Notes and Queries Vol. V., No. 114, Saturday, January 3, 1852

NOTES:—

QUERIES:—

REPLIES:—

MISCELLANEOUS:—

Although We cannot commence our Fifth Volume, and the First of our enlarged Series, without some reference to so important an event in the history of "NOTES AND QUERIES," our address shall be as "brief as the posey of a ring." We heartily and earnestly express our thanks to all our friends, whether Contributors or Readers, for the favour they have shown us, and the encouragement and support which have rendered the enlargement of our paper necessary. We entered upon our course with the support of many distinguished friends, whose varied acquirements stamped an immediate value on "NOTES AND QUERIES," and gave it a character which raised it to its present position among the periodicals of the country. The present number bears witness for us, that whilst we have retained our old friends, which we acknowledge with pride and thankfulness, we have added to the number many new ones. We have striven, and shall ever continue to strive, to unite them together into one goodly band, feeling assured that by that union we bring into the pages of "NOTES AND QUERIES" the learning, kindliness, aptitude, and diversity of talent and subject, which are necessary to ensure its usefulness, and therefore its success. To all our Friends and Contributors, both old and new, we offer in their several degrees the tribute of our grateful thanks, and our heartiest wishes that we may pass together MANY HAPPY NEW YEARS!

In casually looking into a little work entitled The Tablet of Memory, I found an entry which informed me that "stops in literature were introduced in 1520: the colon, 1580; semicolon, 1599."

Upon what authority the dates here quoted may have been supposed to rest, I have no notion.

The comma, beyond question I believe, has been derived from the short oblique line which, both in manuscripts and in early printed books, is continually seen to divide portions of sentences.

The colon is of very old date, derived from the κωλον of the Greeks, the part of a period. In printing, we find it in the Mazarine Bible soon after 1450; and in the block books, believed to be of still earlier date.

Herbert, in his edition of Ames's Typographical Antiquities, p. 512., notices the first semicolon he had met with in an edition of Myles Coverdale's New Testament, printed in 1538 by Richard Grafton. It was in the Dedication, and, he says, a solitary instance in the book. The only semicolon he subsequently met with, was in a book printed by Thomas Marshe in 1568, on Chess. Ibid. p. 358.

Herbert says, both seem to have been used accidentally.

Puttenham, in his Arte of English Poesie, 4to., 1589, in his chapter of "Cesure," says:—

"The ancient reformers of language invented these names of pauses, one of lesse leasure than another, and such several intermissions of sound, to serve (besides easement to the breath) for a treble distinction of sentences or parts of speech, as they happened to be more or lesse perfect in sense. The shortest pause, or intermission, they called comma, as who would say a piece of a speech cut off. The second they called colon, not a piece, but as it were a member, for his larger length, because it occupied twice an much time as the comma. The third they called periodus, for a complement or full pause, and as a resting place and perfection of so much former speech as had been uttered, and from whence they needed not to passe any further, unless it were to renew more matter to enlarge the tale."

The "three pauses, comma, colon, and periode," with the interrogative point, appear to have been all which were known to Puttenham.

Puttenham's Arte of Poesie has been already mentioned as printed in 1589. In the Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia, printed by W. Ponsonby in the very next year, 1590, the semicolon may be seen in the first page.

A book printed at Edinburgh in 1594 has not the semicolon; the use of it had not, apparently, arrived in Scotland.

That an earlier use of the semicolon had been made upon the Continent is probable. It occurs in the Sermone di Beato Leone Papa, 4to., Flor. 1485, the last point in the book.

The interrogative point, or note of interrogation, probably derived from the Greek, occurs frequently in Wilson's Arte of Rhetorique, 4to., 1553.

Some reader of your "NOTES AND QUERIES," better informed than myself, may possibly throw further light upon the English adoption of stops in literature.

HENRY ELLIS.

Your correspondents have already pointed out the very early prevalence of this usage, but the inquiry has brought to my recollection an instance which incidentally affords some curious information respecting the several languages formerly current in the western parts of this island. It was lately published, among numerous other extracts, from the registers of the see of Exeter, in the valuable Monasticon Diœcesis Exoniensis of Dr. Oliver, pp. 11, 12.

In 1336, Grandison, then Bishop of Exeter, made a visitation of his diocese. At the western extremity of it, is situate the deanery or collegiate church of St. Burian, which has always claimed to be exempt from episcopal visitation, or at least from ordinary jurisdiction. It is probable that, on one occasion of this disputed exemption, the parishioners of this remote district at the Land's End had given offence to the Bishop or his functionaries.

In company with the Lords Mortimer, D'Awney, and Bloyhon (probably an ancestor of your correspondent BLOWEN), and a large staff of archdeacons, chancellors, canons, chaplains, and familiars, the Bishop visited the church of St. Burian, and obtained from the parishioners a solemn promise of future obedience to his spiritual authority. The promise was made by the greater parishioners in English and French, and by the rest in Cornish, which the rector of St. Just (a parish which has lately obtained some celebrity by the Gorham controversy) interpreted to his lordship. Having absolved them, he then preached a long sermon on the text, "Eratis sicut oves errantes conversi ad pastorem episcopum animarum vestrarum," which the rector of St. Just there interpreted in Cornish.

It is not stated in the record what language was used by the Bishop in his sermon; but if he preached, as one of his successors, Bishop Lacy, is known to have done, in the language of his text, the business of explanation must have been rather troublesome. As he is said to have "successively" preached this sermon there,—"successivè ibidem publicè prædicavit supra sumpto themate,"—it is possible that he had to repeat his sermon in more languages than one. It is at all events certain, that three languages at least were employed, and that the Bishop did not understand Cornish, nor the Cornish men the Bishop. The names of the "major parishioners," that is, of the gentlemen of the district, are appended to the document, and are all (except perhaps one) genuine Cornish families, including the Boscawens and Vyvyans of the present day. They gave in their adhesion to the Bishop in English and French, and must therefore have understood one or both of those languages. Of the Bishop's chaplains, only one has a Cornish name; and the interpreter and rector of the adjacent parish of St. Just, Henry Marseley, was also probably not a Cornubian.

I may mention that the penitent parishioners very prudently reserved the king's rights. As the king claimed the deanery of St. Burian as a royal peculiar exempt from ordinary jurisdiction, and eventually made good his claim, it is plain that neither the promises of the parishioners nor the polyglot sermon of the Bishop, could have had any lasting effect. The patronage was soon after conferred on the Black Prince, and through him transmitted to the present Duke of Cornwall, by whose spontaneous act this obnoxious exemption from episcopal control was wholly and for ever renounced within the last two years. The successor of Grandison may now, therefore, visit the churches of the deanery, excommunicate the ministers and parishioners, and interrogate presentees, without let or hindrance; and, since the language of Cornwall died with old Dolly Pentreath, his lordship will not require the hermeneutic services either of the present or the late incumbent of St. Just.

E. SMIRKE.

I was a few days ago induced to consider whence the common expression "richly deserved" could be derived. It is used by Addison and his contemporaries, but I have not been able to find it in writers of an earlier period. Possibly the reading of some of your contributors may supply instances of its occurrence which may prove more precisely its origin and history.

The phrase, in its literal sense, is anomalous and unmeaning. We may properly say that a reward or punishment has been "fully deserved" or, by a common mode of exaggeration, we may say that a thing has been "abundantly deserved:" but "richly deserved" seems a false figure of speech, and presents to the mind an obvious incongruity of ideas. Dr. Johnson cites a passage from Addison, in which chastisement is said to have been "richly deserved," and says that it is used ironically to signify "truly" or "abundantly."

Of the meaning of the expression—now by usage become trivial—there can, of course, be no doubt; but how came so inappropriate a thought as wealth to be applied to desert? The inaptitude of the expression suggests the presumption that it is a corruption of some more correct phrase; and I venture to throw out a conjecture, for confirmation or refutation by the more extensive reading of some of your philological contributors, that it is corrupted through the medium of oral pronunciation from "righteously deserved."

In one of the prayers of the Litany, in our Book of Common Prayer, is the expression, "Turn from us all those evils which we most righteously have deserved." "Righteously" is itself a barbarous corruption of an excellent English word, "rightwisely," which is used by Bishop Fisher and other old writers. Our ancient kings were said to be "rightwise" kings of England, and to hold their prerogatives and titles "rightwisely;" and in the Liturgies of Edward VI. the word "rightwisely" is found, instead of "righteously," in the prayer of the Litany above-mentioned. Now "rightwisely deserved" is an expression as strictly logical and correct, as "richly deserved" is the contrary; and as "righteously" is clearly a corruption of "rightwisely," may not "richly," when applied to desert, be corrupted immediately from "righteously," and ultimately from "rightwisely?"

D. JARDINE.

If I were to print the explanation which follows without also producing evidence that it had escaped the notice of those to whose works all students in early English bibliography have recourse, it would seem like advancing a claim to discovery on very slight grounds. I must therefore quote Ames, Herbert, and Dibdin.

"The history of Lombardy, translated from the Latin [by William Caxton], is mentioned by Pitts."—J. AMES, 1749.

"I take this History of Lombardy to be no other than 'the gestis of the Lombardes and of Machomet wyth other cronycles,' added to the life of St. Pelagyen in the Golden legend, and printed separately for the use of the commonality [sic], who could not purchase so large a folio."—W. HERBERT, 1785; T. F. DIBDIN, 1810.

