam with
which he had been fighting."
It is clear, therefore, continues Thorkelin, that the state of men
labouring under the Berserk frenzy was held by some, at least, to
resemble that of those, who, whilst their own body lay at home
apparently dead or asleep, wandered under other forms into distant
places and countries. Such wanderings were called _hamfarir_ by the old
northmen; and were held to be only capable of performance by those who
had attained the very utmost skill in magic.
RICHARD JOHN KING.
* * * * *
THE RED HAND.--THE HOLT FAMILY.
(Vol. ii., pp. 248. 451.)
Your correspondent ESTE, in allusion to the arms of the Holt
family, in a window of the church of Aston-juxta-Birmingham, refers to
the tradition that one of the family "murdered his cook, and was
afterwards compelled to adopt the red hand in his arms." Este is
perfectly correct in his concise but comprehensive particulars. That
which, by the illiterate, is termed "the bloody hand," and by them
reputed as an abatement of honour, is nothing more than the "Ulster
badge" of dignity. The tradition adds, that Sir Thomas Holt murdered the
cook in a cellar, at the old family mansion, by "running him through
with a spit," and afterwards buried him beneath the spot where the
tragedy was enacted. I merely revert to the subject, because, within the
last three months, the ancient family residence, where the murder is
said to have been committed, has been levelled with the ground; and
among persons who from their position in society might be supposed to be
better informed, considerable anxiety has been expressed to ascertain
whether any portion of the skeleton of the murdered cook has been
discovered beneath the flooring of the cellar, which tradition, fomented
by illiterate gossip, pointed out as the place of his interment. Your
correspondents would confer a heraldic benefit if they would point out
other instances--which I believe to exist--where family reputation has
been damaged by similar ignorance in heraldic interpretation.
The ancient family residence to which I have referred was situated at
Duddeston, a hamlet adjoining Birmingham. Here the Holts resided until
May, 1631, when Sir Thomas took up his abode at Ashton Hall, a noble
structure in the Elizabethan style of architecture, which, according to
a contemporary inscription, was commenced in April, 1618, and completed
in 1635. Sir Thomas was a decided royalist, and maintained his
allegiance to his sovereign, although the men of Birmingham were
notorious for their disaffection, and the neighbouring garrison of
Edgbaston was occupied by Parliamentarian troops. When Charles I., of
glorious or unhappy memory, was on his way from Shrewsbury to the
important battle of Edgehill, {507} on the confines of Warwickshire, he
remained with Sir Thomas, as his guest, from the 15th to the 17th of
October (vide Mauley's _Iter Carolinum_, Gutch's _Collectanea_, vol. ii.
p. 425.); and a closet is still pointed out to the visitor where he is
said to have been concealed. A neighbouring eminence is to the present
day called "King's Standing," from the fact of the unhappy monarch
having stood thereon whilst addressing his troops. By his acts of
loyalty, Sir Thomas Holt acquired the hostility of his rebellious
neighbours; and accordingly we learn that on the 18th of December, 1643,
he had recourse to Colonel Leveson, who "put forty muskettiers into the
house" to avert impending dangers; but eight days afterwards, on the
26th of December, "the rebels, 1,200 strong, assaulted it, and the day
following tooke it, kil'd 12, and ye rest made prisoners, though w'th
losse of 60 of themselves." (Vide Dugdale's _Diary_, edited by Hamper,
4to. p. 57.) The grand staircase, deservedly so entitled, bears evident
marks of the injury occasioned at this period, and an offending
cannon-ball is still preserved.
Edward, the son and heir of Sir Thomas, died at Oxford, on the 28th
August, 1643, and was buried in Christ Church. He was an ardent
supporter of the king. The old baronet was selected as ambassador to
Spain by Charles I., but was excused on account of his infirmities. He
died A.D. 1654, in the eighty-third year of his age. His excellence and
benevolence of character would afford presumptive evidence of the
falsehood of the tradition, if it were not totally exploded by the
absurdity of the hypothesis upon which it is grounded. Sir Thomas was
succeeded in the baronetcy by his grandson, Robert, who in compliance
with his will built an almshouse or hospital for five men and five
women. It is unnecessary to pursue the family further, excepting to
state that nearly at the close of the last century the entail was cut
off: the family is now unknown in the neighbourhood, excepting in its
collateral branches, and the hall has passed into the possession of
strangers. Its last occupant was James Watt, Esq., son of the eminent
mechanical philosopher. He died about two years ago, and the venerable
mansion remains tenantless.
With reference to the ancient family residence of the Holts, at
Duddeston, it will be sufficient to observe, that in the middle of the
last century the house and grounds were converted into a tavern and
pleasure gardens, under the metropolitan title of Vauxhall: and for a
century they continued to afford healthful recreation and scenic
amusement to the busy inhabitants of Birmingham. The amazing increase in
the size and population of the town has at length demanded this
interesting site for building purposes. Within the last three months the
house and gardens have been entirely dismantled, a range of building has
already been erected, and old Vauxhall is now numbered amongst the
things that were.
J. GOODWIN.
Birmingham.
_"Bloody Hands at Stoke d'Abernon, Surrey._--The legends of Sir Richard
Baker (Vol. ii., pp. 67. 244.) and of a member of the Holt family (Vol.
ii., p. 451.) recall to my mind one somewhat similar, connected with a
monument in the church of Stoke d'Abernon, Surrey, the appearance of a
"bloody hand" upon which was thus accounted for to me:--
"Two young brothers of the family of Vincent, the elder of whom had
just come into possession of the estate, were out shooting on
Fairmile Common, about two miles from the village; they had put up
several birds, but had not been able to get a single shot, when the
elder swore with an oath that he would fire at whatever they next
met with. They had not gone much further before the miller of a mill
near at hand (and which is still standing) passed them, and made
some trifling remark. As soon as he had got by, the younger brother
jokingly reminded the elder of his oath, whereupon the latter
immediately fired at the miller, who fell dead upon the spot. Young
Vincent escaped to his home, and by the influence of his family,
backed by large sums of money, no effective steps were taken to
apprehend him, and he was concealed in the 'Nunnery' on his estate
for some years, when death put a period to the insupportable anguish
of his mind. To commemorate his rash act and his untimely death,
this 'bloody hand' was placed on his monument."
So runs the story as far as I remember; the date I cannot recollect. The
legend was told me after I had left the church, and I had paid no
particular attention to the monument; but I thought at the time that the
hand might be only the Ulster badge. I shall be obliged to any of your
readers who will throw further light upon this matter. A pilgrimage to
Stoke d'Abernon, whose church contains the earliest known brass in
England, would not be uninteresting even at this season of the year.
ARUN.
* * * * *
VONDEL'S LUCIFER.
I have to complain of injustice done by a correspondent of "NOTES
AND QUERIES," to the Dutch poet Vondel. To the question mooted by
F. (Vol. i. p. 142.), whether my countryman's _Lucifer_ has ever been
translated into English, Hermes answers by a passage taken from the
_Foreign Quarterly Review_ for April, 1829; and subjoins a list of the
_dramatis personæ_ "given from the _original Dutch_ before him. The
tragedy itself is condensed by your correspondent into a simple "&c."
Now, if HERMES, instead of referring to a stale review for a
comparison between Vondel's tragedy and the _Paradise Lost_, without
showing by _any_ proof that Milton's justly renowned epic {508} is
indeed superior to this, one of the Dutch poet's masterpiece--if
HERMES, being, as I conclude from his own words, conversant
with the language of _our_ Shakspeare, had taken pains to _read
Lucifer_, he would not have repeated a statement unfavourable to
Vondel's poetical genius. I, for my part, will _not_ hazard a judgment
on poems so different and yet so alike, I will _not_ sneer at Milton's
demon-gods of Olympus, nor laugh at "their artillery discharged in the
daylight of heaven;" for such instances of bad taste are to be
considered as clouds setting off the glories of the whole; but _this_ I
will say, that Vondel wrote his _Lucifer_ in 1654, the sixty-seventh of
his life, while Milton's _Paradise Lost_ was composed four years later.
The honour of precedence, in time, at least, belongs to my countryman.
All the odds were against the British poet's competitor, if one who
wrote before him may be so called; for, while Milton enjoyed every
privilege of a sound classical education, Vondel had still to begin a
course of study when more than twenty-six years of age; and, while the
Dutch poet told the price of homely stockings to prosaic burghers, the
writer of _Paradise Lost_ was speaking the language of Torquato Tasso in
the country enraptured by the first sight of _la divina comedia_.
I am no friend of polemical writing, and I believe the less we see of it
in your friendly periodical, the better it is; but still I _must_
protest against such copying of partially-written judgments, when good
information can be got. I say not by stretching out a hand, for the book
was already opened by your correspondent--but alone by using one's eyes
and turning over a leaf or two. Else, why did HERMES learn the
Dutch language? I ask your subscribers if the following verses are
_weak_, and if they would not have done honour to the English Vondel?
CHORUS OF ANGELS.
(From _Lucifer_.)
"Who sits above heaven's heights sublime,
Yet fills the grave's profoundest place,
Beyond eternity, or time,
Or the vast round of viewless space:
Who on Himself alone depends--
Immortal--glorious--but unseen--
And in his mighty being blends
What rolls around or flows within.
Of all we know not--all we know--
Prime source and origin--a sea,
Whose waters pour'd on earth below
Wake blessing's brightest radiancy.
'Tis power, love, wisdom, first exalted
And waken'd from oblivion's birth;
Yon starry arch--yon palace, vaulted--
Yon heaven of heavens, to smile on earth.
From his resplendent majesty
We shade us 'neath our sheltering wings,
While awe-inspired, and tremblingly
We praise the glorious King of Kings,
With sight and sense confused and dim;
O name--describe the Lord of Lords,
The seraph's praise shall hallow Him;--
Or is the theme too vast for words?"
RESPONSE.
"'Tis God! who pours the living glow
Of light, creation's fountain-head:
Forgive the praise--too mean and low--
Or from the living or the dead.
No tongue thy peerless name hath spoken,
No space can hold that awful name;
The aspiring spirit's wing is broken;--
Thou wilt be, wert, and art the same!
Language is dumb. Imagination,
Knowledge, and science, helpless fall;
They are irreverent profanation,
And thou, O God! art all in all.
How vain on such a thought to dwell!
Who knows Thee--Thee the All-unknown?
Can angels be thy oracle,
Who art--who art Thyself alone?
None, none can trace Thy course sublime,
For none can catch a ray from Thee,
The splendour and the source of time--
The Eternal of eternity.
Thy light of light outpour'd conveys
Salvation in its flight elysian,
Brighter than e'en Thy mercy's rays;
But vainly would our feeble vision
Aspire to Thee. From day to day
Age steals on us, but meets thee never;
Thy power is life's support and stay--
We praise thee, sing thee, Lord! for ever."
CHORUS.
"Holy, holy, holy! Praise--
Praise be His in every land;
Safety in His presence stays;
Sacred is His high command!"
