Notes and Queries Vol. V., No. 119, Saturday, February 7, 1852

NOTES:—

QUERIES:—

REPLIES:—

MISCELLANEOUS:—

In a work recently published by the Earl of Roden, entitled Progress of the Reformation in Ireland, there occurs a curious account of a remnant of this ancient form of fetichism still existing in Inniskea, an island off the coast of Mayo, with about 380 inhabitants amongst whom, he says,

"A stone carefully wrapped up in flannel is brought out at certain periods to be adored; and when a storm arises, this god is supplicated to send a wreck on their coast."

P. 51.

A correspondent in the same volume writes to Lord Roden that—

"They all speak the Irish language, and among them is a trace of that government by chiefs, which in former times prevailed in Ireland: the present chief or king of Inniskea is an intelligent peasant called CAIN, whose authority is acknowledged, and the settlement of all disputes is referred to his decision. Though nominally Roman Catholics, these islanders have no priest resident among them; they know nothing of the tenets of that church, and their worship consists in occasional meetings at their chief's house, with visits to a holy well called Derivla. The absence of religion is supplied by the open practice of pagan idolatry. In the south island a stone idol called in the Irish Neevougi, has been from time immemorial religiously preserved and worshipped. This god resembles in appearance a thick roll of homespun flannel, which arises from the custom of dedicating to it a dress of that material whenever its aid is sought; this is sewed on by an old woman, its priestess. Of the early history of this idol no authentic information can be procured, but its power is believed to be immense; they pray to it in time of sickness, it is invoked when a storm is desired to dash some hapless ship upon their coast, and again it is solicited to calm the waves to admit of the islanders fishing or visiting the main land."

Ib. pp. 53, 54.

This statement, irrespective of graver reflections, is suggestive of curious inquiry, whether this point of Ireland, on the utmost western verge of Europe, be not the last spot in Christendom in which a trace can now be found of stone-pillar worship?—the most ancient of all forms of idolatry known to the records of the human race; and the most widely extended, since at one time or another it has prevailed in every nation of the old world, from the shores of Lapland to the confines of India; and, I apprehend, vestiges of its former existence are to be traced on the continent of America.

Before men discovered the use of metals, or the method of cutting rocks, they worshipped unhewn stones; and if the authenticity of Sanchoniathon is to be accepted, they consecrated pillars to the fire and the wind before they had learned to hunt, to fish, or to harden bricks in the sun. (Sanchon. in Cory's Ancient Fragments, pp. 7, 8.) From Chna, "the first Phœnician" as he is called by the same remote authority, the Canaanites acquired the practice of stone-pillar worship, which prevailed amongst them long before:

"Jacob took the stone that he had put for his pillow, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it and called the name of the place Bethel, saying, this stone which I have set up for a pillar shall be God's house."

Gen. xxviii. 18. 22.

The Israelites were repeatedly ordered to destroy these stone idols of the Canaanites, to overthrow their altars, and "break their pillars" (Deut. vii. 5.; xii. 3.). And when the Jews themselves, in their aberrations, were tempted to imitate their customs, Moses points a sarcasm at their delusion:—

"Where are their gods; their rock in whom they trusted! How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their rock had sold them?"

Ib. xxxii. 30. 37.

From Jacob's consecration of his stone pillar, and the name Bethel which he conferred upon it (which, in Phœnician, signified the house of God), were derived the Bætylia, Βαιτύλια or Βαιτύλοι, the black stones worshipped in Syria and Asia Minor, in Egypt, and in Greece before the time of Cecrops, under the names of Cybele and of Saturn, who is fabled to have swallowed one of them when he intended to have devoured his son Jupiter. Even in the refined period of Grecian philosophy, the common people could not divest themselves of the influence of the ancient belief; and Theophrastus gives it as the characteristic of the "superstitious man," that he could not resist the impulse to bow to these mysterious stones, which served to mark the confluence of the highways. From Asia Minor pillar worship was carried to Italy and Gaul, and eventually extended to Germany, where the trunks of trees occasionally became the substitute for stone. From the same original the Arabs borrowed the Kaaba, the black stone, which is still revered at Mecca; and the Brahmans a more repulsive form, under which the worship now exists in Hindostan. Even in early times the reverence of these stones took a variety of forms as they were applied to mark the burial-place of saints and persons of distinction, to define contested boundaries, and to commemorate great events (vide Joshua iv. 5.; xxiv. 26.); and perhaps many of the stones which have now a traditional, and even historical celebrity in Great Britain, such as the "Lia Fail" of Tara, the great "Stone of Scoon," on which the Scottish kings were crowned; the "King's Stone" in Surrey, which served a similar office to the Saxons; the "Charter Stone" of Inverness; the "Leper's Stone" of Ayr; the "Blue Stone" of Carrick; the "Black Stone" of Iona, and others, may have acquired their later respect from their earlier sanctity.

There appear to be few countries in the old world which do not possess some monuments of this most remote idolatry; but there is none in which they would seem to be so abundant as on the western extremity of Europe, in Cornwall, and especially in the islands and promontories from the Land's End to Caithness and the Orkneys. In the latter the worship of stone pillars continued to so recent a period, that one is curious to know when it actually disappeared, and whether there still exist traces of it in any other locality, similar to that pointed out by the Earl of Roden at Inniskea.

My own acquaintance with the subject is very imperfect; but, so far as my recollection serves, the following references may direct attention to interesting quarters.

Scheffer, who published his Description of Lapland in 1673, states that the practice of stone-pillar worship then existed there, and that Storjunkar, one of the deities of Scandinavian mythology, was—

Represented by a stone. Neither do they use any art in polishing it; but take it as they find it upon the banks of lakes and rivers. In this shape they worship it as his image, and call it Kied kie jubmal, that is, the stone god."

Scheffer, Lapponia. Engl. London, 1751.

He adds that they select the unhewn stone, because it is in the form in which it was shaped by the hand of the Creator himself. The incident suggests a curious coincidence with the expressions of Isaiah (ch. lvii. v. 6.):

"Among the smooth stones of the stream is thy portion; they, they are thy lot: even to them hast thou poured a drink-offering; thou hast offered a meat-offering. Should I receive comfort in these?"

Joshua, too, selected the twelve stones with which he commemorated the passage of the Jordan from the midst of the river, where the priests' feet stood when they bore the ark across.

Martin, in his account of the Western Islands of Scotland in 1703 A.D., describes repeatedly the numerous pillar-stones which were then objects of respect in the several localities. And in one instance he states that an image which was held in veneration in one of the islands was swathed in flannel,—a practice which would thus seem to have served as a precedent for the priestess of Inniskea, as detailed by Lord Roden. In speaking of the island of Eriska, to the north of Barra, Martin says—

"There is a stone set up, near a mile to the south of St. Columbus's church, about eight foot high and two broad. It is called by the natives the bowing stone; for when the inhabitants had the first sight of the church, they set up this stone, and then bowed, and said the Lord's Prayer."

A Description of the Western Islands, p. 88.

But Borlase, who notices this passage in his Antiquities of Cornwall, gives a much more learned derivation of the name. He says:

"They call them bowing stones, as it seems to me, from the reverence shown them; for the Even Maschith, which the Jews were forbade to worship—(Leviticus xxvi. 1. 'neither shall ye set up any image of stone')—signifies really a bowing stone, and was doubtless so called because worshipped by the Canaanites."

Borlase, Antiquities of Cornwall, book iii. c. 2.

I fancy the word which Martin rendered a bowing stone, is cromlech, or crom liagh.

As regards the ancient monuments of stone worship in Cornwall, the most learned and the most ample information is contained in Borlase's Antiquities of that county; but there their worship ceased, though not till several centuries after the introduction of Christianity. Borlase says:

"After Christianity took place, many continued to worship these stones; coming thither with lighted torches, and praying for safety and success: and this custom we can trace through the fifth and sixth centuries; and even into the seventh, as will appear from the prohibitions of several Councils."

Borlase, Antiq. Corn., b. iii. c. ii. p. 162.

In all parts of Ireland these stone pillars are to be found in comparative frequency. Accounts of them will be found in The Ancient and Present State of the County Down, A.D./sc> 1744; in Wakeman's Handbook of Irish Antiquities, and in various similar authorities. A writer in the Archæologia for A.D. 1800 says that many of the stone crosses which form so interesting and beautiful a feature in Irish antiquities were originally pagan pillar-stones, on which the cross was sculptured subsequent to the introduction of Christianity, in order that—

"The common people, who were not easily to be diverted from their superstitious reverence for these stones, might pay a kind of justifiable adoration to them when thus appropriated to the use of Christian memorials by the sign of the cross."

Archæol. vol. xiii. p. 208.

The tenacity of the Irish people to this ancient superstition is established by the fact of its continuance to the present day in the sequestered island of Inniskea. And it seems to me that it would be an object of curious inquiry, if your correspondents could ascertain whether this be the last remnant of pillar worship now remaining in Europe; and especially whether any further trace of it is to be found in any other portion of the British dominions.

J. EMERSON TENNENT.

London.

A great many correspondents of the daily press are directing the attention, I suppose, of the Government to what they call the "defenceless state of Great Britain." Will you allow me, on account, as I think, of its rarity, to submit to you the following extract from the Macaronéa, par Octave Delepierre (Gancia, Brighton, 1852), attributed to Porson. The lines were composed on occasion of the projected French invasion under Napoleon.

These verses are quoted by M. Delepierre, from Stephen Collet's Relics of Literature, 8vo. 1823.

S. H.

Keeping a poet is a luxury enjoyed by many, from the Queen down to Messrs. Moses, Hyam and Co.; but the refinement of keeping an hermit would appear to be a more recherché and less ordinary appendage of wealth and taste.

I send you an advertisement for, and two actual instances of going a hermiting, from my scrapbook:

"A young man, who wishes to retire from the world and live as an hermit in some convenient spot in England, is willing to engage with any nobleman or gentleman who may be desirous of having one. Any letter directed to S. Lawrence (post paid) to be left at Mr. Otton's, No. 6. Colman's Lane, Plymouth, mentioning what gratuity will be given, and all other particulars, will be duly attended to."

Courier, Jan. 11th, 1810.

Can any one tell me whether this retiring young man was engaged in the above capacity? I do not think so: for soon after an advertisement appeared in the papers which I have reasons for thinking was by the same hand.

"Wants a situation in a pious regular family, in a place where the Gospel is preached, a young man of serious mind, who can wait at table and milk a cow."

The immortal Dr. Busby asks—

Whether it is because going a hermiting does not come under the Doctor's "energising objects" I know not; but this is clear, that the two following instances proved unsuccessful:

"M. Hamilton, once the proprietor of Payne's Hill, near Cobham, Surrey, advertised for a person who was willing to become a hermit in that beautiful retreat of his. The conditions were, that he was to continue in the hermitage seven years, where he should be provided with a Bible, optical glasses, a mat for his bed, a hassock for his pillow, an hour-glass for his timepiece, water for his beverage, food from the house, but never to exchange a syllable with the servant. He was to wear a camlet robe, never to cut his beard or nails, nor ever to stray beyond the limits of the grounds. If he lived there, under all these restrictions, till the end of the term, he was to receive seven hundred guineas. But on breach of any of them, or if he quitted the place any time previous to that term, the whole was to be forfeited. One person attempted it, but a three weeks' trial cured him.

"Mr. Powyss, of Marcham, near Preston, Lancashire, was more successful in this singularity: he advertised a reward of 50l. a-year for life, to any man who would undertake to live seven years under ground, without seeing anything human: and to let his toe and finger nails grow, with his hair and beard, during the whole time. Apartments were prepared under ground, very commodious, with a cold bath, a chamber organ, as many books as the occupier pleased, and provisions served from his own table. Whenever the recluse wanted any convenience, he was to ring a bell, and it was provided for him. Singular as this residence may appear, an occupier offered himself, and actually staid in it, observing the required conditions for four years."

