(Vol. vii., pp. 303. 362.)
Without entering on the question as to possible connexion of the poet
with the family above mentioned, the discussion may be simplified by
solving a difficulty suggested by Cliviger (p. 362.), arising from
Hurstwood Hall (another estate in Hurstwood) having been possessed by
Townley, and by explaining, 1st, The identity of the tenement once owned
by Spencers; 2ndly, The seeming cause of Whitaker's silence; and, 3rdly,
The certainty of possession by the Spencers.
I. The former estate of the Spencers in Hurstwood is a tenement which
was purchased by the late Rev. John Hargreaves from the representatives
of William Ormerod, of Foxstones, in Cliviger, in 1803, and which had
been conveyed in 1690, by John Spencer, then of Marsden, to Oliver
Ormerod of Hurstwood, and his son Laurence; the former of these being
youngest son, by a second marriage, of Peter Ormerod of Ormerod, and
co-executor of his will in 1650. So much for the locality.
II. As for Dr. Whitaker's silence, I know, from correspondence with him
(1808-1816), that, from an irregularity in the Prerogative Office, he
was not aware of this will, and uninformed as to this second marriage,
or the connexion of this purchaser's family with the parent house; and I
think it as probable that he was as unaware of the ancient possession of
the purchased tenement by Spencers, as it is certain that this theory as
to the connexion of the poet with it was then unknown. If otherwise,
he would doubtless have extended his scale, and included it.
III. As to the certainty of possession by Spencers, I have brief
extracts from deeds as to this tenement as follows:—
1677. Indenture of covenants for a fine, between John Spencer the
elder, and Oliver Ormerod of Cliviger, and note of fine.
1687. Will of same John Spencer, late of Hurstwood, mentioning
possession of this tenement as the inheritance of his
great-grandfather, Edmund Spencer.
1689. Family arrangements of John Spencer (the son) as to same
tenement, then in occupation of "Oliver Ormeroyde" before mentioned.
1690. Conveyance from John Spencer to O. and L. O., as before
mentioned.
In Gentleman's Magazine, August, 1842 (pp. 141, 142.), will be found
numerous notices of these Spencers or Spensers, with identified
localities from registers.
I think that this explanation will solve the difficulty suggested by
Cliviger. On the main question I have not grounds sufficient for an
opinion, but add a reference to Gentleman's Magazine, March, 1848, p.
286., for a general objection by Mr. Crossley, President of the
Chetham Society, who is well acquainted with the locality.
Lancastriensis.
I was about to address some photographic Queries to the correspondents
of "N. & Q." when a note caught my attention relating to Edmund Spenser
(in the Number dated March 26.). The Mr. F. F. Spenser mentioned therein
was related to me, being my late father's half-brother. I regret to say
that he died very suddenly at Manchester, Nov. 2, 1852. During his
lifetime, he took much pains to clear up the doubts about the locality
of the poet's retirement, and his relatives in the North; and has made
out a very clear case, I imagine. On a visit to Yorkshire in 1851, I
spent a few days with him, and took occasion to urge the necessity of
arranging the mass of information he had accumulated on the subject;
which I have no doubt he would have done, had not his sudden death
occurred to prevent it. These facts may be of some interest to
biographers of the poet, and with this object I have ventured to trouble
you with this communication.
J. B. Spencer.
11. Montpellier Road, Blackheath.
(Vol. ii., p. 196.; Vol. v., p. 413.; Vol. vii., pp. 193. 288.)
I do not know whether you will permit me to occupy a small portion of
your valuable space in an attempt to suggest an origin of the custom of
throwing an old shoe after a newly married bride.
Your correspondents assume that the old shoe was thrown after the bride
for luck, and for luck only. I doubt whether it was so in its origin.
Among barbarous nations, all transfers of property, all assertions and
relinquishments of rights of dominion, were marked by some external
ceremony or rite; by which, in the absence of written documents, the
memory of the vulgar might be impressed. When, among Scandinavian
nations, land was bought or sold, a turf was delivered by the trader to
the purchaser: and among the Jews, and probably among other oriental
nations, a shoe answered the same purpose.
In Psalm lx., beginning with "O God, thou hast cast me off," there
occurs the phrase, "Moab is my washpot, over Edom have I cast out my
shoe." Immediately after it occurs the exclamation, "O God! who has cast
us off!" A similar passage occurs in Psalm cix.
