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NOTES AND QUERIES:

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

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

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No. 19.] SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 1850 [Price Threepence. Stamped Edition 4d.

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CONTENTS

Our Progress. 289

NOTES:--
  Captivity of the Queen of Bruce, by W.B. Rye. 290
  A Note on Robert Herrick, by J. Milner Barry. 291
  The Meaning of Lærig, by S.W. Singer. 292
  Folk-Lore--St. Valentine in Norwich--Cook-eels--Old
  Charms--Superstitions in North of England--Decking
  Churches with Yew--Strewing Chaff before Houses. 293
  Folk-lore of Wales--Cron Annwn--Cyoerath or
  Gwrach-y-rhybin. 294
  William Basse and his Poems, by Rev. T. Corser. 295
  John Stowe. 297
  Transposition of Letters--Pet Names--Jack--Pisan--Mary and Polly. 298
  Parallel Passages. 299
  Inedited Poem by Burns, by Rev. J.R. Wreford. 300
  Lacedæmonian Black Broth. 300

QUERIES:--
  Ten Queries on Poets and Poetry, by E.F. Rimhault, LL.D. 303
  Bishop Cosin's Consecration of Churches. 303
  Portraits of Luther, Erasmus, and Ulric von Hutten. 303
  Queries concerning Chaucer. 303
  Letter attributed to Sir Robert Walpole. 304
  Queries concerning Bishops of Ossory, by Rev. I. Graves. 305
  Burton's Anatomy of (Religious) Melancholy. 305
  Minor Queries:--Master of Methuen--Female Captive--Parliamentary
  Writs--Portraits in British Museum. 305

REPLIES:--
  College Salting, by C.H. Cooper, &c. 306
  Queries answered. No. 5., by Bolton Corney. 307
  Replies to Minor Queries:--Old Auster Tenement--Tureen. 307

MISCELLANIES:--
  M. de Gournay--The Mirror, from the Latin of Owen--Journeyman--Balloons.
    308

MISCELLANEOUS:--
  Books and Odd Volumes wanted. 309
  Notices to Correspondents. 309
  Advertisements. 309

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OUR PROGRESS

Although very unwilling to encroach upon the enlarged space which we
have this week afforded to our numerous and increasing contributors, we
may be permitted to refer to the fact of our having felt it due to them
to find such additional space by giving an extra half-sheet, as a proof
at once of the growing interest in our Journal, and of its extended
utility.

We trust too that the step which we have thus taken will be received as
a pledge of our intention to meet all the requirements which may arise
from our Journal becoming more generally known, and consequently, as we
are justified by our past experience in saying, being made greater use
of, as a medium of intercommunication between all classes of students
and men of letters.

Our last and present Number furnish proofs of its utility in a way which
when it was originally projected could scarcely have been contemplated.
We allude to its being made the channel through which intending editors
may announce the works on which they are engaged, and invite the
co-operation of their literary brethren. Nor is the readiness with which
such co-operation is likely to be afforded, the only good result to be
obtained by such an announcement. For such an intimation is calculated
not only to prevent the unpleasantness likely to arise from a collision
of interests--but also to prevent a literary man either setting to
himself an unprofitable task or wasting his time and research upon
ground which is already occupied.

One word more. When we commenced our labours we were warned by more than
one friendly voice, that, although we should probably find no lack of
Queries, we should oftentimes be "straited for a Reply." This, however,
as our readers will admit, has not been the case; for though, as
Shakspeare says, with that truth and wisdom for which he is proverbial--

  "The ample proposition that Hope makes,
   In all designs begun on earth below,
   Fails in its promis'd largeness,"

the observation in our Introduction, that "those who are best informed
are generally most ready to communicate knowledge, and to confess
ignorance, to feel the value of such a work as we are attempting, and to
understand that if it is to be well done {290} they must help to do it,"
has, thanks to the kind assistance of our friends, grown, from a mere
statement of opinion, to the dignity of a prediction. We undertook our
task in faith and hope, determined to do our best to realize the
intentions we had proposed to ourselves, and encouraged by the feeling
that if we did so labour, our exertions would not be in vain, for--

  "What poor duty cannot do,
   Noble respect takes it in might not merit."

And the success with which our efforts have been crowned shows we were
justified in so doing. And so, gentle reader, to the banquet of dainty
delights which is here spread before you!

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CAPTIVITY OF THE QUEEN OF BRUCE IN ENGLAND.

I perceive, in one of the recent interesting communications made to the
"NOTES AND QUERIES," by the Rev. Lambert B. Larking, that he has given,
from a wardrobe roll in the Surrenden collection, a couple of extracts,
which show that Bruce's Queen was in 1314 in the custody of the Abbess
of Barking. To that gentleman our thanks are due for the selection of
documents which had escaped the careful researches of Lysons, and which
at once throw light on the personal history of a royal captive, and
illustrate the annals of a venerable Abbey. I am glad to be able to
answer the concluding query as to the exact date when the unfortunate
lady, (Bruce's second wife,) left that Abbey, and to furnish a few
additional particulars relative to her eight years' imprisonment in
England. History relates that in less than three months after the crown
had been placed upon the head of Bruce by the heroic Countess of Buchan,
sister of the Earl of Fife (29th March, 1306), he was attacked and
defeated at Methven, near Perth, by the English, under Aymer de Valence,
Earl of Pembroke. After this signal discomfiture, the king fled into the
mountains, accompanied by a few faithful followers: his Queen, daughter,
and several other ladies, for awhile shared his misfortunes and dangers;
but they at length took refuge at the Castle of Kildrummie, from whence
they retreated, in the hope of greater security, to the sanctuary of St.
Duthae, at Tain, in Ross-shire. The Earl of Ross, it is said, violated
the sanctuary, and delivered the party up to the English, who (as sings
Chaucer's contemporary, Barbour, in his not very _barbarous_ Scottish
dialect) straightway proceeded to

  --"put the laydis in presoune,
  Sum in till castell, sum in dongeoun."

Among the captives were three ecclesiastics, who had taken a prominent
part at the king's coronation--the Bishops of Glasgow and St. Andrews
and the Abbot of Scone, arrayed in most uncanonical costume.[1] Peter
Langtoft pathetically bewails their misfortune:--

   "The Bisshop of Saynt Andrew, and the Abbot of
      Scone,
    The Bisshop of Glascow, thise were taken sone;
    Fettred on hackneis, to Inlond ere thei sent,
    On sere stedis it seis, to prison mad present."

An instrument in Norman French, printed in Rymer's great collection
(_Foedera_, vol. i. part ii. p. 994, new ed.), directs the manner in
which the prisoners were to be treated. As this document is curious, I
will give that portion which refers particularly to Bruce's wife, the
"Countess of Carrick:"--

    "A.D. 1306. (34 Edw. 1.) Fait a remembrer, qi, quant la Femme le
    Conte de Carrik sera venue au Roi, ele soit envee a _Brustewik_
    [on Humber], & qe ele eit tieu mesnee, & sa sustenance ordenee
    en la manere desouz escrite: cest asavoir,

    "Qe ele eit deux femmes du pays oversqe li; cest asaver, une
    damoisele & une femme por sa chambre, qi soient bien d'age &
    nyent gayes, & qi eles soient de bon & meur port; les queles
    soient entendantz, a li por li servir:

    "Et deux vadletz, qi soient ausint bien d'age, & avisez, de
    queux l'un soit un des vadletz le Conte de Ulvestier [the Earl
    of Ulster, her father], cest asaver Johan de Benteley, ou autre
    qil mettra en lieu de li, & l'autre acun du pays, qi soit por
    trencher devant li:

    "Et ausant eit ele un garzon a pee, por demorer en sa chambre,
    tiel qi soit sobre, & ne mie riotous, por son lit faire, & por
    autres choses qe covendront por sa chambre:

    "Et, estre ce, ordenez est qeele eit un Vadlet de mestier, qe
    soit de bon port, & avisez, por port ses cleifs, por panetrie, &
    botellerie, & un cu:

    "Et ele deit ausint aver trois leveriers, por aver son deduyt en
    la garrene illueques, & en les pares, quant ele voudra:

    "Et qe ele eit de la veneison, & du peisson es pescheries,
    selene ce qe master li sera:

    "Et qe ele gisse en la plus bele maison du manoir a sa volunte:
    Et, qe ele voit guyer es pares, r'aillois entor le manoir, a se
    volunte."

These orders are apparently not more severe than was necessary for the
safe custody of the Queen; and, considering the date of their issue,
they seem to be lenient, considerate, and indulgent. Not so, however,
with the unfortunate Countess of Buchan, who was condemned to be encaged
in a turret of Berwick Castle ("en une _kage_ de fort latiz, de fuist &
barrez, & bien efforcez de ferrement;" i.e. of strong lattice-work of
wood, barred, and well strengthened with iron[2]), where she remained
immured seven years. Bruce's {291} daughter, Marjory, and his sister
Mary, were likewise to be encaged, the former in the Tower of London,
the latter in Roxburghe Castle. The young Earl of Mar, "L'enfant qi est
heir de Mar," Bruce's nephew, was to be sent to Bristol Castle, to be
carefully guarded, "qil ne puisse eshcaper en nule manere," but not to
be _fettered_--"mais q'il soit hors de fers, _tant come il est de si
tendre age_."

In 1308 (1 Edw. 2.), the Bailiff of Brustwick is commanded to deliver up
his prisoner, to be removed elsewhere, but to what place it does not
appear. A writ of the 6th Feb. 1312, directs her to be conveyed to
Windsor Castle, "cum familia sua." In October of the same year, she was
removed to "Shaston" (Shaftesbury), and subsequently to the Abbey of
Barking, where she remained till March, 1314, when she was sent to
Rochester Castle, as appears by the following writ (Rymer, vol. ii. part
i. p. 244.):--

    "(7 Edw. 2.) _De ducendo Elizabetham uxorem Roberti de Brus,
    usque ad Castrum Rossense._

    "Mandatum est Vicecomitibus London quod Elizabetham. Uxorem
    Roberti de Brus, quæ cum Abbatissà de Berkyngg' stetit per
    aliquot tempus, de mandato Regis, ab cadem Abbatissà sine
    dilatione recipiant, eam usque Ross' duci sub salvâ custodia
    faciant, Henrico de Cobeham, Constabulario Castri Regis ibidem
    per Indenturam, indè faciendam inter ipsos, liberandam; et hoc
    nullatenus omittant.

      "Teste Rege, apud Westm. xii. die Martii,
                              "Per ipsum Regem.

    "Et mandatum est præfatæ Abbatissæ, quod præfatam Elizabetham,
    quam nuper, de mandato Regis, admisit in domo suâ de Berkyng'
    quousque Rex aliud inde ordinâsset, moraturam, sine dilatione
    deliberet præfatis Vicecomitibus, ducendam pront eis per Regem
    plenius est injunctum, et hoc nullatenus omittat.

      "Teste Rege ut supra,
          "Per ipsum Regem.

    "Et mandatum est dicto Henrico, Constabulario Castri Regis
    prædicti, quod ipsam Elizabetham de prædictis Vicecomitibus, per
    Indenturam hujus modi, recipiat, et ci cameram, infra dictum
    Castrum competentem pro mora suâ assignari:

    "Et viginti solidos, de exitibus Ballivæ suæ, ei per singulas
    septimanas, quamdiu ibidem moram fecerit, pro expensis suis,
    liberari faciat:

    "Eamque, infra Castrum prædictum, et infra Prioratum Sancti
    Andreæ ibidem, opportunis temporibus spatiari sub salva custodia
    (ita quod securus sit de corpore suo), permittat:

    "Et Rex ei de prædictis viginti solidis, præfatæ Elizabethæ
    singulis septimanis liberandis, debitam allocationem, in compoto
    suo ad Scaccarium Regis, fieri faciet.

      "Teste ut supra,
         "Per ipsum Regem."

But the day of deliverance was close at hand: the battle of Bannockburn,
so fatal to the English, was fought on the 24th June; and on the 2nd of
October the Constable of Rochester Castle is commanded to conduct the
wife, sister, and daughter of Robert Bruce to Carlisle (_usque
Karliolum_), where an exchange of prisoners was made. Old Hector Boece,
who, if Erasmus can be trusted, "knew not to lie," informs us, that
"King Robertis wife, quhilk was hald in viii. yeris afore in Ingland,
was interchangeit with ane duk of Ingland"[3] [Humphrey de Bohun, Earl
of Hereford]. And the aforesaid Barbour celebrates their restoration in
the following lines:--

   "Quhill at the last they tretyt sua,
    That he[4] till Inglond hame suld ga,
    For owtyn paying of ransoune, fre;
    And that for him suld changyt be
    Byschap Robert[5] that blynd was mad;
    And the Queyne, that thai takyn had
    In presoune, as befor said I;
    And hyr douchtre dame Marjory.
    The Erle was changyt for thir thre."

W.B. RYE.

[Footnote 1: _Loricati_, (in their coats of mail.)--_Matthew of
Westminster._]

[Footnote 2: See the order at length in Rymer, _ut sup._]

[Footnote 3: Bellenden's translation.]

[Footnote 4: The Earl of Hereford.]

[Footnote 5: Wishcart, Bishop of Gloucester, before alluded to.]

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A NOTE ON ROBERT HERICK, AUTHOR OF "HESPERIDES."

In the summer of 1844, I visited Dean Prior in company with my brother,
in order to ascertain if we could add any new fact to the scanty
accounts of the _Life of Herrick_ recorded by his biographers. The
events of his life have been related by Dr. Drake, (_Literary Hours_,
vol. iii., 1st edit. 1798.--3rd edit. 1804), by Mr. Campbell, by Dr.
Nott (_Select Poems from the Hesperides_, &c. Bristol, 1810,) by a
writer in the _Quarterly Review_, vol. iv. 1810, by Mr. Wilmott in his
elegantly written _Lives of Sacred Poets_, vol. i., 1834, and in the
memoirs prefixed to the recent editions of _Herrick's Poems_ published
by Clarke (1844), and Pickering (1846). On examining any of these
biographies, it will be found that the year and place of Herrick's death
have not been ascertained. This was the point which I therefore
particularly wished to inquire into.

Dean Prior is a village about six or seven miles from Totnes: the
church, with the exception of the tower, had been recently rebuilt. The
monuments and inscribed stones were carefully removed when the old
fabric was taken down, and restored as nearly as could be to
corresponding situations in the new building. I sought in vain, amongst
these, for the name of Herrick. On making inquiry of the old sexton who
accompanied us, he said at first in a very decided tone, "Oh, he died in
Lunnun," but afterwards corrected himself, and said that Herrick died at
Dean Prior, and that an old tombstone in {292} the churchyard, at the
right hand side of the walk leading to the south side of the church,
which was removed several years ago, was supposed to have covered the
remains of the former vicar of Dean Prior.

