Title: Notes and Queries, Number 80, May 10, 1851 - A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, - Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc.
Author: Various
Language: English
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Transcriber's note: A few typographical errors have been corrected: they
are listed at the end of the text.

       *       *       *       *       *


{361} NOTES AND QUERIES:

A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES,
GENEALOGISTS, ETC.

"When found, make a note of."--CAPTAIN CUTTLE.

       *       *       *       *       *


No. 80.]
SATURDAY, MAY 10. 1851..
[Price Threepence. Stamped Edition 4d.

       *       *       *       *       *


CONTENTS.

                                                         Page

  The Great Exhibition, Notes and Queries, and Chaucer's
  Prophetic View of the Crystal Palace                    361

  NOTES:--
  On "The Lay of the Last Minstrel"                       364

  Poems discovered among the Papers of Sir Kenelm
  Digby                                                   367

  Folk-Lore:--The Christmas Thorn--Milk-maids--Disease
  cured by Sheep--Sacramental Wine--"Nettle in Dock out"  367

  Metropolitan Improvements, by R. J. King                368

  Minor Notes:--Meaning of Luncheon--Charade upon
  Nothing translated--Giving the Lie--Anachronisms
  of Painters--Spenser's Faerie Queene--Prayer of
  Mary Queen of Scots--A small Instance of Warren
  Hastings' Magnanimity--Richard Baxter--Registry
  of Dissenting Baptisms in Churches                      369

  QUERIES:--
  Notes and Queries relating to Scandinavia, by W. E. C.
  Nourse      370

  The Rotation of the Earth, by Robert Snow               371

  Minor Queries:--William ap Jevan's Descendants--
  "Geographers on Afric's Downs"--Irish Brigade--Passage
  in Oldham--Mont-de-Piété--Poem upon the Grave--When
  self-striking Clocks first invented--Clarkson's
  Richmond--Sir Francis Windebank's elder Son--Incised
  Slab--Etymology of Balsall--St. Olave's Churches--
  Sabbatical and Jubilee Years of the Jews--Arms of the
  Isle of Man--Doctrine of the Resurrection--National
  Debts--Leicester's Commonwealth                         372

  REPLIES:--
  Histoire des Sévarambes                                 374

  Was there an "Outer Temple" in the Possession of the
  Knights Templars or Knights of St. John? by Peter
  Cunningham                                              375

  Obeism, by H. H. Breen                                  376

  San Marino                                              376

  The Bellman and his History, by C. H. Cooper            377

  Replies to Minor Queries:--"God takes those soonest,"
  &c.--Disinterment for Heresy--The Vellum-bound
  Junius--Pursuits of Literature--Dutch Books--Engilbert,
  Archbishop of Treves--Charles Lamb's
  Epitaph--Charles II. in Wales--"Ex Pede Herculem"--God's
  Acre--Abbot Eustacius--Vox Populi
  Vox Dei--Francis Moore and his Almanack                 377

  MISCELLANEOUS:--
  Notes on Books, Sales, Catalogues, &c.                  381

  Books and Odd Volumes wanted                            382

  Notices to Correspondents                               382

  Advertisements                                          382

       *       *       *       *       *


THE GREAT EXHIBITION, NOTES AND QUERIES, AND CHAUCER'S PROPHETIC VIEW OF
THE CRYSTAL PALACE.

The first of May, eighteen hundred and fifty-one, will be remembered in the
Calendar for centuries after those who witnessed its glories shall have
passed away. Its memory will endure with our language; and the Macaulays
and Hallams of the time to come will add brilliancy to their pages by
recounting the gorgeous yet touching ceremonial of this great Apotheosis of
Peace. Peace has occasionally received some foretaste of that day's glory;
but only at times, when the sense of its value had been purchased by the
horrors which accompany even the most glorious warfare. But never until the
reign of Victoria were its blessings thus recognised and thus celebrated,
after they had been uninterruptedly enjoyed for upwards of a quarter of a
century. Who then, among the thousands assembled around our Sovereign in
that eventful scene, but felt his joy heightened by gratitude, that his lot
had been cast in these happy days.

It was a proud day for Queen Victoria, for her Illustrious Consort, for all
who had had "art or part" in the great work so happily conceived, so
admirably executed. And we would add (even at the risk of reminding our
readers of Dennis' energetic claim, "That's my Thunder!") that it was also
a proud day for all who, like ourselves, desire to promote
intercommunication between men of the same pursuits,--to bring them
together in a spirit, not of envious rivalry, but of generous
emulation,--to make their powers, faculties, and genius subservient to the
common welfare of mankind. In our humble way we have striven earnestly to
perform our share in this great mission; and although in the Crystal Palace
cottons may take the place of comments, steam-engines of Shakspeare, the
palpable creations of the sculptor of the super-sensual imaginings of the
poet, the real of the ideal,--still the GREAT EXHIBITION OF THE INDUSTRY OF
ALL NATIONS is, in more senses than one, merely a MONSTER NUMBER OF "NOTES
AND QUERIES." So palpable, indeed, is this similarity, that, if the
long-talked-of _Order of Civil Merit_ should be instituted, (and certainly
there was never a more fitting moment than the present for so honouring the
cultivators of the peaceful arts), we make no doubt that "NOTES AND
QUERIES" will not be forgotten. Should our prophecy be fulfilled, we need
scarcely remind our readers of Captain Cuttle's injunction and our Motto.
{362}

And here, talking of prophecy, we would, first reminding our readers how,
in the olden time, the Poet and the Prophet were looked upon as identical,
call their attention to the following vision of our Queen in her Crystal
Palace, which met the eye when in "fine phrensy rolling" of the Father of
English Poetry, as he has recorded in his _House of Fame_. Had Chaucer
attended the opening of the Exhibition as "_Our own Reporter_," could his
description have been more exact?

      THE TEMPLE Y-MADE OF GLAS.

  _A Prevision by Dan Chaucer_, A.D. 1380.

  Now hearken every manir man
  That English understandè can,
  And listeth to my dreme to here,
  For nowe at erst shall ye lere:
  O thought, that wrote al that I met
  And in the tresorie it set
  Of my braine, nowe shall men see
  If any vertue in thee bee
  To tellen al my dreme aright
  Nowe kithe thy engine and thy might!
    *    *    *    *    *    *
    But, as I slept, me mette I was
  Within a temple ymade of glas,
  In which there were mo images
  Of gold, standing in sundry stages,
  Sette in mo rich tabernacles,
  And with perrie mo pinnacles,
  And mo curious portraitures,
  And queint manner of figures
  Of gold worke, than I saw ever.
    But all the men that been on live
  Ne han the conning to descrive
  The beaute of that ilke place,
  Ne couden casten no compace
  Soch another for to make,
  That might of beauty be his make;
  Ne so wonderly ywrought,
  That it astonieth yet my thought,
  And maketh all my witte to swinke
  On this castel for to thinke,
  So that the wondir great beautie
  Caste, crafte, and curiositie,
  Ne can I not to you devise,
  My witte ne may not me suffise;
  But nathelesse all the substaunce
  I have yet in my remembraunce,
  For why? Me thoughtin, by saint Gile,
  All was of stone of berile,
  Bothe the castel and the toure,
  And eke the hall, and every boure;
  Without peeces or joynings,
  But many subtell compassings,
  As barbicans and pinnacles,
  Imageries and tabernacles;
  I saw, and ful eke of windowes
  As flakes fallen in great snowes;
  And eke in each of the pinnacles
  Weren sundry habitacles.
    When I had seene all this sight
  In this noble temple thus,
  Hey, Lord, thought I, that madest us,
  Yet never saw I such noblesse
  Of images, nor such richesse
  As I see graven in this church,
  But nought wote I who did them worche,
    Yet certaine as I further passe,
  I wol you all the shape devise.
  Yet I ententive was to see,
  And for to poren wondre low,
  If I could anywise yknow
  What manner stone this castel was:
  For it was like a limed glas,
  But that it shone full more clere,
  But of what congeled matere
  It was, I n' iste redely,
  But at the last espied I,
  And found that it was every dele
  A thing of yse and not of stele:
  Thought I, "_By Saint Thomas of Kent,_
  _This were a feeble foundement_
  _To builden on a place so hie;_
  _He ought him little to glorifie_
  _That hereon bilte, God so me save._"
    But, Lord, so faire it was to shewe,
  For it was all with gold behewe:
  Lo, how should I now tell all this,
  Ne of the hall eke what need is?
  But in I went, and that anone,
  There met I crying many one
  "A larges, a larges, hold up well!
  God save the Lady of this pell!
  Our owne gentill Lady Fame
  And hem that willen to have a name."
  For in this lustie and rich place
  All on hie above a deis
  Satte in a see imperiall
  That made was of rubie royall
  A feminine creature
  That never formed by nature
  Was soche another one I saie:
  For alderfirst, soth to saie,
  Me thought that she was so lite
  That the length of a cubite
  Was lenger than she seemed to be;
    *    *    *    *    *    *
  Tho was I ware at the last
  As mine eyen gan up cast
  That this ilke noble queene
  On her shoulders gan sustene
  Both the armes and the name
  Of tho that had large fame.
    And thus found I sitting this goddesse
  In noble honour and richesse
  Of which I stinte a while now
  Other thing to tellen you.
  {363}
    But Lord the perrie and the richesse,
  I saw sitting on the goddesse,
  And the heavenly melodie
  Of songes full of armonie
  I heard about her trone ysong
  That all the palais wall rong.
    Tho saw I standen hem behind
  A farre from hem, all by hemselve
  Many a thousand times twelve,
  That made loud minstralcies,
  In conemuse and shalmies,
  And many another pipe,
  That craftely began to pipe.
  And Pursevauntes and Heraudes
  That crien riche folkes laudes,
  It weren, all and every man
  Of hem, as I you tellen can,
  Had on him throwe a vesture
  Which men clepe a coate armure.
    Then saw I in anothir place,
  Standing in a large space,
  Of hem that maken bloudy soun,
  In trumpet, beme, and clarioun.
    Then saw I stande on thother side
  Streight downe to the doores wide,
  From the deis many a pillere
  Of metall, that shone not full clere,
  But though ther were of no richesse
  Yet were they made for great noblesse.
    There saw I, and knew by name
  That by such art done, men have fame.
    There saw I Coll Tragetour
  Upon a table of sicamour
  Play an uncouth thing to tell,
  I saw him carry a wind-mell
  Under a walnote shale.
    Then saw I sitting in other sees,
  Playing upon sundrie other glees,
  Of which I n' ill as now not rime,
  For ease of you and losse of time,
  For time ylost, this know ye,
  By no way may recovered be.
    What should I make longer tale?
  Of all the people that I sey
  I could not tell till domisdey.
    Then gan I loke about and see
  That there came entring into the hall
  A right great company withall,
  And that of sondry regions
  Of all kind of condicions
  That dwelle in yearth under the Moone,
  Poore and riche; and all so soone
  As they were come into the hall
  They gan on knees doune to fall
  Before this ilke noble queene.
  "_Madame,_" sayd they, "_we bee_
  _Folke that here besechen thee_
  _That thou graunt us now good fame,_
  _And let our workes have good name;_
  _In full recompensacioun_
  _Of good worke, give us good renoun._"
    And some of hem she graunted sone,
    And some she warned well and faire,
    And some she graunted the _contraire_.
  Now certainly I ne wist how,
  Ne where that Fame dwelled or now,
  Ne eke of her descripcion,
  Ne also her condicion,
  Ne the order of her _dome_
  Knew I not till I hider come.
    *    *    *    *    *    *
    At the last I saw a man,
  Which that I nought ne can,
  But he semed for to bee,
  A man of great auctoritie
    And therewithall I abraide,
  Out of my slepe halfe afraide,
  Remembring well what I had sene,
  And how hie and farre I had bene
  In my gost, and had great wonder
  Of that the God of thonder
  Had let me knowen, and began to write
  Like as you have herd me endite,
  Wherefore to study and rede alway,
  I purpose to do day by day.
    Thus in dreaming and in game,
  Endeth this litell booke of Fame.

We are indebted for this interesting communication to our correspondent
A. E. B., whose admirable ILLUSTRATIONS OF CHAUCER in our columns have
given so much pleasure to the admirers of the old poet. Our correspondent
has sent it to us in the hope that it may be made available in helping
forward the good work of restoring Chaucer's tomb. We trust it will. The
Committee who have undertaken that task could, doubtless, raise the hundred
pounds required, by asking those who have already come forward to help
them, to change their Crown subscriptions into Pounds. With a right feeling
for what is due to the poet, they prefer, however, accomplishing the end
they have in view by small contributions from the admiring many, rather
than by larger contributions from the few. As we doubt not we number among
the readers of "NOTES AND QUERIES" many admirers of

      "Old Dan Chaucer, in whose gentle spright,
  The pure well-head of poetry did dwell,"

to them we appeal, that the monument which was erected by the affectionate
respect of Nicholas Brigham, nearly three centuries ago, may not in our
time be permitted to crumble into dust; reminding them, in Chaucer's own
beautiful language,

  "That they are gentle who do gentle dedes."

       *       *       *       *       *


{364}

NOTES.

ON "THE LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL."

I resume the subject commenced in the comments on "a Passage in _Marmion_,"
printed in No. 72., March 15, 1851; and I here propose to consider the
groundwork and mechanism of the most original, though not quite the first
production of Scott's muse, _The Lay of the Last Minstrel_. In the
Introduction prefixed to this poem, nearly thirty years after its
publication, Sir Walter Scott informs the world that the young Countess of
Dalkeith, much interested and delighted with the wild Border tradition of
the goblin called "Gilpin Horner" (which is given at length in the notes
appended to the poem), enjoined on him the task of composing a ballad on
the subject:

    "And thus" (says Sir Walter) "the goblin story _objected to by several
    critics as an excrescence upon the poem_, was, in fact, the occasion of
    its being written."

Yes, and more than this; for, strange as it may appear to those who have
not critically and minutely attempted to unravel the very artful and
complicated plot of this singular poem, the Goblin Page is, as it were, the
key-note to the whole composition, the agent through whose instrumentality
the fortunes of the house of Branksome are built up anew by the
pacification of ancient feud, and the union of the fair Margaret with Henry
of Cranstoun. Yet, so deeply veiled is the plot, and so intricately
contrived the machinery, that I question if this fact be apparent to one
reader out of a thousand; and assuredly it has never been presented to my
view by any one of the critics with whose comments I have become
acquainted.

The Aristarchus of the _Edinburgh Review_, Mr. Jeffrey, who forsooth
thought fit to regard the new and original creations of a mighty and
inventive genius "as a misapplication, in some degree, of very
extraordinary talents," and "conceived it his duty to make one strong
effort to bring back _the great apostle of this (literary) heresy to the
wholesome creed of his instructor_," seems not to have penetrated one inch
below the surface. In his opinion "the Goblin Page is the capital deformity
of the poem," "_a perpetual burden_ to the poet and to the readers," "an
undignified and improbable fiction, which excites neither terror,
admiration, nor astonishment, but needlessly debases the strain of the
whole work, and excites at once our incredulity and contempt."

Perhaps so, to the purblind vision of a pedantic formalist; but,
nevertheless, _The Lay of the Last Minstrel_, that poem, whose varied
imagery and vivid originality, combined with all its other beauties, have
been, and ever will be, the delight and admiration of its readers, could
not exist without this so-called "capital deformity." This I shall
undertake to demonstrate, and in so doing to prove the "capital absurdity"
of such criticism as I have cited.

