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{49}

NOTES AND QUERIES:

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

       *       *       *       *       *

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

       *       *       *       *       *


No. 65.]
SATURDAY, JANUARY 25, 1851.
[Price Sixpence. Stamped Edition 7d.

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CONTENTS.

  NOTES:--                                                   Page
    Traditional English Ballads, by Dr. E.F. Rimbault          49
    The Father of Philip Massinger                             52
    Touchstone's Dial, by George Stephens                      52
    Discrepancies in Dugdale's Account of Sir Ralph de
      Cobham, by W. Hastings Kelke                             53
    Henry Chettle                                              54
    Coverdale's Bible                                          54
    Answer to Cowley                                           55
    Folk Lore of Lancashire, No. 1., by T.T. Wilkinson         55
    Minor Notes:--Proclamation of Langholme Fair--Seats
      in Churches--Flemish Account--Use of
      Monosyllables--Specimen of Foreign English--Epitaph      56

  QUERIES:--
    The Tale of the Wardstaff, by S.W. Singer                  57
    Ballad ascribed to Sir C. Hanbury Williams, by G.H.
      Barker                                                   59
    Minor Queries:--Book called Tartuare--William Wallace
      in London--Obeism--Aged Monks--Lady Alice
      Carmichael--"A Verse may find him"--Daresbury,
      the White Chapel of England--Ulm Manuscript--
      Merrick and Tattersall--Dr. Trusler's memoirs--
      Life of Bishop Frampton--Probabilism--Sir Henry
      Chauncy's Observations on Wilfred Entwysel--Theological
      Tracts--Lady Bingham--Gregory the Great--John
      Hill's Penny Post in 1659--Andrea Ferrara--Imputed
      Letter of Sallustius--Thomas Rogers of
      Horninger--Tandem D.O.M.--The Episcopal Mitre            59

  REPLIES:--
    The Passage in Troilus and Cressida, by John Taylor        62
    Black Images of the Virgin, by J.B. Litchfield             63
    Outline in Painting                                        63
    Ten Children at a Birth                                    64
    Shakspeare's Use of "Captious"                             65
    Sword of William the Conqueror                             66
    Meaning of Eisell                                          66
    Altar Lights, &c.                                          68
    Replies to Minor Queries:--Handbell before a Corpse
      --Sir George Downing--Hulls, the Inventor of
      Steamboats--"Clarum et venerabile Nomen"--Occult
      Transposition of Letters--Darby and Joan--Did
      Bunyan know Hobbes?--Mythology of the Stars--Dodo
      Queries--Holland Land--Swearing by Swans--The
      Frozen Horn--Cockade and True Blue--The
      Vavasours of Hazlewood--"Breeches" Bible--Histoire
      des Sévarambes--Verses attributed to Charles
      Yorke--Archbishop Bolton of Cashel--Erasmus and
      Farel--Early Culture of the Imagination--William
      Chilcot--By and bye--Mocker--Was Colonel Hewson
      a Cobbler?--Mole--Pillgarlick--A recent Novel
      --Tablet to Napoleon--North Sides of Churchyards
      --Wisby--Singing of Swans--Dacre Monument at
      Herstmoneux--Herstmoneux Castle--Suem;
      Ferling; Grasson--Portrait of Archbishop Williams
      --Swans hatched during Thunder--Etymology of Apricot
      --"Plurima gemma latet circa tellure sepulta"--
      Time when Herodotus wrote--Lucy and Colin--
      Translations of Apuleius, &c.--Etymology of "Grasson"
      --Lynch Law--"Talk not of Love"--The Butcher
      Duke--Curfew--Robertson Struan                           68

  MISCELLANEOUS:--
    Notes on Books, Sales, Catalogues, &c.                     77
    Books and Odd Volumes Wanted                               78
    Notices to Correspondents                                  78
    Advertisements                                             78

       *       *       *       *       *


NOTES.

TRADITIONAL ENGLISH BALLADS.

The task of gathering old traditionary song is surely a pleasant and a
lightsome one. Albeit the harvest has been plentiful and the gleaners many,
still a stray sheaf may occasionally be found worth the having. But we must
be careful not to "pick up a straw."

One of your corespondents recommends, as an addition to the value of your
pages, the careful getting together of those numerous traditional ballads
that are still sometimes to be met with, floating about various parts of
the country. This advice is by no means to be disregarded, but I wish to
point out the necessity of the contributors to the undertaking knowing
something about ballad literature. An acquaintance with the ordinary
_published_ collections, at least, cannot be dispensed with. Without this
knowledge we should be only multiplying copies of worthless trifles, or
reprinting ballads that had already appeared in print.

The traditional copies of old _black-letter_ ballads are, in almost all
cases (as may easily be seen by comparison), much the worse for wear. As a
proof of this I refer the curious in these matters to a volume of
_Traditional Versions of Old Ballads_, collected by Mr. Peter Buchan, and
edited by Mr. Dixon for the Percy Society. The Rev. Mr. Dyce pronounces
this "a volume of _forgeries_;" but, acquitting poor Buchan (of whom more
anon) of any intention to deceive, it is, to say the least of it, a volume
of _rubbish_; inasmuch as the ballads are all worthless modern versions of
what had appeared "centuries ago" in their _genuine_ shape. Had these
ballads _not existed in print_, we should have been glad of them in any
form; but, in the present case, the publication of such a book (more
especially by a learned society) is a positive nuisance.

Another work which I cannot refrain from noticing, called by one of the
reviewers "A valuable contribution to our stock of ballad literature"? is
Mr. Frederick Sheldon's _Minstrelsy of the English Border_. The preface to
this volume {50} promises much, as may be seen by the following passage:--

    "It is now upwards of forty years since Sir Walter Scott published his
    _Border Minstrelsy_, and during his 'raids,' as he facetiously termed
    his excursions of discovery in Liddesdale, Teviotdale, Tyndale, and the
    Merse, very few ballads of any note or originality could possibly
    escape his enthusiastic inquiry; for, to his love of ballad literature,
    he added the patience and research of a genuine antiquary. Yet, no
    doubt many ballads _did_ escape, and still remain scattered up and down
    the country side, existing probably in the recollection of many a
    sun-browned shepherd, or the weather-beaten brains of ancient hinds, or
    'eldern' women: or in the well-thumbed and nearly illegible leaves of
    some old book or pamphlet of songs, snugly resting on the 'pot-head,'
    or sharing their rest with the 'Great Ha' Bible,' _Scott's Worthies_,
    or Blind Harry's lines. The parish dominie or pastor of some obscure
    village, amid the many nooks and corners of the Borders, possesses, no
    doubt, treasures in the ballad-ware that would have gladdened the heart
    of a Ritson, a Percy, or a Surtees; in the libraries, too, of many an
    ancient descendant of a Border family, some black-lettered volume of
    ballads, doubtlessly slumbers in hallowed and unbroken dust."

This reads invitingly; the writer then proceeds:--

    "From such sources I have obtained may of the ballads in the present
    collection. Those to which I have stood godfather, and so baptized and
    remodelled, I have mostly met with in the 'broad-side' ballads, as they
    are called."

Although the writer here speaks of Ritson and Percy as if he were
acquainted with their works, it is very evident that he had not looked into
their contents. The name of Evans' _Collection_ had probably never reached
him. Alas! we look in vain for the tantalising "pamphlet of songs,"--still,
perhaps, snugly resting on the "pot-head," where our author in his
"poetical dream" first saw it. The "black-lettered volume of ballads" too,
in the library of the "ancient descendant of a Border family," still
remains in its dusty repository, untouched by the hand of Frederick
Sheldon.

In support of the object of this paper I shall now point out "a few" of the
errors of _The Minstrelsy of the English Border_.

P. 201. _The Fair Flower of Northumberland_:--

  "It was a knight in Scotland born,
    Follow my love, come over the Strand;
  Was taken prisoner, and left forlorn
    Even by the good Erle Northumberland."

This is a corrupt version of Thomas Deloney's celebrated ballad of "The
Ungrateful Knight," printed in the _History of Jack of Newbery_, 1596, and
in Ritson's _Ancient Songs_, 1790. A Scottish version may be found in
Kinloch's _Ballads_, under the title of the "The Provost's Daughter." Mr.
Sheldon knows nothing of this, but says,--

    "This ballad has been known about the English Border for many years,
    and I can remember a version of it being sung by my grandmother!"

He also informs us that he has added the last verse but one, in order to
make the "ends of justice" more complete!

P. 232. _The Laird of Roslin's Daughter_:--

  "The Laird of Roslin's daughter
    Walk'd through the wood her lane;
  And by her came Captain Wedderburn,
    A servant to the Queen."

This is a wretched version (about half the original length) of a well-known
ballad, entitled "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship." It first appeared _in
print_ in _The New British Songster_, a collection published at Falkirk, in
1785. It was afterwards inserted in Jamieson's _Popular Ballads and Songs_,
1806; Kinloch's _Ancient Ballads_, 1826; Chambers' _Scottish Ballads_,
1829, &c. But hear what Mr. Sheldon has to say, in 1847:--

    "This is a fragment of an apparently ancient ballad, related to me by a
    lady of Berwick-on-Tweed, who used to sing it in her childhood. I have
    given all that she was able to furnish me with. The same lady assures
    me that she never remembers having seen it in print [!!], and that she
    had learnt if from her nurse, together with the ballad of 'Sir Patrick
    Spens,' and several Irish legends, since forgotten."

P. 274. _The Merchant's Garland_:--

  "Syr Carnegie's gane owre the sea,
    And's plowing thro' the main,
  And now must make a lang voyage,
    The red gold for to gain."

This is evidently one of those ballads which calls Mr. Sheldon "godfather."
The original ballad, which has been "baptized and remodelled," is called
"The Factor's Garland." It begins in the following homely manner:--

  "Behold here's a ditty, 'tis true and no jest
  Concerning a young gentleman in the East,
  Who by his great gaming came to poverty,
  And afterwards went many voyages to sea."

P. 329. _The rare Ballad of Johnnie Faa_:--

  "There were seven gipsies in a gang,
    They were both brisk and bonny O;
  They rode till they came to the Earl of Castle's house,
    And here they sang so sweetly O."

This is a very _hobbling_ version (from the recitation of a "gipsy
vagabond") of a ballad frequently reprinted. It first appeared in Ramsay's
_Tea-Table Miscellany_; afterwards in Finlay's and Chambers' Collections.
None of these versions were known to Mr. Sheldon.

I have now extracted enough from the _Minstrelsy of the English Border_ to
show the mode of "ballad editing" as pursued by Mr. Sheldon. The instances
are sufficient to strengthen my position.

One of the most popular traditional ballads still {51} floating about the
country, is "King Henrie the Fifth's Conquest:"--

  "As our King lay musing on his bed,
  He bethought himself upon a time,
  Of a tribute that was due from France,
  Had not been paid for so long a time."

It was first printed from "oral communication," by Sir Harris Nicolas, who
inserted two versions in the Appendix to his _History of the Battle of
Agincourt_, 2d edition, 8vo. 1832. It again appeared (not from either of
Sir Harris Nicolas's copies) in the Rev. J.C. Tyler's _Henry of Monmouth_,
8vo. vol. ii. p. 197. And, lastly, in Mr. Dixon's _Ancient Poems, Ballads,
and Songs of the Peasantry of England_, printed by the Percy Society in
1846. These copies vary considerably from each other, which cannot be
wondered at, when we find that they were obtained from independent sources.
Mr. Tyler does not allude to Sir Harris Nicolas's copies, nor does Mr.
Dixon seem aware that any _printed_ version of the traditional ballad had
preceded his. The ballad, however, existed in a printed "broad-side" long
before the publications alluded to, and a copy, "Printed and sold in
Aldermary Church Yard," is now before me. It is called "King Henry V., his
Conquest of France in Revenge for the Affront offered by the French King in
sending him (instead of the Tribute) a ton of Tennis Balls."

An instance of the various changes and mutations to which, in the course of
ages, a popular ballad is subject, exists in the "Frog's Wedding." The
pages of the "NOTES AND QUERIES" testify to this in a remarkable degree.
But no one has yet hit upon the _original_ ballad; unless, indeed, the
following be it, and I think it has every appearance of being the identical
ballad licensed to Edward White in 1580-1. It is taken from a rare musical
volume in my library, entitled _Melismata; Musicall Phansies, fitting the
Court, Citie, and Countrey Humours. Printed by William Stansby for Thomas
Adams_, 1611. 4to.

  "THE MARRIAGE OF THE FROGGE AND THE MOUSE.

  "It was the Frogge in the well,
    Humble-dum, humble dum;
  And the merrie Mouse in the mill,
    Tweedle, tweedle twino.

  "The Frogge would a-wooing ride,
    Humble-dum, &c.
  Sword and buckler by his side,
    Tweedle, &c.

  "When he was upon his high horse set,
    Humble-dum, &c.
  His boots they shone as blacke as jet.
    Tweedle, &c.

  "When he came to the merry mill pin,
    Humble-dum, &c.
  Lady Mouse, beene you within?
    Tweedle, &c.

  "Then came out the dusty Mouse,
    Humble-dum, &c.
  I am Lady of this house,
    Tweedle, &c.

  "Hast thou any minde of me?
    Humble-dum, &c.
  I have e'ne great minde of thee,
    Tweedle, &c.

  "Who shall this marriage make?
    Humble-dum, &c.
  Our Lord, which is the Rat,
    Tweedle, &c.

  "What shall we have to our supper?
    Humble-dum, &c.
  Three beanes in a pound of butter,
    Tweedle, &c.

  "When supper they were at,
    Humble-dum, &c.
  The frogge, the Mouse, and even the Rat,
    Tweedle, &c.

  "Then came in Gib our Cat,
    Humble-dum, &c.
  And catcht the Mouse even by the backe,
    Tweedle, &c.

  "Then did they separate,
    Humble-dum, &c.
  And the Frogge leapt on the floore so flat,
    Tweedle, &c.

  "Then came in Dicke our Drake,
    Humble-dum, &c.
  And drew the Frogge even to the lake,
    Tweedle, &c.

  "The Rat ran up the wall,
    Humble-dum, &c
  A goodly company, the Divell goe with all,
    Tweedle, &c."

From what I have shown, the reader will agree with me, that a collector of
ballads from oral tradition should possess some acquaintance with the
labours of his predecessors. This knowledge is surely the smallest part of
the duties of an editor.

I remember reading, some years ago, in the writings of old Zarlino (an
Italian author of the sixteenth century), an amusing chapter on the
necessary qualifications for a "complete musician." The recollection of
this forcibly returns to me after perusing the following extract from the
preface to a _Collection of Ballads_ (2 vols. 8vo. Edinburgh, 1828), by our
"simple" but well-meaning friend, "Mr. Peter Buchan of Peterhead."

    "No one has yet conceived, nor has it entered the mind of man, what
    patience, perseverance, and general knowledge are necessary for an
    editor of a Collection of Ancient Ballads; nor what mountains of
    difficulties he has to overcome; what hosts of enemies he has to
    encounter; and what myriads of little-minded quibblers he has to
    silence. The writing of explanatory notes is like no other species of
    literature. History throws {52} little light upon their origin [the
    ballads, I suppose?], or the cause which gave rise to their
    composition. He has to grope his way in the dark: like Bunyan's
    pilgrim, on crossing the Valley of the Shadow of Death, he hears sounds
    and noises, but cannot, to a certainty, tell from whence they come, nor
    to what place they proceed. The one time, he has to treat of fabulous
    ballads in the most romantic shape; the next, legendary, with all its
    exploded, obsolete, and forgotten superstitions; also history, tragedy,
    comedy, love, war, and so on; all, perhaps, within the narrow compass
    of a few hours,--so varied must his genius and talents be."

After this we ought surely to rejoice, that any one hardy enough to become
an Editor of Old Ballads is left amongst us.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

       *       *       *       *       *

THE FATHER OF PHILIP MASSINGER.

Gifford was quite right in stating that the name of the father of
Massinger, the dramatist, was Arthur, according to Oldys, and not Philip,
according to Wood and Davies. Arthur Massinger (as he himself spelt the
name, although others have spelt it Messenger, from its supposed etymology)
was in the service of the Earl of Pembroke, who married the sister of Sir
Philip Sidney, in whose family the poet Daniel was at one time tutor. I
have before me several letters from him to persons of note and consequence,
all signed "Arthur Massinger;" and to show his importance in the family to
which he was attached, I need only mention, that in 1597, when a match was
proposed between the son of Lord Pembroke and the daughter of Lord
Burghley, Massinger, the poet's father, was the confidential agent employed
between the parties. My purpose at present is to advert to a matter which
occurred ten years earlier, and to which the note I am about to transcribe
relates. It appears that in March, 1587, Arthur Massinger was a suitor for
the reversion of the office of Examiner in the Court of the Marches toward
South Wales, for which also a person of the name of Fox was a candidate;
and, in order to forward the wishes of his dependent, the Earl of Pembroke
wrote to Lord Burghley as follows:--

    "My servant Massinger hathe besought me to ayde him in obteyning a
    reversion from her Majestie of the Examiner's office in this courte;
    whereunto, as I willingly have yielded, soe I resolved to leave the
    craving of your Lordship's furtheraunce to his owne humble sute; but
    because I heare a sonn of Mr. Fox (her Majestie's Secretary here) doth
    make sute for the same, and for the Mr. Sherar, who now enjoyethe it,
    is sicklie, I am boulde to desier your Lordship's honorable favour to
    my servaunte, which I shall most kindlie accepte, and he for the same
    ever rest bounde to praye for your Lordship. And thus, leaving further
    to trouble you, &c. 28. March, 1587. H. PEMBROKE."

The whole body of this communication, it is worth remark, is in the
handwriting of Arthur Massinger (whose penmanship was not unlike that of
his son), and the signature only that of the Earl, in whose family he was
entertained. I have not been able to ascertain whether the application was
successful; and it is possible that some of the records of the court may
exist, showing either the death of Sherar, and by whom he was succeeded
about that date, or that Sherar recovered from his illness. As I have
before said, it is quite clear that Arthur Massinger was high in the
confidence and service of Lord Pembroke ten years after the date of the
preceding note.

I have a good deal more to say about Arthur Massinger, but I must take
another time for the purpose.

THE HERMIT OF HOLYPORT.

       *       *       *       *       *

TOUCHSTONE'S DIAL.

(Vol. ii., p. 405.)

The conjecture of Mr. Knight, in his note to _As You Like It_, and to which
your correspondent J.M.B. has so instructively drawn our attention, is
undoubtedly correct. The "sun-ring" or ring-dial, was probably the watch of
our forefathers some thousand years previous to the invention of the modern
chronometer, and its history is deserving of more attention than has
hitherto been paid to it. Its immense antiquity in Europe is proved by its
still existing in the _remotest_ and _least civilised_ districts of North
England, Scotland, and the Western Isles, Ireland, and in Scandinavia. I
have in my possession _two_ such rings, both of brass. The one, nearly half
an inch broad, and two inches in diameter, is from the Swedish island of
Gothland, and is of more modern make. It is held by the finger and thumb
clasping a small brass ear or handle, to the right of which a slit in the
ring extends nearly one-third of the whole length. A small narrow band of
brass (about one-fifth of the width) runs along the centre of the ring, and
of course covers the slit. This narrow band is movable, and has a hole in
one part through which the rays of the sun can fall. On each side of the
band (to the right of the handle) letters, which stand for the names of the
months, are inscribed on the ring as follows:--

  J   A   S   O   N   D
  J   M   A   M   F   J

[the letters in the lower row inverted]

_Inside_ the ring, opposite to these letters, are the following figures for
the hours:--

  9   8   7   6   5   4   3   2   1
                                      12
  3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10  11

[the figures in the upper row inverted, the 12 sideways]

The small brass band was made movable that the ring-click might be properly
_set by the sun_ at stated periods, perhaps once a month.