Being baffled in our search after "tombstone information," we called at
the vicarage, which stands close by the church, and the vicar most
courteously accorded us permission to search the registers of the
marriages, births, and burials, which were in his custody. The portion
of the dilapidated volume devoted to the burials is headed thus:--

    "Dean Prior

    "The names of all those y't have been buried in y'e same parish
    from y'e year of our Lord God 1561, and so forwards."

After some careful search we were gratified by discovering the following
entry:--

    "Robert Herrick Vicker was buried y'e 15th day October, 1674."

I fancy I met with a selection from _Herrick's Poems_ edited by _Mr.
Singer_, several years ago, comprised in a small neat volume. Can any of
your readers inform me whether there is such a book? I possess Mr.
Singer's valuable editions of _Cavendish_, _More_, and _Hall's Satires_,
and would wish to place this volume on the same shelf.

J. MILNER BARRY.

Totnes, Feb. 21. 1850.

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WHAT IS THE MEANING OF "LÆRIG?"

This _query_, evidently addressed to our Anglo-Saxon scholars by the
distinguished philologist to whom we are all so much indebted, not
having been hitherto replied to, perhaps the journal of "NOTES AND
QUERIES" is the most fitting vehicle for this suggestive note:--

TO DR. JACOB GRIMM.

Allow me, though an entire stranger to you, to thank you for the
pleasure I have derived, in common with all ethnological students, from
your very valuable labours, and especially from the _Geschichte der
Deutschen Sprache_. At the same time I venture, with much diffidence, to
offer a reply to your question which occur in that work at p.
663.:--"Was heisst _lærig_?"

Lye says, "Hæc vox occurrit apid Cædm. At interpretatio ejus minime
liquet." In the Supplement to his Dictionary it is explained "docilis,
tyro!" Mr. Thorpe, in his _Analecta A.-S._ (1st edit. Gloss), says, "The
meaning of this word is uncertain: it occurs again in _Cædmon_;" and in
his translation of _Cædmon_ he thus renders the passage:--"Ofer linde
lærig=over the linden shields." Here then _lærig_, evidently an
adjective, is rendered by the substantive _shields_; and _linde_,
evidently a substantive, is rendered by the adjective _linden_. In two
other passages, Mr. Thorpe more correctly translates _lindum_=bucklers.

_Lind_, which Lye explained by the Latin _labarium_, _vexillum_, that
excellent scholar, the late lamented Mr. Price, was the first, I
believe, to show frequently signified _a shield_; which was, probably
for lightness, made of the wood of the _lime tree_, and covered with
skin, or leather of various colours. Thus we have "sealwe linde" and
"hwite linde" in _Cædm._, "geolwe linde" in _Beowulf_.

All this is superfluous to you, sir, I know--"_Retournons à nos
moutons_," as Maistre Pierre Pathelin says.

The sense required in the passage in _Brythnoth_ seems to me to be:--

    "bærst bordes lærig=the empty (hollow concave) shields

    "and seo byrne sang=and the armour (_lorica_) resounded."

And in _Cædmon_:--

    "ofer linde lærig=over the empty (hollow concave) shield."

In Judith, _Th. Anal._ 137, 53. we have a similar epithet:--

    "hwealfum lindum=vaulted (arched concave) shields."

We should remember that Somner has _ge-lær_, void, empty, _vacuus_; and
Lye, with a reference to the Herbarium, _lær-nesse_, vacuitas. In the
_Teuthonista_ we have _lær_, vacuus, _concavus_. In _Heiland_, 3, 4.
"_larea_ stodun thar stenuatu sehsi=_empty_ stood there stone-vats six."
I need not call to your mind the O.H.G. _lári_.

I think, therefore, we cannot doubt that what is intended to be
expressed by the A.-S. _lærig_ is _empty_, _hollow_, _concave_. But if
we wanted further confirmation, _leer_, _leery_, _leary_ are still in
use in Devonshire, Dorsetshire, and perhaps elsewhere, for _empty_,
_hollow_, as the provincial Glossaries will show. Skinner has the word
_leer_, vacuus, and says, "foeliciter alludit Gr. [Greek: lagaros],
laxus, vacuus." In _Layamon_ we have (244, 16.), "the put wæs _i-lær_."
I have found but one instance in Middle English, and that is in the
curious old _Phrase-Book_ compiled by William Horman, Head Master of
Eton School in the reign of Henry VIII:--

    "'At a soden shyfte _leere_ barellis, tyed together, with
    boardis above, make passage over a streme.' Tumultuario opere,
    _inanes_ cuppæ colligatæ et tabulatis instratæ fluminis transitu
    perhibent."--_Hormanni Vulgaria_, Lond. 1519, f. 272 b.

Instances of the word are not frequent, possibly because we had another
word for empty (_toom_) in common with the Danes; but perhaps there was
no necessity for dwelling upon it in the sense of _empty_; it was only
its application as an epithet to a _concave_ or _hollow shield_ that
your question could have had in view. {293}

Once more thanking you most heartily for the pleasure and profit I have
derived from the _Deutsche Grammatik_, and all your other important
labours, I am, sir, your grateful and obliged servant,

S.W. SINGER.

Mickleham, Nov. 23. 1849.

       *       *       *       *       *

FOLK LORE.

ST. VALENTINE IN NORWICH--COOK-EELS, &c. &c.

The day appropriated to St. Valentine is kept with some peculiarity in
the city of Norwich. Although "Valentines," as generally understood,
that is to say billets sent by means of the post, are as numerously
employed here as in other places, yet the _custom_ consists not in the
transmission of a missive overflowing with hearts and darts, or poetical
posies, but in something far more substantial, elegant and costly--to
wit, a goodly present of value unrestricted in use or expense. Though
this custom is openly adopted among relatives and others whose
friendship is reciprocated, yet the secret mode of placing a friend in
possession of an offering is followed largely,--and this it is curious
to remark, not on the _day_ of the saint, when it might be supposed that
the appropriateness of the gift would be duly ratified, the virtue of
the season being in full vigour, but on the _eve_ of St. Valentine, when
it is fair to presume his charms are not properly matured. The mode
adopted among all classes is that of placing the presents on the
door-sill of the house of the favoured person, and intimating what is
done by a run-a-way knock or ring as the giver pleases.

So universal is this custom in this ancient city, that it may be stated
with truth some thousands of pounds are annually expended in the
purchase of Valentine presents. At the time of writing (February 2.) the
shops almost generally exhibit displays of articles calculated for the
approaching period, unexampled in brilliancy, taste and costliness, and
including nearly every item suitable to the drawing room, the parlour,
or the boudoir. The local papers contain numerous advertising
announcements of "Valentines;" the walls are occupied with printed
placards of a similar character, and the city crier, by means of a loud
bell and an equally sonorous voice, proclaims the particular advantages
in the Valentine department of rival emporiums. All these preparations
increase as the avator of St. Valentine approaches. At length the saint
and his eve arrives--passes--and the custom, apparently expanding with
age, is placed in abeyance until the next year. I am inclined to believe
that this mode of keeping St. Valentine is confined to this city and the
county of Norfolk.

As regards priority of occurrence this year, I should have first
mentioned, that on Shrove Tuesday a custom commences of eating a small
bun called cocque'els--cook-eels--coquilles--(the name being spelt
indifferently) which is continued through the season of Lent. Forby, in
his _Vocabulary of East Anglia_, calls this production "a sort of cross
bun," but no cross is placed upon it, though its composition is not
dissimilar. My inquiries, and, I may add, my reading, have not led me to
the origin of either of the customs now detailed (with the exception of
a few unsatisfactory words given by Forby on cook-eels), and I should be
glad to find these brief notices leading by your means to more extended
information on both subjects, not only as regards this part of the
country, but others also.

JOHN WODDERSPOON.

Norwich.

_Old Charms._--I think that, if you are anxious to accumulate as much as
you can of the Folk Lore of England, no set of men are more likely to
help you than the clergy, particularly the younger part, viz., curates,
to whom the stories they hear among their flock have the gloss of
novelty. I send you a specimen of old charms, &c. that have come under
my notice in the south-eastern counties.

No. 1. is a dialogue between the Parson and the old Dame:--

    "_P._ Well, Dame Grey, I hear you have a charm to cure the
    toothache. Come, just let me hear it; I should be so much
    pleased to know it.

    "_Dame_. Oh, your reverence, it's not worth telling."

(Here a long talk--Parson coaxing the Dame to tell him--old lady very
shy, partly suspecting he is quizzing her, partly that no charms are
proper things, partly willing to know what he thinks about it.) At last
it ends by her saying--

    "Well, your reverence, you have been very kind to me, and I'll
    tell you: it's just a verse from Scripture as I says over those
    as have the toothache:--

    "'And Jesus said unto Peter, What aileth thee? and Peter
    answered, Lord, I have toothache. And the Lord healed him.'"

    "_P._ Well, but Dame Grey, I think I know my Bible, and I don't
    find any such verse in it."

    "_Dame_. Yes, your reverence, that is just the charm. _It's in
    the Bible_, but _you can't find it_!"

No. 2. To avert sickness from a family, hang up a sickle, or iron
implement, at the bed head.

No. 3. Should a death happen in a house at night, and there be a hive or
hives of bees in the garden, go out and wake them up at once, otherwise
the whole hive or swarm will die.

I hope your Folk Lore is not confined to the fading memorials of a past
age. The present superstitions are really much more interesting and
valuable to be gathered together; and I am sure your pages would be very
well employed in recording these for a future generation. I would {294}
suggest, in all humility, that it would be really useful, for the rulers
of our Church and State, to know how far such a superstition as the
following prevails among the peasantry:

That, if a dying person sees "glory," or a bright light, at or near the
time of their dissolution, such a vision is a sure sign of their
salvation, whatever may have been their former life, or their
repentance.

D. Sholbus.

_Superstitions in North of England._--I find some curious popular
superstitions prevalent in the north of England some three centuries ago
recorded in the _Proceedings before the Special Commissioners for
Ecclesiastical Causes appointed by Queen Elizabeth_. Thus:

    "Anthony Haggen presented for medicioning children with miniting
    a hammer as a smythe of kynde."

Again

    "John Watson presented for burying a quick dogg and a quick
    cowe."

And

    "Agnes, the wyf of John Wyse, als Winkam John Wyse, presented to
    be a medicioner for the waffc of an yll wynde, and for the
    fayryes."

Some of your readers may perhaps explain what these were. It is clear
that they were superstitious practices of sufficient prevalence and
influence on the popular mind to call for the interference of the
queen's commissioners.

A.B.

_Decking Churches with Yew on Easter Day._--In the village of Berkely
near Frome, Somerset, and on the borders of Wiltshire, the church is
decorated on Easter Sunday with yew, evidently as an emblem of the
Resurrection. Flowers in churches on that day are common, but I believe
the use of yew to be unusual.

W. Durrant Cooper.

_Strewing Straw or Chaff._--The custom mentioned by your correspondent
"B." (p. 245.) as prevailing in Gloucestershire, is not peculiar to that
county. In Kent, it is commonly practised by the rustics. The publican,
all the world over, decorates his sign-board with a foaming can and
pipes, to proclaim the entertainment to be found within. On the same
principle, these rustics hang up _their_ sign-board,--as one of them,
with whom I was once remonstrating, most graphically explained to me.
When they knew of a house where the master deems a little wholesome
discipline necessary to ensure the obedience of love, considering it a
pity that the world should be ignorant of his manly virtues, they strew
"well threshed" chaff or straw before his door, as an emblematical
sign-board, to proclaim that the sweet fare and "good entertainment" of
a "well threshed" article may be found within. The custom, at all
events, has one good tendency, it shames the tyrant into restraint, when
he knows that his cowardly practices are patent to the world.

Lambert B. Larking.

       *       *       *       *       *

FOLK LORE OF WALES.

No. 1. _Cron Annwn_.--When a storm sounds over the mountains, the Welsh
peasant will tell you that his ear discerns the howl of the _Cron Annwn_
mingling with that of the wind, yet as clearly distinct from it as is
the atmosphere in a diving-bell from that of the surrounding waters.
These dogs of Annwn, or "couriers of the air," are spirit hounds, who
hunt the souls of the dead; or, as occasionally said, they foretell, by
their expectant cries, the approaching death of some man of evil deeds.
Few have ever pretended to see them; for few, we presume, would linger
until they dawned on the sight; but they are described by Taliesin, and
in the _Mabinogion_, as being of a clear shining white, with red ears;
colouring which confirms the author of the _Mythology of the Ancient
Druids_ in the idea that these dogs were "a mystical transformation of
the Druids with their white robes and red tiaras." Popular superstition,
however, which must always attribute ugliness to an object of fear,
deems that they are either jet black, with eyes and teeth of fire, or of
a deep red, and dripping all over with gore. "The nearer," says the Rev.
Edmund Jones, "they are to a man, the _less_ their voice is, and the
farther the louder, sometimes swelling like the voice of a great hound,
or a blood-hound."

They are _sometimes_ accompanied by a female fiend, called _Malt y
nos_--Mathilda or Malen of the night, a somewhat ubiquitous character,
with whom we meet under a complication of names and forms.

Jones of Brecon, who tells us that the cry of the Cron Annwn is as
familiar to the inhabitants of Ystrad Fellte and Pont Neath-vaughan [in
Glamorganshire] as the watchman's rattle in the purlieus of Covent
Garden--for he lived in the days when watchmen and their rattles were
yet among the things of this world--considers that to these dogs, and
not to a Greek myth, may be referred the hounds, _Fury_, _Silver_,
_Tyrant_, &c., with which Prospero hunts his enemies "soundly," in the
_Tempest_. And they must recall to the minds of our readers the _wisk_,
_wisked_, or _Yesk_ hounds of Devon, which are described in the
_Athenæum_ for March 27. 1847, as well as the _Maisne Hellequin_ of
Normandy and Bretagne.

There has been much discussion respecting the signification of the word
_Annwn_, which has been increased by the very frequent mistake of
writing it _Anwn_, which means, _unknown_, _strange_, and is applied to
the people who dwell in the antipodes of the speaker; while _Annwn_ is
an adaptation of _annwfn_, a _bottomless_ or _immeasurable pit_,
_voidless_ {295} _space_, and also Hell. Thus we find, that when _Pwyl_,
or _Reason_, drives these dogs off their track, the owner comes up, and,
reproving him, declares that he is a crowned king, lord of Annwn and
Pendaran, i.e. chief of thunder. (See _Myth. Ant. Druids_, p. 418.)

This Prince of Darkness is supposed to be the spouse of Andraste, now
corrupted into Andras, and equivalent with _Malt y nos_, the Diana or
Hecate of the ancient Britons.

These dogs sometimes appear singly, on which occasions they sit by the
side of a stream, howling in so unearthly a manner, that the hapless man
who finds one in his path usually loses his senses. This seems to have a
connection with the "Manthe Doog" of the Isle of Man; but the tradition
is not, we suspect, genuine.

Seleucus.