FLORENCE.

Dublin.

When an editor selects a favourite ballad for notes and illustrations, he may be supposed, naturally, to have a sort of respect, not to say veneration, for its author. Such is the case with the recent editor of Edwin and Emma (Dr. Dinsdale), when, in his brief biography of David Mallet, he glosses over the vices of this man's character in the quietest and most inoffensive manner possible. If he was a "heartless villain" I do not see that we ought to screen him; and I think those who may choose to look into his doings will find him full as "black" as he is painted.

Southey, in his Specimens of the Later English Poets, vol. ii. p. 342., does not mince the matter. His words are these:—

"A man of more talents than honesty, who was always ready to perform any dirty work for interest; to blast the character either of the dead or the living, and to destroy life as well as reputation. Mallet was 'first assassin' in the tragedy of Admiral Byng's murder."

In a copy of Gascoigne's Works, sold in Heber's sale, was the following MS. note by George Steevens:—

"This volume was bought for 1l. 13s. at Mr. Mallet's alias Malloch's, sale, March 14, 1776. He was the only Scotchman who died in my memory unlamented by an individual of his own nation."

David Malloch, or Mallet, is said to have been born about the year 1700, at Crieff, in Perthshire, at which place his father was an innkeeper. A search has been made in the parochial registers of Crieff, from 1692 to 1730, but his baptism is not registered.

The names of various children of Charles and Donald Malloch's in the neighbourhood of Crieff occur, including a David, in 1712. This obviously was not the poet; but it appears that his father "James Malloch, and Beatrix Clark his wife," were brought before the Kirk Session of Crieff in October and November, 1704, for profanation of the Lord's day, "by some strangers drinking and fighting in their house on the Sabbath immediately following Michaelmas." On the 12th of November, "they being both rebuked for giving entertainment to such folks on the sabbath-day, and promising never to do the like, were dismissed."

Some of Mallet's letters are printed in the Edinburgh Magazine, a literary miscellany, for 1793. They contain a number of curious literary notices, including some particulars of the writer's life not generally known.

Much interesting matter concerning the literary career and character of David Mallet may also be found in the recent Life of David Hume by John Hill Burton, Esq., Advocate.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

—Dr. Dobbin, lecturing some time back on physical education in Hull, condemned the practice of tight lacing as extremely injurious to the symmetry and health of the female sex, and jocularly proposed the formation of an "Anti-killing-young-women-by-a-lingering-death-Society." This was gravely reproduced in other parts of this country and on the continent as sober matter of fact, the Germans giving the hyphenated title thus: Jungefrauenzimmerdurchschwindsuchttoedtungs-gegenverein.

I. C.

—Permit me to say that it is in the power of your London correspondents to do a real service to your country readers, and at the same time serve the cause of honest bibliopoly, by pointing out in the pages of "N. & Q." current instances of what I beg leave to call the fraudulent advertisement of published books under a new title, or one so altered as to produce the impression of novelty in the mind of a reader like myself. For example, being an admirer of Sam Slick's works—and who is not?—I purchased, on its first appearance, his English in America; and seeing lately advertised, as a new work, Rule and Misrule of the English in America, by the same author, I obtained it, and found it the identical work before named, the title-page alone being altered! I mention another instance. I perceive an advertisement of the Letters of Gray the Poet, published from the original MSS. in two volumes, by the Rev. J. Mitford. Now, I should like to know whether this is, as it is called, really a "new work," or merely a part, or at most a revival, of Mitford's Letters, &c. of Gray, published in 4 vols., 1836.

J. H.

—Until the year 1834, when considerable reforms took place in the Court of Exchequer with respect to sheriffs' accounts, a process called "the Summons of the Pipe" issued into each county, charging the sheriff with the levy of divers old rents. In that of Yorkshire I noticed the following entry, which I communicated to Mr. Scatcherd. I am not aware that it has ever been published. By inserting it you will relieve me from the necessity of preserving my "note."

"Of the same Sheriff for the issues of waste building in Knaresbrough, in the said county, in the tenure of Daniel Clarke, of the yearly value of IIII£i and one undivided moiety or fifth part of the whole, to be divided into five equal parts of and in a certain farm called Moat House farm, situate at Wickersley in the said County, which consists [here followed particulars], in the occupation of Samuel Chipchase, of the yearly value of XXI£i of the lands and tenements of Daniel Clarke aforesaid, shoemaker, outlawed at the suit of Philip Coates, gentleman, in a plea of trespass on the case VIII£i IIIs and VIc XXXVIII£i Vs arrears."

"Philip Coates," says Mr. Scatcherd (Gleanings, p. 26.), "attorney-at-law, a very respectable man, married Clarke's wife's sister." It is singular that a murdered man should be outlawed after death and that he should continue to haunt the Exchequer for near a century afterwards. It is a complete confirmation of the statement that Clarke was supposed to have absconded, and that no suspicion of foul play arose at the time of his disappearance.

W. G.

—The following inscription, from a banqueting-room in Hardwicke Hall, Derbyshire, may be worthy of a place by the side of those quoted by PROCURATOR (Vol. v., p. 8.):

H. T.

—Some months since there was a story whispered in certain circles, or rather two stories, which, when taken together, went to show that this great mystery of modern times was on the eve of solution. The first stated that the Grenville Papers, about to be published by Murray, would prove the identity of Junius with the correspondent of Woodfall under one of the signatures Atticus or Brutus, whose letters had been already, and, as it would thereby appear, very properly, attributed to Junius himself. The second rumour was to the effect that an eminent bookseller, whose attention had been drawn to the Junius question by the circumstance of his having recently published an edition of the letters, &c., on being called in to estimate the value of certain historical papers for some legal purposes, was startled by discovering, in the course of his examination of them, who this Atticus or Brutus was—and, consequently, who Junius himself was. On the announcement of an article on Junius in the Quarterly Review, those who had heard these stories expected to find in the article in question the solution of what has been called the "great political enigma of the eighteenth century." As this hope has not been realised, may I ask, through the medium of "N. & Q.," whether there is any foundation for the rumours I have referred to; and, if so, how much of truth there is in both or either of them. Such information will be acceptable to every one of your readers who is not satisfied with any of the THIRTY-NINE theories on the subject which have been already propounded, and who is therefore like myself still a

JUNIUS QUERIST.

—On looking into Walker's Dictionary, a short time since, I found the following remark, which seems to have escaped every inquirer into the authorship of the letters of Junius:—

"To COMMIT.—This word was first used in Junius's letters in a sense unknown to our former English writers, namely, to expose, to venture, to hazard; this sense is borrowed from the French, and has been generally adopted by subsequent writers."

Can any of your readers produce an instance of the use of this word in the sense here applied to it, prior to the appearance of Junius? Such a parallel would carry more weight with it than the countless examples of verbal singularities with which almost every discoverer of Junius has encumbered his essay.

D. J.

—Would MR. HALLAM kindly inform your readers whether the Junius Letters, to which he refers in "N. & Q." Vol. iii., p. 241., were inserted in books or not? And in the former case, whether they were in a separate collection, or mixed with the other correspondence of Mr. Wilkes?

I. J. M.

This Anglo-Saxon word is used in the poetry of Beowulf and Cædmon, and in the prose of Orosius and Bede, &c. The â in gâr is twice accented in Cædmon; and Mr. Kemble has always accented it in Beowulf. In the Lauderdale MS. of Orosius it is written garsæcg and garsecg; and in the Cotton MS. garsegc and garsecg, without any accent. Grimm, Kemble, and Ettmüller make the first past of the word to be gâr, a spear, javelin, the Goth., gairu; Ohd., kér; O. Sax., gér; O. Nor., geir: and the latter, secg, a soldier, man. Thus gârsecg would be literally "a spear-man," homo jaculo armatus. Mr. Kemble adds, it is "a name for the ocean, which is probably derived from some ancient myth, and is now quite unintelligible." Ettmüller gives it, "Gârsecg, es, m. Carex jaculorum, vel vir hastatus, i.e. oceanus.—Grymn's Mythol., p. xxvii."

Dahlmann, in his Forschungen der Geschichte, p. 414., divides the word thus: Gars-ecg, and says, gar is very expressive, and denotes "what is enclosed," and is allied to the Ger. garten, a garden, like the A.-S. geard, a garden, region, earth. Ecg, Icl. egg; Ger. egge, ecke, a border, an outward part; that is, what borders or encircles the earth, the ocean. What authority is there for dividing the word into gars-ecg, and for the meaning he gives to gar?

Barrington, in his edition of Orosius, p. xxiii., gives "M. H. The Patton MS." among the transcripts. I cannot find any Hatton MS. of Orosius. Can he refer to the transcript of Junius?

THROW.

—I shall be glad to learn by what authority an office for the Commemoration of Founders and Benefactors is used in our college chapels, since this office in not found in our Book of Common Prayer. And, farther, whether the office is the same in all places, mutatis mutandis. In my own college (Queen's, Cambridge), the order of service was as follows:—The Lesson, Ecclus. xliv. (read by a scholar): the sermon: the list of foundresses and benefactors: Te Deum laudamus: proper Psalms, viz. cxlviii., cxlix., cl.: the following versicles and responses:

Then followed an appropriate collect, introduced by the words "Let us pray;" and the office was concluded by the Benediction.

W. SPARROW SIMPSON, B.A.

—At a recent meeting of the Kilkenny Archæological Society, there was exhibited, by permission of the Marquis of Ormonde, an original charter, under seal, of Richard, Earl of Chepstow, surnamed Strongbow, whereby he granted certain lands in his newly acquired territory of Leinster, to Adam de Hereford. The charter, which is beautifully and clearly written on a small piece of vellum, commences thus:

"Comes Ric' fil' com' Ric' Gisleb'ti omnibus amicis suis," &c.

As the usually given pedigrees (see Sir R. Colt Hoare's Tour in Ireland, Introd. p. lxxv.) make Richard Strongbow the son of Gilbert, the second son, and not Richard, the eldest son, of Gilbert de Tonbrige; query, Are we to supply "fil'" before "Gisleberti" in the charter, or are we to suppose that the second "Ric'" is a slip of the pen,—a thing, however, not likely to occur in a legal deed of so important a nature.

JAMES GRAVES.

Kilkenny.

—In Colonel James Turner's defence (English Causes Célèbres, vol. i. p. 111.) he says, speaking of his wife, who was then also on trial for her life:

"She sat down, being somewhat fat and weary, poor heart! I have had twenty-seven children by her; fifteen sons and twelve daughters."

Is there any well authenticated instance of woman having had more than twenty-five children?

E. D.

—In the Smith MSS. in the Bodleian Library, there are copies of certain petitions addressed to King Charles II., relating to a proposed Order of Esquires of the Martyred King. These forms of petition appear to have been derived ex MSS. Asm. 837.

Where is a full account of these proceedings to be found in print?

J. SANSOM.

—Having lately seen a MS., of which I subjoin the title, and not being able to discover any further account of the writer of it than what is briefly given in the volume itself, I submit my wish to know something more about the author, and his, perhaps, still inedited work, to you and to your numerous readers, both in England and in Holland (where you have an able imitator), in the hope of gaining some further information about him. The MS. is a foolscap folio, containing about 340 pages, written in a bold, open hand, and bears the following title: Mémoires touchant le Commerce que les Provinces Unies des Pays-Bas font dans les divers Endroits du Monde. At page 306. this part of the MS. ends, and is signed by "Daniel Braems," who says of himself, that he left the Dutch possessions in the East Indies in 1686, and made his Report to the States-General of what he had seen, and delivered in a written copy. Mr. Braems says farther, that he was "dernièrement Teneur-Général des Livres à Batavie, et a ramené en qualité de Commandeur la dernière Flotte des Indes en ce pays;" and that his Report, as regards East India affairs, was made "touchant la constitution des affaires dans les Indes Orientales, ainsi qu'elle estoit lorsque la ditte flotte est partie de Batavie," and was delivered in May 26, 1688. The remaining pages of the MS. are taken up with a detailed account of the ecclesiastical and civil revenues of France for 1692, and also the "estat des affaires extraordinaires" for the years 1689, 1690, 1691, 1692.