By this passage I understand the Psalmist to mean, that God would
thoroughly cast off Edom, and cease to aid him in war or peace. This
interpretation is consistent with the whole tenor of the Psalm.
The receiving of a shoe was an evidence and symbol of asserting or
accepting dominion or ownership; the giving back a shoe, the symbol of
rejecting or resigning it.
Among the Jews, the brother of a childless man was bound to marry his
widow: or, at least, he "had the refusal of her," and the lady could not
marry again till her husband's brother had formally rejected her. The
ceremony by which this rejection was performed took place in open court,
and is mentioned in Deut. xxv. If the brother publicly refused her, "she
loosed his shoe from off his foot, and spat in his face;" or, as great
Hebraists translate it, "spat before his face." His giving up the shoe
was a symbol that he abandoned all dominion over her; and her
spitting before him was a defiance, and an assertion of independence.
This construction is in accordance with the opinions of Michaelis, as
stated in his Laws of Moses, vol. ii. p. 31.
This practice is still further illustrated by the story of Ruth. Her
nearest kinsman refused to marry her, and to redeem her inheritance: he
was publicly called on so to do by Boaz, and as publicly refused. And
the Bible adds, "as it was the custom in Israel concerning changing,
that a man plucked off his shoe and delivered it to his neighbour," the
kinsman plucked off his shoe and delivered it to Boaz as a public
renunciation of Ruth, of all dominion over her, and of his right of
pre-marriage.
These ceremonies were evidently not unknown to the early Christians.
When the Emperor Wladimir made proposals of marriage to the daughter of
Raguald, she refused him, saying, "That she would not take off her shoe
to the son of a slave."
There is a passage in Gregory of Tours (c. 20.) where, speaking of
espousals, he says, "The bridegroom having given a ring to the fiancée,
presents her with a shoe."
From Michelet's Life of Luther we learn, that the great reformer was
at the wedding of Jean Luffte. After supper, he conducted the bride to
bed, and told the bridegroom that, according to common custom, he ought
to be master in his own house when his wife was not there: and for a
symbol, he took off the husband's shoe, and put it upon the head of the
bed—"afin qu'il prit ainsi la domination et gouvernement."
I would suggest for the consideration of your correspondents that the
throwing a shoe after a bride was a symbol of renunciation of dominion
and authority over her by her father or guardian; and the receipt of the
shoe by the bridegroom, even if accidental, was an omen that that
authority was transferred to him.
John Thrupp.
Surbiton.
(Vol. vii., pp. 105. 183.)
That the Orkney and Zetland Islands were transferred by Denmark to
Scotland in 1468, in pledge for payment of part of the dower of the
Princess of Denmark, who was married to James III., King of Scotland,
under right of redemption by Denmark, is an admitted historic fact; but
it is asserted by the Scottish, and denied by the Danish historians,
that Denmark renounced her right of redemption of these Islands. The
question is fully discussed, with references to every work and passage
treating of the matter, in the first introductory note to the edition of
The General Grievances and Oppressions of the Isles of Orkney and
Shetland, published at Edinburgh, 1836. And the writer of the note is
led to the conclusion that there was no renunciation, and that Denmark
still retains her right of redemption. Mr. Samuel Laing, in his Journal
of a Residence in Norway, remarks, that the object of Torfæus'
historical work, Orcades, seu Rerum Orcadensium Historiæ libri tres,
compiled by the express command of Christian V., King of Denmark, was to
vindicate the right of the Danish monarch to redeem the mortgage of the
sovereignty of these islands; and he adds, that in 1804, Bonaparte, in a
proclamation addressed to the army assembled at Boulogne for the
invasion of England, descanted on the claim of Denmark to this portion
of the British dominions. In a note he has the farther statement, that
in 1549 an assessment for paying off the sum for which Orkney and
Zetland were pledged was levied in Norway by Christian III. (Vide
Laing's Norway, 1837, pp. 352, 353.) From the preceding notice, it
would appear, that Denmark never renounced her right of redemption, now
merely a matter of antiquarian curiosity. And it is pertinent to
mention, that the connexion of Orkney and Zetland was with Norway, not
Denmark. I observe in the Catalogue of MSS., in the Cottonian Library in
the British Museum (Titus C. VII. art. 71. f. 134.), "Notes on King of
Denmark's Demand of the Orcades, 1587-8," which may throw some light on
the matter.