No. 2. _Cyoeraeth or Gwrach-y-rhybin._--Another instance of the grand,
though gloomy superstitions of the Cymry, is that of the _Cyoeraeth_, or
hag of the mist, an awful being who is supposed to reside in the
mountain fog, through which her supernatural shriek is frequently heard.
She is believed to be the very personification of ugliness, with torn
and dishevelled hair, long black teeth, lank and withered arms and
claws, and a most cadaverous appearance; to this some add, wings of a
leathery and bat-like substance.

The name _Cy-oer-aeth_, the last two syllables of which signify
_cold-grief_, is most descriptive of the sad wail which she utters, and
which will, it is said, literally freeze the veins of those who hear it;
she is _rarely_ seen, but is heard at a cross-road, or beside a
stream--in the latter case she splashes the water with her
hands--uttering her lamentation, as if in allusion to the relatives of
those about to die. Thus, if a man hears her cry _fy nqwsaig, fy
nqwsaig_, &c., his wife will surely die, and he will be heard to mourn
in the same strain ere long; and so on with other cases. The cadence of
this cry can never be properly caught by any one who has not heard, if
not a Cyoeraeth, at least a native of Wales, repeat the strain. When
merely an inarticulate scream is heard, it is probable that the hearer
himself is the one whose death is fore-mourned.

Sometimes she is supposed to come like the Irish _banshee_, in a dark
mist, to the windows of those who have been long ill; when flapping her
wings against the pane, she repeats their names with the same prolonged
emphasis; and then it is thought that they must die.

It is this hag who forms the torrent beds which seam the mountain side;
for she gathers great stones in her cloak to make her ballast, when she
flies upon the storm; and when about to retire to her mountain cave, she
lets them drop progressively as she moves onwards, when they fall with
such an unearthly weight that they lay open the rocky sides of the
mountain.

In some parts of South Wales this hag of the mists either loses her
sway, or divides it with a more dignified personage, who, in the form of
an old man, and under the name of _Brenhin Llwyd_, the _grey king_, sits
ever silent in the mist.

Any one who has witnessed the gathering and downward rolling of a
genuine mountain fog must fully appreciate the spirit in which men first
peopled the cloud with such supernatural beings a those above described;
or with those which dimly, yet constantly, pervade the much-admired
_Legend of Montrose_.

Seleucus.

       *       *       *       *       *

WILLIAM BASSE AND HIS POEMS.

I regret that I am unable to offer any information in answer to "Mr. P.
Collier's" inquiry (No. 13. p. 200.) respecting the existence of a
perfect or imperfect copy of a poem by William Basse on the Death of
Prince Henry, printed at Oxford by Joseph Barnes, 1613, and am only
aware of such a poem from the slight mention of it by Sir Harris Nicolas
in his beautiful edition of Walton's _Complete Angler_, p. 422. But as
the possessor of the 4to. MS. volume of poems by Basse, called
_Polyhymnia_, formerly belonging to Mr. Heber, I feel greatly interested
in endeavouring to obtain some further biographical particulars of
Basse,--of whom, although personally known to Isaac Walton, the author
of one or two printed volumes of poems, and of the excellent old songs
of "the Hunter in his Career" and "Tom of Bedlam," and worthy of having
his verses on Shakspeare inserted among his collected poems, yet the
notices we at present possess are exceedingly slight. We learn from
Anth. Wood, in his _Ath. Oxon._, vol. iv. p. 222., that Basse was a
native of Moreton, near Thame in Oxfordshire, and was for some time a
retainer of Sir Richard Wenman, Knt., afterwards Viscount Wenman, in the
peerage of Ireland. He seems also to have been attached to the noble
family of Norreys of Ricot in Oxfordshire, which is not far from Thame;
and addressed some verses to Francis Lord Norreys, Earl of Berkshire,
from which I quote one or two stanzas, and in the last of which there is
an allusion to the [plainness of the] author's personal appearance:

  "O true nobilitie, and rightly grac'd
  With all the jewels that on thee depend,
  Where goodnesse doth with greatnesse live embrac'd,
  And outward stiles, on inward worth attend.
  Where ample lands, in ample hands are plac'd
  And ancient deeds, with ancient coats descend:
    Where noble bloud combin'd with noble spirit
    Forefathers fames, doth with their formes inherit.

  "Where ancestors examples are perus'd
  Not in large tomes, or costly tombs alone,
  But in their heires: and being dayly us'd
  Are (like their robes) more honourable growne, {296}
  Where Loyalty with Piety is infus'd,
  And publique rights are cherish'd w'th their owne;
    Where worth still finds respect, good friend, good word,
    Desart, reward. And such is _Ricot's_ Lord.

  "But what make I (vaine voyce) in midst of all
  The Quires that have already sung the fame
  Of this great House, and those that henceforth shall
  (As that will last) for ever sing the same.
  But, if on me, my garland instly fall,
  I justly owe my musique to this name.
    For he unlawfully usurps the Bayes
    That has not sung in noble _Norrey's_ prayse.

  "In playne (my honour'd Lord) I was not borne,
  Audacious vowes, or forraigne legs to use,
  Nature denyed my outside to adorne,
  And I, of art to learne outsides refuse.
  Yet haveing of them both, enough to scorne
  Silence, & vulgar prayse, this humble muse
    And her meane favourite; at yo'r comand
    Chose in this kinde, to kisse your noble hand."

His Polyhymnia is dedicated to the sister of this person, the Lady
Bridget, Countess of Lindsey, and Baroness of Eresbie and of Ricot.
Besides the "Anglers' Song" made at Walton's request, and the
before-mentioned two songs, which are given at length in the Appendix to
the _Complete Angler_, p. 420., Sir H. Nicolas's edit., besides these,
and the verses "on William Shakespeare, who died in April, 1616,"
sometimes called "Basse his Elegie on Shakespeare," which appear in the
edition of Shakespeare's Poems of 1640, 8vo., and are reprinted in
Malone's edition of his Plays, vol. i. p. 470.: another poem by William
Basse will be found in the collection entitled _Annalia Dubrensia, upon
the Yearely Celebration of Mr. Robert Dover's Olympick Games upon
Cotswold Hills_, 4to. 1636. This consists of ten stanzas, of eight lines
each, "To the noble and fayre Assemblies, the harmonious concourse of
Muses, and their Ioviall entertainer, my right generous Friend, Master
Robert Dover, upon Cotswold." Basse was also, as Mr. Collier remarks,
the author of a poem, which I have never seen, called _Sword and
Buckler, or Serving Man's Defence_, in six-line stanzas, 4to. Lond.,
imprinted in 1602. A copy of this was sold in Steevens's sale, No. 767.,
and is now among "Malone's Collection of Early Poetry" in the Bodleian
Library at Oxford. And, according to Ritson, he wrote another work,
published in the same year, viz. _Three Pastorall Elegies of Anander,
Anytor and Muridella_, entered to Joseph Barnes, 28 May, 1692, of which
I am not aware that any copy is now in existence. These, with the
addition of _Great Brittaines Sunnes-set, bewailed with a Shower of
Teares_, at Oxford, printed by Joseph Barnes, 1613, the fragment of
which is in the possession of Mr. Collier, appear, as far as I can yet
ascertain, to be the only known publications of William Basse, with his
name attached to them in full. Other works, however, have been
attributed to him from the similarity of the initials,--but most of them
probably without much foundation; viz. 1. _Scacchia Ludus: Chesse-play_:
a poetical translation of Vida's poem at the end of _Ludus Sacchiæ,
Chesse-Play_, by W.B. 4to. Lond. 1597; by Ritson. 2. _A Helpe to
Discourse; or a Miscelany of Merriment_, by W.B. and E.P. 2nd edit. 8vo.
Lond. 1620; by Mr. Malone. And 3. _That which seemes Best is Worst,
exprest in a Paraphrastical Transcript of Iuuenals tenth Satyre.
Together with the Tragicall Narration of Virginius Death interserted_,
by W.B. small 8vo. Lond.; imprinted by Felix Kyngston, 1617, by Mr.
Octavius Gilchrist, who however rather leans to the opinion of William
Barkstead being the author, from the circumstance of his having, as
early as 1607, paraphrased, much in a similar way, the interesting tale
of Myrrha, the mother of Adonis, from the 10th Book of the
Metamorphoses. (See _Restitutu_, vol. i. p. 41.)

Cole, in his MS. Collectanea for _Athenæ Cantabrigiensis_, says:

    "Mr. Knight, jun. shewed me a MS. written by William Basse, and
    corrected by him, in 4to., called _Polyhymnia_.--Dedication. To
    the Right Noble and vertuous Lady, the Lady Bridget, Countess of
    Lindsey, and Baroness of Eresbie and Ricot, in verse, with
    Verses to the Right Hon. Francis Lord Norreys, Earl of Berkshire
    (in his days). To the Right Hon. the Lady Aungier (then wife of
    Sir Thos. Wenman) upon her coming out of Ireland and return
    thither. To the Right Hon. the lady Viscountess Falkland, upon
    her going into Ireland, two Sonnets. The Youth in the Boat.
    Acrostics of the truly noble, vertuous, and learned Lady, the
    Lady Agnes Wenman; of the Lady Penelope Dynham; of Mrs. Jane
    Wenman. Verses on the Chapel of Wadham College consecration, St.
    Peter's Day, 1613; on Caversham or Causham House; of Witham
    House, Oxfordshire, the house of a noble Knight, and favourer of
    my Muse; and Elegy on a Bullfinch, 1648; of the Four Mile Course
    of Bayaides Green, six times run over, by two famous Irish
    footmen, Patrick Dorning and William O'Farrell.--It contains
    about 40 leaves, much corrected, and at the end is 'L'Envoy':--

      "'Go, sweet Polymnia, thanks for all your cost
      And love to me; wherein no love is lost.
      As you have taught me various verse to use,
      I have to right you to be a Christian Muse.'"

I have been thus particular in transcribing this passage from Cole,
because this copy, mentioned as being in the possession of Mr. Knight,
jun. (quere, where is it now?), varies from mine, obtained from Mr.
Heber's Collection, and was no doubt the one prepared and corrected for
the press by Basse. The following poems, mentioned by Cole, are not in
my copy:--

    "To the Right Hon. the Lady Aungier (then wife of Sir Thos.
    Wenman) upon her coming out of Ireland, {297} and return
    thither. Acrostics of the truly noble, vertuous, and learned
    Lady, the Lady Agnes Wenman; of the Lady Penelope Dynham; of
    Mrs. Jane Wenman. Verses on the Chapel of Wadham College
    consecration, St. Peter's Day, 1613; and on Caversham or Causham
    House."

My copy, however, contains the following poems, not mentioned in the
other:--

    "Of a Great Floud; of the Raine-bowe; of Pen and Pensill, upon a
    fayre and vertuous Ladye's Picture; and the Spirituall Race."

The MS. contains 52 leaves, beautifully written without any corrections,
and is in the original binding. It was procured by Mr. Heber from
Hanwell, the Bookseller in Oxford, who had probably purchased it on the
taking down of Ricot, the old seat of the Norreys family, and the
dispersion of its contents. It has the autograph of Francis Lord Norreys
on the fly-leaf, and was no doubt a presentation copy to him from Basse.
The poetry of this work does not rise above mediocrity, and is not equal
in thought or vigour to the Epitaph on Shakspeare. The chief portion of
the volume is occupied with the singular tale of "The Youth in the
Boat," which is divided into two parts; the first, containing (with the
introduction) 59 verses of four lines each, and the second 163,
exclusive of the "Morall," which occupies 11 more.

We know that it was Basse's intention to have published these poems,
from some lines addressed by Dr. Ralph Bathurst "To Mr. W. Basse upon
the intended publication of his poems, January 13. 1651," which are
given in Warton's _Life and Literary Remains of Dean Bathurst_, 8vo.
1761, p. 288. In these lines the Dean compares Basse, who was still
living, "to an aged oak," and says:--

  "Though thy grey Muse grew up with elder times,
  And our deceased Grandsires lisp'd thy rhymes,
  Yet we can sing thee too."

From these lines, therefore, written nearly 50 years after the
publication of his former works in 1602, when we may reasonably suppose
he could not have been under 20, it is certain that Basse was then well
stricken in years; and the probability is, that he died very shortly
afterwards, and that this was the reason of the non-publication of his
poems. It is possible that a search into the registers at Thame or that
neighbourhood, or in the court at Oxford, might settle this point, and
also furnish some further information concerning his family and
connections. Cole mentions that a person of both his names was admitted
a sizar in Emanuel College, Cambridge, in 1629, of Suffolk, and took his
degree of B.A. in 1632 and M.A. in 1636. But this was too modern a date
for our poet, and might possibly be his son.

I have been informed that in Winchester College library, in a 4to.
volume, there are some poems by Mr. William Basse; but the title of the
volume I have not been able to obtain.

Mr. Collier concludes his remarks, with a supposition that Basse "was a
musical composer, as well as writer of verses." I believe Mr. C. to be
right in this notion, from a passage which I find in the commencement of
the 2nd Part of "The Youth in the Boat," where, alluding to "sweete
Calliope," he remarks:--

  "A Muse to whom in former dayes
    I was extremely bound,
  When I did sing in _Musiques_ prayse,
    And _Voyces_ heau'nly sound."

And from the circumstance also of one of the Ballads in the Roxburghe
Collection, "Wit's never good till 'tis bought," being sung to the tune
of "Basse's Carreere." Mr. Collier has reprinted this in his elegant
_Book of Roxburghe Ballads_, 4to. 1847, p. 264., and says:--

    "The tune to which is sung, 'Basse's Carreere,' means of course,
    the tune mentioned in Walton's _Angler_, 'The Hunter in his
    Career,' composed, as he states by William Basse."

I have a distant recollection of having seen other pieces in some of our
early musical works, composed by Basse. Sir Harris Nicolas, also, in the
"Life of Walton," prefixed to his edition of _The Complete Angler_, p.
cxx., says:--

    "He (Walton) appears to have been fond of poetry and music....
    and was intimate with _Basse, an eminent composer_, in whose
    science he took great interest."

I fear that these notices of William Basse, thus collected together from
scattered sources, will not afford much information to Mr. Collier,
beyond what he is already possessed of; but they may possibly interest
others, who may not be quite so conversant with our early writers as
that gentleman is known to be. I shall feel much gratified and obliged
if he or any other of your correspondents will add any further notices
or communications respecting one who may possibly have been personally
known to Shakspeare, but whose name, at all events, will be handed down
to posterity in connection with that of our immortal bard.

THOMAS CORSER,

Stand Rectory, Feb. 22. 1850.

       *       *       *       *       *

JOHN STOWE.

In the _Gentleman's Magazine_, vol. vii., new series, p. 48., is a
clever notice of the life and works of the venerable John Stowe. It
says:--

    "The biographers have affirmed that he quitted his trade; but
    there is nothing to authorize that assertion in what he says
    himself upon the subject."

In the preface to an edition of the _Summarie for the Year_ {298} 1575,
now in my possession, Stowe says:--

    "It is nowe x yeres, since I (seeing the confuse order of our
    late englishe Chronicles, and the ignorant handling of aunciet
    affaires) leaning myne own peculiar gains, coscerated my selfe
    to the searche of our famous antiquities."