Both Bale and Pits ascribe to Caxton the translation of a work entitled Historia Lumbardica. Ames, as we have seen, states the fact with regard to Pits, but had met with no such work; Herbert, by way of explanation, assumes the existence of a publication of which no one had before heard; and Dibdin, who had far superior means of information, repeats the observations of Herbert without the addition of one word expressive of assent or dissent. May we not infer their inability to solve the problem?

The conjecture of Herbert is very plausible. One fact, however, is worth a score of conjectures; and the fact, in this case, is that in the earlier editions of the Latin legend the title is Legenda sanctorum sive historia Longobardica. Jacques de Voragine, the author of the work in question, was a Lombard by birth, and archbishop of Genoa. Now Lombardi and Longobardi were synonymous terms—as we see in Du Fresne; and so were their derivatives. With this explanation, it must be admitted that the Historia Lumbardica of Bale and Pits is no other than the Golden legend!

BOLTON CORNEY.

Since my last communication, I have ascertained that "Caxton," in Cambridgeshire was also designated "Causton."

In the Abbrev. Rot. Origin., 41 E. 3., Rot. 42., we have—

"Cantabr. Johēs Freville dat viginti marcas [p=] liē feoffandi Johēm de Carleton et Johēm de Selv̅le de man'io de Causton," &c.

And in Cal. Inq., p. m., 4 R. 2., No. 23., we have—

"Elena uxor Johēs Frevill Chr̅. Caxton maner 3a pars—Cantabr."

We have, then, in Cambridgeshire "Causton" and "Caxton" used indifferently for the same manor. There need be no difficulty, therefore, in identifying the name of "Caxton" with "Causton" manor in Hadlow.

We have advanced, then, one step further in our investigation, and the case at present stands thus: Caxton says of himself that he was born in the Weald of Kent. Fuller, as cited by MR. BOLTON CORNEY, says, "William Caxton was born in that town [sc. Caxton]."

In the Weald of Kent is a manor called Causton (to which we may now add) alias Caxton, which manor was owned in the middle of the fourteenth century by a family of the same name (from whom it had passed a century later), and held of the honour of Clare, the lords of which honour, in the fifteenth century, were that ducal and royal house, by which William Caxton was warmly patronised.

From these data we will hope that some of your correspondents may deduce materials for satisfactorily fixing the place of Caxton's birth. Is there upon record any note of armorial bearings, or of any badge used by Caxton? Should there be, and we find such to be at all connected with the bearings of the lords of Causton, it will be additional evidence in our favour.

LAMBERT B. LARKING.

In the body of St. Alphege Church, Canterbury, is the following monumental inscription:

What relation (if any) was the above to the typographer? They must have been co-existent, and the "Note" may perhaps be a step in the right direction for arriving at the true "stock" of the Caxton Coffer.

FRANCISCUS.

I never had the good fortune to see a copy of the book called An Admonition to the Parliament, but I find a full description of it in Herbert's Ames, iii. 1631., under the date of 1572, from which I gather that it had been printed four times anterior to that year. It was written by two puritanical divines, Field and Wilcox, and contained such an attack upon the bishops, that they did their utmost to suppress it; but Whitgift, nevertheless, gave it additional notoriety by publishing an answer to it, which came out originally in 1571, and was reprinted in 1572 and 1573 (Herbert's Ames, ii. 934.). I have not Strype at hand to see what he says about the Admonition, and the reply to it; but some time ago I met with a letter among the Lansdown MSS. (No. 27.) which relates to the Admonition, and shows that Thomas Woodcock, a well known stationer, had been confined in Newgate by the Bishop of London (Aylmer) for selling it. It is dated 9th Dec. 1578, and is subscribed by five of the most distinguished and respectable printers and publishers of that day, soliciting Lord Burghley (to whom it is addressed) to interfere on behalf of the poor prisoner. It runs precisely in the following form:

"Our humble duties unto your good L. premised. May it please the same to be advertised, that one Thomas Woodcock, an honest young man, and one of our Company, hathe bin imprisoned in Newgate by the L. Bishopp of London theis six dayes, for sellinge of certaine bookes called the Admonition to the Parliament. Dyvers of the poore mans frendes have bin earnest suitors unto the Bishopp of London for his libertie: his L. aunswere unto them is, that he neither can nor will do any thinge without your L. consent, signified by your letters or warrant. It may therfore please your honor, in consideration of the premisses and our humble request, either to direct your L. warrant for his enlargement, or els to signifie your pleasure unto the L. Bishopp of London to take order herein accordingly, the said poore man first puttinge in sufficient bond to appeare at all tymes when he shalbe called, and readdy to aunswere to any matters whatsoever shalbe objected against him. Thus prayinge, accordinge to our duties, for your good L. long and prosperous health with encrease of honor, we commyt the same for this tyme to the protection of the Almightie. At London, 9o Decemb. 1578.

"Your L. most humble at Command the Mr. and Wardens with others of the Company of Stationers,

"RYCHARDE TOTTYLL, JOHN HARYSON,
GEORGE BYSSHOP, WILLM. SERES,
JOHN DAYE."

From the above we may perhaps conclude, that an edition of the Admonition to Parliament had been printed not long before the date of Thomas Woodcock's imprisonment for selling it; but I do not find that any historian or bibliographer mentions such an edition. Excepting in the letter of the five stationers, Tottyll, Bysshop, Haryson, Seres, and Daye, there seems to be no authority for connecting Woodcock with the publication, and his confinement did not take place until Dec. 6, 1578; whereas Neal, in his History of the Puritans, as cited by Herbert, informs us that Field and Wilcox, on presenting the Admonition to the House of Commons in 1572, were immediately committed to Newgate.

Unless there were two puritanical ministers of the name of Field, he, who was imprisoned with Wilcox, was the John Field, who, I apprehend, was the father of Nathaniel Field, the actor in Shakspeare's plays, and the Theophilus Field, who (in spite of his father's hostility to the church and bishops, and in spite of his brother's devotion to the stage,) was afterwards Bishop of Llandaff from 1619 to 1627, Bishop of St. David's from 1627 to 1635, and Bishop of Hereford from 1635 to 1636, when he died.

J. PAYNE COLLIER.

—I have just read a good-natured notice[1] in The Athenæum of December 6th, in which your contemporary suggests that communications on the subject of Folk Lore should be addressed to you. The perusal of it has reminded me of two Queries upon the subject, which I had originally intended to address to the editor of that paper, as they refer to articles which appeared in his own pages. On his hint, however, I will transfer them to your columns; and avail myself of the opportunity of thanking the editor of The Athenæum for having for so long a period and so effectually directed the attention of the readers of that influential journal to a subject of great interest to many, and of considerable historical value. The first relates to a song sung by the children in South Wales on New Year's morning, when carrying a jug full of water newly drawn from the well. It is given in The Athenæum, No. 1058., for the 5th Feb., 1848, and there several references will be found to cognate superstitions. My object is to ask if the song is known elsewhere; and if so, whether with any such varieties of readings as would clear some of the obscurities of the present version:—

The second is from The Athenæum's very able review of Mr. Kemble's Saxons in England,—a work of learning and genius not yet nearly so well known as it deserves. The reviewer says:

"In one of the Saxon spells, which Mr. Kemble has inserted in his appendix, we at once recognized a rhyme which we have heard an old woman in our childhood use—and in which many Saxon words, unintelligible to her, were probably retained."

If my communication should meet the eye of the gentleman who wrote this, I hope he will let the readers of "NOTES AND QUERIES" become acquainted with the rhyme in question. For it is obvious that among them will be found many who agree with him that "a very curious and useful compilation might be made of the various spells in use in different parts of England, classed according to their localities,—more especially if the collectors would give them verbatim," and who would therefore be willing to assist towards its formation.

A FOLK-LORIST.

[1] We should not be doing justice either to our own feelings or to the kindness and liberality of our able and most influential contemporary, if we did not take this opportunity of acknowledging not only his kindness upon the present occasion, but also the encouragement which The Athenæum has taken every opportunity of affording to "NOTES AND QUERIES."—ED. N. & Q.

—A friend recently informed me that at Preston Pans the two following superstitious observances exist among the fishermen of that place. If, on their way to their boats, they meet a pig, they at once turn back and defer their embarkation. The event is an omen that bodes ill for their fishery.

It is a favourite custom to set sail on the Sunday for the fishing grounds. A clergyman of the town is said to pray against their sabbath-breaking; and to prevent any injury accruing from his prayers, the fishermen make a small image of rags, and burn it on the top of their chimneys.

U.

So little is known of Butler,—his life, as his biographers have given it to us, is made up of so very few anecdotes and dates,—that I have thought any Note which contained a fact about him, would be an acceptable addition to "N. & Q." (I shall value your space, you see, in future contributions). The following entries are copied from Lord Carbery's Account of the Expense incurred in making Ludlow Castle habitable after Clarendon's "Great Rebellion" (query, Civil War); and the entries are valuable as specifying the period of Butler's services as steward of Ludlow Castle, and the nature of the services performed by the great wit:—

I was at Ludlow Castle last autumn, and thought (of course) of Comus and Hudibras. I bought at the same time the three parts of my friend Mr. Wright's excellent History of Ludlow Castle, and paid in advance for the concluding part. Pray let me ask Mr. Wright (through "N. & Q.") by what time (I am a hungry antiquary) we may hope the concluding part will be published? I will gladly show Mr. Wright Lord Carbery's Account.