In the historical sketch given by Broctuna, Kenneth II., King of
Scotland, is said to have taken the Orkneys from the Picts A.D. 838; and
that they remained attached to that kingdom till 1099, when Donald Bain,
in recompense of aid given to him by Magnus, King of Norway, gifted all
the Scotch isles, including the Orkneys, to Norway. This is not what is
understood to be the history of Orkney.
In the middle of the ninth century, Harold Harfager, one of the reguli
of Norway, subdued the other petty rulers, and made himself king of the
whole country. The defeated party fled to Orkney, and other islands of
the west: whence, betaking themselves to piracy, they returned to ravage
the coast of Norway. Harold pursued them to their places of refuge, and
conquered and colonised Orkney about A.D. 875. The Norwegians at that
time destroyed or expelled the race then inhabiting these islands. They
are supposed to have been Picts, and to have received Christianity at an
earlier date, but it is doubtful if there were Christians in Orkney at
that period: however, Depping says expressly, that Earl Segurd, the
second Norwegian earl, expelled the Christians from these isles. I may
remark, that the names of places in Orkney and Zetland are Norse, and
bear descriptive and applicable meanings in that tongue; but hesitate to
extend these names beyond the Norwegian colonisation, and to connect
them with the Picts or other earlier inhabitants. No argument can be
founded on the rude and miserable subterraneous buildings called Picts'
houses, which, if they ever were habitations, or anything else than
places of refuge, must have belonged to a people in a very low grade of
civilisation. Be this as it may, Orkney and Zetland remained under the
Norwegian dominion from the time of Harold Harfager till they were
transferred to Scotland by the marriage treaty in 1468, a period of
about six hundred years. What cannot easily be accounted for, is the
discovery of two Orkney and Zetland deeds of the beginning of the
fifteenth century prior to the transfer, written not in Norse, but in
the Scottish language.
R. W.
(Vol. vii., p. 339.)
The numerous and interesting inquiries of An Amateur respecting a
catalogue of Hogarth's works has brought to my recollection the
discovery of one of them, which I was so fortunate as to see in its
original situation. About the year 1815 I was invited by a friend, who
was an artist, to visit a small public-house in Leadenhall Street, to
see a picture by Hogarth: it was "The Elephant," since, I believe,
pulled down, being in a ruinous condition. In the tap-room, on the wall,
almost obscured by the dirt and smoke, and grimed by the rubbing of
numberless foul jackets, was an indisputable picture by the renowned
Hogarth. It represented the meeting of the committee of the
South Sea Company, and doubtless the figures were all portraits. It was painted in
his roughest manner; but every head was stamped with that character for
which he stood unrivalled. I have since heard that, when the house was
pulled down, this picture was sold as one of the lots, in the sale of
furniture, and bought by a dealer. It was painted on the wall, like a
fresco; and how to remove it was the difficulty. On sounding the wall it
was found to be lath and plaster, with timber framework (the usual style
of building in the reign of Elizabeth). It was therefore determined to
cut it out in substance, which was accordingly performed; and by the
help of chisels, thin crowbars, and other instruments, it was safely
detached. The plaster was then removed from the back down to the
priming, and the picture was backed with strong canvas. It was then
cleaned from all its defilement, and, on being offered for sale at a
good price, was bought by a nobleman, whose name I have not heard, and
is now in his collection.
I do not know whether your correspondent has heard of Hogarth's portrait
of Fielding. The story, as I have heard or read it, is as
follows:—Hogarth and Garrick sitting together after dinner, Hogarth was
lamenting there was no portrait of Fielding, when Garrick said, "I think
I can make his face."—"Pray, try my dear Davy," said the other. Garrick
then made the attempt, and so well did he succeed, that Hogarth
immediately caught the likeness, and exclaimed with exultation, "Now I
have him: keep still, my dear Davy." To work he went with pen and ink,
and the likeness was finished by their mutual recollections. This sketch
has been engraved from the original drawing, and is preserved among
several original drawings and prints in the illustrated copy of
Lysons's Environs, vol. i. p. 544., in the King's Library, British
Museum.
While I am writing about unnoticed pictures by what may be called
erratic artists, I may mention that in the parlour of the "King's
Head," corner of New Road and Hampstead Road, on the panel of a
cupboard, is a half-length of a farmer's boy, most probably the work of
G. Morland, who visited this house on his way to Hampstead, and probably
paid his score by painting this picture; which is well known to have
been his usual way of paying such debts.
E. G. Ballard.
Agreeably to the suggestion of An Amateur, I beg to send you the
following list of pictures, from a catalogue in my possession:
Catalogue of the Pictures and Prints, the property of the late Mrs.