Dr. Bowring's version,--though a good one, if the difficulty be
considered of giving back a piece of poetry, whose every word is a poem
in itself, and by whose rhyme and accentuation a feeling of
indescribable awe is instilled into the most fastidious reader's
mind,--Dr. Bowring's version is but a feeble reverberation of the holy
fire pervading our Dutch poet's anthem. But still there rests enough in
his copy to give one a high idea of the original. I borrow the same
Englishman's words when I add:--
"The criticism that instructs, even though it instructs severely, is
most salutary and most valuable. It is of the criticism that
insults, and while it insults, informs not, that we have a right to
complain."--_Batavian Anthology_, p. 6.
JANUS DOUSA.
Manpadt House.
* * * * *{509}
A MYTH OF MIDRIDGE;
_Or, A Story anent a witless Wight's Adventures with the Midridge
Fairies in the Bishoprick of Durham; now more than two Centuries
ago._
Talking about fairies the other day to a nearly Octogenarian female
neighbour, I asked, had she ever seen one in her youthful days. Her
answer was in the negative; "but," quoth she, "I've heard my grandmother
tell a story, that Midridge (near Auckland) was a great place for
fairies when she was a child, and for many long years after that." A
rather lofty hill, only a short distance from the village, was their
chief place of resort, and around it they used to dance, not by dozens,
but by hundreds, when the gloaming began to show itself of the summer
nights. Occasionally a villager used to visit the scene of their gambols
in order to catch if it were but a passing glance of the tiny folks,
dressed in their vestments of green, as delicate as the thread of the
gossamer: for well knew the lass so favoured, that ere the current year
had disappeared, she would have become the happy wife of the object of
her only love; and also, as well ken'd the lucky lad that he too would
get a weel tochered lassie, long afore his brow became wrinkled with
age, or the snow-white blossoms had begun to bud forth upon his pate.
Woe to those, however, who dared to come by twos or by threes, with
inquisitive and curious eye, within the bounds of their domain; for if
caught, or only the eye of a fairy fell upon them, ill was sure to
betide them through life. Still more awful, however, was the result if
any were so rash as to address them, either in plain prose or rustic
rhyme. The last instance of their being spoken to, is thus still handed
down by tradition:--''Twas on a beautifully clear evening in the month
of August, when the last sheaf had crowned the last stack in their
master's hagyard, and after calling the "harvest home," the daytale-men
and household servants were enjoying themselves over massive pewter
quarts foaming over with strong beer, that the subject of the evening's
conversation at last turned upon the fairies of the neighbouring hill,
and each related his oft-told tale which he had learned by rote from the
lips of some parish grandame. At last the senior of the mirthful party
proposed to a youthful mate of his, who had dared to doubt even the
existence of such creatures, that he durst not go to the hill, mounted
on his master's best palfrey, and call aloud, at the full extent of his
voice, the following rhymes:
"Rise little Lads,
Wi' your iron gads,
And set the Lad o' Midridge hame."
Tam o' Shanter-like, elated with the contents of the pewter vessels, he
nothing either feared or doubted, and off went the lad to the fairy
hill; so, being arrived at the base, he was nothing loth to extend his
voice to its utmost powers in giving utterance to the above invitatory
verses. Scarcely had the last words escaped his lips ere he was nearly
surrounded by many hundreds of the little folks, who are ever ready to
revenge, with the infliction of the most dreadful punishment, every
attempt at insult. The most robust of the fairies, who I take to have
been Oberon, their king, wielding an enormous javelin, thus, also in
rhymes equally rough, rude, and rustic, addressed the witless wight:
"Silly Willy, mount thy filly;
And if it isn't weel corn'd and fed,
I'll ha' thee afore thou gets hame to thy Midridge bed."
Well was it for Willy that his home was not far distant, and that part
light was still remaining in the sky. Horrified beyond measure, he
struck his spurs into the sides of his beast, who, equally alarmed,
darted off as quick as lightning towards the mansion of its owner.
Luckily it was one of those houses of olden time, which would admit of
an equestrian and his horse within its portals without danger; lucky,
also, was it that at the moment they arrived the door was standing wide
open: so, considering the house a safer sanctuary from the belligerous
fairies than the stable, he galloped direct into the hall, to the no
small amazement of all beholders, when the door was instantly closed
upon his pursuing foes! As soon as Willy was able to draw his breath,
and had in part overcome the effects of his fear, he related to his
comrades a full and particular account of his adventures with the
fairies; but from that time forward, never more could any one, either
for love or money, prevail upon Willy to give the fairies of the hill an
invitation to take an evening walk with him as far as the village of
Midridge!
To conclude, when the fairies had departed, and it was considered safe
to unbar the door, to give egress to Willy and his filly, it was found,
to the amazement of all beholders, that the identical iron javelin of
the fairy king had pierced through the thick oaken door, which for
service as well as safety was strongly plated with iron, where it still
stuck, and actually required the strength of the stoutest fellow in the
company, with the aid of a smith's great fore-hammer, to drive it forth.
This singular relic of fairy-land was preserved for many generations,
till passing eventually into the hands of one who cared for none of
those things, it was lost, to the no small regret of all lovers of
legendary lore!
M.A.D.
* * * * *
FOLK LORE.
_St. Thomas's Day._--A Guernsey charm _pour ve ki ke sera son amant_--
"Into a golden pippin stick eighteen new pins, nine in the eye, and nine
in the stem, tie round it the left {510} garter, and place it under the
pillow. Get into bed backwards, saying,
"Le jour de St. Thomas,
Le plus court, le plus bas,
Je prie Dieu journellement,
Qu'il me fasse voir, en dormant,
Celui qui sera mon amant;
Et le pays et la contrée
Où il fera sa demeurée,
Tel qu'il sera je l'aimerai,
Ainsi soit-il."
VIATOR.
NOV. 6. 1850.
_Black Doll at Old Store-shops_ (Vol. i., p. 27.).--Is it not probable
that the black doll was an image of the Virgin, sold at the Reformation
with a lot of church vestments, and other "rags of Popery," as the
Puritans called the surplice, and first hung up by some Puritan or
Hebrew dealer.
Images of the black Virgin are not uncommon in Roman Catholic churches.
Has the colour an Egyptian origin, or whence is it?
A. HOLT WHITE.
Gladwins, Harlow.
_Snake Charming_.--Two or three summers ago, I was told a curious story
of snake charming by a lady of undoubted veracity, in whose
neighbourhood (about a dozen miles from Totnes) the occurrence had taken
place. Two coast-guard men in crossing a field fell in with a snake: one
of them, an _Irishman_, threw his jacket over the animal, and
immediately uttered or muttered a charm over it. On taking up the
garment, after a few seconds had passed, the _snake was dead_.
When I heard this story, and understood that the operator was an
Irishman, I bethought me of how Rosalind says, "I was never so be-rhymed
since Pythagoras' time, that I was an Irish rat," and accounted
satisfactorily for the fact that, "as touching snakes, there are no
snakes in _Ireland_:" for, as the song voucheth, "the snakes committed
suicide to save themselves from slaughter," _i.e._ they _were charmed to
death by St. Patrick_.
I fear it would now be impossible to recover the charm made use of by
the coast-guard man; but I will have inquiry made, and if I can obtain
any further particulars, I will forward them to you.
J.M.B.
_Mice as a Medicine_ (Vol. ii., pp. 397. 435.).--The remedy of the roast
mouse recommended in _The Pathway to Health_ (which I find is in the
British Museum), is also prescribed in _Most Excellent and Approved
Remedies_, 1652:--"Make it in powder," says the author, "and drink it
off at one draught, and it will presently help you, especially if you
use it three mornings together." The following is "an excellent remedy
to stanch bleeding:"--
"Take a toad and dry him very well in the sun, then put him in a
linen bag, and hang him with a string about the neck of the party
that bleedeth, and let it hang so low that it may touch the breast
on the left side near unto the heart; and this will certainly stay
all manner of bleeding at the mouth, nose," &c.
Sage leaves, yarrow, and ale, are recommended for a "gnawing at the
heart;" which I think should be "made a note of" for the benefit of poor
poets and disappointed authors.
WEDSECNARF.
_Mice as a Medicine_ (Vol. ii., pp. 397. 435.).--I was stopping about
three years ago in the house of a gentleman whose cook had been in the
service of a quondam Canon of Ch. Ch., who averred that she roasted mice
to cure her master's children of the hooping cough. She said it had the
effect of so doing.
CHAS. PASLAM.
"Many Nits, [nuts]
Many Pits."
A common saying hereabouts, meaning that if hazel-nuts, haws, hips, &c.,
are plentiful, many deaths will occur. But whether the deaths are to be
occasioned by nut-devouring or by seasonal influence, I cannot
ascertain. In many places, an abundant crop of hips and haws is supposed
to betoken a severe winter.
CHAS. PASLAM.
_Swans hatched during Thunder._--The fable of the singing of swans at
death is well known; but I recently heard a bit of "folk lore" as to the
birth of swans quite as poetical, and probably equally true. It is this:
that swans are always hatched during a thunderstorm. I was told this by
an old man in Hampshire, who had been connected with the care of swans
all his life. He, however, knew nothing about their singing at death.
Is this opinion as to the birth of swans common? If so, probably some of
your numerous correspondents will detail the form in which such belief
is expressed.
ROBERT RAWLINSON.
_Snakes_ (Vol. ii., p. 164.).--Several years ago, in returning from an
excursion from Clevedon, in Somerset, to Cadbury Camp, I saw a viper on
the down, which I pointed out to the old woman in charge of the donkeys,
who assailed it with a stout stick, and nearly killed it. I expressed
surprise at her leaving it with some remains of life; but she said that,
whatever she did to it, it would "live till sun-down, and as soon as the
sun was set it would die." The same superstition prevails in Cornwall,
and also in Devon.
H.G.T.
_Pixies or Piskies._--At Chudleigh Rocks I was told, a few weeks ago, by
the old man who acts as guide to the caves, of a recent instance of a
man's being pixy-led. In going home, full of strong drink, across the
hill above the cavern called the "Pixies' Hole," on a moonlit night, he
heard sweet {511} music, and was led into the whirling dance by the
"good folk," who kept on spinning him without mercy, till he fell down
"in a swoon."
On "coming to himself," he got up and found his way home, where he "took
to his bed, and never left it again, but died a little while after," the
victim (I suppose) of _delirium tremens_, or some such disorder, the
incipient symptoms of which his haunted fancy turned into the sweet
music in the night wind and the fairy revel on the heath. In the tale I
have above given he persisted (said the old man), when the medical
attendant who was called in inquired of him the symptoms of his illness.
This occurrence happened, I understood, very recently, and was told to
me in perfect good faith.
I have just been told of a man who several years ago lost his way on
Whitchurch Down, near Tavistock. The farther he went the farther he had
to go; but happily calling to mind the antidote "in such case made and
provided," he turned his coat inside out, after which he had no
difficulty in finding his way. "He was supposed," adds my informant, "to
be pisky-led."