Let us therefore begin with the beginning. The widowed Lady of Branksome,
brooding over the outrage which had deprived her husband of life, meditates
only vengeance upon all the parties concerned in this affray. The lovely
Lady Margaret wept in wild despair, for her lover had stood in arms against
her father's clan:

  "And well she knew, her mother dread,
  Before Lord Cranstoun she should wed,
  Would see her on her dying bed."

The first Canto of the poem contains that singular episode, when--

  "(The Ladye) sits in secret bower
  In old Lord David's western tower,
  And listens to a heavy sound
  That moans the mossy turrets round," &c.

  "From the sound of Teviot's tide
  Chafing with the mountain side,
              &c. &c.
    The Ladye knew it well!
  It was the Spirit of the Flood that spoke,
    And he called on the Spirit of the Fell."

And when the River Spirit asks concerning the fair Margaret, who had
mingled her tears with his stream:

  "What shall be the maiden's fate?
  Who shall be the maiden's mate?"

the Mountain Spirit replies, that, amid the clouds and mist which veil the
stars,--

    "Ill may I read their high decree:
  But no kind influence deign they shower
  On Teviot's tide and Branksome's tower,
    Till _pride be quelled_, and _love be free_."

I must here transcribe the following Section xviii.:

  "The unearthly voices ceased,
    And the heavy sound was still;
  It died on the river's breast,
    It died on the side of the hill.
  But round Lord David's tower,
    The sound still floated near,
  For it rung in the Ladye's bower,
    And it rung in the Ladye's ear,
  She raised her stately head,
    And her heart throbbed high with pride:
  'Your mountains shall bend,
  And your streams ascend,
    Ere Margaret be our foeman's bride!'"

In pursuance of this stern resolution, "the Ladye sought the lofty hall"
where her retainers were assembled:

  "And from amid the armed train
  She called to her William of Deloraine."

She then gives him the commission, well remembered by every reader, to
proceed on that night to Melrose Abbey to unclose the grave of Michael
{365} Scott, and to rifle it of the magical volume which was accessible
only on St. Michael's night, at the precise moment when the rays of the
moon should throw the reflexion of the red cross emblazoned in the eastern
oriel upon the wizard's monumental stone,--expecting that the possession of
this "Book of Might" would enable her to direct the destiny of her daughter
according to the dictates of her own imperious nature. "Dîs aliter visum."
Fate and MICHAEL SCOTT had willed it otherwise. And here I must beg my
readers to take notice that this far-famed wizard, Michael Scott, although
dead and buried, is supposed still to exert his influence from the world of
spirits as the guardian genius of the house of Buccleuch; and he had been
beforehand with the Ladye of Branksome in providing Henry of Cranstoun with
one of his familiar spirits, in the shape of the Goblin Page, _by whose
agency alone_ (however unconscious the subordinate agent may be) a chain of
events is linked together which results in the union of the two lovers.
After this parenthesis I resume the thread of the narrative.

Deloraine rides to Melrose in the night, presents himself to the Monk of
St. Mary's aisle, opens the sepulchre of the wizard, and presumes to take

  "From the cold hand the Mighty Book,"

in spite of the _ominous frown_ which darkened the countenance of the dead.
He remounts his steed and wends his way homeward

              "As the dawn of day
  Began to brighten Cheviot gray;"

while the aged monk, having performed the last duty allotted to him in his
earthly pilgrimage, retired to his cell and breathed his last in prayer and
penitence before the cross.

Ere Deloraine could reach his journey's end, he encounters a feudal foeman
in the person of Lord Cranstoun, attended by his Goblin Page, who is here
first introduced to the reader. A conflict takes place, and Deloraine being
struck down wounded and senseless, is left by his adversary to the charge
of this elf, who in stripping off his corslet espied the "Mighty Book."
With the curiosity of an imp he opens the iron-clasped volume by smearing
the cover with the blood of the knight, and reads ONE SPELL, _and one
alone, by permission_; for

  "He had not read another spell,
  When on his cheek a buffet fell,
  So fierce, it stretched him on the plain
  Beside the wounded Deloraine.
  From the ground he rose dismayed,
  And shook his huge and matted head;
  One word he muttered, and no more,
  'Man of age, thou smitest sore!'
              &c. &c.
  Now, if you ask who gave the stroke,
  I cannot tell, so mot I thrive--
  _It was not given by man alive._"

But he had read sufficient for the purposes of his mission, and we shall
see how he applies the knowledge so marvellously acquired.

By the glamour of this spell he was empowered to make one thing assume the
form of another.

  "It had much of glamour might,
  Could make a ladye seem a knight;
  The cobwebs on a dungeon wall,
  Seem tapestry in a lordly hall,"
              &c. &c.

The first use he makes of his power is to convey the wounded knight, laid
across his weary horse, into Branksome Hall

  "Before the beards of the warders all;
  And each did after swear and say,
  There only passed a wain of hay."

Having deposited him at the door of the Ladye's bower, he repasses the
outer court, and finding the young chief at play, entices him into the
woods under the guise _to him_ of a "comrade gay."

  "Though on the drawbridge, the warders stout,
  Saw a terrier and a lurcher passing out;"

and, leading him far away "o'er bank and fell," well nigh frightens the
fair boy to death by resuming his own elvish shape.

  "Could he have had his pleasure wilde,
  He had crippled the joints of the noble child;
              &c. &c.
  But his awful mother he had in dread,
  _And also his power was limited_,"
              &c. &c.

Here let me observe that all this contrivance is essential to the conduct
of the narrative, and if we simply grant the postulate which a legendary
minstrel has a right to demand, to wit, the potency of magic spells to
effect such delusions (pictoribus atque Poetis _Quidlibet audendi_ semper
fuit æqua potestas), all the remainder of the narrative is easy, natural,
and probable. This contrivance is necessary, because, in the first place,
if it had been known to the warders that William of Deloraine had been
brought into the castle wounded almost unto death, he could not be supposed
capable of engaging Richard Musgrave in single combat two days afterwards;
nor, in the second place, would the young chief have been permitted to
stroll out unattended from the guarded precincts.

To proceed: the boy thus bewildered in the forest falls into the lands of
an English forayer, and is by him conveyed to Lord Dacre, at that time one
of the Wardens of the Marches, by whom he is detained as a hostage, and
carried along with the English troops, then advancing towards Branksome
under the command of the Lord Wardens in person.

  "(But) though the child was led away,
  In Branksome still he seemed to stay,
  For so the Dwarf his part did play."

{366} And there, according to his own malicious nature, played likewise a
score of monkey tricks, all of which, grotesque and "_undignified_"! as
they may be, yet most ingeniously divert the mind of the reader from the
real errand and mission of this supernatural being.

Shortly afterwards, on his exhibiting symptoms of cowardice at the expected
contest, he is conveyed from the castle by the Ladye's order, and speedily
rejoins his lord, after the infliction of a severe chastisement from the
arm of Wat Tinlinn. He then procures Cranstoun's admission within the walls
of Branksome (where the whole clan Scott was assembling at the tidings of
the English Raid) by the same spell--

  "Which to his lord he did impart,
  And made him seem, by glamour art,
    A knight from hermitage."

And on the following day, as Deloraine did not appear in the lists ready to
engage in the appointed duel with Richard Musgrave, we are told,--

  "Meantime, full anxious was the Dame,
  For now arose disputed claim,
  Of who should fight for Deloraine,
  'Twixt Harden and 'twixt Thirtlestaine,
              &c. &c.
  But yet, not long the strife--for, lo!
  Himself the Knight of Deloraine,
  Strong, as it seemed, and free from pain,
    In armour sheathed from top to toe,
  Appeared, and craved the combat due;
  The Dame her charm successful knew,
  And the fierce chiefs their claims withdrew."

The conflict takes place, and ends in favour of the Scottish knight; when
the following scene occurs:

  "As if exhausted in the fight,
  Or musing o'er the piteous sight,
    The silent victor stands:
  His beaver did he not unclasp,
  Marked not the shouts, felt not the grasp
    Of gratulating hands.
  When lo! strange cries of wild surprise,
  Mingled with seeming terror rise
    Among the Scottish bands,
  And all, amid the thronged array,
  In panic haste gave open way
  To a half-naked ghastly man,
  Who downward from the castle ran;
  He crossed the barriers at a bound,
    And wild and haggard looked around,
      As dizzy, and in pain;
    And all, upon the armed ground
      Knew William of Deloraine!
  Each ladye sprung from seat with speed,
  Vaulted each marshal from his steed;
    'And who art thou,' they cried,
  'Who hast this battle fought and won?'
  His plumed helm was soon undone--
    'Cranstoun of Teviotside!
  For this fair prize I've fought and won,'
  And to the Ladye led her son."

Then is described the struggle that takes place in the maternal breast:

  "And how the clan united prayed
    The Ladye would the feud forego,
  And deign to bless the nuptial hour
  Of Cranstoun's Lord and Teviot's Flower.

              XXVI.

  "She looked to river, looked to hill,
    Thought on the Spirit's prophecy,
  Then broke her silence stern and still,
    'Not you, _but Fate_, has vanquished me;
  _Their influence kindly stars may shower_
  On Teviot's tide and Branksome's tower,
    For pride _is_ quelled, and love _is_ free.'"

The mission of the elf is now accomplished, his last special service having
been to steal the armour of William of Deloraine "while slept the knight,"
and thus to enable his master to personate that warrior.

It may be remarked that hitherto there is no direct evidence that the Page
was sent by Michael Scott. That evidence is reserved for the moment of his
final disappearance.

On the same evening, after the celebration of the nuptials, a mysterious
and intense blackness enveloped the assembled company in Branksome Hall.

    "A secret horror checked the feast,
  And chilled the soul of every guest;
  Even the high Dame stood half aghast,
  She knew some evil in the blast;
  The elvish Page fell to the ground,
  And, shuddering, muttered, 'Found! found! found!'

              XXV.

  "Then sudden through the darkened air,
    A flash of lightning came,
  So broad, so bright, so red the glare,
    The castle seemed on flame,
              &c. &c.
  Full through the guests' bedazzled band
  Resistless flashed the levin-brand,
  And filled the hall with smouldering smoke,
  As on the elvish Page it broke,
              &c. &c.
  When ended was the dreadful roar,
  The elvish Dwarf was seen no more.

              XXVI.

  "Some heard a voice in Branksome Hall,
  Some saw a sight, not seen by all;
  That dreadful voice was heard by some
  Cry, with loud summons, 'Gylbin, come!'
    And on the spot where burst the brand,
      Just where the Page had flung him down,
    Some saw an arm, and some a hand,
      And some the waving of a gown:
  The guests in silence prayed and shook,
  And terror dimmed each lofty look,
  But none of all the astonished train
  _Was so dismayed as Deloraine,_
              &c. &c.
  {367}
  At length, by fits, he darkly told,
  With broken hint, and shuddering cold,
    That he had seen, right certainly,
  _A shape with amice wrapped around,_
  _With a wrought Spanish baldric bound,_
    _Like a pilgrim from beyond the sea,_
  And knew--but how it mattered not--
  IT WAS THE WIZARD, MICHAEL SCOTT."

After this final consummation, it is amusing to notice a slight "incuria"
on the part of the poet, which I wonder has never been corrected in the
later editions. Having described the nuptial ceremony of Cranstoun and
Margaret in the early part of the last Canto, he says in Section xxviii.,

  "Nought of the bridal _will_ I tell,
  Which _after_ in short space befell,"
              &c. &c.

I think I have now succeeded in proving that the Goblin Page, so far from
being a mere "_intruder_" into this glorious poem--so far from being a mere
after-thought, or interpolation, to "suit the taste of the cottagers of the
Border," as Mr. Jeffrey "suspects,"--is the essential instrument for
constructing the machinery of the plot. We have, indeed, the author's word
that it formed the foundation of the poem. My readers will therefore form
their own estimate of the value of Mr. Jeffrey's criticisms, couched as
they are in no very considerate, much less complimentary phraseology. I
cannot but admire the "douce vengeance" of the gentle-spirited subject of
his rebukes, who has contented himself with printing these worthless
sentences of an undiscerning critic along with the text of his poems in the
last edition,--there to remain a standing memorial of the wisdom of that
resolution adhered to throughout the life of the accomplished author, who
tells us,

    "That he from the first determined, that without shutting his ears to
    the voice of true criticism, he would pay no regard to that which
    assumed the form of satire."

In point of fact, Sir Walter had no very exalted opinion of the _genus_
Critic; and I could give one or two anecdotes, which I heard from his own
lips, strongly reminding one of the old fable of the painter who pleased
nobody and everybody.

In conclusion, I beg leave to observe, that in these "Notes" I do not
presume to underrate, in any degree, Mr. Jeffrey's acknowledged powers of
criticism. He and Scott have alike passed away from the stage of which they
were long the ornaments in their respective spheres; but I must consider
that in the passages here cited, _as well as in many others_, he has proved
himself either incompetent or unwilling to appreciate the originality, the
power, and, above all, the invention of Sir Walter Scott's genius.

A BORDERER.

       *       *       *       *       *

POEMS DISCOVERED AMONG THE PAPERS OF SIR KENELM DIGBY.

Since I last wrote to you on the subject of these poems, I have discovered
the remaining portions of Ben Jonson's poem on the Lady Venetia: I have
therefore no doubt now that my MS. is a genuine autograph; and if so, not
only this, but the "Houreglasse," which was inserted in your 63rd No., is
Ben Jonson's. This last has, I think, never been published; nor have I ever
seen in print the followings lines, which are written in the same hand and
on the same paper as the "Houreglasse." They were probably written after
Lady Venetia's death.

  "You wormes (my rivals), whiles she was alive,
  How many thousands were there that did strive
  To have your freedome? for theyr sakes forbeare,
  Unseemely holes in her soft skin to wear,
  But if you must (as what worme can abstaine?)
  Taste of her tender body, yet refraine
  With your disordered eatings to deface her,
  And feed yourselves so as you most may grace her.
  First through her eartippes, see you work a paire
  Of holes, which, as the moyst enclosed _ayre_ [_air_]
  Turnes into water, may the cold droppes take,
  And in her eares a payre of jewels make.
  That done, upon her bosome make your feaste,
  Where on a crosse carve Jesus in her brest.
  Have you not yet enough of that soft skinne,
  The touch of which, in times past, might have bin
  Enough to ransome many a thousande soule
  Captiv'd to love? then hence your bodies roule
  A little higher; where I would you have
  This epitaph upon her forehead grave;
  Living, she was fayre, yong, and full of witt;
  Dead, all her faults are in her forehead writt."

If I am wrong in supposing this never to have been printed, I shall feel
much obliged by one of your correspondents informing me of the fact.

H. A. B.

Trin. Col. Cambridge.

       *       *       *       *       *

FOLK LORE.

_The Christmas Thorn._--In my neighbourhood (near Bridgewater) the
Christmas thorn blossoms on the 6th of January (Twelfth-day), and on this
day only. The villagers in whose gardens it grows, and indeed many others,
verily believe that this fact pronounces the truth of this being the day of
Christ's birth.

S. S. B.

_Milk-maids in 1753._--To Folk-lore may be added the following short
extract from Read's _Weekly Journal_, May 5, 1733:

    "On May-Day the Milk-Maids who serve the Court, danced Minuets and
    Rigadoons before the Royal Family, at St. James's House, with great
    applause."