The second sun-ring, which I bought in Stockholm in 1847, also "out of a
deal of old iron," is {53} smaller and much broader than the first, and is
perhaps a hundred years older; it is also more ornamented. Otherwise its
fashion is the same, the only difference being in the arrangement of the
inside figures, which are as follows:--

          6   7   8   9  10  11
                                  12
  8   7   6   5   4   3   2   1

[the figures in the lower row inverted]

The ring recovered by Mr. Knight evidently agrees with the above. I hope
Mr. K. will, sooner or later, present the curiosity to our national
museum,--which will be driven at last, if not by higher motives, by the
mere force of public opinion and public indignation, to form a regularly
arranged and grand collection of our own British antiquities in every
branch, secular and religious, from the earliest times, down through the
middle ages, to nearly our own days. Such an archæological department could
count not only upon the assistance of the state, but upon rich and generous
contributions from British sources, individuals and private societies, at
home and abroad, as well as foreign help, at least in the way of exchange.
But any such plan must be _speedily_ and _well_ organised and _well
announced_!

I give the above details, not only because they relate to a passage in our
immortal bard, who has ennobled and perpetuated every word and fact in his
writings, but because they illustrate the astronomical antiquities of our
own country and our kindred tribes during many centuries. These sun-dials
are now very scarce, even in the high Scandinavian North, driven out as
they have been by the watch, in the same manner as the ancient clog[1] or
Rune-staff (the carved wooden perpetual almanac) has been extirpated by the
printed calendar, and now only exists in the cabinets of the curious. In
fifty years more sun-rings will probably be quite extinct throughout
Europe. I hope this will cause you to excuse my prolixity. Will no
_astronomer_ among your readers direct his attention to this subject? Does
anything of the kind still linger in the East?

GEORGE STEPHENS.

Stockholm.

[Footnote 1: The Scandinavian Rune-staff is well known. An engraving of an
ancient English clog (but with Roman characters, instead of Runic) is in
Hone's _Every-Day Book_, vol. ii.]

       *       *       *       *       *

DISCREPANCIES IN DUGDALE'S ACCOUNT OF SIR RALPH DE COBHAM.

There are some difficulties in Dugdale's account of the Cobham family which
it may be well to bring before your readers; especially as several other
historians and genealogists have repeated Dugdale's account without
remarking on its inconsistencies. In speaking of a junior branch of the
family, he says, in vol. ii. p. 69., "There was also Ralphe de Cobham,
brother of the first-mentioned Stephen." He only mentions one Stephen but
names him twice, first at page 66., and again at 69. Perhaps he meant the
_above_-mentioned Stephen. He continues:--

    "This Ralphe took to wife Mary Countess of Norfolk, widdow of Thomas of
    Brotherton. Which Mary was Daughter to William Lord Ros, and first
    married to William Lord Braose of Brembre; and by her had Issue John,
    who 20 E. III., making proof of his age, and doing his Fealty, had
    Livery of his lands."

At page 64. of the same volume he states that Thomas de Brotherton died in
12 Edward III., which would be only eight years before his widow's son, by
a subsequent husband, is said to have become of age. That he did become of
age in this year we have unquestionable evidence. In _Cal. Ing. P. Mortem_,
vol. iv. p. 444., we find this entry:--

    "Anno 20 Edw. III. Johannes de Cobham, Filius et Hæres Radulphi de
    Cobeham defuncti. Probatio ætatis."

There is also abundant proof that Thomas de Brotherton died in 12 Edward
III. The most natural way of removing this difficulty would be to conclude
that John de Cobham was the son of Ralph by a previous marriage. But here
we have another difficulty to encounter. He is not only called the son of
Mary, Countess of Norfolk, or Marishall, by Dugdale, but in all
contemporaneous records. See Rymer's _Foed._, vol. vi. p. 136.; _Rot.
Orig._, vol. ii. p. 277.; _Cal. Rot. Pat._, p. 178., again at p. 179.;
_Cal. Ing. P. Mortem_, vol. iii. pp. 7. 10. Being the son-in-law of the
Countess, he was probably called her son to distinguish him from a kinsman
of the same name, or because of her superior rank. She is frequently styled
the widow, and sometimes the wife of Thomas de Brotherton, even after the
death of her subsequent husband, Sir Ralph de Cobham. In the escheat at her
death she is thus described:--

    "Maria Comitissa Norfolc', uxor Thome de Brotherton, Comitis Norfolc',
    Relicta Radi de Cobeham, Militis."

It is remarkable that this discrepancy in Sir John Cobham's age, and the
time of his supposed mother's marriage with his father, has never before,
as far as my knowledge extends, been noticed by any of the numerous writers
who have repeated Dugdale's account of this family.

Before concluding I will mention another mistake respecting the Countess
which runs through most of our county histories where she is named. For a
short period she became an inmate of the Abbey of Langley, and is generally
stated to have entered it previously to her marriage with Sir Ralph de
Cobham. Clutterbuck, in his _History of Hertfordshire_ (vol. ii. p. 512.),
for instance, relates the circumstance in these words:--

{54}

    "In the 19th year of the reign of Edward III., she became a nun in the
    Abbey of Langley, in the country of Norfolk; but quitting that
    religious establishment, she married Sir Ralph Cobham, Knt., and died
    anno 36 Edward III."

By _Cal. Ing. P. Mortem_, vol. i. p. 328., we find that Ralph Cobham died
19th Edward III.[2], that is, the same year in which the Countess entered
the Abbey, from whence we may conclude that she retired there to pass in
seclusion the period of mourning.

W. HASTINGS KELKE.

[Footnote 2: If my copy be correct, it is 19 Edw. II. in the printed
calendar: but it must have been Edw. III., for, from the possessions
described, it must have been Sir Ralph Cobham who married the widow of
Thomas de Brotherton.]

       *       *       *       *       *

HENRY CHETTLE.

Dr. Rimbault, in the introduction to his edition of _Kind-Hearts' Dream_,
for the Percy Society, says, "Of the author, Henry Chettle, very little is
known: ... we are ignorant of the time and place of his birth or death, and
of the manner in which he obtained his living." (Pp. vii. viii.) I trouble
you with this note in the hope that it may furnish him with a clue to
further particulars of Henry Chettle.

Hutchins (_Hist. of Dorset._, vol. i. p. 53. ed. 1774) mentions a family
named Chettle, which was seated at Blandford St. Mary from 1547 to about
1690, and gives the following names as lineal successors to property in
that parish: Henry Chettle, ob. 1553. John, s. and h., ob. 1590. Edward, s.
and h., ob. 1609, "leaving Henry, his son and heir, eleven years nine
months old." Among the burials for the same parish (p. 57.) occurs "Henry
Chettle, Esq., 1616;" and at pp. 119. 208. the marriage of "Henry Chettle,
Gent., and Susan Chaldecot, 1610." This last extract is from the register
of the parish of Steple, in the Isle of Purbeck, which also contains, says
Hutchins, many notices of the Chettle family; but all, I should infer,
_subsequent_ to the year 1610.

I have ascertained that the statement in Hutchins corresponds with the
entry in the register of Blandford St. Mary, of the burial of Henry Chettle
in 1616; and that there is _no_ entry of the baptism of any one of that
name. In fact, the registers only begin in 1581. Now it is clear that there
were two persons of this name living at the same time, viz. H.C., aged
eleven years in 1609; and H.C., who marries in 1610. And if the conjecture
of the learned editor be correct, as probably it is, that the poet, Henry
Chettle, "died in or before the year 1607," it is equally clear that he was
a _third_ of the same name, and that he could not be the person whose name
occurs as buried in 1616. But the name is not a common one, and there seems
sufficient to warrant further research into this subject. I venture,
therefore, to make these two suggestions in the form of Queries:

I. Can any _internal_ evidence be gathered from the writings of Henry
Chettle, as to his family, origin, and birthplace? _Kind-Heart's Dream_,
the only one of his works which I have either seen or have the means of
consulting, contains nothing specific enough to connect him with Dorset, or
the West. It would seem, indeed, as if he were acquainted with the New
Forest, but not better than with Essex, and other parts adjacent to London.

II. Would it not be worth while to search the Heralds' Visitations for the
county of Dorset, the Will-office, and the Inquisitions "post mortem?" The
family was of some consequence, and is mentioned even in Domesday-book as
holding lands in the county. Hutchins blazons their arms--Az. 3 spiders,
or; but gives no pedigree of the family.

E.A.D.

       *       *       *       *       *

COVERDALE'S BIBLE.

We are told by Mr. Granville Penn, in the Preface to the _Annotations to
the Book of the New Covenant_, that "in 1535 Coverdale printed an English
translation of the Old Testament, to which he annexed Tyndale's revision of
the New, probably revised by himself. These last constitute what is called
_Coverdale's Bible_. Now, the title-page of Coverdale's Bible expressly
states that it was faithfully and truly translated out of Douche and Latyn
into Englishe;" and that this is literally true may be seen by comparing
any portion of it with the common German version of Luther. The following
portion is taken quite at hazard from the original edition; and I have
added Tyndale's version of 1526, as edited by Mr. Offor:

    1535.

    JOHN, VI. 41.

    The[3] murmured the Iewes ther ouer, that he sayde: I am yt bred which
    is come downe from heaue[4], and they sayde: Is not this Iesus, Iosephs
    sonne, whose father and mother we knowe? How sayeth be then, I am come
    downe from heaue[5]? Iesus answered, and sayde vnto them: Murmur not
    amonge youre selues. No man can come vnto me, excepte the father which
    hath sent me, drawe him. And I shal rayse him vp at the last daye. It
    is wrytten in the prophetes: They shal all be taughte of God. Who so
    euer now heareth it of the father and lerneth it, commeth vnto me. Not
    that eny man hath sene the father, saue he which is of the father, the
    same hath sene the father.

    _Luther._

    41 Da murreten die Juden daruber, das er sagte: Ich bin das brodt, das
    vom himmel gekommen ist.

    {55}

    42 Und sprachen; Ist dieser nicht Jesus, Joseph's sohn, dess vater und
    mutter wir kennen? Wie spricht er denn: Ich bin vom himmel gekommen?

    43 Jesus antwortete, und sprach zu ihnen: Murret nicht unter einander.

    44 Es kann niemand zu mir kommen, es sey denn, das ihn ziche der Vater,
    der mich gesandt hat; und Ich werde ihn auferwecken am jungsten tage.

    45 Es stehet geschrieben in den propheten: Sie werden alle von Gott
    gelehret seyn. Wer es nun höret vom Vater, und lernet es, der kommt zu
    mir.

    46 Nicht das jemand den Vater habe gesehen ohne der vom Vater ist, der
    hat den Vater gesehen.

    _Tyndale, 1526._

    The iewes murmured att itt, be cause he sayde: I am thatt breed which
    is come doune from heven. And they sayde: Is nott this Jesus the sonne
    of Joseph, whose father, and mother we knowe? How ys yt then thatt he
    sayeth, I came doune from heven? Jesus answered and sayde vnto them:
    Murmur not betwene youre selves. No man can come to me except my father
    which hath sent me, drawe hym. And y will rayse hym vp at the last
    daye. Hit is written in the prophetes: And they shall all be taught of
    God. Every man which hath herde, and lerned of the father, commeth unto
    me, not that eny man hath sene the father, save he which is off God.
    The same hath sene the father.

    _Authorized Version._

    41 The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which
    came down from heaven.

    42 And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father
    and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from
    heaven?

    43 Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among
    yourselves.

    44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw
    him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

    45 It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God.
    Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father,
    cometh unto me.

    46 Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he
    hath seen the Father.

ECHO.

       *       *       *       *       *

ANSWER TO COWLEY.

On the fly-leaf of a copy of Cowley's Works (London, 1668), I find the
following lines:--

      AN ANSWER TO DRINKING (PAGE 32.).

  "The thirsty earth, when one would think
  Her dusty throat required more drink,
  Wets but her lips, and parts the showers
  Among her thousand plants and flowers:
  Those take their small and stinted size,
  Not drunkard-like, to fall, but rise.
  The sober sea observes her tide
  Even by the drunken sailor's side;
  The roaring rivers pressing high
  Seek to get in her company;
  She, rising, seems to take the cup,
  But other rivers drink all up.
  The sun, and who dare him disgrace
  With drink, that keeps his steady pace,
  Baits at the sea, and keeps good hours.
  The moon and stars, and mighty powers,
  Drink not, but spill that on the floor
  The sun drew up the day before,
  And charitable dews bestow
  On herbs that die for thirst below.
  Then drink no more, then let that die
  That would the drunkard kill, for why
  Shall all things live by rule but I,
  Thou man of morals, tell me why?"

On the title-page, in the same hand-writing as the "Answer," is the name of
the Rev. Archibald Foyer, with the date 1700.

Y.

       *       *       *       *       *

FOLK LORE OF LANCASHIRE. NO. 1.

Lancashire, like all other counties, has its own peculiar superstitions,
manners, and customs, which find no parallels in those of other localities.
It has also, no doubt, many local observances, current opinions, old
proverbs, and vulgar ditties, which are held and known in common with the
inhabitants of a greater extent of county, and differ merely in minor
particulars;--the necessary result of imperfect oral transmission. In
former numbers of this work a few isolated specimens of the folk-lore of
this district have been noticed, and the present attempt is to give
permanency to a few others.

1. If a person's hair, when thrown into the fire, burns brightly, it is a
sure sign that the individual will live long. The brighter the flame the
longer life, and _vice versâ_.

2. A young person frequently stirs the fire with the poker to test the
humour of a lover. If the fire blaze brightly, the lover is
_good-humoured_; and _vice versâ_.

3. A crooked sixpence, or a copper coin with a hole through, are accounted
_lucky_ coins.

4. Cutting or paring the nails of the hands or feet on a Friday or Sunday,
is very unlucky.

5. If a person's _left_ ear burn, or feel hot, somebody is _praising_ the
party; if the _right_ ear burn, then it is a sure sign that some one is
speaking evil of the person.

6. Children are frequently cautioned by their parents not to walk
_backwards_ when going an errand; it is a sure sign that they will be
unfortunate in their objects.

7. Witchcraft, and the belief in its reality, is not yet exploded in many
of the rural districts. The writer is acquainted with parties who place
full credence in persons possessing the power to bewitch cows, sheep,
horses, and even those persons to whom the witch has an antipathy. One
respectable farmer assured me that his horse was {56} _bewitched into the
stable through a loophole twelve inches by three_; the _fact_ he said was
beyond doubt, for he had locked the stable-door himself when the horse was
in the field, and had kept the key in his pocket. Soon after this, however,
a party of farmers went through a process known by the name of "_burning
the witch out_," or "_killing the witch_," as some express it; the person
suspected soon died, and the neighbourhood became free from his evil
doings.

8. A horse-shoe is still nailed behind many doors to counteract the effects
of witchcraft: a _hagstone_ with a hole through, tied to the key of the
stable-door, protects the horses, and, if hung up at the bed's head, the
farmer also.

9. A hot iron put into the cream during the process of churning, expels the
witch from the churn; and dough in preparation for the baker is protected
by being marked with the figure of a cross.

10. Warts are cured by being rubbed over with a black snail, but the snail
must afterwards be impaled upon a hawthorn. If a bag containing as many
small pebbles as a person has warts, be tossed over the _left_ shoulder, it
will transfer the warts to whoever is unfortunate enough to pick up the
bag.

11. If black snails are seized by the horn and tossed over the _left_
shoulder, the process will insure _good luck_ to the person who performs
it.

12. Profuse bleeding is said to be instantly stopped by certain persons who
pretend to possess the secret of a certain form of words which immediately
act as a charm.

13. The power of bewitching, producing evil to parties by _wishing_ it,
&c., is supposed to be transmitted from one possessor to another when one
of the parties is about to die. The writer is in possession of full
particulars respecting this supposed transfer.

14. Cramp is effectually prevented by placing the shoes with the _toes_
just peeping from beneath the coverlet; the same is also prevented by tying
the garter round the _left_ leg _below_ the knee.

15. Charmed rings are worn by many for the cure of dyspepsia; and so also
are charmed belts for the cure of rheumatism.

16. A _red-haired_ person is supposed to bring in ill-luck if he be the
first to enter a house on New Year's Day. _Black-haired_ persons are
rewarded with liquor and small gratuities for "taking in the new year" to
the principal houses in their respective neighbourhoods.

17. If any householder's fire does not burn _through_ the night of New
Year's Eve, it betokens bad luck during the ensuing year; and if any party
allow another a live coal, or even a lighted candle, on such an occasion,
the bad luck is extended to the other part for commiserating with the
former in his misfortunes.

Many other specimens of the folk lore of this district might be enumerated;
but since many here have implicit faith in Lover's expression,--

    "There is luck in _odd_ numbers;"

I will reserve them for a future opportunity, considering that _seventeen_
paragraphs are sufficient to satisfy all except the most thorough-paced
_folklorians_.

T.T. WILKINSON.

Burnley, Lancashire.

       *       *       *       *       *

MINOR NOTES.

_Proclamation of Langholme Fair._--In an old paper I find the following
proclamation of a fair, to be held in a town in Scotland; it may, perhaps,
amuse some of your numerous readers:--

    "O yes! and that's a time. O yes! and that's twa times. O yes! and
    that's the third and last time: All manner of pearson or pearsons
    whatsoever let 'em draw near, and I shall let you ken that there is a
    fair to be held at the muckle town of Langholme, for the space of aught
    days; wherein if any hustrin, custrin, land-louper, dukes-couper, or
    gang-y-gate swinger, shall breed any urdam, durdam, brabblement, or
    squabblement, he shall have his lugs tacked to the muckle trone, with a
    nail of twal-a-penny, until he down of his hobshanks and up with his
    mucle doubs, and pray to heaven neen times, Gold bles the king, and
    thrice the muckle Lord of Relton, pay a groat to me Jammey Ferguson,
    bailiff of the aforesaid manor. So ye heard my proclamation, and I'll
    haam to dinner."

Perhaps some of your correspondents north of the Tweed can give the meaning
(if there be any) of a few of the choice expressions contained in this
document.

MONKBARNS.

_Seats in Churches._--The following curious notice of seats in churches
occurs in Thompson's _History of Swine_; which is quoted by him from
_Whitaker's Whalley_, 2nd edit. 4to. p. 228.:--

    "My man Shuttleworth, of Harking, made this form and here will I sit
    when I come; and any cousin Nowell may make one behind me, if he
    please, and my son Sherburne shall make one on the other side; and Mr.
    Catteral another behind him; and for the residue the use shall be,
    _first come first speed; and that will make the proud wives of Whalley
    rise betimes to come to church_."

Which seems to convey the idea, that it was at that time customary for
persons to make their seats in the churches. Query, When did pews come into
general use?

R.W.E.

Hull.

    [The earliest notice of pews occurs in the _Vision of Piers Plouman_,
    p. 95., edit. 1813:--

      "Among wyves and wodewes ich am ywoned sute
      Yparroked _in puwes_. The person hit knoweth."

    See also _The History of Pews_, a paper read before the Cambridge
    Camden Society, 1841.]

{57} _Flemish Account._--T.B.M. (Vol. i., p. 8.) requests references to
early instances of the use of this expression. In the _History of Edward
II._, by E.F., written A.D. 1627 (see "NOTES AND QUERIES" Vol. i., pp. 91.
220.), folio edition, p. 113., I find "The Queen (Isabella) who had already
a French and an Italian trick, was jealous lest she should here taste a
Flemish one;" because she feared lest the Earl of Henault should abandon
her cause. This instance is, I think, earlier than any yet referred to.