About ten miles from Launceston, on the Bodmin road (or at least in that
direction) is a large piece of water called Dosmere (pronounced Dosmery)
Pool. A tradition of the neighbourhood says that on the shores of this
lonely mere the ghosts of bad men are ever employed in binding the sand
"in bundles with _beams_ of the same" (a local word meaning _bands_, in
Devonshire called _beans;_ as _hay-beans_, and in this neighbourhood
hay-_beams_, for hay-bands). These ghosts, or some of them, were driven
out (they say "_horsewhipped_ out," at any rate exorcised in some sort)
"by the parson" from Launceston.
H.G.T.
Launceston.
_Straw Necklaces_ (Vol. i., p. 104).--Perhaps these straw necklaces were
anciently worn to preserve their possessors against _witchcraft_; for,
till the thirteenth century, straw was spread on the floors to defend a
house from the same evil agencies. Cf. _Le Grand d'Aussi Vie des Anciens
Francs_, tom. iii. pp. 132. 134; "NOTES AND QUERIES," Vol. i.,
pp. 245. 294.
JANUS DOUSA.
_Breaking Judas' Bones._--On Good Friday eve the children at Boppart, on
the Rhine, in Germany, have the custom of making a most horrid noise
with _rattles_. They call it _breaking the bones of Judas_. Cf.
"NOTES AND QUERIES," Vol. i., p. 357.
JANUS DOUSA.
LOCAL RHYMES AND PROVERBS OF DEVONSHIRE.
"River of Dart, oh river of Dart,
Every year thou claim'st a heart."
It is said that a year never passes without the drowning of one person,
at least, in the Dart. The river has but few fords, and, like all
mountain streams, it is liable to sudden risings, when the water comes
down with great strength and violence. Compare Chambers' _Popular
Rhymes_, p. 8., "Tweed said to Till," &c. See also Olaus Wormius,
_Monumenta Danica_, p. 17.
The moormen never say "_the_ Dart," but always "Dart." "Dart came down
last night--he is very full this morning." The _cry_ of the river is the
name given to that louder sound which rises toward nightfall. Cranmere
Pool, the source of the Dart, is a place of punishment for unhappy
spirits. They may frequently be heard wailing in the morasses there.
Compare Leyden _Scenes of Infancy_, pp. 315, 316., &c.
* * * * *
Wescote (_View of Devonshire_: Exeter, 1845 (reprint), p. 348.) has a
curious story of the Tamar and Torridge. It is worth comparing with a
local rhyme given by Chambers, p. 26.: "Annan, Tweed, and Clyde," &c.
* * * * *
"When Haldon hath a hat
Kenton may beware a skat."
This often quoted saying is curiously illustrated by a passage from the
romance of Sir Gawaya and the Grene Knicht (Madden's _Sir Gawaya_, p.
77.):
"Mist muged on the mor, malt on the mountes,
_Uch hille hadde a hatte_, a myst-hakel huge."
In the note on this passage Sir Frederick quotes two proverbs like the
Devonshire one above. They are, however, well known, and there is no
lack of similar sayings.
* * * * *
"When Plymouth was a furzy down,
Plympton was a borough town."
* * * * *
When Brutus of Troy landed at Totnes, he gave the town its name; thus,--
"Here I sit, and here I rest,
And this town shall be called Totnes."
* * * * *
"Crocker, Cruwys, and Coplestone,
When the Conqueror came, were found at home."
* * * * *
"Who on the Sabbath pares his horn,
'Twere better for him he had never been born."
"At toto Thori die hominibus ungues secare minime licuit."
--Finn Magnusen, _Lex. Edd._, s.v. _Thor_.
In the district of Bohnsland, in Sweden, in the middle of the eighteenth
century, it was not thought proper to fell wood on the afternoon of
Thursday. (Id.)
* * * * *
"Many slones [sloes], many groans,
Many nits [nuts], many pits."
* * * * *
"When the aspen leaves are no bigger than your nail,
Is the time to look out for truff and peel."
* * * * *{512}
_Margaret's Flood_.--Heavy rain is expected about the time of St.
Margaret's day (July 20th). It is called "Margaret's flood."
* * * * *
"Widdecombe folks are picking their geese,
Faster, faster, faster."
A saying among the parishes of the south coast during a snow-storm.
'Widdecombe' is "Widdecombe in the Dartmoors."
* * * * *
"Quiet sow, quiet mow."
A saying with reference to land or lease held on lives. If the seed is
sown without notice of the death of the life, the corn may be reaped,
although the death took place before the sowing.
* * * * *
Bees.--
"If they swarm in May,
They're worth a pound next day.
If they swarm in July,
They're not worth a fly."
Bees must never be bought. It is best to give a sack of wheat for a
hive.
* * * * *
_Dinnick_ is the Devonshire name of a small bird, said to follow and
feed the cuckoo.
* * * * *
A cat will not remain in a house with an unburied corpse; and rooks will
leave the place until after the funeral, if the rookery be near the
house.
* * * * *
It is proper to make a low bow whenever a single magpie is seen.
* * * * *
It is not considered safe to plant a bed of lilies of the valley; the
person doing so will probably die in the course of the next twelve
months.
* * * * *
Where the rainbow rests, is a crock of gold.
* * * * *
A cork under the pillow is a certain cure for cramp.
* * * * *
Seven different herbs must be used for making a herb poultice.
"The editor remembers a female relation of a former vicar of St.
Erth, who, instructed by a dream, prepared decoctions of various
herbs, and repairing to the Land's End, poured them into the sea,
with certain incantations, with the expectation of seeing the
Lionesse rise immediately out of the water having all its
inhabitants alive, notwithstanding their long immersion."--Davies
Gilbert's _Cornwall_, vol. iii. p. 310.
* * * * *
If the fire blazes up brightly when the crock is hung up, it is a sign
there is a stranger coming.
* * * * *
_Cure for Thrush_.--Take the child to a running stream, draw a straw
through its mouth, and repeat the verse, "Out of the mouth of babes and
sucklings," &c.
* * * * *
A creature of enormous size, called a "bull-frog," is believed to live
under the foundation stones of old houses, hedges, &c. I remember having
heard it spoken of with great awe.
* * * * *
_Hen and Chickens._--In a parish adjoining Dartmoor is a green fairy
ring of considerable size, within which a black hen and chickens are
occasionally seen at nightfall.
The vicar of a certain Devonshire parish was a distinguished student of
the black art, and possessed a large collection of mysterious books and
manuscripts. During his absence at church, one of his servants visited
his study, and finding a large volume open on the desk, imprudently
began to read it aloud. He had scarcely read half a page when the sky
became dark, and a great wind shook the house violently; still he read
on; and in the midst of the storm the door flew open, and a black hen
and chickens came into the room. They were of the ordinary size when
they first appeared, but gradually became larger and larger, until the
hen was of the bigness of a good sized ox. At this point the vicar
suddenly closed his discourse, and dismissed his congregation, saying he
was wanted at home, and hoped he might arrive there in time. When he
entered the chamber the hen was already touching the ceiling. But he
threw down a bag of rice, which stood ready in the corner; and whilst
the hen and chickens were busily picking up the grains, he had time to
reverse the spell.--(Ceridwer takes the form of a hen in the _Hanes
Taliesin_.) I believe a hen and chickens is sometimes found on the
bosses of early church roofs. A sow and pigs certainly are. A black sow
and pigs haunt many cross roads in Devonshire.
* * * * *
The _Dewerstone_ is a lofty mass of rock rising above the bed of the
Plym, on the southern edge of Dartmoor. During a deep snow, the traces
of a naked human foot and of a cloven hoof were found ascending to the
highest point. The valley below is haunted by a black headless dog.
Query, is it Dewerstone, Tiwes-tun, or Tiwes-stan?--(Kemble's _Saxons_,
vol. i. p. 351.)
* * * * *
The great Cromlech at Drewsteignton is said to have been erected by
three _spinsters_ (meaning _spinners_); another legend says by three
young men. The first is the more usual saying. The Cromlech is generally
called "The Spinster's Rock." Rowe (_Dartmoor_, p. 99.) suggests that
the three spinsters were the Valkyrien, or perhaps the Fates. He is no
doubt right.
* * * * *
Rock and stone legends abound. A great quoit on the top of Heltor is
said to have been thrown {513} there by the Devil during fight with King
Arthur. Adin's Hole (Etin's) is the name of a sea cavern near Torquay;
another is Daddy's Hole. The Devil long hindered the building of
Buckfastleigh Church, which stands on the top of a steep hill. A stone,
at about the distance of a mile, has the marks of his finger and thumb.
The stone circles, &c. on Dartmoor, are said to have been made "when
there were wolves on the hills, and winged serpents in the low lands."
On the side of Belstone Tor, near Oakhampton, is a small grave circle
called "Nine Stones." It is said to dance every day at noon.
* * * * *
Whoever shall find the treasure hidden in Ringmore Down, may plough with
a golden plough-share, and yoke his oxen with golden cross-sticks.
R.J.K.
A CHRISTMAS CAROL.
The following carol has not, I believe, been printed in any of the
modern collections; certainly it is not in those of Mr. Sandys and Mr.
Wright. It is copied from Ad. MS. Brit. Mus. 15,225, a manuscript of the
time of James I. It may, perhaps, bethought appropriate for insertion in
your Christmas number. I have modernised the orthography.
A CAROL FOR CHRISTMAS-DAY.
Rejoice, rejoice, with heart and voice,
For Christ his birth this day rejoice.
1.
From Virgin's womb to us this day did spring
The precious seed that only saved man;
This day let man rejoice and sweetly sing,
Since on this day salvation first began.
This day did Christ man's soul from death remove,
With glorious saints to dwell in heaven above.
2.
This day to man came pledge of perfect peace,
This day to man came love and unity,
This day man's grief began for to surcease,
This day did man receive a remedy
For each offence, and every deadly sin,
With guilt of heart that erst he wander'd in.
3.
In Christ his flock let love be surely placed,
From Christ his flock let concord hate expel,
In Christ his flock let love be so embraced,
As we in Christ, and Christ in us, may dwell.
Christ is the author of all unity,
From whence proceedeth all felicity.
4.
O sing unto this glittering glorious King,
And praise His name let every living thing;
Let heart and voice, let bells of silver, ring,
The comfort that this day to us did bring;
Let lute, let shawm, with sound of sweet delight,
The joy of Christ his birth this day recite.
BUON. ERIC.
A NOTE FOR LITTLE BOYS.
In order that all good little boys who take an interest in the
"NOTES AND QUERIES" may know how much more lucky it is for them
to be little boys now, than it was in the ancient times, I would wish
them to be informed of the cruel manner in which even good little boys
were liable to be treated by the law of the Ripuarians. When a sale of
land took place it was required that there should be twelve witnesses,
and with these as many boys, in whose presence the price of the land
should be paid, and its formal surrender take place; and then the boys
were beaten, and their ears pulled, so that the pain thus inflicted upon
them should make an impression upon their memory, and that they might,
if necessary, be afterwards witnesses as to the sale and delivery of the
land. (_Lex Ripuarium LX., de Traditionibus et Testibus._) In a note of
Balucius upon this passage he states:
"A practice somewhat similar to this prevails in our our times, for
in some of the provinces, whenever a notorious criminal is condemned
to death, parents bring their sons with them to the place of
execution, and, at the moment that he is put to death, they whip
their children with rods, so that being thus excited by their own
sufferings, and by seeing the punishment inflicted on another for
his sins, they may ever bear in mind how necessary it is for them,
in their progress through life, to be prudent and virtuous."--_Rev.
