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Title: Notes and Queries, Number 81, May 17, 1851 - A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, - Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc
Author: Various
Language: English
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Journals.)
Transcriber's note: A few typographical errors have been corrected: they
are listed at the end of the text.
* * * * *
{385}
NOTES AND QUERIES:
A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES,
GENEALOGISTS, ETC.
"When found, make a note of."--CAPTAIN CUTTLE.
* * * * *
No. 81.]
SATURDAY, MAY 17. 1851..
[Price Threepence. Stamped Edition 4d.
* * * * *
CONTENTS.
NOTES:-- Page
Illustrations of Chaucer, No. VI. 385
Dutch Folk-lore 387
Minor Notes:--Verses in Pope: "Bug" or "Bee"--
Rub-a-dub--Quotations--Minnis--Brighton--Voltaire's
Henriade 387
QUERIES:--
The Blake Family, by Hepworth Dixon 389
Minor Queries:--John Holywood the Mathematician--
Essay on the Irony of Sophocles--Meaning of Mosaic
--Stanedge Pole--Names of the Ferret--Colfabias--
School of the Heart--Milton and the Calves-head
Club--David Rizzio's Signature--Lambert Simnel:
Was this his real Name?--Honor of Clare, Norfolk--
Sponge--Babington's Conspiracy--Family of Sir John
Banks--Meaning of Sewell--Abel represented with
Horns 389
MINOR QUERIES ANSWERED:--The Fifteen O's--Meaning
of Pightle--Inscription on a Guinea of George III.
--Meaning of Crambo 391
REPLIES:--
John Tradescant probably an Englishman, and his Voyage
to Russia in 1618, by S. W. Singer 391
The Family of the Tradescants, by W. Pinkerton 393
Pope Joan 395
REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES:--Robert Burton's Birthplace
--Barlaam and Josaphat--Witte van Haemstede--The
Dutch Church in Norwich--Fest Sittings--Quaker's
Attempt to convert the Pope--The Anti-Jacobin--
Mistletoe--Verbum Græcum--"Après moi le Déluge"--
Eisell--"To-day we purpose"--Modern Paper--St. Pancras
--Joseph Nicolson's Family--Demosthenes and New
Testament--Crossing Rivers on Skins--Curious Facts
in Natural History--Prideaux 395
MISCELLANEOUS:--
Notes on Books, Sales, Catalogues, &c. 398
Books and Odd Volumes wanted 399
Notices to Correspondents 399
Advertisements 399
* * * * *
Notes.
ILLUSTRATIONS OF CHAUCER, NO. VI.
Unless Chaucer had intended to mark with particular exactness the day of
the journey to Canterbury, he would not have taken such unusual precautions
to protect his text from ignorant or careless transcribers. We find him not
only recording the altitudes of the sun, at different hours, in words; but
also corroborating those words by associating them with physical facts
incapable of being perverted or misunderstood.
Had Chaucer done this in one instance only, we might imagine that it was
but another of those occasions, so frequently seized upon by him, for the
display of a little scientific knowledge; but when he repeats the very same
precautionary expedient again, in the afternoon of the same day, we begin
to perceive that he must have had some fixed purpose; because, as I shall
presently show, it is the repetition alone that renders the record
imperishable.
But whether Chaucer really devised this method for the express purpose of
preserving his text, or not, it has at least had that effect,--for while
there are scarcely two MSS. extant which agree in the verbal record of the
day and hours, the physical circumstances remain, and afford at all times
independent data for the recovery or correction of the true reading.
The day of the month may be deduced from the declination of the sun; and,
to obtain the latter, all the data required are,
1. The latitude of the place.
2. Two altitudes of the sun at different sides of noon.
It is not absolutely necessary to have any previous knowledge of the hours
at which these altitudes were respectively obtained, because these may be
discovered by the trial method of seeking two such hours as shall most
nearly agree in requiring a declination common to both at the known
altitudes. Of course it will greatly simplify the process if we furthermore
know that the observations must have been obtained at some determinate
intervals of time, such, for example, as complete hours.
Now, in the Prologue to the "Canterbury Tales" we know that the
observations could not have been recorded except at complete hours, because
the construction of the metre will not admit the supposition of any parts
of hours having been expressed.
We are also satisfied that there can be no mistake in the altitudes,
because nothing can alter the facts, that an equality between the length of
the shadow and the height of the substance can only subsist at an altitude
of 45 degrees; or that an altitude of 29 degrees (more or less) is the
nearest that will give the ratio of 11 to 6 between the shadow and its
gnomon.
{386}
With these data we proceed to the following comparison:
_Forenoon altitude_ 45°.|| _Afternoon altitude_ 29°.
||
Hour. Declin. || Hour. Declin.
XI A.M. 8° 9' N. || II P.M. 3° 57' S.
X " 13° 27' " || III " 3° 16' N.
IX " 22° 34' " || IV " 13° 26' "
VIII " Impossible.|| V " Impossible.
Here we immediately select "X A.M." and "IV P.M." as the only two items at
all approaching to similarity; while, in these the approach is so near that
they differ by only a single minute of a degree!
More conclusive evidence therefore could scarcely exist that these were the
hours intended to be recorded by Chaucer, and that the sun's declination,
designed by him, was somewhere about thirteen degrees and a half North.
Strictly speaking, this declination would more properly apply to the 17th
of April, in Chaucer's time, than to the 18th; but since he does not
profess to critical exactness, and since it is always better to adhere to
written authority, when it is not grossly and obviously corrupt, such MSS.
as name the 18th of April ought to be respected; but Tyrwhitt's "28th,"
which he states not only as the result of his own conjecture but as
authorised by the "the best MSS.," ought to be scouted at once.
In the latest edition of the "Canterbury Tales" (a literal reprint from one
of the Harl. MSS., for the Percy Society, under the supervision of Mr.
Wright), the opening of the Prologue to "The Man of Lawes Tale" does not
materially differ from Tyrwhitt's text, excepting in properly assigning the
day of the journey to "the eightetene day of April;" and the confirmation
of the forenoon altitude is as follows:
"And sawe wel that the schade of every tree
Was in the lengthe the same quantite,
That was the body erecte that caused it."
But the afternoon observation is thus related:
"By that the Manciple had his tale endid,
The sonne fro the southe line is descendid
So lowe that it nas nought to my sight,
Degrees nyne and twenty as in hight.
_Ten_ on the clokke it was as I gesse,
For eleven foote, or litil more or lesse,
My schadow was at thilk time of the yere,
Of which feet as my lengthe parted were,
In sixe feet equal of proporcioun."
In a note to the line "Ten on the clokke" Mr. Wright observes,
"_Ten_. I have not ventured to change the reading of the Harl. MS.,
which is partly supported by that of the lands. MS., _than_."
If the sole object were to present an exact counterpart of the MS., of
course even its errors were to be respected: but upon no other grounds can
I understand why a reading should be preserved by which broad sunshine is
attributed to ten o'clock at night! Nor can I believe that the copyist of
the MS. with whom the error must have originated would have set down
anything so glaringly absurd, unless he had in his own mind some means of
reconciling it with probability. It may, I believe, be explained in the
circumstance that "ten" and "four," in horary reckoning, were _convertible
terms_. The old Roman method of naming the hours, wherein noon was the
sixth, was long preserved, especially in conventual establishments: and I
have no doubt that the English idiomatic phrase "o'clock" originated in the
necessity for some distinguishing mark between hours "of the clock"
reckoned from midnight, and hours of the day reckoned from sunrise, or more
frequently from six A.M. With such an understanding, it is clear that _ten_
might be called _four_, and _four ten_, and yet the same identical hour to
be referred to; nor is it in the least difficult to imagine that some
monkish transcriber, ignorant perhaps of the meaning of "o'clock," might
fancy he was correcting, rather that corrupting, Chaucer's text, by
changing "foure" into "ten."
I have, I trust, now shown that all these circumstances related by Chaucer,
so far from being hopelessly incongruous, are, on the contrary,
harmoniously consistent;--that they all tend to prove that the day of the
journey to Canterbury could not have been later than the 18th of
April;--that the times of observation were certainly 10 A.M. and 4
P.M.;--that the "arke of his artificial day" is to be understood as the
horizontal or azimuthal arch;--and that the "halfe cours in the Ram"
alludes to the completion of the last twelve degrees of that sign, about
the end of the second week in April.
There yet remains to be examined the signification of those three very
obscure lines which immediately follow the description, already quoted, of
the afternoon observation:
"Therewith the Mones exaltacioun
In mena Libra, alway gan ascende
As we were entryng at a townes end."
It is the more unfortunate that we should not be certain what it was that
Chaucer really did write, inasmuch as he probably intended to present, in
these lines, some means of identifying the year, similar to those he had
previously given with respect to the day.
When Tyrwhitt, therefore, remarks, "In what year this happened Chaucer does
not inform us"--he was not astronomer enough to know that if Chaucer had
meant to leave, in these lines, a record of the moon's place on the day of
the journey, he could not have chosen a more certain method of informing us
in what year it occurred.
But as the present illustration has already extended far enough for the
limits of a single number of "NOTES AND QUERIES," I shall defer the {387}
investigation of this last and greatest difficulty to my next
communication.
A. E. B.
Leeds, April 29.
* * * * *
DUTCH FOLK-LORE.
1. A baby laughing in its dreams is conversing with the angels.
2. Rocking the cradle when the babe is not in it, is considered injurious
to the infant, and a prognostic of its speedy death.
3. A strange dog following you is a sign of good luck.
4. A stork settling on a house is a harbinger of happiness. To kill such a
bird would be sacrilege.
5. If you see a shooting star, the wish you form before its disappearance
will be fulfilled.
6. A person born with a caul is considered fortunate.
7. Four-leaved clover brings luck to the person who finds it unawares.
8. An overturned salt-cellar is a ship wrecked. If a person take salt and
spill it on the table, it betokens a strife between him and the person next
to whom it fell. To avert the omen, he must lift up the shed grains with a
knife, and throw them behind his back.