S.G.

_Use of Monosyllables._--The most remarkable instance of the use of
monosyllables that I remember to have met with in our poets, occurs in the
Fire-worshippers in _Lalla Rookh_. It is as follows:--

  "I knew, I knew it could not last--
  'Twas bright, 'twas heav'nly, but 'tis past!
  Oh! ever thus, from childhood's hour,
    I've seen my fondest hopes decay;
  I never lov'd a tree or flow'r
    But 'twas the first to fade away.
  I never nurs'd a dear gazelle
    To glad me with its soft black eye,
  But when it came to know me well,
    And love me, it was sure to die!
  Now, too--the joy most like divine
    Of all I ever dreamt or knew,
  To see thee, hear thee, call thee mine,--
    Oh misery! must I lose _that_ too?
  Yet go! On peril's brink we meet;--
    Those frightful rocks--that treach'rous sea--
  No, never come again--tho' sweet,
    Tho' Heav'n, it may be death to thee!"

This passage contains 126 words, 110 of which are monosyllables, and the
remainder words of only two syllables. The sentiment embodied throughout is
that of violent mental emotion; and it affords a further illustration of
the correctness of MR. C. FORBES'S theory (Vol. i., p. 228.) that "the
language of passion is almost invariably broken and abrupt."

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia, W.I., Nov. 1850.

_Specimen of Foreign English._--

  "RESTORATIVE HOTEL, FINE HOK.
  KEPT BY FRANK PROSPERI,
  FACING THE MILITARY QUARTER
  AT POMPEII.

    That hotel open since a very few days, is renowned for the cleanness of
    the apartments and linen; for the exactness of the service, and for the
    eccelence of the true french cookery. Being situated at proximity of
    that regeneration, it will be propitius to receive families, whatever,
    which will desire to reside alternatively into that town, to visit the
    monuments new found, and to breathe thither the salubrity of the air.

    That establishment will avoid to all the travellers, visitors, of that
    sepult city, and to the artists, (willing draw the antiquities) a great
    disorder, occasioned by the tardy and expensive contour of the
    iron-whay. People will find equally thither, a complete sortment of
    stranger wines, and of the kingdom, hot and cold baths, stables and
    coach houses, the whole with very moderated prices. Now, all the
    applications and endeavours of the hoste, will tend always to
    correspond to the tastes and desires, of their customers, which will
    acquire without doubt, to him, in to that town, the reputation whome,
    he is ambitious."

The above is a literal copy of a card in the possession of a friend of
mine, who visited Pompeii, 1847.

W.L.

_Epitaph._--While engaged in some enquiries after family documents in the
British Museum lately, I lighted on a little poem, which, though not
connected with my immediate object, I copied, and here subjoin, hoping your
readers will be as much attracted as I was by the simplicity and elegance
of the lines and thoughts; and that some one of them, with leisure and
opportunity, will do what I had not time to do, namely,--decypher in the
MSS. the _name_ of the "Worthie Knight" on whom this epitaph was composed,
and give any particulars which can be ascertained concerning him.

  EPITAPH ON ----

  (_Harleian MSS._, 78. 25. b. Pluto 63 E.)

  "Under this stone, thir ly'th at reste
    A Friendlie Manne--A Worthie Knight,
  Whose herte and mynde was ever prest
    To favour truthe--to furder righte.
  "The poore's defense--hys neighbors ayde,
    Most kinde alwaies unto his Kyne,
  That stynt alle striffes that might be stayed,
    Whose gentil grace great love dyd wynne,
  "A Man that was fulle earneste sette
    To serve hys prince at alle assayes,
  No sicknesse could him from itt lette,
    Which was the shortninge of hys daies.
  "His lyf was good--he dyed fulle welle,
    Hys bodie here--the soule in blisse;
  With lengthe of wordes, why should I telle,
    Or further shewe, that well knowne is,
      Since that the teares of mor or lesse
      Right welle declare hys worthynesse."

A.B.R.

       *       *       *       *       *


QUERIES.

THE TALE OF THE WARDSTAFF.

Can any of your antiquarian correspondents furnish further elucidation of
the strange ceremony of the gathering of the Wardstaff (which was in old
time one of the customs of the hundred of Ongar, in Essex) than are to be
found in Morant's _History of Essex_, vol. i. p. 126.? from whence it was
incorrectly copied in Blount's _Jocular Tenures_ by Beckwith, 4to. ed. It
has been also more correctly given by Sir Francis Palgrave, in his _Rise
and Progress of the English Commonwealth_, Part II. p. clvii., who justly
styles it--

    "a strange and uncouth fragment of the earliest customs of the Teutons;
    in which we can still recognise {58} the tone and the phraseology of
    the Courts of the Eresburg. The _Irminsule_ itself having been
    described as a trunk of a tree, Thor was worshipped under the same rude
    symbol; and it may be suspected that the singular respect and reverence
    shown to the ward-staff of the East Saxons is not without its relation
    to the rites and ceremonies of the heathen time, though innocently and
    unconsciously retained."

At the time of publication of his learned and interesting work, Sir Francis
did me the honour to adopt some conjectural corrections of Morant's very
corrupt transcript of the rhyme, which I furnished at his request, in
common with others suggested by the late Mr. Price. Since that time, a more
mature examination of it has enabled me, I think, to put it into a form
much more nearly resembling what it must have originally been; many of the
corrections being obviously required by the prose details which accompany
it in the MS. from which Morant gave it. It may not, therefore, be
unacceptable to some of your readers, to subjoin this corrected copy. It
may be proper to premise, that "The _Tale_ of the Wardstaff" is the
_tallying_ or _cutting_ of it, and that it was evidently originally spoken
in parts, assigned as under; although it should seem that there is no
indication of this arrangement in the MS.

  "THE TALE OF THE WARDSTAFF.

          _The Bailiffe of the Liberty._
  "Iche athied[6] the staffe byleve,
  Thanne staffe iche toke byleve,
  Byleve iche will tellen[7]
  Now the staffe have iche got.

          _Lord of Ruckwood Hall._
  "Tho the staffe to me com
  Als he hoveon for to don,
  Faire and well iche him underfing
  Als iche hoveon for to don.

          _The Bailiffe._
  "All iche theron challenged,
  That theron was for to challenge,
  Nameliche,--this:--and--this:
  And all that ther was for to challenge.

          _Lord of Ruckwood._
  "Fayer iche him uppdede
  Als iche hoveon for to don.

          _The Bailiffe._
  "All iche warnyd to the Ward to cum,
  That therto hoveon for to cum,
  By SUNNE SHINING.

          _Lord of Ruckwood._
  "We our roope theder brouhton,
  A roope beltan[8],
  Als we hoveon for don;
  And there waren and wakeden,
  And the Ward soe kept,
  That the King was harmless,
  And the Country scatheless.

          _The Bailiffe._
  "And a morn, when itt day was,
  And the sun arisen was,
  Faier honour weren to us toke,
  Als us hoveon for to don.

          _The Lords, and the Tenants_
  Fayre on the staffe we scorden,
  Als we hoveon for to don,
  Fayre we him senden,
  Theder we hoveon for to sende.

          _The Bailiffe._
  And zif ther is any man
  That this wittsiggen can
  Iche am here ready for to dôn
  Azens himself, iche ône,
  Other mid him on,
  Other mid twyn feren,
  Als we ther weren.
          ----
  "Sir, byleve take this staffe,
  This is the Tale of the Wardstaffe."

It will be at once apparent that this is a corrupt transcript of a
semi-Saxon original of much earlier date; and by comparing it with Morant's
very blundering copy, the conjectural corrections I have essayed will be
perceived to be numerous. Many of then will, however, be found not only
warranted, but absolutely necessary, from the accompanying prose account of
the ceremony. The MS. from which it was taken by Morant, was an account of
the Rents of the hundred of Ongar, in the time of John Stonar of Loughton,
who had a grant of it for his life in the 34th year of King Henry VIII. He
seems to have died 12th June, 1566, holding of the Queen, by the twentieth
part of a knight's fee, and the yearly rent of 13l. 16s. 4d., the manor,
park, chase, &c., of Hatfield Broad Oak, with the hundreds of Ongar and
Harlow; and the _Wardstaff_ of the same hundreds, then valued at 101l. 15s.
10d. As the _Wardstaff_ is said by Morant to make a considerable figure in
old records, it is reasonable to hope that a more satisfactory account of
it may still lie amongst unsunned ancient muniments. All the old Teutonic
judicial assemblies were, as Sir F. Palgrave remarks, held in the open air,
beneath the sky and _by the light of the sun_. The following is a part of
the ancient rhyme by which the proceedings of the famous Vehm-Gerichte were
opened, which were first printed by Schottelius, and the whole of which may
be found in Beck's _Geschichte der Westphalischen Fehm-Gerichte_, and in
Sir F. Palgrave's work. The similarity of expression is remarkable.

{59}

  "All dewile an düssem Dage,
  Mit yuwer allen behage,
  Under den HELLEN HIMMEL klar,
  Ein fry Feld-gericht openbar;
  Geheget BYM LECHTEN SONNENSHIN
  Mit nöchterm Mund kommen herin,
  De toel ock is gesettet recht,
  Dat maht befunden uprecht,
  So sprecket Recht ane With und Wonne
  Up Klage und Antwort, WEIL SCHIENT DIE SONNE."

I must refer to Morant, to Beckwith or Sir F. Palgrave, for the details of
the ceremony of the Wardstaff, which it should appear was observed at least
as late as the reign of Queen Elizabeth, but in Morant's time it had long
been neglected. In the hope that some of your antiquarian correspondents
may be enabled to throw more light on this very curious custom, I will
merely add, that Morant suggests that it is possible some elucidation of it
might be found "in the Evidence House in Hatfield Church, where (he says)
are a great number of writings relating to the priory and lordship."

S.W. SINGER.

Jan 11. 1851.

[Footnote 3: aþied, cut.]

[Footnote 4: _i.e._ tally, or _score_.]

[Footnote 5: _i.e._ a rope with a _bell_ appended.]

       *       *       *       *       *

BALLAD ASCRIBED TO SIR C. HANBURY WILLIAMS.

Being engaged on a collection of fugitive pieces by wits of the last
century, yet unprinted, I wish to take the opinion of your valuable
correspondents as to the authorship of the enclosed piece. It has been
pointed out to me in an album, dated at the beginning Feb. 14th, 1743; it
occurs towards the end of the volume (which is nearly filled), without
date, and signed C.H. Williams.

It is evidently not autograph, being in the hand which mainly pervades the
book. Had Sir C.H. Williams been a baronet at the time, his title would
doubtless have been attached to his name. I wish to know, first, at what
date Sir C.H. Williams was born, became a baronet, and died? Secondly, is
there any internal evidence of style that the ballad is by his hand?
Thirdly, is there any clue as to who the fair and cruel Lucy may have been?
And lastly, whether any of your correspondents have seen the thing in print
before?

G.H. BARKER.

Whitwell, Yorkshire.

                  I.

  "Lips like cherries crimson-juicy,
    Cheeks like peach's downy shades,
  Has my Lucy--lovely Lucy!
    Loveliest of lady's maids!!!

                  II.

  "Eyes like violet's dew-bespangled,
    Softly fringed deep liquid eyes!
  Pools where Cupid might have angled
    And expected fish to rise.

                  III.

  "Cupid angling?--what the deuce! he
    Must not fish in Lucy's eye!
  Cupid leave alone my Lucy--
    You have other fish to fry!!!

                  IV.

  "But with patience unavailing--
    Angling dangling late and soon--
  Weeping, still I go a _wail_ing,
    And _harp on_ without harpoon.

                  V.

  "Kerchief, towel, duster, rubber,
    Cannot wipe my weeping dry--
  _Whal_ing still I lose _my blubber_,
    Catching _wails_ from Lucy's eye.

          VI.

  "Blubber--wax and spermaceti--
    Swealing taper--trickling tear!
  Writing of a mournful ditty
    To my lovely Lucy dear.

          VII.

  "Pouring tears from eyelids sluicy,
    While the waning flamelet fades,
  All for Lucy--lovely Lucy,
    Loveliest of lady's maids.

                  "C.H. WILLIAMS."

    [The foregoing ballad does not appear in the edition of the works of
    Sir C. Hanbury Williams (3 vols. 8vo. 1822), from the preface to which
    it appears that he was born in 1709, installed a Knight of the Bath in
    1746, and died on the 2nd November, 1759.]

       *       *       *       *       *

MINOR QUERIES.

_Book called Tartuare.--William Wallace in London._--1. Is there any one of
your correspondents, learned or unlearned, who can oblige me with any
account of a printed book called _Tartuare?_ Its date would be early in the
sixteenth century, if not before this.

2. After William Wallace had been surprised and taken, he was brought to
London, and lodged, it is said, in a part of what is now known as Fenchurch
Street. There is a reader and correspondent of yours, who, I am assured,
can point out the site of this house, or whatever it was. Will he kindly
assist archæological inquirers, by informing us whereabouts it stood?

W.(I.)

_Obeism._--Can any of your readers give me some information about _obeism_?
I am anxious to know whether it is in itself a religion, or merely a rite
practised in some religion in Africa, and imported thence to the West
Indies (where, I am told, it is rapidly gaining ground again); and whether
the _obeist_ obtains the immense power he is said to possess over his
brother negroes by any acquired art, or simply by working upon the more
superstitious {60} minds of his companions. Any information, however, on
the subject will be acceptable.

T.H.

Mincing Lane, Jan. 10. 1851.

_Aged Monks._--Ingulphus (_apud Wharton, Anglia Sacra_, 613.) speaks of
five monks of Croyland Abbey, who lived in the tenth century, the oldest of
whom, he says, attained the age of one hundred and sixty-eight years: his
name was Clarembaldus. The youngest, named Thurgar, died at the premature
age of one hundred and fifteen. Can any of your correspondents inform me of
any similar instance of longevity being recorded in monkish chronicles? I
remember reading of some old English monks who died at a greater age than
brother Thurgar, but omitted to "make a note of it" at the time, and should
now be glad to find it.

F. SOMNER MERRYWEATHER.

Gloucester Place, Kentish Town.

_Lady Alice Carmichael, daughter of John first Earl of Hyndford._--John
second Lord Carmichael succeeded his grandfather in 1672. He was born 28th
February, 1638, and married, 9th October, 1669, Beatrice Drummond, second
daughter of David third Lord Maderty, by whom he had seven sons and _four_
daughters. He was created Earl of Hyndford in 1701, and died in 1710.

I wish to be informed (if any of the obliging readers of your valuable
publication can refer me to the authority) what became of Alice, who is
named among the daughters of this earl in one of the early Scottish
Peerages (anterior probably to that of Crawfurd, in 1716), but which the
writer of this is unable to indicate. Archibald, the youngest son, was born
15th April, 1693. The Lady Beatrice, the eldest daughter, married, in 1700,
_Cockburn_; Mary married _Montgomery_; and Anne married _Maxwell_. It is
traditionally reported that the Lady Alice, in consequence of her marriage
with one of her father's tenants, named Biset or Bisset, gave offence to
the family, who upon that contrived to have her name omitted in all
subsequent peerages. The late Alexander Cassy, of Pentonville, who
bequeathed by will several thousand pounds to found a charity at Banff, was
son of Alexander Cassy of that place, and ---- Biset, one of the daughters,
sprung from the above-named marriage.

SCOTUS.

"_A Verse may find Him._"--In the first stanza of Herbert's poem entitled
the _Church Porch_, in the _Temple_, the following lines occur:--

  "A verse may find him, whom a sermon flies,
  And turn delight into a sacrifice."

Which contain, evidently, the same idea as the one enunciated in the
subsequent ones quoted by Wordsworth (I believe) as a motto prefixed to his
ecclesiastical sonnets, without an author assigned:--

  "A verse may catch a wandering soul that flies
  More powerful tracts: and by a blest surprise
  Convert delight into a sacrifice."

Query, Who was the author of them?

R.W.E.

Hull.

_Daresbury, the White Chapel of England._--Sometime ago I copied the
following from a local print:--

    "'_Nixon's Prophecy._--When a fox without cubs shall sit in the White
    Chapel of England, then men shall travel to Paris without horses, and
    kings shall run away and leave their crowns.'

    "The present incumbent of Daresbury, Cheshire (the White Chapel of
    England), is the Rev. Mr. Fawkes, who (1849) is unmarried. The striking
    accomplishment--railway travelling and the revolutions of the present
    year--must be obvious to every one."

My Query to the above is this: Why is the church of Daresbury called the
White Chapel of England, and how did the name originate? The people in the
neighbourhood, I understand, know nothing on the subject.

An answer to the above from one of your learned correspondents would
greatly oblige.

J.G.

_Ulm Manuscript._--Can you inform me where the Ulm manuscript is, which was
in the possession of Archdeacon Butler, at Shrewsbury, in the year 1832. It
is a document of great interest, and some critical value, and ought to be,
if it is not already, in public keeping. It is a Latin MS. of the Acts and
Epistles, probably of the ninth century, and contains the
Pseudo-Hieronymian Prologue to the "Canonical" Epistles.

It renders the classical passage, 1 John v. 7, 8., in this wise:--

    "Quia tres sunt qui testimonium dant, spiritus, et aqua, et sanguis, et
    tres unum sunt. Sicut in coelo tres sunt, Pater, Verbum, et Spiritus,
    et tres unum sunt."

You will remember that it is quoted by Porson in his _Letters to Travis_,
p. 148., and again referred to by him, pp. 394. 400.

Was it sold on the death of the Bishop of Lichfield, or bequeathed to any
public institution? or did it find its way into the possession of the Duke
of Sussex, who was curious in biblical matters, and was a correspondent of
Dr. Butler? Some of your learned readers will perhaps enable you to trace
it.

O.T. DOBBIN, LL.D. T.C.D.

Hull, Yorkshire, Jan. 1851.

_Merrick and Tattersall._--Will any of your correspondents be so obliging
as to give the years of _birth_ of Merrick, the poet and versifier of the
Psalms, and of his biographer, Tattersall. The years of their _deaths_ are
given respectively 1769 {61} and 1829: but I can nowhere find when they
were born.

M.

    [Merrick was born in 1720, and Tattersall in 1752.]

_Dr. Trusler's Memoirs._--I have the First Part of the _Memoirs of the Life
of the Rev. Dr. Trusler, with his Opinions and Remarks through a Long Life
on Men and Manners, written by himself._ Bath. Printed and published by
John Browne, George Street, 1806. This Part is a 4to. of 200 pages, and is
full of curious anecdotes of the time. It was intended to form three or
more Parts. Was it ever completed: and if so, where to be procured? In all
my searches after books, I never met but with this copy.

At the end of the First Part there is a prospectus of a work Trusler
intended to publish in the form of a Dictionary (and of which he gives a
specimen sheet), entitled _Sententiæ Variorum_. Can any of your Bath
friends say if the manuscript is still in existence, as he states that it
is ready for the press; or that he would treat with any party disposed to
buy the copyright?

T.

_Life of Bishop Frampton._--I have in my possession a manuscript life of
Bishop Frampton, who was ejected for not taking the oaths to William and
Mary. It is of sufficient detail and interest to deserve publication. But
before I give it to the world, that I may do what justice I can to the
memory of so excellent a man, I should be happy to receive the
contributions of any of your readers who may happen to possess any thing of
interest relating to him. I have reason to believe that several of his
sermons, the texts of which are given in his life, are still in existence.
Will you be kind enough to allow your periodical to be the vehicle of this
invitation?

T. SIMPSON EVANS.

Shoreditch.

_Probabilism._--Will any one inform me by whom the doctrine of Probabilism
was first propounded as a system? And whether, when fairly stated, it is
any thing more than the enunciation of a deep moral principle?