Y. S.

_Diseases cured by Sheep_ (Vol. iii., p. 320.).--The attempted cure of
consumption, or some {368} complaints, by walking among a flock of sheep,
is not new. The present Archbishop of Dublin was recommended it, or
practised it at least, when young. For pulmonary complaints the principle
was perhaps the same as that of following a plough, sleeping in a room over
a cowhouse, breathing the diluted smoke of a limekiln, that is, the
inhaling of carbonic acid, all practised about the end of the last century,
when the knowledge of the gases was the favourite branch of chemistry.

A friend of mine formerly met Dr. Beddoes riding up Park Street in Bristol
almost concealed by a vast bladder tied to his horse's mouth. He said he
was trying an experiment with oxygen on a broken-winded horse. Afterwards,
finding that oxygen did not answer, he very wisely tried the gas most
opposite to it in nature.

C. B.

_Sacramental Wine_ (Vol. iii., p. 320.).--This idea is a relic of Roman
Catholic times. In Ireland a weakly child is frequently brought to the
altar rails, and the priest officiating at mass requested to allow it to
drink from the chalice of what is termed _the ablution_, that is, the wine
and water with which the chalice is _rinsed_ after the priest has taken the
communion, and which ablution ordinarily is taken by the priest. _Here_ the
efficacy is ascribed to the cup having just before contained the blood of
Our Lord. I have heard it seriously recommended in a case of hooping-cough.
Your correspondent MR. BUCKMAN does not give sufficient credit for common
sense to the believers in some portion of folk lore. Red wine is considered
tonic, and justly, as it contains a greater proportion of _turmic_ than
white. The yellow bark of the barberry contains an essential tonic
ingredient, as the Jesuit's bark does _quinine_, or that of the willow
_salicine_. Nettle juice is well known as a purifier of the blood; and the
navelwort, like Euphrosia, which is properly called _Eyebright_, is as
likely to have had its name from its proved efficacy as a simple, as from
any fancied likeness to the region affected. The old monks were shrewd
herbalists. They were generally the physicians of their neighbourhood, and
the names and uses of the simples used by them survive the ruin of the
monasteries and the expulsion of their tenants.

KERRIENSIS.

"_Nettle in Dock out_" (Vol. iii., pp. 133. 201. 205.).--I can assure
A. E. B. that in the days of my childhood, long before I had ever heard of
Chaucer, I used invariably, when I was stung with nettles, to rub the part
affected with a dock-leaf or stalk, and repeat,

  "Nettle out, dock in."

This charm is so common in Huntingdonshire at this day that it seems to
come to children almost instinctively. None of them can tell where they
first heard it, any more than why they use it.

ARUN.

       *       *       *       *       *

METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS.

The following passage from a sermon preached at Paul's Cross, March 26,
1620, by John King, Bishop of London, refers in a curious manner to many
improvements and alterations which have either been already effected in our
own time, or are still in contemplation. The sermon was "on behalfe of
Paule's Church," then in a ruinous condition; and was delivered in the
presence of James himself, who suggested the preacher's text, Psal. cii.
13, 14.

    "So had my manner ever beene aforetime," says the Bishop, "to open the
    volume of this Booke, and goe through the fields of the Old and New
    Testament, plucking and rubbing such eares of corne therein as I best
    liked, makings, choice (I meane) of my text, and buckling myself to my
    task at myne owne discretion; but now I am girt and tied to a Scripture
    by him, who as he hath most right to command, so best skill to direct
    and appoint the best service I can."

After an elaborate laudation of England, and of London as the "gem and
eye," which has

    "the body of the King, the morning and midday influence of that
    glorious sun; other parts having but the evening.... _O fortunati
    nimium_; you have the finest flowre of the wheat, and purest bloud of
    the grape, that is, the choice of His blessed Word hath God given unto
    you; and great is the companie of the preachers"--

the Bishop proceeds thus:

    "Not to weary mine eyes with wandering and roving after private, but to
    fixe upon publicke alone,--when I behold that forrest of masts upon
    your river for trafficke, and that more than miraculous bridge, which
    is the _communis terminus_, to joyne the two bankes of that river; your
    Royall Exchange for merchants, your Halls for Companies, your gates for
    defence, your markets for victuall, your aqueducts for water, your
    granaries for provision, your Hospitalls for the poore, your Bridewells
    for the idle, your Chamber for orphans, and your Churches for holy
    assemblies; I cannot denie them to be magnificent workes, and your
    Citty to deserve the name of an Augustious and majesticall Citty; to
    cast into the reckoning those of later edition, the beautifying of your
    fields without, and pitching your Smithfield within, new gates, new
    waterworkes, and the like, which have been consecrated by you to the
    dayes of his Majestie's happy reigne: and I hope the cleansing of the
    River, which is the _vena porta_ to your Citty, will follow in good
    time. But after all these, as Christ to the young man in the Gospell,
    which had done all and more, _Unum tibi deest, si vis perfectus esse,
    vade, vende_; so may I say to you. There is yet one thing wanting unto
    you, if you will be perfit,--perfit this church: not by parting from
    _all_, but somewhat, not to the poore, but to God himselfe. This Church
    is your Sion indeed, other are but _Synagogues_, this your _Jerusalem
    the mother to them all_, other but daughters brought up at her knees;
    this the Cathedrall, other but Parochiall Churches; this the _Bethel_
    for the daily and constant service of God, other have their
    intermissions, this the common to you all, and to this _doe {369} your
    tribes ascend_ in their greatest solemnities; others appropriated to
    several Congregations, this the standart in the high rode of gaze;
    others are more retired, this the mirrour and marke of strangers, other
    have but their side lookes; finally, this unto you, as _S. Peters in
    the Vatican_ at Rome, _S. Marks_ at Venice, and that of _Diana_ at
    Ephesus, and this at Jerusalem of the Jewes; or if there be any other
    of glory and fame in the Christian world, which they most joy in."

RICHARD JOHN KING.

       *       *       *       *       *


Minor Notes.

_Meaning of Luncheon._--Our familiar name of _luncheon_ is derived from the
daily meal of the Spaniards at eleven o'clock, termed _once_ or _l'once_
(pronounced _l'onchey_).--From Ford's _Gatherings in Spain_.

A. L.

_Charade upon Nothing translated._--In your No. for July a correspondent
asks who was the author of the very quaint charade upon "Nothing:"

  "Me, the contented man desires,
  The poor man has, the rich requires,
  The miser gives, the spendthrift saves,
  And all must carry to their graves."

Possibly he may not object to read, without troubling himself as to the
authorship of, the subjoined translation:

  "Me, qui sorte sua contentus vixerit, optat,
    Et quum pauper habet, dives habere velit;
  Spargit avarus opum, servat sibi prodigus æris,
    Secum post fati funera quisque feret."

EFFIGIES.

_Giving the Lie._--The great affront of giving the lie arose from the
phrase "Thou liest," in the oath taken by the defendant in judicial combats
before engaging, when charged with any crime by the plaintiff, and Francis
I. of France, to make current his giving the lie to the Emperor Charles V.,
first stamped it with infamy by saying, in a solemn Assembly, that "he was
no honest man that would bear the lie."

BLOWEN.

_Anachronisms of Painters._--An amusing list is given in D'Israeli's
_Curiosities of Literature_ (edit. 1839, p. 131.). The following are
additional:

At Hagley Park, Worcestershire, the seat of Lord Lyttleton, is a painting
by Varotari, a pupil of Paul Veronese, of Christ and the Woman taken in
Adultery. One of the Jewish elders present wears spectacles.

At Kedleston, Derbyshire, the seat of Lord Scarsdale, is a painting by
Rembrandt, Daniel interpreting Belsazzar's Dream. Daniel's head is covered
with a peruke of considerable magnitude.

J. E.

_Spenser's Faerie Queene._--The following brief notes may perhaps prove
interesting:--

1. Spenser gives us a hint of the annoyances to which Shakspeare and
Burbage may have been subject:--

  "All suddenly they heard a troublous noise,
    That seemed some perilous tumult to design,
  Confused with women's cries and shorts of boys,
  Such as the troubled theatres oft-times annoys."--B. IV. iii. 37.

2. Spenser's solitary pun occurs in book iv. canto viii. verse 31.:

  "But when the world wox old, it wox _war-old_,
  Whereof it hight."

3. Cleanliness does not appear to have been a virtue much in vogue in the
"glorious days of good Queen Bess." Spenser (book iv. canto xi. verse 47.)
speaks of

  "Her silver feet, fair washed against this day,"

_i. e._ for a special day of rejoicing.

4. An instance of the compound epithets so much used by Chapman in his
translation of Homer, is found in Spenser's description of the sea-nymphs,
book iv. canto xi. verse 50.:

                          "Eione well-in-age,
  And seeming-still-to-smile Glauconome."

J. H. C.

Adelaide, South Australia.

_Prayer of Mary Queen of Scots._--The incorrect arrangement, in Seward's
_Anecdotes_, of the following beautiful lines, said to be composed by Mary
Queen of Scots, and repeated immediately before her execution, and a
diffuse paraphrase subjoined, in which all their tenderness is lost by
destroying their brevity and simplicity, may justify another arrangement,
and an attempt to preserve their simple and tender character in fewer words
and a different measure:--

  "O Domine Deus,               O Lord, my God,
    Speravi in Te,                I have trusted in Thee:
  O mi care Jesu,               My Jesu beloved,
  Nunc libera me:                 Me presently free:
  In dura catena,                   In cruel chains,
    Desidero Te.                    In penal pains,
  Languendo, gemendo,               I long for Thee,
  Et genu flectendo,                I moan, I groan,
  Adoro, imploro,                   I bend my knee;
    Ut liberes me.                  I adore, I implore,
                                      Me presently free."

Can any of your correspondents inform me where these lines first appear? on
what authority they are ascribed to Mary Queen of Scots? and also who
mentions their having been repeated immediately before her execution?

ALEXANDER PYTTS FALCONER.

Beeton-Christchurch, Hants.

_A small Instance of Warren Hastings' Magnanimity._--During the latter
years of his life, Warren Hastings was in the habit of visiting General
D'Oyley in the New Forest; and thus he became {370} acquainted with the
Rev. W. Gilpin, vicar of Boldre, and author of _Forest Scenery_, &c. Mr.
Gilpin's custom was to receive morning visitors, who sat and enjoyed his
agreeable conversation; and Warren Hastings, when staying in the
neighbourhood, often resorted to the Boldre Parsonage. It happened, one
Sunday, that Mr. Gilpin preached a sermon on the character of Felix, which
commenced in words like these:

    "Felix was a bad man, and a bad governor. He took away another man's
    wife and lived with her; and he behaved with extortion and cruelty in
    the province over which he ruled."

Other particulars followed equally in accordance with the popular charges
against the late Governor-General of India, who, to the preacher's dismay,
was unexpectedly discovered sitting in the D'Oyley pew. Mr. Gilpin
concluded that he then saw the last of his "great" friend. But, not so: on
the following morning Warren Hastings came, with his usual pleasant manner,
for a chat with the vicar, and of course made no allusion to the sermon.

This was told me by a late valued friend, who was a nephew and curate of
Mr. Gilpin; and I am not aware that the anecdote has been put on record.

ALFRED GATTY.

Ecclesfield.

_Richard Baxter._--In the long list of Richard Baxter's works, one is
entitled, _An unsavoury Volume of Mr. Jo. Crawford's anatomized: or, a
Nosegay of the choicest Flowers in that Garden, presented to Mr. Joseph
Caryl, by Richard Baxter_. 8vo., Lond. 1654.

At the end of a postscript to this tract, the following sentence is
subjoined:

    "Whatsoever hath escaped me in these writings that is against meekness,
    peace, and brotherly love, let it be all unsaid, and hereby revoked;
    and I desire the pardon of it from God and Man.

RICHARD BAXTER."

Baxter's literary career was not the least extraordinary part of his
history. Orme's life of him says, that the catalogue of his works contains
nearly a hundred and sixty-eight distinct publications. A list of no less
than one hundred and seven is given at the end of his _Compassionate
Counsel to all Young Men_, 8vo., Lond. 1682.

Baxter's most popular treatises, as the world knows, were his _Call to the
Unconverted_, and his _Saint's Everlasting Rest_.

H. E.

_Registry of Dissenting Baptisms in Churches._--A fact came to my knowledge
some time since, which seems worthy of having _a note of it_ made, and
recorded in your journal. On looking over the registry of baptisms
administered in the meeting-house of an ancient city, I was struck by the
occurrence of four names, which I had seen entered in a genealogy as from
the baptismal registry of one of its parish churches. This appeared to me
so strange, that I examined the parish registry in order to verify it; and
I found that the baptisms were actually recorded as on the same days in
both registries. Of course, the father, having had his child baptized by
the dissenting minister, prevailed on the clergyman of his parish church to
register it.

Whether this was a common custom at the time when it took place (1715-21) I
have no means of knowing. As a fee was probably charged for the
registration, it was not likely to be asked for in all instances; and, no
doubt, when it was asked for, many clergymen would consider it inconsistent
with their duty to grant it.

D. X.

       *       *       *       *       *


Queries.

NOTES AND QUERIES RELATING TO SCANDINAVIA.

Can any of your readers furnish a list of the different editions of _Olaus
Magnus_? I have lately met with a curious one entitled _Historia delle
Gente et della Natura delle Cose Settentrionali, da Olao Magno Gotho
Arcivescovo di Vpsala nel Regno di Suezia e Gozia, descritta in XXII Libri.
Tradotta in Lingua Toscana. In Vinegia, 1565._ This edition, in folio,
contains a very interesting old map of Scandinavia, and a profusion of
little cuts or engravings, representing men, animals, gods, mountains,
weapons, religious rites, natural wonders, and everything relating to the
people and the country that could be conceived or gathered together. Is
there any English translation of Olaus Magnus?

Is there any English translation of Jornandes' _Histoire Générale des
Goths_? It is full of curious matter. The French edition of 1603 gives the
following accounts of the midnight sun:--

    "Diverses nations ne laissent pas d'habiter ces contrées" (Scanzia or
    Scandinavia). "Ptolomée en nomme sept principales. Celle qui s'appelle
    Adogit, et qui est la plus reculée vers le Nord, voit (dit on) durant
    l'Esté le Soleil rouler l'horizon quarante jours sans se coucher; mais
    aussi pendant l'Hyver, elle est privée de sa lumière un pareil espace
    de temps, payant ainsi par le long ennui que lui cause l'absence de cet
    Astre, la joye que sa longue présence lui avoit fait ressentir."

There is a little old book called _Histoire des Intrigues Galantes de la
Reine Christine de Suède et de sa Cour, pendant son sejour à Rome. A
Amsterdam_, 1697. It opens thus:

    "Rome, qui est le centre de la religion, est aussi le Théâtre des plus
    belles Comédies du Monde:"

and after giving various accounts, personal and incidental, of her
mercurial majesty, and of her pilgrimage to Rome, recites the following
epigram on her first intrigue there, which, to give due precedence to the
church, happened to be with a Cardinal, named Azolin:-- {371}

  "Mais Azolin dans Rome
  Sceut charmer ses ennuis,
  Elle eût sans ce grand homme
  Passé de tristes nuits;"

adding:

    "Dans ce peu de paroles Mr. de Coulanges [its author] dit beaucoup de
    choses, et fait comprendre l'intrigue du Cardinal avec la Reine."