9. After eating eggs in Holland, you must break the shells, or the witches
would sail over in them to England. The English don't know under what
obligations they are to the Dutch for this custom. Please to tell them.
10. If you make a present of a knife or scissors, the person receiving must
pay something for it; otherwise the friendship between you would be cut
off.
11. A tingling ear denotes there is somebody speaking of you behind your
back. If you hear the noise in the right one, he praises you; if on the
left side, he is calling you a scoundrel, or something like that. But,
never mind! for if, in the latter case, you bite your little finger, the
evil speaker's tongue will be in the same predicament. By all means, don't
spare your little finger!
12. If, at a dinner, a person yet unmarried be placed inadvertently between
a married couple, be sure he or she will get a partner within the year.
It's a pity it must be inadvertently.
13. If a person when rising throw down his chair, he is considered guilty
of untruth.
14. A potato begged or stolen is a preservative against rheumatism.
Chestnuts have the same efficacy.
15. The Nymphæa, or water-lily, whose broad leaves, and clear white or
yellow cups, float upon the water, was esteemed by the old Frisians to have
a magical power. "I remember, when a boy," says Dr. Halbertsma, "that we
were extremely careful in plucking and handling them; for if any one fell
with such a flower in his possession, he became immediately subject to
fits."
16. One of my friends cut himself. A manservant being present secured the
knife hastily, anointed it with oil, and putting it into the drawer,
besought the patient not to touch it for some days. Whether the cure was
effected by this sympathetic means, I can't affirm; but cured it was: so,
don't be alarmed.
17. If you feel on a sudden a shivering sensation in your back, there is
somebody walking over your future grave.
18. A person speaking by himself will die a violent death.
19. Don't go under a ladder, for if you do you will be hanged.
* a ?
Amsterdam.
* * * * *
Minor Notes.
_Verses in Pope_--_"Bug" or "Bee."_--Pope, in the _Dunciad_, speaking of
the purloining propensities of Bays, has the lines:
"Next o'er his books his eyes began to roll,
In pleasing memory of all he stole;
How here he sipp'd, how there he plunder'd snug,
And suck'd all o'er, like an industrious bug."
In reading these lines, some time ago, I was forcibly struck with the
incongruity of the terms "sipp'd" and "industrious" as applied to "bug;"
and it occurred to me that Pope may have originally written the passage
with the words "free" and "bee," as the rhymes of the two last lines. My
reasons for this conjecture are these: 1st. Because Pope is known to have
been very fastidious on the score of coarse or vulgar expressions; and his
better judgment would have recoiled from the use of so offensive a word as
"bug." 2ndly. Because, as already stated, the terms "sipp'd" and
"industrious" are inapplicable to a bug. Of the bug it may be said, that it
"sucks" and "plunders;" but it cannot, with any propriety, be predicated of
it, as of the bee, that it "sips" and is "industrious." My impression is,
that when Pope found he was doing too much honour to Tibbald by comparing
him to a bee, he substituted the word "bug" and its corresponding rhyme,
without reflecting that some of the epithets, already applied to the one,
are wholly inapplicable to the other.
HENRY H. BREEN.
St. Lucia, March, 1851.
_Rub-a-dub._--This word is put forward as an instance of how new words are
still formed with a view to similarity of sound with the sound of what they
are intended to express, by Dr. Francis Lieber, in a "Paper on the Vocal
Sounds of Laura Bridgeman compared with the Elements of Phonetic Language,"
and its authorship is assigned {388} to Daniel Webster, who said in a
speech of July 17, 1850:
"They have been beaten incessantly every month, and every day, and
every hour, by the din, and roll, and _rub-a-dub_ of the Abolition
presses."
Dr. L. adds:
"No dictionary in my possession has _rub-a-dub_; by and by the
lexicographer will admit this, as yet, half-wild word."
My note is, that though this word be not recognised by the dictionaries,
yet it is by no means so new as Dr. L. supposes; for I distinctly remember
that, some four-and-twenty years ago, one of those gay-coloured books so
common on the shelves of nursery libraries had, amongst other equally
_recherché_ couplets, the following attached to a gaudy print of a military
drum:
"Not a _rub-a-dub_ will come
To sound the music of a drum:"
--no great authority certainly, but sufficient to give the word a greater
antiquity than Dr. L. claims for it; and no doubt some of your readers will
be able to furnish more dignified instances of its use.
J. EASTWOOD.
Ecclesfield.
[To this it may be added, that _Dub-a-dub_ is found in Halliwell's
_Arch. Gloss._ with the definition, "To beat a drum; also, the blow on
the drum. 'The dub-a-dub of honour.' Woman is a weathercock, p. 21.,
there used metaphorically." Mr. Halliwell might also have cited the
nursery rhyme:
"Sing rub-a-dub-dub,
Three men in a tub."]
_Quotations._--
1. "In time the savage bull doth bear the yoke."
Quoted in _Much Ado about Nothing_, Act I. Sc. 1.
Mr. Knight (Library Edition, ii. 379.) says this line is from Hieronymo,
but gives no reference, and I have not found it. In a sonnet by Thomas
Watson (A.D. 1560-91) occurs the line (see Ellis's _Specimens_)--
"In time the bull is brought to bear the yoke."
Whence did Shakspeare quote the line?
2. "_Nature's mother-wit._" This phrase is found in Dryden's "Ode to St.
Cecilia," and also in Spenser, _Faerie Queene_, book iv. canto x. verse 21.
Where does it first occur?
3. "The divine chit-chat of Cowper." Query, Who first designated the "Task"
thus? Charles Lamb uses the phrase as a quotation. (See _Final Memorials of
Charles Lamb_, i. 72.)
J. H. C.
Adelaide, South Australia.
_Minnis._--There are (or there were) in East Kent seven Commons known by
the local term "Minnis," viz., 1. Ewell Minnis; 2. River do.; 3.
Cocclescombe do.; 4. Swingfield do.; 5. Worth do.; 6. Stelling do.; 7.
Rhode do. Hasted (_History of Kent_) says he is at a loss for the origin of
the word, unless it be in the Latin "Mina," a certain quantity of land,
among different nations of different sizes; and he refers to Spelman's
_Glossary_, verbum "Mina."
Now the only three with which I am acquainted, River, Ewell, and Swingfield
Minnis, near Dover, are all on high ground; the two former considerably
elevated above their respective villages.
One would rather look for a Saxon than a Celtic derivation in East Kent;
but many localities, &c. there still retain British or Celtic names, and
eminently so the stream that runs through River and Ewell, the Dour or Dwr,
_unde_, no doubt, Dover, where it disembogues into the sea. May we not
therefore likewise seek in the same language an interpretation of this (at
least as far as I know) hitherto unexplained term?
In Armorican we find "Menez" and "Mene," a mount. In the kindred dialect,
Cornish, "Menhars" means a boundary-stone; "Maenan" (Brit.), stoney moor;
"Mynydh" (Brit.), a mountain, &c.
As my means of research are very limited, I can only hazard a conjecture,
which it will give me much pleasure to see either refuted or confirmed by
those better informed.
A. C. M.
_Brighton._--It is stated in Lyell's _Principles of Geology_, that in the
reign of Elizabeth the town of Brighton was situated on that tract where
the Chain Pier now extends into the sea; that in 1665 twenty-two tenements
still remained under the cliffs; that no traces of the town are
perceptible; that the sea has resumed its ancient position, the site of the
old town having been merely a beach abandoned by the ocean for ages. On
referring to the "Attack of the French on Brighton in 1545," as represented
in the engraving in the _Archæologia_, April 14, 1831, I find the town
standing _apparently_ just where it is now, with "a felde in the middle,"
but with some houses on the beach opposite what is not Pool Valley, on the
east side of which houses the French are landing; the beach end of the road
from Lewes.
A. C.
_Voltaire's "Henriade."_--I have somewhere seen an admirable translation of
this poem into English verse. Perhaps you can inform me of the author's
name. The work seems to be scarce, as I recollect having seen it but once:
it was published, I think, about thirty years ago. (See _antè_, p. 330.)
The house in which Voltaire was born, at Chatnaye, about ten miles from
Paris, is now the property of the Comtesse de Boigne, widow of the General
de Boigne, and daughter of the Marquis d'Osmond, who was ambassador here
during the reign of Louis XVIII. The mother of the poet being on a visit
with _the then_ proprietor (whose name I cannot recollect), was
unexpectedly confined. There is a street in the village called the Rue
Voltaire. The Comtesse de Boigne is my {389} authority for the fact of the
poet's birth having taken place in her house.
A. J. M.
Alfred Club.
* * * * *
Queries.
THE BLAKE FAMILY.
The renowned Admiral Blake, a native of Bridgewater, and possessed of
property in the neighbourhood, left behind him a numerous family of
brothers, sisters, nephews, and nieces, settled in the county of Somerset;
to wit, his brothers Humphrey, William, George, Nicholas, Benjamin, and
Alexander all survived him, as did also his sisters, Mrs. Bowdich, of
Chard, and Mrs. Smith, of Cheapside, in London. His brother Samuel, killed
in an early part of the Civil War, left two sons, Robert and Samuel, both
of them honourably remembered in the will of their great uncle. Can any of
your readers, acquainted with Somerset genealogies, give me any information
which may enable me to make out the descent of the present families of
Blake, in that county, from this stock?