J. M.

—Can any of your readers obligingly inform me when The Suffolk Mercury or St. Edmund's Bury Post commenced? The earliest number I have seen is that of "Monday, Feb. 3, 1717, to be continued weekly, No. 43. Price Three Half-pence." The next is that of "Monday, May 2, 1726, Vol. xvi., No. 52." And the latest that of "Monday, October 4, 1731, Vol. xxii., No. 40." When did it cease? Were there any other papers before 1782 printed in Bury; or including the name of that town in its title?

BURIENSIS.

—What are the privileges of persons holding this appointment?

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

—What is the etymology of this surname; or rather, what is a lun? We have the analogous names Wolfhunter and Todhunter (i.e. a hunter of foxes). I am not satisfied with the origin assigned to this designation in my English Surnames. Is there any beast of prey, or of the chase, bearing the provincial name of lun?

MARK ANTONY LOWER.

—Could any of your readers inform me what branch of the Bullen family it was that emigrated to Ireland in the fifteenth or sixteenth century, and settled at Kinsale in the county of Cork? Their genealogical history I find it difficult, almost impossible, to discover. It is thought that the first of the family who settled in Ireland was nearly allied to the lovely but unfortunate queen of Henry VIII.; and the family consequently claim kindred with our famous Queen Elizabeth, though they seem unable to trace their pedigree so as to prove it. The present representative of this old family resides at Bally Thomas, in the neighbourhood of Mallow; but, singular to say, though proud of his name and race, can give no correct history of his pedigree; in fact, nothing more than a traditionary account of it. I find, in turning over the pages of Burke's Landed Gentry, the following note appended to the pedigree of the Glovers of Mount Glover:

"This Abigail Bullen was daughter of Robert Bullen, of Kinsale, descended from the Bullen family, who came and settled in Ireland in the reign of Elizabeth, and who are stated to have been not remotely related to that queen."

Any information connected with this family I am most anxious to obtain.

E. A. G.

London.

—I should be glad if any of your correspondents could favour me with the name of the author of this work: it is entitled Burnomania, or the Celebrity of Robert Burns considered, Edinburgh, 1811, 12mo., pp. 103. In his advertisement to the reader, the author says:

"Who is the author? Is he a poor man? Is he employed by the booksellers? Is he a young student? Does he write for fame? For gain? Does he wish to irritate, to offend, to indulge in a sarcastic humour? To all these questions, the answer is 'No.'"

ELGINENSIS.

—Can you or any of your correspondents explain certain difficulties I find in a schedule of the revenues of the bishopric of Winton, sent by Thomas Cooper, the Bishop of Winton, 1587, to the Lord Treasurer: Strype's Annals, vol. iii. part 2. p. 263. Oxon, 1824?

In the first place, there appears to be some misprint, as "the whole charge or value" is put at 3114l. 0s. 5d., and "ordinary reprizes and allowances deducted" 3389l. 0s. 11d., and then "remain of rent of assize of the same bishopric" 2773l. 10s. 6d., which appears afterwards to be a misprint for 2775l., &c. What is "rent of assize?" is it the assessment of the bishopric for dues, rates, &c.? Also what is the meaning of "ob. q.," which is added after certain items?

Lastly, what is to be understood by the item "For ingrossing the great pipe," &c.? I should be much obliged by any explanation of these accounts.

H. C. K.

—— Rectory, Hereford.

—Can any correspondent give some information as to the popular superstition of white livers, or refer to any author that alludes to it in any way. In a recent account of poisonings in France, by a woman Named Helène Jagado, it is stated that though for a long time she was not suspected to be an actual murderess, yet "the frequency of deaths in the families by whom she was engaged excited a suspicion among the peasantry that there was something in her nature fatal to those who were near her; and they said that her liver was white, it being believed, in that part of France, that persons who are dangerous have white livers." In the midland counties there is a similar saying among the lower classes, and I have heard it said of an individual who had married and lost several wives by death, that he had a white liver. A young woman once told me that she had been advised not to marry a certain suitor, because he had a white liver, and she would be dead within a year. "White-livered rascal" is a common term of reproach in Gloucestershire. What is the origin and explanation of the supposed white liver?

AMBROSE FLORENCE.

Worcester.

—Can any of your correspondents tell the meaning of the word Blaen, which occurs so frequently in the names of places in Pembrokeshire, and perhaps other parts of Wales? Thus, there is Blaen-awen, near Monington; Blaen-argy, Blaen-pant, and Blaen-hafren, to the south of Hantwood; Blaen-yr-angell; Blaen-y-foss and Blaen-nefern near Penrydd; Blaen-dyffryn; and a great many more. It seems generally to be applied to farms.

α.

—Can you give one any clue to the following line:

A similar play on words was made a few years ago by an Italian professor in the university of Pisa. A large number of Jesuits made their appearance one day in his lecture room, as they believed that he was about to assail some favourite dogma of theirs. He commenced his lecture with the following words—

When remonstrated with, he said that his words were

L. H. J. T.

—Can any of your correspondents inform me the origin of the line "The right divine of kings to govern wrong?" It is in the Dunciad, book iv., placed in inverted commas. Is it there used as a quotation? and, if so, whence is it taken, or was Pope the original author of the lines?

SARPEDON.

[Our correspondent is clearly not aware that this line has already been the subject of much discussion in our columns. (See Vol. iii., p. 494.; Vol. iv., pp. 125. 160.) But as the Query has not yet been solved, and many curious points may depend upon its solution, we avail ourselves of SARPEDON'S inquiry to bring the matter again under the consideration of our readers.]

—The quantity and variety of Valentines which now occupy our stationers' windows suggest the Query as to their first introduction; whether originally so ornamental, and if by hand; when they first became printed, and what early specimens exist?

EXON.

—In Shakspeare's comedy of Twelfth Night, the following words are used by Sir Toby, Act III. Sc. 2.:

Query: What is the history of Bed of Ware?

†

[Nares, in his Glossary, says, "This curious piece of furniture is said to be still in being, and visible at the Crown or at the Bull in Ware. It is reported to be twelve feet square, and to be capable of holding twenty or twenty-four persons." And he refers to Chauncy's Hertfordshire for an account of its receiving at once twelve men and their wives, who lay at top and bottom in this mode of arrangement; first two men, then two women, and so on alternately; so that no man was near to any woman but his wife.]

—When did the term Merry Andrew first come into use, and what was the occasion of it?

χ. β.

[Although Strutt, in his Sports and Pastimes, has several allusions to Merry Andrews, he does not attempt to explain the origin of the term. Hearne, in his Benedictus Abbas (tom. i. Præf. p. 50. ed. Oxon. 1735, as quoted by Warton in his English Poetry, vol. iii. p. 74. ed. 1840), speaking of the well-known Andrew Borde, gives it as his opinion that this facetious physician gave rise to the name of MERRY ANDREW, the fool on the mountebank's stage: "'Twas from the Doctor's method of using such speeches at markets and fairs, that in aftertimes those that imitated the like humorous, jocose language, were styled MERRY ANDREWS, a term much in vogue on our stages."]

—In reading a curious old book, entitled the Statesmen and Favourites of England since the Reformation, which was written by David Lloyd, and published in 1665, I was at a loss to know what a baron's hearse might be, and hope therefore that some of your readers may be able to give me some information respecting it. It occurs at page 448., in his observations on the life of Sir Henry Umpton, who, he says, "had allowed him a baron's hearse, because he died ambassadour leiger."

JOHN BRANFILL HARRISON.

Maidstone.

[Although a "baron's hearse" is not particularly specified in the very curious Note upon Funerals prefixed by Mr. J. G. Nichols to the Diary of Henry Machyn, edited by him for the Camden Society,—we refer our correspondent to it, as furnishing much curious illustration of the time and expense formerly bestowed upon these ceremonials. The word "herse," it may be remarked, was not then applied in its modern sense, but to a frame of timber "covered with black, and armes upon the black, ready to receive the corpse when it had arrived within the church," which corresponds to what our French neighbours designate the Catafalque.]

—Can you favour me with a reference to any works in which any further account is given of this saint, than is contained in the four passages of the New Testament in which his name is mentioned?

What representations are there of him in picture, tapestry, or window, in England or on the continent?

REGEDONUM.

[For further particulars we would refer our correspondent to Mrs. Jameson's Sacred and Legendary Art (1st edit.), vol. i. pp. 222. et seq.; and Parker's Calendar of the Anglican Church illustrated, p. 100.]

—Are the following lines from Walsh's Aristophanes original; and was the translation ever completed? I quote from memory.

J. H. L.

[These lines are by Christopher Anstey, Esq., and will be found in his New Bath Guide, letter xiv., where "Miss Prudence B-n-r-d informs Lady Betty that she has been elected to Methodism by a Vision." This metrical epistle consists of five more verses, to which the author has subjoined a Latin translation. See Anstey's Works, p. 82. 4to. 1808. Only Vol. I. of Walsh's translation of The Comedies of Aristophanes has been published.]

—Mr. Rogers, in his beautiful poem of Italy, has a story which is headed "Ginevra," and which he lays the scene of at Modena. It narrates that a young bride on the day of her wedding, to entertain her young friends, proposes that they should amuse themselves at "hide-and-seek;" and thinking to conceal herself where her companions could not discover her, bethought herself of an old oaken chest in the garret of the house. The lid of this chest unfortunately had a clasp lock, which occasioned her to be completely enshrined; and not being discovered at the time, she must have perished miserably. Many years after, upon pulling the house down the chest was forced open, and the skeleton of the unfortunate lady was, to the consternation of all present, brought to light.

Mr. Rogers, in a note, says, "I believe this story to be founded on fact, though I cannot tell when and where it happened;" and adds, "many old houses in this country lay claim to it."

I should be much obliged to any reader of the "N. & Q." to point out any old seat in England where the above is stated to have happened; if there be any memorial or legend concerning it, or any particulars relating to it.

☞ F.

P.S. I have, some years ago, read the counterpart of this story in French, when the bride proposes jouer au cache-cache, with exactly the same melancholy result, but I have not any recollection in what work.

[Two versions of the dramatic narrative of "Ginevra, the Lady buried alive," are given by Collet in his Relics of Literature, p. 186., in neither of which is there any notice of the hide-and-seek game, or of the chest with the clasp-lock. The French account is extracted from the Causes Célèbres; and the Italian, which differs in some particulars, from a work by Dominico Maria Manni.]

—Can any of your readers inform me where the entire translation of this play, from the French of Corneille into English, is to be found?—the first act only, which was translated by Waller, being found in some editions of his works. Also, whether I am right in supposing that this play contains a scene where the dead body of Pompey is discovered on the seashore, and a passage discussing what tomb should be erected to his honour, in deprecation of any monument at all, and ending with: "The eternal substance of his greatness; to that I leave him."

H.

[The title of the play is, Pompey the Great; a Tragedy, as it was acted by the Servants of his Royal Highness the Duke of York. Translated out of French by certain Persons of Honour, 4to. 1664. It consists of five acts. Waller translated the first; the others were translated by the Earl of Dorset, Sir C. Sedley, and Mr. Godolphin. It will be found in the British Museum and the Bodleian.]