Hogarth, deceased, sold by Mr. Greenwood, the Golden Head,
Leicester Square, Saturday, April 24, 1790.
Pictures by Mr. Hogarth.
- 41. Two portraits of Ann and Mary Hogarth.
- 42. A daughter of Mr. Rich the comedian, finely coloured.
- 43. The original portrait of Sir James Thornhill.
- 44. The heads of six servants of Mr. Hogarth's family.
- 45. His own portrait—a head.
- 46. A ditto—a whole-length painting.
- 47. A ditto, Kit Kat, with the favourite dog, exceeding fine.
- 48. Two portraits of Lady Thornhill and Mrs. Hogarth.
- 49. The first sketch of the Rake's Progress.
- 50. A ditto of the altar of Bristol Church.
- 51. The Shrimp Girl—a sketch.
- 52. Sigismunda.
- 53. A historical sketch, by Sir James Thornhill.
- 54. Two sketches of Lady Pembroke and Mr. John Thornhill.
- 55. Three old pictures.
- 56. The bust of Sir Isaac Newton, terra cotta.
- 57. Ditto of Mr. Hogarth, by Roubilliac.
- 58. Ditto of the favourite dog, and cast of Mr. Hogarth's hand.
W. D. Haggard.
(Vol. vii., pp. 128. 200. 328.)
In a little brochure entitled Christmas, its History and Antiquity,
published by Slater, London, 1850, the writer says that—
"In Berkshire it is confidently asserted, that if any one watches
on Christmas Eve he will hear subterranean bells; and in the
mining districts the workmen declare that at this sacred season
high mass is performed with the greatest solemnity on that evening
in the mine which contains the most valuable lobe of ore, which is
supernaturally lighted up with candles in the most brilliant
manner, and the service changed by unseen choristers."—P. 46.
The poet Uhland has a beautiful poem entitled Die Verlorne Kirche.
Lord Lindsay says:
"I subjoin, in illustration of the symbolism, and the peculiar
emotions born of Gothic architecture, The Lost Church of the poet
Uhland, founded, I apprehend, on an ancient tradition of the
Sinaitic peninsula."—Sketches of Christian Art.
I give the first stanza of his translation:
"Oft in the forest far one hears
A passing sound of distant bells;
Nor legends old, nor human wit,
Can tell us whence the music swells.
From the Lost Church 'tis thought that soft
Faint ringing cometh on the wind:
Once many pilgrims trod the path,
But no one now the way can find."
See also Das Versunkene Kloster, by the same sweet poet,
commencing:
"Ein Kloster ist versunken
Tief in den wilden See."
After Port Royal (in the West Indies) was submerged, at the close of the
seventeenth century, sailors in those parts for many years had stories
of anchoring in the chimneys and steeples, and would declare they heard
the church bells ringing beneath the water, agitated by the waves or
spirits of the deep.
The case of the Round Towers seen in Lough Neagh, I need not bring
forward, as no sound of bells has ever been heard from them.
There is one lost church so famous as to occur to the mind of every
reader, I mean that of the Ten Tribes of Israel. After the lapse of
thousands of years, we have here an historical problem, which time,
perhaps, will never solve. We have a less famous, but still most
interesting, instance of a lost church in Greenland. Soon after the
introduction of Christianity, about the year 1000, a number of churches
and a monastery were erected along the east coast of Greenland, and a
bishop was ordained for the spiritual guidance of the colony. For some
four hundred years an intercourse was maintained between this colony and
Norway and Denmark. In the year 1406 the last bishop was sent over to
Greenland. Since then the colony has not been heard of. Many have been
the attempts to recover this lost church of East Greenland, but hitherto
in vain.
I could send you a Note on a cognate subject, but I fear it would occupy
too much of your space,—that of Happy Isles, or Islands of the
Blessed. The tradition respecting these happy isles is very
wide-spread, and obtains amongst nearly every nation of the globe; it
is, perhaps, a relic of a primeval tradition of Eden. Some have caught
glimpses of these isles, and some more favoured mortals have even
landed, and returned again with senses dazzled at the ravishing sights
they have seen. But in every case after these rare favours, these mystic
lands have remained invisible as before, and the way to them has been
sought for in vain. Such are the tales told with reverent earnestness,
and listened to with breathless interest, not only by the Egyptians,
Greeks, and Romans of old, but by the Irishman, the Welshman, the
Hindoo, and the Red Indian of to-day.