Stowe was born in 1525; he was then 40 years of age when he gave up his
"peculiar gains," and devoted himself entirely to antiquarian labours.
There had already appeared his edition of _Chaucer_ in 1561, also the
commencement of the _Summaries_; but his greater works, the _Annals,
Survey of London_, &c., were not published till several years after.

In his old age he was reduced to poverty, or rather to actual beggary;
for shortly before his death, when fourscore years old, he was
permitted, by royal letters patent, to become a mendicant. This curious
document is printed in Mr. Bolton Corney's _Curiosities of Literature
Illustrated_, and sets forth, that

    "Whereas our louing Subject, John Stowe, this fine & forty yeers
    hath to his great charge, & with neglect of his ordinary meanes
    of maintenance (for the generall good as well of posteritie, as
    of the present age) compiled and published diuerse necessary
    bookes & Chronicles; and therefore we, in recompense of these
    his painfull laboures, & for the encouragement to the like, haue
    in our royall inclination ben pleased to graunt our Letters
    Patents &c. &c.; thereby authorizing him and his deputies to
    collect amongst our louing subjects, theyr voluntary
    contributions & kinde gratuities."

The whole preface to this edition of the _Summarie_ is curious, and is
followed by a List of "Authors out of whom this Summary is collected."

In Hearne's _Robert of Gloster_, preface, p. lxi., allusion is made to
these _Summaries_. He says:--

    "I have not yet met with a copy of this _Summary_ in which we
    have an account of his authors."

After a panegyric on Stowe's incredible industry he says:--

    "Sir Roger Lestrange, talking some years before his death with a
    very ingenious and learned Gentleman about our Historians, was
    pleased to say, _that it was always a wonder to him, that the
    very best that had penn'd our History in English should be a
    poor Taylour, honest John Stowe_. Sir Roger said a _Taylour_,
    because Stowe, as is reported, was bred a cap-maker. The trade
    of Cap-making was then much in fashion, Hats being not at that
    time much in request."

J.E.N.

       *       *       *       *       *

TRANSPOSITION OF LETTERS.

The only reason, I imagine, which can be given for the transposition of
letters spoken of by Mr. Williams (No. 12. p. 184.), is that it was done
on "phonetic" principles--for the sake of euphony:--the new way was felt
or fancied to be easier to the organs of speech, or (which is nearly the
same) pleasanter to those of hearing. Such alterations have at all times
been made,--as is well known to those versed in the earlier stages of
the language,--and often most arbitrarily. It is needless to say that
"provincial and vulgar" usage throws much light on the changes in the
forms of words; and perhaps a little attention to the manner in which
words are altered by the peasantry would illustrate the point in
question more than a learned comment.

No form of verbal corruption is more frequent throughout the rural
districts of England than that produced by the transposition of letters,
especially of consonants: such words as _world_, _wasp_, _great_, are,
as every one knows, still ordinarily (though less frequently than a
dozen years ago) pronounced _wordle_, _waps_, _gurt_. So with names of
places: thus Cholsey (Berks.) is called Chosley.

The dropping of a letter is to be accounted for in a like manner.
Probably the word was first _pronounced_ short, and when the ear became
accustomed to the shortened sound, the superfluous (or rather
unpronounced) letter would be dropped in writing. In proper names, to
which your correspondent particularly refers, we observe this going on
extensively in the present day. Thus, in Caermarthen and Caernarvon,
though the _e_ is etymologically of importance, it is now very generally
omitted--and that by "those in authority:" in the Ordnance Maps,
Parliamentary "Blue Books," and Poor-law documents, those towns are
always spelled Carnarvon, Carmarthen. A still more striking instance is
that of a well-known village on the Thames, opposite Runnimede. Awhile
back it was commonly spelled Wyrardisbury; now it appears on the
time-tables of the South-Western Railway (and perhaps elsewhere)
Wraysbury, which very nearly represents the local pronunciation.

It is, perhaps, worth while to remark that letters are sometimes added
as well as dropped by the peasantry. Thus the Cockley, a little
tributary of Wordsworth's _Duddon_, is by the natives of Donnerdale
invariably called Cocklety beck; whether for the sake of euphony, your
readers may decide.

And now, Sir, you will perhaps permit me to put a query. Tom Brown, in
his _Dialogues_, p. 44. ed. 1704., has a well-known line:--

  "Why was not he a rascal
  Who refused to suffer the Children of Israel to go
  into the Wilderness with their wives and families
  to eat the Paschal?"

which he says he found on some "very ancient hangings in a country
ale-house." I have never doubted that he was himself the author; but
having heard it positively ascribed to a very different person, I should
be glad to know whether {299} any of your readers have met with it in an
earlier writer; and if so, to whom is it to be ascribed?

J.T.


_Pet-Names--"Jack."_--Perhaps one of your many readers, erudite in
etymologies, will kindly explain how "Jack" came to be used as the
_diminutive_ for John. Dr. Kennedy, in his recent interesting
disquisition on pet-names (No. 16. p. 242.), supposes that Jaques was
(by confusion) transmuted into "Jack;" a "metamorphosis," almost as
violent as the celebrated one effected, some two centuries ago, by Sir
John Harrington. "Poor John," from being so long "Jack among his
familiars," has been most scurvily treated, being employed to form
sundry very derogatory compounds, such as, Jackass, Jackpudding,
Jack-a-dandy, Jackanapes, Jack-a-lent, Jack o' oaks (knave of clubs),
Jack-o' th' Lantern, &c. &c. Might not "Jack" have been derived from
John, somewhat after the following fashion:--Johan--Joan--Jan--Janchen
or Jankin.

  "Ho! jolly Jenkin,
  I spy a knave in drinkin."

Jankin = little John. Jank--Jak. This etymology has, I confess, a very
great resemblance to the Millerian mode of educing Cucumber from
Jeremiah King; but it is the most plausible which occurs at present to

L. Kennaquhair.


_John--Pisan._--I will thank you to inform your correspondent "C." (No.
15 p. 234.), that we must look to the East for the "original word" of
John. In the Waldensian MSS. of the Gospels of the 12th Century, we find
Ioanes, showing its derivation from the Greek _Iohannaes_. The word
Pisan occurs in the 33rd vol. of the _Archæologia_, p. 131.

I have considered it was a contraction for _pavoisine_, a small shield;
and I believe this was the late Dr. Meyrick's opinion.

B.W.
Feb. 25.


Sir,--If the signature to the article in No. 16., "on Pet Names," had
not been Scottish, I should have been less surprised at the author's
passing over the name of _Jock_, universally used in Scotland for
_John_. The termination _ick_ or _ck_ is often employed, as marking a
diminutive object, or object of endearment. May not the English term
_Jack_, if not directly borrowed from the Scottish _Jock_, have been
formed _through_ the primary _Jock_--John--Jock--Jack?

EMDEE.


_Origin of the Change of "Mary" into "Polly"_ (No. 14. p. 215.).--This
change, like many others in diminutives, is progressive. By a natural
affinity between the liquids _r_ and _l_, _Mary_ becomes _Molly_, as
_Sarah_, _Sally_, _Dorothea_, _Dora_, _Dolly_, &c. It is not so easy to
trace the affinity between the _initials_ M. and P., though the case is
not singular; thus, _Margaret_, Madge, Meggy, Meg, _Peggy_,
_Peg_--_Martha_, Matty, _Patty_--and _Mary_, Molly, _Polly_ and _Poll_;
in which last abbreviation not one single letter of the original word
remains: the natural affinity between the two letters, as _medials_, is
evident, as in the following examples, all of which, with one exception,
are Latin derivatives: _empty_, _peremptory_, _sumptuous_,
_presumptuous_, _exemption_, _redemption_, and _sempstress_ and again,
in the words _tempt_, _attempt_, _contempt_, _exempt_, _prompt_,
_accompt_, _comptroller_ (vid. Walker's _Prin. of Eng. Pron._ pp. 42,
43.); in all which instances however, the _p_ is mute, so that "Mary" is
avenged for its being the accomplice in the desecration of her gentle
name into "Polly." Many names of the other sex lose their initials in
the diminutive; as,

_R_ichard      _D_ick
_R_obert       _B_ob
_W_illiam      _B_ill
_E_dward       _N_ed
_C_hristopher  _K_it
_R_oger        _H_odge,

and probably many others; but I have no list before me, and these are
all that occur.

Philologos.
Deanery of Gloucester, Shrove Tuesday, 1850.

       *       *       *       *       *

PARALLEL PASSAGES OR PLAGIARISMS IN CHILDE HAROLD.

Permit me to add two further plagiarisms or parallel passages on the
subject of _Childe Harold_ to those already contributed by your valuable
correspondent "Melanion."

Mrs. Radcliffe (who I am informed was never out of England) is
describing in her _Mysteries of Udolpho_, Chap. xvi. the appearance of
Venice. "Its terraces, crowded with airy, yet majestic fabrics touched
as they now were with the splendour of the setting sun, appeared as if
they had been _called up from the Ocean by the wand of an enchanter_."

In the 1st stanza of the 4th canto of _Childe Harold_ we have the well
known lines--

  "I stood in Venice on the bridge of sighs,
  A palace and a prison on each hand:
  I saw from out the wave her structures rise
  As from the stroke of the enchanter's wand."

In one of his letters Lord Byron tells us of his fondness for the above
novel.

Again in Kirke White's _Christiad_--

  "The lyre which I in early days have strung,
  And now my spirits faint, and I have hung
  The shell that solaced me in saddest hour
  On the dark cypress--"

May be compared with the last stanza but one of the 4th canto.

T.R.M.

       *       *       *       *       * {300}

INEDITED LINES BY ROBERT BURNS.

The following lines by Robert Burns have never appeared in any
collection of his works. They were given to me some time ago at Chatham
Barracks by Lieut. Colonel Fergusson, R.M., formerly of Dumfriesshire,
by whom they were copied from the _tumbler_ upon which they were
originally written.

Shortly before the death of Alan Cunningham I sent these verses to him,
as well as two Epigrams of Burns, "On Howlet Face," and "On the Mayor of
Carlisle's impounding his Horse," which were not included in his edition
of Burns' works. In a letter which I received from Alan Cunningham, and
which now lies before me, he says:--

    "The pieces you were so good as to send me are by Burns, and the
    Epigrams are old acquaintances of mine. I know not how I came to
    omit them. I shall print them in the next edition, and say it
    was you who reminded me of them."

I believe that one or both of the Epigrams were printed in the 8vo.
edition of the works in one volume, but my name is not mentioned as the
contributor, which I regret; for, as an enthusiastic admirer of Burns,
and a collector for many years of his fugitive pieces, it would have
been gratifying to me to have been thus noticed. Perhaps Cunningham did
not superintend that edition.

The verses I now send you, and which may, perhaps, be worth preserving
in your valuable miscellany, originated thus:--On occasion of a social
meeting at Brownhill inn, in the parish of Closeburn, near Dumfries,
which was, according to Alan Cunningham, "a favourite resting-place of
Burns," the poet, who was one of the party, was not a little delighted
by the unexpected appearance of his friend William Stewart. He seized a
tumbler, and in the fulness of his heart, wrote the following lines on
it with a diamond. The tumbler is carefully preserved, and was shown
some years since by a relative of Mr. Stewart, at his cottage at
Closeburn, to Colonel Fergusson, who transcribed the lines, and gave
them to me with the assurance that they had never been printed.

The first verse is an adaptation of a well known Jacobite lyric.

  "You're welcome Willie Stewart!
    You're welcome Willie Stewart!
  There's no a flower that blooms in May
    That's half so welcome as thou art!

  Come bumper high, express your joy!
    The bowl--ye maun renew it--
  The _tappit-hen_--gae fetch her ben,
    To welcome Willie Stewart!

  May faes be strong--may friends be slack--
    May he ilk action rue it--
  May woman on him turn her back
    Wad wrang thee Willie Stewart!"

J. Reynell Wreford.

       *       *       *       *       *

LACEDÆMONIAN BLACK BROTH.

Your correspondent "R.O." having inquired after the author of the
conjecture that the Lacedæmonian Black Broth was composed wholly, or in
part, of coffee, such an idea appearing to me to have arisen principally
from a presumed identity of colour between the two, and to have no
foundation in fact, I have endeavoured to combat it, in the first
instance by raising the question, whether it was black or not?

This has brought us to the main point, what the [Greek: zomos melas]
really was. And here "R.O." appears to rest content upon the probablity
of coffee having been an ingredient. Permit me to assign some additional
reasons for entertaining a different opinion.

We read nothing in native writers of anything like coffee in Greece,
indigenous or imported; and how in the world was it to get into Laconia,
inhabited, as it is well known to have been, by a race of men the least
prone of any to change their customs, and the least accessible to
strangers. Lycurgus, we are told, forbade his people to be sailors, or
to contend at sea[6], so that they had no means of importing it
themselves; and what foreign merchant would sell it to them, who had
only iron money to pay withal, and dealt, moreover, as much as possible
by way of barter?[7]

But it may be said they cultivated the plant themselves; that is, in
other words, that the Helots raised it for them. If so, how happens it
that all mention of the berry is omitted in the catalogue of their
monthly contributions to the Phiditia, which are said to have consisted
of meal, wine, cheese, figs, and a very little money?[8] and when the
king of Pontus[9] indulged in the expensive fancy of buying to himself
(not hiring, let it be recollected) a cook, to make that famous broth
which Dionysius found so detestable, how came he not at the same time to
think of buying a pound of coffee also? Moreover, if we consider its
universal popularity at present, it is hardly to be supposed that, in
ancient times, coffee would have suited no palate except that of a
Lacedæmonian.

With respect to the colour of the broth, I am reminded of my own
reference to _Pollux_, lib. vi. who is represented by your correspondent
to say that the [Greek: melas zomos] was also called [Greek: aimatia], a
word which Messrs. Scott and Liddell interpret to {301} denote "blood
broth," and go on to state, upon the authority of Manso, that blood was
a principal ingredient in this celebrated Lacedæmonian dish. Certainly,
if the case were really so, the German writer would have succeeded in
preparing for us a most disagreeable and warlike kind of food; but my
astonishment has not been small, upon turning to the passage, to find
that "R.O.'s" authorities had misled him, and that _Pollux_ really says
nothing of the kind. His words (I quote from the edition 2 vols. folio,
Amst. 1706) are these,

[Greek: "O de melas kaloumenos zomos Lakonikon men hos epi to poly to
edesma. esti de hae kaloumenae haimatia. to de thrion hode eskeuazon,
k.t.l."]