There are at least two Blake houses now in existence, who are probably of
the blood of the illustrious admiral; the Blakes of Bishop's Hall, near
Taunton, of which William Blake, Esq., a magistrate for the county, is the
head; and the Blakes of Venue House, Upton, near Wiveliscombe, the
representative of which is Silas Wood Blake, son of Dr. William Blake, a
bencher of the Inner Temple. These families possess many relics of the
admiral--family papers, cabinets, portrait, and even estates; and that they
are of his blood there are other reasons for believing; but, so far as I
know, the line is not clearly traced back. In a funeral sermon spoken on
the death of the grandfather of the present William Blake, Esq., of
Bishop's Hall, I find it stated that--
"He was descended from pious and worthy ancestors; a collateral branch
of the family of that virtuous man, great officer, and true patriot,
Admiral Blake. His grandfather, the Rev. Malachi Blake, a Nonconformist
minister, resided at Blogden, four miles from Taunton. This gentleman,
by his pious labours, laid the foundation of the dissenting
congregation at Wellington, in the county of Somerset. After the defeat
of the Duke of Monmouth, to whose cause he had been friendly, he was
obliged to flee from home, and went to London disguised in a lay-dress,
with a tye-wig and a sword."
This minister had three sons, John, Malachi, and William; and it is from
the last named that the Blakes of Bishop's Hall are descended. But who was
the father of Malachi Blake himself? He was probably a son or grandson of
one of the admiral's brothers--but of which?
Permit me to add to this Query another remark. I am engaged in writing a
Life of Admiral Blake, and shall be extremely grateful to any of your
correspondents who can and will direct me, either through the medium of
your columns or by private communication, to any new sources of information
respecting his character and career. A meagre pamphlet being the utmost
that has yet been given to the memory of this great man, the entire story
of his life has to be built up from the beginning. Fragments of papers,
scraps of information, however slight, may therefore be of material value.
A date or a name may contain an important clue, and will be thankfully
acknowledged. Of course I do not wish to be referred to information
contained in well-known collections, such as Thurloe, Rushworth, Whitelock,
and the Parliamentary Histories, nor to the Deptford MSS. in the Tower, the
Admiralty papers in the State Paper Office, or the Ashmole MSS. at Oxford.
I am also acquainted, of course, with several papers in the national
collection of MSS. at the British Museum throwing light on the subject; but
while these MSS. remain in their present state, it would be very rash in
any man to say what is _not_ to be found in them. Should any one, in
reading for his own purposes, stumble on a fact of importance for me in
these MSS., I shall be grateful for a communication; but my appeal is
rather made to the possessors of old family papers. There must, I think, be
many letters--though he was a brief and abrupt correspondent--of the
admiral's still existing in the archives of old Puritan families. These are
the materials of history of which I am most in need.
HEPWORTH DIXON.
84. St. John's Wood Terrace.
* * * * *
Minor Queries.
_John Holywood the Mathematician._--Is the birthplace of this distinguished
scholar known? Leland, Bale, and Pits assert him to have been born at
Halifax, in Yorkshire; Stanyhurst says, at Holywood, near Dublin; and
according to Dempster and Mackenzie, at Nithsdale, in Scotland.
EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.
_Essay on the Irony of Sophocles, &c._--Who is the author of the _Essay on
the Irony of Sophocles_, which has been termed the most exquisite piece of
criticism in the English language?
Is it Cicero who says,
"Malo cum Platone errare, quam cum aliis rectè sentire?"
And who embodied the somewhat contradictory maxim,--
"Amicus Plato, sed magis amica veritas?"
NEMO.
_Meaning of Mosaic._--What is the exact meaning and derivation of the word
Mosaic as a term in art?
H. M. A.
{390}
_Stanedge Pole._--Can any one inform me in what part of Yorkshire the
antiquarian remains of Stanedge Pole are situated; and where the
description of them is to be found?
A. N.
_Names of the Ferret._--I should be much obliged by any one of your readers
informing me what peculiar names are given to the male and female ferret?
Do they occur any where in any author? as by knowing how the words are
spelt, we may arrive at their etymology.
T. LAWRENCE.
Ashby-de-la-Zouch.
_Colfabias._--Can any of your learned correspondents furnish the origin and
meaning of this word? It was the name of the _privy_ attached to the Priory
of Holy Trinity in Dublin; and still is to be seen in old leases of that
religious house (now Christ Church Cathedral), spelled sometimes as above,
and other times _coolfabioos_.
The present dean and chapter are quite in the dark upon the subject. I hope
you will be able to give us a little light from your general stock.
A CH. CH. MAN.
Dublin.
_School of the Heart._--This work consists of short poems similar in
character and merit to Quarles's _Emblems_, and adorned with cuts of the
same class. I have at hand none but modern editions, and in these the
production is ascribed to Quarles. But Montgomery, in his _Christian Poet_,
quotes the _School of the Heart_, without explanation, as the work of
Thomas Harvey, 1647. Can any of your readers throw light on this matter?
S. T. D.
_Milton and the Calves-head Club._--I quote the following from _The Secret
History of the Calves-head Club: or the Republican Unmasqu'd_, 4to., 1703.
The author is relating what was told him by "a certain active Whigg, who,
in all other respects, was a man of probity enough."
"He further told me that Milton, and some other creatures of the
Commonwealth, had instituted this Club [the Calves-head Club], as he
was inform'd, in opposition to Bp. Juxon, Dr. Sanderson, Dr. Hammond,
and other divines of the Church of England, who met privately every
30th of January; and though it was under the Time of Usurpation, had
compil'd a private Form of Service for the Day, not much different from
what we now find in the Liturgy."
Do any of Milton's biographers mention his connexion with this club? Does
the form of prayer compiled by Juxon, Sanderson, and Hammond exist?
K. P. D. E.
_David Rizzio's Signature._--Can any reader of "NOTES AND QUERIES" furnish
the applicant with either a fac-simile or a minute description of the
signature and handwriting of David Rizzio? The application is made in order
to the verification of a most remarkable alleged instance of clairvoyance,
recorded at large in a volume on that and its kindred subjects just
published by Dr. Gregory of Edinburgh.
F. K.
_Lambert Simnel--Was this his real Name?_--It occurs to me that we are not
in possession of the real name of Lambert Simnel, the famous claimant of
the crown of England. We are told that he was the son of a baker; and we
learn from Johnson's _Dictionary_ that the word "simnel" signified a kind
of sweet-bread or cake. Now, considering the uncertainty and mutability of
surnames in former times, I am led to suspect that "Simnel" may have been a
nickname first applied to his father, in allusion to his trade; and I am
strengthened in my suspicion by not finding any such name as "Simnel" in
any index of ancient names. Could any of your correspondents throw light on
this question, or tell whether Lambert left any posterity?
T.
_Honor of Clare, Norfolk._--I have seen a letter, dated about 1702, in the
possession of a gentleman of this town, which alludes "_To His Majesty's
Honor of Clare_;" and I shall feel obliged if any of your correspondents
can render me any information as to whether there are any documents
relative to this "_Honor_" in existence: and if so, where they are to be
met with? for I much wish to be informed what fragments were made from
_South Green_ (a part of this town), which was held of the above mentioned
"Honor," and by whom made; and further, who is the collector of them at
this period?
J. N. C.
_Sponge._--When was the sponge of commerce first known in England?
THUDT.
_Babington's Conspiracy._--Miss Strickland, in her life of Queen Elizabeth
(_Lives of the Queens of England_, vol. vii. p. 33.), after describing the
particulars of this plot, adds in a Note,--
"After his condemnation, Babington wrote a piteous letter of
supplication to Elizabeth, imploring her mercy for the sake of his wife
and children."--Rawlinson _MSS._, Oxford, vol. 1340. No. 55. f. 19.
A copy of a letter to which the description given by Miss Strickland would
apply, has been lately found among some papers originally belonging to Lord
Burleigh; and it would be very desirable to compare it with the letter said
to be in the Rawlinson collection. I have, however, authority for saying
that the reference above quoted is incorrect. I should be very glad indeed
to find whether the letter referred to by Miss Strickland is printed in any
collection, or to trace the authority for the reference given in the _Lives
of the Queens_. The MS. copies in the British Museum are known.
J. BT.
_Family of Sir John Banks._--R. H. wishes to be informed how many children
were left by {391} Sir John Banks, Lord Chief Justice in Charles I.'s
reign: also, whether any one of these settled at Keswick: and also, whether
Mr. John Banks of that place, the philosopher, as he was called, was really
a lineal descendant of Sir John B., as he is stated to have been by the
author of an old work on the Lakes?
R. C. H. H.
_Sewell, Meaning of._--It is usual in some deer-parks in different parts of
England, but more especially, as far as my own knowledge goes, in Kent, for
the keepers, when they wish to drive and collect the deer to one spot, to
lay down for this purpose what they call _sewells_ (I may be wrong as to
the orthography), which are simply long lines with feathers attached at
intervals, somewhat after the fashion of the tails of kites. These
"sewells," when stretched at length on the ground, the herd of deer will
very rarely pass; but on coming up will check themselves suddenly when in
full career, and wheel about. The same contrivance was in use in Virgil's
time for the same purpose, under the name of _formido_ (_Geor._ iii.
372.):--"Puniceæve agitant pavidos formidine pennæ." Can any of your
readers help me to the origin of the modern term _sewell_?
H. C. K.
---- Rectory, Hereford.
_Abel represented with Horns._--In one of the windows of King's College
Chapel, the subject of which is the Death of Abel, the artist has given him
a pair of _horns_. Can any of your readers explain this?
C. J. E.
* * * * *
Minor Queries Answered.
_The Fifteen O's._--In the third part of the "Sermon of Good Works" is this
passage:
"Let us rehearse some other kinds of papistical superstitions and
abuses; as of beads, of lady psalters and rosaries, _of fifteen oos_,
of St. Barnard's verses, of St. Agathe's letters, of purgatory, of
masses satisfactory, of stations and jubilees, of feigned relics, of
hallowed beads, bells, bread, water, palms, candles, fire, and such
other; of superstitious fastings, of fraternities, of pardons, with
such like merchandise, which were so esteemed and abused to the
prejudice of God's glory and commandments, that they were made most
high and most holy things, whereby to attain to the eternal life, or
remission of sin."
I cite the above from the Parker Society's edition of Archbishop Cranmer's
_Miscellaneous Writings and Letters_, p. 148. It occurs also in Professor
Corrie's edition of the _Homilies_, p. 58. I shall be glad to be informed
what is meant by the "fifteen Oo's," or "fifteen O's" (for so they are
spelt in the above edition of the _Homilies_).