R.P.

_Sir Henry Chauncy's Observations on Wilfred Entwysel._--After recording
the inscription on the brass plate in St. Peter's Church, St. Alban's, to
the memory of Sir Bertin Entwysel, Knt., Viscount and Baron of Brykbeke in
Normandy, who fell at the first battle of St. Alban's, in 1455, Chauncy
proceeds to state:--

    "These Entwysels were gentlemen of good account in Lancashire, whose
    mansion-house retains the name of Entwysel, and the last heir of that
    house was one Wilfred Entwysel, who sold his estate, and served as a
    lance at Musselborrow Field, Anno 2 Edw. VI. After that he served the
    Guyes in defence of Meth, and he was one of the four captains of the
    fort of Newhaven, who being infected with the plague and shipped for
    England, landed at Portsmouth, and uncertain of any house, in
    September, 1549, died under a hedge."--_Historical Antiq. of
    Hertfordshire, by Sir Henry Chauncy, Knt., Serj. at Law_, p. 472. fol.
    1700.

On what authority is this latter statement made, and if it was traditional
when Chauncy wrote, was the foundation of the tradition good? Did Sir
Bertin Entwysel leave issue male, and is the precise link ascertained which
connects him with the family of Entwisle of Entwisle, in the parish of
Bolton-en-le-Moors, in Lancashire? Wilfred Entwysel was not "the last heir
of that house," as the _post mortem inq._ of Edmund Entwisle, of Entwisle,
Esq., was taken 14 Sept. 1544, and his son and heir was George Entwisle,
then aged twenty-two years and upwards. Amongst his large estates was "the
manor of Entwissell."

F.R.R.

_Theological Tracts._--Can any of your correspondents inform me where the
following tracts are to be found?--

  "_Pattern of the Present Temple_,"
  "_Garnish of the Soul_,"
  "_Soldier of Battle_,"
  "_Hunt of the Fox_,"
  "_Fardle of Fashions_,"
  "_Gamer's Arraign_,"
  and a work entitled "_Vaux's Catechism_."

I am sorry not to be able to give a more minute description of them; they
were all published, I think, before the middle of the seventeenth century.

The Bodleian and our own University Libraries have been searched, but to no
purpose.

S.G.

_Lady Bingham._--In _Blackwood's Magazine_, vol. lxviii. p. 141. there is a
paper, bearing every mark of authenticity, which details the unsuccessful
courtship of Sir Symonds D'Ewes with Jemima, afterwards Baroness Crewe, and
daughter of Edward Waldgrave, Esq., of Lawford House in Essex, and Sarah
his wife. It is stated that the latter bore the name of Lady Bingham, as
being the widow of a knight, and that his monument may still be seen in
Lawford church. On referring to the Suckling Papers, published by Weale, I
find no account of this monument, though an inscription of that of Edward
Waldgrave, Esq., apparently his father-in-law, is given. Can any of your
readers give me any information as to this lady? I should, if possible, be
glad to have her maiden name and origin, as well as that of her first
husband. She might have been the widow of Sir Richard Bingham, Governor of
Connaught, &c., whose MS. account of the Irish wars is now publishing by
the Celtic Society, and who died A.D. 1598. In that case, I leave a
conjecture before me, that she was a Kingsmill of Sidmanton, in Hampshire.
I mention this to aid enquiry, if any one will be so good as to make it. If
there is such a monument in existence, his arms may be quartered on it, for
which I should be also thankful.

C.W.B. {62}

_Gregory the Great._--Lady Morgan, in her letter to Cardinal Wiseman,
speaks of "the pious and magnificent Matilda, Countess of Tuscany, the ally
of Gregory _the Great_, and the foundress of his power through her wealth
and munificence." By Gregory the Great it is evident that Lady Morgan means
Hildebrand, or Gregory VII. May ask, through the medium of your pages,
whether any authority can be found for terming Gregory VII. _the Great_, an
epithet which I had previously considered to be confined to Gregory I.?

EGENHART.

_John Hill's Penny Post, in_ 1659.--I noted a few years back, from a
bookseller's catalogue, the title of a work--

    "Hill (John), a Penny-Post; or a vindication of the liberty of every
    Englishman in carrying Merchants' and other Men's letters against any
    restraints of farmers of such employments. 4to. 1659."

Can any of your correspondents give an account of this work?

E.M.B.

_Andrea Ferrara._--Will any kind friend inform me where any history is to
be found of "Andrea Ferrara," the sword cutler?

V.E.L.

_Imputed Letters of Sallustius._--Can any of your correspondents inform me
whether a MS. of the _Epistles of Sallustius to Cæsar on Statesmanship_ is
deposited in any one of our public libraries?

KENNETH R.H. MACKENZIE.

January 18. 1851.

_Thomas Rogers of Horninger_ (Vol. ii., pp. 424. 521.).--I am obliged to
Mr. Kersley for his reference to Rose's Biographical Dictionary; but he
might have supposed that all such ordinary sources of information would
naturally be consulted before your valuable journal be troubled with a
query. Having reason to believe that Rogers took an active part in the
stirring events of his time, I shall be much obliged to any of your
correspondents who will refer me to any _incidental_ notices of him in
cotemporary or other writers: to diffuse which kind of information your
paper seems to me to have been instituted.

S.G.

_Tandem D.O.M._--In an ancient mansion, which stands secluded in the
distant recesses of Cornwall, there reposes a library nearly as ancient as
the edifice itself, in the long gallery of which it has been almost the
sole furniture for a space of full two centuries. What is still remarkable,
the collection remains sole and entire in all its pristine originality, as
well as simple but substantial bindings, uncontaminated by any additions of
more modern literature, dressed up in gayer suits of calfskin or morocco.
It is even said that few of the pages of these venerable volumes have even
seen the light since the day they were deposited there by their first most
careful owner, till the present proprietor took the liberty of giving them
a dusting. How far he has advanced in examining their contents is
uncertain; but, as he seldom can summon courage to withdraw himself from
their company, even for his parliamentary duties, these literary treasures
stand a chance, at last, not only of being dusted externally, but of being
thoroughly sifted and explored internally. A note of the existence of such
a collection of books is at least worth recording as unique of its kind. I
have now a query to put in relations to it.

The collector seems to have been one Hannibal Gamon, whose name appears
written in fine bold characters,--as beseems so distinguished an
appellation,--on the title-page of each volume; but, besides, there is
frequently appended this addition--"_tandem D.O.M._" The writer has his own
solution on the meaning of this bit of Latin, but would be glad to know
what interpretation any of your readers would be inclined to put thereon.

FABER MARINUS.

_The Episcopal Mitre._--When first was the episcopal mitre used? And what
was the origin of its peculiar form?

AN ENQUIRER.

       *       *       *       *       *


REPLIES.

THE PASSAGE IN TROILUS AND CRESSIDA.

(Vol. ii., p. 386.)

The oldest edition of this play is the quarto of 1609, in which the passage
referred to stands thus:--

  "_Hect._ Begon, I say, the gods have heard me sweare.

  "_Cas._ The gods are deafe to hotte and peevish vowes,
    They are polluted offrings more abhord,
    Then spotted livers in the sacrifice.

  "_And._ O be perswaded, do not count it holy,
    It is the purpose that makes strong the vow,
    But vowes to every purpose must not hold:
    Unarme, sweet Hector."

This reading, by stopping the sense at "holy," renders less likely to be
correct the emendation of Tyrwhitt, adopted by Malone:--

  "O be persuaded: do not count it holy
  To hurt by being just: it is as lawful,
  For we would give much to use violent thefts,
  And rob in the behalf of charity."

Dr. Johnson observes, "This is so oddly confused in the folio, that I
transcribe it as a specimen of incorrectness:--

                  '----do not count it holy
  To hurt by being just: it is as lawful
  For we would count give much to as violent thefts,' &c."

With reference to these particulars, I should be glad if you would allow me
to propose a reading which has not yet been suggested:--

{63}

  "O be persuaded; do not count it holy:
  To hurt, by being just, count it unlawful:
  For we would give, as much, to violent thefts,
  And rob, in the behalf of charity."

The meaning being, it is as unlawful to do hurt by being just, as it would
be to _give_ to a robbery, or to _rob_ for a charity; to assist a bad cause
by a good deed, or a good cause by a bad deed.

The word "count," in its second occurrence, was inserted by the printer in
the wrong line; when it is restored to its proper place, the passage
presents but little difficulty.

JOHN TAYLOR.

       *       *       *       *       *

BLACK IMAGES OF THE VIRGIN.

(Vol. ii., p. 510.)

Your correspondent, MR. HOLT WHITE, throws cut a suggestion relative to the
origin of the black doll as a sign at old store shops, which is ingenious,
but not very probable. The images of black virgins are confined, I believe,
to the south of Europe, with the exception of the celebrated shrine of
Einsiedeln in Switzerland. The origin of the colour appears to be oriental,
as MR. W. surmises. I send the following extract, in answer to his query on
the subject. It is a quotation from Grimm, in M. Michelet's _Introduction
to Universal History_; and, as your readers must be all familiar with the
language of the gifted historian, I will not make the attempt to convey his
brilliant style into another tongue.

    "Une des idées qui reviennent le plus dans nos meistersinger, dit
    Grimm, c'est la comparaison de l'incarnation de Jésus Christ avec
    _l'aurore d'un nouveau soleil_. Toute religion avait eu son
    soleil-dieu, et dès le quatrième siècle l'église occidentale célèbre la
    naissance du Christ au jour où le soleil remonte, au 25 Décembre,
    c'est-à-dire, au jour où l'on célébrait la naissance du _soleil
    invincible_. C'est un rapport évident avec le soleil-dieu Mithra. On
    lit encore, dans nos poètes, que Jésus à sa naissance reposait sur le
    sein de Marie, comme un oiseau, qui, le soir, se réfugie dans une fleur
    de _nuit_ éclose au milieu de la mer. Quel rapport rémarquable avec le
    mythe de la naissance de Brama, enfermé dans le lis des eaux, le lotus,
    jusqu'au jour où la fleur fut ouverte par les rayons du soleil,
    c'est-à-dire, par Vischnou lui-même, qui avait produit cette fleur. Le
    Christ, le Nouveau-jour, est né de la nuit, c'est-à-dire de Marie la
    _Noire_, dont les pied reposent sur la lune, et dont la tête est
    couronnée de planètes comme d'un brillant diadême. (Voyez les tableaux
    d'Albert Dürer.) Ainsi reparaît, comme dans l'ancien culte, cette
    grande divinité, appelée tour-à-tour Maïa, Bhawani, Isis, Cérès,
    Proserpine, Perséphone. Reine du ciel, elle est la nuit d'où sort la
    vie, et où toute vie se replonge; mystérieuse réunion de la vie et de
    la mort. Elle s'appelle aussi la rosée, et dans les mythes allemands,
    la rosée est considérée comme le principe qui reproduit et redonne la
    vie. Elle n'est pas seulement la nuit, mais comme mère du soleil, elle
    est aussi l'aurore devant qui les planètes brillent et s'empressent,
    comme pour Perséphone. Lorsqu'elle signifie la terre, comme Cérès, elle
    est représentée avec la gerbe de blé; elle est Perséphone, la graine de
    semence; comme cette déesse, elle a sa faucille: c'est la demi-lune qui
    repose sous ses pieds. Enfin, comme la déesse d'Ephèse, la triste Cérès
    et Proserpine, elle est belle et brillante, et cependant sombre et
    noire, selon l'expression du Cantique des Cantiques: 'Je suis noir,
    mais pleine de charmes, le soleil m'a brûlée' (le Christ). Encore
    aujourd'hui, l'image de la mère de Dieu est noire à Naples, comme à
    Einsiedeln en Suisse. Elle unit ainsi le jour et la nuit, la joie avec
    la tristesse, le soleil et la lune (chaleur, humidité), le terrestre et
    le céleste."

This fragment is, perhaps, rather too long; but I think your readers will
consider it too beautiful to abridge. The late G. Higgins, in his
_Anacalepsis_ (ii. 100.), has some observations to the same purport, and
points out the resemblance of some of the old Italian paintings of the
Virgin and Child to Egyptian representations of Isis and the infant Horus.

Many of these ideas have been taken up by the free-masons, and are typified
and symbolised in their initiatory ceremonies.

J.B. DITCHFIELD.

       *       *       *       *       *

OUTLINE IN PAINTING.

A correspondent (J.O.W.H.) at p. 318. of Vol. i. asks a question on the
subject of outline in painting; instancing the works of Albert Durer and
Raffaelle as examples of defined, and those of Titian, Murillo, &c., of
indefined outline. He wishes to know whether there is "a right and a wrong
in the matter, apart from anything which men call taste?"

The subject generally is a curious one, and has interested me for some
time; as experiments exhibit several singular phenomena resulting from the
interference and diffraction of rays of light in passing by the outline of
a material body. As a matter of fact, I believe I may say, that there is no
such thing in nature as a perfectly defined outline; since the diffraction
of the rays, in passing it, causes them to be projected upon it more or
less, according to the nature of the particular body, and the intensity of
the light. And I may remark, by the way, that I believe this circumstance
of the projection of a star upon the moon's disc at the time of an
occultation, is to be accounted for on this principle (though with all due
deference to higher authority); a phenomenon which is to this day
unexplained.

Of course every outline is rendered less defined by any motion of the eye
of the observer, however slight. Hence, perhaps, the comparative
indistinctness of outline commonly seen in pictures, compared with those in
nature; as the artist {64} would be apt to take advantage of this
circumstance, and give to his painting the same kind of effect the reality
would have to an eye wandering over it; thereby taking away the attention
from individual parts, and, as it were, forcing it to judge of the general
effect, which general effect is, perhaps, the main object in painting.

Hence it follows that wherever, in any design, separate portions are
intended to arrest attention, the outline should be more defined and,
accordingly, we may remark that Albert Durer, and others like him, who were
very careful of minutiæ, are also distinct and hard in their outlines,
which is also the case, for the most part, in the Dutch school, and in
architectural paintings, fruit-pieces, &c.; and we find that in proportion
as the artist discards the comparatively unworthy minute accompaniments of
his subject, and aims at unity of effect, so does he neglect sharpness of
outline. Which is the _correct_ practice--distinctness, or indistinctness
of outline--will be differently judged by those who hold different opinions
on painting in general. While one person will maintain that a picture, to
be perfect, must be an exact copy of nature, in short an artistic
daguerreotype; another will hold almost the contrary; so that the subject
of outline must be matter of opinion still. However, the lover of general
effect has this rational ground of argument on his side, viz., there is no
such thing as a strictly defined outline in nature, even to an eye at rest;
while to one in motion, which is perhaps the normal state, that outline is
rendered still more indistinct.

H.C.K.

---- Rectory, Hereford, Dec. 28. 1850.

       *       *       *       *       *

TEN CHILDREN AT A BIRTH.

(Vol. ii., p. 459.)

The curiosity excited by the perusal of my previous communication under the
foregoing head, and the interesting editorial note appended in "NOTES AND
QUERIES," induce me to continue the attempt to verify one of the most
remarkable instances of abnormal fecundity in an individual of the human
species recorded in modern times. The reader must judge of the following
"circumstantial evidence:"--

1. I have just seen widow Platts (formerly Sarah Birch), a poor, fat,
decent woman, who keeps a small greengrocer's shop, in West Bar, Sheffield.
She says she was born in Spring Street in the same town, on the 29th Sept.
1781; well remembers wondering why she was so much looked at when a girl:
and her surprise, when afterwards told by her mother, that she was one of
ten children born at the same time. Had often been told that she was so
small at birth, that she was readily put into a quart measure; and for some
time, lay in a basket before the fire "wrapped in a flannel like a newly
hatched chicken."

2. The improbability of finding any living gossip who was present at the
birth, must be obvious: but I have conversed with old women who had heard
their mothers describe the occurrence from personal knowledge.

3. One ancient dame had no more doubt of the fact than the cause of it.
Having apparently heard and believed a monstrous tradition of a
multitudinous gestation extant in common "folklore." "It was," said she,
with all gravity, "the effect of a wish," intended to spite the father;
who, having had two children by his wife, and an interval of _nine years_
elapsing before the portentous pregnancy in question, did not desire, it
seems, any further increase to his family.

4. The parents died, the daughter married, and the "story of her birth" was
forgotten: until the publication of White's _Sheffield Directory_ in 1833,
when, among other local memorabilia, the strange announcement of "ten
children at birth," was reproduced on the contemporary authority of the
_Leeds Mercury_. From that time Mrs. Platts has been more or less an object
of curiosity.

5. The _Directory_ paragraph is as follows:--

    "An instance of _extraordinary fecundity_ is recorded in the _Leeds
    Mercury_ of 1781, which says that _Ann_ [Sarah] _Birch_, of Sheffield,
    was, in that year, _delivered of ten children!!!_ We, in our time, have
    heard of Sheffield ladies having three children at birth; but we know
    no other case, but that of the aforesaid Mrs. Birch, which countenances
    the fructiferous fame which they have obtained in some circles."

I have been unsuccessful in an effort to collate the foregoing with the
original newspaper paragraph: but Mr. White, while he personally assured me
of the veracity of the transcript, also pointed out to me an earlier
version of the same fact from the same source in the _Annals of the
Clothing Districts_, published about thirty years since.

6. In conformity with the suggestion (NOTES AND QUERIES, Vol. ii., p. 459),
I have examined the Parish Register of Baptisms, but the entry is as curt
and formal as possible, viz.:--

    "Sarah, Dr. of Thos. and Sarah Birch, Cutler,"

under the date, Dec. 12.1781.

Taking all the foregoing circumstances into account, there seems to me
little ground for the erection of any strong objection to the alleged
fact--extraordinary as it is--of ten children having been brought forth at
one time; or, to the hardly less interesting coincidence, that one of them
is still living. I cannot but add, that if the contemporary notice of this
extraordinary birth in the _Leeds Mercury_ of 1781 should not be admitted
as good evidence for the fact, it does, at least, negative the presumptive
value of any objection {65} derived from the silence of the writer in the
_Philosophical Transactions_ six years afterwards; strange as such silence
assuredly appears. After all, the question occurs: What has become of the
bodies said to have been preserved? As all parties concur in naming "old
Mr. Staniforth" as the accoucheur in attendance on Mrs. Birch; and as that
gentleman has been dead many years, I called upon his eldest surviving
pupil, Mr. Nicholson, surgeon, to ask him whether, in conversation, or
among the preparations in the surgery of his worthy master, he had ever met
with any illustration of the parturition in question? He replied that he
had not. It may not, perhaps, be out of place here to mention that the
above-named Mr. Nicholson, surgeon, himself delivered a poor woman of five
children, on the 10th of February, 1829, at Handsworth Woodhouse, near
Sheffield. This case was even more remarkable than that which gave occasion
to the paper which was read before the Royal Society in 1787, inasmuch as
not only were four of the children born alive, but three of them lived to
be baptized.

N.D.

Sheffield, Jan. 13. 1851.

       *       *       *       *       *

SHAKSPEARE'S USE OF "CAPTIOUS."

(Vol. ii., p. 354.)

In _All's Well that Ends Well_, Act I. Sc. 3., Helena says to the Countess,
speaking of her love for Bertram,--

  "I know I love in vain; strive against hope;
  Yet, in this captious and intenible sieve,
  I still pour in the waters of my love,
  And lack not to lose still."

It is not without hesitation that I venture to oppose MR. SINGER on a point
on which he is so well entitled to give an opinion. But I cannot help
thinking that MR. SINGER'S explanation, besides being somewhat too refined
and recondite, is less applicable to the general sense and drift of the
passage than that of Steevens, which Malone and Mr. Collier have adopted.