The general subject of the section is the different kinds of flesh used
by man for food, and incidentally the good things which may be made from
these; which leads the writer to mention by name many kinds of broth,
amongst which he says towards the end, is that called [Greek: melas
zomos] which might be considered almost as a Lacedæmonian dish; adding
further, that there was a something called hæmatia (and this might have
been a black pudding or sausage for anything that appears to the
contrary); also the thrium, which was prepared in a manner he proceeds
to describe. Now the three parts of the sentence which has been given
above in the original do, to the best of my judgment, clearly refer to
three different species of food; and I would appeal to the candid
opinion of any competent Greek scholar, whether, according to the idiom
of that language, the second part of it is so expressed, as to connect
it with, and make it explanatory of, the first. We want, for this
purpose, a relative, either with or without [Greek: esti]; and the
change of gender in hæmatia seems perfectly unaccountable if it is
intended to have any reference to [Greek: zomos].

It may not be unimportant to add that the significant silence of
Meursius, (an author surely not to be lightly thought of) who in his
_Miscellanea Laconica_ says nothing of blood broth at the Phiditia,
implies that he understood the passage of Pollux as intended to convey
the meaning expressed above.

Another lexicographer, Hesychius, informs us that [Greek: Bapha] was the
Lacedæmonian term for [Greek: zomos]; and this, perhaps, was the genuine
appellation for that which other Greeks expressed by a periphrasis,
either in contempt or dislike, or because its colour was really dark,
the juices of the meat being thoroughly extracted into it. That it was
nutritive and powerful may be inferred from what Plutarch mentions, that
the older men were content to give up the meat to the younger ones, and
live upon the broth only[10], which, had it been very poor, they would
not have done.

When these remarks were commenced, it was for the purpose of showing, by
means of a passage not generally referred to, what the ancients
conceived the "black broth" to be, and that consequently, all idea of
coffee entering into its composition was untenable. How far this has
been accomplished the reader must decide: but I cannot quit the subject
without expressing my sincere persuasion, founded upon a view of the
authorities referred to, that the account given by Athenæus is
substantially correct. Pig meat would be much in use with a people not
disposed to take the trouble of preparing any other: the animal was fit
for nothing but food; and the refuse of their little farms would be
sufficient for his keep. Athenæus also, in another passage, supplies us
with a confirmation of the notion that _the stock_ was made from _pig_,
and this is stronger because it occurs incidentally. It is found in a
quotation from Matron, the maker of parodies, who, alluding to some
person or other who had not got on very well at a Lacedæmonian feast,
explains the cause of his failure to have been, that the black broth,
and boiled odds and ends of pig meat, had beaten him;

"[Greek: Damna min zomos te melas akrokolia t' hephtha.]"[11]

That their cookery was not of a very recondite nature, is evident from
what is mentioned by Plutarch, that the public meals were instituted at
first in order to prevent their being in the hands of artistes and
cooks[12], while to these every one sent a stated portion of provisions,
so that there would neither be change nor variety in them. Cooks again
were sent out of Sparta, if they could do more than dress meat[13];
while the only seasoning allowed to them was salt and vinegar[14]; for
which reason, perhaps, Meursius considers the composition of the [Greek:
zomos melas] to have been pork gravy seasoned with vinegar and salt[15],
since there seemed to have been nothing else of which it could possibly
have been made.

For MR. TREVELYAN's suggestion of the cuttlefish, I am greatly obliged
to him; but this was an Athenian dish, and too good for the severity of
Spartan manners. It is impossible not to smile at the idea of the
distress which Cineparius must have felt, had he happened to witness the
performances of any persons thus swallowing ink bottles by wholesale.

The passages which have been already quoted, {302} either by R.O. or
myself, will probably give Mr. T. sufficient information of the
principal ones in which the "black broth" is mentioned.

W.

[Footnote 6: _Xen. de Rep. Lac._]

[Footnote 7: "Emi singula non pecuniâ sed compensatione mercium, jussit
(Lycurgus)."--_Justin_. iii. 2.]

[Footnote 8: _Plut. in Lyc._]

[Footnote 9: _Plut. in Lyc._ The word is [Greek: priasthai], the cook
probably a slave and Helot. There seems some confusion between this
story, and that of Dionysius tyrant of Syracuse, noticed in the
beginning of the _Inst. Lacon._, and by Cicero in the _Tusculan
Questions_, v. 34. The Syracusan table was celebrated.]

[Footnote 10: _Plut. in Lyc._]

[Footnote 11: _Ath. Deip._ iv. 13. l. 93.]

[Footnote 12: _Plut. in Lyc._ "[Greek: En chersi daemiourgon kai
mageiron.]"]

[Footnote 13: "[Greek: Edei de opsopoious en Lakedaimoni einai kreos
monou ho de para touto epizamenos exelauneto taes Spartaes]."--_Æl. Var.
Hist._ xiv. 7.]

[Footnote 14: "[Greek: Hoi Lakones hoxos men kai halas dontes to
mageiro, ta loipa keleuoysin en to hiereio xaetein]."--_Plut. de tuenda
Sanitate._]

[Footnote 15: _Meursii Misc. Lacon_. lib. i. cap. 8.]

       *       *       *       *       *


QUERIES.

TEN QUERIES CONCERNING POETS AND POETRY.

1. In a curious poetical tract, entitled _A Whip for an Ape, or Martin
displaied_; no date, but printed in the reign of Elizabeth, occurs the
following stanza:--

  "And ye grave men that answere Martin's mowes,
  He mockes the more, and you in vain loose times.
  Leave Apes to Dogges to baite, their skins to Crowes,
  And let old LANAM lashe him with his rimes."

Was this _old Lanam_, the same person as Robert Laneham, who wrote "a
Narrative of Queen Elizabeth's Visit to Kenilworth Castle in 1575"? I do
not find his name in Ritson's _Bibliographica Poetica_.

2. In Spence's _Anecdotes of Books and Men_ (Singer's edit. p. 22.), a
poet named Bagnall is mentioned as the author of the once famous poem
_The Counter Scuffle_. Edmund Gayton, the author of _Pleasant Notes upon
Don Quixote_, wrote a tract, in verse, entitled _Will Bagnall's Ghost_.
Who was Will Bagnall? He appears to have been a well-known person, and
one of the wits of the days of Charles the First, but I cannot learn
anything of his biography.

3. In the _Common-place Book_ of Justinian Paget, a lawyer of James the
First's time preserved among the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum, is
the following sonnet:--

  "My love and I for kisses play'd;
    Shee would keepe stakes, I was content;
  But when I wonn she would be pay'd,
    This made me aske her what she ment;
  Nay, since I see (quoth she), you wrangle in vaine,
    Take your owne kisses, give me mine againe."

The initials at the end, "W.S.", probably stand for William Stroud or
Strode, whose name is given at length to some other rhymes in the same
MS. I should be glad to know if this quaint little conceit has been
printed before, and if so, in what collection.

4. What is the earliest printed copy of the beautiful old song "My Mind
to me a Kingdom is?" It is to be found in a rare tract by Nicholas
Breton, entitled _The Court and Country, or A Briefe Discourse betweene
the Courtier and Country-man_, 4to. 1618. Query, is Breton its author?

5. Mr. Edward Farr, in his _Select Poetry, chiefly Devotional, of the
Reign of Queen Elizabeth_ (vol. i, p. xix.), calls Nicholas Breton, _Sir
Nicholas_. Is there any authority for Breton's knighthood?

6. Can John Davies, the author of _Sir Martin Mar-people_, 1590, be
identified with John Davies of Hereford, or Sir John Davies, the author
of _Nosce Teipsum_, 1599?

7. In whose possession is the copy of Marlow and Chapman's _Hero and
Leander_, 1629, sold in Heber's sale (Part iv., No. 1415)? Has the Rev.
Alex. Dyce made use of the MS. notes, and the Latin Epitaph on Sir Roger
Manwood, by Marlow, contained in this copy?

8. Has any recent evidence been discovered as to the authorship of _The
Complaynt of Scotland_? Is Sir David Lindsay, or Wedderburn, the author
of this very interesting work?

9. In the Rev. J.E. Tyler's _Henry of Monmouth_ (vol. ii Appendix, p.
417.), is a ballad on _The Battle of Agincourt_, beginning as follows:--

  "Fair stood the wind for France,
  When we our sails advance;
  Nor now to prove our chance,
      Longer will tarry;
  But, putting to the main,
  At Kaux, the mouth of Seine,
  With all his martial train,
      Landed King Harry."

The author of this old ballad, the learned editor says, was _Michael
Drayton_; but I have not been able to find it in any edition of his
works which I have consulted. Can Mr. Tyler have confounded it with
Drayton's _Poem_ on the same subject? Any information on this point will
be very acceptable.

10. On the fly-leaf of an Old Music Book which I lately purchased is the
following little poem. I do not remember to have seen it in print, but
some of your correspondents may correct me.

  "TO THE LORD BACON WHEN FALLING FROM FAVOUR.

  "Dazel'd thus with height of place,
    Whilst our hopes our wits beguile;
  No man marks the narrow space
    'Twixt a prison and a smile.

  "Then since fortune's favours fade,
    You that in her arms do sleep,
  Learn to swim and not to wade,
    For the hearts of kings are deep.

  "But if greatness be so blind,
    As to burst in towers of air;
  Let it be with goodness lin'd,
    That at least the fall be fair.

  "Then, though dark'ned you shall say,
    When friends fail and princes frown;
  Virtue is the roughest way,
    But proves at night a bed of down."

It is in the hand-writing of "Johs. Rasbrick vic. de Kirkton," but
whether he was the author, or only the transcriber, is uncertain.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

       *       *       *       *       * {303}

BISHOP COSIN'S FORM OF CONSECRATION OF CHURCHES.

We learn from Wilkins (_Concilia_, tom. iv. p. 566, ed. Lond. 1737),
also from Cardwell (_Synodal_. pp. 668. 677. 820. ed. Oxon. 1842), and
from some other writers, that the care of drawing up a Form of
Consecration of Churches, Chapels, and Burial-places, was committed to
Bishop Cosin by the Convocation of 1661; which form, when complete, is
stated to have been put into the hands of Robert, Bishop of Oxon,
Humphrey, Bishop of Sarum, Robert, Bishop of Lincoln, and John, Bishop
of Coventry and Lichfield, for revision.

I should feel much obliged if (when you can find space) you would kindly
put the query to your correspondents--"What has become of this Form?"

There is at Durham a Form of Consecration of Churches, said to be in the
hand-writing of Basire; at the end of which the following notes are
written:

    "This forme was used at the consecration of Christ's Church,
    neare Tinmouth, by the Right Rev. Father in God, John, Lord
    Bishop of Duresme, on Sunday, the 5th of July, 1668.

    "Hæc forma Consecrationis consonant cum formâ Reverendi in
    Christo Patris Lanceloti Andewes, edit. anno 1659.

    "Deest Anathema, Signaculum in antiquis dedicationibus.

    "Deest mentio (Nuptiarum.
                  (Purificationis Mulierum."

As this, however, can hardly be the missing Form of Consecration of
Churches, &c., which Cosin himself seems to have drawn up for the
Convocation of 1661, but which appears to have been no more heard of
from the time when it was referred to the four bishops for revision, the
question still remains to be answered--What has become of that Form? Can
the MS. by any chance have found its way into the Library of Peterhouse,
Cambridge, or into the Chapter Library at Peterborough--or is any other
unpublished MS. of Bishop Cosin's known to exist in either of these, or
in any other library?

J. Sansom.

8. Park Place, Oxford, Feb. 18, 1850.

       *       *       *       *       *

PORTRAITS OF LUTHER, ERASMUS, AND ULRIC VON HUTTEN.

I am very much indebted to "S.W.S." for the information which he has
supplied (No. 15. p. 232.) relative to ancient wood-cut representations
of Luther and Erasmus. As he has mentioned Ulric von Hutten also (for
whom I have an especial veneration, on account of his having published
Valla's famous _Declamatio_ so early as 1517), perhaps he would have the
kindness to state which is supposed to be the best wood-cut likeness of
this resolute ("Jacta est alea") man. "S.W.S." speaks of a portrait of
him which belongs to the year 1523. I have before me another, which
forms the title-page of the _Huttenica_, issued "ex Ebernburgo," in
1521. This was, I believe, his place of refuge from the consequences
which resulted from his annexation of marginal notes to Pope Leo's Bull
of the preceding year. In the remarkable wood-cut with which "[Greek:
OYTIS, NEMO]" commences, the object of which is not immediately
apparent, it would seem that "VL." implied a play upon the initial
letters of _U_lysses and _U_lricus. This syllable is put over the head
of a person whose neck looks as if it were already the worse from
unfortunate proximity to the terrible rock wielded by Polyphemus. I
should be glad that "S.W.S." could see some manuscript verses in German,
whcih are at the end of my copy of De Hutten's _Conquestio ad Germanos_.
They appear to have been written by the author in 1520; and at the
conclusion, he has added, "Vale ingrata patria."

R.G.

       *       *       *       *       *

QUESTIONS CONCERNING CHAUCER.

_Lollius._--Who was the Lollius spoken of by Chaucer in the following
passages?

  "As write mine authour _Lolius_."
  _Troilus and Cresseide_, b. i.

  "The Whichecote as telleth _Lollius_."
  Ib. b. v.

  "And eke he Lollius."--_House of Fame_, b. iii.

_Trophee._--Who or what was "Trophee?" "Saith Trophee" occurs in the
_Monkes Tale_. I believe some MSS. read "for Trophee;" but "saith
Trophee" would appear to be the correct rendering; for Lydgate, in the
Prologue to his Translation of Boccaccio's _Fall of Princes_, when
enumerating the writings of his "maister Chaucer," tells us, that

  "In youth he made a translacion
  Of a boke which is called _Trophe_
  In Lumbarde tonge, as men may rede and se,
  And in our vulgar, long or that he deyde,
  Gave it the name of Troylous and Cressyde."

_Corinna._--Chaucer says somewhere, "I follow Statius first, and then
Corinna." Was Corinna in mistake put for _Colonna_? The

  "Guido eke the Colempnis,"

whom Chaucer numbers with "great Omer" and others as bearing up the fame
of Troy (_House of Fame_, b. iii.).

_Friday Weather._--The following meteorological proverb is frequently
repeated in Devonshire, to denote the variability of the weather on
Friday:

  "Fridays in the week
  are never _aleek_."

"Aleek" for "alike," a common Devonianism. {304} Thus Peter Pindar
describes a turbulent crowd of people as being

  "_Leek_ bullocks sting'd by apple-drones."

Is this bit of weather-wisdom current in other parts of the kingdom? I
am induced to ask the question, because Chaucer seems to have embodied
the proverb in some well-known lines, viz.:--

  "Right as the Friday, sothly for to tell,
  Now shineth it, and now it raineth fast,
  Right so can gery Venus overcast
  The hertes of hire folk, right as hire day
  Is gerfull, right so changeth she aray.
  _Selde is the Friday all the weke ylike_."

  _The Knighte's Tale_, line 1536.

_Tyndale._--Can any of your readers inform me whether the translation of
the "_Enchiridion Militis Christiani Erasmi_," which Tyndale completed
in 1522, was ever printed?

J.M.B.

Totnes, Feb. 21. 1850.