C. H. COOPER
Cambridge, April 14. 1851.
[The fifteen O's are fifteen prayers commencing with the letter O, and
will be found in _Horæ Beatissime Virginis Marie, secundum usum
ecclesiæ Sarum_, p. 201. edit. 1527.]
_Meaning of Pightle._--As I dare say you number some Suffolk men among your
readers, would any of them kindly inform me the meaning and derivation of
the word "pightle," which is always applied to a field adjoining the
farm-houses in Suffolk?
PHILO-STEVENS.
[Phillips, in his _New World of Words_, has "PIGLE or PIGHTEL, a small
Parcel of Land enclosed with a Hedge, which in some Parts of England is
commonly call'd a Pingle."]
_Inscription on a Guinea of George III._--Round the reverse of a guinea of
George III., 1793, are the following initials:--"M. B. F. ET H. REX--F. D.
B. ET L. D. S. R. I. A. T. ET E." The earlier letters are sufficiently
intelligible; but I should be glad to learn the meaning of the whole
inscription.
J. H. C.
Adelaide, South Australia.
[Of the Faith Defender, of Brunswick and Lunenburg Duke, of the Holy
Roman Empire Arch-Treasurer and Elector.]
_Meaning of Crambo._--Sir Thomas Browne (_Religio Medici_, part ii. § 15.
ed. 1678) says:
"I conclude, therefore, and say, there is no happiness under (or, as
Copernicus will have it, above) the sun, nor any Crambo in that
repeated verity and burthen of all the wisdom of _Solomon_, _All is
vanity and vexation of spirit_."
Query, What is the meaning of _crambo_ here, and is it to be met with
elsewhere with a similar meaning?
J. H. C.
Adelaide, South Australia.
[The words "nor any Crambo" mean that the sentiment expressed by
Solomon is a truth which cannot be too often repeated. Crabbe says,
"_Crambo_ is a play, in rhyming, in which he that repeats a word that
was said before forfeits something." In all the MSS. and editions of
the _Religio Medici_, 1642, the words "nor any Crambo," are wanting.
See note on the passage in the edition edited by Simon Wilkin, F.L.S.]
* * * * *
Replies.
JOHN TRADESCANT PROBABLY AN ENGLISHMAN, AND HIS VOYAGE TO RUSSIA IN 1618.
(Vol. iii., pp. 119. 286. 353.)
DR. RIMBAULT justly observes that "the history of the Tradescants is
involved in considerable obscurity." He does not, however, seem to have
been aware that some light has been thrown on that of the elder John
Tradescant by the researches of Dr. Hamel, in his interesting Memoir
published in the _Transactions of the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburg in
1847_, with the following title:--"Tradescant der Æltere 1618 in Russland.
Der {392} Handelsverkehr zwischen England und Russland in seiner
Entstehung," &c.
DR. RIMBAULT'S note contains a good epitome of the most obvious English
notices respecting the Tradescants; but while correcting the errors of
others, he has himself fallen into one important mistake, in stating that
"Old John Tradescant died in 1652;" for that is the date of the death of
his grandson, John, who died young. Old John died in 1638, leaving a son,
also named John, who was born in 1608, and died in 1662, having survived
his only son ten years; and, having no heir to his treasures, he had
previously conveyed them, by deed of gift, to Elias Ashmole, who seems to
have contrived to make himself agreeable to him by his pursuits as a
virtuoso, and by his alchemical and astrological fancies. When Dr. Hamel
was in England, I had the pleasure of indicating to him the site of
"Tradescant's Ark" in South Lambeth. It was situate on the east side of the
road leading from Vauxhall to Stockwell, nearly opposite to what was
formerly called Spring Lane. Ashmole built a large brick house near that
which had been Tradescant's, out of the back of part of which he made
offices. The front part of it became the habitation of the well-known
antiquary, Dr. Ducarel. It still remains as two dwellings; the one, known
as "Turret House," is occupied by John Miles Thorn, Esq., and the other,
called "Stamford House," is the dwelling of J. A. Fulton, Esq.
In his indefatigable researches to elucidate the early intercourse between
England and Russia, Dr. Hamel's attention was accidentally called to the
Tradescants and their Museum; and the following passage in Parkinson's
_Paradisus Terrestris_, p. 345. (Art. "Neesewort," then called _Elleborus
albus_), led to the discovery of a relation of Old John's voyage to
Russia:--
"This (says Parkinson) grows in many places in Germany, and likewise in
certain places in Russia, in such abundance, that, according to the
relation of that worthy, curious, and diligent searcher and preserver
of all nature's rarities and varieties, my very good friend John
Tradescante, of whom I have many times before spoken, a moderately
large ship (as he says) might be laden with the roots thereof, which he
there saw on a certain island."
The same notice, in other words, also occurs in Parkinson's _Theatrum_, p.
218.
In searching among the MSS. in the Ashmolean Museum, Dr. Hamel bore this
passage in memory, and one MS., thus described in Mr. Black's excellent
catalogue, No. 824., xvi., contained confirmatory matter:
"A Voiag of Ambassad undertaken by the Right Honnorabl S^r Dudlie
Diggs, in the year 1618."
"This curious narrative of the voyage round the North Cape to
Archangel, begins with a list of the chief persons employed in the
embassy, and contains observations of the weather, and on the
commercial, agricultural, and domestic state of Russia at that time. It
is written in a rude hand, and by a person unskilled in composition.
The last half page contains some chronological notes and other stuff,
perhaps written by the same hand."
Thus far Mr. Black. The full title of the MS. is,--
"A Viag of Ambassad undertaken by the Right Honnorabl S^r Dudlie Diggs
in the year 1618, being atended on withe 6 Gentillmen, whiche beare the
nam of the king's Gentillmen, whose names be heere notted. On M.
Nowell, brother to the Lord Nowell, M. Thomas Finche, M. Woodward, M.
Cooke, M. Fante, and M. Henry Wyeld, withe every on of them ther man.
Other folloers, on Brigges, Interpreter, M. Jams, an Oxford man, his
Chaplin, on M. Leake his Secretary, withe 3 Scots; on Captain Gilbert
and his Son, withe on Car, also M. Mathew De Quester's Son, of Filpot
Lane, in London, the rest his own retenant, some 13 _whearof_ (_Note on
Jonne an Coplie wustersher men_) M. Swanli of Limhouse, master of the
good Ship called the Dianna of Newcastell, M. Nelson, part owner of
Newe Castell."
Dr. Hamel says:
"What the words in Italics may signify is not quite clear, but that 'on
Jonne' must relate to Tradescante himself. Perhaps this passage may
lead to the discovery that Tradescant did not, as it has been
conjectured, come from Holland, but that he was a native of
Worcestershire. The name Tradescant might be an assumed one (it was
also written _Tradeskin_, which might be interpreted _Fellmonger_)."
From documents in the archives at Moscow, Dr. Hamel recovered the Christian
names, and a list of Sir Dudley Digges' attendants in this voyage, which
corresponds with that in the MS., thus:--_Arthur_ Nowell, _Thomas_
Woodward, _Adam_ Cooke, _Joseph_ Fante, _Thomas_ Leake, _Richard_ James,
_George_ Brigges, _Jessy_ De Quester, _Adam_ Jones, _Thomas_ Wakefield,
_John_ Adams, _Thomas_ Crisp, _Leonard_ Hugh, and JOHN COPLIE. This last
must therefore have designated _John Tradescant_ himself, who was certainly
there.
Sir Dudley Digges, to whom Tradescant seems to have attached himself in
order to obtain knowledge of the plants and other natural curiosities of
Russia, was sent by King James I. to the Czar Michael Fedorowitsch, who had
in the previous year despatched an embassy to the king, principally to
negotiate for a loan. This ambassador, Wolünsky, returned at the same time,
in another vessel accompanying that of Sir Dudley.
Dr. Hamel in his memoir has given considerable extracts from the MS.
narrative of the voyage, which show that Tradescant was an accurate
observer not only of objects connected with his studies of phytology and
natural history, but of other matters. Parkinson has justly styled him "a
painful industrious searcher and lover of all natural varieties;" and
elsewhere says: "My very {393} good friend, John Tradescantes, has
wonderfully laboured to obtain all the rarest fruits hee can heare of in
any place of Christendome, Turky, yea, or the whole world." The passages in
the journal of his voyage, which prove it to be indubitably his, are
numerous, but the one which first struck Dr. Hamel was sufficient; for in
following the narrator on the Dwina, and the islands there, and, among
others, to Rose Island, he found this note, "Helebros albus, enoug to load
a ship." There are, however, others confirmatory beyond a doubt. Parkinson,
in his _Paradisus Terrestris_, p. 528., has the following passage:--
"There is another (strawberry) very like unto this (the Virginia
strawberry, which carrieth the greatest leafe of any other except the
Bohemian), that John Tradescante brought with him from Brussels (l.
Russia) long ago, and in seven years could never see one berry ripe on
all sides, but still the better part rotten, although it would flower
abundantly every yeare, and beare very large leaves."
Tradescant mentions that he also saw strawberries to be sold in Russia, but
could never get of the plants, though he saw the berries three times at Sir
D. Digges's table; but as they were in nothing differing from ours, but
only less, he did not much seek after them. It is most probable that he
brought seed, as he did of another berry, of which he sent part, he tells
us, to his correspondent Vespasian Robin at Paris.
Of a man to whom the merit is due of having founded the earliest Museum of
Natural History and Rarities of Art in England, and who possessed one of
the first, and at the same the best, Botanic Garden, every little
particular must be interesting, and it would be pleasing to find that he
was an Englishman, and not a foreigner. The only ground for the latter
supposition is, I believe, the assertion of Anthony à Wood, that he was a
Fleming or a Dutchman. The name Tradescant is, however, neither Flemish nor
Dutch, and seems to me much more like an assumed English pseudonyme. That
he was neither a Dutchman nor a Fleming will, I think, be obvious from the
following passage in the narration of his travels:
"Also, I haue been tould that theare growethe in the land bothe tulipes
and narsisus. By a Brabander I was tould it, thoug by his name I should
rather think him a Holander. His name is Jonson, and hathe a house at
Archangell. He may be eyther, for he [is] always dr[=u]ke once in a
day."