What I think wanting to Steevens' interpretation, is an increase, if I may
so express myself, of intensity. He takes the word, I conceive, in its
right bearing, but does not give it all the requisite force. I should
suggest that it means not merely "_recipient_, capable of receiving," but,
to coin a word, _captatious_, eager or greedy to receive, absorbing; as we
say _avidum mare_, or a _greedy gulf_. The Latin analogous to it in this
sense would be, not _capax_, or MR. SINGER'S _captiosus_, but _captax_, or
_captabundus_; neither of which words, however, occurs.

The sense of the word, like that of many others in the same author, must be
determined by the scope and object of the passage in which it is used. The
object of Helena, in declaring her love to the Countess, is to show the
all-absorbing nature of it; to prove that she is _tota in illo_; and that,
however she may strive to stop the cravings of it, her endeavours are of no
more use than the attempt to fill up a bottomless abyss.

The reader may, if he pleases, compare her case with that of other heroines
in like predicaments. Thus Medæa, in _Apollonius Rhodius_:

    [Greek: "Pantê moi phrenes eisin amêchanoi, oude tis alkê Pêmatos."]

And the same lady in _Ovid_:

  "---- Luctata diu, postquam ratione furorem,
  Vincere non poterat. Frustra, Medea, repugnas.
          ----
  Excute virgineo conceptas pectore flammas,
  Si potes, infelix. Si possem sanior essem:
  Sed trahit invitam nova vis."

Or Dido, in _Virgil_ or _Ovid_:

  "Ille quidem malè gratus, et ad munera surdus;
    Et quo si non sim stulta carere velim:
  Non tamen Æneam, quamvis male cogitat, odi;
    Sed queror infidum, questaque pejus amo."

Or Phædra, in _Seneca_:

              ----"Furor cogit sequi
  Pejora: vadit animus in præceps sciens,
  Remeatque, frustra sana consilia appetens.
  Sic cum gravatam navita adversâ ratem
  Propellit undâ, cedit in vanum labor,
  Et victa prono puppis aufertur vado."

The complaints of all are alike; they lament that they make attempts to
resist their passion, but find it not to be resisted; that they are obliged
at last to yield themselves entirely to it, and to feel their whole
thoughts, as it were, swallowed up by it.

Such being the way in which Shakspeare represents Helena, and such the
sentiments which he puts into her mouth, it seems evident that the
interpretation of _captious_ in the sense of _absorbent_ is better adapted
to the passage than the explanation of it in the sense of _fallacious_.

    "I know I love in vain, and strive against hope; yet into this
    _insatiable_ and _unretaining_ sieve I still pour in the waters of my
    love, and fail not to lose still."

I said that the sense of _fallacious_ seemed to be too refined and
recondite. To believe that Shakspeare borrowed his _captious_ in this
sense, from the Latin _captiosus_, we must suppose that he was well
acquainted with the exact sense of the Latin word; a supposition which, in
regard to a man who had _small Latin_, we can scarcely be justified in
entertaining. This interpretation is, therefore, too recondite: and to
imagine Helena as applying the word to Bertram as being "_incapable of
receiving_ her love," and "truly _captious_" (or deceitful and ensnaring)
"in that respect," is surely to indulge in too much refinement of
exposition.

That Shakspeare had in his mind, as MR. SINGER {66} suggests, the
punishment of the Danaides, is extremely probable; but this only makes the
explanation of _captious_ in the sense of _absorbent_ more applicable to
the passage, with which that of Seneca, quoted above, may be aptly
compared.

I am sorry that Johnson was so unfortunate as to propose _carious_ as an
emendation; but even in doing this, he had, according to my notion of the
lines, the right sense in view, viz., that of _letting through_ or
_swallowing up_, like a rotten tub or a quicksand.

I hope that MR. SINGER will take these remarks in good part, as being
offered, not from a wish to oppose his opinion, but from a conviction that
the interpretation now given is right, and from a desire that to every word
in Shakspeare should be assigned its true signification.

J.S.W.

Stockwell.

       *       *       *       *       *

SWORD OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR.

(Vol. iii., p. 24.)

There can be little doubt that the sword respecting which P. inquires is in
the armoury at Goodrich Court. It was presented by Lord Viscount Gage to
the late Sir Samuel Meyrick, and exhibited by Dr. Meyrick to the Society of
Antiquaries, Nov. 23. 1826. The Doctor's letter is to be found in the
Appendix to the _Archæologia_ of that date, with an engraving of the sword.
He states that the arms on the pommel are those of Battle Abbey, that its
date is about A.D. 1430, and that it was the symbol of the criminal
jurisdiction of the abbot. At the dissolution of the abbey it fell into the
hands of Sir John Gage, who was one of the commissioners for taking the
surrender of religious houses.

Its entire length is 3 feet 5 inches, and the breadth of the blade at the
guard 2 inches. The Doctor considers it to be "the oldest perfect sword in
England." The arms are a cross, with a crown in the first and last
quarters, and a sword in the second and third. There are also the letters
T.L., the initials of the Abbot, Thomas de Lodelow, who held that office
from 1417 to 1437. This fixes its date in the reign of Henry V., though the
fact of the first William having been the founder of Battle Abbey has given
colour to the tradition of its having been his property.

W.J. BERNHARD SMITH.

Temple.

I much doubt the fact of the Conqueror's sword ever having been in the
possession of the monks of Battle. Nor am I aware of any writer
contemporary with the dissolution of that famous abbey who asserts it.
William's royal robe, adorned with precious gems, and a feretory in the
form of an altar, inclosing 300 relics of the saints, were bequeathed by
him to the monastery; and Rufus transmitted them to Battle, where they were
duly received on the 8th of the calends of November, 1088. This information
is furnished by the _Chronicle of Battel Abbey_, which I have just
translated for the press; but not one word is said of the sword.

Though I have always lived within a few miles of Firle Place, the seat of
the Gages, and though I am tolerably well acquainted with the history and
traditions of that noble family, I never heard of the sword mentioned by P.
Had that relic really been preserved at Battle till the time of Henry
VIII., it is not improbable that it might have come into Sir John Gage's
hands with the manor of Aleiston, of which he was grantee, while his
son-in-law, Sir Anthony Browne, became possessor of the abbey itself.

Will P. have the goodness to mention the source from which he obtained his
statement?

MARK ANTONY LOWER.

Lewes.

In reply to the Query respecting the sword of William the Conqueror (Vol.
iii., p. 24.), I am enabled to inform you that the sword, and also the
coronation robes, of William the Conqueror, were, together with the
original "Roll of Battel," kept in the church or chapel of Battel Abbey
until it was dismantled at the Reformation; when they were transferred to
the part of the abbey which remained, and which became the possession and
habitation of Sir Anthony Browne, Master of the Horse to Henry VIII. These
precious relics continued in the possession of his descendants, who were
created Lords Mountacute; and when Battel Abbey was sold by them to the
ancestor of the present owner, they conveyed them to Cowdray Park, Sussex,
where they remained until they were destroyed in the lamentable fire which
burned down that mansion; and which, by a singular coincidence, took place
on the same day that its owner, the last male representative of the Brownes
Lords Mountacute, was drowned in a rash attempt to descend the falls of
Schaffhausen in a boat.

E.H.Y.

       *       *       *       *       *

MEANING OF EISELL.

(Vol. ii., pp. 241. 286. 315. 329)

After all that has been written on this subject in "NOTES AND QUERIES,"
from MR. SINGER'S proposition of wormwood in No. 46., to MR. HICKSON'S
approval of it in No. 51., the question remains substantially where
Steevens and Malone had left it so many years agone.

It is not necessary to discuss whether vinegar, verjuice, or wormwood be
the preferable translation of the Shakspearian word; for before either of
them can be received, the advocate is bound to {67} accommodate his
exposition to Shakspeare's sentence, and to "get over the _drink up_,"
which still stands in his way as it did in that of Malone.

MR. SINGER get over the difficulty by simply saying "to _drink up_ was
commonly used for simply to _drink_." The example he quotes, however,--

                  "I will drink
  Potions of eysell,"--

is not to his purpose; it is only an equivalent by the addition of the
words "_potions of_" to give it the same definite character. Omit those
words, and the question remains as before.

MR. HICKSON (Vol. ii., p. 329.) has laid down "a canon of criticism for the
guidance of commentators in questions of this nature," so appropriate and
valuable, that I cannot except to be bound by it in these remarks; and if
in the sequel his own argument (and his friend's proposition to boot) shall
be blown up by his own petard, it will show the instability of the cause he
has espoused.

    "Master the _grammatical construction_ of the passage in question (if
    from a drama, in it dramatic and scenic application), deducing
    therefrom the general sense, before you attempt to amend or fix the
    meaning of a doubtful word."

Such is the canon; and Mr. HICKSON proceeds to observe, in language that
must meet the approval of every student of the immortal bard, that--

    "Of all writers, none exceed Shakspeare in _logical correctness_ and
    nicety of expression. With a vigour of though and command of language
    attained by no man besides, it is fair to conclude, that _he would not
    be guilty of faults of construction such as would disgrace a
    schoolboy's composition_."

With this canon so ably laid down, and these remarks so apposite, MR.
HICKSON, taking up the weak point which Mr. SINGER had slurred over,
observes--

    "_Drink up_ is synonymous with _drink off_, _drink to the dregs_. A
    child taking medicine is urged to 'drink it up.'"

Ay, exactly so; drink up what? _the_ medicine; again a defined quantity;
dregs and all,--still a _definite_ quantity.

MR. HICKSON proceeds:

    "The idea of the passage appears to be that each of the acts should go
    beyond the last preceding in extravagance.

      'Woo't weep? woo't fight? woo't fast? woo't tear thyself?
      Woo't drink up eisell?'

    and then comes the climax--'eat a crocodile?' Here is a regular
    succession of feats, the last but one of which is sufficiently wild,
    though not unheard of, and leading to the crowning extravagance. The
    notion of drinking up a river would be both unmeaning and out of
    place."

From this argument two conclusions are the natural consequences: first,
that from _drinking up_ wormwood,--a feat "sufficiently wild but not
unheard of," to eating a crocodile, is only a "regular succession of
events;" and, secondly, that the "crowning extravagance," to eat a
crocodile, is, after all, neither "unmeaning" nor "out of place;" but, on
the contrary, quite in keeping and in orderly succession to a "drink up" of
the bitter infusion.

MR. SINGER (vol. ii., p. 241.) says:

    "Numerous passages of our old dramatic writers show that it was a
    fashion with the gallants of the time to do some extravagant feat as
    proof of their love."

I quite agree with him, if he mean to say that the early dramatists ascribe
to their gallants a fashion which in reality belongs to the age of Du
Gueslin and the Troubadours. But Hamlet himself, in the context of the
passage in question, gives the key to his whole purport, when, after some
further extravagance, he says:

                  "Nay, an thoul't mouth,
  I'll rant as well as thou."

That being so, why are we to conclude that each feat of daring is to be a
tame possibility, save only the last--the crowning extravagance? Why not
also the one preceding? Why not a feat equally of mere verbiage and rant?
Why not a river?

Adopting MR. HICKSON'S canon of criticism, the grammatical construction of
the passage requires that a definite substantive shall be employed to
explain the definite something that is to be done. Shakspeare says--

  "Woul't drink up esile?"[9]

--a totality in itself, without the expression of quantity to make it
definite. If we read "drink up wormwood," what does it imply? It may be the
smallest possible quantity,--an ordinary dose of bitters; or a pailful,
which would perhaps meet the "madness" of Hamlet's daring. Thus the little
monosyllable "up" must be disposed of, or a quantity must be expressed to
reconcile MR. SINGER'S proposition with Mr. HICKSON'S canon and the
grammatical sense of Shakspeare's line.

If with Steevens we understand _esile_ to be a river, "the Danish river
_Oesil_, which empties itself into the Baltic," the _Yssel_, _Wessel_, or
any other river, real or fictitious, the sense is clear. Rather let
Shakspeare have committed a geographical blunder on the information of his
day, than break {68} Priscian's head by modern interpretation of his words.
If we read "_drink up esile_" as one should say, "_woul't drink up
Thames?_"--a task as reasonably impossible as setting it on fire
(nevertheless a proverbial expression of a thirsty soul, "He'll drink the
Thames dry"),--the task is quite in keeping with the whole tenor of
Hamlet's extravagant rant.

H.K.S.C.

Brixton.

[Footnote 6:  So the folio, according to my copy. It would be advantageous,
perhaps, to note the spelling in the earliest edition of the sonnet whence
MR. SINGER quotes "_potions of eysell_:" a difference, if there be any,
would mark the distinction between Hamlet's river and the Saxon
derivative.]

       *       *       *       *       *

ALTAR LIGHTS, ETC.

(Vol. ii., p. 495. Vol. iii., p. 30.)

The following passage from the works of a deeply pious and learned Caroline
Divine, which I have never before seen quoted, merits, I think, a place in
"NOTES AND QUERIES:"--

    "As our Lord himself, so his Gospel also, is called Light, and was
    therefore anciently never read without a burning taper, '_etiam Sole
    rutilante_' ('tis Saint Hierome's testimony), though it were lighted in
    the sun.... The careful Church, perceiving that God was so much taken
    with this outward symbol of the Light, could do no less than go on with
    the ceremony. Therefore, the day of Our Lord's nativity was to be
    called [Greek: epiphania], or, appearing of the Light; and so many
    tapers were to be set up the night before, as might give name to the
    vigil, '_Vigilia Luminum_'. And the ancients did well to send lights
    one to another, whatsoever some think of the Christmas candle. The
    receiving of this Light in Baptism, though called not usually so, but
    [Greek: phôtismos], Illumination, which further to betoken the rites,
    were to celebrate this sacrament [Greek: haptomenôn pantôn tôn kêrôn],
    etc., with all the tapers lighted, etc., as the order in the
    Euchologus. The Neophytus, also, or new convert, received a Taper
    lighted and delivered by the Mystagogus, which for the space of seven
    days after, he was to hold in his hand at Divine service, sitting in
    the Baptistery.

    "Who perceiveth not that by this right way the Tapers came into the
    Church, mysteriously placed with the Gospel upon the altar as an emblem
    of the Truer Light?...

    "The Funeral Tapers (however thought of by some) are of the same
    harmless import. Their meaning is, to show that the departed souls are
    not quite put out, but having walked here as the Children of the Light,
    are now going to walk before God in the Light of the Living. The sun
    never rose to the ancients, no, not so much as a candle was lighted,
    but of this signification. '_Vincamus_' was their word, whensoever the
    Lights came in; [Greek: phôs gar tên Nikên], etc., for Light (saith
    Phavorinus) betokeneth victory. It was to show what trust they put in
    the Light, in whom we are more than conquerors. Our meaning is the same
    when, at the bringing in of a candle, we use to put ourselves in mind
    of the Light of Heaven: which those who list to call superstition do
    but 'darken counsel by words without knowledge.' _Job_ xxxviii.
    2."--Gregorie's _Works_, 4th ed. p. 110. Lond. 1684.

I believe it is a fact, that in some churches (I hope not many) lamps or
candles are placed on the altar _unlighted_ during divine service. Now I
would not quarrel with persons who have objections to altar lights, &c.,
but I have no patience with that worse than superstition which would place
_unlighted_ candles on the altar,--if they symbolize any thing, it is
damnation, excommunication, misery, and dark woe.

Coming out of a church one time in which unlighted candles were
ostentatiously displayed, I was forcibly reminded of an hieroglyphical of
Quarles--an extinguished taper,--and under it the words, "_Sine lumine
inane_."

  "How canst thou be useful to the sight?
  What is the taper not endued with light?"

I can hardly refrain from quoting here a beautiful passage from Wordsworth:

  "Our ancestors within the still domain
  Of vast cathedral, or conventual gloom,
  Their vigils kept: when tapers day and night
  On the dim altar burn'd continually,
  In token that the house was evermore
  Watching to God. Religious men were they,
  Nor would their reason, tutor'd to aspire
  Above this transitory world, allow
  That there should pass a moment of the year
  When in their land the Almighty's service ceased."

Any communication of interest of the above subject will much oblige

JARLTZBERG.

       *       *       *       *       *

REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES.

_Handbell before a Corpse_ (Vol. ii., p. 478.).--It is usual, at the
funeral of any member of the University of Oxford, for the University
marshal and bellman to attend in the character of _mutes_. As the
procession moves along, the latter rings his bell at about half-minute
time. I have witnessed it also when the deceased has been one of the family
of a member of the University, and when he has been a matriculated person.
I have never considered it as anything but _a cast of the bellman's
office_, to add more solemnity to the occasion.

[Hebrew: b].

L---- Rectory. Somerset.

_Sir George Downing_ (Vol. ii., pp. 464. 497.).--It may assist your querist
"ALPHA," to be informed that among the monuments to the family of Pengelly,
in the church of Whitchurch near Tavistock, in the county of Devon, is one
to the memory of Ann, wife of Francis Pengelly, and daughter of Sir George
Downing of East Hatley in the county of Cambridge, who died the 23rd of
November, 1702; with the arms of Pengelly impaling Barry of six argent and
gules, over all a wyvern or--for Downing. {69}

Nicholas Downing of Exeter College, vicar of Kingsteignton, in Devon, who
died in 1666, and was buried there, seems to have been of another family,
as he bore a very different coat of arms.

A Lieut. Downing was buried in Charles church, Plymouth, in 1799, but the
arms on his monument are not the same as either of the above.

Other than these, I know of none of the name, ancient or recent, in the
county, and I shall be glad to learn on what ground Sir George Downing's
family is said to be of most ancient origin in Devonshire. The name does
not appear in Westcote, Pole, Prince, Risdon, or the Heralds' visitations,
and the modern authorities state that the family was from Essex or Norfolk.

J.D.S.

The following memorandum I found accidentally on the margin of a MS.
pedigree of Downing, but I am sorry I cannot recall the source from whence
I obtained it. Possibly, however, it may assist "ALPHA" in his enquiry.

    "Sir George Downing was not the son of Calibut Downing, rector of
    Hackney, but of Emmanuel Downing, a London merchant, who went to New
    England. Governor Hutchinson, in his _History of Massachusetts_, gives
    the true account of Downing's affiliation, which has been further
    confirmed by Mr. Savage, of Boston, from the public records of New
    England."

J.P.C.

_Hulls, the Inventor of Steam-boats_ (Vol. iii., p. 23.).--Your facetious
correspondent, NOCAB, may gain some information relative to his friend
Jonathan Hulls, by going to the British Museum, and asking for the
following book from Mr. Grenville's library.

I will give the full title and Mr. Grenville's note, as it stands in my
Catalogue of the library.

    GRENVILLE CATALOGUE (Vol. i. p. 351.)

    "Hulls, Jonathan. A Description and Draught of a new-invented Machine
    for carrying vessels or ships out of, or into any harbour, port, or
    river, against wind and tide, or in a calm. For which his Majesty has
    granted letters patent, for the sole benefit of the Author, for the
    space of Fourteen years. London, 1737, folding plate.[10] 8vo. R.[11]

    "This new invented machine is a steam-boat. It entirely puts an end to
    the claims of America to the invention of steam navigation, and
    establishes for this country the honour of that important discovery."

HENRY FOSS.

42. Devonshire Street, 12. Jan. 1851.

[Footnote 7:  Representing, as well as I remember, a perfect steam-boat.]

[Footnote 8:  Meaning Russia binding.]

    [We are also indebted to [Curly-pi] for a reply to NOCAB'S query.]

"_The lucky have whole days_" (Vol. i., pp. 231. 351.).--I can inform your
correspondents P.S. and H.H., that the passage in question is correctly
quoted by the latter at p. 351., and that it is to be found in Dryden's
_Tyrannic Love_.