MR. FRASER'S erudite researches are well worth the space which they occupy. The conclusions to be drawn from them appear quite to support my positions:

1. The Three Estates of the Realm are, the Spiritualty, the Nobility, and the Commonalty: on this fact there is no dispute. The last is as certainly the third estate (tiers état). But MR. FRASER demurs to my ranking the Spiritual Estate as the first, quoting the Collect in the Service for the fifth of November, which runs, "the Nobility, Clergy, and Commonalty." On this point I am not prepared with a decisive authority; but certainly the language and practice of Parliament is with me. The Lords Spiritual are always named before the Lords Temporal, and precedence is allotted to them accordingly; the Archbishops ranking above the Earls (with the more recent distinctions of Marquess and Duke), and the Bishops above the Temporal Barons [Qy. What was the relative rank of the other "prelates" who were formerly in Parliament?]. To the same effect is the language of the celebrated preamble to the act 24 Henry VIII. c. 12.:—

"This realm of England is an empire ... governed by one supreme head and King ... unto whom a body politic compact of all sorts and degrees of people divided in terms and by names of Spiritualty and Temporalty, be bounden and owen."

2. The Convocations of the Clergy (which are two synods sitting in three houses) are no part of the Parliament. MR. FRASER thinks "this point was settled somewhat late in our history;" but it is proved (I submit) in the very extracts which he produces from ancient statutes. Since there is no doubt that the Clergy sat regularly in Convocation, we should not hear of their occasional presence in the House of Commons had the Convocation been deemed a part of Parliament. It is certain that Convocation never exercised the powers which belong to a chamber of Parliament; even their own subsidies to the Crown were ratified and passed in Parliament before they became legally binding. [See on the whole of this subject, Burn's Eccl. Law (Phillimore's ed.), tit. "Convocation," vol. ii. pp. 19-23.] MR. FRASER has certainly adduced instances in which the assent of the Clergy was given to particular statutes; he might have added the recital of their submission to the Crown, in the Act of Supremacy, 26 Henry VIII. c. 1. He has shown also that clerical proctors were occasionally introduced into the House of Commons, like the judges (he says) in the House of Lords. But this is far from making those proctors, or the Convocation which sent them, a part of the Parliament. Indeed it is shown that they were not by the petition of the Lower House of Convocation (cited by MR. FRASER), in which they desire "to be admitted to sit in Parliament with the House of Commons, according to antient usage." It is clear that they who so petitioned did not esteem themselves to be, as a Convocation, already part of the Parliament. The Convocation would indeed have become the Spiritual Estate in Parliament, if the Clergy had acceded to the wise and patriotic design of King Edward I. But they, affecting an imperium in imperio, refused to assemble at the King's writ as a portion of the Parliament of their country, and chose to tax themselves apart in their Provincial Synods, where they used the forms of a separate Parliament for the Church.

3. Hence the Spiritual Estate was, and still is, represented in Parliament by the Spiritual Lords. William the Conqueror having converted their sees into baronies, they were obliged, like other tenants in capite, to obey the royal summons to Parliament. When I called it a mistake to suppose that our Bishops sit in the Upper House only as Barons, I did not mean that they are not so, in the present constitution of Parliament, but that such was not the origin of the prelates being called to share in the legislation of the realm. The other clergy, however, retained their tenure of frankalmoigne, and stood aloof alike from the councils and from the burdens of the state. Attendance in Parliament being chiefly given for the purpose of voting taxes, the Commons, as well as the Clergy, looked upon it as a burden more than a privilege. But while the Clergy were quickly compelled to bear their share of the public burdens, their short-sighted policy deprived them of the voice which is now enjoyed by other degrees of Englishmen in the affairs of the country. While Convocation was sitting, the Clergy could make their sentiments known by the Bishops who represented their Estate in Parliament; and we often find the Lower House of Convocation petitioning their lordships to make statements of this kind in their places in Parliament. But in the present suspension of Convocation and the disuse of diocesan synods, the Clergy have lost their weight with the Bishops themselves; and that once formidable Estate of the Realm retains but the shadow of a representation in Parliament.

MR. FRASER will find this account of the matter fully borne out by the extract he has given from Bennet's Narrative. "The King in full Parliament charged the Prelates, Earls, Barons, and other great men, and the Knights of the shire, and the Commons," to give him counsel. Here we have a description of Parliament precisely as it is constituted at this day, and the "Prelates" are the only members of the Spiritualty. Then we read "the Prelates deliberated 'with the clergy by themselves' (i.e. in Convocation), and the Earls and Barons by themselves, and the Knights and others of the Commons by themselves; and then, 'in full Parliament' (as before), each by themselves, and afterwards all in common answered," i.e. the Clergy deliberated in Convocation, but answered in Parliament by their Prelates.

It is true, as MR. FRASER observes, that the majority of the Upper House of Parliament binds the Clergy though all the Bishops should be dissentient, as in Queen Elizabeth's Act of Uniformity. This is the result of the Spiritual Estate voting in the same chamber with the Nobility; and to avoid such a result the Commons very early demanded a chamber to themselves. The Spiritualty is thus yet further reduced under the power of the Temporalty; for "the authority of Parliament" (as Elizabeth's Act of Uniformity words it) is and must be supreme, however defective its representative constitution. It were certainly to be wished that those liberal reformers who were so shocked at burgage tenures and rotten boroughs, would extend their compassion to the disfranchised clergy, some five or six hundred of whom are "represented," without their consent or opinion asked, by a prelate appointed by the Crown.

On the whole, the Convocation is "the true Church of England by representation" (Canon 139) in such matters as belong to the Church as distinguished from the State; but in Parliament, which is the State, the Spiritualty is represented by the Bishops alone.

I am astonished that MR. FRASER should stumble at my remark, that the Three Estates still assemble in common for the final passing of every act. I had thought that the ceremony of giving the royal assent in full Parliament to bills previously deliberated upon in the two Houses apart, had been sufficiently well known.

CANON EBOR.

P.S.—Since writing the above I have lighted upon the following authorities, confirming the position that the Spiritual Estate is represented in Parliament by the Bishops, and also that it is ranked as the "First Estate of the Realm." Can MR. FRASER adduce any authority whatever for applying that designation to the Clergy in Convocation?

I. In An Account of the Ceremonies observed at the Coronation of George III. (London, Kearsley, 1791, 4to.), I read that immediately after the enthronement—

"The bishops performed their homage, and then the temporal lords, first H. R. H. the Duke of York, and H. R. H. the Duke of Cumberland, each for himself;"—

the Prelates thus taking precedence even of the blood royal. The same fact is distinctly stated in the accounts appended of the coronations of James II., William and Mary (when the Bishops did homage before Prince George); and I presume that this is the regular order in which the Estates of the Realm do homage to the Sovereign upon that most solemn occasion.

II. When the royal assent is given to any act of grace (which emanates from the Crown in the first instance), the form is for the clerk of parliament to acknowledge the royal favour in these words:

III. "Les prélats, seigneurs, et commons, en ce present parliament assemblés au nom de tout vous autre subjects remercient très humblement votre Majesté, et prient à Dieu vous donner en santé bonne vie et longue."

"Strictly speaking, the 'Three Estates of the Realm' consist of, 1st, the Lords Spiritual; 2nd, the Lords Temporal; 3rd, the Commons. Parliament fully assembled consists of the King, with the two estates of the Peerage sitting in one house, and the Commons by their representatives standing below the bar."

Dodd's Manual of Dignities, &c., tit. "Parliament," p. 266.

Your correspondent will find the ample story in the Golden Legend. It is related more succinctly by Roger of Wendover, who has been followed by later chroniclers. In the legend, as related by Roger of Wendover, the murder of Kenelm is said to have been miraculously notified at Rome by a white dove alighting on the altar of St. Peter's church, bearing a scroll in her bill, which she let fall. The scroll contained, among other things, the following lines:

"Qui Latine sonat (says the Chronicler) in pastum vaccarum Kenelmius regis filius jacet sub spina capite privatus."

MS. Douce, fo. 66. b.

And afterwards he says:

"Cou bache" has been erroneously printed "cou bathe;" and travestied sometimes into coubage.

Clent is the name of the place, a wood according to the Golden Legend. Bach, or Bache, is a word that had long escaped the glossarists, with the exception of Dr. Whitaker, who says it is "a Mereno-Saxon word, signifying a bottom, and that it enters into the composition of several local names in the midland counties."

The passage in Piers Ploughman, upon which this is a gloss, occurs at p. 119. of Whitaker's edition:

The word occurs several times in Layamon, and on two occasions the later text reads slade; in one passage we have it thus:

The cognate languages would have led us to a different interpretation of Bache. In Suevo-Gothic, Backe is "an ascent or descent, extremitas montes, alias crepido vel ora." Wachter has Backe; collis, tumulus; of which Bühel, collis clivus, is the diminutive still in use. In Swedish Backe, and in Danish Bakke, is a hill or rising ground; and Ray, in his Travels, has "a baich, or languet of land." There has probably been some confusion here, as well as in the two similar words dune and dene, for hill and valley.

S. W. SINGER.

The legend of the sainted King Kenelm is related at great length, and with very precise references to the various chroniclers in which it is to be found, in the 1st vol. (pp. 721-4.) of MacCabe's Catholic History of England. The Saxon couplet in which his death was announced at Rome is very neatly rendered in Butler's Lives of the Saints:—

A. M.

The lady about whom FANNY inquires, was the wife of William Lord Fitz-Warine, who died in 35 Edward III. (1361), as to whom see Dugd. Bar. i. 447. The register of interments and sepulchral inscriptions in the church of the Grey Friars, London, printed in the fifth volume of Collectanea Topogr. et Geneal. (the entry is at p. 278.), which I presume to be the authority for the statement in Knight's London, does not afford further information as to this lady, who is reckoned amongst the four queens said by Weever (following Stowe) to have been interred in this church. Mr. J. G. Nichols, in his note to the entry referred to, does not add any information about the lady Isabel.

There was a Sybil, who was daughter of William Montacute, Earl of Salisbury and King of Man and Derby, one of the most distinguished characters in the heroic age of Edward III. She married Edmund, the younger of the two sons of Edmund Earl of Arundel, by Alice, sister and heir of John, last Earl of Warren and Surrey, who died in 1347 (Dugd. Bar. i. 82.). William Montacute was created Earl of Salisbury 16th March, 1337, and died in 1343, and was entombed in the church of the Friars Carmelites, London (Weever, 437.). He was connected with the family of John Earl of Surrey, for it appears from a grant made by the king in 11 Edward III. to William Earl of Salisbury, that he was entitled in reversion to certain hereditaments then held by John de Warren, Earl of Surrey, and Joan his wife (Collect. Top. et Gen. vii. 379.). The valiant Montacute, lord of Man, did not die without heirs male, for his son William was his heir; otherwise we might have supposed the dominion of the isle to have devolved on his daughter Sybil or Isabel, who, surviving Edmund her husband, may have married the Lord Fitz-Warine. Can evidence of such connexion be found? I have not met with anything to connect his family with the lordship of the Isle of Man, and am not aware that "Isabel Queen of Man" is mentioned in any record save the sepulchral register of the Grey Friars. I wish some clue could be found to a satisfactory answer.