I can find no account of this Reverend Cardinal. Who was he (if anybody),
and what is his history? And who was the author of these odd memoirs of the
Swedish Queen?

At page 228. of "NOTES AND QUERIES" I see mention of an English translation
of _Danish_ ballads by Mr. Borrow. Is there any translation of _Norwegian_
ballads? Many of them are very beautiful and characteristic, and well
worthy of an able rendering into our own language, if there were any one to
undertake it. There is also much beauty in the Norwegian national music, of
which a pretty but limited collection, the _Norske Field-Melodier_,
arranged by Lindeman, is published at Christiania.

What is the best method of reaching Iceland? and what _really good_ books
have been published on that country within the last twenty years?

WILLIAM E. C. NOURSE.

London, April 22. 1851.

       *       *       *       *       *

THE ROTATION OF THE EARTH.

Query, Has Mons. Foucault's pendulum experiment been as yet clearly
enunciated? and do I understand it aright, when I conceive it is intended
to show the existence of a certain uniform _rotation in azimuth of the
horizon_, but different for different latitudes; which rotation, if made
out to exist, is acquired solely in virtue of the uniform diurnal rotation
(15° hourly) in right ascension of the equator, identical in all latitudes.

A pendulum, manifestly, can only be suspended vertically, and can only
vibrate in a vertical plane; and surely can only be conceived, in the
course of the experiment, to be referred to the _horizon_, that great
circle of the heavenly sphere to which all vertical circles are referred.

A spectator at the north pole has the pole of the heavens coincident with
his zenith; and there, all declination circles are also vertical circles;
and there, the equator coincides with the horizon; whereby the whole effect
of the rotation of the earth there (15° hourly) may be conceived to be
given to the _horizon_: whilst, at the equator, the horizon is
perpendicular to the equator, which therefore gives no such rotation at all
to the horizon. Simple inspection of a celestial globe will illustrate
this. Considering the matter thus, at the pole the rotation of the
_horizon_ is 15° hourly, and at the equator is 0, or nothing. But the sine
of the latitude (=90°) at the pole is unity, or 1; and the sine of the
latitude (=0°) at the equator is 0. Therefore, at these two extremes, the
expression 15° × sin. lat. actually does give the amount of _hourly
apparent rotation of the horizon_; namely, 15° at one place, and 0° at the
other. Now, as I understand the experiment, as given in the public prints,
it is asserted that the same expression of 15° × sin. lat. will give the
_rotation of the horizon_ in intermediate latitudes; of which rotation I
subjoin a table calculated for the purpose.

  +-----------+-------------+-----------------------+---------------------+
  |           |             |       Value of        |      Apparent       |
  |           |   Natural   |   15° × Sin. Lat.,    |   corresponding     |
  |  Degrees  |  Values of  |      or apparent      | Times of _Horizon_, |
  |    of     | Sine of the |  _hourly_ Amount of   |     performing      |
  | Latitude. |  Latitude.  |      Rotation of      |    one Rotation     |
  |           |             | _Horizon_, in Degrees |  of 360°, in Hours  |
  |           |             |     and Decimals.     |    and Decimals.    |
  +-----------+-------------+-----------------------+---------------------+
  |    °      |             |          °            |       h             |
  |     0     |    0.000    |          0.00         |   Infinite time.    |
  |     1     |    0.017    |          0.26         |       1371.0        |
  |     2     |    0.035    |          0.53         |        682.1        |
  |     3     |    0.053    |          0.79         |        458.5        |
  |     4     |    0.070    |          1.05         |        342.6        |
  |     5     |    0.087    |          1.31         |        255.4        |
  |     6     |    0.104    |          1.57         |        229.6        |
  |     7     |    0.122    |          1.83         |        169.9        |
  |     8     |    0.139    |          2.09         |        172.5        |
  |     9     |    0.156    |          2.35         |        153.4        |
  |    10     |    0.173    |          2.60         |        138.1        |
  |    20     |    0.342    |          5.13         |         70.2        |
  |    30     |    0.500    |          7.50         |         48.0        |
  |    40     |    0.643    |          9.64         |         37.3        |
  |    50     |    0.766    |         11.49         |         31.3        |
  |    60     |    0.866    |         13.00         |         27.7        |
  |    70     |    0.940    |         14.09         |         25.5        |
  |    80     |    0.985    |         14.77         |         24.4        |
  |    90     |    1.000    |         15.00         |         24.0        |
  +-----------+-------------+-----------------------+---------------------+

Now this is the point which, it should seem, ought to be the business of
experimenters to establish; it being proposed, as we are informed, to
swing, in different latitudes, freely suspended pendulums, over horizontal
dials, or circular tables, properly graduated, similarly to the horizons of
common globes; and to note the _apparent_ variation of the plane of
oscillation of the pendulums with respect to the graduated dials; these
latter serving as representatives of the horizon. For the hypothesis is (as
I understand it), that the pendulums will continue to swing each of them
severally in one invariable vertical plane fixed in free space, whilst the
horizontal dials beneath, by their rotation, will slip away, as it were,
and turn round in _azimuth_, from under the planes of the pendulums.

It should seem to be imperative on those who wish to put this experiment to
proof, to give all possible attention to the precautions suggested in the
excellent paper that appeared on the subject, on Saturday, April 19, in the
_Literary Gazette_, copied also into the _Morning Post_ of Monday the 21st.
To my mind, the experiment is beset with practical difficulties; but even
should the matter {372} be satisfactorily made out to those best capable of
judging, I cannot readily conceive of an experiment less likely than the
above to carry conviction to the minds of the wholly unlearned of the
rotation of the earth.

I perceive that B.A.C., in the _Times_ of April 24, avows his determined
scepticism as to the virtue of the experiment.

ROBERT SNOW.

       *       *       *       *       *


MINOR QUERIES.

_William ap Jevan's Descendants._--In Burke's _Landed Gentry_, p. 1465.,
mention is made of William ap Jevan, "an attendant upon Jasper Duke of
Bedford, and afterwards upon Hen. VII.;" and of a son, Morgan Williams,
ancestor of the Cromwells. Will some correspondent oblige by giving a
reference to where any account may be met with of any other son, or
children, to such William ap Jevan, and his or their descendants?

W. P. A.

"_Geographers on Afric Downs._"--Can any of your correspondents tell me
where these lines are to be found?--

  "So geographers on Afric downs,
  Plant elephants instead of towns."

They sound Hudibrastic, but I cannot find them in _Hudibras_.

A. S.

_Irish Brigade._--Can any of your correspondents furnish any account of
what were called "The Capitulations of the Irish Brigades?" These
_Capitulations_ (to prevent mistakes) were simply the agreements under
which foreign regiments entered the French service. The Swiss regiments had
their special "capitulations" until 1830, when they ceased to be employed
in France. They appear to have differed in almost every regiment of the
Irish brigade; the privileges of some being greater than those of others.
One was common to all, namely, the right of _trial_ by their officers or
comrades solely, and according to the laws of their own country.

Also, is there any history of the brigades published? I have heard that a
Colonel Dromgoole published one. Can any information be afforded on that
head?

K.

_Passage in Oldham._--The following lines, on the virtues of "impudence,"
occur in that exquisite satirist, Oldham, described by Dryden as "too
little and too lately known:"

  "Get that great gift and talent, impudence,
  Accomplish'd mankind's highest excellence:
  'Tis that alone prefers, alone makes great,
  Confers alone wealth, titles, and estate;
  Gains place at court, can make a fool a peer;
  An ass a bishop; can vil'st blockhead rear
  To wear red hats, and sit in porph'ry chair:
  'Tis learning, parts, and skill, and wit, and sense,
  Worth, merit, honour, virtue, innocence."

I quote this passage chiefly with reference to the "porphyry chair," and
with the view of ascertaining whether the allusion has been explained in
any edition of Oldham's Poems. Does the expression refer to any established
use of such chairs by the wearers of "red hats?" or is it intended merely
to convey a general idea of the sumptuousness and splendour of their style
of living?

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia, March, 1851.

_Mont-de-Piété._-Can any of your readers furnish information as to the
connexion between these words and the thing which they are used to denote?
Mrs. Jameson says, in her _Legends of the Monastic Orders_, p. 307.:

    "Another attribute of St. Bernardin's of Siena, is the
    _Monte-di-Pietà_, a little green hill composed of three mounds, and on
    the top either a cross or a standard, on which is the figure of the
    dead Saviour, usually called in Italy a _Pietà_. St. B. is said to have
    been the founder of the charitable institutions still called in France
    _Monts-de-Piété_, originally for the purpose of lending to the poor
    small sums on trifling pledges--what we should now call a loan
    society,--and which, in their commencement, were purely disinterested
    and beneficial. In every city which he visited as a preacher, he
    founded a Monte-di-Pietà; and before his death, these institutions had
    spread all over Italy and through a great part of France."

It is added in a note:

    "Although the figures holding the M. di P. are, in Italian prints and
    pictures, styled 'San Bernardino da Siena,' there is reason to presume
    that the honour is at least shared by another worthy of the same order,
    'Il Beato Bernardino da Feltri,' a celebrated preacher at the end of
    the fifteenth century. Mention is made of his preaching against the
    Jews and usurers, on the miseries of the poor, and on the necessity of
    having a _Monte-di-Pietà_ at Florence, in a sermon delivered in the
    church of Santa Croce in the year 1488."

On p. 308. is a representation of the Monte-di-Pietà, borne in the saint's
hand. I need not specify the points on which the foregoing extract still
leaves information to be desired.

W. B. H.

Manchester.

_Poem upon the Grave._--A. D. would be obliged by being informed where to
find a poem upon The Grave. Two voices speak in it, and, it commences--

  "How peaceful the grave; its quiet how deep!
  Its zephyrs breathe calmly, and soft is its sleep,
  And flowerets perfume it with ether."

The second voice replies--

  "How lonesome the grave; how deserted and drear," &c. &c.

_Clocks: when self-striking Clocks first invented._--In Bolingbroke's
_Letters on the Study of History_ {373} (Letter IV.), I read the following
passage in relation to a certain person:

    "His reason had not the merit of common mechanism. When you press a
    watch or pull a clock, they answer your question with precision; for
    they repeat exactly the hour of the day, and tell you neither more nor
    less than you desire to know."

I believe this work was written about 1711. Can you tell me when the
self-striking clock was invented, and by whom?

JINGO.

_Clarkson's "Richmond."_--Can any of your readers inform me who is in
possession of the papers of the late Mr. Clarkson, the historian of
Richmond, in Yorkshire? I wish to know what were the ancient documents, or
other sources, from which the learned author ascertained some facts stated
in his valuable work. To whom should I apply on the subject?

D. Q.

_"Felix quem faciunt," &c._--I wish you could tell me where I can find this
line:

  "Felix quem faciunt aliena pericula cautum."

EFFIGIES.

Whitehall.

_Sir Francis Windebank's elder Son._--Sir Francis Windebank, "of
treacherous memory," it is well known, died at Paris in September, 1646. He
had two sons; what became of Thomas, the _elder_? Francis, the _second_,
was a colonel in the royal army: he was tried for cowardice in surrendering
Blechingdon House, in Oxfordshire, to Oliver Cromwell without a blow; and
being found guilty, was shot at Broken Hayes, near Oxford, in April, 1645.
I am anxious to make out the fate of his elder brother.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

_Incised Slab._--I have a large incised slab in my church, with the figures
of a man (Richard Grenewey) and his wife upon it, with the date 1473.
Following the date, and filling up the remainder of the line of the
inscription, is the figure of a cock in a fighting attitude. Can any of
your readers enlighten me on the subject?

H. C. K.

_Etymology of Balsall._--Will you allow me to ask some of your readers to
give me the etymology of _Balsall_? It occurs frequently about here, as
Balsall Temple, B. Street, B. Grange, B. Common, and near Birmingham is
Balsall Heath. It is not to be confounded with Beausall Common, which also
is near this place.

F. R.

Kenilworth.

_St. Olave's Churches._--In the _Calendar of the Anglican Church_, Parker,
Oxford, 1851, at pp. 267. and 313., it is stated that Saint Olave helped
King Ethelred to dislodge the Danes from London and Southwark, by
destroying London Bridge; and that, in gratitude for this service, the
churches at each end of the bridge are dedicated to him;--on the Southwark
side, St. Olave's, Tooley Street, is; but was there ever a church on the
London side, bearing the same name?--The nearest one to the bridge is St.
Olave's, Hart Street; but that is surely too distant to be called "at the
end of the bridge."

E. N. W.

Southwark, April 21. 1851.

_Sabbatical and Jubilee Years of the Jews._--As the solution of many
interesting topics in connexion with Jewish history is yet dependent on the
_period_ of the institution of the Sabbatical and Jubilee years, the
following observations will not perhaps be deemed unworthy of a "nook" in
your columns. A spark may blaze! I therefore throw it out to be fanned into
a more brilliant light by those of your readers whose studies peculiarly
fit them to inquire more searchingly into the subject. The Jews, it has
been remarked by various writers, were ignorant of _astronomy_. Both,
however, the Sabbatical and Jubilee years have been, as I conceive and will
endeavour to show, founded on astronomical observation, commemorative of no
particular event in Jewish history, but simply that of the moon's
revolutions; for instance, with reference to the _Sabbatical_ year,
allowing for a difference of four days and a half, which occurs _annually_
in the time of the moon's position on the equator, it would require, in
order to realise a number corresponding to the days (29) employed by the
moon in her synodical revolution round the earth, a period to elapse of
little less than six years and a half: thus exhibiting the Jews' _seventh_
or _Sabbatical year_, or year of rest. This result, besides being
instructive and commemorative of the moon's menstrual course, is at the
same time indicative, as each Sabbatical year rolls past, of the approach
of the "_finisher of the Seven Sabbaths of years_," or year of Jubilee, so
designated from its being to the chosen people of God, under the Jewish
dispensation, a year of "freedom and redemption," in commemoration of the
moon's _complete_ revolution, viz., her return to a certain position at the
precise time at which she set out therefrom, an event which takes place but
once in _fifty years_: in other words, if the moon be on the equator, say,
on the first day of February, and calculating twenty-nine days to the
month, or twelve lunations to the year, a cycle of fifty years, or "seven
Sabbaths of years," must elapse ere she will again be in that position on
the same day.

HIPPARCHUS.

Limehouse, March 31. 1851.

_Arms of Isle of Man._--The arms of the Isle of Man are gules, three legs
conjoined in the fess point, &c. &c. or. These arms were stamped on the old
halfpence of the island, and we may well call them the current coin.

In an old edition of the _Mythology of Natalis_ {374} _Comus_, Patavii,
1637, small 4to., at page 278., I find an Icon of Triptolemus sent by Ceres
in a chariot drawn by serpents, hovering in the clouds over what I suppose
to be Sicily, or Trinacria; and on a representation of a city below the
chariot occurs the very same form of coin, the three legs conjoined, with
the addition of three ears of corn.

This seems to me to be a curious coincidence.

MERVINIENSIS.

_Doctrine of the Resurrection._--Can any of your readers inform me of any
traces of the doctrine of the Resurrection to be found in authors anterior
to the Christian era? The following passage from Diogenes Laertius is
quoted in St. John's _Manners and Customs of Ancient Greece_, vol. i. p.
355.:

    "[Greek: Kai anabiôsesthai, kata tous Magous, phêsi (theopompos), tous
    anthrôpous, kai esesthai athanatous.]"