       *       *       *       *       *

LETTER ATTRIBUTED TO SIR ROBERT WALPOLE.

In Banks's _Dormant Peerage_, vol. iii. p. 61., under the account of
_Pulteney, Earl of Bath_, is the following extraordinary letter, said to
be from Sir Robert Walpole to King George II., which is introduced as
serving to show the discernment of Walpole, as well as the disposition
of the persons by whom he was opposed, but evidently to expose the
vanity and weakness of Mr. Pulteney, by exhibiting the scheme which was
to entrap him into the acceptance of a peerage, and so destroy his
popularity. It is dated Jan. 24. 1741, but from _no place_, and has but
little appearance of authenticity.

    "Most sacred,

    "The violence of the fit of the stone, which has tormented me
    for some days, is now so far abated, that, although it will not
    permit me to have the honour to wait on your majesty, yet is
    kind enough to enable me so far to obey your orders, as to write
    my sentiments concerning that troublesome man, Mr. Pulteney; and
    to point out (what I conceive to be) the most effectual method
    to make him perfectly quiet. Your majesty well knows how by the
    dint of his eloquence he has so captivated the mob, and attained
    an unbounded popularity, that the most manifest wrong appears to
    be right, when adopted and urged by him. Hence it is, that he
    has become not only troublesome but dangerous. The inconsiderate
    multitude think that he has not one object but public good in
    view; although, if they would reflect a little, they would soon
    perceive that spleen against those your majesty has honoured
    with your confidence has greater weight with him than
    patriotism. Since, let any measure be proposed, however
    salutary, if he thinks it comes from me, it is sufficient for
    him to oppose it. Thus, sir, you see the affairs of the most
    momentous concern are subject to the caprice of that popular
    man; and he has nothing to do but call it a ministerial project,
    and bellow out the word _favourite_, to have an hundred pens
    drawn against it, and a thousand mouths open to contradict it.
    Under these circumstances, he bears up against the ministry
    (and, let me add, against your majesty itself); and every useful
    scheme must be either abandoned, or if it is carried in either
    house, the public are made to believe it is done by a corrupted
    majority. Since these things are thus circumstanced, it is
    become necessary for the public tranquility that he should be
    made quiet; and the only method to do that effectually is to
    destroy his popularity, and ruin the good belief the people have
    in him.

    "In order to do this, he must be invited to court; your majesty
    must condescend to speak to him in the most favourable and
    distinguished manner; you must make him believe that he is the
    only person upon whose opinion you can rely, and to whom your
    people look up for useful measures. As he has already several
    times refused to take the lead in the administration, unless it
    was totally modelled to his fancy, your majesty should close in
    with his advice, and give him leave to arrange the
    administration as he pleases, and put whom he chooses into
    office (there can be no danger in that as you can dismiss him
    when you think fit); and when he has got thus far (to which his
    extreme self-love and the high opinion he entertains of his own
    importance, will easily conduce), it will be necessary that your
    majesty should seem to have a great regard for his health;
    signifying to him that your affairs will be ruined if he should
    die; that you want to have him constantly near you, to have his
    sage advice; and that therefore, as he is much disordered in
    body, and something infirm, it will be necessary for his
    preservation for him to quit the House of Commons, where
    malevolent tempers will be continually fretting him, and where,
    indeed, his presence will be needless, as no step will be taken
    but according to his advice; and that he will let you give him a
    distinguishing mark of your approbation, by creating him a peer.
    This he may be brought to, for, if I know anything of mankind,
    he has a love of honour and money; and, notwithstanding his
    great haughtiness and seeming contempt for honour, he may be won
    if it be done with dexterity. For, as the poet Fenton says,
    'Flattery is an oil that softens the thoughtless fool.'

    "If your majesty can once bring him to accept of a coronet, all
    will be over with him; the changing multitude will cease to have
    any confidence in him; and when you see that, your majesty may
    turn your back to him, dismiss him from his post, turn out his
    meddling partizans, and restore things to quiet; the bee will
    have lost his sting, and become an idle drone whose buzzing
    nobody heeds.

    "Your majesty will pardon me for the freedom with which I have
    given my sentiments and advice; which I should not have done,
    had not your majesty commanded it, and had I not been certain
    that your peace is much disturbed by the contrivance of that
    turbulent man. I shall only add that I will dispose several whom
    I know to wish him well to solicit for his establishment in
    power, that you may seem to yield to their entreaties, and the
    finesse be less liable to be discovered.

    "I hope to have the honour to attend your majesty {305} in a few
    days; which I will do privately, that my public presence may
    give him no umbrage.

    (Signed) ROBERT WALPOLE

    "(Dated) 24. January, 1741."

As it seems incredible that Walpole could have written such a letter;
and the editor does not say where it is taken from, or where the
original is, I beg to ask any of your readers whether they have ever
seen the letter elsewhere, or attributed by any other writer to Walpole?
The editor adds, "accordingly, the scheme took place very soon after,
and Mr. Pulteney was in 1742 dignified with the titles before mentioned,
i.e. Earl of Bath, &c."

G.

       *       *       *       *       *

BISHOPS OF OSSORY.

Acting on "R.R.'s" excellent suggestion (No. 16. p. 243. _antè_), I beg
to solicit from all collectors, who may chance to see these lines,
information relative to the _Bishops of Ossory_. I am at present engaged
on a work which will comprise that portion of Harris's edition of Sir
James Ware's _Bishops of Ireland_ bearing on the see of Ossory. The
following names are those concerning whom, especially, information,
either original or by reference to rare printed books, will be most
thankfully acknowledged:--

John Parry              Succ. 1672      Ob. 1677.
Benjamin Parry          Succ. 1677      Ob. 1678.
Michael Ward            Succ. 1678   Trans. 1679.
Thomas Otway            Succ. 1679      Ob. 1692.
John Hartstong          Succ. 1693   Trans. 1713.
Sir Thos. Vesey, Bart.  Succ. 1714      Ob. 1730.
Edw. Tennison           Succ. 1731      Ob. 1735.
Charles Este            Succ. 1736   Trans. 1740.
Anthony Dopping         Succ. 1740      Ob. 1743.
Michael Cox             Succ. 1743   Trans. 1755.
Edward Maurice          Succ. 1755      Ob. 1756.
Richard Pococke         Succ. 1756   Trans. 1765.
Charles Dodgson         Succ. 1765   Trans. 1775.
William Newcome         Succ. 1775   Trans. 1779.
Sir John Hotham, Bt.    Succ. 1779   Trans. 1782.
Hon. W. Beresford       Succ. 1782   Trans. 1795.
Thos. L. O'Beirne       Succ. 1795   Trans. 1798.
Hugh Hamilton           Succ. 1799      Ob. 1805.
John Kearney            Succ. 1806      Ob. 1813.

I may state, that I have access to that most excellent work _Fasti
Ecclesiæ Hiberniæ_, by Archdeacon Cotton, who has collected many
particulars respecting the above-named prelates.

JAMES GRAVES.

Kilkenny, Feb. 21. 1850.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Burton's Anatomy of (Religious) Melancholy._--In compliance with the
very useful suggestion of "R.R." (No. 16. p. 243.), I venture to express
my intention of reprinting the latter part of Burton's "Anatomy of
Melancholy," (viz. that relating to _Religious Melancholy_), and at the
same time to intimate my hope that any of your readers who may have it
in their power to render me any assistance, will kindly aid me in the
work.

M.D.

Oxford, Feb. 23.

       *       *       *       *       *

MINOR QUERIES.

_Master of Methuen--Ruthven and Gowrie Families._--Colonel Stepney
Cowell is desirous of inquiring who was the Master of Methuen, who fell
at the Battle of Pinkey, and whose name appears in the battle roll as
killed?

Was he married, and did he leave a daughter? He is presumed to have been
the son of Lord Methuen by Margaret Tudor, sister of Henry VIII.

Who was the wife of Patrick Ruthven, youngest son of William, first Earl
of Gowrie, and where was he married? Any notices of the Gowrie and
Ruthven family will be acceptable.

Brooke's Club, St. James's Street, Feb. 18. 1850.

"_The Female Captive: a Narrative of Facts which happened in Barbary in
the Year 1756. Written by herself."_ 2 vols. 12 mo. Lond. 1769.--Sir
William Musgrave has written this note in the copy which is now in the
library of the British Museum:--

    "This is a true story. The lady's maiden name was Marsh. She
    married Mr. Crisp, as related in the narrative; but he, having
    failed in business, went to India, when she remained with her
    father, then Agent Victualler, at Chatham, during which she
    wrote and published these little volumes. On her husband's
    success in India, she went thither to him.

    "The book, having, as it is said, been bought up by the lady's
    friends, is become very scarce."

Can any of your readers furnish a further account of this lady?

_Parliamentary Writs._--It is stated in Duncumb's _History of
Herefordshire_, 1. 154. that "the writs, indentures, and returns, from
17 Edw. IV. to 1 Edw. VI., are all lost throughout England, except one
imperfect bundle, 33rd Hen. VIII." This book was published in 1803. Have
the researches since that time in the Record Offices supplied this
hiatus; and if so, in which department of it are these documents to be
found?

W.H.C.
Temple.


_Portraits in the British Museum._--I have often wished to inquire, but
knew not where till your publication met my notice, as to the portraits
in the British Museum, which are at present hung so high above beasts
and birds, and everything else, that it requires better eyes than most
people possess to discern their features. I should suppose {306} that if
they were not originals and of value, they would not have been lodged in
the Museum, and if they are, why not appropriate a room to them, where
they might be seen to advantage, by those who take pleasure in such
representations of the celebrated persons of former days? Any
information on this subject will be gratefully received.

L.O.

       *       *       *       *       *


REPLIES.

COLLEGE SALTING.

In reply to the query of the Rev. Dr. Maitland (No. 17. p. 261.), I
would remark, that _Salting_ was the ceremony of initiating a freshman
into the company of senior students or sophisters. This appears very
clearly from a passage in the _Life of Anthony a Wood_ (ed. 1771, pp.
45-50.). Anthony a Wood was matriculated in the University of Oxford,
26th May, 1647, and on the 18th of October "he was entered into the
Buttery-Book of Merton College." At various periods, from All Saints
till Candlemas, "there were Fires of Charcole made in the Common hall."

    "At all these Fires every Night, which began to be made a little
    after five of the clock, the Senior Under-Graduats would bring
    into the hall the Juniors or Freshmen between that time and six
    of the clock, and there make them sit down on a Forme in the
    middle of the Hall, joyning to the Declaiming Desk: which done,
    every one in Order was to speake some pretty Apothegme, or make
    a Jest or Bull, or speake some eloquent Nonsense, to make the
    Company laugh: But if any of the Freshmen came off dull or not
    cleverly, some of the forward or pragmatical Seniors would
    _Tuck_ them, that is, set the nail of their Thumb to their chin,
    just under the Lipp, and by the help of their other Fingers
    under the Chin, they would give him a chuck, which sometimes
    would produce Blood. On Candlemas day, or before (according as
    Shrove Tuesday fell out), every Freshman had warning given him
    to provide his Speech, to be spoken in the publick Hall before
    the Under-Graduats and Servants on Shrove-Tuesday night that
    followed, being alwaies the time for the observation of that
    Ceremony. According to the said Summons A. Wood provided a
    Speech as the other Freshmen did.

    "Shrove Tuesday Feb. 15, the Fire being made in the Common hall
    before 5 of the Clock at night, the Fellowes would go to Supper
    before six, and making an end sooner than at other times, they
    left the Hall to the Libertie of the Undergraduats, but with an
    Admonition from one of the Fellowes (who was the Principall of
    the Undergraduats and Postmasters) that all things should be
    carried in good Order. While they were at Supper in the Hall,
    the Cook (Will. Noble) was making the lesser of the brass pots
    full of Cawdle at the Freshmens Charge; which, after the Hall
    was free from the Fellows, was brought up and set before the
    Fire in the said Hall. Afterwards every Freshman, according to
    seniority, was to pluck off his Gowne and Band, and if possible
    to make himself look like a Scoundrell. This done, they were
    conducted each after the other to the high Table, and there made
    to stand on a Forme placed thereon; from whence they were to
    speak their Speech with an audible voice to the Company: which,
    if well done, the person that spoke it was to have a Cup of
    Cawdle and no _salted Drinke_; if indifferently, some Cawdle and
    some _salted Drinke_; but if dull, nothing was given to him but
    _salted Drinke_ or _salt_ put in College Bere, with Tucks to
    book. Afterwards when they were to be admitted into the
    Fraternity, the Senior Cook was to administer to them an Oath
    over an old Shoe, part of which runs thus: _Item tu jurabis,
    quot penniless bench non visitabis, &c._: the rest is forgotten,
    and none there are that now remembers it. After which spoken
    with gravity, the Freshman kist the Shoe, put on his Gowne and
    Band, and took his place among the Seniors."

Mr. Wood gives part of his speech, which is ridiculous enough. It
appears that it was so satisfactory that he had cawdle and sack without
and salted drink. He concludes thus:--

    "This was the way and custome that had been used in the College,
    time out of mind, to initiate the Freshmen; but between that
    time and the restoration of K. Ch. 2. it was disused, and now
    such a thing is absolutely forgotten."

The editors in a note intimate that it was probable the custom was not
peculiar to Merton College, and that it was perhaps once general, as
striking traces of it might be found in many societies in Oxford, and in
some a very near resemblance of it had been kept up until within a few
years of that time (1772).

C.H. COOPER.

Cambridge, Feb. 23. 1850.


"E.V.," after quoting the passage given by Mr. Cooper from Anthony Wood,
proceeds:--

It is clear from Owen's epigram that there was some kind of _salting_ at
Oxford as well as at Cambridge; is it not at least probable that they
were both identical with the custom described by old Anthony, and that
the charge made in the college book was for _the cawdle_ mentioned
above, as provided at the freshman's expense; the whole ceremony going
under the name of "salting," from the salt and water potion, which was
the most important constituent of it? If this be so, it agrees with Dr.
Maitland's idea, that "this 'salting' was some entertainment given by
the newcomer, from and after which he ceases to be fresh;" or, as Wood
expresses it, "he took his place among the seniors."

The "tucks" he speaks of could have been no very agreeable addition to
the salted beer; for, as he himself explains it, a few lines above, "to
tuck" consisted in "setting the nail of the thumb to their chin, just
under the lip, and by the help of their other fingers under the chin,
they would give him a mark, which sometimes would produce blood."

Before I leave Anthony Wood, let me mention {307} that I find him making
use of the word "bull" in the sense of a laughable speech ("to make a
jest, or _bull_, or speake some eloquent nonsense," p. 34.), and of the
now vulgar expression "to go to pot." When recounting the particulars of
the parliamentary visitation of the University in 1648, he tells us,
that had it not been for the intercession of his mother to Sir Nathan
Brent, "he had infallible _gone to the pot_." If Dr. Maitland or any of
your readers can give the history of these expressions, and can produce
earlier instances of their use, they would greatly oblige me.