The other branch of the question proposed by FANNY, viz., when did the Isle of Man cease to be an independent kingdom? can be answered by a short historical statement. So early as the reign of John, its sovereigns rendered fealty and homage to the kings of England. Reginald, styled King of Man, did homage to Henry III., as appears by the extract given from the Rot. Pat. 3 Hen. III., by Selden. During a series of years previously, the kings of Man, who seem to have held this isle together with the Hebrides, had done homage to the kings of Norway, and its bishops went to Drontheim for consecration. Magnus, last sovereign of Man of the Norwegian dynasty, died in 1265. From that period the shadowy crown of Man is seen from time to time resting on lords of different races, and its descent is in many periods involved in great obscurity. After the death of Magnus, the island was seized by Alexander III. of Scotland. A daughter and heiress of Reginald sued for it against John Baliol before Edward I. of England as lord paramount of Man (Rot. Parl. 31 Edw. I.). In 35 Edw. I., we find Anthony Bek, the warlike Bishop and Count Palatine of Durham, in possession of the isle; but the king of England then claimed to resume it into his own hands, as of the ancient right of the crown. Accordingly, from sundry records it appears that Edw. II. and Edw. III. committed its custody to various persons, and the latter king at length conferred his right to it upon William Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, in consideration, probably, of that valiant Earl having by his arms regained the island from the Scots, who had resumed possession, and of the circumstance that his grandmother, the wife of Simon de Montacute, was sister and heiress of one of the former kings of Man, and related to the lady who had claimed it as her inheritance on the death of Magnus. The son and heir of the grantee sold the isle to Scrope, Earl of Wiltshire, about 16 Rich. II. In the time of Hen. IV., Sir William Scrope forfeited his possessions (Dugd. Bar. ii. 250.); and the isle again came to the crown. It was granted to Percy, Earl of Northumberland, by the service of bearing the Lancaster sword on the left shoulder of the king on the day of coronation; was forfeited by Percy; and was thereupon granted by the same king to Sir John Stanley and his heirs, under which grant the Earls of Derby succeeded during many years. It was a subject of a grant to the Stanleys by Queen Elizabeth, and of an act of parliament in the reign of James I., under which the isle became vested in the Duchess Dowager of Athol, as heir of the body of James, seventh Earl of Derby, and ultimately became vested by purchase in the crown. It may be said that during the time of authentic history, the Isle of Man was not an independent kingdom, until the regality was granted by the crown, as already mentioned.

WM. SIDNEY GIBSON.

Newcastle-on-Tyne.

When I wrote my note upon Long Meg of Westminster, I was not aware of the following passage in Fuller's Worthies (Westminster, edit. 1662, p. 236.):

"As long as Megg of Westminster.—This is applyed to persons very tall, especially if they have hop-pole-height, wanting breadth proportionable thereunto. That such a gyant-woman ever was in Westminster, cannot be proved by any good witness (I pass not for a late lying pamphlet), though some in proof thereof produce her gravestone on the south-side of the cloistures, which (I confess) is as long, and large, and entire marble as ever I beheld. But be it known, that no woman in that age was interred in the cloistures, appropriated to the sepultures of the abbot and his monkes. Besides, I have read in the records of that Abby of an infectious year, wherein many monkes dyed of the plague, and were all buried in one grave; probably in this place, under this marble monument. If there be any truth in the proverb, it rather relateth to a great gun, lying in the tower, commonly call'd Long Megg; and in troublesome times (perchance upon ill May day in the raigne of King Henry the eighth), brought to Westminster, where for a good time it continued. But this Nut (perchance) deserves not the cracking."

Grose, in his Provincial Glossary, inserts among the Local Proverbs, "As Long as Megg of Westminster," with the following note:—

"This is applied to very tall slender persons. Some think it alluded to a long gun, called Megg, in troublesome times brought from the tower to Westminster, where it long remained. Others suppose it to refer to an old fictitious story of a monstrous tall virago called Long Megg of Westminster, of whom there is a small penny history, well known to school-boys of the lesser sort. In it there are many relations of her prowess. Whether there ever was such a woman or not, is immaterial; the story is sufficiently ancient to have occasioned the saying. Megg is there described as having breadth in proportion to her height. Fuller says, that the large grave-stone shown on the south side of the cloister in Westminster Abbey, said to cover her body, was, as he has read in an ancient record, placed over a number of monks who died of the plague, and were all buried in one grave; that being the place appointed for the sepulture of the abbots and monks, in which no woman was permitted to be interred."—Edit. 1811, p. 207.

I shall not enter into the question, as to whether any "tall woman" of "bad repute" was or was not buried in the cloisters of Westminster, as it is very likely to turn out, upon a little inquiry, that the original "long Meg" was a "great gun," and not a creature of flesh and blood.

"Long Meg" is also the name of a large gun preserved in the castle of Edinburgh; and, what is somewhat extraordinary, the great bombard forged for the siege of Oudenarde, in 1382, now in the city of Ghent, is called by the towns-people "Mad Meg."

A series of stones, situated upon an eminence on the east side of the river Eden, near the village of Little Salkeld, are commonly known as "Long Meg and her Daughters."

These notices, at any rate, are suggestive, and may be the means of elucidating something perhaps more worth the knowing.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

My enquiry into the use of stops in the early days of typography will, if it prove nothing else, show that the Tablet of Memory is not an authority to be depended upon on that subject. I have arranged the authorities which I have consulted in chronological order.

1480. Epistola F. Philelphi ad Sextum IV., printed at Rome.

1493. Politian's Latin translation of Herodian, printed at Bologna.

In both these books the colon and period are used, but neither the comma nor semicolon.

1523. Dialogi Platonis, printed at Nuremberg.

Here I find the comma and period, and also the note of interrogation, but not the colon or semicolon.

1523. Ascensius declynsons, with the playne Expositor, without date, place, or printer's name.

This publication is ascribed by Johnson to Wynkyn de Worde, and therefore printed between 1493 and 1534. I find in it the following amusing passage relative to the ancient art of punctuation:—

"Of the Craft of Poynting.

"There be fiue maner poynts, and divisions most uside with cunnyng men: the which, if they be wel usid, make the sentens very light, and esy to understond both to the reder and the herer, and they be these: virgil, come, parenthesis, playne poynt, and interrogatif. A virgil is a sclender stryke: lenynge forwarde this wyse, betokynynge a lytyl, short rest without any perfetnes yet of sentens: as betwene the five poyntis a fore rehersid. A come is with tway tittels this wyse: betokynynge a longer reste: and the sentens yet either is imperfet: or els, if it be perfet: ther cummith more after, longyng to it: the which more comynly cannot be perfet by itself without at the lest summat of it: that gothe a fore. A parenthesis is with tway crokyd virgils: as an olde mone, and a new bely to bely: the whyche be set theton afore the begynyng, and thetother after the latyr ende of a clause; comyng within an other clause: that may be perfet: thof the clause, so comyng betwene: wer awey, and therfore it is sowndyde comynly a note lower, than the utter clause. Yf the sentens cannot be perfet without the ynner clause, then stede of the first crokyde virgil a streght virgil wol do very wel; and stede of the later must nedis be a come. A playne poynt is with won tittel this wyse. and it cumeth after the ende of al the whole sentens betokynynge a longe reste. An interrogatif is with tway tittels, the upper rysing this wyse? and it cumeth after the ende of a whole reason: wheryn ther is sum question axside. the whiche ende of the reson, triyng as it were for an answere: risyth upwarde. we have these rulis in englishe: by cause they be as profytable, and necessary to be kepte in every mother tonge, as in latyn. Sethyn we (as we wolde to god: every precher wolde do) have kept owre rulis both in owre englishe, and latyn: what nede we, sethyn owre own be sufficient unogh: to put any other exemplis."

It is evident that what the writer of this book calls the virgil, is our comma: and his come, our colon. There is nothing, however, allusive to our semicolon.

1541. Cranmer's Bible. Here we find the comma, colon, and period, and also the note of interrogation, but not the semicolon.

1597. Gerard's Herbal contains the comma, colon, semicolon, and period.

1604. First part of Shakspeare's Henry IV., 4to. Here the comma, colon, and period are used, but not the semicolon.

1631. Baker's Well-spring of Science also uses the comma, colon, and period, but not the semicolon.

1636. Record's Ground of Arts. Here all the stops now in use are found.

1639. Cockeram's English Dictionary defines the comma, colon, and period, but not the semicolon. The latter, however, is used in the preface.

1650. Moore's Arithmetic employs all the four common stops.

1670. Blount's Glossographia defines the four common stops.

Generally speaking, the stops now in use may be found in books from about 1630. So much concerning punctuation.

P. T.

Your correspondent S. R. will find that in Ireland, as well as in England, the custom prevailed, during the reign of Elizabeth, of inflicting a punishment for various crimes, by the public exposure of the delinquents with papers about their heads. The following "sentence" for adultery, which has been transcribed from the Book of the Commissioners of Ecclesiastical Causes (deposited amongst the records of the Court of Exchequer in Ireland, 1570-1574, p. 22.), goes so fully into detail, that it may supply to S. R. the graphic account which he requires:—

"First, that he (Henry Hunchcliffe) shall not come into, nor kepe, nor use the company of Constance Kyng hereafter, and shalbe bounde to the same effecte in a bond of recognizance of a 100l., otherwise to be committed to prison; there to be kept in such sort that neyther he to hir, nor she to him, shall have access in anywise. Secondlie, that upon Saterdaie next enseweing at ix of the clocke in the mornyng, he, the said Eyland, alias Hunchcliffe, shall come unto the crosse in the highe strete of Dublin, having on a white shete from his sholders downe to the ground, rounde aboute him, and a paper about his head whereupon shalbe written for adultery leavyng his wife in England alyve and marryeng wth an other here, and a white wande in his hand, and then and there goe up unto the highest staire of the crosse, and there sitte duryng all the time of the markette untill yt be ended; and furder decreed that Constance Kyng shall not hereafter in anywise resort or have accesse unto him, or kepe him company, and to performe the same they toke hir othe wch she gave upon the holie evangelists; and furder, after yt Hunchcliffe hath done his penance as above they decreed he shold goe to prison againe, there to remayne and abide untill yt shall please the commissioners to take furder order in this cause."

The book contains other entries of a similar kind.

J. F. F.

Dublin.

—In addition to the sermons enumerated, I possess two more in small quarto:—1. "Preached at the triennial visitation of the R. R. father in God, the Lord Bishop of London, in Christchurch: text, 15 Actes 36: London, 1625." 2. "The holy choice. at the chappell by Guildhall, at the solemnitie of the election of the Rt. Honble the Lord Maior of London: text, 1 Actes 24. 1625."

E. D.

—John Wiggan, M.D., the editor of Aretæus (Oxon. fol. 1723), was in 1721 a student of Christ Church.

M. D.

—The words

are the first of a song by Thomas Haynes Bayly, written for and arranged to music by T. A. Rawlings, in The Musical Bijou for 1830, edited by F. H. Burney, published by Goulding and d'Almaine, 20. Soho Square.

E. B. R.

—It is a well-known fact that the proud Duke of Somerset, and Prince George, his successor as a Knight of the Garter, occupied the space between 1684 and 1820. The anecdote, however, related of George IV. by your intelligent correspondent C. cannot be correct, because the blue ribbon was conferred upon Lord Moira by the Prince Regent in June, 1812, who advanced him in 1816 to the Marquisate of Hastings, and George III. did not die till 1820. The story, therefore, must belong to the period of the Regency, and not to the commencement of the reign of George IV.

BRAYBROOKE.

Audley End.

There is some error in the statement of C. George IV. succeeded to the throne 29th January, 1820, and the vacancy in the Order of the Garter occasioned by his accession he gave to the Marquess of Buckingham, who was elected 12th June that year. The Earl of Moira was elected and invested in 1812, upon the vacancy created by the death of William, fifth Duke of Devonshire, and was the third knight made during the Regency. (See Beltz's Succession of the Knights, pp. ccxi. and ccxiv.) Lord Moira never occupied the stall of George IV., which before his accession was that of Prince of Wales.

At the time of the death of the Duke of Somerset, in 1748, there were several vacancies; and on the 22d June, 1749, George Prince of Brunswick, afterwards King George III., was elected in the room of John Earl Powlett, and John Earl Granville was elected in the room of the Duke of Somerset. (See Beltz, cciii.)

G.