Now, had Tradescant himself been a Fleming or a Dutchman, he would at least
have been able to speak decisively on this occasion; to say nothing of the
vice of intemperance which he attributes to the natives of those countries.
Again, it is quite clear that this journal of travels was written by
Tradescant; yet that name does not appear either in the MS. or in the
Russian archives: but we have _John Coplie_ in both, with the indication in
the MS. that he was _a Worcestershire man_. Let us therefore, on these
grounds, place him in the list of English worthies to whom we owe a debt of
gratitude. But supposing _Tradescant_ to have been his real name, it is
quite evident that he travelled under the name of _John Coplie_; and it is
perhaps vain to speculate upon the reasons for the assumption of a
pseudonyme either way.
Dr. Richard James, who accompanied Sir Dudley Digges as chaplain, appears,
from Turner's account of his MSS., which are deposited in the Bodleian, to
have left behind him a MS. account of his travels in Russia, in five
sheets; but his MS. seems to have been lost or mislaid in that vast
emporium, or we might have some confirmation from it respecting Tradescant.
South Lambeth was in former times one of the most agreeable and salubrious
spots in the vicinity of London, and at the time when Tradescant first
planted his garden he must have had another worthy and distinguished man
for a neighbour, Sir Noel Caron, who was resident ambassador here from the
States of Holland for twenty-eight years. His estate contained 122 acres;
he was a benefactor to the poor of his vicinity by charitable actions, some
of which remain as permanent monuments of his benevolence, in the shape of
almshouses, situate in the Wandsworth Road. The site of Caron House is now
possessed by Henry Beaufoy, Esq., who has worthily emulated the deeds of
his predecessor by acts of munificent benevolence, which must be fraught
with incalculable good for ages yet to come. Mr. Beaufoy has, among his
literary treasures, a very interesting collection of letters in MS.,
written in French, by Sir Noel Caron to Constantine Huyghens, I think,
which contain many curious illustrations of the events of that period.
Let us hope that time may bring to light further and more complete
materials for the biography of these Lambethan worthies, who have deserved
to live in our memories as benefactors to mankind.
S. W. SINGER.
Manor Place, So. Lambeth, May 5. 1851.
* * * * *
THE FAMILY OF THE TRADESCANTS.
In Chambers's _Edinburgh Journal_, No. 359., New Series, may be found an
account of this family, written by myself; I hope to be excused when I say
that it is the most accurate hitherto published. It gave me great pleasure
to find that so distinguished an antiquary as DR. RIMBAULT mainly
corroborates the article alluded to; but I regret that I feel bound to
notice a serious error into which that gentleman has fallen. DR. R. states
that "Old John Tradescant died in the year 1652;" and in another place he
states that-- {394}
"It was not the _youngest_ John Tradescant that died in 1652, but the
_oldest_, the _grandfather_, the first of that name that settled in
England."
The conflicting accounts and confusion in the history of the Tradescants,
have no doubt arisen from the three, "grandsire, father, and son," having
been all named John; consequently, for the sake of perspicuity, I shall
adopt the plan of our worthy editor, and designate the Tradescant who first
settled in England, No. 1.; his son, who published the _Musæum
Tradescantianum_, No. 2.; and the son of the latter, who "died in his
spring," No. 3. Now, to prove that it was the youngest of the Tradescants,
No. 3., who died in 1652, we have only to refer to the preface of the
_Musæum Tradescantianum_, which was published in 1656. There we find that
Tradescant No. 2. says that--
"About three years agoe (by the perswasion of some friends) I was
resolved to take a catalogue of those rarities and curiosities, which
my father had sedulously collected, and myself with continued diligence
have augmented and hitherto preserved together."
He then proceeds to account for the delay in the publication of the work in
these words:
"Presently thereupon my _onely son_ died, one of my friends fell sick,"
&c.
Again, in Ashmole's _Diary_ we find the following entry:
"_Sept._ 11th, 1652. Young John Tredescant died."
And, further on, Ashmole states that
"He was buried by his grandfather, in Lambeth Churchyard."
The word _by_, in the quotation, meaning, _by the side of_, _close by_ his
grandfather. The burial register of Lambeth parish gives the date of the
interment, Sept. 16, 1652. Ashmole's _Diary_, as quoted by DR. RIMBAULT,
and the burial register also, give the date of the death of Tradescant No.
2., who survived his son ten years: the family then became extinct.
Ashmole, who became acquainted with the Tradescants in 1650, never mentions
the grandfather (No. 1.), nor is his name to be found in the burial
registry; and consequently the date of his death, as far as I have read,
has always been set down as uncertain. There are other parish records,
however, than burial registers; and I was well repaid for my search by
finding, in the Churchwardens' Accounts of St. Mary's, Lambeth, the
following entries:
"1634. June 1. Received for burial of Jane, wife of John Tradeskin,
12s."
"1637-8. Item. John Tradeskin; ye gret bell and black cloth, 5s. 4d."
This last entry, in all probability, marks the date of the death of the
first Tradescant. Assuming that it does, and as the engraving by Hollar
represents him as far advanced in years, his age did not exclude him from
having been in the service of Queen Elizabeth, so much so as it would if he
had died in 1652. I read the line on the tombstone,--
"Both gardeners to the Rose and Lily Queen"--
as signifying that one of the Tradescants had been gardener to Elizabeth,
the Rose Queen, and the other to Henrietta, the Lily Queen. However, as
that is little more than a matter of opinion, not of historical fact, it
need not be further alluded to at present.
I am happy to say, that I have every reason to believe that I am on the
trace of new, curious, and indisputably authentic information respecting
the Tradescants. If successful, and if the editor will spare me a corner, I
shall be proud to communicate it to the readers of "NOTES AND QUERIES."
Tradescant's house, and the house adjoining, where Ashmole lived, previous
to his taking possession of Tradescant's house, after Mrs. Tradescant's
death (see Ashmole's _Diary_), are still standing, though they have
undergone many alterations. Even there, the name of Tradescant seems
forgotten: the venerable building is only known by a _nick-name_, derived
most probably from its antique chimneys. I had many weary pilgrimages
before I discovered the identical edifice. I have not seen the interior,
but am aware that there are some traces of Ashmole in the house, but none
whatever of Tradescant in either house or garden. I had a conversation with
the gardener of the gentleman who now occupies it: he appeared to have an
indistinct idea that an adept in his own profession had once lived there,
for he observed that, "If old What's-his-name were alive now, the potato
disease could soon be cured." Oh! what we antiquaries meet with! He further
gave me to understand that "_furriners_ sometimes came there wishing to see
the place, but that I was the only Englishman, that he recollected, who
expressed any curiosity about it."
The _restorers_ of the tomb of the Tradescants merely took away the old
leger stone, on which were cut the words quoted by A. W. H. (Vol. iii., p.
207.), and replaced it by a new stone bearing the lines quoted by DR.
RIMBAULT, which were not on the original stone (see Aubrey's _Surrey_), and
the words--
"Erected 1662.
Repaired by Subscription, 1773."
But although the name of the childless, persecuted widow, Hester
Tradescant, is not now on the tomb which she piously erected to the
memories of her husband and son; still, on the west end of it, can be
traced the form of a hydra tearing a human skull--fit emblem of the foul
and vulture-like rapacity of Elias Ashmole.
WILLIAM PINKERTON.
Dalmeny Cottage, Ham, Surrey.
{395}
* * * * *
POPE JOAN.
(Vol. iii., p. 265.)
In reply to your correspondent NEMO'S Query, whether any such personage as
Pope Joan ever held the keys of St. Peter, and wore the tiara? and if so,
at what period, and for what time, and what is known of her personal
history? I would remark that the story runs thus: that between the
pontificates of Leo IV., who died in the year 855, and of Benedict III.,
who died in 858, a female of the name of Joan found means to cause herself
to be elected Pope, which post she held for a term of upwards of two years,
under the title of Joannes VII., according to Sabellicus, or, according to
Platina, of Joannes VIII. She is generally said to have been an
Englishwoman, the daughter of a priest, who in her youth became acquainted
with an English monk belonging to the Abbey of Fulda, with whom she
travelled, habited as a man, to many universities, but finally settled at
Athens, where she remained until the death of her companion, and attained
to a great proficiency in the learning common to the time. After this she
proceeded to Rome, and having by the talent she displayed in several
disputes obtained the reputation of a learned divine, was, on the death of
Leo IV., elected to fill the pontifical chair. This position she held for
upwards of two years, but soon after the expiration of that time was
delivered of a child (but died during parturition), while proceeding in a
procession between the Coliseum and the Church of St. Clemente.
The first mention of this story appears to have been made by Marianus
Scotus, who compiled a chronicle at Mayence, about two hundred years after
the event is said to have occurred, viz. about 1083. He was followed by
Sigebert de Gemblours, who wrote about 1112; and also by Martino di
Cistello, or Polonus, who wrote about 1277; since when the story has been
repeated by numberless authors, all of whom have, more or less, made some
absurd additions.
After the satisfactory proofs of the fictitious character of the story,
which have been produced by the most eminent writers, both Catholic and
Protestant, it may appear a work of supererogation to add anything on the
point; yet it may perhaps be permitted to observe, that in the most ancient
and esteemed manuscripts of the works of the authors above quoted, no
mention whatever is made of the Papissa Giovanna, and its introduction must
therefore have been the work of some later copyist.
The contemporary writers, moreover, some of whom were ocular witnesses of
the elections both of Leo IV. and Benedict III., make no mention whatever
of the circumstance; and it is well known that at Athens, where she is
stated to have studied, no such school as the one alluded to existed in the
ninth century.