How far does the statement in this passage involve the idea of a _bodily_
resurrection? I fancy the doctrine is not countenanced by any of the
apparitions in the poetical Hades of Virgil, or of other poets.

ZETETICUS.

_National Debts._--Is there any published work descriptive of the origin of
the foundation of a "National Debt" in Florence so early as the year 1344,
when the state, owing a sum of money, created a "Mount or Bank," the shares
in which were transferable, like our stocks? It is not mentioned in Niccolo
Machiavelli's _History of Florence_; but I have a note of the fact, without
a reference to the authority. Is there any precedent prior to the
foundation of our National Debt?

F. E. M.

_Leicester's Commonwealth._--Are the real authors of _Leicester's
Commonwealth_, and the poetical tract generally found with it, _Leicester's
Ghost_, known? According to Dodd's _Church History_, the first is
_erroneously_ attributed to Robert Parsons the Jesuit.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

       *       *       *       *       *


Replies.

HISTOIRE DES SÉVARAMBES.

(Vol. iii., pp. 4. 72. 147.)

The History of the Sevarites, in the original English edition, consists of
two parts: the first published in 1675, in 114 pages, small 12mo., without
a preface; the second published in 1679, in 140 pages, with a preface of
six pages. The French version of this work is much altered and enlarged.
The title is changed into _Histoire des Sévarambes_, the "Sevarites" being
dropped. There is a preface of fifteen pages, containing a supposed letter
from Thomas Skinner, dated Bruges, Oct. 28, 1672. The work is divided into
five parts, three of which are in the first, and two in the second volume
of the Amsterdam edition of 1716. These five parts are together more than
twice as bulky as the two parts of the English work. There is no copy of
the original French edition of 1677-9 described by Marchand, in any English
public library; but if there is a copy in the French national library, any
of your bibliographical correspondents at Paris could easily ascertain
whether (as is probably the case) the Amsterdam edition is a mere reprint
from the original Paris edition.

The French version of this work is not only much enlarged, but it differs
in the names and incidents, and is fuller in the account of the
institutions and customs of the imaginary state. The English edition of
1738 (1 vol. 8vo.) is a literal translation from the French version, though
it does not purport to be a translation. It may be doubted whether the
translator was aware of the existence of the English publication of 1675-9.
The German translation was published in 1680; the Dutch translation in
1682: both these appear to have been taken from the French.

Morhof (_Polyhistor._, vol. i. p. 74.), who inserts this work among the
_libri damnati_, and dwells upon its deistical character, refers to the
French version; and though he knew that the book had originally appeared in
English, he probably was not aware of the difference between the two
versions. A note added by his first editor, Moller, states that Morhof
often told his friends that he believed Isaac Vossius to have been the
author of the work. Isaac Vossius was in England from 1670 until his death,
which took place at Windsor, February 21, 1689. His residence in England,
combined with the known laxity of his religious opinions, doubtless
suggested to Morhof the conjecture that he wrote this freethinking Utopia.
There is, however, no external evidence to support this conjecture, or to
show that it had any better foundation than the conjecture that Bishop
Berkeley wrote _Gaudentio di Lucca_. The University of Leyden purchased the
library of Isaac Vossius for 36,000 florins. If it is still preserved at
Leyden, a search among his books might ascertain whether there is among
them any copy of the English or French editions of this work, and whether
they contain any written remark by their former possessor. Moreover, it is
to be observed that the system of natural religion is for the first time
developed in the French edition; and this was the part which chiefly gave
the book its celebrity: whereas, the supposition of Morhof implies that the
English and French versions are identical.

Heumann, in his _Schediasma de Libris Anonymis et Pseudonymis_ (Jena,
1711), p. 161. (reprinted in Mylius, _Bibliotheca Anon. et Pseudon._,
Hamburg, 1740, vol. i. pp. 170-6.) has an article on the _Histoire des
Sévarambes_. It is there stated that "Messieurs de Portroyal" superintended
the French translation of the work; but no authority is given for the
statement. Christian Thomasius, {375} in his _Monthly Review_ of November
1689, attributed the work to D'Allais (or Vairasse). He alleged three
reasons for this belief: 1. The rumour current in France; 2. The fact that
Allais sold the book, as well as his French grammar; 3. That a comparison
of the two works, in respect of style and character of mind, renders it
most probable that both are by the same author. The testimony of Thomasius
is important, as the date of its publication is only ten years posterior to
the publication of the last part of the French version.

Leclerc, in a review of the _Schediasma_ of Heumann, in the _Bibliothèque
Choisie_, published in 1712 (tom. xxv. p. 402., with an addendum, tom.
xxvi. p. 460.), attests positively that Vairasse was the author of the work
in question. He says that Vairasse (or, as he spells the name, Veiras) took
the name of D'Allais in order to sell his book. He had this fact from
persons well acquainted with Vairasse. He likewise mentions that Vairasse
was well known to Locke, who gave Leclerc an account of his birthplace.
Leclerc adds that he was acquainted with a person to whom Vairasse wished
to dedicate his book (viz. the _Histoire des Sévarambes_), _and who
possessed a copy of it, with a species of dedication, written in his hand_.

This testimony is so distinct and circumstantial, as to leave no reasonable
doubt as to the connexion of Vairasse with the French version. The
difficulty as to the authorship of the English version still, however,
remains considerable. The extensive alterations introduced in the French
edition certainly render it probable that _two_ different writers were
concerned in the work. The words of Leclerc respecting the information
received from Locke are somewhat ambiguous; but they do not necessarily
imply that Locke knew anything as to the connexion of Vairasse with the
book, though they are not inconsistent with this meaning. Locke had
doubtless become acquainted with Vairasse during his residence in England.
Considering the length of time which Vairasse passed in England, and the
eminence of the persons with whom he is said to have had relations (viz.
the Duke of York, Lord Clarendon, and Locke), it is singular that no
mention of him should be discoverable in any English book.

The error, that the work in question was written by Algernon Sidney,
appears to have arisen from a confusion with the name of Captain Siden, the
imaginary traveller. Fabricius (_Bibliograph. Antiq._, c. xiv. §16. p.
491.) mentions Sidney and Vairasse as the two most probable claimants to
the authorship.

Hume, in his _Essay on Polygamy and Divorces_, refers to the _History of
the Sevarambians_, and calls it an "agreeable romance."

L.

       *       *       *       *       *

WAS THERE AN "OUTER TEMPLE" IN THE POSSESSION OF THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS OR
KNIGHTS OF ST. JOHN?--(Vol. iii., p. 325.)

I have great pleasure in complying with the very proper request of MR.
FOSS, and give my authority at once for stating in the _Hand-book for
London_ that the so-called "Outer Temple" was a part of the Fleet Street
possession of the Knights Templars or Knights of St. John, or was in any
manner comprehended within the New Temple property of Fleet Street and
Temple Bar. My authority is Sir George Buc, whose minute and valuable
account of the universities of England is dedicated to Sir Edward Coke.
Buc's words are these:--

    "After this suppression and condemnation of the Templers, their house
    here in Fleete Street came to the handes and occupation of diuers
    Lordes. For our Antiquaries and Chronologers say, that after this
    suppression Sir Thomas Plantagenet Earl of Lancaster (and Cousin to the
    King then raigning) had it, but beeing after attainted of treason, hee
    enjoyed it but a short time.

    "Then next Hugh Spencer Earle of Glocester got into it, but he also was
    soone after attainted, and executed for Treason. After him Andomare de
    Valence, a nobleman of the great house of Lusignan, and Earle of
    Pembrooke, was lodged in it for a while. But this house was '_Equus
    Seianus_' to them all: and (as here it appeareth) was ordayned by God
    for other better uses, and whereunto now it serueth. After all these
    noble tenants and occupants were thus exturbed, dead, and gone, then
    certaine of the reuerend, ancient professours of the Lawes, in the
    raign of King Edward the Third, obtained a very large or (as I might
    say) a perpetuall Lease of this Temple, or (as it must bee understood)
    of two parts thereof distinguished by the names of the Middle Temple
    and the Inner Temple, from the foresayd Ioannites.... But the other
    third part, called the Outward Temple, Doctor Stapleton, Bishop of
    Exceter, had gotten in the raign of the former King, Edward the Second,
    and conuerted it to a house for him and his successors, Bishops of
    Exceter ... of whom the late Earle of Essex purchased it, and it is now
    called Essex house: hauing first beene (as I haue sayd) a part of the
    Templers' house, and in regard of the scituation thereof, without the
    Barre, was called the Outward or Utter Temple, as the others, for the
    like causes, were called the Middle Temple and the Inner Temple."--Sir
    George Buc, in _Stow_ by Howes, ed. 1631, p. 1068.

This seems decisive, if Buc is to be relied on, as I think he is. But new
facts, such as MR. FOSS'S researches and MR. BURTT'S diligence are likely
to bring to light, may upset Buc's statement altogether.

I must join MR. FOSS in his wish to ascertain _when_ the names Inner Temple
and Middle Temple were first made use of, with a further Query, which I
should be glad to have settled, _when_ the See of Exeter first obtained the
site of the so-called {376} "Outer Temple?" Stapleton, by whom it was
_perhaps_ obtained, was Bishop of Exeter from 1307 to 1326.

PETER CUNNINGHAM.

       *       *       *       *       *

OBEISM.

(Vol. iii., p. 59.)

In reply to F. H., I beg leave to state that Obeism is not in itself a
religion, except in the sense in which Burke says that "superstition is the
religion of feeble minds." It is a belief, real or pretended, in the
efficacy of certain spells and incantations, and is to the uneducated negro
what sorcery was to our unenlightened forefathers. This superstition is
known in St. Lucia by the name of _Kembois_. It is still extensively
practised in the West Indies, but there is no reason to suppose that it is
rapidly gaining ground. F. H. will find ample information on the subject in
Père Labat's _Nouveau Voyage aux Isles françaises de l'Amérique_, tome ii.
p. 59., and tome iv. pp. 447. 499. and 506., edition of 1742; in Bryan
Edwards' _History of the West Indies_, vol. ii. ch. iii., 5th edition
(London, 1819); and in Dr. R. R. Madden's _Residence in the West Indies_,
vol. ii. letter 27. Perhaps the following particulars from Bryan Edwards
(who says he is indebted for them to a Mr. Long) on the etymology of
_obeah_, may be acceptable to some of your readers:--

    "The term _obeah_, _obiah_, or _obia_, (for it is variously written,)
    we conceive to be the adjective, and _obe_ or _obi_, the noun
    substantive; and that by the word _obia_--men or women--is meant those
    who practise _obi_. The origin of the term we should consider as of no
    importance, in our answer to the question proposed, if, in search of
    it, we were not led to disquisitions that are highly gratifying to
    curiosity. From the learned Mr. Bryant's commentary upon the word
    _oph_, we obtain a very probable etymology of the term. 'A serpent, in
    the Egyptian language, was called _ob_ or _aub_.' '_Obion_ is still the
    Egyptian name for a serpent.' 'Moses, in the name of God, forbids the
    Israelites ever to inquire of the demon _Ob_, which is translated in
    our Bible, charmer or wizard, divinator aut sorcilegus.' 'The woman at
    Endor is called _oub_ or _ob_, translated Pythonissa; and _oubaois_ (he
    cites from _Horus Apollo_) was the name of the Basilisk or Royal
    Serpent, emblem of the sun, and an ancient oracular deity of Africa.'"

One of your correspondents has formed a substantive from _obe_ by the
addition of _ism_, and another from _obeah_ by the same process; but it
will be seen by the above quotation that there is no necessity for that
obtrusive termination, the superstitious practice in question being already
sufficiently described by the word _obe_ or _obi_.

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia, March, 1851.

       *       *       *       *       *

SAN MARINO.

(Vol. iii., p. 321.)

On the death of Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, without legitimate male
issue, in October, 1468, Pope Paul II. declared Rimini and his other fiefs
to have reverted to the Holy See. In the spring of the following year the
Pontiff proceeded, with the assistance of the Venetians, to enforce his
claim, and threatened the Republicans of San Marino with his vengeance if
they did not aid him and his allies in gaining possession of Rimini, which
Roberto Malatesta, one of the illegitimate sons of Sigismondo Pandolfo, had
seized by stratagem.

By advice of their faithful friend Federigo, Count of Urbino, who was at
the head of the opposite league, comprising the King of Naples, the Duke of
Milan, and the Florentines, the San-Marinese forwarded the Papal mandate to
Florence, and requested through their ambassador, one Ser Bartolomeo, the
support of that Republic. Several letters appear to have been sent in
answer to their applications, and the one communicated by MR. SYDNEY SMIRKE
is characterised by Melchiarre Delfico (_Memorie storiche della Repubblica
di San Marino._ Capolago, 1842, 8vo. p. 229.) as

    "Del tutto didattica e parenetica intorno alla libertà, di cui i
    Fiorentini facevano gran vanto, mentre erano quasi alla vigilia di
    perderla intieramente."

San Marino was not attacked during the campaign, which terminated on the
30th of August of the same year (1469) with the battle of Vergiano, in
which Alessandro Sforza, the commander of the Papal forces, was signally
defeated by Federigo.

San Marino has never, so far as I have been able to ascertain, undergone
the calamity of a siege, and its inhabitants have uninterruptedly enjoyed
the blessing of self-government from the foundation of the Republic in the
third or fourth century to the present time, with the exception of the few
months of 1503, during which the infamous Cesare Borgia forced them to
accept a Podestà of his own nomination. Various causes have contributed to
this lengthened independence; but it may be stated that, in the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries, the San Marinese owed it no less to their own
patriotism, courage, prudence, and good faith, than to the disinterested
protection of the Counts and Dukes of Urbino, whose history has been so
ably written by Mr. Dennistoun, in his recently published memoirs of that
chivalrous race.

The privileges of the Republic were confirmed on the 12th of February,
1797, by Napoleon Buonaparte, who offered to enlarge its territory,--a boon
which its citizens were wise enough to decline; thinking, perhaps, with
Montesquieu, that--

    "Il est de la nature d'une république qu'elle n'ait qu'un petit
    territoire: sans cela, elle ne peut guère subsister."--_Esprit des
    Lois_, liv. viii. chap. 16.

Your readers will find some notices of San {377} Marino in Addison's
_Remarks on several Parts of Italy_; Aristotle's _Politics_, translated by
Gillies, lib. ii. Appendix.

Its lofty and isolated situation has supplied Jean Paul with a simile in
his _Unsichtbare Loge_:

    "Alle andre Wissenschaften theilen sich jetzt in eine Universal
    Monarchie über alle Leser: aber die Alten sitzen mit ihren wenigen
    philologischen Lehnsleuten einsam auf einem S. Marino-Felsen."--_Jean
    Paul's_ Werke (Berlin, 1840, 8vo.), vol. i. p. 125.

In the first line of the letter, "ved_a_to" should be ved_u_to; and in the
seventh line, "difender_ai_" difender_vi_.

F. C. B.

       *       *       *       *       *

THE BELLMAN AND HIS HISTORY.

(Vol. iii., p. 324.)

The Bellman's songs may be found in the _Bellman's Treasury, containing
above a Hundred several Verses, fitted for all Humours and Fancies, and
suited to all Times and Seasons_. London: 8vo. 1707. Extracts from this
book are given in Hone's _Every Day Book_, vol. ii. p. 1594.