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia, West Indies, Nov. 1850

"_Clarum et venerabile nomen_" (Vol. ii., p. 463.).--Your enquirer as to
whence comes "Clarum et venerabile nomen," &c., will find them in Lucan.
Book ix. l. 203.

E.H.

Norwich.

_Occult Transposition of Letters_ (Vol. i., p. 416.; Vol. ii., p.
77.).--_Concert of Nature._--Other examples of these ambiguous verses are
given by J. Baptista Porta, _de Furtivis Literarum Notis_, one of which has
suggested the following lines, as conveying the compliments of the season
to the editor of "NOTES AND QUERIES:" but which, transposed, would become
an unseasonable address:--

      "Principio tibi sit facilis, nec tempore parvo
          Vivere permittat te Dea Terpsichore.

  Si autem conversis dictionibus leges, dicent,--

      Terpsichore Dea te permittat vivere parvo
          Tempore, nec facilis sit tibi principio."

I beg leave sincerely, to add, in the words of Ausonius (Ep. xxv.),--

  "Quis prohibet Salve atque Vale brevitate parata
      Scribere? Felicesque notas mandare libellis."

This magnificent epistle inculcating--

  "Nil mutum Natura dedit: non aëris ales
  Quadrupedesve silent," &c.

should be compared with the celebrated stanza of Spenser's _Faerie Queen_
(book ii. canto xii. st. 71.), beginning with

  "The joyous birds shrouded in cheareful shade;"

and with D'Israeli's animated defence, in his _Amenities_ (vol. ii. p.
395.) of these charming verses against the [Greek: plêmmelês] and
tasteless, the anti-poetical and technical, criticism of Twining, in his
first _Dissertation on Poetical and Musical Imitation_.

T.J.

_Darby and Joan_ (Vol. iii., p. 38.).--I never heard of the tradition
mentioned by H. I can only suppose that the poet referred to was the first
person who introduced the ballad at the manor-house. Helaugh Nichols, an
excellent authority in such matters, whose trade traditions, through the
Boyers, father and son, went back a century and a half, tells us that the
ballad was supposed to have been written by Henry Woodfall, while an
apprentice to Darby. The Darbys were printers time out of mind--one Robert
Darby was probably an assistant to Wynkyn de Worde, who certainly left a
legacy to a person of that name. The Woodfalls, too, can be traced up as
printers for nearly two centuries. _The_ Darby, and Joan, his wife, were
probably John Darby, printer, in Bartholomew Close, who was {70} prosecuted
in 1684 for printing "Lord Russell's Speech," and died in 1704. _The_
Woodfall, the printer, is understood to have been Henry Woodfall,
afterwards "Woodfall without Temple Bar," grandfather of Henry Sampson, the
printer of _Junius' Letters_, and great-great-grandfather of the present
excellent printer of the same name.

J.D.Y.

_Did Bunyan know Hobbes?_ (Vol. ii., p. 518.).--Before this question, put
by JAS. H. FRISWELL, can be answered satisfactorily, it should be shown
that Bunyan was the author of the _Visions of Hell_. In _Chambers' Journal_
for Sept. 7. 1833, n., it is taken for granted that he was, and the passage
alluding to Hobbes is noticed. Your correspondent more justly questions the
fact.

A very intelligent friend of mine, who has devoted much research into the
supposed origin of the _Pilgrim's Progress_, the result of which I hope ere
long will appear, tells me that he is decidedly of opinion that the
_Visions_ in question are not the production of the "prince of dreamers."

He believes the _Visions_ first appeared as Bunyan's in a stereotyped
collection or selection of his works, about 1820-8. Some time after seeing
this, my friend was surprised at meeting with the following little volume,
which is now before me: _The World to Come. The Glories of Heaven, and the
Terrors of Hell, lively displayed under the Similitude of a Vision_. By
G.L., Sunderland. Printed by R. Wetherald, for H. Creighton, 1771. 12mo.
The running title, as far as p. 95., is, _The World to Come; or, Visions of
Heaven_; and on that page commence the _Visions of Hell, and of the
Torments of the Damned_: and here it is the author has _charitably_ placed
Hobbes, with whom the colloquy alluded to by your querist occurs.

I shall not occupy your papers with any remarks on the ignorance betrayed
by G.L. (whoever he may be), both of the writings and character of Hobbes;
but I shall be glad if I can lead to the elucidation of what yet remains a
literary obscurity, and obtains the name of G.L.

F.R.A.

_Mythology of the Stars_ (Vol. iii., p. 23.).--G.I.C. is recommended to
study the ordinary celestial globe, and to make himself familiar with its
_use_, in order to enhance the interest of the spectacle of the sidereal
heavens as seen by the naked eye. He is also particularly referred to the
_Celestial Cycle_, by Capt. Smyth, published by Parker and Co., West
Strand, in 2 vols. 8vo., price 2l. 2s.; a book full of astronomical and
mythological gossip.

G.I.C. will find books on _Astrology_ for sale at Maynard's, No. 8. Earl's
Court, Cranbourn Street, Leicester Square, more readily, perhaps, than any
where else in London.

ROBERT SNOW.

6. Chesterfield Street, Mayfair, Jan. 13. 1851.

_Dodo Queries_ (Vol. i., pp. 261, 262.).--MR. STRICKLAND is informed, that
in the list of Pingré's works, as given in Quérard's _France Littéraire,_
there is one with the following title:--

    "Mémoire sur les Découvertes faites dans la Mer du Sud, avant les
    derniers Voyages des Français autour du Monde, lu à l'Académie des
    Sciences, 1766, 1767, 1778, in. 4."

I have not read Pingré's works, but if they contain any mention of
_Solitaires_, it will probably be found in the _Mémoire_ above referred to.

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia, W.I., Nov. 1850.

_Holland Land_ (Vol. ii., pp. 267. 345.; Vol. iii., p. 30).--In an ancient
charter, in my possession, bearing date 19 Edw. I.: "Gilebertus dictus ate
Vorde, de Farlegh," and "James, son of the late Philip de Essche,"
quitclaim to James, son of Paulinus de Wynchelse:

    "dimidiam acram terre Flandrensis ... in villa de Ickelesham,"

to have and to hold

    una cum redditu et servitio mihi (_sic_) pertinentibus de alia dimidia
    acra terre Flandrensis."

The _polders_ of Holland are familiar to all travellers, as lands lying
below the level of the sea, once a mere morass, redeemed from that state,
and brought into cultivation by embankments, &c., &c.

In another charter, somewhat earlier in date and relating to the same
district, viz. the neighbourhood of Winchelsea, Hamo de Crevecour speaks of
lands in La more in Ideun, which the monks of Robertsbridge, with consent
of his father Hamo, "a mari incluserunt."

I have always supposed that the "terra Flandrensis" of my charter signified
land of the same description as the Dutch polders; the art of thus
redeeming land being probably introduced from the Low Countries. It is not
unlikely that, in that day, lands so brought into cultivation were
designated as "terre Flandrenses," and the term afterwards anglicised into
"Holland Land."

L.B.L.

_Swearing by Swans_ (Vol. ii., p. 392.).--Symbology of the swan.

    "Tunc allati sunt in pompatica gloria duo cygni, vel olores, ante
    regem, &c. &c.,--vindicaturus."[12]--_Matthæus Westmonasteriensis_.

Dr. Lingard states that "the vows of chivalry were not taken on the
gospels, but, ridiculous as it may appear, in the presence of a peacock, or
{71} pheasant, or other bird of beautiful plumage."--_History of England_,
Edward I.

"Nec dissimili ingenio Heraldi antiquiores, musicos et cantatores
cygnis[13] donarunt. Ejusque haud ignarus perspicax noster Franciscanus cum
hos a non cantoribus latos observasset, rationem se ait a rege heraldorum
petiisse, eumque duplicem assignasse: hanc quia viri essent pulcherrimi,
illam quia haberent longa colla. Sane candorem animi per cygni effigiem
antiquitùs prædicabant, nec insulsè igitur corporis. Sed gloriæ studium ex
eodem hoc symbolo indicari multi asserunt.

"Cum Edwardus primus," &c. &c.--Spelmanni _Aspilogia_, p. 132.

The Spaniards found that the swan had been employed emblematically in
Mexico, supporting the theory of Hornius that that part of America was
colonised by the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, inasmuch as, according to
Bryant, "where the Canaanites or their descendants may have settled, there
will a story be found in reference to swans."

The mythological history of the Cygnus will be found in the latter author's
_Analysis_, and in Hill's _Urania, or a Complete View of the Heavens,
containing the Ancient and Modern Astronomy, in Form of a Dictionary_,
which will perhaps meet the wants of G.I.C. (Vol. iii. p. 24.).

It will not, perhaps, be irrelevant to this subject to advert to the story
of Albertus Aquensis (in _Gesta Dei per Francos_, p. 196.), regarding a
_Goose and a Goat_, which in the second crusade were considered as "divino
spiritu afflati," and made "duces viæ in Jerusalem." Well may it be
mentioned by the histoian as "scelus omnibus fidelibus incredibile;" but
the imputation serves to show that the Christians of that age forgot what a
heathen poet could have taught them,--

[Greek: "Eis oiônos aristos amynesthai peri patrês."]

T.J.

[Footnote 9: With this solecism in the printed _Flores Historiarum_ I find
that a MS. in the Chetham Library agrees, the abbreviative mark used in the
Hundred Rolls of Edward I. for the terminations _us_ and _er_ having been
affixed to this participle.]

[Footnote 10: To the passages I have elsewhere referred to on _The Concert
of Nature_, from Ausonius, Epistle 25., and Spenser's _Faerie Queen_, book
ii. canto xii. st. 71., "divine respondence meet" is made by the last lines
in Tennyson's _Dying Swan_.]

_Swearing by Swans_ (Vol. ii., p. 392.).--The quotation given by your
correspondent E.T.M. (Vol. ii., p. 451.), only increases my desire to
receive a reply to my query on this subject, since he has adduced a
parallel custom. What are the earliest notices of the usage of swearing by
swans and pheasants? Was the pheasant ever considered a _royal_ bird?

R.V.

_The Frozen Horn_ (Vol. iii., p. 25.).--I am quite angry with J.M.G. for
supposing my old friend Sir John Maundevile guilty of such a _flam_ as that
which he quotes from memory as the worthy knight's own statement. There is
no such story in the _Voiage and Travaile_: nay more, there is not in the
whole of that "ryght merveillous" book, a single passage given on the
authority of Sir John as eyewitness that is not perfectly credible. When he
quotes Pliny for monsters, the Chronicles for legends, and the romances of
his time for narratives of an extraordinary character, he does so in
evident good faith as a compiler. His most improbable statements, too, are
always qualified with some such phrase as "men seyn, but I have not sene
it." In a word, I believe Sir John Maundevile to have been as truthful in
intention as any writer of his age. I am afraid that J.M.G.'s knowledge of
our old "voiager" is limited to some jest-book of more modern times, which
attributes to him sayings and doings of which he is perfectly guiltless.

MARK ANTONY LOWER.

Lewes.

_Cockade and True Blue_ (Vol. iii., pp. 7. 27.) both owe their origin to
the wars of the Scottish Covenanters; and the cockade appears to have been
first adopted as a distinguishing emblem by the English army at the battle
of Sherra-muir, where the Scotch wore the blue ribbon as a scarf, or on
their bonnets (which was their favourite colour). The English army then, to
distinguish themselves, assumed a black rosette on their hats; which, from
its position, the Scotch nick-named a "cock'ade" (with which our use of the
word "cockscomb" is connected) and is still retained.

An old Scotch song describing, "the Battle of Sherra-muir" (which name it
bears) in verse 2., line 1., speaks of the English as--

  "The red-coat lads, wi' black cockades;"

verse 3., describing the Scotch and their mode of fighting, says,--

  "But had you seen the philibegs,
    And skyrin tartan trews, man,
  When in the teeth they dared our Whigs,
    And Covenant TRUE-BLUES, man;
  In lines extended lang and large,
  When bayonets opposed the targe,
  And thousands hasten'd to the charge,
  Wi' Highland wrath, they frae the sheath
  Drew blades o' death, till, out o' breath,
    They fled like frighted doos, man."

The song, which is rather a long one, carries you with the army to the
Forth, Dumblane, Stirling, Perth, and Dundee. Oft referring to the "Poor
red-coat," and to the "Angus lads."

BLOWER.

_The Vavasours of Hazlewood (Vol. ii., p. 326.)._--1. It is a well-known
fact that the stone for York minster was given by the Vavasour family. To
commemorate this, there is, under the west window in that cathedral, a
statue of the owner of Hazelwood at that period, holding a piece of stone
in his hand. Hence may have arisen the tradition that the chief of the
family might ride into York minster on horseback.

{72} 2. In feudal times Hazlewood was a fortified castle, having its
regular retainers, &c.

3. Hazlewood Chapel was _the only Roman Catholic parish church_ in England
which did not become a Protestant church at the Reformation.

CHAS. D. MARKHAM.

Jan. 10. 1851.

_"Breeches" Bible_ (Vol. iii., p. 17.).--In quoting from specimens of early
printing, correctness of orthography, even in trivial matters, is
desirable, and therefore I venture, in allusion to the interesting
communication from [Curly-pi] on the subject of the Geneva or "_Breeches_"
Bible, to state that the edition of 1576, in my possession, is "Imprinted
by _Christopher Barkar_" (not Barker), "dwelling in Paternoster Rowe, at
the signe of the Tygres Head."

The text quoted varies also in two or three words from my copy, and it is
probably from the Geneva edition. The English edition of 1576 runs thus,
(Gen. iii. 7.): "Then the eyes of them _both_ were opened, and they _knew_
that they were naked, and they sewed _figge_ tree _leaves_ together, and
made them _selves_ breeches." I am, sir, yours truly,

S.H.H.

_Histoire des Sévarambes_ (Vol. iii., p. 4.).--On the subject of the
authorship of this work I will transcribe a note which I subjoined to a
short account of Isaac Vossius (Worthington's _Diary_, p. 125):--

    "Whether the History of the Sevarites, of Sevarambi by Captains Thomas
    Liden, published in two parts (London, 1675-9, 12mo.), which is one of
    the ablest of the fictions written after the model of More's _Utopia_,
    and which has been ascribed to Isaac Vossius by J.A. Fabricius, be his,
    is a point yet unsettled. On a careful consideration of the internal
    evidence, and a comparison with his avowed publications, so far as such
    a comparison can be made between works so dissimilar in character, I
    incline to the conclusion that this tract is justly ascribed to Isaac
    Vossius."

On a reconsideration of the subject, I see no reason to alter this opinion.
Morhof, who always attributed it to Isaac Vossius (see Polyhistor, vol. i.
p. 74., edit. 1747), was thoroughly versed in the literary history,
including the English, of the period, and was not likely to have been
mistaken. Vossius lived in England from 1670 to 1688, when he died. I have
seen several English letters of his, though his general correspondence was
in Latin or French, and he seems quite able to have written it, as far as
the language is concerned. Vairasse appears to have translated it into
French but to have had no other part in it. I may observe, that the
publication in English, London, 1738, is a retranslation from the French,
not a reprint of the original work of 1675-9.

JAMES CROSSLEY.

_Verses attributed to Charles Yorke_ (Vol. ii., p. 7.; and Vol. iii., p.
43.).--These lines, "Stript to the naked soul," have been frequently
printed, indeed so lately as in Lord Campbell's _Lives of the Chancellors_,
at the end of the Life of Charles Yorke, as his, but without any
observation. What is most singular is, that the excellent editor of Bishop
Warburton's _Literary Remains_ has overlooked the fact that they are driven
in that prelate's correspondence with Bishop Hurd as Pope's. (See
_Letters_, p. 362., edit. 1809, 8vo.) Warburton observes, "The little poem
is certainly his." He remarks in a letter to Yorke--

    "You have obliged me much (as is your wont) by a fine little poem of my
    excellent and endeared friend, Mr. Pope, and I propose to put in into
    use."--_Letters from Warburton to C. Yorke_. 1812, 4to. p. 64.

Warburton then gave them to Ruffhead, who inserted them in his _Life of
Pope_, from which they were transferred in Bowles's editions of _Pope's
Works_ (vol. ii. p. 406), and in the supplementary volume to _Pope's Works_
(1807, 4to.). The extraordinary circumstance is, that they had appeared as
far back as 1753 in the miscellaneous works of Aaron Hill, published in
1753, in 4 vols. 8vo., and are included in that collection as his own.
Roscoe observes (Life of Pope, in vol. i. of his edition of _Pope's Works_,
p. 361., edit. 1824), without, however appearing to have been fully
acquainted with the facts of the case:

    "These verses are not the production of Pope, as might indeed readily
    have been perceived, but of Aaron Hill."

I must confess I cannot agree with the remark. If the point be to be
decided by internal evidence, the verses are surely Pope's. The collection
of A. Hill's miscellaneous works was a posthumous one for the benefit of
the family, and includes several other poems, which were certainly not
written by him. Little stress, therefore, can be laid upon the fact of the
lines being included in this collection, which seems to have comprised
whatever was found amongst Hill's papers, without any nice examination or
scrutiny. My conclusion is, that the verses are Pope's; and it is at all
events certain that they are not Charles Yorke's.

JAMES CROSSLEY.

_Archbishop Bolton of Cashel_ (Vol. iii., p. 39.).--He was born at
Burrishool, in the county of Mayo, about 1678; graduated at Trinity
College, Dublin; was ordained deacon in 1702; priest in 1703; became a
prebendary of St. Patrick's, Dublin, in 1707; chancellor of that cathedral
in 1714; vicar-general of the diocese of Dublin in 1720; vicar of Finglas,
near Dublin, in the same year; præcentor of Christ Church, Dublin, in 1722;
bishop of Clonfert in the same year; bishop of Elphin in 1724; archbishop
of Cashel in 1729; to which diocese he bequeathed his valuable library.

He died in January, 1744, and was buried at St. Werburgh's Church, in
Dublin.

{73} See my _Fasti Ecclesiæ Hibernicæ_, vols. i., ii., and iv., for a few
more particulars, if required.

H. COTTON.

Thurles, Ireland, Jan. 20. 1851.

_Erasmus and Farel_ (Vol. iii., p. 38.).--In my _Life of Calvin_, p. 46., I
mention that Erasmus named Farel, _Phallicus_; and infer that he probably
did so from some manifestation of amorous propensities on the part of that
reformer.

A querist in your last number (J.C.R.) points out that D'Aubigné, or his
translator, spells the word _Fallicus_, and refers it to the deceitful
character of Farel.

_Phallicus_ is a Greek word, and has a meaning--[Greek: phallikos], of or
belonging to the [Greek: phallos]. _Fallicus_, to the best of my knowledge,
is neither Greek nor Latin, and has no meaning. Erasmus, in his epistles,
constantly spells the word _Phallicus_. (See _Epp._ 698. 707. &c. Leyden,
ed. 1706.) And that I was justified in drawing from it an inference which
is in analogy with its meaning, the following passages, in the last of the
epistles just cited, will establish:--

    "Hunc stomachum in me concepit (Phallicus) quod in _spongia_ dubitem de
    Lutheri spiritu: præterea quod scripserim, quosdam sordidos, et _impuræ
    vitæ_ se jactitare nomine Evangelii."

And a little farther on--

    "At tamen quicquid hactenus in me blateravit Phallicus, non minus vane
    quam virulente, facite condonabitur hominis morbo, modo posthac sumat
    _mores Evangelii præcone dignos_."

THOS. H. DYER.

London, Jan. 20. 1851.