Eirionnach.
Photographic Collodion (Vol. vii., p. 314.).—In a former
communication I pointed out the wide differences in the various
manipulations prescribed for making the photographic gun cotton by
several photographers: differences most perplexing to persons of small
leisure, and who are likely to lose half the opportunities of a
photographic season, whilst puzzling over these diversities of
proceeding. Suffer me now to entreat some one to whom all may look up
(perhaps your kind and experienced correspondent Dr. Diamond will do
this service, so valuable to young photographers) to clear up the
differences I will now "make a note of," viz. as to the amount of dry
photographic gun cotton to be used in forming the prepared collodion.
On comparing various authors, and reducing their directions to a
standard of one ounce of ether, I find the following differences:
viz., Dr. Diamond (Vol. vi., p. 277.) prescribes about three grains of
gun cotton; Mr. Hennah (Directions, &c., p. 5.) about seven grains;
the Count de Montizon (Journ. of Phot. Soc., p. 23.) eight grains;
whilst Mr. Bingham (Supplement to Phot. Manip., p. 2.) directs about
thirty-four grains! in each case to a single ounce of ether.
These differences are too wide to come within even Mr. Archer's "long
range," that "the proportions ... must depend entirely upon the strength
and the thickness required ... the skill of the operator and the season
of the year." (Archer's Manual, p. 17.)
Cokely.
Filtering Collodion.—Count de Montizon, in his valuable paper on the
collodion process, published in the second number of the Journal of the
Photographic Society, objects to filtration on the ground that the
silver solution is often injured by impurities contained in the paper.
It may be worth while to state, that lime, and other impurities, may be
removed by soaking the filter for a day or two, before it is used, in
water acidulated with nitric acid; after which it should be washed with
hot water and dried.
T. D. Eaton.
Photographic Notes (Vol. vii., p. 363.).—I wish to correct an error
in my communication in "N. & Q." of April 9: in speaking of "a more
even film," I meant a film more evenly sensitive. I am sorry I have
misled Mr. Shadbolt as to my meaning. I have very rarely any "spottings"
in my pictures; but I always drop the plates once or twice into the
bath, after the two minutes' immersion, to wash off any loose particles.
I also drain off all I can of the nitrate of silver solution before
placing the glass in the camera, and for three reasons:—1. Because it
saves material; 2. Because the lower part of dark frame is kept free
from liquid; 3. Because a "flowing sheet" of liquid must interfere
somewhat with the passage of light to the film, and consequently with
the sharpness of the picture. I think it is clear, from Mr. Shadbolt's
directions to Mr. Meritt, that it is no very easy thing to cement a
glass bath with marine glue.
J. L. Sisson.
Colouring Collodion Pictures (Vol. vii., p. 388.).—In your impression
of April 16, there is a typographical error of some importance relative
to lifting the collodion in and out of the bath: "The plate, after being
plunged in, should be allowed to repose quietly from twenty to thirty
minutes," &c. This should be seconds. The error arose, in all
probability, from my having used the contractions 20" to 30".
It may appear somewhat droll for any one to answer a question on which
he has not had experience; but I beg to offer as a suggestion to
Photo, that if he wishes to use collodion pictures for the purpose of
dissolving views, he should first copy them in the camera as transparent
objects so as to reverse the light and shade, then varnish them with
Dr. Diamond's solution of amber in chloroform, when they will bear the
application of transparent colours ground in varnish, such as are used
for painting magic-lantern slides.
Geo. Shadbolt.
Gutta Percha Baths (Vol. vii., p. 314.).—In "N. & Q." for March 26, I
ventured to recommend to H. Henderson gutta percha, as a material for
nitrate of silver baths. I did this from a knowledge that hundreds of
them were in use, but chiefly because I have found them answer so well.
In the same Number the Editor gives Mr. Henderson very opposite advice;
and, had I seen his opinion before my notes appeared, I should certainly
have kept them back. But it is, I think, a matter of some importance,
especially to beginners, to have it settled, whether gutta percha has
the effect of causing "unpleasant markings" in collodion pictures or
not. With all due deference to the Editor's opinion, I do not believe
that gutta percha baths are injurious to the finished picture. I have
never any markings in my glass positives now, but what may be traced
with certainty to some unevenness in the film or dirtiness on the glass.