I have now before me a broadside thus entitled: "A copy of verses, humbly
presented to the Right Worshipful the Mayor, Aldermen, and Common
Councilmen, and the rest of my worthy Masters and Mistresses, dwelling in
Cambridge. By Thomas Adams, Bellman, 1810." There is a large engraving,
from a wood-block, apparently a century old, representing a bellman, in a
flowing wig and a three-cornered hat, holding, in his right hand a bell,
and in his left a javelin and lantern; his dog is behind him.

The verses are:

  1. Prologue.
  2. To the Right Worshipful the Mayor.
  3. To the Aldermen.
  4. To the Common Councilmen.
  5. To the Town Clerk.
  6. To the Members for the Town.
  7. On the King.
  8. On the Queen.
  9. On Christmas Day.
  10. On New Year's Day.
  11. To the Young Men.
  12. To the Young Maids.
  13. On Charity.
  14. On Religion.
  15. Epilogue.

This is marked as the 24th sheet; that is, as I suppose, the 24th set of
verses presented by Mr. Adams.

I have also a similar broadside, "by Isaac Moule, jun., bellman, 1824,"
being "No. III." of Mr. Moule's performances. The woodcut is of a more
modern character than Mr. Adams's, and delineates a bellman in a
three-cornered hat, modern coat, breeches, and stockings, a bell in his
right hand, and a small dog by his side. The bellman is represented as
standing in front of the old Shire Hall in Cambridge, having Hobson's
Conduit on his right.

The subjects of Mr. Moule's verses are similar to those of Mr. Adams, with
the following variations. He omits verses to the Town Clerk, the Members
for the Town, the Queen, on Charity, and on Religion, and inserts verses
"On St. Crispin," and "To my Masters and Mistresses."

The office of bellman in this town was abolished in 1836, and to the
bellman's verses have succeeded similar effusions from the lamplighters,
who distribute copies when soliciting Christmas boxes from the inhabitants.

C. H. COOPER.

Cambridge, April 28. 1851.

       *       *       *       *       *


Replies to Minor Queries.

"_God takes those soonest_," &c. (Vol. iii., p. 302.).--In Morwenstow
churchyard, Cornwall, there is this epitaph on a child:--

  "Those whom God loves die young!
    They see no evil days,--
  No falsehood taints their tongue,
    No wickedness their ways.

  "Baptized, and so made sure,
    To win their blest abode,--
  What shall we pray for more?
    They die, and are with God!"

C. E. H.

The belief expressed in these words is of great antiquity. See the story of
Cleobis and Biton, in Herod. l. 31., and the verse frown the [Greek: Dis
exapatôn] of Menander:

  "[Greek: Hon hoi theoi philousin apothnêskei neos]."
  Meineke, _Fragm. Com. Gr._, vol. iv. p. 105.

L.

I would suggest to T. H. K. that the origin of this line is Menander's

  "[Greek: Hon hoi theoi philousin apothnêskei neos]."
      Fragm. 128. in Meineke, _Fr. Com. Gr._

imitated by Plautus:

  "Quem di diligunt adulescens moritur."
                  _Bacch._ iv. 7. 18.

whence the English adage,

  "Whom the gods love die young."

Wordsworth's _Excur._, b. i., has this sentiment:

              "O, Sir, the good die first,
  And those whose hearts are dry as summer dust,
  Burn to the socket."

C. P. PH****.

    [Several other correspondents have kindly replied to this Query.]

{378}

_Disinterment for Heresy_ (Vol. iii, p. 240.).--Mr. Tracy's will, dated
10th October, 22d Henry VIII. [1530], is given at length in Hall's
_Chronicle_ (ed. 1809, p. 796.), where will be found the particulars of the
case to which ARUN alludes. See also Burnet's _History of the Reformation_
(ed. 1841, vol. i. pp. 125. 657, 658. 673.), and Strype's _Annals of the
Reformation_, vol. i. p. 507. Strype states that Mr. Tracy's body was dug
up and burnt "anno 1532." William Tyndale wrote _Exposition on Mr. Will.
Tracies Will_, published in 8vo. at Nuremburgh, 1546. (Wood's _Athen.
Oxon._, vol. i. p. 37.)

C. H. COOPER.

Cambridge, April 2. 1851.

"William Tracy, a worshipful esquire in Gloucestershire, and then dwelling
at Todington," made a will, which was thought to contain heretical
sentiments. His executor having brought in this will to be proved two years
after Tracy's death (in 1532), "the Convocation most cruelly judged that he
should be taken out of the ground, and burnt as an heretick," which was
accordingly done; but the chancellor of the diocese of Worcester, to whom
the commission was sent for the burning, was fined 300_l_. for it by King
Henry VIII. Such is the story in Fox's _Martyrs_, anno 1532 (vol. ii. p.
262. ed. 1684, which I have before me).

EXON.

The date and some particulars of the exhumation of the body of W. Tracy,
Esq., of Toddington Park, ancestor of the present Lord Sudeley, ARUN will
find in Foxe's _Acts and Monuments_, vol. v. p. 31. ed. 1843, and the note
in appendix will point out other sources.

NOVUS.

_The Vellum-bound Junius_ (Vol. iii., pp. 262. 307.).--In the Number dated
April 19, 1851, p. 307., is a request for information relative to the
"Vellum-bound copy of Junius;" also a reference to the subject in a prior
number of the "NOTES AND QUERIES." Not being in England, and not having the
prior numbers, it is not possible to make myself acquainted with the
subject contained in that reference, but I will endeavour to throw some
light on the Query in the Number which has been forwarded to me. The writer
of the _Letters of Junius_ was the secretary of the first Marquis of
Lansdowne, better known as Lord Shelburne. From his Lordship he obtained
all the political information necessary for his compositions. The late
Marquis of Lansdowne possessed the copy bound in vellum (two volumes), with
many notes on the margin in Lord Shelburne's handwriting; they were kept
locked up in a beautiful ebony casket bound and ornamented with brass. That
casket has disappeared, at least so I have been told, and not many years
ago inquiry was made for it by the present head of that house. Maclean was
a dark, strong-featured man, who wore his hat slouched over his eyes, and
generally a large cloak. He often corrected the slips or proofs of his
letters at Cox's, a well-known printer near Lincoln's Inn, who deemed
himself bound in honour never to divulge what he knew of that publication,
and was agitated when once suddenly spoken to on the subject near the door
of the small room in which the proofs were corrected, and with a high and
honourable feeling requested never to be again spoken to on the subject.
The late President of the Royal Academy, Benjamin West, knew Maclean; and
his son, the late Raphael West, told the writer of these remarks, that when
a young man he had seen him in the evening at his father's in Newman
Street, and once heard him repeat a passage in one of the letters which was
not then published. A more correct and veracious man than Mr. R. West could
not be. Maclean stammered, and was consequently of no use to Lord Shelburne
as a debater and supporter in parliament. A place in the East Indies was
obtained for him, and he sailed in the Aurora frigate for that dependency,
and was lost in her at the same time with Falconer, the author of the poem
entitled _The Shipwreck_. The able tract published by Mr. Pickering,
Piccadilly, would constitute a fair foundation on which to build the
inquiry.

ÆGROTUS.

_Pursuits of Literature_ (Vol. iii., p. 240.).--I trust that the following
notes may be useful in assisting your correspondent S. T. D. to ascertain
"how the author of the _Pursuits of Literature_ became known." The first
edition of the first part of the _Pursuits of Literature_ appears to have
been published in quarto, by J. Owen, 168. Piccadilly, in 1794. In a volume
of pamphlets I have the above bound up with the following:--

    "The Sphinx's Head Broken: or a Poetical Epistle, with notes to THOMAS
    JAMES M*TH**S, Cl*rk to the Q***n's Tr**s*r*r. Proving him to be the
    author of the Pursuits of Literature: a Satirical Poem. With occasional
    Digressions and Remarks. By Andrew Oedipus, an injured Author. London:
    Printed for J. Bell, No. 148. Oxford Street, opposite New Bond Street,
    MDCCXCVIII."

This epistle is a very severe castigation for Mathias, whom Oedipus styles
the "little black jogging man," whose

    "Politics and religion are very well, but he is a detestable pedant,
    and his head is a lumber-garret of Greek quotations, which he raps out
    as a juggler does ribbands at a country fair."

And speaking of "Chuckle Bennet," he calls him in a note,

    "A good calf-headed bookseller in Pall Mall, the intimate confidant and
    crony of little M*th**s, and who, upon Owen's bankruptcy, published
    Part IV. of _Pursuits of Literature_ himself."

Of Owen, who published Part I., our author says: {379}

    "Hither the sly little fellow got crony Becket to send his satirical
    trumpery;"

which is further explained in the following note:

    "Becket's back door is in an alley close to his house; here have I
    often seen little M*th**s jog in and sit upon thorns for fear of being
    seen, in the back-parlour, chattering matters over with old Numscull.
    After passing through many hands, the proof sheets at last _very slily_
    reached little M*th**s that he might revise the learned lumber."

After alluding to several pieces published by Mathias, our unmerciful
critic adds in another note:

    "It is very remarkable how strongly the characteristic features of
    identity of authorship are marked in these several pieces; the little
    man had not even the wit to print them in a different manner, yet
    strange to tell, few, very few, could smell the he-goat!

  "Who reads thy _hazy weather_ but must swear,
  'Tis Thomas James M*th**s to a hair!"

MERCURII.

_Dutch Books_ (Vol. iii., p. 326.).--MARTINUS is probably aware that the
library of the Fagel family is now a part of the University Library of
Dublin, and that it contains a very fine collection of Dutch literature, in
which it is very possible some of the books of which he is in search may be
found.

The auction catalogue prepared in 1800, when the library was to have been
sold by auction, had it not been purchased by the University of Dublin, is
printed, and a copy of it is at his service, if he will inform me through
you how to send it to him.

This library contains many rare tracts and documents well worthy of Mr.
Macaulay's attention, if he is about to continue his history of the
Revolution; but I have not heard whether he has made any inquiry after
them, or whether he is aware of their existence. There is a curious MS.
catalogue of them in the possession of the University, which was too
voluminous to be printed, when the library was about to be sold.

HIBERNICUS.

_Engilbert, Archbishop of Treves_ (Vol. i., p 214.).--There can be no doubt
that the bishop's reference is incorrect, and the suggestion of T. J. (Vol.
iii., p. 291.) to consult the reprint of 1840 affords no aid in setting it
right; for there we find (p. 178.) a note as follows:

    "There was no Engilbert, Archbishop of Treves, nor is there any work in
    this name in Goldasti."

I have, however, consulted Mr. Bowden's _Life and Pontificate of Gregory
VII._, in order, if possible, to find a clue; and in a note in vol. ii. p.
246. of that work is a statement of the hesitation of the Pope on the
doctrine of the eucharist, with a reference as follows:

    "Vid. _Egilberti_ archiep. Trevir. epist. adv. Greg. VII., in Eccardi
    Corp. historic. Medii Ævi. t. ii. p. 170."

This reference I have verified, and found in the epistle of Egilbertus the
passage which, no doubt, Bishop Cosin refers to, and which Mr. Bowden
cites:

    "En verus pontifex et sacerdos, qui dubitat si illud quod sumatur in
    dominicâ mensâ sit verum corpus et sanguis Christi!"

So much for that part of the difficulty, but another still remains. Was
there ever an Egilbertus, or Engilbertus, Archbishop of Treves? To solve
this question I consulted a list of the Archbishops of Treves in the
_Bibliothèque Sacrée_ of Richard et Giraud, and I there find the following
statement:

    "_Engelbert_, grand-prévôt de Passau, fut intrus par la faveur de
    l'empereur Henri IV., et sacré par des évêques schismatiques. Il mourut
    en 1101."

TYRO.

Dublin.

_Charles Lamb's Epitaph_ (Vol. iii., p. 322.).--According to Mr. Thorne
(_Rambles by Rivers_, 1st series, p. 190.) the inscription in the
churchyard at Edmonton, to the memory of Charles Lamb, was written "by his
friend, Dr. Carey, the translator of 'Dante.'" Mr. Thorne gives an anecdote
concerning this inscription which I venture to transcribe, in the
expectation that it may interest your correspondent MARIA S., and others of
your numerous readers.

    "We heard a piece of criticism on this inscription that Lamb would have
    enjoyed. As we were copying it, a couple of canal excavators came
    across the churchyard, and read it over with great deliberation; when
    they had finished, one of them said, 'A very fair bit of poetry that;'
    'Yes,' replied his companion, 'I'm blest if it isn't as good a bit as
    any in the churchyard; rather too long, though.'"

By "Dr. Carey," of course, is meant the Rev. Henry Francis Cary, M.A.,
Vicar of Bromley Abbots, Staffordshire, and Assistant Librarian in the
British Museum, as he was the translator of "Dante," and an intimate friend
of Charles Lamb.

C. H. COOPER.

Cambridge, April 28. 1851.

_Charles II. in Wales_ (Vol. iii., p. 263.).--In answer to DAVYDD GAM'S
Query, it may be observed that I have never heard of the tradition in
question, nor have I met with any evidence to show that Charles II. was in
any part of Wales at this period. In "The true Narrative and Relation of
his most sacred Majesty's Escape from Worcester," _Selection from the
Harleian Miscellany_, 4to., p. 380., it is stated that the king meditated
the scheme of crossing into Wales from White Ladies, the house of the
Penderells, but that "the design was crossed." One of the "Boscobel
Tracts," at p. 137., treating of the same period, and compiled by the king
himself in 1680, mentions his {380} intention of making his escape another
way, which was to get over the Severn into Wales, and so get either to
Swansea, or some other of the sea towns that he knew had commerce with
France; beside that he "remembered several honest gentlemen" that were of
his acquaintance. However, the scheme was abandoned, and the king fled to
the southward by Madeley, Boscobel, &c., to Cirencester, Bristol, and into
Dorsetshire, and thence to Brighton, where he embarked for France on the
15th Oct., 1651.

Lancaiach is still in possession of the Prichard family, descendants of
Col. Prichard.

There is a tradition that Charles I. slept there on his way from Cardiff
Castle to Brecon, in 1645, and the tester of the bed in which his Majesty
slept is stated to have been in the possession of a Cardiff antiquary now
deceased. The facts of the case appear in the _Iter Carolinum_, printed by
Peck (_Desiderata Curiosa_). The king stayed at Cardiff from the 29th July
to the 5th August, 1645, on which day he dined at Llancaiach, and supped at
Brecon.

J. M. T.

"_Ex Pede Herculem_" (Vol. iii., p. 302.).--The following allusion to the
foot of Hercules occurs in _Herodotus_, book iv. section 82.:

    "[Greek: Ichnos Hêrakleos phainousi en petrêi eneon, to oike men bêmati
    andros, esti de to megathos dipêchu, para ton Turên potamon.]"

  ALFRED GATTY.

The origin of this phrase is connected with the following story:--A certain
Greek (whose name has for the present escaped me, but who must have been
ready to contribute to the "NOTES AND QUERIES" of his time) was one day
observed carefully "stepping" over the [Greek: aulos] or footrace-course at
Olympia; and he gave as a reason for so doing, that when that race-course
was originally marked out, it was exactly six hundred times as long as
Hercules' foot (that being the distance Hercules could run without taking
breath): so that by ascertaining how many times the length of his own foot
is contained, he would know how much Hercules' foot exceeded his foot in
length, and might therefrom calculate how much Hercules' stature exceeded
that of ordinary men of those degenerate days.