Gall. et Franc. Script._, vol. iv. p. 277. n.e.
W.B. MACCABE.
SIMILARITY OF TRADITIONS.
Having recently met with some curious instances of the extent to which
the same or similar traditions extend themselves, not only in our own
country, but in Wales and France, I have "made a note" of them for your
service.
_Burying in the church wall_ is supposed to be burying in neutral
ground.
In the north wall of the church of Tremeirchion, near the banks of the
Elwy, North Wales (described by Pennant, vol. ii. p. 139.), is the tomb
of a former vicar, Daffydd Ddu, or the black of Hiradduc, who was vicar
of the parish, and celebrated as a necromancer, flourishing about 1340.
Of him the tradition is, that he proved himself more clever than the
Wicked One himself. A bargain was made between them that the vicar
should practise the black art with impunity during his life, but that
the Wicked One should possess his body after death, whether he were
buried within or without the church; and that the worthy vicar cheated
his ally of his bargain by being buried neither within nor without the
church, but in the wall itself.
A very similar tradition exists at Brent Pelham, Hertfordshire, with
reference to the tomb of Pierce Shonke, which was also in the wall. He
is said to have died A.D. 1086. Under the feet of the figure {514} was
a "cross flourie, and under the cross a serpent" (Weever, p. 549.), and
the inscription is thus translated in Chauncy's _Hertfordshire_, p. 143:
"Nothing of Cadmus nor St. George, those names
Of great renown, survives them, but their fames;
Time was so sharp set as to make no bones
Of theirs nor of their monumental stones,
But _Shonke_ one serpent kills, t'other defies,
And in this wall as in a fortress lyes."
Whilst in the north wall of Rouen Cathedral is the tomb of an early
archbishop, who having accidentally killed a man by hitting him with a
soup ladle, because the soup given by the servant to the poor was of an
inferior quality, thought himself unworthy of a resting-place within the
church, and disliking to be buried without, was interred in the wall
itself.
_Miraculous Cures for Lameness._--The holy well _Y fynnon fair_, or Our
Lady's Well, near Pont yr allt Gôch, close to the Elwy, has to this day
the reputation of curing lameness so thoroughly, that those who can
reach it walking on crutches may fling their crutches away on their
return home. Welsh people still come several miles over the hills to
this holy spring. A whole family was there when I visited its healing
waters last month.
The same virtue is ascribed at Rouen to a walk to the altar at St.
Katherine's Church, at the top of St. Katherine's Hill, where the
cast-off crutches have been preserved. In the latter case something less
than a miracle may account for the possibility of going away without
crutches; for they may be required to mount to a lofty eminence, and may
well be dispensed with on coming down: but as this supposition would
lessen the value of a tradition implicitly believed, of course all
sensible men will reject it at once.
WM. DURANT COOPER.
81. Guilford Street.
PIXEY LEGENDS.
In reference to your correspondent H.G.T.'s article on _pixies_ (Vol.
ii., p. 475.), allow me to say that I have read the distich which he
quotes in a tale to the following effect:--In one of the southern
counties of England--(all the pixey tales which I have heard or read
have their seat laid in the south of England)--there lived a lass who
was courted and wed by a man who, after marriage, turned out to be a
drunkard, neglecting his work, which was that of threshing, thereby
causing his pretty wife to starve. But after she could bear this no
longer, she dressed herself in her husband's clothes (whilst he slept
off the effects of his drunkenness), and went to the barn to do her
husband's work. On the morning of the second day, when she went to the
barn, she found a large pile of corn threshed, which she had not done;
and so she found, for three or four days, her pile of corn doubled. One
night she determined to watch and see who did it, and carrying her
intention into practice, she saw a little pixey come into the barn with
a tiny flail, with which he set to work so vigorously that he soon
threshed a large quantity. During his work he sang,
"Little Pixey, fair and slim,
Without a rag to cover him."
The next day the good woman made a complete suit of miniature clothes,
and hung them up behind the barn door, and watched to see what _pixey_
would do. I forgot to mention that he hung his flail behind the door
when he had done with it.
At the usual time the pixey came to work, went to the door to take down
his flail, and saw the suit of clothes, took them down, and put them on
him, and surveyed himself with a satisfied air, and sang
"Pixey fine, and pixie gay.
Pixey now must fly away."
It then flew away, and she never saw it more.
In this tale the word was invariably spelt "pixey."
TYSIL.
_Pixies._--The _puckie_-stone is a rock above the Teign, near Chagford.
In the _Athenæum_ I mentioned the rags in which the pixies generally
appear. In _A Narrative of some strange Events that took place in Island
Magee and Neighbourhood in 1711_, is this description of a spirit that
troubled the house of Mr. James Hattridge:
"About the 11th of December, 1710, when the aforesaid Mrs. Hattridge
was sitting at the kitchen-fire, in the evening, before daylight
going, a little boy (as she and the servants supposed) came in and
sat down beside her, having an old black bonnet on his head, with
short black hair, a half-worn blanket about him, trailing on the
ground behind him, and a _torn_ black vest under it. He seemed to be
about ten or twelve years old, but he still covered his face,
holding his arm with a piece of the blanket before it. She desired
to see his face, but he took no notice of her. Then she asked him
several questions; viz., if he was cold or hungry? If he would have
any meat? Where he came from, and where he was going? To which he
made no answer, but getting up, danced very nimbly, leaping higher
than usual, and then ran out of the house as far as the end of the
garden, and sometimes into the cowhouse, the servants running after
him to see where he would go, but soon lost sight of him; but when
they returned, he would be close after them in the house, which he
did above a dozen of times. At last the little girl, seeing her
master's dog coming in, said, 'Now my master is coming he will take
a course with this troublesome creature,' upon which he immediately
went away, and troubled them no more till the month of February,
1711."
This costume is appropriate enough for an Irish spirit; but here may
possibly be some connexion with the ragged clothes of the Pixies. (Comp.
"Tatrman," _Deutsche Mythol._, p. 470.; and Canciani's note "De
Simulachris de Pannis factis," _Leges Barbar._, iii. p. 108.; _Indic.
Superst._) The common story of Brownie and his clothes is, I suppose,
connected. {515}
In some parts of Devonshire the pixies are called "derricks," evidently
the A.-S. "doeorg." In Cornwall it is believed that wherever the pixies
are fond of resorting, the depths of the earth are rich in metal. Very
many mines have been discovered by their singing.
R.J.K.
THE POOL OF THE BLACK HOUND.
In the parish of Dean Prior is a narrow wooded valley, watered by a
streamlet, that in two or three places falls into cascades of
considerable beauty. At the foot of one of these is a deep hollow called
the Hound's Pool. Its story is as follows.
There once lived in the hamlet of Dean Combe a weaver of great fame and
skill. After long prosperity he died, and was buried. But the next day
he appeared sitting at the loom in his chamber, working diligently as
when he was alive. His sons applied to the parson, who went accordingly
to the foot of the stairs, and heard the noise of the weaver's shuttle
in the room above. "Knowles!" he said, "come down; this is no place for
thee." "I will," said the weaver, "as soon as I have worked out my
quill," (the "quill" is the shuttle full of wool). "Nay," said the
vicar, "thou hast been long enough at thy work; come down at once!"--So
when the spirit came down, the vicar took a handful of earth from the
churchyard, and threw it in its face. And in a moment it became a black
hound. "Follow me," said the vicar; and it followed him to the gate of
the wood. And when they came there, it seemed as if all the trees in the
wood were "coming together," so great was the wind. Then the vicar took
a nutshell with a hole in it, and led the hound to the pool below the
waterfall. "Take this shell," he said; "and when thou shalt have dipped
out the pool with it, thou mayst rest--not before." And at mid-day, or
at midnight, the hound may still be seen at its work.
R.J.K.
POPULAR RHYMES.
The following popular rhymes may perhaps amuse some of your readers.
They are not to be found in the article "Days Lucky or Unlucky," in
Brand's _Popular Antiquities_, or in Sir Henry Ellis's notes (see his
edition, vol. ii. p. 27.), and perhaps have never been printed:--
_Days of the Week.--Marriage._
"Monday for wealth,
Tuesday for health,
Wednesday the best day of all;
Thursday for crosses,
Friday for losses,
Saturday no luck at all."
_Moon._
"Saturday new,
And Sunday full,
Never was fine,
And never wool."
_Days of the Week.--Birth._
"Born of a Monday,
Fair in face;
Born of a Tuesday,
Full of God's grace;
Born of a Wednesday,
Merry and glad;
Born of a Thursday,
Sour and sad;
Born of a Friday,
Godly given;
Born of a Saturday,
Work for your living;
Born of a Sunday,
Never shall we want;
So there ends the week,
And there's an end on't."
_How to treat a Horse._
"Up the hill, urge him not;
Down the bill, drive him not;
Cross the flat, spare him not;
To the hostler, trust him not."
_How to sow Beans._
"One for the mouse,
One for the crow,
One to rot,
One to grow."
_January Weather._
"When the days lengthen,
The colds strengthen."
Two German proverbial distiches, similar to the last, are given in
Körte's _Sprichwörter_, p. 548.:
"Wenn de Dage fangt an to längen,
Fangt de Winter an to strengen."
"Wenn die Tage langen,
Kommt der Winter gegangen."
With the first set of rhymes, we may compare the following verses on
washing on the successive days of the week, in Halliwell's _Nursery
Rhymes of England_, p. 42. ed. 3.:
"They that wash on Monday
Have all the week to dry;
They that wash on Tuesday,
Are not so much awry;
They that wash on Wednesday,
Are not so much to blame;
They that wash on Thursday,
Wash for shame;
They that wash on Friday,
Wash in need;
And they that wash on Saturday,
Oh! they are sluts indeed."
L.
* * * * *
Minor Notes.
_"Passilodion" and "Berafrynde."_--Have these terms, which play so
memorable a part in the "Tale of King Edward and the Shepherd" {516}
(Hartshorne's _Ancient Metrical Tales_) been explained? The shepherd's
instructions (pp. 48, 49.) seem more zealous than luminous; but it has
occurred to me that _perhaps_ "passelodion," "passilodyon," or
"passilodion" may have some reference to the ancient custom of drinking
from a _peg_-tankard, since [Greek: passalos] means a _peg_, and [Greek:
passalôdia] would be a legitimate pedantic rendering of _peg-song_, or
_peg-stave_, and _might_ be used to denote an exclamation on having
_reached the peg_.
H.G.T.