—M—N, in "N. & Q." of the 17th ultimo, wishes to know what became of these valuable MSS. I understand that, just before the auction at Enmore Castle in 1831, these MSS. passed into the possession of the late Sir Matthew Tierney, Bart., by private contract, or some arrangement of the kind. And most likely they now are in the possession of his brother, Sir Edward Tierney, Bart., who for a long period was the confidential friend, as well as the land and law agent of the fourth Earl of Egmont: in any case, he is the only person who can give M—N the information he requires respecting them: and, if written to on the subject, I have no doubt will communicate all he knows about him.

E. A. G.

Richmond.

—I am able to afford your correspondent F. RUSSELL but little information respecting Dr. John Ash; but that is authentic, being taken from an entry in his own handwriting in the Admission Book of Trinity College. It is to the following effect:

"Ego Joannes Ash, Fil Josephi Ash, gen. (generosi) de Coventria in Com. Warwick: natus ibidem annos circiter 16 admissus sum com. infer. ordinis (commersalis inferioris ordinis) sub tutamine magistri Geering 4o Die Martii, 1739-40."

There is no other John Ash admitted between 1737 and 1764; therefore it may be presumed this is the same person.

T. W.

Trin. Coll. Oxon.

P.S.—I find by the corrected list of Oxford graduates, just published, that Dr. Ash took his degrees of B.A. Oct. 21, 1743; M.A. Oct. 17, 1746; B.M. Dec. 6, 1750; D.M. July 3, 1754.

—The words "Inveni portum" remind me of Byron's answer to a friend, who claimed his congratulations upon receiving a valuable appointment; "for," said he, "I may now say with truth, 'Portum inveni.'" "I am very glad to hear it," replied Byron, "for you have finished many bottles of mine."

NOTE.

—Thanks to your sensible correspondent A. E. B.! A true poet always puts the right word in the right place, and A. E. B.'s good taste assured him of Goldsmith's propriety.

We have it upon record, that Burke asked Goldsmith what he meant by the word "slow," in the first line of his Traveller—

"Do you mean, Dr. Goldsmith, tardiness of locomotion?" "Yes," said Goldsmith. "No!" said Johnson, "you mean no such thing, Sir. You mean vacuity of action."

A true poet ever puts the right word in the right place. A. E. B. has put the argument rightly, and it is to be regretted that he has been obliged to do so. To alter a word of Goldsmith's, is to gild refined gold.

JAMES CORNISH.

—See Historical Account of the Principality of Wales, by Sir J. Dodridge, Kt.—Discourse against the Jurisdiction of the King's Bench over Wales; printed among Hargrave's Law Tracts. The author was Charles Pratt, Esq., afterwards Lord Chancellor Camden: see Hargr. Jurisc. Exerc., vol. ii. p. 301.—Coke, 4 Inst. 244.—Coke's Entries, 549.—Harl. MSS. 141. 1220. contain copies of A Treatise of Lordships Marchers in Wales.

H. S. M.

—The information solicited in p. 442. has, in some degree, been subsequently given at page 477.; but, I believe, much more distinctly in the Gentleman's Magazine for November and December, 1840, so far, at least, as embracing the French ambassadors to the English court from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century. A personal account of each is there given in reply to the inquiry of Mr. John Holmes of the British Museum, and under the signature of

J. R. (Cork.)

—Theophilus Anglicanus supplies a sufficient answer to MR. GEORGE STEPHENS' inquiries respecting the word church.

There can be no doubt about its etymology. The only question of difficulty seems to be, why did the church of Rome adopt the word ἐκκλησία from the Greeks, and not κυριακὴ? Was it that they had a word of their own, viz. Dominica? or was it, that ecclesia was already a naturalised word? However this may be, Dr. Wordsworth bases upon the fact an important argument, tending to show that the Britons did not receive their christianity in the first instance from Rome:

"We may appeal," he says (Part II. chap. ii.), "to the English word church, which is derived, as has been before said, from the Greek κυριακὴ, a term which no Roman ever applied to the church (which he called ecclesia, and by no other name); and it is not credible, that, if the British church had been derived from Rome, it should have been designated by a title alike foreign to Romans and to Britons themselves."

If this argument be of any value in relation to Britain, it (of course) would not be without its worth to those who ascribe the primary conversion of the Teutonic countries, which MR. STEPHENS mentions, to the early British and Irish missionaries.

J. SANSOM.

—W. H. K. inquires for the latest known example of a cross-legged effigy. The latest I have met with is the very beautiful slab at Norton-Brize, Oxfordshire, to Sir John Daubigné. He appears in plate armour of the earliest kind, and wears the camail, and is surrounded by an inscription, with the date 1346. It is engraved by Skelton, and there is also an admirable woodcut of it in Boutell's Christian Monuments, part ii. p. 141., a work of which the continuation is much to be desired. That this monument was not put down in Sir John Daubigné's lifetime, and the date of his death filled up afterwards, is evident from the perfect correspondence of the costume with the date of 1346. But it is probably the last example left us of the cross-legged position, and even then out of fashion.

C. R. M.

—In answer to your question from your correspondent L. H. L. T., I have to inform you that Sir Walter Raleigh's snuffbox is in my possession. It was bought when the Duke of Sussex's collection was sold at Messrs. Christie's, in 1843, by a gentleman of the name of Lake. Mr. Lake having died, his effects were sold by Messrs. Christie, either 1849 or 1850, when it was purchased by me. Should your correspondent wish to see it, he can have the opportunity by applying as below.

R. POLWARTH.

8. Queen's Row, Pimlico.

—I well remember to have seen this before, in one of the multiplied editions of his Colloquies which I cannot directly indicate. M. Ménage could not recollect, he says, the name of the author[1] of the following singular epigram on the same celebrated writer's character and name:—

[1] [The author of the Critique de Marsollier says it was Philip Labbe. See Burigni, tom. ii. pp. 428, 429. Jortin's Life of Erasmus.—ED.]

This distich, it has been remarked, presents two obvious faults of prosodial quantity; the first syllable of bonus being made long, and the first of vermibus short, which the author explained by maintaining that the one nullified and compensated for the other, thus redeeming both.

The best epitaph on Erasmus has always appeared to me to be that of Julius Cæsar Scaliger, expressive of his regret for their long personal hostility, and then rendering ample justice to his deceased adversary. It begins thus:—

To which may be aptly applied the sentiment expressed by Corneille (Mort de Pompée, Acte V. Sc. 1.):—

To the portrait of Erasmus have been subscribed these characteristic words, "Vidit, pervidit, risit."

J. R. (Cork.)

—To the inquiries of Ȝ. relative to General Wolfe, I can only answer that the northern English county to which his ancestor, Captain George Woulfe, made his escape in 1651 from Ireton's proscription, was understood to be Yorkshire. After his expatriation and change of religion, the family in Clare lost, in a great measure, sight of him and of his descendants, until, like Epaminondas and Nelson, crowned with victory and glory at his death.

I may be here permitted to observe that your correspondent distinguishes me as J. R. (of Cork); but, whether with the single initials, or the local addition, the signature is mine, though latterly, to avoid all mistake, I append my locality.

J. R. (Cork.)

—Baron Reichenbach has evidently overrated the importance of his discovery, but his system may be advantageously applied to the explanation of corpse-candles, illuminated church-yards, and other articles of Welsh and English superstition. Aubrey tells us, that "when any Christian is drowned in the river Dee, there will appear over the water where the corpse is a light, by which means they do find the body." The Welsh also to this day believe that the body of a secretly buried person may be discovered by the lambent blue flame which hovers round the grave at night.

I would also refer DR. MAITLAND to Baxter's Certainty of the World of Spirits, and the chapter on "Spectral Lights" in Mrs. Crowe's Night-side of Nature.

T. STERNBERG.

—Odd enough!—at the moment when your No. 116. reached me, a volume of the State Poems was before me, in which I read the very epigram to which your correspondent alludes, where it thus stands:—

Qy. Who was Coleman?

JAMES CORNISH.

[We are indebted to another correspondent, LOUISA JULIA NORMAN, for pointing out the same epigram on Coleman in The Panorama of Wit (1809). Coleman, on whom the epigram appears to have been originally written, is obviously the Jesuit of that name executed in the reign of Charles II.]

—As none of your correspondents have been able to explain the meaning of this passage in Childe Harold, I may now tell you that the phrase is an orientalism for "traveller," in allusion to their early rising to avoid the heat of the mid-day sun. Lord Byron invites the traveller to visit the ruins of Greece, but not to molest them as some former travellers had done; then he turns upon Lord Elgin, and attacks him for his misdeeds in that way.

AN OLD BENGAL CIVILIAN.

—In Todd's edition of Johnson's Dictionary, the word haberdasher is derived from berdash, which is said "to have been a name formerly used in England for a certain kind of neck-dress, whence the maker or seller of such clothes was called a berdasher; and thence comes haberdashers." This etymology is hardly admissible. Can an early reference be given to the use of the term berdash, as an article of dress? Minsheu, Todd remarks, ingeniously deduces it from Habt ihr dass, German, Have you this? the expression of a shopkeeper offering his wares to sell. But the derivation of the term haberdasher furnished by your correspondent (Vol. ii., p. 253.) is certainly the most satisfactory.

At the end of the sixteenth century (about 1580) the shopkeepers that went under this designation dealt largely in most of the minor articles of foreign manufacture; and among the "haberdashery" of that period were "daggers, swords owches, broaches, aiglets, Spanish girdles, French cloths, Milan caps, glasses, painted cruizes, dials, tables, cards, balls, puppets, ink-horns, tooth-picks, fine earthen pots, pins and points, hawks' bells, salt-cellars, spoons, knives, and tin dishes." A yet more curious list of goods vended by the "milloners or haberdashers" who dwelt at the Royal Exchange within two or three years after it had been built, occurs in Stow's Annals by Howe (p. 869.), where we are informed that they "sould mouse-trappes, bird-cages, shooing-hornes, lanthornes, and Jew's trumpes."

The author of that curious tract, Maroccus Extaticus, 1595 (which I reprinted in the Percy Society) speaks of a "felow" loading his sleeve with "fuel from the haberdashers."

The more ancient name of these traders was milainers, an appellation derived from their dealing in merchandize chiefly imported from the city of Milan. They were also, I believe, called hurrers, from dealing in hats and caps.

It is evident, from the above, that "a retailer of goods, a dealer in small wares," is the true meaning of the word haberdasher.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

—The ancestors of this personage resided at a house called the "Hole," in the parish of Maresfield. In the time of Henry VII., and earlier, they held the office of bailiffs of the Forest of Ashdown, otherwise called Lancaster Great Park. I believe that most of the existing families of Kidder are branches of this parent stock. From a branch long settled at Lewes sprang Dr. Kidder, Bishop of Bath and Wells, who lost his life in the great storm of 1703. I believe that the Irish branch had previously been settled in London. A third branch settled in the American colonies in the seventeenth century, and has produced a highly respectable and wealthy progeny still resident in the New England states, and elsewhere. I have at hand materials for a complete pedigree of the Sussex or elder line of the family, down to the time of its extinction. Perhaps your correspondent will communicate with me on this subject by a private letter.

MARK ANTONY LOWER.

Lewes.

—Tripos, a long piece of white and brown paper, like that on which the commonest ballads are printed, containing Latin hexameter verses, with the author's name, &c. The Cambridge tripos, it has been conjectured, was probably in old time delivered, like the Terræ Filius, from a tripod, a three-legged stool, in humble imitation of the Delphic oracle. It is mentioned in the statute De tollendis ineptiis in publicis disputationibus,[2] an 1626—ut prævaricatores, tripodes, alii que omnes disputantes veterum academia formam, &c.