J. EASTWOOD.

Ecclesfield.

This proverb does not appear to be of classical origin. Several proverbs of
a similar meaning are collected in Diogenian, v. 15. The most common is,
[Greek: ek tôn onuchôn ton leonta], _ex ungue leonem_. The allusion to
Hercules is probably borrowed from some fable.

L.

_Bucaneers_ (Vol. i., p. 400.).--Your correspondent C. will find an
interesting account of the Bucaneers in a poem by M. Poirié St. Aurèle,
entitled _Le Flibustier_, and published by Ambroise Dupont & Co., Paris,
1827. The Introduction and Notes furnish some curious particulars relative
to the origin, progress, and dissolution of those once celebrated pirates,
and to the daring exploits of their principal leaders, Montauban, Grammont,
Monbars, Vand-Horn, Laurent de Graff, and Sir H. Morgan. The book contains
many facts which go far to support Bryan Edwards's favourable opinion. I
may add that the author derives the French word _flibustier_ from the
English _freebooter_, and the English word _bucaneer_ from the French
_boucanier_; which latter word is derived from _boucan_, an expression used
by the Caribs to describe the place where they assembled to make a repast
of their enemies taken in war.

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia, March, 1851.

_God's Acre_ (Vol. iii., p. 284.).--By a _Saxon_ phrase, MR. LONGFELLOW
undoubtedly meant _German_. In Germany _Gottes-acker_ is a name for
churchyard; and it is to be found in Wachter's _Glossarium Germanicum_, as
well as in modern dictionaries. It is true there is the other word
_Kirchhof_, perhaps of more modern date.

    "GOTS-AKER. Cæmeterium. Quasi ager Dei, quia corpora defunctorum
    fidelium comparantur semini. 1 Cor. xv. 36., observante Keyslero in
    _Antiq. Septentr._ p. 109."--Wachter's _Gloss. Germanicum_.

Very interesting are also the other allegorical names which have been given
to the burial-places of the dead. They are enlarged upon in Minshew's
_Guide to Tongues_, under the head "Churchyard."

    "Cæmeterium (from the Greek), signifying a dormitory or place of sleep.
    And a Hebrew term (so Minshew says), Beth-chajim, _i. e._ domus
    viventium, 'The house of the living,' in allusion to the resurrection."

Our matter-of-fact "Church-_yard_ or inclosure" falls dull on the ear and
mind after any of the above titles.

HERMES.

_God's Acre._--The term _God's Acre_, as applied to a church-garth, would
seem to designate the consecrated ground set apart as the resting-place of
His faithful departed, sown with immortal seed (1 Cor. xv. 38.), which
shall be raised in glory at the great harvest (Matt. xiii. 39.; Rev. xiv.
15.). The church-yard is "dedicated wholly and only for Christian burial,"
and "the bishop and ordinary of the diocese, as _God's minister, in God's
stead accepts it_ as a freewill offering, to be severed from all former
profane and common uses, to be held as holy ground," and "to be _God's
storehouse_ for the bodies of His saints there to be interred." See "Bishop
Andrewes' Form of Consecration of a Churchyard," _Minor Works_, pp.
328-333., Oxf., 1846.

MACKENZIE WALCOTT, M.A.

{381}

P.S. When was the name of _Poet's Corner_ first attached to the south
transept of Westminster Abbey?

Jermyn Street.

_Abbot Eustacius_, of whom J. L. (Vol. iii., p. 141.) asks, was the Abbot
of Flay, and came over from Normandy to England, and preached all through
this kingdom with much effect in the beginning of John's reign, A. D. 1200,
as Roger Hovedene tells us, _Annal._, ed. Savile, London, 1596, _fos._ 457.
_b_, 466. _b._ Wendover (iii. 151.) and Matt. Paris _in anno_, mention him.

D. ROCK.

_Vox Populi Vox Dei_ (Vol. iii., p. 288.) is, I find, a much older proverb
in England than Edward III.'s reign, for whose coronation sermon it was
chosen the text, not by Simon Mepham, but Walter Reynolds, as your
correspondent ST. JOHNS rightly says. Speaking of the way in which St. Odo
yielded his consent to the Abp. of Canterbury, circ. A. D. 920, William of
Malmesbury writes: "Recogitans illud proverbium, _Vox populi vox
Dei_."--_De Gestis Pont._, L. i. fo. 114., ed. Savile.

D. ROCK.

_Francis Moore and his Almanack_ (Vol. iii., p. 263.).--Mr. Knight, in his
_London_, vol. iii. p. 246., throws a little light on this subject:

    "The renowned Francis Moore seems to have made his first appearance
    about the end of the seventeenth century. He published a _Kalendarium
    Ecclesiasticum_ in 1699, and his earliest _Vox Stellarum_ or _Almanac_,
    as far as we can discover, came out in 1701," &c.

But Mr. Knight is not sure that "Francis Moore" was not a _nom de guerre_,
although at p. 241. he gives the portrait of the "Physician" from an
anonymous print, published in 1657.

A. A.

Abridge.

There is an Irish edition published in Drogheda, sold for threepence, and
_embellished_ with a portrait of Francis Moore. Can Ireland claim this
worthy? Many farmers and others rely much on the weather prophecies of this
almanack. A tenant of mine always announces to me triumphantly that "Moore
is right:" but his triumphs come at very long intervals.

K.

I can answer part of H. P. W.'s Query. Francis Moore's celebrated
_Almanack_ first appeared in 1698. We have this date upon his own
confession. Before his _Almanack_ for 1771 is a letter which begins thus:

  "Kind Reader,

    "This being the 73rd year since my Almanack first appeared to the
    world, and having for several years presented you with observations
    that have come to pass to the admiration of many, I have likewise
    presented you with several hieroglyphics," &c.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

That such a personage really did exist there can be little doubt, Bromley
(in _Engraved Portraits, &c._) gives 1657 as the date of his birth, and
says that there was a portrait of him by Drapentier _ad vivum_. Lysons
mentions him as one of the remarkable men who, at different periods,
resided at Lambeth, and says that his house was in Calcott's Alley, High
Street, then called Back Lane, where he seems to have enlightened his
generation in the threefold capacity of astrologer, physician, and
schoolmaster.

J. C. B.

       *       *       *       *       *


Miscellaneous.

NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC.

Professor De Morgan has just furnished a new contribution to _L' Art de
vérifier les Dates_, in the shape of a small but most useful and practical
book, entitled _The Book of Almanacks, with an Index of Reference, by which
the Almanack may be found for every year, whether in the Old Style or New,
from any Epoch Ancient or Modern up to_ A. D. 2000. _With means of finding
the Day of any New or Full Moon from_ B. C. 2000 _to_ A. D. 2000. An
example will show, better even than this ample title-page, the great
utility of this work to the historical enquirer. Walter Scott, speaking of
the battle of Bannockburn, which was fought on the day of St. John the
Baptist, June 24, 1314, says,

  "It was a night of lovely June,
  High rose in cloudless blue the moon."

Now, should the reader be desirous of testing the accuracy of this
statement, (and how many statements have ere this been tested by the fact
of the moon's age!), he turns to Professor De Morgan's Index, which at 1314
gives Epact 3., Dominical Letter F., Number of Almanack 17. Turning to this
almanack, he finds that the 24th June was on a Monday; from the
Introduction (p. xiii.) and a very easy calculation, he learns that the
full moon of June, 1314, would be on the 27th, or within a day, and from a
more exact method (at p. xiv.), that the full moon was within two hours of
nine A.M., on the 28th. So that Sir Walter was correct, there being more
than half moon on the night of which he was speaking. Such an instance as
the one cited will show how valuable the _Book of Almanacks_ must prove to
all historical students, and what a ready test it furnishes as to accuracy
of dates, &c. It must take its place on every shelf beside Sir H. Nicolas'
_Chronology of History_.

We doubt not that many of our readers share our feeling as to the
importance of children's books, from the influence they may be destined to
exercise upon generations yet unborn. To all such we shall be doing
acceptable service by pointing out Mrs. Alfred Gatty's little volume, _The
Fairy Godmothers and other Tales_, as one which combines the two essentials
of good books for children; namely, imagination to attract, and sound
morals to instruct. Both these requisites will be found in Mrs. Gatty's
most pleasing collection of tales, which do not require the very clever
frontispiece by Miss Barker to render the volume an acceptable gift to all
"good little Masters and Mistresses." {382}

Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson (3. Wellington Street, Strand) will commence
on Monday a six-days' Sale of most interesting Autograph Letters,
Historical Documents, and original MSS. of distinguished writers, as that
of _Kenilworth_ in the Autograph of Sir W. Scott, of _Madoc_ in that of
Southey, unpublished poems by Burns, and _Le Second Manuscrit venu de St.
Hélène_. One of the most curious Lots is No. 1035, Shakspeare's play of
_Henry IV._, two parts condensed into one,--a contemporary and unique
Manuscript, being the only one known to exist of any of the productions by
the Sweet Bard of Avon. It is presumed to be a playhouse copy with
corrections in the Autograph of Sir Edward Deering of Surrenden, in Kent,
(who died in 1644); and, as no printed copy is known to contain the various
corrections and alterations therein, is supposed to have been so corrected
for the purposes of private representation, it being well known that
theatricals formed a portion of the amusements in vogue at that baronet's
country seat during the early portion of the reign of James I. Our readers
will remember that the Shakspeare Society showed their sense of its value
by printing it under the editorship of Mr. Halliwell.

CATALOGUES RECEIVED.--Emerson Charnley's (45. Bigg Market,
Newcastle-upon-Tyne) Catalogue Part IV. of Books Old and New; W. Brown's
(46. High Holborn) Catalogue Part LIII. of Valuable Second-hand Books.

       *       *       *       *       *


BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES WANTED TO PURCHASE.

    DIANA (ANTONINUS) COMPENDIUM RESOLUTIONEM MORALIUM. Antwerp.-Colon.
    1634-57.

    PASSIONAEL EFTE DAT LEVENT DER HEILIGEN. Folio. Basil, 1522.

    CARTARI--LA ROSA D'ORO PONTIFICIA. 4to. Rome, 1681.

    BROEMEL, M. C. H., FEST-TANZEN DER ERSTEN CHRISTEN. Jena, 1705.

    THE COMPLAYNT OF SCOTLAND, edited by Leyden. 8vo. Edin. 1801.

    THOM'S LAYS AND LEGENDS OF VARIOUS NATIONS. Parts I. to VII. 12mo.
    1834.

    L'ABBÉ DE SAINT PIERRE, PROJET DE PAIX PERPETUELLE. 3 Vols. 12mo.
    Utrecht, 1713.

    CHEVALIER RAMSAY, ESSAI DE POLITIQUE, où l'on traite de la Nécessité,
    de l'Origine, des Droits, des Bornes en des différentes Formes de la
    Souveraineté, selon les Principes de l'Auteur de Télémaque. 2 Vols.
    12mo. La Haye, without date, but printed in 1719.

    The same. Second Edition, under the title "Essai Philosophique sur le
    Gouvernement Civil, selon les Principes de Fénélon," 12mo. Londres,
    1721.

    PULLEN'S ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM, 8vo.

    COOPER'S (C. P.) ACCOUNT OF PUBLIC RECORDS, 8vo. 1822. Vol. I.

    LINGARD'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND. Sm. 8vo. 1837. Vols. X. XI. XII. XIII.

    MILLER'S (JOHN, OF WORCESTER COLL.) SERMONS. Oxford, 1831 (or about
    that year).

*** Letters, stating particulars and lowest price, carriage free, to be
sent to MR. BELL, Publisher of "NOTES AND QUERIES," 186. Fleet Street.

       *       *       *       *       *


Notices to Correspondents.

_Although we have this week again enlarged our paper to twenty-four pages,
we have been compelled to postpone many interesting articles. Among these
we may particularise "Illustrations of Chaucer, No. VI.," a valuable paper
by_ MR. SINGER _on "John Tradescant," and another on the "Tradescent
Family" by_ MR. PINKERTON; _and many Replies_.

A. X. _The Brussels edition of the_ Biographie Universelle _is in 21 vols.
Bickers of Leicester Square marks a copy half-bound in 7 vols. at Five
Guineas._

TRIVIA _and_ A. A. D. _The oft-quoted line_ "TEMPORA MUTANTUR," &c., _is
from Borbonius_. _See_ "NOTES AND QUERIES," Vol. i., pp. 234. 419.

A. A. D. _is referred to_ p. 357. _of our last Number for an explanation of
"Mind your Ps and Qs."_

NEMO'S _Query respecting Pope Joan was inserted in_ No. 75. p. 265.; _a
Reply to it appears in_ No. 77. p. 306.; _and we have several more
communications to which we hope to give insertion next week_.

REPLIES RECEIVED.--_Ramasse--Prayer at the Healing--M. or N.--Deans Very
Reverend--Family of the Tradescants--Epitaph on the Countess of
Pembroke--West Chester--Demosthenes and New Testament--Pope Joan--Handbills
at Funerals--Ventriloquist Hoax--Solid-hoofed Pigs--Aerial
Apparitions--Apple-pie Order--Wife of James Torre--Snail-eating--Epigram by
T. Dunbar._

VOLS. I. _and_ II., _each with very copious Index, may still be had, price_
9s. 6d. _each_.

NOTES AND QUERIES _may be procured, by order, of all Booksellers and
Newsvenders. 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_.

_All communications for the Editor of_ NOTES AND QUERIES _should be
addressed to the care of_ MR. BELL, No. 186. Fleet Street.

ERRATA.--Page 336. l. 4. for "Burkdo_n_" read "Burkdo_u_." (i. e.
Bourdeaux); p. 341. l. 11. for "la_u_rando" read "la_ce_rando;" and in p.
352. instead of between the years "1825 and 1850," read "1825 and 1830;"
and we are requested to add that the churchwardens' account of S. Mary de
Castro, Leicester, had disappeared from the parish chest long prior to the
time mentioned.

       *       *       *       *       *


PRINTING.

A LECTURE, SPEECH, SERMON, OR ORATION, occupying about three quarters of an
hour in delivery, printed on good paper, in bold clear type: 500 copies,
3l. 17s. 6d.; 1000 copies, 5l. 10s. 1000 Circulars, Note Size, printed on
Cream-laid Note Paper, fly leaf, 17s. 6d., 1000 Ditto, on Superfine
Cream-laid Letter Paper, fly leaf, 1l. 5s.

BATEMAN and HARDWICKE, 38. Carey Street, Lincoln's Inn.

       *       *       *       *       *


This day is published, fcap. 8vo., price 5s.,

PLEASURES, OBJECTS, and ADVANTAGES of LITERATURE. By the Rev. R. A.
WILLMOTT, St. Catherine's, Bear Wood, Author of "Jeremy Taylor, a
Biography."

London: T. BOSWORTH, 215. Regent Street.

       *       *       *       *       *


NEW WORK BY PROFESSOR DE MORGAN.

This day, in One Volume, oblong 8vo., price 5s., cloth,

THE BOOK OF ALMANACS; with INDEX, by which the Almanac belonging to any
Year preceding A. D. 2000 can be found; with means of finding New and Full
Moons from B. C. 2000 to A. D. 2000. By AUGUSTUS DE MORGAN, Professor of
Mathematics in University College, London.