And I hope that the number of beginners who are using gutta percha
baths, and who are troubled with these unpleasant markings (as all
beginners are, whether they use glass or gutta percha), will not,
without some very careful experiments, lay the fault upon the gutta
percha. In the Number for April 2, the Editor thanks me for what he is
pleased to call "the very beautiful specimen of my skill." This was a
small glass positive, which I sent him in accordance with an offer of
mine in a former note. Now, that was rendered sensitive in a gutta
percha bath, which I have had in use for months; and I think I may
appeal to the Editor as to the absence of all unpleasant markings in it.
Probably it may be a good plan for those who make the baths for
themselves to adopt the following simple method of cleaning them at
first. Fill the bath with water, changing it every day for a week or so.
Then wash it with strong nitric acid, and wash once or twice afterwards.
Always keep the nitrate of silver solution in the bath, with a cover
over it. Never filter, unless there is a great deal of extraneous matter
at the bottom. If glass baths are used, cemented together with
sealing-wax, &c., I imagine they might be as objectionable as gutta
percha. The number of inquiries for a diagram of my head-rest, &c., from
all parts of the kingdom—Glasgow, Paisley, Manchester, Leicester,
Leeds, Newcastle, Durham, &c. &c.—proves the very large number of
photographic subscribers "N. & Q." possesses. I think, therefore, it
cannot but prove useful to discuss in its pages the question of the
advantage or disadvantage of gutta percha.
J. L. Sisson.
Edingthorpe Rectory, North Walsham.
Pilgrimages to the Holy Land (Vol. v., p. 289.).—I beg to inform W.
M. R. E. (Vol. vii., p. 341.) that, though I have never met with a
printed copy of the "Itinerary to the Holy Land" of Gabriele
Capodilista (the Perugia edition of 1472, mentioned by Brunet, being
undoubtedly a book of very great rarity, and perhaps the only one ever
printed), I have in my possession a very beautiful manuscript of the
work on vellum, which appears to have been presented by the author to
the nuns of St. Bernardino of Padua. It is a small folio; and the first
page is illuminated in a good Italian style of the fifteenth century. It
is very well written in the Venetian dialect, and commences thus:
"Venerabilibus ac Devotissimis Dne Abbatissæ et
Monialibus Ecclesiæ Sancti Bernardini de Padua salute in
Dno].—Ritrovandomi ne li tempi in questa mia opereta descripti,
Io Gabriel Capodelista Cavalier Padoano dal sumo Idio inspirato
et dentro al mio cor concesso fermo proposito di vistare
personalmente el Sanctissimo loco di Jerusalem," &c.
This MS., which was formerly in the library of the Abbati Canonici, I
purchased, with others, at Venice in 1835.
If W. M. R. E. has any wish to see it, and will communicate such wish to
me through the medium of the publisher of "N. & Q.," I shall be happy to
gratify his curiosity. I do not know whether there is any MS. of
Capodilista's Itinerary in the British Museum.
W. Sneyd.
"A Letter to a Convocation Man" (Vol vii., p. 358.).—The authorship
of the tract concerning which Mr. Fraser inquires, is assigned to Sir
Bartholomew Shower, not by the Bodleian Catalogue only, but also by Sir
Walter Scott, in his edition of the Somers' Tracts (vol. ix. p. 411.),
as well as by Dr. Watt, in his Bibliotheca Britannica. The only
authorities for ascribing it to Dr. Binckes which I have been able to
discover, are Dr. Edmund Calamy, in his Life and Times (vol. i. p.
397.), and the Rev. Thomas Lathbury, in his History of the Convocation
of the Church of England (p. 283.); but neither of those authors gives
the source from which his information is derived: and Mr. Lathbury, who
appears perfectly unaware that the tract had ever been ascribed to Sir
Bartholomew Shower, a lawyer, remarks: "It is worthy of observation that
the author of the letter professes to be a lawyer, though such was not
the case, Dr. Binckes being a clergyman." Dr. Kennett also, in his
Ecclesiastical Synods, p. 19., referred to by Mr. Lathbury, speaking
of Archbishop Wake's reply, says: "I remember one little prejudice to
it, that it was wrote by a divine, whereas the argument required an able
lawyer; and the very writer of the Letter to a Convocation Man
suggesting himself to be of that profession, there was the greater
equity, there should be the like council of one side as there had been
of the other."—It has occurred to me that the mistake of assigning the
tract to Dr. Binckes may possibly have been occasioned by the
circumstance that another tract, with the following title, published in
1701, has the initials W. B. at the end of it,—A Letter to a
Convocation Man, by a Clergyman in the Country. I have examined both
tracts, and they are quite different, and leave no appearance of having
proceeded from the same hand.