_Early Culture of the Imagination_, (Vol. iii., p. 38.).--The interesting
article to which MR. GATTY refers will be found in the _Quarterly Review_,
No. XLI. Sir Walter Scott, in a letter addressed to Edgar Taylor, Esq. (the
translator of _German Fairy Tales and Popular Stories by M.M. Grimm_),
dated Edinburgh, 16th Jan. 1823, says--

    "There is also a sort of wild fairy interest in them [the _Tales_]
    which makes me think them fully better adapted to awaken the
    imagination and soften the heart of childhood, than the good-boy
    stories which have been in later years composed for them. In the latter
    case, their minds are, as it were, put into the stocks, like their feet
    at the dancing-school, and the moral always consists in good moral
    conduct being crowned with temporal success. Truth is, I would not give
    one tear shed over _Little Red Riding-Hood_ for all the benefit to be
    derived from a hundred Histories of Jemmy Goodchild.... In a word, I
    think the selfish tendencies will be soon enough acquired in this
    arithmetical age; and that, to make the higher class of character, our
    wild fictions--like our own simple music--will have more effect in
    awakening the fancy and elevating the disposition, than the colder and
    more elaborate compositions of modern authors and composers."

F.R.R.

Milnrow Parsonage.

_Early Culture of the Imagination_ (Vol. iii., p. 38.).--MR. ALFRED GATTY
will find what he inquires for in the 74th volume of the _Quarterly
Review_, "Children's Books." With the prefatory remarks of that article may
be compared No. 151. of the _Rambler_, "The Climacterics of the Mind."

T.J.

_William Chilcot_ (Vol. iii., p. 38.).--MR. HOOPER is referred to the
History of Tiverton, by Lieut. Col. Harding, ed. Boyce, Tiverton;
Whittaker, London, 1847, vol. ii., B. III., p. 167., for an account of the
family of Chilcot _alias_ Comyn; to which most likely the author belonged,
and was probably a native of Tiverton. As MR. HOOPER many not have ready
access to the book, I send the substance of an extract. Robert Chilcott
_alias_ Comyn, born at Tiverton, com. Devon, merchant, and who died, it is
supposed, at Isleworth, com. Middlesex, about A.D. 1609, "married Ann, d.
of Walter Cade of London, Haberdasher, by whom he had one son, _William_,
who married Catherine, d. of Thomas Billingsly of London, Merchant, and had
issue." Certain lands also in Tiverton, A.D. 1680-90, are described as "now
or late of William Comyns _alias_ Chilcott."--_Ibid._ p. 61.

If the first edition of the work were in 1698, most likely the author was a
grandson of the above-named William Chilcot and Catherine his wife, which
the Tiverton registers might show. If the search prove unsuccessful there,
try that of Watford, Herts, where a branch of the same family was settled,
and to which there are monuments in Watford churchyard.

E.A.D.

_By and Bye_ (Vol. ii., p. 424.).--Surely this means "by the way." _Good
by_ may mean "Bon voyage."

S.S.

_Mocker_ (Vol. ii., p. 519.).--In some of the provincial dialects of
England, and in the Scotch of the lowlands of Scotland, there are a good
many Dutch words. _Moker_, in Dutch, means _a large hammer_. This is
probably the word used by the old cottager of Pembridge, and spelt _Mocker_
by W.M.

G.F.G.

Edinburgh.

_Was Colonel Hewson a Cobbler?_ (Vol. iii., p. 11.).--Hume's History
relates that "Colonel Hewson suppressed the tumult of London apprentices,
November, 1659:" and that "he was a man who rose from the _profession_ of a
cobbler to a high rank in the army."

Colonel John Hewson was member for Guildford from September 17, 1656, to
January 27, 1658-59. (Bray and Manning.)

GILBERT.

{74}

_Mole_ (Vol. ii., p. 225.).--This story is of course much older than the
form which it now appears. Sir Bevil Grenville is the great hero of the
N.W. coast of Cornwall most of the floating legend has been gathered about
him.

Legends referring to the origin of different animals are common. Mrs.
Jamieson (Canada) has a very beautiful Chippewa story of the first robin.

It is believed in Devonshire that moles begin to work with the flow, and
leave off with the ebb of the tide. The same thing is asserted of the
beaver.

_Pillgarlick_ (Vol. ii., p. 393.; Vol. iii., p. 42.).--The word is given by
Todd, in his edition of Johnson, under the forms _Pilgarlick_ and
_Pilled-garlick_. The same orthography is adopted by other lexicographers.
The spelling, concerning which your querist desires information, is,
however, the least important point. I trust that the question will elicit
information of a valuable kind as to the origin of the term, by which I
have I myself been sorely puzzled, and which, I think, has not been
satisfactorily cleared up by any of those who have attempted it. Following
the authority of Skinner, our philologists are satisfied with assuring us,
that _pilled_ means bald (French, pelé) and about this there can be no
dispute. Thus Chaucer (Reve's Tale) says:--

  Round was his face, and camuse was his nose,
  And _pilled_ as an ape was his skull."

Shakspeare also has:--

  "Pieled priest! doost thou command me to be shut out?"

for "shaven priest." But _pilled_, in other cases as might be shown by
quotations, which for the sake of brevity I omit, means _pillaged_,
_robbed_, and also _peeled_, of which last sense the quotations above given
seem only to be a figurative application. The difficulties which arise from
these explanations are, first, if _bald_ be the true meaning, why must we,
with Todd, limit it to baldness, resulting from disease, or more especially
(as Grose will have it) from a disgraceful disease?

Secondly, if _peeled_ be taken as the equivalent to _pilled_, why is peeled
garlick a more perfect type of misery than any other peeled root or fruit?

Thirdly, if _pillage_ is an essential ingredient in the true meaning of the
term "pilled garlick," what has the stolen garlick to do with wretchedness?
And,

Lastly, how will any one, or all of these explanations together, tally with
the following passage from Skelton:--

  "Wyll, Wyll, Wyll, Wyll, Wyll
  He ruleth always styll.
  Good reason and good skyll,
  _They may garlyck pyll_,
  Cary sackes to the myll,
  Or pescoddes they may shyll,
  Or elles go rost a stone?"
    _Why come ye not to Courte?_ 103-109.

Without further elucidation of this pilling, the existing definitions are
pills which defy deglutition of

F.S.Q.

_A Recent Novel_ (Vol. i., pp. 231, 285.).--May I be permitted to correct
an error in a communication from one of your correspondents? ADOLPHUS (p.
231.) puts a Query respecting the title of a recent novel; and J.S. (p.
285) informs him that the title is _Le Morne au Diable_, by Eugène Sue. The
fact is, that "La Morne au Diable" is the principal scene of the events
described, and nothing more. The title is _L'Aventurier, ou la
Barbe-bleue_; and an English translation, styled the _Female Blue Beard, or
the Adventurer_, was published in 1845 by W. Strange, 21. Paternoster Row.

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia, W.I., Nov. 1850

_Tablet to Napoleon_ (Vol. i., p. 461.).--The form and punctuation given to
this inscription by C. suggest its true meaning. Napoleon is called the
Egyptian, the Italian, for reasons similar to those for which Publius
Cornelius Scipio obtained the name of "Africanus." There is, however,
another sense in which the epithet "bis Italicus" is applicable to
Napoleon: he was an Italian by birth as well as by conquest. It is in this
sense that Voltaire has applied to Henri Quatre the second line of the
following couplet:--

  "Je chante ce héros qui régna sur la France
  Et par droit de _conquête_, et par droit de _naissance_."

As to the "lingual purity" of the inscription, there is not much to be said
about it, one way or the other. It is on a level with most modern
inscriptions and epitaphs in the Latin language; neither so elegant as the
Latinity of Dr. Johnson, or Walter Savage Landor, nor yet so hackneyed as
our "Latin de cuisine."

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia, W.I., Nov. 1850.

_North Sides of Churchyards_ (Vol. ii., pp. 55. &c.)--In a chapter on the
custom of burying on the south side of churches, in Thompson's _History of
Swine_, published 1824, I find the following mention of the north side
being appropriated to felons:

    "The writer hereof remembers, that between fifty and sixty years ago, a
    man who was executed at Lincoln, was brought to Swine, and buried on
    the north side of the church, as the proper place in which to bury a
    felon."

I have heard it stated by several inhabitants of the parish, that it is
only within a few years that burials began to be made irrespectively on the
north side. Whilst speaking of things in connection with this church, I may
mention for the {75} interest of antiquaries, that only a short time ago,
the sexton discovered a very curious fresco of the Virgin on one of the
pillars in the north aisle. There is an inscription beneath the figure, but
so very indistinct, as not to admit of being deciphered.

R.W.E.

Hull.

_Wisby_ (Vol. ii., p. 444.).--

    "Wisby was fortified about 1200 against its country neighbours; and
    King Magnus, 1288, quieted another civil war, and allowed the citizens
    to restore their fallen walls."--_Olaus Magnus_, ii. 24.

    "It was destroyed in 1361 (Koch) by Walderna, King of Denmark, who,
    taking advantage of the discords in Sweden, and having flattered the
    King Magnus till he made him a mere tool of his own, conquered or
    destroyed some valuable parts of the Swedish dominions, and among the
    rest Gothland."--_Johannes Magnus, Rex Suev._, xxi. 6.

and in 7.:

    "... ob direptum insigne emporium Vis becense."

    "As, therefore, it was not an individual event, probably it had not any
    individual cause, and that the pane of glass story is not
    true."--_Olaus Magnus_, x. 16

The same Olaus (ii. 24.) says, that pride and discord were its ruin; that
its inhabitants scattered into the continental cities; and that in his
time, 1545, there were splendid ruins, iron doors, brass or copper windows,
once gilt or silvered.

C.B.

_Singing of Swans_ (Vol. ii., p. 475.).--If your correspondent T.J. will
turn to Erman's _Travels in Siberia_ translated by Cooley, vol. ii. p. 43.,
he will find that the singing of swans is by no means so groundless a
notion as Bp. Percy supposed. _Erman_ says the notes of the Cygnus Olor are
most beautifully clear and loud--"and that this bird, when wounded, pours
forth its last breath in such notes, is now known for certain." There is
more also to the same purpose.

A.C.M.

_Dacre Monument at Herstmonceux_ (Vol. ii., p. 478.).--In answer to part of
the third Query of your correspondent E.V., I beg to inform him that sable,
a cross _potent_ or, is the coat of Alleyn. Sable, a cross _patonce_ or,
belongs to Lascelles. Argent a fesse gules belongs to the Solers family.
And barry of six argent and gules, _with a canton ermine_, is the coat of
Apseley of Sussex.

H.C.K.

_Herstmonceux Castle_ (Vol. ii., p. 477.).--The elucidation of your
correspondent's _second_ Query suggests several further questions; for
instance--Was _Juliana_ wife of _William_, the _owner_ of the estate? If
so, did she die in the lifetime of her husband? If so, did she leave issue?
semble not, and assuming her to have no direct heirs, the estate would
escheat. Was the King lord of the fee? Were William de Warburton and
Ingelram de Monceaux relatives of the _half_ blood of Juliana? If so, a
re-grant to them, if claimants, would not, I imagine, have been unusual
upon payment of a fine to the crown. It would almost seems as if a doubt
existed as to the heirship, from the expression "_whose next of kin they
_SAY_ they are_." This note is conjectural only, and is therefore offered
with much diffidence.

I.B.C.

_Suem._--_Ferling._--_Grasson_ (Vol. iii., p. 7.).--It is obvious that your
correspondent's extract from the Rotherfield court-roll is not accurately
transcribed. The original most probably contains no such words as _suem_.

_Ferling_ is a well-known word in old legal phraseology. As a term of
superficial measure it denotes a quarter of an acre; of lineal measure, an
eighth of a mile, or furlong.

_Grassum_ is the term commonly used in the northern parts of the kingdom to
signify the fine, or foregift in money, paid by a lessee for the renewal of
his lease from a lay or ecclesiastical corporation. It is derived from the
A.-S. _Gærsum_ or _Gærsame_, a treasure; the root of which is still
retained in the northern word _Gear_, goods or stuff.

[Delta].

Jan. 10. 1851.

_Portrait of Archbishop Williams_ (Vol. iii., p. 8.).--Your correspondent
Y.Y. desires to be informed of the "locus" of the portraits of several
bishops, among them of _John Williams_, Archbishop of York. There is a
full-length in the hall of this college, which I shall have great pleasure
in showing to him should he ever find it convenient to pay Cambridge a
visit.

P.J.F. GANTILLON.

St. John's College.

_Swans hatched during Thunder_ (Vol. ii., p. 510.).--Some years ago I
purchased a pair of swans, and, during the first breeding season after I
procured them, they made a nest in which they deposited seven eggs. After
they had been sitting about six weeks, I observed to my servant, who had
charge of them and the other water-fowl, that it was about the time for the
swans to hatch. He immediately said, that it was no use expecting it till
there had been a rattling peal of thunder to crack the egg-shells, as they
were so hard and thick that it was impossible for the cygnets to break them
without some such assistance. Perhaps this is the reason why swans are said
to be hatched during a thunder-storm. I need only say, that this is a
popular fallacy, as swans regularly hatch after sitting six weeks, whether
there happens to be a thunder-storm or not.

HENRY E.

_Etymology of Apricot_ (Vol. ii., p. 420.).--I cannot agree in the opinion
expressed by your correspondent E.C.H., that this word is derived from the
Latin _præcox_, signifying "early-ripening,"--that the words [Greek:
prokokkia] and [Greek: prekokkia] are {76} Græcised Latin,--and that the
Arabs themselves, adopting the word with a slight variation, made it
_al-bercoy_.

The fact of the fruit itself being of Asiatic origin, renders it in the
highest degree improbable that the Orientals would borrow a name for it
from the Latin.

My own opinion is, that the reverse is the case--that the Latin is merely a
corruption of the Arabic; and that the Latins, in adopting the word,
naturally gave it the slight alteration which rendered the Arabic word, to
them unmeaning, appropriately significant of the nature of the fruit.

I find that in various languages the word strolls thus in the Latin of the
middle age, _avercoccius_--in the modern Greek, [Greek: berykokkion]--in
the Italian, _albercocco_, _albicocca_--in the Spanish, _albaricoque_--and
all these various words, undeducible from the Latin _præcox_, are readily
derivable from the Arabic word, the prefix _al_, which is merely the
article, being in some cases dropped, and in others retained.

I may add, as a curious fact, that, in the south of Italy, of which I am a
native, the common people call the apricot _verricocca_, and _the peach_
_precucco_, although the former ripen _earlier_ than the latter.

A.P. DI PIO, Italo-Græcos.

Carlisle.

_"Plurima gemma latet cæcâ tellure sepulta"_ (Vol. ii., p.133.).--In the
course of my reading, some time back, I met with a passage which was given
as quotation from Bishop Hall. I transcribe it, as it appears to me to
approach nearer to the above hexameter than even Gray's lines:

    "There is many a rich stone laid up, in the bowels of the earth; many a
    fair pearl in the bosom of the sea, that never was seen, nor ever shall
    be."

_Time when Herodotus wrote_ (Vol. ii., p. 405.).--The passage in Herodotus
which shows that he was still employed on his history when he was
seventy-five, is in his first book. But A.W.H. thinks, that, as it is a
general introduction, showing why he mentioned all places, small or great,
it must have been written at the beginning. I should infer the contrary;
that he would give an account why he had done so after he had done it, and
not while it rested merely in intention.

But perhaps it may be said, that [Greek: ên] is in the former part of the
sentence, and therefore might have been repeated in the latter part, which
is the converse of it, though it might not be exactly the proper tense.

However, F. Clinton puts down his birth B.C. 484; 452 or 456 as the years
in which he read his history at the Olympic Games; and 408 as a year in
which he was still adding to it.

However, if he wrote the passage when he was thirty, that would justify the
past tense, which perhaps, too, we have a right to construe _have been_,
for that verb has no perfect preterite.

C.B.

_Lucy and Colin_ (Vol. iii., p. 7.).--The ballad adverted to, which is the
one translated by Vincent Bourne, is by Tickel, and will be found in any
collection of his works. Notwithstanding Southeys epithet "wretched!" it
will always be admired, both in the original and the translation.

JAMES CROSSLEY.

Manchester, Jan. 18. 1851.

_Translations of Apuleius_, &c. (Vol. ii., p. 464.).--In answer to your
correspondent, G.P.I., concerning a translation of the _Golden Ass of
Apuleius_, I beg you will insert the following particulars.

There is a copy in the British Museum (Press Mark, case 21. b.) of a
translation by Adlington. The title is as follows--_"The XI. Bookes of the
Golden Asse, conteining the Metamorphosie of Lucius Apuleius, enterlaced
with an excellent Narration of the Marriage of Cupido and Psiches, set out
in the iiii. v. and vi. Bookes. Translated out of Latine into Englishe by
William Adlington. Imprinted at London, in Fleet streate, and the sign of
the Oliphante, by Henry Wykes. Anno 1566."_ This work is of extreme rarity.
At the end of the Dedicatory Epistle there is a MS. note, which I
transcribe:--"_This translation and its author has escaped ye notice of the
Industrious Oxford Antiquary[14], for I find not his name in the Athen.
Oxon., nor is the book menconed _(mentioned)_ in Mr. Ames's Typographical
Antiquities, both which omissions add a singular rareness to this scarce
book. R.E.W."_ The pagination of the book is only on one side, and contains
127 folios, including the table of contents. Ritson (_vide_ note on
fly-leaf) does not notice this edition (1566), nor the second in 1571, but
quotes that of 1596.

KENNETH MACKENZIE.

[Footnote 11: Wood.]

Taylor's translation of Apuleius's _Golden Ass_, Lond. 1822, 2 vols., is
said by Lowndes to be an esteemed version.

The French translations of the same work, according to De Bure (see _Manuel
du Libraire_) are very inferior.

C.I.R.

_Etymology of "Grasson"_ (Vol. iii., p. 8.).--Grasson appears to be derived
front "grassor," "to assail." Livy somewhere has the following--"Grassor in
possessionem agri"--which would be rendered, "To enter upon it by force;"
it being only by the payment of the fine (Grasson) that the entry,
"Grassor," or alienation of copyhold lands, could be warded off: hence the
act of the lord of the manor (Grassor) became the name for the fine paid by
this tenant, "Grasson."

BLOWER.

_Lynch Law_ (Vol. iii., p. 24.).--Webster's {77} _American Dictionary_
(1848) explains this phrase thus--

    "The practice of punishing men for crimes and offences by private
    unauthorized persons, without a legal trial. The term is said to be
    derived from a Virginian farmer, named Lynch, who thus took the law
    into his own hands." (U.S.)

Webster is considered the highest authority in America, or I should not
offer the above.

G.H.B.

"_Talk not of Love_" (Vol. iii., p. 7.).--The song quoted by your Querist,
A. M., was written by Mrs. MacLehose, the "Clarinda" of Burns, and is to be
found in most of the lives of the Scottish poet.

    [J.H., JR., says it is printed in Chambers's _Journal_, No. 1. New
    Series. DANIEL FERGUSON points them out at p. 212. of a _Collection of
    Songs of England and Scotland_, published by Cochrane, of Waterloo
    Place; and in vol. ii. of Johnson's _Scots Musical Museum_; and G.T.
    also refers to the last-named collection.]

_The Butcher Duke_ (Vol. iii., p. 8.).--The song referred to by MEZZOTINTO
is to be found in most of the collections of Scotch songs, under the name
of "Bonnie Laddie, Highland Laddie," for which old air it was written; or,
when only partially printed, by the commencing line of one of its
stanzas:--

  "Geordie sits in Charlie's chair."

It is one of the numerous Jacobite songs composed either about 1715, by
some one "out in the Fifteen," or later by a poet of "the Forty-five." The
author's name is unknown. In the collection of Scottish songs, published by
Robert Chambers in 1829, the song, consisting of no less than twenty-two
stanzas, will be found at p. 367.