P.S. I ought to mention, that "Penniless Bench" was a seat for loungers,
under a wooden canopy, at the east end of old Carfax Church: it seems to
have been notorious as "the idle corner" of Oxford.

E.V.

       *       *       *       *       *

QUERIES ANSWERED, NO. 5.

A comparative statement of the number of those who ask questions, and
those who furnish replies, would be a novel contribution to the
statistics of literature. I do note mean to undertake it, but shall so
far assume an excess on the side of the former class, as to attempt a
triad of replies to recent queries without fear of the censures which
attach to monopoly.

To facilitate reference to the queries, I take them in the order of
publication:--

1. "What is the earliest known instance of the use of a _beaver hat_ in
England?"--T. Hudson Turner, p. 100.

The following instance from Chaucer (_Canterbury tales_, 1775, 8°. v.
272.), if not the earliest, is precise and instructive:

  "A marchant was ther with a forked berd,
  In mottelee, and highe on hors he sat,
  And on his hed a Flaundrish _bever hat_."

2. "Has _Cosmopoli_ been ever appropriated to any known locality?"--John
Jebb, p. 213.

Cosmopolis has been used for London, and for Paris (G. Peignot,
_Répertoire de bibliographies spéciales_, Paris, 1810. 8°. pp. 116,
132.) It may also, in accordance with its etymology, be used for
Amsterdam, or Berlin, or Calcutta, etc. As an imprint, it takes the
dative case. The _Interpretationes paradoxæ quatuor evangeliorum_ of
Sandius, were printed at Amsterdam. (M. Weiss, _Biographie universelle_,
Paris, 1811 28. 8°. xl. 312.)

3. References to "any works or treatises supplying information on the
history of the Arabic numerals" are requested by "E.N." p. 230.

To the well chosen works enumberated by the querist, I shall add the
titles of two valuable publications in my own collection:

DICTIONNAIRE RAISONNÉ DE DIPLOMATIQUE--par dom de Vaines. _Paris_, 1774.
8°. 2 vol.

ELÉMENTS DE PALÉOGRAPHIE, par M. Natalis de Wailly. _Paris_, Imprimerie
royale, 1838. 4°. 2 vol.

The former work is a convenient epitome of the _Nouveau traité de
diplomatique_. The latter is a new compilation, undertaken with the
sanction of M. Guizot. Its appearance was thus hailed by the learned
Daunou: "Cet ouvrage nous semble recommandable par l'exactitude des
recherches, par la distribution méthodique des matières et par
l'élégante précision du style." (_Journal des savants_, Paris, 1838. 4°.
p. 328.)

A query should always be worded with care, and put in a _quotable_
shape. The observance of this plain rule would economise space, save the
time which might otherwise be occupied in useless research, and tend to
produce more pertinency of reply. The first and second of the above
queries may serve as models.

Bolton Corney.

       *       *       *       *       *

REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES.

_Old Auster Tenement_ (No. 14. p. 217.).--I think that I am in a
condition to throw some light on the meaning of this expression, noticed
in a former Number by "W.P.P." The tenements held in villenage of the
lord of a manor, at least where they consisted of a messuage or
dwelling-house, are often called _astra_ in our older books and
court-rolls. If the tenement was an ancient one, it was _vetus_ or
_antiquum astrum_; if a tenure of recent creation (or a new-take, as it
is called in some manors), it was _novum astrum_. The villenage tenant
of it was an _astrarius_. "W.P.P." may satisfy himself of these facts by
referring to the printed _Plautorum Abbrevietis_, fo. 282.; to Fleta,
_Comment. Juris. Anglicani_, ed. 1685, p. 217.; and to Ducange, Spelman,
and Cowel, under the words "Astrum," "Astrarius," and "Astre." In the
very locality to which "W.P.P." refers, he will find that the word
"Auster" is "Astrum" in the oldest court-rolls, and that the term is not
confined to North Curry, but is very prevalent in the eastern half of
Somerset. At the present day, an _auster_ tenement is a species of
copyhold, with all the incidents to that tenure. It is noticed in the
Journal of the Archæological Institute, in a recent critique on Dr.
Evans's Leicestershire words, and is very familar to legal practitioners
of any experience in the district alluded to.

E. Smirke.


_Tureen_ (No. 16. p. 246.).--There is properly no such word. It is a
corruption of the French _terrine_, an earthen vessel in which soup is
served. It is in Bailey's Dictionary. I take this opportunity of
suggesting whether that the word "_swinging_," applied by Goldsmith to
his tureen, should be rather spelt _swingeing_; though the former is the
more usual way: a _swinging_ dish and a _swingeing_ are different
things, and Goldsmith meant the latter.

C. {308}


_Burning the Dead._--"T." will find some information on this subject in
Sir Thomas Browne's _Hydriotaphia_, chap. i., which appears to favour
his view except in the following extract:

    "The same practice extended also far west, and besides
    Heruleans, Getes and Thracians, was in use with most of the
    Celtæ, Sarmatians, Germans, Gauls, Danes, Swedes, Norwegians;
    not to omit some use thereof among _Carthaginians_, and
    _Americans_."

The Carthaginians most probably received the custom from their ancestors
the Phoenicians, but where did the Americans get it?

Henry St. Chad.

Corpus Christi Hall, Maidstone, Feb. 8. 1850.


_Burning the Dead._--Your correspondent "T." (No. 14. p. 216.) can
hardly have overlooked the case of Dido, in his inquiry "whether the
practice of burning the dead has ever been in vogue amongst any people,
excepting the inhabitants of Europe and Asia?" According to all
classical authorities, Dido was founder and queen of Carthage in
_Africa_, and was burned at Carthage on a funeral pile.

If it be said that Dido's corpse underwent burning in conformity with
the custom of her native country Tyre, and not because it obtained in
the land of her adoption, then the question arises, whether burning the
dead was not one of the customs which the Tyrian colony of Dido imported
into Africa, and became permanently established at Carthage. It is very
certain that the Carthaginians had human sacrifices by fire, and that
they burned their children in the furnace to Saturn.

A.G.

Ecclesfield, Feb. 8. 1850.

       *       *       *       *       *


MISCELLANIES.

_M. de Gournay._--The author of the axioms _Laissez faire, laissez
passer_, which are the sum and substance of the free trade principles of
political economy, and perhaps the pithiest and completest exposition of
the doctrine of a particular school ever made, was Jean Claude Marie
Vincent de Gournay, who was born at St. Malo in 1712, and died at Paris
in 1759. In early life he was engaged in trade, and subsequently became
Honorary Councillor of the Grand Council, and Honorary Intendant of
Commerce. He translated, in 1742, Josiah Child's _Considerations on
Commerce and on the Interest on Money_, and Culpepper's treatise
_Against Usury_. He also wrote a good deal on questions of political
economy. He was, in fact, with Dr. Quesnay, the chief of the French
economists of the last century; but he was more liberal than Quesnay in
his doctrines; indeed he is (far more than Adam Smith) the virtual
founder of the modern school of political economy; and yet, perhaps, of
all the economists he is the least known!

The great Turgot was a friend and ardent admirer of M. de Gournay; and
on his death wrote a pompous _Eloge_ on him.

A Man in a Garret.


_Cupid Crying._--"Our readers will remember that some time since
(_antè_, p. 108.) we copied into our columns, from the 'Notes and
Queries,' an epigram of great elegance on the subject of 'Cupid Crying;'
the contributor of which was desirous of finding through that medium,
especially established for such discoveries, the original text and the
name of its author. Subsequently, a correspondent of our own [_antè_, p.
132.] volunteered a translation by himself, in default of the original.
The correspondent of the 'Notes and Queries' has now stumbled on what he
sought, and is desirous that we should transmit it to the author of the
volunteer version, with his thanks. This we take the present means of
doing. Under the signature of 'Rufus,' he writes as follows:--'In a MS.
book, long missing, I find the following copy, with a reference to _Car.
Illust. Poet. Ital._ vol. i. 229, wherein it is ascribed to Antonio
Tebaldeo--

  "_De Cupidine._

  Cur natum cædit Venus? Arcum perdidit. Arcum
    Nunc quis habet? Tusco Flavia nata solo.
  Qui factum? Petit hæc, dedit hic; nam lumine formæ
    Deceptus, matri se dare crediderat."

"Since printing this communication from 'Rufus' we have received the
same original (with the variation of a single word--_quid_ for _cur_ in
the opening of the epigram) from a German correspondent at Augsburgh.
'You will find it,' he says, 'in the _Anthologia Latina Burmanniana_,
iii. 236, or in the new edition of this _Latin Anthology_, by Henry
Meyer, Lipsiæ, 1835, tom. ii. page 139, No. 1566. The author of the
epigram is doubtful, but the diction appears rather too quaint for a
good ancient writer. Maffei ascribes it to Brenzoni, who lived in the
sixteenth century; others give it to Ant. Tebaldeo, of Ferrara.' Our
readers will perceive that the translator has taken some liberties with
his text. 'Lumine formæ deceptus,' for instance, is not translated by
'she smiled.' But it may be questioned if the suggestion is not even
more delicate and graceful in the translator's version than in the
original."--_The Athenæum_.

       *       *       *       *       *

THE MIRROR.

  (_From the Latin of Owen._)

  Bella, your image just returns your smile--
    You weep, and tears its lovely cheek bedew--
  You sleep, and its bright eyes are closed the while--
    You rise, the faithful mimic rises too.--
  Bella, what art such likeness could increase
  If glass could talk, or woman hold her peace?

Rufus.

       *       *       *       *       * {309}

_Journeyman._--Three or four years since, a paragraph went the round of
the press, deriving the English word "journeyman" from the custom of
travelling among work-men in Germany. This derivation is very doubtful.
Is it not a relic of Norman rule, from the French _journée_, signifying
a day-man? In support of this it may be observed, that the German name
for the word in question if _Tagelöhner_, or day-worker. It is also well
known, that down to a comparatively recent period, artisans and free
labourers were paid daily.

Gomer.


_Balloons._--In one of your early numbers you mention the _History of
Ringwood_, &c. Many years since I sent to a periodical (I cannot
recollect which) a circumstance connected with that town, which I never
heard or read of anywhere, and which, as it is rather of importance, I
forward to you in hopes that some of your correspondents may be able to
throw some light upon it. When my father was in the Artillery Ground at
the ascension of Lunardi's balloon, he remarked to several persons
present, "This is no novelty to _me_; I remember well, when I was at
school in Ringwood [about the year 1757], an apothecary in that town
that used to let off _balloons_ (he had no other name, I suppose, to
give them) on a smaller scale, but exactly corresponding with what he
then saw, _many_ a time."

I had several letters addressed to me, requesting further explanation,
which, as my father was dead, I was unable to give. It is highly
improbable that any persons now living may have it in their power to
corroborate the fact, but some of their relations or descendants may. I
suppose they must have been _fire-balloons_, and these of the rudest
construction; and my father, being a boy at the time, would have given
perhaps little valuable information, except as to the name of the
apothecary, which, however, I never heard him mention.

B.G.

Feb. 6. 1850.

       *       *       *       *       *

BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES

WANTED TO PURCHASE.

(_In continuation of Lists in former Nos._)

_Odd Volumes and Plates._

Engravings From Cotman's Norfolk Brasses.
Sir John Curson. 1471. Belaugh.
Lady Joan Plays. 1385. Ingham.
Lady Ela Stapleton. 1425. Ingham.
Southey's History of the Peninsular War. 8vo. Vol. III
London Magazine. 1762 and 1769.
Cuvier's Animal Kingdom. By Griffith. 1830. Part XXIV.
Chaucer's Poetical Works. Edinburgh. 1782. 12mo. (BELL'S
  POETS.) Vol XIV.
Anti-Jacobin Review. Vols LI. and LII.
Du Cange Glossarium. (Sig. Oij, Oiij, or pages 213-220.,
  LIG-LIM, in Vl. IV.)

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 enlarged the present Number to 24 pages instead of 16,
and omitted our usual_ "Notes on Books, &c." _we are compelled to omit
as many_ "Notes, Queries, _and_ Replies" _as would occupy at least 24
pages more. Under these circumstances we have first to ask the
indulgence of our Correspondents for such omissions, and secondly, to
request them to condense their future communications in to as brief a
space as the nature of them will conveniently admit._

Notes and Queries _may be procured of any Bookseller or Newsman if
previously ordered. Gentlemen residing in the country who may find a
difficulty in procuring it through any bookseller in the neighbourhood,
may be supplied regularly with the_ stamped _edition, by giving their
orders direct to the publisher_, Mr. George Bell, 186. Fleet Street,
_accompanied by a Post Office order for a quarter (4s. 4d.); a half year
(8s. 8d.), or one year (17s. 4d.)._

Notes and Queries _may also be procured in Monthly Parts at the end of
each month. Part I., price 1s.; Part II., price 1s, 3d., have been
reprinted, and may now be had, together with Part III., price 1s., and
Part IV., price 1s._

       *       *       *       *       *

Nearly Ready, 2 vols. 8vo.

LIFE OF ROBERT PLUMER WARD, Esq., (Author of "Tremaine.") With
Selections from his Political and Literary Correspondence, Diaries, and
Unpublished Remains. By the Hon. Edmund Phipps.

John Murray, Albemarle Street.

       *       *       *       *       *

NEW WORK BY WASHINGTON IRVING. Next week will be Published, 8vo.

LIVES OF THE SUCCESSORS OF MAHOMET. By Washington Irving.

Also, lately Published by the same Author,

I. LIFE OF MAHOMET.

II. OLIVER GOLDSMITH: A BIOGRAPHY.

III. HISTORY OF COLUMBUS AND HIS COMPANIONS.

John Murray, Albermarle Street.

       *       *       *       *       *

THE NIBELUNGENLIED TRANSLATED.

THE FALL OF THE NIBELUNGERS, otherwise the BOOK OF KRIEMHILD. An English
Translation of the NIBELUNGNNOT or NIBELUNGENLIED; with an Introductory
preface and Notes. By William Nansom Lettsom, Esq. Fcp. 8vo., cloth
boards. Price 10s. 6d.

WILLIAMS AND NORGATE'S GERMAN CATALOGUES:--

1. THEOLOGICAL CATALOGUE.
2. GERMAN BOOK CIRCULAR, No. 24.
New Books.
3. GENERAL LITERATURE.
4. CHEAP SECOND-HAND BOOKS. (Shortly.)

Williams and Norgate, Foreign Booksellers, 14. Henrietta Street, Covent
Garden.

       *       *       *       *       * {310}

Now ready, 8vo.

GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE: An Enquiry into the Chronological
Succession of the Romanesque and Pointed Styles; with Notices of some of
the principal Buildings; and a General Index. By THOMAS INKERSLEY.

JOHN MURRAY, Albemarle Street.