The fact will not, I think, be denied that it was the practice of the
chroniclers of the early ages to note down the greater portion of what they
heard, without examining critically as to the credibility of the report;
and the mention of a fact once made, was amply sufficient for all
succeeding authors to copy the statement, and make such additions thereto
as best suited their respective fancies, without making any examination as
to the truth or probability of the original statement. And this appears to
have been the case with the point in question: Marianus Scotus first
stated, or rather some later copyist stated for him, the fact of a female
Pope; and subsequent writers added, at a later period, the additional facts
which now render the tale so evidently an invention.
R. R. M.
_Pope Joan_ (Vol. iii., p. 265.).--You have referred to Sir Thomas Browne,
and might have added the opinion of his able editor (_Works_, iii. 360.),
who says, "Her very existence itself seems now to be universally rejected
by the best authorities as a fabrication from beginning to end." On the
other hand, old Coryat, in his _Crudities_ (vol. ii. p. 443.), has the
boldness to speak with "certainty of her birth at a particular place,--viz.
at Mentz." Mosheim tells us (vol. ii. p. 300.) that during the five
centuries succeeding 855, "the event was generally believed." He quotes
some distinguished names, as well among those who maintained the truth of
the story as amongst those who rejected it as a fable. Bayle may be
included amongst the latter, who, in the third volume of his Dictionary
(Article PAPESSE), has gone deeply into the question. Mosheim himself seems
to leave it where Sir Roger de Coverley would have done,--"much may be said
on both sides."
J. H. M.
* * * * *
Replies to Minor Queries
_Robert Burton, his Birth-place_ (Vol. iii., pp. 106. 157.).--A friend who
has just been reading the _Anatomy of Melancholy_, has referred me to the
following passage, which seems to give conclusive testimony respecting the
birth-place of Burton:--
"Such high places are infinite ... and two amongst the rest, which I
may not omit for vicinities sake, Oldbury in the confines of
Warwickshire, where I have often looked about me with great delight, at
the foot of which hill I was born; and Hanbury in Staffordshire,
contiguous to which is Falde, a pleasant village, and an ancient
patrimony belonging to our family, now in the possession of mine elder
brother, William Burton, Esquire." [Note on words "_I was born._" At
Lindley in Lecestershire, the possession and dwelling place of Ralph
Burton, Esquire, my late {396} deceased father.]--_Anatomy of
Melancholy_, Part ii. Sec 2. Mem. 3. ad fin.
I knew of the following, but as it merely mentions Lindley as the
_residence_ of the family, it would not have answered DR. RIMBAULT'S Query.
"Being in the country in the vacation time, not many years since, at
Lindly in Lecestershire, my father's house," &c.--_Ibid._ Part ii. Sec.
5. Mem. 1. subs. 5.
C. FORBES.
_Barlaam and Josaphat_ (Vol. iii., pp. 135. 278.).--I do not know of any
English translation of this work. If any Middle Age version exists, it
should be published immediately. A new and excellent _German_ one (by Felix
Liebrecht, Münster, 1847) has lately appeared, written, however, for Romish
purposes, as much as from admiration of the work itself. It would be well
if some member of our own pure branch of the Church Catholic would turn his
attention to this noble work, and give us a faithful but fresh and easy
translation, with a literary introduction descriptive of all the known
versions, &c.; and a chapter on the meaning and limits of the asceticism
preached in the original. In this case, and if published _cheap_, as it
ought to be, it would be a golden present for our youth, and would soon
become once more a _folk-book_. The beautiful free _Old Norwegian_ version
(written by King Hákon Sverresson, about A.D. 1200) mentioned in my last
has now been published in Christiania, edited by the well-known scholars R.
Keyser and C. R. Unger, and illustrated by an introduction, notes,
glossary, fac-simile, &c. (_Barlaams ok Josaphats Saga._ 8vo. Christiania,
1851.) The editors re-adopt the formerly received opinion, that the Greek
original (now printed in Boissonade's _Anecdota Græca_, vol. iv.) is not
older than the eighth century, and was composed by Johannes Damascenus. But
this must be decided by future criticism.
GEORGE STEPHENS.
Stockholm.
_Witte van Haemstede_ (Vol. iii., p. 209).--It may be of use to the editors
of the "NAVORSCHER" to know that _Adrianus Hamstedius_ became pastor of the
Dutch church in Austin Friars, London, in the year 1559. He succeeded
Walterus Delaenus, and resigned his office, one year after his appointment,
in favour of Petrus Delaenus, probably a son of the before-named Walterus.
I cannot answer the question as to whether there still exist any
descendants of _Witte van Haemstede_; but as late as 1740, _Hendrik van
Haemstede_ was appointed pastor to the Dutch congregation in London. He
held the office until the year 1751, when Henricus Putman succeeded him.
EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.
_The Dutch Church in Norwich_ (Vol. iii., p. 209.).--The editors of the
"NAVORSCHER" will find the early history of this church in Strype's _Annals
of the Reformation_; Blomefield's _History of Norwich_; and in Burn's
_History of the Foreign Refugees_. Dr. Hendrik Gehle, the pastor of the
Dutch church in Austin Friars, who is also the occasional minister of the
Dutch church at Norwich, would be the most likely person to furnish
information as to its present state.
EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.
_Fest Sittings_ (Vol. iii., p. 328.).--_Festing_ is, I presume, without
doubt, a Saxon word. A "Festing-man," among the Saxons, was a person who
stood as a surety or pledge for another. "Festing-penny" was the money
given as an earnest or token to servants when hired.
In the word _sittings_ there _might_ be some reference to the
_statute-sessions_, which were courts or tribunals designed for the
settlement of disputes between masters and servants.
R. VINCENT.
_Quakers' Attempt to convert the Pope_ (Vol. iii., p. 302.).--I beg to
refer B. S. S. to the _Correspondance inédite de Mabíllon et de Montfaucon
avec l'Italie_ ... edited by M. Valéry, Paris, 1846, vol. ii. p. 112. In a
letter from the Benedictine Claude Estiennot to Dom. Bulteau, dated Rome,
September 30, 1687, he will read:
"Ce qu'on a dit ici des quakers d'Angleterre n'est ni tout-à-fait vrai
ni tout-à-fait faux. Il est certain qu'il en est venu _un_ qui a fort
pressé pour avoir une audience de Sa Sainteté et se promettait de le
pouvoir convertir à sa religion; ou l'a voulu mettre an PASSARELLI;
monseigneur le Cardinal Howard l'a fait enfermer au couvent de
saint-Jean et Paul et le fera sauver sans bruit pour l'honneur de la
nation."
C. P. PH****.
_The Anti-Jacobin_ (Vol. iii., p. 348.).--As you have so many articles in
the _Anti-Jacobin_ owned, I may mention that No. 14, was written by Mr.
Bragge, afterwards Bathurst.
When I was at Oxford, 1807 or 1808, it was supposed that the simile in _New
Morality_, "So thine own Oak," was written by Mr. Pitt.
C. B.
_Mistletoe_ (Vol. iii., p. 192.).--
"In a paper of Tho. Willisel's he names these following trees on which
he found misseltoe growing, viz. oak, ash, lime-tree, elm, hazel,
willow, white beam, purging thorn, quicken-tree, apple-tree, crab-tree,
white-thorn." Vide p. 351. _Philosophical Letters between the late
learned Mr. Ray and several of his Ingenious Correspondents, &c._:
Lond. 1718, 8vo.
R. WILBRAHAM FALCONER, M.D.
Bath.
_Verbum Græcum._--The lines in Vol. i., p. 415., where this word occurs,
are in a doggrel journal of his American travels, written by Moore, and
published in his _Epistles, Odes, and other Poems_. They are introduced
apropos to the cacophony of the names of the places which he visited.
D. X.
{397}
"_Après moi le Déluge_" (Vol. iii, p. 299.).--This sentiment is to be found
in verse of a Greek tragedian, cited in Sueton. _Nero_, c. 38.:
"[Greek: Emou thanontos gaia michthêtô puri.]"
Suetonius says that some one, at a convivial party, having quoted this
line, Nero outdid him by adding, _Immo_ [Greek: emou zôntos]. Nero was not
contented that the conflagration of the world should occur after his death;
he wished that it should take place during his lifetime.
Dio Cassius (lviii. 23.) attributes this verse, not to Nero, but to
Tiberius, who, he says, used frequently to repeat it. See Prov. (app. ii.
56.), where other allusions to this verse are cited in the note of Leutsch.
L.
[We are indebted for a similar reply to C. B., who quotes the line from
Euripides, _Fragm. Inc._ B. xxvii.]
"_Après moi_," or "_après nous le Déluge_" sounds like a modernisation of
the ancient verse,--
"[Greek: Emou thanontos gaia michthêtô puri,]"
the use of which has been imputed to the emperor Nero. The spirit of Madame
de Pompadour's saying breathes the same selfish levity; and it amounts to
the same thing. But it merits remark that the words of Metternich were of
an entirely distinct signification. They did not imply that he _cared_ only
for himself and the affairs of his own life; but that he anticipated the
inability of future ministers to avert revolution, and _foreboded_ the
worst. Two persons may use the same words, and yet their sayings be as
different as the first line of Homer from the first of Virgil. The omission
of the French verb disguises the fact, that the one was said in the
optative, and the other in the future indicative.
A. N.
_Eisell_, the meaning of which has been much discussed in the pages of
"NOTES AND QUERIES," is a word which seems to have been once the common
term for vinegar. The _Festival_ in the sermon for St. Michael's day
employs this term thus:
"And other angellis with h[=i] (St. Michael) shall brynge al the
Instrum[=e]tis of our lordis passyon, the crosse; the crowne; spere;
nayles; hamer; sponge; _eyseel_; gall, scourges [=t] all other thynges
y^t w[=e] atte cristis passyon."--Rouen, A.D. 1499, _fo._ cl. b.