_Inscription on an Alms-dish._--In Bardsea Church, Island of Furness, is
an alms-dish(?) of a large size, apparently very old, gilt, and bearing
the following inscription:--
"WYLT : GHY : LANGHELEVEN : SOO : ERT : GODT :
ENDE : HOOVT : ZYN : GEBAT : VORWAR."
Bardsea Church is recently erected in a district taken out of Urswick
parish.
Can any of your readers give an explanation of the inscription?
F.B. RELTON.
[This is another specimen of the alms-dishes, of which several have been
described in our First Volume. The legend may be rendered, _If thou wilt
live long, honour God, and above all keep His commandments_.]
_The Use of the French Word "savez."_--About fifty years ago the use of
the French word _savez_, from the verb _savoir_, to know, was in general
use (and probably is so at the present time) among the negroes in the
island of Barbadoes,--"_Me no savez, Massa_," for, "I do not know,
Master (or Sir)." It occurred to the writer at that time as a very
singular fact, because the French had never occupied that island; nor is
he aware of any French negroes having been introduced there. He had also
been informed of its use in other places, but made no note of it. In the
_Morning Herald_ of the 7th instant there is a statement that the
Chinese at Canton, speaking a little English, make use of the same word.
Can any of your readers give an explanation of this?
J.F.
_Job's Luck_.--I send you another version of Job's luck, in addition to
those that have lately appeared in "NOTES AND QUERIES:"
"The devil engaged with Job's patience to battle,
Tooth and nail strove to worry him out of his life;
He robb'd him of children, slaves, houses, and cattle,
But, mark me, he ne'er thought of taking his wife.
"But heaven at length Job's forbearance rewards,
At length double wealth, double honour arrives,
He doubles his children, slaves, houses, and herds,
But we don't hear a word of a couple of wives."
A.M.
_The Assassination of Mountfort in Norfolk street, Strand._--The murder
of Mountfort is related with great particularity in Galt's _Lives of the
Players_, and is also detailed in, if I recollect aright, Mr. Jesse's
_London and its Celebrities;_ but in neither account is the following
anecdote mentioned, the purport of which adds, if possible, to the
blackness of Mohun's character:--
"Mr. Shorter, Horace Walpole's mother's father, was walking down
Norfolk Street in the Strand, to his house there, just before poor
Mountfort the player was killed in that street by assassins hired by
Lord Mohun. This nobleman lying in for his prey, came up and
embraced Mr. Shorter by mistake, saying 'Dear Mountfort.' It was
fortunate that he was instantly undeceived, for Mr. Shorter had
hardly reached his house before the Murder took
place."--_Walpoliana_, vol. ii. p. 97., 2nd ed.
J.B.C.
_The Oldenburgh Horn_ (Vol. ii., p. 417.) is preserved amongst the
antiquities in the Gallery of the King of Denmark at Copenhagen. It is
of silver gilt, and ornamented in paste with enamel. It is considered by
the Danish antiquaries to be of the time of Christian I., in the latter
half of the fifteenth century. There are engraved on it coats of arms
and inscriptions, which show that it was made for King Christian I., in
honour of the three kings, or wise men, on whose festival he used it, at
Cologne.
W.C. TREVELYAN.
Wallington, Dec. 19. 1850.
[We avail ourselves of the opportunity afforded by Sir Walter
Trevelyan's communication to add from Vulpius (_Handwörterbuch der
Mythologie_) the following additional references to representations and
descriptions of this celebrated horn--which is there said (p. 184.) to
have been found in 1639:--Schneider, _Saxon. Vetust._ p. 314.;
Winkelmann's _Oldenburgische Chronik._ s. 59.; S. Meyer, _Vom
Oldenburgischen Wunderhorne_, Bremen, 1757.]
_Curious Custom_.--In 1833 the late Record Commissioners issued Circular
Questions to the Municipal Corporations of England and Wales, requesting
various information; among such questions was the following:--"Do any
remarkable customs prevail, or have any remarkable customs prevailed
within memory, in relation to the ceremonies accompanying the choice of
corporate officers, annual processions, feasts, &c., not noticed in the
printed histories or accounts of your borough? Describe them, if there
be such."
To this question the borough of Chippenham, Wilts, replied as
follows:--"The corporation dine together twice a-year, and _pay for it
themselves_!" (_Report of Record Commissioners_, 1837, p. 442.)
J.E.
_Kite_ (_French_, "_Cerf-volant_").--Some years ago, when reading Dr.
Paris' popular work called _Philosophy in Sport made Science in
Earnest_, 5th edition, London, J. Murray, 1842, I observed that the
author could not explain the meaning of the French term "cerf-volant,"
applied to the toy so well known among boys in England as a "kite," and
in Scotland as a "dragon." The following passages will solve this
mystery: {517}
"Cerf-volant. Scarabæus lucanus. Sorte d'insecte volant qui porte
des cornes dentelées, comme celles du cerf.
"Cerf-volant. Ludicra scarabei lucani effigies. On donne ce nom à
une sorte de joüet d'enfans qui est composé de quelques bâtons
croisés sur lesquels on étend du papier, et exposant cette petite
machine à l'air, le moindre vent la fait voler. On la retient et on
la tire comme l'on veut, par le moyen d'une longue corde qui y est
attachée."--See _Dictionnaire de la Langue Françoise_, de Pierre
Richelet; à Amsterdam, 1732.
In Kirby and Spence's _Entomology_, vol. ii. p. 224., they mention "the
terrific and protended jaws of the stag-beetle of Europe, the _Lucanus
Cervus_ of Linnæus."
The "toothed horns" alluded to by Richelet are represented by the pieces
of stiff paper fastened at intervals, and at right angles, to the
string-tail of the toy kite, or dragon, so much delighted in by boys at
certain seasons of the year in England and Scotland.
G.F.G.
Edinburgh.
_Epitaph on John Randal._--As a counterpart to Palise's death, I have
sent a Warwickshire epitaph, taken from Watford Magna churchyard,
written about the same period:
"Here old John Randal lies, who counting by his sale,
Lived three score years and ten, such virtue was in ale;
Ale was his meat, ale was his drink, ale did his heart revive,
And could he still have drunk his ale, he still had been alive."
J.R.
_Playing Cards._--As a rider to THE HERMIT OF HOLYPORT'S Query
respecting his playing cards (Vol. ii., p. 462.), I would throw out a
suggestion to all your readers for notices of similar emblematic playing
cards: whether such were ever used for playing with? what period so
introduced? and where? as both France and Spain lay claim to their first
introduction. I see that Mr. Caton exhibited at one of the meetings of
the Archæological Institute this season a curious little volume of small
county maps, numbered so as to serve as a pack of cards (described more
fully in the _Archæological Journal_ for September, 1850, p 306.), and
which I regret I did not see.
W.H.P.
Wanstead, Dec. 13. 1850.
* * * * *
Queries.
DRAGONS: THEIR ORIGIN.
When passing through the city of Brünn, in Moravia, rather more than a
year ago, my attention was drawn to the _Lindwurm_ or dragon, preserved
there from a very remote period. This monster, according to tradition,
was invulnerable, like his brother of Wantley, except in a few
well-guarded points, and from his particular predilection in favour of
veal and young children, was the scourge and terror of the
neighbourhood. The broken armour and well-picked bones of many doughty
knights, scattered around the entrance to the cave he inhabited,
testified to the impunity with which he had long carried on his
depredations, in spite of numerous attempts to destroy him. Craftiness,
however, at last prevailed where force had proved of no effect, and the
Lindwurm fell a victim to the skill of a knight, whose name I believe
has been handed down to posterity. The mode adopted by the warrior to
deceive his opponent, was to stuff, as true to nature as possible, with
unslaked lime, the skin of a freshly killed calf, which he laid before
the dragon's cave. The monster, smelling the skin, is said to have
rushed out and instantly to have swallowed the fatal repast, and feeling
afterwards, as may be readily expected, a most insatiable thirst,
hurried off to a neighbouring stream, where he drank until the water,
acting upon the lime, caused him to burst. The inhabitants, on learning
the joyful news, carried the knight and the Lindwurm in triumph into the
city of Brünn, where they have ever since treasured up the memento of
their former tyrant. The animal, or reptile, thus preserved, is
undoubtedly of the crocodile or alligator species, although I regret it
was not in my power to examine it more particularly, evening having set
in when I saw it in the arched passage leading to the town-hall of the
city where it has been suspended. I fear also that any attempt to count
the distinguishing bones would be fruitless, the scaly back having been
covered with a too liberal supply of pitch, with the view to protection
from the weather.
Have any of your readers seen this _Lindwurm_ under more favourable
circumstances than myself, and can they throw any light on the genus to
which it belongs?
May not the various legends respecting dragons, &c., have their origin
from similar circumstances to those of this Brünn Lindwurm, which I take
to leave strong proof of fact, the body being there? Perhaps some of our
correspondents may have it in their power to give further corroborative
evidence of the former existence of dragons under the shape of
crocodiles. The description of the Wantley dragon tallies with that of
the crocodile very nearly.
R.S., Jun.
* * * * *
JOAN SANDERSON, OR THE CUSHION DANCE; AND BAB AT THE BOWSTER.
Can any of your numerous valuable correspondents give me the correct
date, or any clue to it, of the above dance. There is little doubt of
its great antiquity. The dance is begun by a single person (either a
woman or man), who {518} dances about the room with a cushion in his
hand, and at the end of the tune stops and sings:
"This dance it will no further go!"
[_The Musician answers._]
"I pray you, good sir, why say you so?"
[_Man._]
"Because Joan Sanderson will not come to!"
[_Music._]
"She must come to, and she shall come to,
And she must come whither she will or no."
He now lays down the cushion before a woman, on which she kneels, and he
kisses her, singing:
"Welcome, Joan Sanderson, welcome, welcome."
She rises with the cushion, and both dance about, singing:
"Prinkum-prankum is a fine dance,
And shall we go dance it once again,
And once again,
And shall we go dance it once again?"
Then making a stop, the woman sings, as before:
"This dance it will no further go!"
[_Music._]
"I pray you, madam, why say you so?"
[_Woman._]
"Because John Sanderson will not come to."
[_Music._]
"He must come to," &c.
And so she lays down the cushion before a man, who, kneeling, upon it,
salutes her, she singing:
"Welcome, John Sanderson," &c.
Then, he taking up the cushion, they take hands, and dance round,
singing as before: and this they do till the whole company is taken into
the ring. Then the cushion is laid down before the first man, the woman
singing, "This dance," &c. (as before), only instead of "Come to," they
sing "Go fro," and instead of "Welcome, John Sanderson," &c., they sing,
"Farewell, John Sanderson, farewell," &c.: and so they go out, one by
one, as they came in. This dance was at one time highly popular, both at
court and in the cottage, in the latter of which, in some remote country
villages, it is still danced. Selden, in his _Table Talk_, thus refers
to it:
"The court of England is much altered. At a solemn dancing, first
you have the grave measures, then the _Corvantoes_ and the
_Galliards_, and this is kept up with ceremony, at length to
Trenchmore and the Cushion dance; and then all the company dance,
lord and groom, lady and kitchen-maid, no distinction. (Would our
fair Belgravians of 1850 condescend to dance with their
kitchen-maids?) So in our court in Queen Elizabeth's time, gravity
and state were kept up. In King James's time, things were pretty
well. But in King Charles's time there has been nothing but
Trenchmore and the Cushion dance," &c.