PETER CUNNINGHAM.

In Dr. Franklin's Autobiography, he mentions as his first work a pamphlet printed in London in 1725 on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain. It was written by him when he was eighteen years of age, and partly in answer to Wollaston's Religion of Nature. The object was to prove, from the attributes of God, his infinite wisdom, goodness, and power, that nothing could possibly be wrong in the world; and that vice and virtue were empty distinctions, no such things existing. He printed, he says, only a hundred copies, of which he gave a few to his friends; and afterwards disliking the piece, as conceiving it might have an ill tendency, he burnt the rest except one copy. This tract, most curious as the first publication of this extraordinary man, seems to have eluded hitherto every search. In Jared Sparks's elaborate edition of Dr. Franklin's Works in 10 vols., it is of course not to be found. In a note (vol. viii., p. 405.), the editor observes, "No copy of this tract is now known to be in existence." Nor do I find that any writer on the subject of Franklin, or the history of metaphysics, or moral philosophy, appears to have seen it. Sir Jas. Mackintosh was long in search of it, but was compelled ultimately to give it up in despair.

I am happy to inform those who may take an interest in Dr. Franklin's first performance—and what is there in literary history more attractive than to compare the earliest works of great men with their maturer efforts?—that I fortunately possess a copy of this tract. It is bound up in a volume of tracts, and came from the library of the Rev. S. Harper. The title is, "A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain, in a Letter to a Friend:

It is addressed to Mr. J(ames) R(alph), and commences: "Sir, I have here, according to your request, given you my present thoughts on the general state of things in the universe;" and concludes, "Truth will be truth, though it sometimes proves mortifying and distasteful." The pamphlet contains sixteen very closely printed pages in octavo; and the author proceeds by laying down his propositions, and then enlarging upon them, so as to form, in his opinion, a regular chain of consequences. It displays, as might be anticipated, considerable acuteness, though the reasonings, as he admits in his Autobiography, were such as to his maturer intellect appeared inconclusive. He subsequently wrote another pamphlet, in which he took the other side of the question; but it was never published, and I suppose is not now in existence.

JAS. CROSSLEY.

The commencement of a new volume of "NOTES AND QUERIES" affords a favourable opportunity for "tapping" (to use an expressive phrase of Horace Walpole's) a subject, on which it is reasonable to suppose much light may be thrown by some of your learned correspondents. I allude to the connection which formerly subsisted between the literature of England, and that of the Low Countries. Fortunate, indeed, would it be if any communication to "NOTES AND QUERIES" might be the means of drawing some illustration from one qualified beyond all others to treat every branch of this most interesting subject. Those of your readers who had the pleasure of hearing the admirable speech of a distinguished diplomatist at the Centenary Dinner of the Society of Antiquaries, will probably understand to whom I refer.

Reserving for a future occasion some observations on the manner in which our English antiquaries have hitherto overlooked the materials illustrative of our popular literature, our popular superstitions, our early drama, our legends, and our traditions, which may be had for the gathering, from the popular literature, the popular superstitions, the early drama, the legends and traditions of the Low Countries—those Low Countries from which Chaucer married his wife—those Low Countries from which Caxton brought us his printing-press, and its long train of blessings—those Low Countries, in which, as I believe, and hope one day to prove, Shakspeare himself added to his vast stores of knowledge—I shall for the present content myself with one example, and that shall be a seasonable one, namely, of the similarity between the old Flemish carols, and those with which, at this happy season, the nights were whilom blest here in Old England.

Hoffman von Fallersleben, in the second part of his Horæ Belgicæ, that great storehouse of materials for illustrating the early literature of the Netherlands (and which second part, by the bye, was separately published under the title of Holländische Volkslieder), after showing that the sacred songs of the Low Countries are, like our own, separable into Christmas carols, Easter hymns, songs in praise of the Virgin, and songs of Christian doctrine, proceeds to characterise the former in terms in which one might well describe many of those which were formerly most popular in our country. "The carols," he remarks, "are especially deserving of our attention. In them is most clearly shown the child-like religious spirit of the olden times, when men were not content merely to relate in the simple ballad form the story of Our Saviour's birth as recorded in Holy Scripture, but sought, by the introduction of little touches drawn from social and country life, to make that story more attractive and more instructive, and so to bring it home more directly to the hearts of their pious hearers." How truly applicable these remarks are to many of our own carols, must be obvious to all who know Mr. Sandys' valuable Collection; and the following instances, which Hoffman adduces in support of his views, will, I trust, satisfy your readers that I am right in maintaining the great resemblance between the carols of Old Flanders and those of Old England.

"Many of the descriptions in these carols," he remarks, "bear a strong resemblance to some of the Bible pictures of the old masters;" and he gives, as an instance, the following simple picture of the Infant Jesus in the bath:

[2] The version is, of course, as nearly literal as possible.

"But sometimes these religious poetical feelings impress themselves so deeply in their subject, that the descriptions verge closely upon the ludicrous:

"It is true that we look upon these descriptions with modern eyes, not taking into consideration that our manners and customs, that our general views, in short, are not at all times in unison with those of the fifteenth century. But even if we are always right in these and similar cases, still we cannot deny that there often lies in these old poems what we, notwithstanding we are in the possession of the most exquisite skill, cannot at all reach,—an infinite naïveté, a touching simplicity. Especially rich in this respect are the songs which describe the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt:

"The whole idyllic life which they led in that country is told to us in a few unpretending traits:

"Nay, these simple songs even inform us how the Holy family laboured for their subsistence in this 'strange countree:'

WILLIAM J. THOMS.

—I believe that a likeness always exists in members of the same family, though it may not always be seen, and, even then, not by everybody. I have seen at times a striking likeness in a pretty face to that of a plain one in the same family.

In one of the Edinburgh Journals (Chambers') a stranger is said to have remarked the likeness to the portraits of Sir William Wallace of a passer-by, and was then informed by his companion that he was a descendant.

I am witness of a strong likeness in a young man, born in 1832, to the portrait of his great-great-uncle, born in 1736,—which carries back the inherited likeness to the latter's father, who was born in 1707, and married 1730. It is no mere fancy of my own, but has been noticed by several on seeing the portrait.

A. C.

—Happening to pitch upon the following extract, I forward it to you in the belief that it may, at the present time, have an interest for some of your readers:—

"I have met with some of these trulles in London so disguised that it hath passed my skills to discerne whether they were men or women."—Hollinshed, Description of England.

X. X. X.

—Carved in a beam over the town hall of Much Wenlock, in Shropshire, stands (or perhaps stood, for the building was very old thirty years since) the following curious verses:

I am not aware if they have appeared previously in your publication; but they are worthy of preservation, I think, if for nothing else, for the oddity of linking one line with another.

There is also a couple of lines on the town hall, Windsor, underneath a miserable statue of Queen Anne:

The unintentional satire conveyed in the first line is very appropriate, as the statue is a thing of wood, and forcibly reminds one of the charming statue of George IV. formerly at King's Cross.

PROCURATOR.

The question of the age of trees, introduced to your notice by your very able correspondent L. (Vol. iv., p. 401.), and touched upon by several others, is a subject of peculiar interest, and yet I scarcely know any ancient memorials which have been so much neglected by antiquarian inquirers. How seldom has any systematic attempt been made to collect the existing historical evidence relating to them, and of the few weak efforts which have been put forth in that direction, how insignificant have been the results! Such evidence exists in a great variety of quarters, and if your correspondents could be persuaded to adopt L.'s suggestion, and take up the matter in a really serious spirit, the nature of your publication, and the wide extent of your circulation, render your pages singularly well adapted for doing really effective service in a cause which is equally interesting to the naturalist and the antiquary. What is wanted is, that antiquarian students should bring forward the facts respecting historical trees which are to be found in ancient evidences of all kinds, and that local knowledge should be applied to the identification of such trees wherever it is possible. If this were done—done, that is, thoroughly and carefully—I cannot doubt that an antiquity would be satisfactorily established in reference to many trees and clumps of trees still existing throughout the kingdom, which it would now be thought supremely wild and fanciful even to imagine. I would not go the length of anticipating that we might establish the identity of some grove in which druidical mysteries have been celebrated, or (to adopt the words of Sir Walter Scott) of some "broad-headed, short-stemmed, wide-branched" monarchs of the forest, "which had witnessed the march of the Roman soldiery;" I should almost despair even of identifying the thorns on Ash Down (a place itself named from some celebrated tree), around which the battle raged between Alfred and the Danes: but every one at all acquainted with ancient documents knows how frequently they contain allusions to celebrated trees; and it is perfectly possible that trees which sheltered King John in his continual wild, impulsive, Arab-like flights from place to place, or under which the Edwards halted in their marches to Scotland or Wales, may yet be pointed out. I have no doubt that Evelyn saw evidence that the Tortworth Great Chestnut was a boundary tree in the days of King Stephen; and if such evidence is not now forthcoming, I by no means despair of its re-discovery, if any one will set himself seriously to search for it. We learn in Pepys,[3] that in his time, in the forest of Dean, there were still standing the old "Vorbid" or "forbid" trees of the time of Edward III.; that is (I presume), the trees which were left standing as marks or boundaries when there was a great felling of timber in the reign of Edward III. Perhaps some of your correspondents can tell us whether there are any such trees known in the forest of Dean now.