D. ROCK.
"_To-day we purpose_" (Vol. iii., p. 302).--The verse for which your
correspondent G. N. inquires, is taken from _Isabella, or the Pot of
Basil_, an exquisitely beautiful poem by Keats, founded on one of
Boccaccio's tales.
E. J. M.
_Modern Paper_ (Vol. iii., p. 181.).--Cordially do I agree with every word
of your correspondent LAUDATOR TEMPORIS ACTI, and especially as to the
prayer-books for churches and chapels, printed by the Universities.
_Experto crede_, no solicitude can preserve their "flimsy, brittle, and
cottony" leaves, as he justly entitles them, from rapid destruction. Might
not the delegates of the University presses be persuaded to give us an
edition with the morning and evening services printed on vellum, instead of
the miserable fabric they now afford us?
C. W. B.
_St. Pancras_ (Vol. iii., p. 285.).--In Breviar. Rom. sub die XII Maii, is
the following brief notice of this youthful saint, whose martyrdom was also
commemorated (Sir H. Nicolas' _Chron. of Hist._) on April 3 and July 21:
"Pancratius, in Phrygia nobili genere natus, puer quatordecim annorum
Roman venit Diocletiano et Maximiano Imperatoribus: ubi à Pontifice
Romano baptizatus, et in fide christiana eruditus, ob eamdem paulò post
comprehensus, cùm diis sacrificare constanter renuisset, virili
fortitudine datis cervicibus, illustrem martyrii coronam consecutus
est; cujus corpus Octavilla matrona noctu sustulit, et unguentis
delibutum via Aurelia sepelivit."
Amongst the reliques in the church of St. John of Laterane, in the "the
glorious mother-city of Rome," Onuphrius (de VII. Urbis Ecclesiis) and
Serranus (de Ecclesiis Urbis Rom.), as quoted by Wm. Crashaw (temp. James
I.), enumerate:
"Item. caput Zachariæ Prophetæ, et caput Sancti Pancratii de quo
sanguis emanavit ad tres dies quum Ecclesia Lateranensis combusta
fuit."
COWGILL.
_Joseph Nicolson's Family_ (Vol. iii., p. 243.).--A. N. C. is justly
corrected as to the insertion of the letter _h_ in Dr. Wm. Nicolson's name,
though it has been adopted by some of his family since. The mother of Dr.
Wm. and Joseph Nicolson was Mary Brisco, of Crofton; not Mary Miser.
I find from _Nichols' Correspondence of Dr. Wm. Nicolson_, that his brother
Joseph was master of the Apothecaries' Company in London. He died in May,
1724. He lived in Salisbury Court, where it would appear the Bishop resided
at least on one occasion that he was in London.
MONKSTOWN.
_Demosthenes and New Testament_ (Vol. iii., p. 350.).--The quotations from
Demosthenes, and many others more or less pointed, are to be found, as
might be expected, in the well-known, very learned, and standard edition of
the new Testament by Wetstein.
C. B.
_Crossing Rivers on Skins_ (Vol. iii., p. 3.).--To the _Latin_ authors
cited by JANUS DOUSA illustrating this practice, allow me to add the
following from the Greek. Xenophon, in his _Anabasis_, lib. iii. cap. v.,
so clearly exhibits the _modus operandi_, that I shall give a translation
of the passage:
"And while they were at a loss what to do, a certain Rhodian came up
and said, 'I am ready to ferry you over, O men! by 4000 heavy armed men
at a {398} time, if you furnish me with what I want, and will give me a
talent as a reward.' And being asked of what he stood in need:--'I
shall want,' said he, '2000 leathern bags; and I see here many sheep,
and goats, and oxen, and asses; which, being flayed, and (their skins)
inflated, would readily furnish a means of transport. And I shall
require also the girths, which you use for the beasts of burden. And on
these,' said he, 'having bound the leathern bags, and fastened them one
to another, and affixing stones, and letting them down like anchors,
and binding them on either side, I will lay on wood, and put earth over
them. And that you will not then sink, you shall presently very clearly
perceive; for each leathern bag will support two men from sinking, and
the wood and earth will keep them from slipping."
Skins, or tent coverings, stuffed with hay, appear also to have been very
generally used for this purpose (Vid. Id., lib. i. cap. v.). Arrian relates
(lib. v. Exped. cap. 12.) that Alexander used this contrivance for crossing
the Hydaspes:
"[Greek: Autos de (Alexandros)--agôn epi tên nêson kai tên akran,
enthen diabainein ên egnôsmenon. Kai entautha eplêrounto tês nuktos hai
diphtherai tês karphês ek pollou êdê parenênegmenai, kai katerrhaptonto
es akribeian.]"
E. S. TAYLOR.
Martham, Norfolk.
_Curious Facts in Natural History_ (Vol. iii., p. 166.).--There is a
parallel to the curious fact contributed by your Brazilian correspondent in
the "vegetable caterpillar" of New Zealand. This natural rarity is
described in Angas's _Savage Life and Scenes in Australia and New Zealand_,
vol. i. p. 291.:--
"Amongst the damp moss at the root of the _rata_ trees, in the shady
forests not far from Auckland, and also in various parts of the
northern island, are found those extraordinary productions called
vegetable caterpillars, the _hotete_ of the natives. In appearance, the
caterpillar differs but little from that of the common privet
sphinx-moth, after it has descended to the ground, previously to its
undergoing the change into the chrysalis state. But the most remarkable
characteristic of the vegetable caterpillar is, that every one has a
very curious plant, belonging to the fungi tribe, growing from the
_anus_; this fungus varies from three to six inches in length, and
bears at its extremity a blossom-like appendage, somewhat resembling a
miniature bulrush, and evidently derives its nourishment from the body
of the insect. This caterpillar when recently found, is of the
substance of cork; and it is discovered by the natives seeing the tips
of the fungi, which grow upwards. They account for this phenomenon, by
asserting that the caterpillar, when feeding upon the _rata_ tree
overhead, swallows the seeds of the fungus, which take root in the body
of the insect, and germinate as soon as it retreats to the damp mould
beneath, to undergo its transformation into the pupa state. Specimens
of these vegetable caterpillars have been transmitted to naturalists in
England, by whom they have been named _Sphæria Robertii_."--_Savage
Life and Scenes in Australia and New Zealand_, by G. F. Angas: London,
1847, vol. i. p. 291.
I recently had several specimens of the insect, with its remarkable
appendage, which had been brought from the colony by a relative.
R. W. C.
_Prideaux_ (Vol. iii., p. 268.).--The Prideaux, who took part in the
Monmouth rebellion, was a son of Sir Edmund Prideaux, the purchaser of Ford
Abbey. (See Birch's _Life of Tillotson_.) Tillotson appears to have been a
chaplain to Sir E. Prideaux at Ford Abbey, and a tutor to the young
Prideaux.
K. TH.
* * * * *
Miscellaneous.
NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC.
Our readers will probably remember that the result of several
communications which appeared in our columns on the subject of the
celebrated _Treatise of Equivocation_, found in the chambers of Tresham,
and produced at the trial of the persons engaged in the Gunpowder Plot, was
a letter from a correspondent (J. B., Vol. ii., p. 168.) announcing that
the identical MS. copy of the work referred to by Sir Edward Coke on the
occasion in question, was safely preserved in the Bodleian Library. It was
not to be supposed that a document of such great historical interest, which
had been long sought after, should, when discovered, be suffered to remain
unprinted; and Mr. Jardine, the accomplished editor of the _Criminal
Trials_ (the second volume of which, it will be remembered, is entirely
devoted to a very masterly narrative of the Gunpowder Plot), has
accordingly produced a very carefully prepared edition of the Tract in
question; introduced by a preface, in which its historical importance is
alone discussed, the object of the publication being not controversial but
historical. "To obviate," says Mr. Jardine, "any misapprehension of the
design in publishing it at a time when events of a peculiar character have
drawn much animadversion upon the principles of the Roman Catholics, it
should be stated that the _Treatise_ would have been published ten years
ago, had the inquiries then made led to its discovery; and that it is now
published within a few weeks after the manuscript has been brought to light
in the Bodleian Library." The work is one of the most important
contributions to English history which has recently been put forth, and Mr.
Jardine deserves the highest credit for the manner in which he was
discharged his editorial duties.
_Horæ Egyptiacæ, or the Chronology of Ancient Egypt discovered from
Astronomical and Hieroglyphical Records, including many dates found in
coeval inscriptions from the period of the building of the great Pyramid to
the times of the Persians, and illustrative of the History of the first
Nineteen Dynasties, &c._, by Reginald Stuart Poole, is the ample title of a
work dedicated to the Duke of Northumberland, under whose auspices it has
been produced. The work, which is intended to explain the Chronology and
History of Ancient Egypt from its monuments, originally appeared in a
series of {399} papers in the _Literary Gazette_. These have been improved,
the calculations contained in them subjected to the most rigid scrutiny;
and when we say that in the preparation of this volume Mr. Poole has had
assistance from Mr. Lane, Mr. and Mrs. Lieber of Cairo, Dr. Abbot of Cairo,
Mr. Birch of the British Museum, Professor Airy, and, lastly, of Sir
Gardener Wilkinson, who, in his _Architecture of Ancient Egypt_, avows that
"he fully agrees with Mr. Poole in the contemporaneousness of certain
kings, and in the order of succession he gives to the early Pharaohs," we
do quite enough to recommend it to the attention of all students of the
History and Monuments of Ancient Egypt.
BOOKS RECEIVED.--_Plato Translated by G. Burges_, vol. 4. The new volume of
Bohn's Classical Library is in the fourth volume of the Translation of
Plato, which, strange as it may sound to those of our readers who know
anything of what is essential to a popular book in these days, has, we
believe, been one of the most popular of the many cheap books issued by Mr.