Tyro.
Dublin.
King Robert Bruce's Coffin-plate (Vol vii., p. 356.) was a modern
forgery, but not discovered to be so, of course, until after publication
of the beautiful engraving of it in the Transactions of the Scottish
Society of Antiquaries, which was made at the expense of, and presented
to the Society by, the barons of the Exchequer.
I believe that a notice of the forgery was published in a subsequent
volume.
W. C. Trevelyan.
Eulenspiegel or Howleglas (Vol. vii., p. 357.).—The following extract
from my note-book may be of use:
"The German Rogue, or the Life and Merry Adventures, Cheats,
Stratagems, and Contrivances of Tiel Eulenspiegle.
'Let none Eulenspiegle's artifices blame,
For Rogues of every country are the same.'
London, printed in the year MDCCIX. The only copy of this edition I
ever saw was one which had formerly belonged to Ritson, and which I
purchased of Thomas Rodd, but afterwards relinquished to my old
friend Mr. Douce."
This copy, therefore, is no doubt now in the Bodleian. I have never
heard of any other.
While on the subject of Eulenspiegel, I would call your correspondent's
attention to some curious remarks on the Protestant and Romanist
versions of it in the Quarterly Review, vol. xxi. p. 108.
I may also take this opportunity of informing him that a very cleverly
illustrated edition of it was published by Scheible of Stuttgart in
1838, and that a passage in the Hettlingischen Sassenchronik
(Caspar Abel's Sammlung, p. 185.), written in 1455, goes to prove that
Dyll Ulnspiegel, as the wag is styled in the Augsburgh edition of 1540,
is no imaginary personage, inasmuch as under the date of 1350 the
chronicler tells of a very grievous pestilence which raged through the
whole world, and that "dosulfest sterff Ulenspeygel to Möllen."
I am unable to answer the Query respecting Murner's visit to England.
The most complete account of his life and writings is, I believe, that
prefixed by Scheible to his edition of Murner's
Narrenbeschwörung, and his satirical dissertation Ob
der König von England ein Lügner sey, oder der Luther.
William J. Thoms.
Sir Edwin Sadleir (Vol. vii., p. 357.).—Sir Edwin Sadleir, of Temple
Dinsley, in the county of Hertford, Bart., was the third son of Sir
Edwin Sadleir (created a baronet by Charles II.), by Elizabeth, daughter
of Sir Walter Walker, Knt., LL.D. His elder brothers having died in
infancy, he succeeded, on his father's death in 1672, to his honour and
estates, and subsequently married Mary, daughter and coheiress of John
Lorymer, citizen and apothecary of London, and widow of William Croone,
M.D. This lady founded the algebra lectures at Cambridge, and also
lectures in the College of Physicians and the Royal Society. (See
Chauncy's Historical Antiquities of Hertfordshire, folio edit., 397,
or 8vo. edit., ii. 179, 180.; Ward's Lives of the Gresham Professors,
322. 325.; Sir Ralph Sadler's State Papers, ii. 610.; Weld's History
of the Royal Society, i. 289.) In the Sadler State Papers, Sir Edwin
Sadleir is stated to have died 30th September, 1706: but that was the
date of Lady Sadleir's death; and, according to Ward, Sir Edwin Sadleir
survived her. He died without issue, and thereupon the baronetcy became
extinct.
C. H. Cooper.
Cambridge.
Belfry Towers separate from the Body of the Church (Vol. vii., p.
333.).—The tower of the parish church of Llangyfelach, in
Glamorganshire, is raised at some little distance from the building. In
the legends of the place, this is accounted for by a belief that the
devil, in his desire to prevent the erection of the church, carried off
a portion of it as often as it was commenced; and that he was at length
only defeated by the two parts being built separate.
Seleucus.
In addition to the bell towers unconnected with the church, noticed in
"N. & Q." (Vol. vii., p. 333.), I beg to call the attention of J. S. A.
to those of Woburn in Bedfordshire, and Henllan in Denbighshire. The
tower of the former church stands at six yards distance from it, and is
a small square building with large buttresses and four pinnacles: it
looks picturesque, from being entirely covered with ivy. The tower, or
rather the steeple, at Henllan, near Denbigh, is still more remarkable,
from its being built on the top of a hill, and looking down upon the
church, which stands in the valley at its foot.
Cambrensis.