[3] Pepys's Diary, ii. 18.

The recurrence of the mention of celebrated trees in early charters, is far more frequent than any one who has not examined the subject would suppose. There was no kind of "mark" or "bound" more common amongst ancient people, or more frequently mentioned in their written evidences, than large or celebrated trees. Any one may satisfy himself upon this point by a simple reference to Mr. Kemble's invaluable Codex Diplomaticus. I have just taken down the third volume of that work, and, dipping into it at random, at p. 448. I find the following, in the enumeration of the bounds of some lands at Brokenborough, in Wilts:—

"From thence to the mark which is called the Apple-Thorn, and from the same apple-bearing tree, by the public street, to Woubourne, and along the same water by a straight course to Geresbourne, and along the same stream in a straight course to Ordwoldes wood, which is now called Bradene, and through the same wood for about three miles to the boundary mark, which is called holehoke" [Holy Oak].

Here are intimations which must have been recognizable in the spot for centuries afterwards.

At p. 343. of the same volume, we read of "Kentwines Tree" at Shipford, and "Adulfes Tree" and "Hysemannes Thorn" at Mickleton. At p. 336. is mention of "the single thorn" by Ellenford, and the "Kolan Tree" and "Huredes Tree," near the same place. At p. 328. we read of "the Hundred Tree" at Winchendon. At p. 174. of "Dunemannes Tree" at Bladen.

In vol. v. at p. 297. we have a remarkable description of boundaries at Blewbury, in Berkshire, in which we read, if I interpret correctly:—

"From Hawkthorn [now Hackthorn] to the Long Thorn on the Ikenild way; thence to the Third Thorn at Wirhangran; thence to the Fourth Thorn which stands forward on Wrangan Hill; thence to the Fifth Thorn; thence to the Olive Tree; thence west along the bye road to the Thorn"—and so forth.

In the same description we read of several "Treowstealls," which mean, I suppose, clumps of trees, and amongst them of "Athelstanes Treowsteal."

In vol. vi. at p. 8. we read of "Frigedæges Tree," at Ginge, in Berkshire; at p. 60., of "Wiggerdes Tree," at Plush, in Dorsetshire; and innumerable other instances may be found throughout the book. These have occurred to me on just opening the volumes here and there, and are adduced merely to explain to persons unacquainted with the Codex Diplomaticus, the nature of the information upon this subject which it contains; and there are many other books from which similar facts may be derived.

The examples I have given exhibit the various parts which conspicuous trees were made to play in ancient times. The Holy Oak and Frigedæges Tree had, no doubt, been consecrated to superstition; the Hundred Tree marked a place for the general assembly of the people of a district; the trees distinguished by the prefixed names of individuals, indicated that they stood on the properties of private owners,—on lands, that is, which the owners had "called after their own names." The memory of many historical trees is probably preserved to the present day in the names of the fields in which they stood. How many Mickle Thorn coppices, and Broad Oak pastures, and Long Tree meadows, and Old Yew pieces are scattered over the country. How many hundreds, and other larger divisions of counties, are named after ancient trees. How many of the old Saxon names of our towns and hamlets indicate that they grew up around a well-known oak, or ash, or thorn, or yew; in like manner as, in later periods, when strength rather than law was the ruler, the people crowded together their hovels under the protective shadow of the castle of some powerful chieftain, or within the privileged precincts of some consecrated fane.

Having thus indicated, or rather enforced, a subject which I think well deserves the attention of your correspondents all over the world, allow me to conclude with a Query relating to a celebrated tree, of a comparatively modern date, which once existed in the neighbourhood of the metropolis.

THE GREAT ELM AT HAMPSTEAD.—Where did it stand? What was its ultimate fate? When and how was it compelled to yield to the great leveller? It is delineated in a very scarce engraving by Hollar, which bears the date of 1653, and which is found on a poetical commemorative broadside, printed in that year. This tree, although then in full leaf, or so represented in Hollar's engraving, was entirely hollow. A staircase of forty-two steps had been contrived within its stem, by means of which visitors ascended to a turret erected on the top, which was capacious enough to give seats to six persons, and to contain twenty persons in the whole. The stem of the tree was twenty-eight feet in compass on the ground, and the ascent to the turret was thirty-three feet. The tree must have stood on some of the highest ground at Hampstead, for it is said that six neighbouring counties could be seen from the top of it. The Thames is mentioned as visible from it, with its shipping; and the following lines indicate the wide expanse which it commanded. The lines were written just at the time when Cromwell was about to assume the Protectorate.

[4] These lines are by Robert Codrington, respecting whom a reference may be made to Wood's Athenæ, iii. 699. Bliss's ed.

Such was the entire command of the country which this tree enjoyed, that it is said that

"Essex Broad Oak" [where did that stand?] from which more than twenty miles could be seen, is poetically declared to have been "but a twig" in comparison with his relative at Hampstead; to find whose equal it is stated that

There are other things worth remembering in connexion with this wonder of Hampstead: but I have occupied already more than enough of your space, and will only express my hope that some one will tell us where the Hampstead tree stood, and what was its fate; and what is known about the Essex Broad Oak; and what also about the Bordeaux compeer of the tree monarch of Hampstead.

JOHN BRUCE.

—You will much oblige me by permitting me to ask, through the medium of your entertaining publication, from whence the two following quotations were cited:

The first will be found in Gil Blas, livre 10ième, chapitre 10ième; and the second is used by the renegade Paul Jones in his mock-heroic epistle to the Countess of Selkirk, in extenuation of his having plundered the family seat in Scotland of the plate, on the 23rd April, 1778.

I should not trouble you, but I have asked many, of extensive reading and retentive memories, for solution of these Queries ineffectually.

AMICUS.

—Can any of your correspondents, learned in naval antiquities and biographies, give any account of Matthew Walker, whose knot (described and figured in Darcy Lever's Sheet Anchor) is known by his name all over the world; and truly said to be "a handsome knot for the end of a Lanyard?"

REGEDONUM.

—The east gate of the town of Bury St. Edmund's, which was always under the exclusive control of the abbot, is sometimes mentioned as "the Aleclenegate." What is the origin of the word?

BURIENSIS.

—I can recollect, when I was a boy, to have been much surprised and horrified with the accounts that old people gave me, that it was the practice in decided cases of rabies canina to suffocate the unfortunate patient between feather beds. The disease being so suddenly and so invariably fatal, where it appeared unequivocally to attack the sufferer, might dispose the world to ascribe the death to what surely may be termed foul play; but perhaps some of your readers may be able to state where mention is made of such treatment, or what could give rise to such an opinion in the public mind.

INDAGATOR.

—In Haydn's Book of Dignities, p. 475., there is the following note on the name of the prelate:—

"Sir James Ware, or, more properly, the subsequent editors of his works, narrate some very extraordinary circumstances that rendered the close of the life of this prelate very remarkable and unfortunate; but we feel unwilling to transcribe them, though there seems to be no doubt of their truth."

As Sir James Ware died in 1666, and the latest edition of his work on the Bishops of Ireland (by Walter Harris) was published in 1736, it is impossible that either he, or his subsequent editors, could have recorded anything of the last days of a prelate who died Nov. 2, 1752.

Mr. Haydn, however, speaks as if he had actually before him the mysterious narrative which he has gone so far out of his way to allude to, and which for some equally mysterious reason he was "unwilling to transcribe," although he thought it necessary to call attention to it, and to express his inclination to believe in its truth.

If this should meet his eye, would Mr. Haydn have the kindness to say where he found the story in question, as it is certainly not in Ware? I know of two stories, one of which is probably that to which Mr. Haydn has called the attention of his readers; but I have never seen them stated with such clearness, or on such authority, as would lead me to the conclusion that "there seemed no doubt of their truth."

JAMES H. TODD.

Trinity College, Dublin.

—I am in possession of a copy of the above work, presented to my father by the late amiable authoress, Miss Porter. It is, as you are no doubt aware, a journal of adventure in the Carribean Sea and its islands, between 1733 and 1749; but on the publication of the first edition its authenticity was questioned, and a suggestion made by some of the critics that the editor was also the author. This, Miss Porter assured me was not the fact, and that the work is a genuine diary, placed in her hands for publication by the family, still existing, of the original writer. The name I think she intimated was not Seaward, but she expressed some hesitation to detail the circumstances of its coming into her possession. She makes, in a preface to the second edition, an assurance to the same effect as to the genuineness of the Narrative, and says the author died at his seat in Gloucestershire in the year 1774.

Can any of your readers throw further light on this story, or inform who the hero of the Narrative really was?

W.W.E.T.

Warwick Square, Belgravia.

—In a note in p. 4. of The Lexington Papers, recently published, mention is made of a Mr. Robert Sutton, who, after having taken deacon's orders, and having accompanied his relative, Lord Lexington, to Vienna, in the joint capacity of chaplain and secretary, was, on his recall in 1697, appointed resident minister at the Imperial Court; was subsequently sent as envoy extraordinary to the Ottoman Porte; in 1720, succeeded Lord Stair as British minister at Paris; in 1721, was elected M.P. for Notts; and in 1725, was created Knight of the Bath. The editor adds this remark:

"It is well known that holy orders were not at that time considered any disqualification for civil employments, but I do not recollect any other instance of a clerical Knight of the Bath."