[2] The following, from the facetious Fuller, will serve to show to what lengths they went formerly in ineptiis (See his Worthies, edit. 1684):—"When Morton, afterwards Bishop of Durham, stood for the degree of D.D. at Cambridge, he advanced something which was displeasing to the professor, who exclaimed, with some warmth, 'Commosti mihi stomochum.' To whom Morton replied, 'Gratulor tibi, Reverende Professor, de bono tuo stomacho, cœnabis apud me hâc nocte.' The English word stomach formerly signified 'passion, indignation.' Archbishop Cranmer appointed one Travers to a fellowship at Trinity College, who had been before rejected (says my author) on account of his 'intolerable stomach.' This would be thought a singular discommendation in the present day." To add another story from Fuller relating to Publicis Disputatianibus:—"When a professor of logic pressed an answerer with a hard argument, 'Reverende Professor,' said he, 'ingenue confiteor me non posse respondere huic argumento.' To whom the Professor, 'Recte respondis.'"—Holy and Profane State. Vide Gradus ad Cantabrigiam, a little book published by W. J. and J. Richardson, 1803.

JAMES CORNISH.

—If any person entertains a doubt that the Rev. Charles Wolfe was the author, I trust that the following statement will have the effect of removing it. In the October number of the Dublin University Magazine, 1851, there is a short biographical notice of the late much lamented Rev. Samuel O'Sullivan, which contains the following passage:

"One of his intimate acquaintances was Charles Wolfe. The exquisite lines on the burial of Sir John Moore were suggested by O'Sullivan reading to him the description in the Annual Register of the retreat from Corunna. Immediately after, the two friends went out to wander in the fields. During their ramble Wolfe was silent and moody. On their return to their College chambers he repeated the first and last stanzas of the ode that has made his name immortal."

Knowing the source from which this assertion emanates, I have no reason to suspect the veracity of the writer.

There is an additional proof, which is well worthy of being recorded in your pages, and of which I have had ocular demonstration. In the Royal Irish Academy there is an original letter, framed, in the handwriting of Wolfe, of which I send you an exact fac-simile. You will perceive that it contains a copy of the poem, and that his signature is attached to it, I need not add any more.

CLERICUS.

Dublin.

—In The Natural History of Wiltshire: by John Aubrey, F.R.S., edited by John Britton, Esq., is the following passage:

"At Wishford Magna is an inscription to Thomas Bonham and Edith his wife, who died 1473 and 1469. Mrs. Bonham had two children at one birth the first time; and he being troubled at it, travelled, and was absent seven years. After his returne, she was delivered of seven children at one birth. In this parish is a confident tradition that these seven children were all baptized at the font in this church, and that they were brought thither in a kind of chardger, which was dedicated to this church, and hung on two nailes, which are to be seen there yet, neer the belfree on the south side. Some old men are yet living that doe remember the chardger. This tradition is entred into the Register-booke there, from whence I have taken this narrative," 1659.—See Hoare's Modern Wilts, p. 49. J. B.

The following is also from the same book:

"Dr. Wm. Harvey, author of The Circulation of the Blood, told me that one Mr. Palmer's wife, in Kent, did beare a child every day for five daies together."

C. DE D.

—If no one sends in better information, I beg to inform H. B. C. that I have had the lines he alludes to for many years in MS. as the composition of Aaron Hill. He was a dramatist, but I observe that the Cyclopædia says only two of his dramatic pieces are now remembered, Algira and Zara, both of them adaptations from Voltaire. He was born 1684, and died 1750. My verses differ slightly from the version of H. B. C.

HERMES.

[O. P. W. has forwarded a similar reference to Aaron Hill.]

—It is by Smythe, the member for Canterbury, and was published in his Historic Fancies.

R. D. H.

—Your correspondent appears to have made a confusion between Welling in Kent and Welwyn in Herts. Of this latter place Young, the author of the Night Thoughts, was rector, and the house in which he resided is now standing.

A. W. H.

—Pharetram de Tutesbit must be a quiver manufactured by a person of the name of Tutesbit. This indeed is conjecture, as I have not been able to find any allusion to the word; but it does not appear that there is any place of that name.

Flectatas sagittas may be translated arrows ready dressed, or fletched. A flecher is one who fashions and prepares arrows; hence the common use of the word as a proper name now-a-days.

H. G. R.

Preston.

—These appendages to our ancient costume were originally termed handruffs. They may be traced in some of our early monumental effigies. The earliest written notice of them, that I remember, is in the following extract from an inventory of Henry VIII.'s apparel quoted by Strutt:

"One payer of sleves, passed over the arme with gold and silver, quilted with black silk, and ruffled at the hand with strawberry leaves and flowers of gold, embroidered with black silk."

In the reign of Elizabeth, the handruffs are seen pleated and edged with rich lace; and in the three succeeding reigns, they were generally worn of fine lawn or cambric. When the Hanoverian race ascended the English throne, many changes took place in the national costume; but the ruffle was retained, and continued during the century.

Some of your readers may recollect the print of Garrick's Macbeth, with cocked hat of the last London cut, bag-wig, full court dress and ruffles!

In 1762, the rage for large ruffles was beginning to decline. A writer in the London Chronicle for that year (p. 167.) says (speaking of the gentlemen's dress):—

"Their cuffs cover entirely their wrists, and only the edge of their ruffles are to be seen; as if they lived in the slovenly days of Lycurgus, when every one was ashamed to show clean linen."

The French Revolution of 1789 very much influenced the English fashions in costume; the cocked-hat and ruffles were discarded to make room for the ugly "round hat" and "small cuffs" of the Parisian butchers.

It would be difficult to fix upon the period for the total disuse of any particular fashion. Fashions of a "hundred years ago" may still be seen in some of our country churches; and I should not be surprised to find ruffles among their number.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

—There seems some little doubt about the arms of Allen of Rossull. A MS. at Burton Constable, Yorkshire, gives the following as the arms of the family:—Allen, Rossall (not Rossull, though sometimes Rushall, Rossal, &c.): argent, a chevron engrailed azure, between three griffins' heads erased; on a chief of the second an anchor, or, between two bezants.

The windows of Ushaw College, Durham, however, frequently present a coat far different from this, surmounted by a cardinal's hat. The arms there are Argent, a cross gules for the college of Douay;—impaling for the founder, William Allen, argent, three conies in pale sejant, sable. The first seems to have belonged to the family; the last—if assumed by the cardinal himself—seem singularly indicative of his peculiar propensity for endeavouring to undermine sound doctrine by his heretical works and acts.

G. S. A.

—The happiest motto which comes to my recollection is that adopted by the first serjeants who were called after the decision of the Court of Common Pleas in January, 1840, overturning the warrant issued by King William IV., which opened the court to all members of the bar. Five new serjeants were then called, who gave rings with this motto, in allusion to the restoration of their rights:—

Is your correspondent E. N. W. right as to Serjeant Onslow's motto? As all the serjeants called at the same time have the same motto inscribed on the rings they respectively give, it is not likely, if others were joined in the same call with him, that a motto should have been adopted which applied only to one of the number. If indeed he happened to be called alone, it is possible he may have used it; but I am inclined to think E. N. W. has confounded the motto of the family with that of the serjeant.

EDWARD FOSS.

—John Horne Tooke, the reformer, who was in priest's orders, having been presented to the borough of Old Sarum by Lord Camelford, in February, 1801, an act was passed (41. Geo. III. c. 73.) to exclude the clergy from parliament; but as it did not vacate the seat of any member then elected, Mr. Tooke remained in the house till the dissolution in June, 1802. In the course of the debate, the case of Mr. Edward Rushworth, member for Newport, in the Isle of Wight, in 1784, was referred to. He was in deacon's orders, and a petition presented against his return, but was allowed to retain his seat. He is supposed to have been one of the two ministers of the Church of England alluded to by Sir James Johnstone in his speech in the debate on the Test and Corporation Acts, 8th May, 1789, as then being members of the House.

W. S. S.

—The following extract from a curious book in my possession, entitled Theophania; or severall Modern Histories represented by way of Romance (see "N. & Q." Vol. i., p. 174.), shows a much earlier use of this word than that of Burnet's. The date of Theophania is 1655:

"He was at length taken prisoner, and, as a sure token of an entire victory, sent with a strong guard into Sicily; where Glaucus and Pausanias, fearing time might mitigate the queen's indignation, caused his process to be presently dispatched; and the judges, being all of the same Cabal, without consideration of his many glorious achievements, they condemned him to an ignominious death."—Theophania, p. 147.

T. HENRY KERSLEY, B.A.

—The line on Franklin—

was written by Turgot, Louis XVI.'s minister and controller-general of finance. This verse, however, so happily applied to the American philosopher and statesman's double title to renown, is merely the modification of one in the Anti-Lucretius of Cardinal Polignac, the 37th of the first book, "Eripuitgue Jovi fulmen, Phœboque sagittas," which again had for its model that of Marcus Manilius, a poet of the Augustan age. It is the 104th of his Astronomicon, where he says of Epicurus (lib. v.), "Eripuitque Jovi fulmen, viresque Tonanti." This appears to be the original source of the phrase, so far as I could trace it. Turgot, though highly appreciated by his sovereign, and promoted to the prime ministry in consequence, was only suffered to hold the responsible situation for a short time, from August, 1774, to May, 1776, when he fell a sacrifice to court intrigues, which the weak king had not the energy to resist, while emphatically saying, "Il n'y a que Turgot et moi qui aimions le peuple." This eminent statesman's advocacy of the freedom of commerce, state economy, and general liberty of the subject, exposed him not only to courtly but to popular hostility. The French were certainly ill prepared for such innovations on their policy or habits, nor, I may add, even now, notwithstanding the constantly alternating schemes of government, from despotic to constitutional, in the long interposed period, do they appear fully to appreciate, or anxious to introduce these desirable improvements.

J. R. (Cork.)

—The Rev. T. R. BROWNE interprets one of the Persepolitan inscriptions as representing the coronation and titles of Job. As no previous commentator had supposed Job to be a Persian prince, and as (among other unexpected results) it would follow that the poem bearing his name was a translation into Hebrew by some unknown hand, I hastened at once to the Bodleian to examine the authorities on which MR. BROWNE bases his interpretation.

On one glance at the work cited (Kaempferi Amœnitatum Exoticarum Fasciculi V.) it was plain enough that Kaempfer had made his transcription so carelessly, that barely one letter in a hundred was correct; and, on turning to Niebuhr's copy of the same inscription (plate xxiv. A.), and to Porter's (vol. i. plate xliv. p. 631.), my suspicions were amply confirmed. But the most singular part was to come. Aided by the minute identifications which MR. BROWNE gives of the words which he translates, Aiub taij, I discovered that the reverend gentleman had mistaken two letters for two words. His whole theory, therefore, falls to the ground.

As some of your readers may like to know the real interpretation of this inscription, I give the translation of Rawlinson as amended from Westergaard's notes, and which is undoubtedly correct:

"The great God Ormazd, who has given this world, who has given that heaven, who has given mankind, who has given life to mankind; who has made Xerxes king, both the king of the people, and the law-giver of the people. I am Xerxes the king, the great king, the king of kings, the king of many-peopled countries, the supporter also of this great world, the son of King Darius the Achæmenian," &c.

RECHABITE.

—I thank M—N for his note, but it does not at all afford the information I seek. My Query referred to the original sale in London of the gems. Lord Monson's collection, to which M—N refers, was, I believe, purchased by his lordship from a dealer who bought them at the original sale, the date of which I seek.

A. O. O. D.

—The expression sleck-stone has, I think twice, been spoken of in "N. & Q." as equivalent to whet-stone: this is a mistake. The first word is possibly misprinted in the work in which it is found, but at all events the thing intended is a sleek-stone (Old Fr. Calendrine) an implement formerly used by calendrers; often, if not always, made of glass, and in shape much like a large mushroom: it is used reversed, the stalk forming the handle. Those which I have seen were about four inches in diameter, some more and some less. Sleek-stones are now, I believe, entirely superseded by machinery.