       *       *       *       *       *

THE ANGLO-SAXON, FOR MARCH. Price 2s. 6d., or 3s. post-free, contains:--

England and her Colonies: Shires and Plantations.--Sketches of
Anglo-Saxon Literature: King Alfred's Works.--The Wandering Jew in
Anglo-Saxon Times, a Tale of the Druids.--The Musician.--New Zealand,
Canterbury Pilgrims, A Sonnet, by Martin F. Tupper.--Notes from the
Cape: Natural History.--Modern Geographical Discoveries.--The Colonies
of the Anglo-Saxons. Australian Colonies.

London: T. BOSWORTH, 215. Regent Street.

       *       *       *       *       *

SOCIETY OF ARTS PRIZE PATTERN.

12 CUPS AND SAUCERS.
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Packed in small hamper, ready for delivery, in buff earthenware, 21s.
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JOSEPH CUNDELL, 21. Old Bond Street.

       *       *       *       *       *

THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE AND HISTORICAL REVIEW.

The Numbers of this Magazine for February and March have exhibited
several alterations in the arrangement and character of its contents.
They have been adopted in order to make it, more than ever, a worthy
organ and representative of Historical and Antiquarian Literature.

These Numbers contain, among others, articles by J. Payne Collier, Esq.,
Peter Cunningham, Esq., John Bowyer Nichols, Esq., John George Nichols,
Esq., Charles Roach Smith, Esq., W.J. Thoms, Esq., J.G. Waller, Esq.,
and Thomas Wright, Esq.; Articles on the present state of Architectural
Literature, on Christian Iconography and Legendary Art, and on the
intended Exhibition of Ancient and Mediæval Art; Letters of Dr. Johnson
and Alexander Pope, and original Log of the Battle of Trafalgar; Reviews
of Campbell's Lives of the Judges, Hanna's Life of Dr. Chalmers,
Worsaae*'s Primeval Antiquities, Merimée's Pedro the Cruel, Ticknor's
Spanish Literature, Washington Irving's Mahomet, Milman's Tasso,
Craick's Romance of the Peerage, Jones's Life of Chantrey, Boutell's
Christian Monuments (with four plates), &c. &c. With Notes of the Month,
Antiquarian Researches, and Historical Chronicle. The Obituary includes
Memoirs of the Earl of Carnarvon, Bishop Coleridge, Admiral Lord
Colville, Admiral Sir F. Collier, Sir Charles Forbes, Bart., Sir M.I.
Brunel, Edw. Doubleday, Esq., Denis C. Moylan, Esq., Lieutenant Waghorn,
John Barker, Esq., Ebenezer Elliott, John Duncan, Lord Jeffrey, Sir
Felix Booth, Mr. Serjeant Lawes, Thomas Stapleton, Esq., Rev. Dr. Byrth,
Edward Du Bois, Esq., Mrs. Bartley, &c. &c.

Published by J.B. NICHOLS and SON, Parliament Street; and sold by all
Booksellers. Price 2s. 6d.

Preparing for immediate publication, in 2 vols. small 8vo.

THE FOLK-LORE OF ENGLAND. By WILLIAM J. THOMS, F.S.A., Secretary of the
Camden Society, Editor of "Early Prose Romances," "Lays and Legends of
all Nations," &c. One object of the present work is to furnish new
contributions to the History of our National Folk-Lore; and especially
some of the more striking Illustrations of the subject to be found in
the Writings of Jacob Grimm and other Continental Antiquaries.

Communications of inedited Legends, Notices of remarkable Customs and
Popular Observances, Rhyming Charms, &c. are earnestly solicited, and
will be thankfully acknowledged by the Editor. They may be addressed to
the care of Mr. Bell, Office of "NOTES AND QUERIES," 186. Fleet Street.

       *       *       *       *       *

Vols. I and II. 8vo., price 28s. cloth.

THE JUDGES OF ENGLAND; from the TIME of the CONQUEST. By EDWARD FOSS,
F.S.A.

"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 judgment 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._

LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN AND LONGMANS.

       *       *       *       *       *

Next week, 1 vol. 8vo., with etched Frontispiece, by Wehnert, and Eight
Engravings, price 15s.

SABRINÆ COROLLA: a Volume of Classical Translations with original
Compositions contributed by Gentlemen educated at Shrewsbury School.

Among the Contributors are the Head Masters of Shrewsbury, Stamford,
Repton, Uppingham, and Birmingham Schools; Andrew Lawson, Esq., late
M.P.; the Rev. R. Shilleto, Cambridge; the Rev. T.S. Evans, Rugby; J.
Riddell, Esq., Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford; the Rev. E.M. Cope,
H.J. Hodgson, Esq., H.A.J. Munro, Esq., W.G. Clark, Esq., Fellows of
Trinity College, Cambridge, and many other distinguished Scholars from
both Universities.

The Work is edited by three of the principal Contributors.

Folio, price 30s.

THE CHORAL RESPONSES AND LITANIES OF THE UNITED CHURCH OF ENGLAND AND
IRELAND. Collected from Authentic Sources. By the REV. JOHN HEBB, A.M.,
Rector of Peterstow.

The present Work contains a full collection of the harmonized
compositions of ancient date, including nine sets of pieces and
responses, and fifteen litanies, with a few of the more ancient Psalm
Chants. They are given in full score, and in their proper cliffs. In the
upper part, however, the treble is substituted for the "cantus" or
"medius" cliff: and the whole work is so arranged as to suit the library
of the musical student, and to be fit for use in the Choir.

MEMOIRS OF MUSICK. By the Hon. ROGER NORTH, Attorney-General to James I.
Now first printed from the original MS. and edited with copious Notes,
by EDWARD F. RIMBAULT, LL.D., F.S.A., &c. &c. Quarto; with a Portrait;
handsomely printed in 4to.; half-bound in morocco, 15s.

This interesting MS., so frequently alluded to by Dr. Burney in the
course of his "History of Music," has been kindly placed at the disposal
of the Council of the Musical Antiquarian Society, by George Townshend
Smith, Esq., Organist of Hereford Cathedral. But the Council, not
feeling authorised to commence a series of literary publications, yet
impressed with the value of the work, have suggested its independent
publication to their Secretary, Dr. Rimbault, under whose editorial care
it accordingly appears.

It abounds with interesting Musical Anecdotes; the Greek Fables
respecting the origin of Music; the rise and progress of Musical
Instruments; the early Musical Drama; the origin of our present
fashionable Concerts; the first performance of the Beggar's Opera, &c.

A limited number having been printed, few copies remain for sale: unsold
copies will shortly be raised in price to 1l. 11s. 6d.

London: GEORGE BELL, 186. Fleet Street.

       *       *       *       *       * {311}

No. III., for March 1850, of JOHN MILLER'S CATALOGUE OF BOOKS, OLD AND
NEW, On sale at 43. Chandos Street, Trafalgar Square, to be had gratis,
and sent (if required) postage free to any Book-buyer. The prices are
for ready money only.

       *       *       *       *       *

The following Books may also be had.

A COLLECTION OF THE CARTOONS OF PUNCH: Woodcuts from the Art Union
Journal, Pictorial Times, and other Illustrated publications; besides
several Thousand Cuttings from Newspapers, Magazines, and Modern
Periodicals, interspersed with a proportionate large number of Wood and
Steel Engravings, Portraits, Maps, and Miscellaneous Prints English and
Foreign, generally mounted on white paper, and prepared for binding by
the late editor of the Globe Newspaper, forming probably from 20 to 30
vols., 8vo. and 4to., 5l. 10s.

The rearrangement and more orderly classification of this mass of
Cuttings and Scraps would afford amusement for a long period of leisure,
or relieve the monotony of many winter evenings.

ASIATIC ANNUAL REGISTER; or, A View of the History of Hindustan, and of
the Politics, Commerce, and Literature of Asia, from the year 1799 to
the year 1811, in 13 vols. 8vo. half-bound russia, very neat, 1l. 1s.
1801-1812.

BAYLES' HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL DICTIONARY, translated from the French,
4 vols, folio, calf gilt, good Library copy, 2l. 12s. 6d. 1710.

BELL'S BRITISH THEATRE, REGULATED FROM THE PROMPT BOOKS. The single
Plays forming 55 vols. 8vo. The best Edition, with very Choice and
Brilliant Impressions of the Plates. A carefully selected Copy from the
Library of F. Du Roveray, Esq., 2l. 12s. 6d. 1791.

BELOE'S (W.) ANECDOTES OF LITERATURE AND SCARCE BOOKS, 6 vols. 8vo. half
calf, neat, a clean uncut copy of a very interesting book, 1l. 4s.
1807-1812.

BILLING'S (ROBERT WILLIAM) ARCHITECTURAL ILLUSTRATIONS AND ACCOUNT OF
THE TEMPLE CHURCH. London, 4to., half bound, neat, illustrated with 30
fine plates, 12s. 6d. 1838.

BOSWELL'S (J.) LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON, including his Tour to the Hebrides,
to which are added Anecdotes by Hawkins, Piozzi, Murphy, Tyres,
Reynolds, Stevens, &c., edited by J.W. Croker, 10 vols. fcap. 8vo.
cloth, 50 plates, 1l. 1s. 1835.

BROOKES' (RALPH, York Herald) CATALOGUE of the Succession of the Kings,
Princes, Dukes, Earls, &c. of this Realm, since the Norman Conquest.
Folio, calf, neat, numerous Engravings of Arms; a good clean copy. 12s.
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BROWN (TOM) THE WORKS OF, Serious and Comical, in Prose and Verse, with
his Remains, the Life and Character of Mr. Brown, by Dr. J. Drake and a
Key to the Whole, 4 vols, small 8vo. calf, neat, plates, a good, clean
copy. 12s. 6d. 1720.

BRUNET, MANUEL DU LIBRAIRE ET DE L'AMATEUR DES LIVRES. 4 vols. 8vo.,
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BUCHANAN'S (WM.) HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL ESSAY UPON THE FAMILY AND
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State of Ancient Scottish Surnames, and more particularly of the
Highland Clans. Small 4to., front., calf, neat, scarce. 10s. 6d.
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BUCKINGHAM'S ORIENTAL HERALD AND COLONIAL REVIEW, comprising a Mass of
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BUCKINGHAMSHIRE.--BRYANT'S MAP OF THE COUNTY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE,
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BUCKLAND'S RELIQULÆ DILUVIANÆ; or Observations on the Organic Remains
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BUCKLER'S ENDOWED GRAMMAR SCHOOLS, from Original Drawings with
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BURKE'S (J.R.) BEAUTIES OF THE COURT OF GEORGE IV. AND WILLIAM IV.,
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BURTON'S (T.) CROMWELLIAN DIARY, from 1656 to 1659, published from the
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vols. 8vo., front., neatly bound in half calf, gilt. 16s. 1828.

BYRON'S (LORD) LETTERS AND JOURNALS, with Notices of his Life, by Thomas
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CARTER'S (MATT.) HONOR REDIVIVUS, or the Analysis of Honor and Armory,
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CICERONIS OPERA OMNIA QUÆ EXTANT IN LECTIONES A LAMBINI. 4 vols., in 2.,
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CICERO'S WORKS, consisting of his Letters to his Familiars and Friends
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CLARENDON'S (EDWARD EARL OF) HISTORY OF THE REBELLION AND CIVIL WARS IN
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COPPER-PLATE MAGAZINE.--A Monthly Treasure for the Admirers of the
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DE REAL (M.) LA SCIENCE DU GOUVERNEMENT, Ouvrage de Morale, de Droit, et
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DISSERTATION SUR LES STATUES Appartenantes à la Fable de Nôbe. Imp. 4to.
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DOW'S HISTORY OF HINDOSTAN, from the Earliest Times to the Death of
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DUBOIS (J.P.L.), VIES DES GOUVERNEURS GENERAUX, avec L'Abrège de
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DUNLOP'S (J.) HISTORY OF FICTION, being a Critical Account of the most
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EDEN'S (THE HONORABLE MISS) PORTRAITS OF THE PRINCES AND PEOPLE OF
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FOY'S GENERAL HISTORY OF THE WARS IN THE PENINSULA UNDER NAPOLEON, to
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FREEMASONS' (THE) QUARTERLY REVIEW, from its commencement in 1834, to
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GALLERY OF ENGLISH AND FOREIGN PORTRAITS, with Memoirs by various
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GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.--The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society,
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HARLEIAN (THE) COLLECTION OF VOYAGES AND TRAVELS, consisting of
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HISTOIRE GENEALOGIQUE DE LA MAISON DE BEAUVAU JUSTIFIEE PAR TILTRES
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LA LANDE (M. DE) DES CANEUX DE NAVIGATION, et Specialement du Canal de
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LOUTHERBOURG'S (J. DE) ROMANTIC AND PICTURESQUE SCENERY OF ENGLAND AND
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MACKINTOSH (SIR JAMES) MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF. Edited by Robert James
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MARKHAM'S (F.) BOOK OF HONOUR, or Five Decades of Epistles of Honour.
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MILLE'S (T.) NOBILITAS POLITICA VEL CIVILIS PERSONAS SCILICET
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MORGAN'S (SYLVANUS) ARMILOGIA SIVE ARS CHROMOCRITICA--The Language of
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NICOLAS' (SIR N. HARRIS) HISTORY OF THE BATTLE OF AGINCOURT, AND OF THE
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NICOLAS' (SIR N. HARRIS) TESTMENTA VETUSTA, being Illustrations from
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NISBET'S ESSAY ON THE ANCIENT AND MODERN USE OF ARMORIES, showing their
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NOTTINGHAM:--DICKINSON'S (W.) Antiquities, Historical, Architectural,
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OCKLEY'S (SIMON) HISTORY OF THE SARACENS, illustrating the Religion,
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This copy appears to have belonged to the Author's family; a note states
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SHAKESPEARE ALBUM; a Series of One Hundred and Seventy Illustrations
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TAYLOR (WM., of Norwich), MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF,
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Valuable material in aid of the literary history of the nineteenth
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THIERRY'S (A.) HISTORY OF THE CONQUEST OF ENGLAND BY THE NORMANS, with
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WALSH (R.) WHITELAW, &c., HISTORY OF THE CITY OF DUBLIN, from the
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WELLESLEY (RICHARD, MARQUIS OF), MEMOIRS AND CORRESPONDENCE OF,
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WHITE'S (GILBERT) NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE, with the Naturalist's
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WILBERFORCE (WILLIAM), THE LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE OF, edited and
arranged by his Sons, the Rev. R. T. Wilberforce and the Rev. Sam.
Wilberforce. 5 vols. crown 8vo. Portraits, &c. Half calf, neat, full
gilt. 1l. 4s. 1838.

WILLIAM III., LETTERS ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE REIGN OF, from 1696 to 1708,
addressed to the Duke of Shrewsbury, by James Vernon, Esq., Secretary of
State, now first published from the Originals, edited by G.P.R. James,
Esq. 3 vols. 8vo. New half calf, full gilt, very handsome copy, fine
portrait. 16s. 1841.

       *       *       *       *       *

John Miller, 43. Chandos Street, Trafalgar Square.

       *       *       *       *       *

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, March 9. 1850.