I shall also feel obliged for the date of _Bab at the Bowster_, or _Bab
in the Bowster_, as it is called in Scotland. Jamieson, in his
_Dictionary_, describes it as a very old Scottish dance, and generally
the last danced at weddings and merry-makings. It is now danced with a
handkerchief in place of a cushion; and no words are used. That a rhyme
was formerly used, there is little doubt. Query, What were the words of
this rhyme?
MAC.
Charminster.
* * * * *
DID BUNYAN KNOW HOBBES?
I observe a querist wishes to know the artist of the portrait of Bunyan
prefixed to his works. I can only myself conjecture Cooper, the
miniature painter, but I am also curious about the great author of _The
Pilgrim's Progress_.
First, is Bunyan really the author of "Heart's Ease in Heart's Trouble,"
and the "Visions of Heaven and Hell," published in his works, and
perhaps, excepting "Grace Abounding," the most popular of his received
miscellanies? I think not. My reasons are these. The style is very
different, and much poorer than his best works. In the "Progress," when
he quotes Latin, he modestly puts a side-note [The Latin that _I
borrow_]. In the two tracts mentioned he flashes out a bit of Latin two
or three times where he might have much better used English, or in a
superfluous way. Also it is curious to know that in his "Visions of
Hell" he meets Leviathan Hobbes, the philosopher of Malmesbury. The
passage is curious, for if true, and written by Bunyan, it proves him to
be personally acquainted with Hobbes. I extract it. After hearing his
name called out, Epenetus (the author and visitant of the infernal
regions) naturally inquires who it is that calls him. He is answered,--
"I was once well acquainted with you on earth, and had almost
persuaded you to be of my opinion. I am the author of that
celebrated book, so well known by the title of _Leviathan_!
"'What! the great Hobbes,' said I, 'are you come hither? _Your voice
is so much changed, I did not know it._'"
The dialogue which ensues is not worth quoting, as it is from our
purpose. But I would ask when was the time when Bunyan "was nearly
persuaded to be of Hobbes' opinion?" If he is the author and speaks the
truth (and he is notoriously truthful), it must have been in early
youth; but surely the philosopher of Malmesbury could not know an
obscure tinker. Bunyan cannot speak metaphorically, for he had not read
the _Leviathan_, since he mentions that his only reading in early life,
_i.e._ when he was likely to have embraced freethinking, was the
_Practice of Piety_, and the _Plain Man's Pathway to Heaven_, his wife's
dowry. {519} Moreover, he notes particularly the _change of voice_, a
curious circumstance, which testifies personal acquaintance. Hobbes died
in 1679; Bunyan in 1688. Were they intimate?
JAS. H. FRISWELL.
* * * * *
Minor Queries.
_Boiling to Death._--Some of your correspondents have communicated
instances where burning to death was inflicted as a punishment; and
MR. GATTY suggests that it would prove an interesting subject
for inquiry, at what period such barbarous inflictions ceased. In Howe's
_Chronicle_ I find the two following notices:
"The 5th of Aprill (1532) one Richard Rose, a cooke, was boiled in
Smithfielde, for poisoning of divers persons, to the number of
sixteen or more, at ye Bishop of Rochester's place, amongst the
which Benet Curwine, gentleman, was one, and hee intended to have
poisoned the bishop himselfe, but hee eate no potage that day,
whereby hee escaped. Marie the poore people that eate of them, many
of them died."--Howe's _Chronicle_, p. 559.
"The 17th March (1542) Margaret Dany, a maid, was boiled in
Smithfield for poisoning of three households that shee had dwelled
in."--Howe's _Chronicle_, p. 583.
Query, was this punishment peculiar to cooks guilty of poisoning? And
when did the latest instance occur?
L.H.K.
_Meaning of "Mocker."_--To-day I went into the cottage of an old man, in
the village of which I am curate, and finding him about to cut up some
wood, and he being very infirm, I undertook the task for him, and
chopped up a fagot for his fire.
During the progress of my work, the old fellow made the following
observation:--
"Old Nannie Hawkins have got a big stick o' wood, and she says as I
shall have him for eight pence. If I could get him, I'd soon
_mocker_ him."
Upon my asking him the meaning of the word _mocker_, he informed me it
meant to _divide_ or _cleave in pieces;_ but, not being "a scholar" as
he termed it, he could not tell me how to spell it, so I know not
whether the orthography I have adopted is correct or not.
Can any of your readers give me a clue to the derivation of this word? I
certainly never heard it before.
I ought perhaps to state, that this is a country parish in
Herefordshire.
W.M.
Pembridge, Dec. 16.
_"Away, let nought to love displeasing"._--Is it known who was the
author of the song to be found in Percy's _Reliques_, and many other
collections, beginning--
"Away, let nought to love displeasing."
The first collection, so far as I know, in which it appears is entitled
_Miscellaneous Poems by several Hands_, published by D. Lewis, London,
1726; and in this work it is called a translation from the ancient
British. Does this mean a translation of an ancient poem, or a
translation of a poem written in some extant dialect of the language
anciently spoken in Britain? Either would appear to me incredible.
As I feel much interested in the poetry of English songs, can you or any
of your correspondents inform me if there exists any _good_ collection;
that is, a collection, of such only as are excellent of their respective
kinds? That the English language possesses materials for forming such a
collection, and an extensive one too, I have no doubt, though I have
never met with one. And, if there be none that answers the description I
give, I should be glad of information respecting the best that exist.
It is scarcely necessary to add, that my standard of excellence would
admit only those which bore the character of "immortal verse," rejecting
such as had been saved merely by the music to which they had been
"married."
SAMUEL HICKSON.
Dec. 14. 1850.
_Baron Münchausen._--Who was the author of this renowned hero's
adventures? The _Conversations-Lexicon_ (art. _Münchausen_) states that
the stories are to be found under the title of "Mendacia Ridicula," in
vol. iii. of _Deliciæ Academicæ_, by J.P. Lange (Heilbronn, 1665); and
that "at a later period they appeared in England, where a reviewer
supposed them to be a satire on the ministry." I remember to have read
when a boy (I think in _The Percy Anecdotes_), that the book was written
by an Englishman who was styled "M----," and was described as having
been long a prisoner in the Bastille.
Since writing thus far I have seen the note by J.S. (Vol. ii., pp.
262-3.) on Münchausen's story of the horn. The idea of sounds frozen in
the air, and thawed by returning warmth, was no invention of "Castilian,
in his _Aulicus_" (_i.e._ Castiglione, author of _Il Cortegiano_); for,
besides that, it is found in his contemporary Rabelais (liv. iv. cc.
55-6), I believe it may be traced to one of the later Greek writers,
from whom Bishop Taylor, in one of his sermons, borrows it as an
illustration.
J.C.R.
_"Sing Tantararara Rogues all," &c._--The above is the chorus of many
satirical songs written to expose the malpractices of peculators, &c.
Can any of your readers point out who was the author of the _original
song_, and where it is to be found?
A SUBSCRIBER.
_Meaning of "Cauking."_--An old dame told me the other day, in Cheshire,
that her servant was a {520} good one, and among other good qualities
"she never went _cauking_ into the neighbours' houses." Unde derivatur
"cauking?"
CHAS. PASLAM.
* * * * *
REPLIES.
THE WISE MEN OF GOTHAM.
(Vol. ii., p. 476.)
The proverb, "As wise as the men of Gotham." is given in Fuller's
_Worthies_ (ed. 1662, pp. 315, 316.). Ray, in his note upon this,
observes
"It passeth for the _Periphrasis_ of a fool, and an hundred
fopperies are feigned and fathered on the townsfolk of _Gotham_, a
village in this county [Nottinghamshire]. Here two things may be
observed:
"1. Men in all ages have made themselves merry with singling out
some place, and fixing the staple of stupidity and solidity therein.
So the _Phrygians_ in _Asia_, the _Abderitæ_ in _Thrace_, and
_Boeotians_ in _Greece_, were notorious for dulmen and blockheads.
"2. These places thus slighted and scoffed at, afforded some as
witty and wise persons as the world produced. So _Democritus_ was an
_Abderite_, _Plutarch_ a _Boeotian_, &c.
"As for _Gotham_, it doth breed as wise people as any which
causelessly laugh at their simplicity. Sure I am _Mr. William de
Gotham_, fifth Master of _Michael House_ in _Cambridge_, 1336, and
twice Chancellor of the University, was as grave a governor as that
age did afford."--3d. ed. p. 258.
In Thoroton's _Nottinghamshire_, vol. i. pp. 42, 43., the origin of the
saying, as handed down by tradition, is thus given:--King John intending
to pass through this place towards Nottingham, was prevented by the
inhabitants, they apprehending that the ground over which a king passed
was for ever after to become a public road. The king, incensed at their
proceedings, sent from his court, soon afterwards, some of his servants
to inquire of them the reason of their incivility and ill-treatment,
that he might punish them. The villagers hearing of the approach of the
king's servants, thought of an expedient to turn away his majesty's
displeasure from them. When the messengers arrived at Gotham, they found
some of the inhabitants engaged in endeavouring to drown an eel in a
pool of water; some were employed in dragging carts upon a large barn,
to shade the wood from the sun; and others were engaged in hedging a
cuckoo, which had perched itself upon an old bush. In short, they were
all employed upon some foolish way or other, which convinced the king's
servants that it was a village of fools.
Should J.R.M. not yet have seen it, I beg to refer him to Mr.
Halliwell's interesting edition of _The Merry Tales of the Wise Men of
Gotham_ (Lond. 1840) for fuller and further particulars.
J.B. COLMAN.
* * * * *
Replies To Minor Queries.
_Master John Shorne_.--As neither MR. THOMS' Notes (Vol. ii.,
p. 387.) nor MR. WAY'S (p. 450.) mention where this reputed
saint lived, or speak of him as connected with Buckinghamshire, I will
offer an extract from Lysons in the hope of casting some little light on
the subject.
"North Marston.--The church is a handsome Gothic structure; there is
a tradition that the chancel was built with the offerings at the
shrine of Sir John Shorne, a very devout man, of great veneration
with the people, who was rector of North Marston about the year
1290, and it is said that the place became populous and flourishing
in consequence of the great resort of persons to a well which he had
blessed. This story stands upon a better foundation than most vulgar
traditions; the great tithes of North Marston are still appropriated
to the dean and canons of Windsor, who, before the Reformation,
might without difficulty have rebuilt the chancel, as it is very
probable they did, with the offerings at the shrine of Sir John
Shorne, for we are told that they were so productive, that on an
average they amounted to 500l. per annum.[1] Sir John Shorne,
therefore, although his name is not to be found, appears to have
been a saint of no small reputation. The common people in the
neighbourhood still keep up his memory by many traditional stories.