Do you, Mr. Editor, or any of your readers, recollect any other instance since the Reformation, of a clerical member of parliament, before the celebrated one of Horne Tooke? Were any such instances quoted in the debates on the bill for excluding clergymen from Parliament?

CLERICUS.

—Can any of you correspondents furnish me with the arms borne by the Allens of Rossull and Redivales, Lancashire? Of this family was the celebrated Cardinal Allen. Also the arms borne by the Pendleburys, another Lancashire family?

J.C.

—In Exod. xii. 37. it is stated that the numbers of the children of Israel constituting the Exodus was "600,000 men," "besides children." No specific mention is made of women: it will be diminishing the difficulty if the 600,000 are considered the aggregate of the adults of both sexes. It is said that the time the Israelites remained in Egypt was 430 years (Ex. xii. 40.). The number who were located in Egypt was seventy (Gen. xlvi. 27.). I wish to ascertain from some competent statistician what, under the most favourable circumstances, would be the increase of seventy people in 430 years? I am aware that Professor Lee, in his invaluable translation of the Book of Job, is of opinion that 215 years is the time the Israelites actually remained in Egypt; and the remainder must be considered the previous time they were in Canaan. If the Professor's calculation be adopted, the statistician could easily show the difference at 215 and 430 years.

ÆGROTUS.

—In Bishop Burnet's "Hist. of the Reform.," vol. ii. of first folio edition, London, 1679, Coll. of Records, b. ii. p. 100. No. XL. is "An instrument of the speech of the Archbishop of Canterbury (Chicheley) made to the House of Commons about it," scilicet, Statute of Provisors. It begins as follows:—

"Die Veneris, penultimo mensis Januarii, A.D. secundum cursum et computationem Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ millesimo quadringentesimo decimo septimo, indictione sexta, pontificatus.... Martini Papæ quinti anno undecimo."

Now as Martin V. was chosen Pope by the Council of Constance, November 11, 1417, his eleventh year would extend over January, 1428, and the sixth indiction answers to the same year, which would, however, be styled 1427 in ecclesiastical documents till March 25. Can the Computatio Eccles. Anglic. mean anything more than a reference to the distinction between the ecclesiastical and historical times of commencing the year? If it does not, decimo septimo must be an error for vicesimo septimo, made in transferring the numeral letters into words. Has this error been corrected in subsequent editions of Burnet?

H.W.

—Will any of your correspondents, acquainted with the history of the French islands, inform me why was the island of Martinique so called? English writers style the island Martinico, but none have gone so far as to give the derivation or meaning of the word.

W.J.C.

St. Lucia.

—Will some of your intelligent readers deign to enlighten a merely physical ignoramus as to the precise meaning (always supposing there be a meaning) of the oft-recurring words "objective" and "subjective" ("omjective" and "sumjective," according to Mr. Carlyle) in the Highgate "talk", supposed by sundry transcendental sages of our day to be the expression of an almost inspired wisdom. Is this exoteric jargon translateable into intelligible English? or is it not (as Chalmers called it, speaking Scottice) "all buff?" Most assuredly he who really understands it (not affects to understand it) need not, as Southey used to say, be afraid of cracking peach-stones.

X.

—The master of a ship of war has the charge of navigating her from port to port, under the direction of the captain; and he is moreover charged to make what improvements he can in the charts. Now the masters were sometimes rather slack in the latter department, in which case they procured certificates from their captains to the Navy Board, stating that they had seen nothing but what was already in the general "Quarter Waggoner."

Can any of your correspondents describe this Quarter Waggoner? And, as the master keeps the official log-book, can you kindly tell me how that recondite volume came to be so designated?

W. H. SMYTH.

—Can any of your antiquarian readers favour me with the armorial ensigns of Sir Roger Wilcock, knight, whose daughter and heiress, Agnes, was wife to Sir Richard Turberville, of Coyty Castle, in Glamorganshire, and by him mother of two sons, Sir Payn, afterwards Lord of Coyty, and Wilcock Turberville, who by his wife Maud, heiress of Tythegstone, in the same county, was ancestor of the Turbervilles of that place, and of Penlline Castle.

The lineage of this ancient and knightly family of Turberville is not given correctly in Burke's Dictionary of the Landed Gentry for the year 1847. The marriage of Christopher Turberville of Penlline (sheriff for Glamorgan in 1549 and 1568) with Agnes Gwyn,[5] heiress of Ryderwen in the county of Caermarthen, and widow of Henry Vaughan, Esq., is altogether omitted in Burke, and for the correctness of which see Lewis Dwnn's Heraldic Visitation into Wales and its Marches, vol. ii. (near the commencement) title "Ryderwen;" and in vol. i. of the same work, p. 140., title "Ystradcorwg," Catherine, the issue of that marriage, and one of the daughters and coheiresses of Christopher Turberville, is mentioned as the wife of David Lloyd of that place, in the parish of Llanllawddog, co. Caermarthen, sheriff in 1590 and 1601. In further corroboration of this, we find that the Lloyds of Glanguelly and Ystradcorwg, descendants of the said marriage, ever afterwards quartered the arms of Turberville, viz. "chequy or and gu. a fesse ermine," with their own paternal shield. It is not improbable that the marriage of Christopher Turberville with the aforementioned Agnes, kinswoman of the Rices, may have had some influence in allaying the deadly animosity which had previously existed between the rival houses of Dynevor and Penlline.

[5]According to Lewis Dwnn, this Agnes Gwyn was daughter and coheiress (by Margaret his wife, daughter of Sir Rhys ab Thomas, K.G.) of Henry ab John of Ryderwen, son and heir (by Mabli, or Eva, his wife, daughter and coheiress of Henry ab Guilym, of Curt Henri and Llanlais, in the vale of Llangathen, Caermarthenshire) of John ab Henry (otherwise Penry), kinsman to the aforesaid Sir Rhys ab Thomas, and a branch of the Penrys of Llanelli, derived from a common origin with the ancient and noble house of Dynevor.

Again, in vol. iv. of Burke's History of the Commoners for the year 1838, Jenkyn Turberville of Tythegstone, fourth in descent from Wilcock Turberville, is stated to have wedded Florence, daughter of Watkyn ab Rasser Vaughan, and to have had issue by her two sons, Richard,[6] who continued the line at Tythegstone, and Jenkyn, father of the said Christopher, of Penlline Castle, Glamorgan. By reference to Lewis Dwnn's work, edited by the late talented and much lamented antiquary, Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick, article "Vaughan of Bretwardine, co. Hereford, and Pembrey Court, Caermarthenshire," we find that Jenkyn Turberville married Denis, daughter of Watkyn ab Sir Roger Vaughan, knight, with the following remark in Welsh: "Ag ni bu dim plant o Derbil iddi ag wedi guraig Morgan ab Jenkyn gur Tre Dineg;" that is to say, "She had no children by Turberville, and she afterwards became the wife of Morgan ab Jenkyn,"—I presume, of Tredegar, in Monmouthshire. Is it not, therefore, likely that he married twice; that his first wife was Cecil Herbert, and the mother of his two sons?

[6] This gentleman had an ode addressed to him by the celebrated Welsh bard, Lewis of Glyn Cothi.—Vide Burke's work.

A correct lineage of the Turbervilles, with the ensigns they were entitled to quarter, down to Christopher Turberville's co-heiress Catherine, the wife of David Lloyd, would greatly oblige.

W. G. T. T.

Caermarthen.

—At what time did the fashion of wearing ruffles come in? and when did it go out?

Many persons living at the present time remember their being generally worn in respectable, and occasionally in what may be called minor life.

The clergy did not wear them.

So general was their use in the early part of the reign of George III., that the Rev. William Cole, of Milton, in the account of his Journey to France, in 1765, says he was taken for an English clergyman because he did not wear them, and in consequence addressed "M. l'Abbé."

—I should feel exceedingly obliged by information respecting the birth-place and early history of Dr. John Ash, formerly an eminent physician practising in Birmingham, and the founder of the General Hospital in that town. He was a graduate of Trinity College, Oxford; his doctor's degree was taken in 1764. He died at Brompton, Knightsbridge, in 1798. Every available source has been searched in vain for information on this subject. It is required for literary purposes.

F. RUSSELL.

—Upon the books at Stationers' Hall, Lib. C., under the year 1597, 20th April, Thomas Creed entered A Treatise of the Mutabilitie of Fraunce from the yeare of our Lorde 1460 untill the yeare of our Lorde 1595. Can any of your readers say in what library a copy of this treatise can be found?

INDAGATOR.

[A copy is in the Bodleian library. The full title is, "The Mutable and Wavering Estate of France, from 1460 to 1595; together with an Account of the Great Battles of the French Nation both at Home and Abroad. 4to. Lond. Tho. Creede, 1597."]

—A copy of the Latin Bible of Junius and Tremellius, now in my possession, has on the title:

Will you kindly inform me who constituted this body, and why they were so called?

QUIDAM.