    [L.M.M.R. has also kindly transcribed the song from the _Scots Musical
    Museum;_ and DR. C., of Newcastle, who says "it is well known in the
    remoter districts of Northumberland," obligingly offers to furnish
    MEZZOTINTO with a copy, if he should desire it.]

_Curfew_ (Vol. ii., p. 103.).--_The Curfew_ is rung at Handsworth, near
Sheffield.

H.J.

_Robertson Struan_ (Vol. iii., p. 40.).--As one of those who quarter the
coat of Robertson Struan, I may perhaps be able to afford C.R.M. some
slight information. My maternal grandfather was a son of William Robertson,
of Richmond, one of whose daughters married Sir David Dundas, Bart. The
arms borne by him were, Gules, three wolves' heads erased, langued, azure.
A selvage man in chains hanging beneath the shield. Crest, a bare cubit,
supporting a regal Crown. Motto, "Virtutis Gloriæ Merces."

W.J. BERNHARD SMITH.

Temple.

       *       *       *       *       *


MISCELLANEOUS.

NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC.

The landing of Charles Edward Stuart, and the "Seven Men of Moidart," on
the memorable 25th July, 1745, was the opening of the last, and, in many
respects, the most brilliant and stirring chapter in the Romance of English
History. That Mr. Murray has therefore done wisely in the publication, in a
separate form, of _The Forty-Five: by Lord Mahon, being the Narrative of
the Insurrection of 1745, extracted from Lord Mahon's History of England_,
there can be little doubt. The memory of that eventful period is so kept
alive among us, by snatches of Jacobite ballads, and recitals of the
strange incidents in which it was so rich, that this separate publication
of so much of Lord Mahon's _History of England from the Peace of Utrecht
(1713) to the Peace of Paris (1763)_ as relates to its "moving accidents by
flood and field," will be a great boon to those numerous readers who have
neither means, time, nor opportunity to peruse Lord Mahon's interesting
narrative in that valuable contribution to our national history for which
it was originally written.

Some time since the British Museum purchased for about 120l. a volume
containing no less than sixty-four early French Farces and Moralities,
printed between the year 1542 and 1548, of which a very large proportion
was entirely unknown. How important a collection of materials for the early
history of the Drama, especially in France, is contained in this precious
volume, we learn from a work which has reached us, "_pas destiné au
commerce_," under the title of _Description Bibliographique et Analyse d'un
Livre unique qui se trouve au Musée Britannique_, which contains a short
but able analysis of the various pieces which formed the volume thus
fortunately secured for our national library. Though the name of the editor
is stated, on the title-page, to be _Tridace-Nafe-Théobrome, Gentilhomme
Breton_, we strongly suspect that no such gentleman is to be found; and
that we are really indebted for this highly curious and interesting book to
a gentleman who has already laid the world of letters under great
obligation, M. Delpierre, the accomplished Secretary of Legation of the
Belgian Embassy.

Literature, Science, and the Arts have sustained a heavy loss in the death
of that accomplished patron of them--that most amiable nobleman the
Marquess of Northampton. His noble simplicity and single-mindedness of
character, and his unaffected kindliness of manner, endeared him to all who
had the good fortune to be honoured with his acquaintance, and by all of
whom his death will be long and most deeply regretted.

Mr. Sandys, F.S.A., of Canterbury, has issued a Prospectus for the
immediate publication, by Subscription, of the _Consuetudines Kanciæ: a
History of Gavelkind and other remarkable Customs in the County of Kent_.

Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson will sell on Monday next, and four following
days, a very select and valuable Library, the property of a gentleman
deceased, including among other choice lots, two early MSS. of the _Divina
Comedia_, and an extensive, rare, and interesting series of early editions
of Dante. {78}

_Books Received._--_Clark's Introduction to Heraldry_ (London, Washbourne),
fourteenth edition, which contains a chapter and plates, which are entirely
new, on Heraldry in conjunction with Architecture;--_Hints and Queries
intended to promote the Preservation of Antiquities and the Collection and
Arrangement of Information on the Subject of Local History and
Tradition_--a most useful little tract, highly creditable to the _Kilkenny
Archæological Society_, by whose order it has been printed for
circulation;--_The Peril of the Papal Aggression; or, the Case as it stands
between the Queen and the Pope, by Anglicanus_. London, Bosworth.

_Catalogues Received._--Charles Skeet's (21. King William Street, Charing
Cross) Catalogue No. 1. for 1851, of a Miscellaneous Collection of Books,
New and Second-hand; John Petheram's (94. High Holborn) Catalogue, Part
CXX. (No. 1. for 1851) of Old and New Books; Edward Stibbs' (331. Strand)
Catalogue, Part II., of a valuable Collection of Books, including an
extensive purchase of Italian, French, and Spanish Literature; Bernard
Quaritch's (16. Castle Street, Leicester Square) Catalogue No. 23. of
European and Oriental Philology and General Literature; John Miller's (43.
Chandos Street) Catalogue No. XVII. of Books Old and New.

       *       *       *       *       *

BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES WANTED TO PURCHASE.

DE CULTU ET AMORE DEI. 2 Pts. London, 1745.

AINSLIE'S MATERIA INDICA.

LEWIN, LEPIDUR, INSECTS OF NEW SOUTH WALES, 18 coloured   Plates. 4to. 1805

COCKBURNE ON GONORRHOEA VIRULENTA, c. 1. col. London, 1721.

RAY, SYNOPSIS METHODICA AVIUM ET PISCITM. London, 1713.

BURKE'S THOUGHTS ON THE CAUSES OF THE DISCONTENTS, 1766.

*** Letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be
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       *       *       *       *       *

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

HANAP. Q.B., _who asks the meaning of this old name given to certain cups
and drinking vessels, is referred to our First Vol. pp. 477-8, our Second
Vol. p. 150., and the_ Archæological Journal, Vol. ii., p. 263.

MR. KENNETH MACKENZIE, MR. M.A. LOWER. MR. GEORGE STEPHENS (_of_
Stockholm), _and several anonymous Correspondents, who have written to us
suggesting certain alterations either in our size, price, mode of
publication, or other arrangements, are assured that fully appreciating the
kind motives which have prompted their communications, their respective
suggestions will receive our best attention; and that if we do not adopt
them, it will be for reasons the force of which our Correspondents would,
we have no doubt, if they could be made fully acquainted with them, be the
very first to admit._

DELTA, _who writes to us respecting the origin of the thought embodied in
Cambell's line_--

  Like angels' visits, few and far between,"

_is referred to our First Vol. p. 102, and our Second Vol. p. 286., for two
quotations from Norris of Bemerton, which embody the same idea._

_If _MR. JOHN POWERS_, who in _NOTES AND QUERIES_ for Jan. 12th. 1850, p.
163., offered to furnish an extract from Hardiman's _Statute of Kilkenny_,
will have the kindness to so at this distance of time, and to forward it to
us, the Querist to whom he replied, and whose direction we have just
received, will be much obliged to him._

E.T., _who inquires respecting the quotation in Sterne_,--

  "God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb,"

_will find many earlier instances of this proverbial expression quoted in
our First Vol._ pp. 325. 357. 418.

REPLIES RECEIVED.--_Breeches Bible--Curse of Scotland--John Sanderson--St.
Saviour's, Canterbury--Frozen Horn--Under the Rose--Lynch Law--"Talk not of
Love"--Darby and Joan--Robertson of Struan--Wolf and
Hound--Difformis--Culture of Imagination--Lachrymatories--Synod of
Dort--Bunyan and Hobbes--Booty's Case--Lucy and Colin--Black Rood of
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Blue--St. Paul's Clock--Annoy--Umbrella._

VOLUME THE SECOND OF NOTES AND QUERIES, _with very copious _INDEX_, is now
ready, price_ 9s. 6d. _strongly bound in cloth. VOL. I. is reprinting, and
will, we hope, be ready next week._

NOTES AND QUERIES _may be procured, by order, of all Booksellers and
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Subscribers ought not to experience any difficulty in procuring it
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_All communications for the Editor of _NOTES AND QUERIES_ should be
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       *       *       *       *       *


TO BOOK BUYERS.--WILLIAM BROUGH, 22. Paradise Street, Birmingham, has just
published a Catalogue of upwards of 10,000 Volumes of Second-hand Books,
which may be had _Gratis_ on Application; by Post, Four Stamps. Books of
every Description, and in any Quantity, purchased.

       *       *       *       *       *

Mr. Maccabe's Romance of the Dark Ages,

BERTHA.

"The book is able, learned, and instructive to a degree wholly unusual in
works of its class."--_Weekly Chronicle._

"We gladly recommend a work, the learning, purity, and interest of which
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"The mere novel reader will value it for its exciting adventures, its
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"It is treated with the learning of a scholar, and the grace of an
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See also NOTES AND QUERIES, January 11th.

Also, Vols. I. and II. A CATHOLIC HISTORY of ENGLAND. By W.B. MACCABE, Esq.

"A work of great literary value."--_The Times._

T.C. NEWBY, 30. Welbeck Street, Cavendish Square.

       *       *       *       *       *

Now ready, fcap. 8vo., price 7s. 6d.

A THIRD SERIES OF PLAIN SERMONS, addressed to a Country Congregation. By
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ALSO, A NEW EDITION OF THE FIRST SERIES, AND A SECOND EDITION OF THE SECOND
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Also, 2 vols. 12mo., sold separately, 8s. each,

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"Sermons of a high and solid character--earnest and
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London: GEORGE BELL, 186. Fleet Street.

{79}

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       *       *       *       *       *

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In no article perhaps is caution more necessary than in the purchase of a
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       *       *       *       *       *

WHITAKER'S CLERGYMAN'S DIARY AND ECCLESIASTICAL CALENDAR FOR 1851,
containing a Diary with the Lessons, Collects, and Directions for Public
Worship, with blank spaces for Memoranda for every Day in the Year, the
Sundays and other Holidays being printed in red.

The Ecclesiastical Calendar contains a list of all the Bishops, Deans,
Archdeacons, Canons, Prebendaries, and other dignitaries of the United
Church of England and Ireland, arranged under their respective Dioceses.
The Bishops and other Dignitaries of the Colonial Church, the Scottish and
American Episcopal Churches; Statistics of the Roman Catholic and Greek
Churches, the various bodies of Dissenters, Religious Societies in
connexion with the Church, with their Income and Expenditure; Directions to
Candidates for Holy Orders, Curates, and newly-appointed Incumbents; the
Universities, Heads of Houses, Prizes, &c.

The Miscellaneous Part contains complete Lists of both Houses of
Parliament, the Ministry, Judges, &c., Tables of the Revenue, Taxes, Wages,
&c., with a variety of matter useful to all Clergymen, the whole forming a
COMPLETE AND CONVENIENT CLERGYMAN'S POCKET BOOK. Price, in cloth, 3s., or
with a tuck as a pocket book, roan, 5s., or in morocco, 6s. 6d.

"It appears to be exceedingly well got up, and to contain all that a
clergyman or a churchman can desire."--_Guardian._

"Well arranged, and full of useful matter."--_John Bull._

"The most complete and useful thing of the kind."--_Christian
Remembrancer._

Oxford: JOHN HENRY PARKER; and 377. Strand, London.

       *       *       *       *       *

NOTICE.

THE NEW EDITION OF BURKE'S PEERAGE AND BARONETAGE FOR 1851

IS PUBLISHED THIS DAY.

Revised and corrected throughout to the Present Time from the Personal
Communications of the Nobility, &c.

In 1 Vol. Royal 8vo., comprising as much matter as twenty ordinary volumes,
with 1500 engravings of arms, &c. 38s. bound.

"The most complete, the most convenient, and the cheapest work of the kind
ever given to the public."--_Sun._

Also just published, in 2 vols. 8vo., 28s. bound,

MR. DISRAELI'S LIFE AND REIGN OF CHARLES I.

New Edition, revised by the Author, and edited by his Son, B. DISRAELI,
M.P.

"By far the most important work on the important age of Charles I. that
modern times have produced."--_Quarterly Review._

HENRY COLBURN, Publisher, 13. Great Marlborough Street. {80}

MILTON, SPENSER, SCOTT, &C.

       *       *       *       *       *

We are requested to notice the Re-issue by H. WASHBOURNE, NEW BRIDGE
STREET. Of a New and enlarged Edition, with 4,000 Plates, 2 vols. 21s.

BOOK OF FAMILY CRESTS AND MOTTOES, accompanied by upwards of 4,000
Engravings, illustrative of the Crests of nearly every Family. _The best
recommendation as to its correctness (in the main) is, that it has been
used as a book of reference in the Herald's College._

"No wonder this book sells."--_Spectator._

BOOK OF FAMILY MOTTOES, borne by Nobility, Gentry, &c., with Translations
and Names. 3s. 6d. Fourteenth Edition, and 74th Year of its Publication,
with a New Chapter on Heraldry as in conjunction with Architecture, &c.

CLARK'S INTRODUCTION TO HERALDRY. Upwards of 1,000 Plates, including the
Arms of numerous Families. Small 8vo. 7s. 6d.; Plates, correctly coloured,
18s.; or 12s. on paper prepared for Learners.

       *       *       *       *       *

FATHERS OF THE EARLY ENGLISH CHURCH.

Now re-issued, at nearly half their published prices,

WORKS OF VENERABLE BEDE. 12 vols. 8vo.

*** MISCELLANEOUS WORKS AND LIFE OF V. BEDE separate in 6 Vols. 1l. 10s.

ALDHELM'S WORKS. 8vo. 6s. A.D. 705.

ARNULF'S LETTERS, &c. 6s. A.D. 1141.

BONIFACE'S WORKS. 2 vols. 8vo. 12s. A.D. 720.

JOHN of SALISBURY'S WORKS. 5 vols. A.D. 1136.

LANFRANC'S WORKS. 2 vols. 12s. A.D. 1070.

PETER OF BLOIS' WORKS. 4 vols. 1l. 4s. A.D. 1100.

The Series, with the Works of THOMAS à BECKET, HERBERT of BOSHAM, and
FOLIOT, complete in 35 vols. 8vo. 9l.

_Those who wish to perfect their Sets are recommended to do so at once._

       *       *       *       *       *

MARTIN'S MILTON.

MILTON'S PARADISE LOST, with 24 large Engravings by MARTIN. Imperial 8vo.
1l. 11s. 6d. half-bound morocco; 2l. 2s. morocco, elegantly gilt.

"He is more original, more self-dependent than Raffaelle or Michael Angelo;
they perfected the style of others--of Massaccio and Segnorelli. Martin
borrowed from none"--_Sir E.L.B. Lytton._

SPENSER'S POETICAL AND PROSE WORKS. With Memoirs. Royal 8vo. 10s. 6d.
cloth; 20s. morocco.

SPECTATOR, with Portraits and Lives of the Authors. 9s. cloth; 18s. 6d.
morocco.

HUDIBRAS, Gray's Edition. Edited by DR. NASH. Illustrated by above 100
Portraits, &c. 2 vols. 21s.; or without the Portraits. 10s.

"When ordering a Hudibras, we do not know what better edition could be
supplied."--_Douglas Jerrold._

BOSWELL'S LIFE OF DR. JOHNSON, by MALONE 8vo. 7s. cloth; 9s. half morocco.

"Neatly printed and to which the industry of all the Crokers has added
little either curious or important."--_Spectator._

ARABIAN NIGHTS ENTERTAINMENTS. Illustrated. Royal 8vo. 7s. 6d.; without
Plates, 6s. 6d.

MOORE'S PICTORIAL BOOK OF OLD ENGLISH BALLADS and BORDER MINSTRELSY.
Illustrated by 200 Wood Engravings. 8vo. 10s. 6d. cloth; 12s. half morocco;
20s. antique morocco.

"It contains a number of most curious and interesting ballads, profusely
illustrated by clever and appropriate woodcuts."--_Lit. Gazette._

MASSINGER'S WORKS by GIFFORD. Royal 8vo. 10s. 6d.

PERCY'S RELIQUES of ANCIENT ENGLISH POETRY. 3 vols. Fcp. 8vo. With
illuminated Titles. 15s. cloth; 18s. half morocco; 24s. morocco; 30s.
antique morocco.

ELLIS'S SPECIMENS OF EARLY ENGLISH POETS. 3 vols., at same Prices.

"_Washbourne's _edition of Percy and Ellis_ are tempting books._"--_Gent.
Magazine._

SIR WALTER SCOTT.--The ABBOTSFORD, CABINET, and all Editions of the NOVELS,
POETRY, MISCELLANEOUS PROSE, and LIFE.

WALTON'S LIVES OF DONNE, WALTON, HOOKER, HERBERT, &c. 76 Engravings. MAJOR
Edition. Small 8vo. 9s. cloth; 14s. morocco antique.

GEORGE HERBERT'S POEMS and COUNTRY PARSON. Super-royal 32mo. cloth,
antique, 4s.; morocco antique, 8s.

==> It will be necessary to apply for WASHBOURNE'S Editions.

       *       *       *       *       *

Committee for the Repair of the

TOMB OF GEOFFREY CHAUCER.

  JOHN BRUCE, Esq. Treas. S.A.
  J. PAYNE COLLIER, Esq., V.P.S.A.
  PETER CUNNINGHAM, Esq., F.S.A.
  WILLIAM RICHARD DRAKE, Esq., F.S.A.
  THOMAS W. KING, Esq., F.S.A.
  SIR FREDERICK MADDEN, K.H.
  JOHN GOUGH NICHOLS, Esq. F.S.A.
  HENRY SHAW, Esq., F.S.A.
  SAMUEL SHEPHERD, Esq., F.S.A.
  WILLIAM J. THOMS, Esq., F.S.A.

The Tomb of Geoffrey Chaucer in Westminster Abbey is fast mouldering into
irretrievable decay. A sum of One Hundred Pounds, will effect a perfect
repair. The Committee have not thought it right to fix any limit to the
contribution; they themselves have opened the list with a subscription from
each of them of Five Shillings; but thy will be ready to receive any
amount, more or less, which those who value poetry and honour Chaucer may
be kind enough to remit to them.

Subscriptions have been received from the Earls of Carlisle, Ellesmere, and
Shaftesbury, Viscounts Strangford and Mahon, Pres. Soc. Antiq., The Lords
Braybrooke and Londesborough, and many other noblemen and gentlemen.

Subscriptions are received by all the members of the Committee, and at the
Union Bank, Pall Mall East. Post-office orders may be made payable at the
Charing Cross Office, to William Richard Drake, Esq., the Treasurer, 46.
Parliament Street, or William J. Thoms, Esq., Hon. Sec., 25. Holy-Well
Street, Millbank.

       *       *       *       *       *

THE LONDON HOMOEOPATHIC HOSPITAL, 32 Golden Square. Founded by the BRITISH
HOMOEOPATHIC ASSOCIATION.

  Patron: H.R.H. THE DUCHESS OF CAMBRIDGE.
  Vice-Patron: HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF BEAUFORT, K.G.
  President: F.M. THE MARQUIS OF ANGLESEY, K.G. K.C.B.
  Chairman: CULLING C. SMITH, Esq.
  Treasurer: JOHN DEAN PAUL, Esq., 217. Strand.

This Hospital is open every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, at 2
o'clock for the reception of Out-Patients without Letters of
Recommendation. In-Patients admitted every Tuesday at 3 o'clock upon the
Recommendation of a Governor or Subscribers.

Subscriptions to the Hospital Funds will be thankfully received by the
bankers. Messrs. Strahan and Co., Strand, and Messrs. Prescott and Co.,
Threadneedle Street, and by

RALPH BUCHAN, Honorary Secretary, 32. Gold 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, January 25. 1851.