Browne Willis, says, that in his time there were people who
remembered a direction-post standing, which pointed the way to Sir
John Shorne's shrine."[2]
North Marston, formerly Merston, is about four miles from Winslow. I
visited it about a year ago, and drank of the well, or spring, which is
about a quarter of a mile from the village; but I know nothing of the
traditions alluded to by Lysons. The chancel of the church is a fine
specimen of perpendicular style, with a vestry of the same date, and of
two stories, with a fireplace in each. I do not find North Marston, in
Bucks, mentioned in Leland, Camden, or Defoe, nor can I meet with any
account of Sir John Shorne in any books of English saints within my
reach. A copy of Browne Willis's MSS. may be seen in the British Museum.
W.H.K.
[Footnote 1: _History of Windsor_, p. 111.]
[Footnote 2: B. Willis's MSS., Bodleian Library.]
For the information of those who may not have the _Norfolk Archæology_
to refer to, let me add that John Shorne appears to have been rector of
North Marston, in Buckinghamshire, about the year 1290, "and was held in
great veneration for his virtues, which his benediction had imparted to
a holy well in his parish, and for his miracles, one of which, _the feat
of conjuring the devil into a boot_, was considered so remarkable that
it was represented in the east window of his church."
E.S.T.
_Antiquity of Smoking._--The passage is in Herodian. In the time of
Commodus there was a {521} pestilence in Italy. The emperor went to
Laurentum for the benefit of the smell of the laurel trees.
"In ipsa quoque urbe de medicorum sententia plerique unguentis
suavissimus nares atque aures opplebant, suffituque[3] et
odoramentis assidua utebantur, quod meatus sensuum (ut quidem
dicunt) odoribus illis occupati, neque admittant aëra tabificum: et
si maxime admiserint, tamen eum majore quasi vi longe superari."
This has nothing to do with the practice of smoking, nor is it clear
that they smoked these things with a pipe into the mouth at all. The
medical use of fumigation, as Sir William Temple observes, was greatly
esteemed among the ancients. But it is very probable that, being
sometimes practised by means of pipes, it was what led to the practice
of smoking constantly, either for general medical protection, or merely
for luxury, in countries and times too, when these epidemics from bad
air were very common. The great love of smoking among the Turks may be
originally owing to the plague.
C.B.
[Footnote 3: [Greek: "thumiamasi te kai arômasi sunechôs echrônto."]]
_Antiquity of Smoking_ (Vol. ii., pp. 41. 216. 465.).--Mr. Lane, in his
edition of the _Arabian Nights_, infers the very late date of that book
from there being no mention of tobacco or coffee in it.
As two of the ancient authorities have broken down, it occurred to me
that others might.
The reference to Strabo, vii. 296. leads me only to this; that the
Mysians were called [Greek: kapnobatai] (some correct to [Greek:
kapnopatai]) because they did not eat animals, but milk, cheese, and
honey; but of religion, living quietly.
One cannot imagine that this can be meant. I referred to Almaloveen's
edition, the old paging.
In the next page he repeats the epithet, coupling it, as before, with
the word religious, and arguing from both as having the same meaning.
It occurred to me that somebody might have read [Greek: kapnopotai],
"fumum bibentes," which might have given occasion to the reference to
this passage: and I find in the English Passow that [Greek: kapnobotai],
"smoke-eaters," has been proposed.
[Greek: Kapnopatai], is there derived from [Greek: paomai].
But if these are the readings, they can have nothing to do with smoking,
but with religion. From the context they would mean as we say, "living
on air;" like Democritus, who subsisted three days upon the steam of new
loaves.
[Greek: Kapnobatai] meant, as I believe, to describe their religiousness
more directly; treading on the clouds, living _in_ the air: like
Socrates in Aristophanes, [Greek: Neph]. 225.:
[Greek: "Aerobatô kai periphronô ton hêlion,"]
And in v. 330. [Greek: kapnos] is used of the clouds:
[Greek: "Ma Di all homichlên kai droson autas hêgoumên kai kapnon
einai."]
There is nothing in Solinus, cap. 15.; and Mela, lib. ii., is too wide a
reference.
C.B.
_Meaning of the Word "Thwaites"_(Vol. ii., p. 441.).--The word "Thwayte"
occurred in the ancient form of the Bidding Prayer: "Ye shalle byddee
for tham, that this cherche honour with book, with bell, with
vestiments, with _Thwayte_," &c. This form is said to be above four
hundred years old; and Palmer says (_Orig. Lit._, iii. p. 60.) that we
have memorials of these prayers used in England in the fourteenth
century. Hearne remarks that the explication of this word warranted by
Sir E. Coke is "a wood grubbed up and turned to arable." This land being
given to any church, the donors were thus commended by the prayers of
the congregation.
In Yorkshire the word is so understood: Thwaite, or "stubbed ground,
ground that has been essarted or cleaned."
J.H.M.
_Meaning of "Thwaites"_ (Vol. ii., p. 441.).--Hearne took the word
"Thwayte" to signify "a wood grubbed up and turned into arable." His
explanation, with other suggestions as to the meaning, of this word, may
be found in a letter from Hearne to Mr. Francis Cherry, printed in vol.
i. p. 194. of _Letters written by Eminent Persons in the Seventeenth and
Eighteenth Centuries_, published by Longman and Co. in 1813.
J.P. JR.
December 5. 1850.
_Thomas Rogers of Horninger_ (Vol. ii., p. 424.).--Your correspondent
S.G. will find a brief notice of this person in Rose's _Biographical
Dictionary_, London, 1848. It appears he was rector of Horninger, and a
friend of Camden; who prefixed some commendatory verses to a work of
his, entitled _The Anatomy of the Mind_. I would suggest to S.G. that
further information may probably be collected respecting him from these
verses, and from the prefaces, &c. of his other works, of which a long
list is given in Rose's _Dictionary_.
T.H. KERSLEY, A.B.
King William's Col., Isle of Man.
_Thomas Rogers of Horninger_ (Vol. ii., p 424.).--If S.G. will apply to
the Rev. J. Perowne, of his own college, who is understood to be
preparing an edition of Rogers's work for the Parker Society, he will
doubtless obtain the fullest information.
A.H.
_Earl of Roscommon_ (Vol. ii., p. 468.).--A pretended copy of the
inscription at Kilkenny West, mentioned by your correspondent AN
HIBERNIAN, was produced in evidence, on the claim of Stephen
Francis Dillon to the earldom of Roscommon, before the House of Lords.
As there was reason to doubt the evidence of the person who produced
that copy, or the genuineness of the inscription itself, the House
decided against that claim; and by admitting that of the late earl
(descended {522} from the youngest son of the first earl) assumed
the extinction of all the issue of the six elder sons. The
evidence adduced altogether negatived the presumption of any such
issue. Your correspondents FRANCIS and AN HIBERNIAN will find a
very clear and succinct account of the late earl's claim, and Stephen
Francis Dillon's counter-claim, in _The Roscommon Claim of Peerage_, by
J. Sidney Tayler, Lond. 1829.
W.H.C.
_Parse_ (Vol. ii., p. 430.).--Your correspondent J.W.H. is far from
correct in supposing that this word was not known in 1611, for he will
find it used by Roger Ascham, in a passage quoted by Richardson in his
_Dictionary_ sub voce.
In Brinsley's curious _Ludus Literarius_, 1612, reprinted 1627, 4to.,
the word is frequently used. At page 69. he recommends the "continual
practice of _parsing_." At p. 319., enumerating the contents of chap.
vi., we have "The Questions of the Accidence, called the _Poasing_ of
the English Parts;" and chap. ix. is "Of _Parsing_ and the kinds
thereof, &c."
At the end of a kind of introduction there is an "Advertisement by the
Printer," intimating that the author's book, "The _Poasing_ of the
Accidence," is likely to come forth. From all this, it seems as if the
two words were used indifferently.
F.R.A.
_The Meaning of "Version"_ (Vol. ii., p. 466.).--T. appears to apply a
peculiar meaning of his own to the word "version," which it would have
been quite as well if he had explained in a glossarial note.
He thinks A.E.B. was _mistaken_ in using that phrase in reference to
Lord Bacon's translation into Latin of his own English original work,
and he proceeds to compare (to what end does not very clearly appear) a
sentence from Lord Bacon's English text, with the same sentence as
re-translated back again from Lord Bacon's Latin by Wats. Finally, T.
concludes with this very singular remark: "Wats' version is the more
exact of the two!"
Does T. mean to call Lord Bacon's English text a _version_ of his Latin,
by anticipation of eighteen years?
The only other authority for such meaning of the word would seem to be
the facetious Dr. Prout, who accused Tom Moore of a similar _version_ of
his celebrated papers.
A.E.B.
_First Paper-mill in England_ (Vol. ii., p. 473).--The birthplace of the
"High Germaine Spilman" (_Spielmann_), celebrated by Churchyard, your
English readers may not easily discover by his description as quoted by
DR. RIMBAULT.
"Lyndoam Bodenze" is _Lindau am Boden-see_, on the Lake of Constance (in
German, _Bodensee_), once a free imperial city, called, from its site on
three islets in the lake, "the Swabian Venice," now a pretty little town
belonging to the kingdom of _Bavaria_.
V.
"_Torn by Horses_" (Vol. ii., p. 480.).--This cruel death was suffered
by _Ravaillac_, who accomplished what Jean Châtel failed in doing.
The execution took place on the 27th of May, 1610, with the most
atrocious severities of torture, of which the drawing by horses was but
the last out of a scene that continued for many hours. The day before he
had been racked to the very extremity of human suffering. The horses
dragged at the wretch's body for an hour in vain; at length a nobleman
present sent one of his own, which was stronger; but this even would not
suffice. The executioner had to sever the mangled body with his knife,
before the limbs would give way. I could add more of these details, but
the subject is intolerable.
The execution of _Ravaillac_ was followed with the utmost exactness, but
with more cruelty, if possible, in the case of _Damiens_ (sentenced for
the attempt on Louis le Bien-Aimé), who suffered on the Place de Grève,
March 28. 1757. The frightful business lasted from morning till dusk!
Here again the knife was used before the body gave way, the horses
having dragged at it for more than an hour first; the poor wretch
living, it is said, all the while!
I believe this was the last instance of the punishment in France, if not
in Europe.
A concise summary of the trials of these men, and all the hideous
details of their tortures and execution, will be found, by those who
have a taste for such things, in the third volume of the new series of
the _Neuer Pitaval_, edited by Hitzig and Haring (Leipzig,
Brockhaus),--a collection of _causes célèbres_ which has been in course
of publication at intervals since 1842. The volume in question appeared
in the present year (1850).
V.
Belgravia.
_Vineyards_ (Vol. ii., p. 392.).--At Ingatestone Hall, in Essex, one of
the seats of Lord Petre, a part of the ground on the south side of the
house still goes by the name of "the Vineyard." And this autumn grapes
came to great perfection on the south wall.
J.A.D.