[Cotton, in his Typographical Gazetteer, has given the following notices of this body:—

"Caldoriana Societas, qu. at Basle or Geneva? An edition of Calepine's Lexicon, fol. 1609, bears for imprint Sumptibus Caldorianæ Societatis." "An edition of the controversies between Pope Paul V. and the Venetians, bears for imprint, 'In Villa Sanvincentiana apud Paulum Marcellum, sumptibus Caldorianæ Societatis, anno 1607,' but is by no means of Spanish workmanship. I rather judge that the whole of the tracts connected with this business, which profess to have been printed at various places, as Augsburg, Saumur, Rome, Venice, &c., have their origin in the Low Countries, and proceeded from the presses of Antwerp, Rotterdam, or the Hague."]

—The millers of the county of Meath, in Ireland, keep St. Martin's day as a holiday. Why?

Ω.

[Because of the honour paid to St. Martin in the Western Church, whose festival had an octave. Formerly it was denominated Martinalia, and was held with as much festivity as the Vinalia of the Romans. Among old ecclesiastical writers, it usually obtained the title of the Second Bacchanal:

Thus translated by Barnabie Googe:

—What is the origin of kissing under the mistletoe?

AN M.D.

[Why Roger claims the privilege to kiss Margery under the mistletoe at Christmas, appears to have baffled our antiquaries. Brand states, that this druidic plant never entered our sacred edifices but by mistake, and consequently assigns it a place in the kitchen, where, says he, "it was hung up in great state, with its white berries; and whatever female chanced to stand under it, the young man present either had a right, or claimed one, of saluting her, and of plucking off a berry at each kiss." Nares, however, makes it rather ominous for the fair sex not to be saluted under the famed Viscum album. He says, "The custom longest preserved was the handing up of a bush of mistletoe in the kitchen, or servants' hall, with the charm attached to it, that the maid who was not kissed under it at Christmas, would not be married in that year."]

—Was Trinity Chapel, Knightsbridge, which has been rebuilt several times, ever parochial? Can I be referred to any memoir of the Rev. —— Gamble, Chaplain to H. R. H. the Duke of York, who in the early part of the present century was minister of it?

H. G. D.

[The chapel, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, belonged originally to an ancient hospital, or lazar-house, under the patronage of the abbot and convent of Westminster. It was rebuilt in 1629, at the cost of the inhabitants, by a license from Dr. Laud, then Bishop of London, as a chapel of ease to St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, within the precincts of which parish it was situated; but the site was subsequently assigned to the parish of St. George, Hanover Square, and at present forms a part of that of Kensington. The Rev. J. Gamble was minister of this chapel in 1794-5; in 1796 he was appointed chaplain of the forces, and in 1799 rector of Alphamstone, and also of Bradwell-juxta-Mare, in Essex. In 1805 he was married to Miss Lathom of Madras, by whom he had a son. His death took place at Knightsbridge, July 27, 1811.]

—Whence have we this very free translation of Deo Volente?

PORCUS.

[This colloquial phrase is generally supposed to be a corruption of "Please the Pyx," a vessel in which the Host is kept. By an easy metonymy, the vessel is substituted for the Host itself, in the same manner as when we speak, in parliamentary language, of "the sense of the House,"—we refer not to the bricks and stones, but to the opinion of its honourable members.]

—Can any of your readers throw any light on the term "barnacles," which is constantly used for "spectacles"? I need not say that the word in the singular number is the name of a shell-fish.

PISCATOR.

[Phillips, in his World of Words, tells us that "among farriers, barnacles, horse-twitchers, or brakes, are tools put on the nostrils of horses when they will not stand still to be shoed," &c.; and the figure of the barnacle borne in heraldry (not barnacle goose, which is a distinct bearing), as engraved in Parker's Glossary of Heraldry, sufficiently shows why the term has been transferred to spectacles, which it must be remembered were formerly only kept on by the manner in which they clipped the nose.]

—As an enthusiastic lover of curling, I have been trying for some time past to discover any traces of the origin of the game, and the earliest mention made of it: but, I am sorry to say, without success.

I should therefore feel much obliged to any of your correspondents who could inform me concerning the origin of this game, and also any works which may treat of it.

"JOHN FROST."

Paisley.

[Appended to Dr. Brewster's account of curling, quoted in the Encyclopædia Metropolitana, vol. xvii. p. 469., occurs the following historical notice of this winter amusement:—"Curling is a comparatively modern amusement in Scotland, and does not appear to have been introduced till the beginning of the sixteenth century, when it probably was brought over by the emigrant Flemings. It was originally known under the name of kuting, which perhaps is a corruption of the Teutonic kleuyten, kalluyten, rendered by Kilian in his Dictionary, ludere massis sive globulis glaciatis, certare discis in æquore glaciatâ. In Canada it has become a favourite amusement, on account of the great length of the winters."]

Your correspondent Σ asks for information about St. Irene or St. Erini, from whom he thinks the Island of Santorin in the Grecian Archipelago acquired its name; and in reply, you have referred him to Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography, for particulars of the canonized Empress Irene.

But Σ is, I suspect, mistaken in supposing Santorin to be indebted either to saint or empress for its present appellation; although he errs in company with Tournefort and a succession of later geographical etymologists, who in this instance have trusted too much to their ear as an authority. Another correspondent in the same number, F. W. S. (p. 470.), has directed attention to a peculiarity in the formation of the modern names of places in Greece, the theory of which will guide Σ to the real derivation of the word Santorin. F. W. S. states truly that many of the recent names have been constructed by prefixing the preposition εἰς to the ancient one; thus ATHENS, εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας, became Satines, and COS, εἰς τὴν Κῶν, Stanco. Lord Byron has explained this origin of the alteration in one of the notes to Childe Harold, I think; but I apprehend that the barbarism is to be charged less upon the modern Greeks themselves, than upon the European races, Sclavonians, Normans, and Venetians, and later still the Turks, who seized upon their country on the dismemberment of the Lower Empire. The Greeks themselves no doubt continued to spell their proper names correctly; but their invaders, ignorant of their orthography, and even of their letters, were forced to write the names of places in characters of their own, and guided solely by the sound. Negropont, the modern name of Eubœa, is a notable instance of this. In the desolation which followed the Roman conquest, Eubœa, as described by Pausanias and Dion, had become almost deserted, and, on its partial revival under the Eastern Empire, the old name of Eubœa was abandoned, and the whole island took the name of Euripus, from a new town built on the shore of that remarkable strait. This, pronounced by the Greeks, Evripos, the Venetians, on their arrival in the thirteenth century, first changed into Egripo and Negripo, and next into Negro-ponte, after they had built a bridge across the Euripus. This last name, the island retains to the present time. Another familiar example is the modern name of Byzantium, Stamboul, by which both Greeks and Turks now speak of Constantinople. The Romans called their capital par excellence "the city" (in which, by the way, we ourselves imitate them when speaking of London). Among the ancient Jews, in like manner, to "go to the city," ὑπάγετε εἰς τὴν πόλιν, meant to go to Jerusalem (Matt., xxvi. 18., xxviii. 11.; Mark, xiv. 13.; Luke, xxii. 10.; John, iv. 18.; Acts, ix. 16.). The Greeks of the Lower Empire followed the example in speaking of Constantinople; and the Turks, on their conquest in the fifteenth century, adopting the provincialism, wrote εἰς τὴν πόλιν, Istampoli, and thence followed Istambol and Stamboul. The same theory will explain the modern word Santorin, about which your correspondent Σ requests information. The ancient name was Thera, and by this the island is described both by Herodotus and Strabo, and later still by Pliny. Thera, submitted to the usual process, became, from εἰς τὴν Θήραν, Stantheran, Santeran, and finally Santorin. In the latter form it almost invited a saintly pedigree, and accordingly "Richard," a Jesuit, whose work I have seen, but cannot now consult, wrote, about two centuries ago, his Relation de l'Isle de St. Erini, in which, for the glory of the Church, he explains that the island obtained its name, not from the Empress Irene, but from a Saint Erine, whom he describes as the daughter of a Macedonian prefect, and from whom he says it was called Νῆσος τῆς Ἁγίας Εἰρήνης. I incline, however, to etymology rather than hagiology for the real derivation.

J. EMERSON TENNENT.

My "NOTES AND QUERIES" coming to me monthly, I am as yet in ignorance whether any of your numerous correspondents have answered my inquiry (Vol. iv., p. 306.): "Whether the portraits of 'the old Countess of Desmond,' at Knowle, Bedgebury, or Penshurst, correspond with my description of that in the possession of the Knight of Kerry?" I have since met a painter of eminence, who assures me that Horace Walpole's criticism is correct, and that the portraits commonly known as those of the Countess are really the likeness of "Rembrandt's mother." If they be identified with that I have described, the idea that we possess a "counterfeit presentment" of this ancient lady, must, I fear, be given up as a delusion.

But the lady herself remains a "great fact," and a physiological curiosity; and there is yet a subject for inquiry respecting her. We may identify her on the herald's tree, if not on the painter's board or canvas. Who was she? In attempting to discuss this question, I must not take a merit which does not belong to me in any thing. I may say I am but following out the original research of an accurate and accomplished antiquary, Mr. Samthell of Cork, of whose curious Olla Podrida (privately printed) I possess, by his favour, a copy, which contains a paper on this subject originally read before "The Cork Cuvierian Society." This paper, together with some MSS. notes of Sir William Betham, Ulster king-at-arms, furnish my text-book; and I have little more to do than correct some mistakes, which appear to me so obvious, that I think they must arise from slips of the pen, or slops of that most teasing confounder of dates and figures, the printer,—who can so often, by merely dipping into a wrong cell of type, set us wrong by a century or two in a calculation.