Bohn. How much the impression made on the public mind by the well-worn
quotation, "Plato, thou reasonest well," may have contributed to this
result, we leave others to decide.--_What is the working of the Church of
Spain? What is implied in submitting to Rome? What is it that presses
hardest upon the Church of England? A Tract by the Rev. F. Meyrick, M.A._
London: J. H. Parker. These are three very important _Queries_, but
obviously not of a nature for discussion in NOTES AND QUERIES.--_The Penny
Post_, I. to IV., _February to May_. The words "_thirtieth thousand_" on
the title-page, show the success which has already attended this Church
Penny Magazine.
CATALOGUES RECEIVED.--T. Kerslake's (3. Park Street, Bristol) Catalogue of
Books lately bought; Cole's (15. Great Turnstile) List No. XXXV. of very
Cheap Books; C. Hamilton's (22. Anderson's Buildings, City Road) Catalogue
No. XLII. of a remarkably Cheap Miscellaneous Collection of Old Books,
Tracts, &c.; G. Johnston's (11. Goodge Street, Tottenham Court Road) Book
Circular.
* * * * *
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.
THOMS' 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 et 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).
WHARTON'S ANGLIA SACRA. Vol. II.
PHEBUS (Gaston, Conte de Foix), Livre du deduyt de la Chasse.
TURNER'S SACRED HISTORY. 3 vols. demy 8vo.
*** 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.
G. E. F. _Will this correspondent oblige us with another copy of his Query
respecting the Knapp Family? The Query to which he alludes came from a
gentleman who has shown by his published works that he is both able and
willing to search out information for himself. It is the more surprising,
therefore, that he should have overlooked the very obvious source from
which the information was eventually supplied._
_We are unavoidably compelled to omit from the present Number our usual
list of_ Replies Received.
FOREIGN CHURCHES. W. A. _thinks we should be doing a kindness to our
foreign visitors by reminding them of the existence of the_ Dutch Church in
Austin Friars, _and of the_ Swedish Church, Prince's Square, Ratcliffe
Highway, _around which are yet flourishing some of the trees imported and
planted by Dr. Solander._
MERCURII _is thanked for his last packet. We shall make use of some parts
of it when we return, as we purpose doing very shortly, to the proposed_
Record of Existing Monuments. _We cannot trace the Queries to which he
refers. Will he oblige us with copies of them?_
E. H. Y. _Will our correspondent say where we may address a communication
to him?_
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
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aware of this arrangement, which will enable them to receive_ NOTES AND
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_All communications for the Editor of_ NOTES AND QUERIES _should be
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* * * * *
Just Published, fcp. 8vo., cloth, with Steel Engraving, pricing 4s. 6d.
THE FAIRY GODMOTHER and other Tales. By Mrs. ALFRED GATTY.
"Her love for Fairy Literature has led Mrs. Alfred Gatty to compose
four pretty little moral stories, in which the fairies are gracefully
enough used as machinery. They are slight, but well written, and the
book is altogether very nicely put out of hand."--_Guardian._
London: GEORGE BELL, 186. Fleet Street.
* * * * *
Just Published, 8vo., price 7s. 6d.
THE THEORY OF ELLIPTIC INTEGRALS, and the PROPERTIES of SURFACES of the
Second Order, applied to the Investigation of the Motion of a Body round a
Fixed Point. By JAMES BOOTH, LL.D., F.R.S., &c., Chaplain to the Most
Honourable the Marquess of Lansdowne, and formerly Principal of Bristol
College.
London: GEORGE BELL, Fleet Street. Cambridge: JOHN DEIGHTON.
* * * * *
In the Press, Volumes III. and IV. of
THE JUDGES OF ENGLAND. By EDWARD FOSS, F.S.A. Comprehending the period from
Edward I. to Richard III., 1272 to 1485.
Lately published, price 28s.
VOLUMES I. and II. of the same Work; from the Conquest to the end of Henry
III., 1066 to 1272.
"A work in which a subject of great historical importance is treated
with the care, diligence, and learning it deserves; in which Mr. Foss
has brought to light many points previously unknown, corrected many
errors, and shown such ample knowledge of his subject as to conduct it
successfully through all the intricacies of a difficult investigation;
and such taste and judgement as will enable him to quit, when occasion
requires, the dry details of a professional inquiry, and to impart to
his work, as he proceeds, the grace and dignity of a philosophical
history."--_Gent. Mag._
London: LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS.
* * * * *
{400}
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| | | | Total with Additions,
Policy | Date. | Sum | Bonuses | to be further
No. | | Insured. | added. | increased.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
521 | 1807 | £900 | £982 12 1 | £1882 12 1
1174 | 1810 | 1200 | 1160 5 6 | 2360 5 6
3392 | 1820 | 5000 | 3558 17 8 | 8558 17 8
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Prospectuses and full particulars may be obtained upon application to the
Agents of the Office, in all the principal towns of the United Kingdom, at
the City Branch, and at the Head Office, No. 50. Regent Street.
* * * * *
MR. MURRAY'S WORK ON HORACE.
This day is published, price 9s.
ORIGINAL VIEWS OF PASSAGES IN THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF THE POET-PHILOSOPHER
OF VENUSIA: with which is combined an Illustration of the Suitability of
the Ancient Epic and Lyric Styles to Modern Subjects of National and
General Interest. By JOHN MURRAY, M.A., Royal Gold Medalist in "Science and
Arts," by award of His Majesty the King of Prussia; First Junior Moderator
in Ethics and Logic: Ex-Scholar and Lay Resident Master of Trinity College,
Dublin.
Dublin: HODGES and SMITH, Grafton Street, Booksellers to the University.
London: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, and Co.; and all Booksellers.
* * * * *
2 vols., post 8vo., cloth, 21s.
AN EXCURSION TO CALIFORNIA OVER the PRAIRIE, ROCKY MOUNTAINS, and GREAT
SIERRA NEVADA, with a Stroll through the Diggings and Ranches of that
Country. By WILLIAM KELLY, J.P.
"Two pleasant, rattling, truth-like volumes, by an Irish J.P., who
appears to possess in perfection the fun, frolic, shrewdness, and
adaptability to circumstances so remarkable among the better specimens
of his countrymen.... The second volume is entirely devoted to the best
description of California and its 'diggings,' its physical features,
its agriculture, and the social condition of its motley population,
which we have yet seen."--_Morning Advertiser._
London: CHAPMAN and HALL, 193. Piccadilly.
* * * * *
ACROSS THE ATLANTIC
Now ready, small 8vo., cloth, price 5s.
ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. By the Author of "Sketches of Cantabs."
"A smart volume, full of clever observations about America and the
Americans, and the contrasts of trans-Atlantic and cis-Atlantic
life."--_John Bull._
"It is sensible as well as witty, accurate as well as facetious, and
deserves to be popular."--_Morning Post._
London: EARLE, 67. Castle Street, Oxford Street.
* * * * *
M. LATEUR will Sell at his House, 125. Fleet Street, on Thursday, May 22,
an interesting collection of Autographs of distinguished Literary and
Scientific persons, including Poets, Historian, Clergy, Royal and other
personages, containing many scarce specimens. The whole in excellent
condition. May be viewed the day previous and morning of Sale, and
Catalogues had.
* * * * *
Highly curious Books, MSS., Engravings, and Works on Art.
PUTTICK AND SIMPSON, Auctioneers of Literary Property, will SELL by
AUCTION, at their Great Room, 191. Piccadilly, on MONDAY, May 26, and five
following Days, a most curious Collection of BOOKS, the property of a
Gentleman, including Works on Animal Magnetism, Mesmerism, and Mesmeric
Sleep; Angels and their Ministrations; Apparitions, Ghosts, Hobgoblins,
Presentiments, Second Sight, and Supernatural Appearances; Magical
Practices and Conjuration; Dæmonology, Spectres, and Vampires; Popular
Superstitions, Popish Credulity, Delusions, Ecstacies, Fanaticisms, and
Impostures; Astrology, Divination, Revelations, and Prophecies; Necromancy,
Sorcery, and Witchcraft; Infatuation, Diabolical Possession, and
Enthusiasm; Proverbs, Old Sayings, and Vulgar Errors; the Household Book of
Sir Ed. Coke, Original MS.; Early English Poetry, MS. temp. James I.;
Grammatical Treatises printed by W. de Worde; Facetiæ; Works on Marriage
Ceremonies, the Intercourse of the Sexes, and the Philosophy of Marriage;
the Plague; Polygamy, Prostitution and its Consequences; Meteors and
Celestial Influences; Miracles, Monkish Frauds and Criminal Excesses;
Phrenology and Physiognomy, &c. Catalogues will be sent on application.
* * * * *
Just Published, in 1 vol. fcp. 8vo., price 5s., cloth.
A TREATISE OF EQUIVOCATION. Wherein is largely discussed the question
whether a Catholicke or any other person before a magistrate, being
demanded upon his Oath whether a Prieste were in such a place, may
(notwithstanding his perfect knowledge to the contrary) without Perjury,
and securely in conscience, answer No; with this secret meaning reserved in
his mynde. That he was not there so that any man is bounde to detect it.
Edited from the Original Manuscript in the Bodleian Library, by DAVID
JARDINE, of the Middle Temple, Esq., Barrister at Law.
London: LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, and LONGMANS.
* * * * *
Printed by THOMAS CLARK SHAW, of No. 8. New Street Square, at No. 5. New
Street Square, in the Parish of St. Bride in the City of London; and
published by GEORGE BELL, of No. 186. Fleet Street, in the Parish of St.
Dunstan in the West, in the City of London, Publisher, at No. 186. Fleet
Street aforesaid.--Saturday, May 17. 1851.
* * * * *
Corrections made to printed original.
page 387, "DUTCH FOLK-LORE" (heading): 'FOLK-LORR' in original.
page 390, "Ashby-de-la-Zouch" (contributor's address): 'Ashley-de-la-Zouch'
in original.
page 391, "the meaning of crambo": 'crambe' in original.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Notes and Queries, Number 81, May 17, 1851 - A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, - Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc" ***
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