The "Book of Almanacs" will enable any one to lay open before him the whole
Almanac of any past year, of the present year, or of any future year, up to
A. D. 2000, whether in old style or new, by one consultation of a simple
Index. This book will be useful to all who ever want an Almanac, past,
present, or future;--to Clergymen, as a perpetual index to the Sundays and
Festivals;--to Lawyers in arranging evidence which runs over a long period,
and to Courts of Law in hearing it;--to Historical and Antiquarian
Inquirers, in testing statements as to time and date;--to all, in fact, who
are ever required to interest themselves about time past or future.

TAYLOR, WALTON, and MABERLY, Upper Gower Street, and Ivy Lane, Paternoster
Row.

       *       *       *       *       *


Now ready, royal 8vo., pp. 1653. 21s.

A COPIOUS AND CRITICAL LATIN-ENGLISH LEXICON, founded on the larger
Latin-German Lexicon of DR. WILLIAM FREUND; with Additions and Corrections
from the Lexicons of Gesner, Facciolati, Scheller, Georges, &c. &c. By
E. A. ANDREWS, LL.D.

London: SAMPSON LOW, 169. Fleet Street.
New York: HARPER and BROTHERS.

       *       *       *       *       *


{383}

[Illustration]

GREAT EXHIBITION.

       *       *       *       *       *

CENTRAL AVENUE.

       *       *       *       *       *

An Illustrated Priced Catalogue of Church Furniture Contributed by

  GILBERT J. FRENCH,
  BOLTON, LANCASHIRE,

forwarded Free by Post on application.

       *       *       *       *       *

Parcels delivered Carriage Free in London, daily.

       *       *       *       *       *


CATALOGUES OF JOHN RUSSELL SMITH'S LITERARY COLLECTIONS.

1. Parts I. and II. of a Classified Catalogue of 25,000 Ancient and Modern
Pamphlets.

2. Books on the History and Topography of Great Britain, arranged in
Counties.

3. Twelve Hundred Books and Pamphlets relating to America.

4. Five Hundred Books relating to the Counties of Kent, Sussex, and Surrey.

5. Ancient Manuscripts, Deeds, Charters, and other Documents relating to
English Families and Counties.

6. Parts II. and III. for 1851, of Choice, Useful, and Curious Books, in
most Classes of Literature, containing 1600 articles.

*** Any of the above Catalogues may be had, gratis, on application, or any
one will be sent by post on receipt of four postage labels to frank it.

4. Old Compton Street, Soho, London.

       *       *       *       *       *


Just published, 12mo. cloth, 5s.

THE DIALECT AND FOLK-LORE OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. A Glossary of
Northamptonshire Provincialisms, Collection of Fairy-Legends, Popular
Superstitions, &c. By THOMAS STERNBERG.

    "A skilful attempt to record a local dialect."--_Notes and Queries_,
    No. 72.

    "Mr Sternberg has evinced a striking and peculiar aptitude for this
    branch of enquiry."--_Northampton Mercury._

    "The notes on Folk-lore are curious, and worthy
    consultation."--_Gentleman's Magazine._

J. RUSSELL SMITH, 4. Old Compton Street, Soho, London.

       *       *       *       *       *


WESTERN LIFE ASSURANCE AND ANNUITY SOCIETY, 3. Parliament Street, London.

VALUABLE NEW PRINCIPLE.

Payment of premiums may be occasionally suspended without forfeiting the
policy, on a new and valuable plan, adopted by this society only, as fully
detailed in the prospectus.

A. SCRATCHLEY, M.A.,

Actuary and Secretary; Author of "Industrial Investment and Emigration;
being a Second Edition of a Treatise on Benefit Building Societies, &c."
Price 10s. 6d.

London: J. W. PARKER, West Strand.

       *       *       *       *       *


[Illustration]

COMMITTEE FOR THE REPAIR OF THE TOMB OF GEOFFREY CHAUCER.

JOHN BRUCE, Esq., Treas. S.A., 5, Upper Gloucester Street, Dorset Square.

J. PAYNE COLLIER, Esq., V.P.S.A., Geys House, Maidenhead.

PETER CUNNINGHAM, Esq., F.S.A., Madeley Villas, Kensington.

WILLIAM RICHARD DRAKE, Esq., F.S.A., _Honorary Treasurer_, 46. Parliament
Street.

THOMAS W. KING, Esq., F.S.A., York Herald, College of Arms, St. Paul's.

SIR FREDERICK MADDEN, K.H., British Museum.

JOHN GOUGH NICHOLS, Esq., F.S.A., 25. Parliament St.

HENRY SHAW, Esq., F.S.A., 37. Southampton Row, Russell Square.

SAMUEL SHEPHERD, Esq., F.S.A., Marlborough Square, Chelsea.

WILLIAM J. THOMS, Esq., F.S.A., _Honorary Secretary_, 25. Holy-Well Street,
Millbank, Westminster.

THE TOMB OF GEOFFREY CHAUCER IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY stands in need of repair.
The portrait and the inscriptions have disappeared; the overhanging canopy
has suffered damage; the table is chipped and broken; the base is fast
mouldering into irretrievable decay.

Such an announcement is calculated to stir every heart that can respond to
the claims of poetry, or feel grateful for the delight which it affords to
every cultivated mind. It summons us, like the sound of a trumpet, "To the
rescue!" It cannot be that the first and almost the greatest of English
bards should ever be allowed to want a fitting memorial in our "Poet's
Corner," or that the monument which was erected by the affectionate respect
of Nicholas Brigham, nearly three centuries ago, should, in our time, be
permitted to crumble into dust.

A sum under One Hundred Pounds will effect a perfect repair.

It is thought that there can be no difficulty in raising such a sum, and
that multitudes of people in various conditions of life, and even in
distant quarters of the globe, who venerate the name of Chaucer, and have
derived instruction and delight from his works, will be anxious to
contribute their mite to the good deed.

The Committee have therefore not thought it right to fix any limit to the
subscription; they themselves, with the aid of several distinguished
noblemen and gentlemen, have opened the list with a contribution from each
of them of Five Shillings, but they will be ready to receive any amount,
more or less, which those who value poetry and honour Chaucer may be kind
enough to remit to them.

The design of the Committee is sanctioned by the approval of the Earl of
Carlisle, the Earl of Ellesmere, the Earl of Shaftesbury, Lord Braybrooke.
Lord Londesborough, Lord Mahon, the Right Hon. C. W. W. Wynn, and by the
concurrence of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster.

An account of the sums received and expended will be published when the
work is completed.

Subscriptions are received by all the members of the Committee, and at the
Union Bank, Pall Mall East. Post-office orders may be made payable to
William Richard Drake, Esq., the Treasurer, 46. Parliament Street, at the
Charing Cross Office.

       *       *       *       *       *


{384}

In a few days will be published, in One handsome Volume 8vo., profusely
Illustrated with Engravings by Jewitt,

Some Account of Domestic Architecture in England;

FROM

THE CONQUEST TO THE END OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY.

WITH

NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS OF EXISTING REMAINS FROM ORIGINAL DRAWINGS.

BY T. HUDSON TURNER.

THE TABLE OF CONTENTS OF THIS VOLUME WILL BEST EXPLAIN ITS OBJECT.

INTRODUCTION.

    The Romans in England--Their Villas and Houses--Ordinary Plan of a
    Roman House--Method of Building--The Saxons--Their Style of Building;
    they probably occupied Roman Houses--A Saxon Hall--Houses of Winchester
    and London in the Saxon Period--Decoration of Buildings--Romanesque
    Style of Architecture introduced during the Saxon Period--Drawings in
    Saxon MSS., their Character and Value as Architectural Evidence--The
    Greek, or Byzantine School; its Influence on Saxon Art--Antiquity of
    Chimneys; None at Rome in the Fourteenth Century--Character of the
    Military Buildings of the Saxons--The Castles of Coningsburgh and
    Bamborough later than the Saxon Period--Arundel, the only Castle said
    to have been standing in the time of the Confessor--Norman
    Castles--Domestic Architecture of the Normans--Stone Quarries--Use of
    Plaster--Bricks and Tiles--Brickmaking, its Antiquity in
    England--Masons and other Workmen--Glazing--Iron Works in
    England--Architectural Designs of the Middle Ages, how made--Working
    Moulds of Masons, &c.

CHAPTER I.--TWELFTH CENTURY.

    General Remarks--Imperfect Character of existing Remains of the Twelfth
    Century--Materials for the History of Domestic Architecture; their
    Nature--General Plan of Houses at this Date--Halls--Other Apartments of
    Ordinary Houses--Bedchamber, Kitchen, Larder, &c.--King's Houses at
    Clarendon and other Places--Hall, always the Chief Feature of a Norman
    House--Alexander Necham, his Description of a House--Plan of Norman
    Halls--Their Roofs--Situation of other Apartments relatively to the
    Hall--Kitchens--Cooking in the Open Air--Bayeux Tapestry--Remains of a
    Norman House at Appleton, Berks--Fences, Walls, &c.--Some Norman Houses
    built in the form of a Parallelogram, and of Two Stories--Boothby
    Pagnell, Lincolnshire--Christ Church, Hants--Jews' House at
    Lincoln--Moyses' Hall, Bury St. Edmund's--Staircases, Internal and
    External--External Norman Stair at Canterbury--Houses at
    Southampton--Building Materials--Use of Lead for Roofs--English Lead
    exported to France--Style of Norman Roofs--Metal Work; Hinges, Locks,
    Nail-heads, &c.--Gloucester celebrated for its Iron
    Manufactures--External Decoration of
    Buildings--Windows--Glazing--Fire-places--Kitchens open in the
    Roof--Hostelry of the Prior of Lewes--Internal Walls
    Plastered--Furniture of Houses, Tapestry, &c--Floors generally of
    Wood--Character London Houses in the Twelfth Century--Assize of 1189
    regulating Buildings in London--Assize of the Year 1212 relating to the
    same Subject--- Majority of London Houses chiefly of Wood and
    Thatched--Wages of Workmen--Cookshops on Thames Side--Chimneys not
    mentioned in the London Assizes, &c.

CHAPTER II.--EXISTING REMAINS.

    Oakham Castle, Rutlandshire--The King's House, Southampton--Minster,
    Isle of Thanet--Christ Church, Hants--Manor-house at Appleton--Sutton
    Courtney, Berks--St. Mary's Guild, and Jews' Houses,
    Lincoln--Staircase, Canterbury--Warnford, Hants--Fountain's
    Abbey--Priory, Dover--Moyses' Hall, Bury St. Edmund's--Hostelry of the
    Prior of Lewes, Southwark--Boothby Pagnell, Lincolnshire--Barnack,
    Northamptonshire--School of Pythagoras, Cambridge--Notes on Remains of
    Early Domestic Architecture in France.

CHAPTER III.--THIRTEENTH CENTURY.

    General Remarks--Hall at Winchester--Reign of Henry III. remarkable for
    the Progress of Architecture--Condition of Norman Castles in the
    Thirteenth Century--Plan of Manor-houses at this Date--House built for
    Edward I. at Woolmer, Hants--Description of House at Toddington, by M.
    Paris--Meaning of term _Palatium_--Longthorpe, Stoke-Say Castle--West
    Deane, Sussex--Aydon Castle--Little Wenham Hall--Two Halls at
    Westminster, temp Henry III.--Temporary Buildings erected at
    Westminster for the Coronation of Edward I.--Private Hospitality in
    this Century--Kitchens--Wardrobes--Influence of Feudal Manners on
    Domestic Architecture--Building Materials--Wood extensively
    used--Manor-house of Timber engraved on a Personal Seal--Extensive Use
    of Plaster--Roofs of the Thirteenth Century--Windows--Glass and
    Glazing--Digression on the History of Glass-making in England--No Glass
    made in England until the Fifteenth Century--Wooden Lattices,
    Fenestrals, &c.--Fire-places and Chimneys--Mantels--Staircases,
    External and Internal--Internal Decoration of
    Houses--Wainscote--Polychrome--Artists of the Time of Henry III.; their
    Style--Their Names--Spurs, Screens, &c.--Tapestry not used in Private
    Dwellings in the Thirteenth Century. Flooring--Tiles--Baths Cameræ
    Privatæ--Conduits and Drains--Houses in Towns--Parisian Houses--Other
    Foreign Examples--Furniture--Carpets--General State of England in the
    Thirteenth Century--State of Towns--London and Winchester
    compared--Travelling--Hackneymen--Inns--State of Trade in
    England--Agriculture--Remarks on Horticulture.

CHAPTER IV.--THIRTEENTH CENTURY.--EXISTING REMAINS.

    Aydon Castle, Northumberland--Godmersham, Kent--Little Wenham Hall,
    Suffolk--Longthorpe, near Peterborough--Charney Basset, Berks--Master's
    House, St. John's Hospital, Northampton--Stoke-Say Castle,
    Shropshire--Coggs, Oxfordshire--Cottesford, Oxfordshire--Parsonage
    House, West Tarring, Sussex--Archdeacon's House,
    Peterborough--Crowhurst, Sussex--Bishop's Palace, Wells--Woodcroft
    Castle, Northamptonshire--Old Rectory House, West Deane, Sussex--Acton
    Burnell, Shropshire--Somerton Castle, Lincolnshire--Old Soar, Kent--The
    King's Hall at Winchester--The Priory, Winchester--Stranger's Hall,
    Winchester--House at Oakham, known as Flore's House--Thame,
    Oxfordshire--Chipping-Norton, Oxfordshire--Middleton Cheney,
    Oxfordshire--Sutton Courtney, Berkshire.

CHAPTER V.--HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS.

Extracts from the Liberate Rolls of Henry III., 1229-1259, relating to the
following places:--

    Bridgenorth -- Brigstock -- Brill -- Bristol -- Canterbury -- Clarendon
    -- Cliff -- Clipstone -- Corfe Castle -- Dover -- Dublin -- Evereswell
    -- Feckenham -- Freemantle -- Geddington -- Gillingham -- Gloucester --
    Guildford -- Havering -- Hereford -- Hertford -- Kennington --
    Litchfield -- London, (Tower) -- Ely House -- Ludgershall --
    Marlborough -- Newcastle -- Northampton -- Nottingham -- Oxford --
    Rochester -- Sherbourn -- Silverstone -- Westminster -- Winchester --
    Windsor -- Woodstock.

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES OF FOREIGN EXAMPLES.

    General Remarks -- Treves -- Laon -- Ratisbon -- Gondorf -- Metz --
    Toulouse -- Laon -- Brée -- Coucy -- Carden -- Tours -- Angers --
    Fontevrault, (Kitchen) -- Perigueux -- St. Emilion -- Mont St. Michel
    -- Beauvais.

APPENDIX OF DOCUMENTS.

OXFORD: JOHN HENRY PARKER; AND 377. STRAND, LONDON.

       *       *       *       *       *


Printed by THOMAS CLARK SHAW, of No. 8. New Street Square, at No. 5. New
Street Square, in the Parish of St. Brid in the City of London; and
published by GEORGE BELL, of No. 186. Fleet Street, in the Parish of St.
Dunstan the West, in the City of London, Publisher, at No. 186. Fleet
Street aforesaid.--Saturday, May 10. 1851.

       *       *       *       *       *


Corrections made to printed original.

page 366, "Knew William of Deloraine" - 'Delorane' in original.

page 370, "At the end of a postscript" - 'postcript' in original.





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