All authorities are agreed in fixing on "Margret O'Bryen, wife of James, 9th Earl of Desmond," as the long-lived individual in question. Sir Walter Raleigh, by calling her "The old Countess of Desmond, of Inchiquin," determines the fact of her being of the O'Bryen race,—Inchiquin being the feudal territory of the O'Bryens. There was more than one intermarriage between the Desmond earls and the O'Bryen family; but none of them include all the conditions for identifying the "old Countess," except that I have specified.

We now come to dates: and here it is that I have the presumption to question the conclusions of the two eminent antiquaries on whose researches I am remarking.

"James Fitzgerald, ninth Earl of Desmond, was murdered by John Montagh Fitzgerald, of Clenglish, A.D. 1467, ætat 29," says one of my authorities. "The old Countess bore the title only for a few months, for she became dowager on the murder of her husband in 1467 (not 1487)," adds my second authority. These are formidable dicta, coming from such sources; and if I venture to question them, it is only under pressure of such circumstances and authorities, as at least demand a hearing.

I think both these gentlemen confound the murder of James, the ninth Earl of Desmond, with the execution of his father, Thomas, the eighth Earl, who, according to all annals and authorities, was beheaded at Drogheda in the year 1467. Of this fact there can be no question. Ware gives it in his Annals, stating that "John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, called a parliament at Drogheda, and passed a certain enactment, in virtue of which "the great Earl of Desmond was beheaded, 15th of February, 1467." We find the very act itself (in the Cotton MSS. Titus, B. xi. 373.) headed and running as follows:—"VII. Edw. Quarti" (1467). "Pur diverses causes, horribles treisons et felonies prepensez, et faitez per Thomas Count de Desmond, et Thomas Count de Kildar," &c. &c.

We now proceed with Ware to the date 1487, and he writes thus:—"On the 7th of December, James Fitz-Thomas, a Geraldine, and Earl of Desmond, who, for almost twenty-eight (?) years flourished in wealth and power, was suddenly and cruelly murdered by his servants in his house at Rathkeale in the county of Limerick." "This James dying without issue, at least issue male, his brother Morrish succeeded him; by whom, John Mantagh, the chief contriver of that murder, was soon after taken and slain." Here is a distinct statement from an annalist which may be contradicted by facts, but cannot be misunderstood as to meaning.

The more I look at Mr. Samthell's account, the more I am disposed to consider the date he gives as a slip of the pen, or the result of that kind of confusion into which the most accurate mind will sometimes fall, from too long and intense consideration of the same point. I say this, because his own statements furnish at every step matter to confute his own conclusions: thus, he says, "Supposing the old Countess to have been eighteen at her husband's death (and the Irish marry young), she would have been 140 years old in 1589." This calculation plainly assumes the death to have taken place in 1467; but in a passage further on he says, "It will be remembered, that Thomas, eighth Earl of Desmond, father to Margret O'Bryen's husband, was Lord Deputy of Ireland for the Duke Clarence, brother to Edw. IV., from 1462 to 1467!" And again, giving some brief notices of the earls from "A Pedigree of Sir William Betham's," he sets down, "8th earl, Thomas, beheaded A.D. 1467; 9th earl, James (son of Thomas), murdered A.D. 1467;"—overlooking the fact, which would have been in itself memorable, that he makes the beheading of the father, and the murder of the son, to have taken place in the same year! Although I cannot ascertain whence Mr. Pelham took the dates which he has given in his print, I have no hesitation in adopting them, as agreeing best with all the probable circumstances of the case; he places Margret O'Bryen's birth in 1464, her death somewhere from 1620 to 1626; this would sufficiently tally with the opinion, that she was left a young widow at her husband's death in 1487, and agree with Sir Walter Raleigh's statement, that she "was living in 1589," and "many years afterwards." Lord Bacon's express words are, "Certainly they report that within these few years the Countess of Desmond lived to an hundred and forty years of age." These words occur in his History of Life and Death, published in 1623, and add to the probability that the old lady was either lately dead, or that possibly, in the little intercourse between London and remote parts of the empire at that period, she might be even then alive, without his knowledge.

I submit these speculations to correction; and in venturing to dispute the conclusions of the authorities I have named, I feel myself somewhat in the position of a dwarf, who, climbing on the shoulder of a giant, should assume the airs of a tall man; but for the encouragement and assistance of the gentlemen I have named, I should probably never have known how even to state a genealogical or antiquarian question. I shall conclude by committing myself to your printer's mercy, trusting that he will be too magnanimous to take notice of my remarks on the "slip-slop" printing of figures, which will sometimes occur in the best offices; if he should misprint my figures, all my facts will fall to the ground.

A. B. R.

Belmont.

In the Birch Collections at the British Museum there is a transcript of a Table-Book of Robert Sydney, second Earl of Leicester, made by Birch (Add. MSS. 4161.), the following extract from which, P. C. S. S. believes will not be unacceptable to the readers of "NOTES AND QUERIES:"

"The olde Countess of Desmond was a marryed woman in Edward IV.'s time, of England, and lived till towards the end of Queen Elizabeth, soe as she needes must be 140 yeares old: shee had a newe sett of teeth not long before her death, and might have lived much longer, had shee not mett with a kind of violent death; for she must needes climb a nutt-tree to gather nutts, soe falling downe, shee hurt her thigh, which brought a fever, and that fever brought death. This my cosen Walter Fitzwilliam told me. This olde lady, Mr. Harnet told me, came to petition the Queen, and landing at Bristol, shee came on foote to London, being then soe olde that her doughter was decrepit, and not able to come with her, but was brought in a little cart, their poverty not allowing them better provision of meanes. As I remember, Sir Walter Rowleigh, in some part of his History, speakes of her, and says that he saw her in England, anno 1589. Her death was as strange and remarkable as her long life was,—having seene the deaths of so many descended from her; and both her own and her husband's house ruined in the rebellion and wars."

P. C. S. S.

In my communication to you in August, 1850, and inserted as above, I stated that I was uncertain whether the collar of SS. was worn by the Chief Baron of the Exchequer previously to the reign of George I., as I had no portrait of that functionary of an earlier date.

I have since found, and I ought to have sent you the fact before, that the Chief Baron, as well as the two Chief Justices, was decorated with this collar in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. In the church of St. Stephen's, near Canterbury, is the monument of Sir Roger Manwood, who died Lord Chief Baron on December 14, 1592, on which his bust appears in full judicial robes (colored proper), over which he wears the collar in its modern form.

EDWARD FOSS.

Was the collar of SS. worn by persons under a vow to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, or to join a crusade, the S. being the initial letter of Sépulcre, or SS. for Saint Sépulcre? The appearance of the above-mentioned collar on the effigy of a person in the habit of a pilgrim in the church of Ashby-de-la-Zouch (see "NOTES AND QUERIES," Vol. iv., p. 345.), so strongly confirms the idea, that I beg leave to offer it to the consideration of any readers of the "NOTES AND QUERIES" who may be interested in the question.

E. J. M.

—Noble mentions two engravings of this gentleman in the Continuation to Granger, vol. ii. p. 387., from a portrait by J. Wootton; the oldest, by J. Faber, describes him as "Royal Studkeeper at Newmarket;" the other, dated 1791, by J. Jones, styles him "the Father of the Turf;" and his death in 1728, æt. eighty-six, is recorded on a monument in the parish church of All Saints, Newmarket, as well as the circumstance of his having been keeper of the running horses to King William III. and his three royal successors.

Frampton, according to Noble, who quotes from some other author, was a thorough good groom only, yet would have made a good minister of state had he been trained to it, and no one in his day was so well acquainted with the pedigrees of race-horses. I am not aware of there being any reference to Tregonwell Frampton in the Rambler, but he has frequently been denounced as the author of an unparalleled act of barbarity to a race-horse, which is detailed in the Adventurer, No. 37., as delicately as such a subject would permit. In justice to the accused I must say, that I always considered the story as physically impossible; and had this not been the case, it cannot be credited that the author of so great an enormity could have been continued in the service of the Crown. Still the essayist, who wrote nearly a century ago, thus closes his recital:—

"When I had heard this horrid narrative, which indeed I remembered to be true, I turned about in honest confusion, and blushed that I was a man."

I hope some of your correspondents may be able to clear Frampton from the dreadful imputation.

B.

—This collection (of 187 volumes) is better known by the name of the Yelverton MSS., from having belonged to Sir Christopher Yelverton, Bart., who died in 1654, and whose son Henry (by Susan, Baroness Grey of Ruthin) was created Viscount Longueville in 1690. From him (who died in 1704) these MSS. descended to his grandson, Henry, third Earl of Sussex, who deceased in 1799 without male issue. In April, 1781, this collection of MSS. (then stated to consist of 179 volumes, and eight wanting to complete the series) was offered for purchase to the trustees of the British Museum for 3000 guineas, and declined. The loss of these eight volumes is accounted for by a note of Gough (written in 1788), in Nichols' Literary Anecdotes, vol. iii. p. 622., by which it appears, that in 1784 the collection was submitted to sale by public auction; but "after the sale of a few lots, the sale was stopped." Gough adds, "They were all given by Lord Sussex to Lord Calthorpe, whose mother was of that family [Barbara, eldest daughter of Henry, Viscount Longueville], and at his death had not been opened, nor perhaps since." These MSS. are now, I believe, in the possession of the present Lord Calthorpe.