God's Marks (Vol. vii., p. 134.).—These are probably the "yellow
spots" frequently spoken of in old writings, as appearing on the
finger-nails, the hands, and elsewhere, before death. (See Brand's
Popular Ant., vol. iii. p. 177., Bohn's edit.) In Denmark they were
known under the name Döding-knib (dead man's nips,
ghost-pinches), and tokened the approaching end of some friend or
kinsman. Another Danish name was Dödninge-pletter (dead
man's spots); and in Holberg's Peder Paars (book i.
song, 4.) Dödning-knæp. See S. Aspach,
Dissertatio de Variis Superstitionibus, 4to., Hafniæ, 1697, p.
7., who says they are of scorbutic origin; and F. Oldenburg, Om
Gjenfærd ellen Gjengangere, 8vo., Kjöbenhavn, 1818, p. 23.
George Stephens.
Copenhagen.
"The Whippiad" (Vol. vii., p. 393.).—The mention of The Whippiad by
B. N. C. brought to my recollection a MS. copy of that satire in this
library, and now lying before me, with the autograph of "Snelson, Trin.
Coll. Oxon., 1802." There are notes appended to this copy of the verses,
and not knowing where to look in Blackwood's Magazine for the satire,
or having a copy at hand in order to ascertain if the notes are printed
there also, or whether they are only to be found in the MS., perhaps
your correspondent B. N. C. will have the goodness to state if the
printed copy has notes, because, if there are none, I would copy out for
the "N. & Q." those that are written in the MS., as no doubt they would
be found interesting and curious by all who value whatever fell from the
pen of the highly-gifted Reginald Heber.
Perhaps the notes may be the elucidations of some college cotemporary,
and not written by Heber.
J. M.
Sir R. Taylor's Library, Oxford.
The Axe that beheaded Anne Boleyn (Vol. vii., p. 332.).—In Britton
and Brayley's Memoirs of the Tower of London, they mention (in
describing the Spanish Armoury) the axe which tradition says beheaded
Anne Boleyn and the Earl of Essex; but a foot-note is added from Stow's
Chronicle, stating that the hangman cut off the head of Anne with
one stroke of his sword.
Thos. Lawrence.
Ashby-de-la-Zouch.
Palindromical Lines (Vol. vii., pp. 178. 366.).—Besides the
habitats already given for the Greek inscription on a font, I have
notes of the like at Melton Mowbray; St. Mary's, Nottingham; in the
private chapel at Longley Castle; and at Hadleigh. At this last place,
it is noted in a church book to be taken out of Gregory Nazienzen (but I
never could find it), and a reference is made to Jeremy Taylor's Great
Exemplar, "Discourse on Baptism," p. 120. sect. 17.
It may be worth noticing that this Gregory was, for a short time, in the
fourth century, bishop of Constantinople; and in the Moslemised
cathedral of St. Sophia, in that city, according to Grelot, quoted in
Collier's Dictionary, the same words—with the difference that "sin"
is put in the plural, sic:
"ΝΙΨΟΝ ΑΝΟΜΗΜΑΤΑ ΜΗ ΜΟΝΑΝ ΟΨΙΝ"—
were written in letters of gold over the place at the entrance of the
church, between two porphyry pillars, where stood two urns of marble
filled with water, the use of which, when it was a Christian temple,
must be well known. The Turks now use them for holding drinking water,
and have probably done so since the time when the church was turned into
a mosque, after the conquest of Constantinople by Mahomet II., in the
fifteenth century. What could induce Zeus (p. 366.) to call this
inscription "sotadic?" It may more fitly be called holy.
H. T. Ellacombe.
Clyst St. George.
These lines also are to be found on the marble basins for containing
holy water, in one of the churches at Paris.
W. C. Trevelyan.
The Greek inscription mentioned by Jeremy Taylor is on the font in
Rufford Church.
H. A.
Heuristisch (Vol. vii., p. 237.).—In reply to H. B. C. of the
U. U. Club, I beg to give the explanation of the word
heuristisch, with its cognate terms, from Heyse's
Allgemeines Fremdwörterbuch, 10th edition, Hanover, 1848:
"Heuréka, gr. (von heuriskein, finden), ich hab' es
gefunden, gefunden! Heuristik, f. die Erfindungskunst;
heuristisch, erfindungskünstlich, erfinderisch; heuristische
Methode, entwickelnde Lehrart, welche den Schüler zum Selbstfinden
der Lehrsätze anleitet."
J. M.
Oxford.