_Cardinal_ (Vol. ii., p. 424.).--The expression referred to by O.P.Q.
was in some degree illustrated at the coronation of Edward II., 1308,
when the Pope, wishing the ceremony to be performed by a cardinal, whom
he offered to send for the purpose, was strenuously opposed by the king,
and compelled to withdraw his pretensions. (See Curtis's _History of
England_, vol. ii. p. 309.)
C.H.
St. Catherine's Hall, Cambridge.
_Weights for weighing Coins_ (Vol. ii., p. 326.).--If the question of
your correspondent, who wishes to know at what period weights were
introduced {523} for weighing coins, is intended to have a general
reference, he will find many passages alluding to the practice amongst
the ancient Romans, who manufactured balances of various kinds for that
purpose: one for gold (_statera auraria_, Varro _Ap. Non._, p. 455., ed.
Mercer.; Cic. _Or._ ii. 38.); another for silver (Varro _De Vit. P.R._
lib. ii.); and another for small pieces of money (_trutina momentana
pro parva modicaque pecunia._ Isidor. _Orig._, xvi. 25. 4.). The mint
is represented on the reverse of numerous imperial coins and medals
by three female figures, each of whom holds a pair of scales, one for
each of the three metals; and in Rich's _Illustrated Companion to the
Latin Dictionary_, under the word LIBRA, there is exhibited a balance
of very peculiar construction, from an original in the cabinet of the
Grand Duke at Florence, which has a scale at one end of the beam, and
a fixed weight at the opposite extremity, "to test the just weight of
a given quantity, and supposed to have been employed at the mint for
estimating the proper weight of coinage."
MONETA.
_Umbrellas_ (Vol. i., p. 414. etc.).--To the extensive exhibition of
_umbrellas_ formed through the exertions of the right worthy editor of
the "NOTES AND QUERIES" and his very numerous friends, I am happy to
have it in my power to make an addition of considerable curiosity, it
being of much earlier date than any specimen at present in the
collection:--
"Of doues I haue a dainty paire
Which, when you please to take the aier,
About your head shall gently houer,
Your cleere browe from the sunne to couer,
And with their nimble wings shall fan you
That neither cold nor heate shall tan you,
And, like _vmbrellas_, with their feathers
_Sheeld you in all sorts of weathers._"
_Michael Drayton, 1630_.
Had not the exhibition been limited to umbrellas used in England, I
could have produced oriental specimens, very like those now in fashion
here, of the latter part of the sixteenth century.
BOLTON CORNEY.
_Croziers and Pastoral Staves_ (Vol. ii., p. 412.).--The staff with the
cross appears on the monument of Abp. Warham, in Canterbury Cathedral;
on the brass of Abp. Waldeby (1397), in Westminster Abbey and on that of
Abp. Cranley (1417), in New College Chapel, Oxford.
The crook is bent _outwards_ in the brasses to the following
bishops:--Bp. Trellick (1360), Hereford Cathedral; Bp. Stanley (1515),
Manchester Cathedral; Bp. Goodrich (1554), Ely Cathedral; and Bp.
Pursglove (1579), Tideswell Church, Derbyshire.
J.I.D.
* * * * *
Miscellaneous.
NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC.
We never longed so much for greater space for our Notes upon Books as we
do at this season of gifts and good will, when the Christmas Books
demand our notice.
Never did writer pen a sweeter tale than that which the author of _Mary
Barton_ has just produced under the title of _The Moorland Cottage_. It
is a purely English story, true to nature as a daguerreotype, without
one touch of exaggeration, without the smallest striving after effect,
yet so skilfully is it told, so effectually does it tell, so strongly do
Maggie's trials and single-mindedness excite our sympathies, that it
were hard to decide whether our tears are disposed to flow the more
readily at those trials, or at her quiet heroic perseverance in doing
right by which they are eventually surmounted. _The Moorland Cottage_
with its skilful and characteristic woodcut illustrations by Birket
Foster, will be a favourite for many and many a Christmas yet to come.
Rich in all the bibliopolic "pearl and gold" of a quaint and fanciful
binding, glancing with holly berries and mistletoe, Mr. Bogue presents
us with a volume as interesting as it is characteristic and elegant,
_Christmas with the Poets_. A more elegantly printed book was never
produced; and it is illustrated with fifty engravings designed and drawn
on wood by Birket Foster; engraved by Henry Vizetelly, and printed in
tints in a way to render most effective the artist's tasteful,
characteristic, and very able drawings. The volume is, as it were, a
casket, in which are enshrined all the gems which could be dug out of
the rich mines of English poetry; and when we say that the first
division treats of Carols from the Anglo-Norman period to the time of
the Reformation; that these are followed by Christmas Poems of the
Elizabethan period, by Shakspeare, Ben Jonson, and their great
cotemporaries; that to these succeed Herrick's Poems, and so on, till we
have the Christmas verses of our own century, by Southey, Wordsworth,
Scott, Shelley, Tennyson, &c., we have done more than all our praise
could do, to prove that a fitter present to one who loves poetry could
not be found than _Christmas with the Poets_.
While if it be a _little_ lover of poetry--mind, not one who little
loves poetry, but one who listens with delight to those beloved ditties
of the olden times, which as we know charmed Shakspeare's
childhood,--learn that an English lady, with the hand and taste of an
artist, guided and refined by that purest and holiest of feelings, a
mother's love, has illustrated those dear old songs in a way to delight
all children; and at the same time charm the most refined. The
_Illustrated Ditties of the Olden Time_ is in sooth a delightful volume,
and if a love of the beautiful be as closely connected with a love of
the moral as wise heads tell us, we know no more agreeable way of early
inculcating morality than by circulating this splendid edition of our
time-honoured Nursery Rhymes.
But we fancy the taste of some of our readers may not yet have been hit
upon. Let them try _The Story of Jack and the Giants, illustrated by
Richard Doyle_; and {524} they will find this wondrous story rendered
still more attractive by some thirty drawings, from the pencil of one
of the most imaginative artists of the day, and whose artistic spirit
seems to have revelled with delight as he pourtrayed the heroic
achievements of "the valiant Cornish man."
We will now turn to those works which are of a somewhat graver class;
and we will begin with Miss Drury's able and well-written story,
entitled _Eastbury_, in which the heavy trials of Beatrice Eustace,
mitigated and eventually overcome through the friendship and
truthfulness of Julia Seymour, are told in a manner to delight all
readers of the class of tales to which _Eastbury_ belongs; and to
sustain the reputation as a writer, which Miss Drury so deservedly
acquired by her former story, _Friends and Fortune_.
The name of the Rev. Charles B. Tayler would alone have served as a
sufficient warrant that _The Angel's Song, a Christmas Token_, is work
of still more serious character, even though the author had not told his
readers, in his _Envoy_, that the tale was written to correct the
mistake into which many well-meaning people have fallen on the subject
of Christmas merriment; and to suggest the spirit in which this sacred
season should be celebrated. That the book will be favourably received
by the large class of readers to whom it is addressed, there can be
little doubt; and to their attention we accordingly commend it. It is
very tastefully got up.
To the publisher of _The Angel's Song_, Mr. Sampson Low, we are also
indebted for a very stirring and interesting book, _The Whaleman's
Adventures in the Southern Ocean_, edited by the Rev. Dr. Scoresby, from
the notes of a pious and observant American clergyman, whilst embarked,
on account of his health, on a whaling voyage to the South Seas and
Pacific Ocean. That Dr. Scoresby should think the matter of this work so
far novel and interesting, as well as "calculated for conveying useful
moral impressions," renders it scarcely necessary to say another word in
its recommendation. But it has a higher object than mere amusement; its
object is to enforce upon those "who go down to the sea in ships," the
duty of "remembering the Sabbath Day to keep it holy."
Here our editorial labours have been interrupted by a band of infant
critics to whose unprejudiced judgments we had entrusted _Peter Little
and the Lucky Sixpence_,--each begging to be allowed to keep the book.
Good reader, do you wish for better criticism? Worthy author of this
_Verse Book for Children_, do you wish for higher praise?
We have received the following Catalogues:--John Petheram's (94. High
Holborn) Catalogue, Part CXIX. No. 13. for 1850 of Old and New Books;
Bernard Quaritch's (16. Castle Street, Leicester Square) Catalogue No.
22. of English, French, German, and Italian Books; John Lyte's (498. New
Oxford Street) Book Catalogue for 1851.
* * * * *
Notices To Correspondents.
_Although we have enlarged our present Number to twenty-four pages, we
are compelled to request the indulgence of our correspondents for the
omission of many valuable communications._
NOTES AND QUERIES _may be procured, by order, of all
Booksellers and Newsvendors. It is published at noon on Friday, so that
our country Subscribers ought not to experience any difficulty in
procuring it regularly. Many of the country booksellers, &c., are,
probably, not yet aware of this arrangement, which will enable them to
receive_ NOTES AND QUERIES _in their Saturday parcels._
_Part XIV., for December, price 1s., is now ready for delivery._
THE INDEX TO VOLUME THE SECOND _will be ready early in
January._
_Communications should be addressed to the Editor of_ NOTES AND
QUERIES, _care of_ MR. BELL, No. 186. _Fleet Street_.
E.A.D. _has our best thanks_.
_Errata._--In No. 60. Vol. ii., p. 492, for [Gothic: "Sant Valantinus"]
read [Gothic: "sant Valentinus"]. (The reference of Heinecken is _Idée
d'une collect. d'Estampes_, p. 275.) For "_Ind. Par_. i. 543.," read
"_Ind._ Par. i 343." For "suppressed" read "supposed;" and instead of
"De," before "Vita," put [Symbol: capitulum].
* * * * *
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CHRISTMAS WITH THE POETS; a Collection of Songs, Carols, and Descriptive
Verses, relating to the Festival of Christmas; with Introductory
Observations explanatory of Obsolete Rites and Customs. Illustrated with
upwards of Fifty highly-finished Wood Engravings, from Designs by BIRKET
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Merchants, Tradesmen, Travellers, and generally serviceable to all
Persons of Business.
RICHARDS, 100 St. Martin's Lane, Charing Cross.
* * * * *
FAMILY AND HISTORICAL PORTRAITS.--G.P. HARDING, having acquired
the Art of faithfully making copies in Water Colours of Ancient and
Modern Portraits, and having in his possession a large Collection of
them, will he happy to treat with any Noblemen and Gentlemen wishing to
add to their series of Ancestral Portraits. MR. HARDING having
visited more than Three hundred of the principal Mansions in the country
to make himself acquainted with what Pictures are contained in them, is
enabled to point out where Portraits are to be obtained. G.P.
HARDING also restores Ancient Missals, and Miniatures, having
had much experience in that Branch of Art.
G.P. HARDING, 69. Hercules Buildings, near the Palace, Lambeth.
* * * * *{527}
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
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Every Description of Plain and Ornamental LITHOGRAPHY executed
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* * * * *{528}
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LONDON:
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* * * * *
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, Dec. 28. 1850.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Notes and Queries, Number 61, December 28, 1850" ***
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