F. MADDEN.

—The miniature of Oliver Cromwell, inquired for by LORD BRAYBROOKE, I think was shown to me at a party in London, about five or six years since, by Mr. Macgregor, M.P.,—at least I suppose it to be the same, though I had forgotten the name of the painter; but Mr. Macgregor prized it very highly, as being the only original miniature of Cromwell, and I think he said it was the one that had belonged to Sir Joshua Reynolds. This slight recollection of having seen it, is almost too vague to be worth alluding to, but as no one appears to have replied to the inquiry, it may lead to connecting the true history to the miniature, and thereby enhance its value.

R.N.

—Your readers will probably be tired of the subject, still MR. BREEN may like to know that the resembling passages in the two copies in question, are quoted with the names of the authors in the sixty-third number of The Adventurer, dated June 12, 1753, and Pope is directly accused of having copied from one of the vilest Pindaric writers, in the time of Charles II.

The same paper, and a subsequent one, No. 95., contain some excellent remarks upon the allegation of resemblance between authors, and the charge of plagiarism so frequently raised upon it, but not always to be allowed with equal readiness.

In conclusion, let me express a wish, that the essays which I have pointed out could be perused by some of your correspondents, because I am convinced that we should in future have fewer discussions on parallel passages, which seldom possess much real interest, and frequently have a tendency to injure the fair fame of our most gifted writers, by calling in question their literary honesty without establishing the charge brought against them.

B.

—Your correspondent J. R. is quite correct as to the name "Voltaire" being an anagram of "Arouet L. J." The fact, however, was first made public by M. Lepan in the Détails Préliminaires sur les Biographies de Voltaire, prefixed to his Vie Politique, Littéraire et Morale de Voltaire, many years before the communications to the Gentleman's Magazine and the Dublin Review, referred to by your correspondent.

Your correspondent states that "Voltaire was a little partial to his paternal name,"[7] and oddly enough gives two extracts from his letters to L'Abbé Moussinot, which prove the very contrary. Those extracts are also to be found in M. Lepan's work, who has adduced them to show "son mépris pour son nom de famille." Vie de Voltaire, p. 11. edit. 1817.

JAMES CORNISH.

[7] This was a misprint for "so little partial."—ED.

—Your correspondent A STUDENT will find nine poems by Tudur Aled, including the famous description of the Horse, in a 4to. collection of ancient Kymric poetry, published at Amwythig, in 1773, by Rhys Jones. It is entitled Gorchestion Beirdd Cymrit. Should A STUDENT wish to extend his acquaintance with this old bard, he will find other poems of his among the Welsh MSS. in the British Museum, in vols. 14,866. et seq.

T. S.

—The verse "Eripuit cœlo," &c., seems to be a parody of the following lines of Manilius (Astronom. I. 105.):—

I am unable, however, to say who adapted these words to Franklin's career. Was it Condorcet?

R.D.H.

The inscription—

under Franklin's portrait, was written by Mirabeau.

JAMES CORNISH.

When Mr. Wilkin, in the year 1836, gave to the world an edition of the works of his illustrious townsman, Sir Thomas Browne, the critics were unanimous in their praise both of the undertaking and of the manner in which the editor had executed his task. It was felt that the writings of so great a man—of one on whose style Johnson is supposed to have formed his own—and whose Religio Medici he eulogized for "the novelty of the paradoxes, the dignity of sentiment, the quick succession of images, the multitude of abstruse allusions, the subtlety of disquisition, and the strength of language" to be found in it, ought to be made better known; and Mr. Wilkin's endeavour to make them so was lauded as it deserved. That attempt, however, was but feeble compared with the one now making by Mr. Bohn, who has undertaken to reproduce Mr. Wilkin's excellent edition of The Works of Sir Thomas Browne in his Antiquarian Library. The first volume, containing Four Books of his Enquiries into Common and Vulgar Errors, has been issued; and, we need scarcely add, forms one which is not surpassed for learning, interest, or instructions, by any other in the very cheap and useful series to which it belongs.

One of the most popular branches of botanical study at the present day is that of our British Ferns, from the very obvious causes—that they are objects of exquisite elegance—not very numerous, nor difficult to be procured—and, lastly, which may well account for their popularity with the dwellers in towns, who yet love to "babble of green fields" and be reminded of them—they are for the most part easily cultivated, and of all others are perhaps best adapted to parlour or window culture. Who then can doubt that, in preparing A Popular History of the British Ferns and the allied Plants, comprising the Club-Mosses, Pepperworts, and Horse Tails (with its fifty admirable coloured representations of the most interesting species), Mr. Moore has done good service to the numerous fern growers already existing, and much to promote the further study of this highly interesting division of the vegetable world. Messrs. Reeve and Benham deserve great credit for the way in which they have seconded Mr. Moore's efforts, by the admirable manner in which the book has been got up.

BOOKS RECEIVED.—The Traveller's Library, Part 13., containing two more of Mr. Macaulay's brilliant Essays, namely, those On the Life and Writings of Addison, and on Horace Walpole.—Travels in Tartary, Thibet, and China during the Years 1844, '45, and '46, by M. Huc: translated from the French, by W. Hazlitt. Vol. 1.—Pictures of Travels in the South of France, by Alexandre Dumas. These are two new volumes of the National Illustrated Library, and very interesting ones. The value of M. Huc's Travels in China may be judged of from the fact, that Sir John Davis having received some notes of them, considered them so interesting that he thought it right to embody them in a despatch to Lord Palmerston.—The Mother's Legacie to her Unborne Childe. By Elizabeth Joceline. Reprinted from the Edition of 1625, with Biographical and Historical Introduction. We may content ourselves with acknowledging the receipt of this handsome reprint, by the Messrs. Blackwood, as it forms the subject of a communication from the correspondent who first drew attention to this interesting volume in N. & Q., which we hope to print next week.—Archæologia Cambrensis for January, 1852. This is an excellent number; and if this record of the antiquities of Wales and its Marches does not meet with the support not only of the antiquaries, but also of the gentry of the principality, it will be a national reproach to them.

A SERMON preached at Fulham in 1810 by the REV. JOHN OWEN of Paglesham, on the death of Mrs. Prowse, Wicken Park, Northamptonshire (Hatchard).

FÜSSLEIN, JOH. CONRAD, BEYTRÄGE ZUR ERLÄUTERUNG DER KIRCHEN-REFORMATIONS-GESCHICHTE DES SCHWEITZERLANDES. 5 Vols. Zurich, 1741.

CONCORDIA DISCORS. BY GRASCOME.

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

Among other improvements which we have made in N. & Q., in compliance with the suggestions of many correspondents, is doing away with the rules round our pages, so as to afford more room to our friends who indulge in Marginalia. Having thus sacrificed to their wishes our own views, which were in favour of these old-fashioned typographical ornaments, We must be permitted once more to remind our correspondents that brevity in their communications is a merit which we shall never overlook; and that by compressing their articles within as small a compass as possible, they will enable us not only to give such communications more ready insertion, but also to increase the interest of every number of N. & Q. by treating in it of a greater variety of topics.

Full price will be given for clean copies of No. 19. upon application to our Publisher.

C. W. N. B., who writes respecting "Supporters borne by Baronets," is referred to our 3rd Vol. p. 224.

ALPHA (Oxford), is referred to our 1st Vol. p. 476. for information respecting the letters M. and N. in certain of the services of the church.

W. H. K. We plead guilty to having "nodded" on the occasion referred to. It is due to the number of ladies who patronize us, that such an oversight should not occur again—and it shall not.

If P. H. (q. 364. p. 502. of No. 113.) will give his name and address, the Editor thinks that he can obtain for him some information on the subject of his inquiry.

JARLTZBERG. We have not the opportunity of using the type in question.

REPLIES RECEIVED.—John Holywood the Mathematician—Barrister—Tripos—Papers of Perjury—Passage in Goldsmith—Dido and Æneas—"England expects every Man," &c.—Dial Mottoes—Age of Trees—Racked by Pain, &c.—Moravian Hymns—Cockney—Meaning of Hernshaw—Ducks and Drakes—Death of Pitt, and other Replies from Este—Crosses and Crucifixes—Sinaitic Inscriptions—Robin Redbreast—Nightingale and Thorn—Singing of Swans—Bishop Trelawney—Lines on the Bible—Hobbes' Leviathan—Derivation of London—Collar of SS.

Among other interesting communications, which, in spite of our enlarged size, we have been compelled to postpone for want of space, are MR. CROSSLEY on Cibber and Johnson's Lives of the Poets—some fresh particulars respecting General Wolfe— MR. CHADWICK, "Right of Search of Parish Registers"— MR. ROSS, on the Dukes's saying, "There is no mistake"— DR. TODD, on Wady Mokatteb—Index Expurgatorius—"Boiling to Death"—and many other interesting articles which are in type.

Copies of our Prospectus, according to the suggestion of T. E. H., will be forwarded to any correspondent willing to assist us by circulating them.

"NOTES AND QUERIES" is published at noon on Friday, so that the Country Booksellers may receive Copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their Subscribers on the Saturday.

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 3. 1852.