R. C. H.

—The matriculation registers of the University of Cambridge, could MR. CLAY ascertain the year Bridgeman entered (and this might be found by searching them), will give his age at that time, the Christian names of his parents, and their place of residence. I do not know whether it is the case at Cambridge, but at Oxford one has to pay half a guinea for an extract from the archives. Surely these important records should be more accessible to the student in this respect.

CRANMORE.

—In Eastward Hoe, by Ben Jonson, John Marston, and George Chapman, printed 1605, Girtred, the proud daughter of the citizen Touchstone (Act I. Sc. 1.), taunts her modest sister Mildred, who is endeavoring to check her arrogant manner, with the scornful expression "Bow Bell!" evidently intending to reproach her as a Cockney. She afterwards asks her intended husband, Sir Petronel Flash, to carry her out of the scent of Newcastle coal and the hearing of Bow Bell.

W. S. S.

—For the information of R. W. B. I beg to send you the following extract from the vestry-book of this parish:

"22 Jan. 1772.

"It is further ordered that such of the poor persons belonging to this parish who like to be inoculated for the small-pox may be inoculated at the expence of this parish, not exceeding five shillings and threepence each person, provided it is done within six weeks of the date hereof. And that each person to be inoculated shall first produce a certificate under the hands of one justice and one churchwarden to the inoculating surgeon, and that the parish shall not pay for any one inoculated without such certificate of the person belonging to Maidstone."

JOHN BRANFILL HARRISON.

Maidstone.

"Thou wast not salted at all."

"Et saliendo non salita eras."

"Tenera infantium corpora dum adhuc uteri calorem tenent, et primo vagitu laboriosæ vitæ testantur exordia, solent ab obstetricibus sale contingi, ut sicciora sint et restringantur."—Hieronymus.

"Observat et Galenus De Sanit., i. 7.: 'Sale modico insperso cutem infantis densiorem solidioremque reddi.'"—Rosenmuller ad locum.

C. B.

—Living near the Forest of Dean, I wish to state that it is not known that any trees exist there which can possibly be of anything approaching to the age of Edward III.; that the word forbid savours of a reservation of timber for the use of the mines, if the privileges of the free-miners can really be carried back to that time. The intelligence in Pepys was derived from Sir John Winter, the person who bought the whole forest in perpetuity from Charles I., but was allowed by Charles II. only to make the most of it he could in his own time. Some trees may have survived the smash which he made, but they must either have been young, or worthless from age or decay.

C. B.

—I would beg to refer X. to the first of the five Sermons by W. H. Mill, D.D., preached before the University of Cambridge, in Lent, 1844. When he has carefully perused it, he will be enlightened as to the precise meaning of the terms objective and subjective; being made aware that there is one great object of faith, though, with some writers, the subject, man, may be made the most prominent. X. will there find that what he styles "exoteric jargon" has, in the hands of so judicious a writer and so excellent a divine as Dr. Mill, been "translated into intelligible English."

J. H. M.

—I am sorry not to be able to agree with MR. CHADWICK in thinking "that no fee is legally payable for searching the register-books of baptisms and burials, nor even for making a copy," &c. It is quite certain that even parishioners have no right to inspect the parish books, except for ordinary parochial purposes. In the case of Rex v. Smallpiece, 2 Chitt. Rep. 288., Lord Tenterden said, "I know of no rule of law which requires the parish officers to show the books, in order to gratify the curiosity of a private individual." Therefore the "genealogical or archæological inquirer" has in general no right to inspect, much less copy the register-books: consequently he must pay the fees demanded for being allowed to do so.

J. G.

Temple.

—The lines quoted by FANNY I immediately recognised as Thomas Ingoldsby's. On the appearance of REMIGUS' Query, I looked through the Ingoldsby Legends as the most likely place to find the lines in, but failed, in consequence of an alteration of the last stanza, which in my edition (the third, 1842) runs thus:

ED. S. JACKSON.

Saffron Walden.

—I doubt whether your correspondent J. M. will succeed in limiting the term chatter-box to the female sex. His rendering buxom by womanly will hardly stand the test of criticism. In the old matrimonial service, as elsewhere, it originally signified obedient, compliant, and was equivalent to the German biegsam. It was applied indifferently to men and women. Thus, in Chaucer's Shipmanne's Tale—

And in the Clerke's Tale, speaking of the vassals,

The peasantry in Cheshire, instead of chatter-box, say chatter-basket.

E. A.

—If Churchill was, as C.R. states, "already imprudently married," how could he be eligible to a scholarship in Trinity? I believe, in Churchill's days, a Westminster scholar was entitled, as of course, to a Fellowship in Trinity. Married men, as undergraduates, are, I suspect, of recent date in the universities, even as Fellow Commoners or Pensioners.

J.H.L.

—Consult Mayhew's London Labour and London Poor for an elucidation of these signs.

CRANMORE.

—The following Rabbinical quotation on the subject of paring the nails, is certainly curious as bearing on the superstitions connected with the nails:

"Ungues comburit sanctus; justus sepelit eos; impius vero spargit in publicum, ut maleficæ iis abutantur."

Nidda, 17. 1.

W. FRASER.

Murray's Official Handbook of Church and State, containing the Names, Duties, and Powers of the principal Civil, Military, Judicial, and Ecclesiastical Authorities of the United Kingdom and Colonies; with Lists of the Members of the Legislature, Peers, Baronets, &c., is, as to its objects, sufficiently described by its ample title-page. An examination of its pages will show the great amount of information illustrative of the rise, nature, and peculiar duties of the numerous branches of the executive government of this vast empire, which the editor justly claims the credit of having sought for from various sources, and now for the first time gathered together. It must soon, therefore, find its way on to the desks of all men in office—not indeed as superseding the old Red Books and Official Calendars—but as an indispensable companion to them.

When speaking of the translation of Huc's Travels in Tartary, Thibet, and China, which we noticed some few weeks since, we gave our readers the best possible evidence of the value of the work. That Messrs. Longman have done wisely in including a condensed translation of these interesting Recollections of a Journey through Tartary, Thibet, and China, from the practised pen of Mrs. Percy Sinnett, in their Traveller's Library, we cannot therefore doubt; and we shall be much surprised if the book does not prove to be one of the most popular in the admirable series of which it forms the 14th and 15th Parts.

By way of answering the inquiry of a correspondent, and for the purpose of forwarding the very admirable and important objects of The Chronological Institute, we have procured a copy of the prospectus which has been circulated by its projectors, and have inserted it in full in our advertising columns.

FIELDING'S WORKS. 14 Vols. 1808. Vol XI. [Being 2nd of Amelia].

SHADWELL. Vols. II. and IV. 1720.

ARCHBISHOP LEIGHTON. Vol. IV. 1819.

BARONETAGE. Vol. I. 1720.
Ditto. Vols. I. and II. 1727.

CHAMBERLAYNE'S PHARONNIDA. (Reprint.) Vols. I. and II. 1820.

HOLCROFT'S LAVATER. Vol. I. 1789.

ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA. Vol. I. Third edition, published in 1794, Edinburgh, for A. Bell.

DRECHSLERUS DE LARVIS. Lipsiæ, 1674.

GIBBON'S DECLINE AND FALL. Vol. II. Dublin. Luke White. 1789.

ELSLEY ON THE GOSPEL AND ACTS. London, 1833. Vol. I.

SPENSER'S WORKS. Pickering's edition, 1839. Sm. 8vo. Vol. V.

WHARTON'S ANGLIA SACRA. Fol. Vol. II.

ARISTOPHANES, Bekker. (5 Vols. edit.) Vol. II. London, 1829.

LYDGATE'S BOKE OF TROYE. 4to. 1555. (Any fragment.)

COLERIDGE'S TABLE TALK. Vol. I. Murray. 1835.

THE BARBERS (a poem), by W. Hutton. 8vo. 1793. (Original edition, not the fac-simile.)

THE DOCTRINE AND PRACTICE OF THE CHURCH OF ROME TRULY REPRESENTED, by Edw. Stillingfleet, Bishop of Worcester, edited by William Cunningham, Min. Edinburgh.

A CATECHISM TRULY REPRESENTING THE DOCTRINES AND PRACTICES OF THE CHURCH OF ROME, with an Answer to them, by John Williams, M.A.

DODD'S CERTAMEN UTRIUSQUE ECCLESIÆ; or a List of all the Eminent Writers, Catholics and Protestants, since the Reformation. 1724.

THE SALE CATALOGUE of J.T. Brockett's Library of British and Foreign History, &c. 1823.

DODD'S APOLOGY FOR THE CHURCH HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 1742. 12mo.

SPECIMENS FOR AMENDMENTS FOR DODD'S CHURCH HISTORY, 1741. 12mo.

JOURNAL OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF DUBLIN. Vol. I. Part I. (Several Copies are wanting, and it is believed that many are lying in London or Dublin.)

CH. THILLON (DE HALLE) NOUVELLE COLLECTION DES APOCRYPHES. Leipsic, 1832.

THEOBALD'S SHAKSPEARE RESTORED, ETC. 4to. 1726.

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.

VERUS CHRISTIANUS, OR DIRECTIONS FOR PRIVATE DEVOTIONS, &c., with Appendix, by David Stokes. Oxford, 1668.

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

A. W. H. Bishop Jewel's well-known Apology is no doubt the work referred to.

N. J. B. We cannot undertake to insert Queries on points of law.

X. G. X., who inquires how the word "premises" came to be used of a house and its adjuncts, is referred to our 4th Vol. p. 487.

S. K. (North Wilts). Lord Stair not the executioner of Charles I. See Answer to Correspondents last week.

R. D. H. We are not aware of any cheap ANNUAL REGISTER, unless The Household Narrative of Current Events (published monthly in twopenny numbers, and in annual volumes at three shillings) may be so considered. It is a work executed with great ability, and written in the lively style which our correspondent so desires.

G. P. P. We cannot trace the queries respecting De Pratelli's and Prestwich's Republica as having been received by us.

A. A. D. The book referred to was Whitaker's.

G. W. R. Manlove's Rhymed Chronicle is published by Shaw and Sons, Fetter Lane, and noticed by us in our Notes on Books, &c., No. 116. The addition of the price to our Notices of New Books would convert such notices into advertisements, and render them liable to the duty.

EVANS' BALLADS may be had on application to the publisher.

J. B. HARRISON. The writer of the tract, The Holy Table, Name and Thing, has clearly mistaken Dover for Canterbury, called Dorobernia by Bede and the early chroniclers. St. Augustine's Abbey was originally consecrated to St. Peter and St. Paul.

REPLIES RECEIVED.—History of Brittany—Donkey—Theoloneum—Lord Hungerford—Lyte Family—Can Bishops vacate their Sees—Eliza Fenning—Miniature of Cromwell—Wearing Gloves in presence of Royalty—Stoke—Cibber's Lives of the Poets—Experto crede Roberto—Broad Arrow—London—Salting a new-born Infant—Souling—Madrigal—Mons Meg—Cabal—Expurgated Quaker Bible—Carmen Perpetuum—Pendulum Demonstration—Portraits of Wolfe—Era—Hieroglyphics of Vagrants—Number of the Children of Israel—Bellman at Oxford—Dying Swan—Robert Bruce's Watch—Hornchurch—Stops, when introduced—Admonition to the Parliament—Serjeants' Rings and Mottoes.

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

Neat Cases for holding the Numbers of "N. & Q." until the completion of each Volume are now ready, price 1s. 6d., and may be had by order of all booksellers and newsmen.

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.

VOLUME THE FOURTH OF NOTES AND QUERIES, with very copious INDEX, is now ready, price 9s. 6d. cloth boards.

"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, February 7. 1852.