Notes and Queries Vol. V., No. 122, Saturday, February 28, 1852

NOTES:—

QUERIES:—

REPLIES:—

MISCELLANEOUS:—

The British Museum purchased for 14l. the copy of the 1640 edition of Ben Jonson's Works, which was sold by Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson, in the library of the Honorable Archibald Fraser of Lovat. The volume, which had on its exterior covers the arms of Carr, Earl of Somerset, contains on one of them the following inscription:—"These verses were made by the author of this booke, and were delivered to the Earl of Somerset upon his Lordship's wedding-day." Then follow the verses in the poet's own handwriting.

We need scarcely point out the allusions in the eleventh and twelfth lines to Sir T. Overbury's Character of a Good Wife; but we cannot help calling attention to the curious fact that these lines, written in 1613, must have been carefully preserved by the unhappy man to whom they were addressed, through all his trials and difficulties; and then, on the publication of the 1640 edition of Rare Ben's Works,—twenty-seven years after his disgraceful marriage, five years before his death,—been pasted by him in the cover of the volume which is now very properly deposited in the National Library.

Speculations about Junius are once again the fashion. I would recommend the editor of "N. & Q." not to enter on the general question; but there are ways, within his legitimate province, by which he might do good service. For example, there have been many obscure persons alluded to in these discussions, about whom we should all be glad to receive information. Thus, Mr. Combe, the author of Dr. Syntax's Tour, figures prominently in the last number of the Quarterly Review. Now, of Mr. Combe very little is known: his name never, I believe, appeared in a title-page, although he lived, or rather starved, by literature, for half a century. From a correspondent of The Athenæum I learn that a list of Combe's works, in his own handwriting, is in the possession of Mr. Robert Cole; and as Mr. Cole is said to be a very liberal man, I have no doubt he would allow you to print that list. What a waste of speculation, not on one subject, but many subjects, might thus be saved to another generation of editors and contributors!

There are also numberless facts, or assumed facts, made to do duty in these discussions, which might with great propriety be subjected to the searching test of "N. & Q." I submit one as a specimen. The writer of the above-mentioned article in the Quarterly says: "It is universally admitted that Junius must have been indefatigable in acquiring information, and that he was pre-eminently distinguished by the variety and extent of his knowledge;" and he then quotes from the Parliamentary History the reported opinion of Burke on this point: "Were he [Junius] a member of this House, what might not be expected from his knowledge?... Nothing would escape his vigilance and activity. Bad ministers could conceal nothing from his sagacity, nor could promises or threats induce him to conceal anything from the public." On this I desire to observe, that the "variety and extent" of the knowledge of Junius is not universally admitted—has indeed been publicly denied; and that what Burke said, as above quoted, had no reference to Junius whatever, but to the author of Another Letter to Mr. Almon in Matter of Libel, then just published, and believed to have been written by the author of the still more celebrated pamphlet, published in 1763 or 1764, called A Letter concerning Libels and Warrants, &c. It is quite true that the passage has been quoted, and so applied, twenty times, and been forced to do double duty, that is, been adduced in proof of directly opposite opinions. This was allowable up to 1842, but inexcusable since the Cavendish Debates have been published. (See Cav. Deb., vol. ii. pp. 106, 107.)

J. Q. R.

In a niche in the vestry of St. Gregory's Church, Sudbury, Suffolk, is preserved the skull of the murdered archbishop: beneath the niche is placed the following inscription, which appears to me worthy of a place in your pages:—

"The head of Simon Theobald, who was born at Sudbury, and thence called Simon of Sudbury; he was sent when but a youth into foreign parts to study the civil law, whereof he was made doctor: he visited most of the universities of France, was made chaplain to Pope Innocent, and auditor rotæ, or judge of the Roman court. By the interest of this Pope he was made Chancellor of Salisbury. In the year 1361, he was consecrated Bishop of London; and in the year 1375 was translated to the see of Canterbury, and made Chancellor of England. While he was Bishop of London he built the upper part of St. Gregory's in Sudbury; and where his father's house stood he erected a college of secular priests, and endowed it with the yearly revenue of one hundred and twenty-two pounds eighteen shillings, and was at length barbarously beheaded upon Tower Hill, in London, by the rabble in Wat Tyler's Rebellion, in the reign of Richard II. 1382."

This inscription is written in an old hand on a piece of parchment. On turning to Stow's Annales for an account of these transactions, I find a very interesting relation of the circumstances above mentioned. I trust to be excused if I add a few brief extracts. King Richard had ordered the Tower gates to be opened to the rebels, though—

"There was the same time in the Tower 600 warlike men, furnished with armour and weapon, expert men in armes, and 600 archers, all which did quaile in stomacke."

Stow's Annales (edit. 1601, 4to.), p. 457.

The rebels having entered, conducted themselves with unbridled license, and "with terrible noyse and fury" laid hands on the archbishop, "drew him out of the chappell," and proceeded at once to put him to death:

"He, kneeling downe, offered his necke to him that should strike it off; being stricken in the necke, but not deadly, he putting his hande to his necke, said thus, a ha, it is the hand of God: he had not removed his hand from the place where the payne was, but that being sodainly stricken, his fingers ends being cut off, and part of the arteries, he fell downe; but yet he died not, till being mangled with eight strokes in the necke, and in the heade, he fulfilled most worthy martyrdome."

Stow's Annales, p. 458.

Thus "barbarously" was the prelate murdered; the rebels then took his head, fastened it "on a pole, and set it on London bridge, in place where-before stood the head of Sir John Minstarworth." (Ibid.) Stow proceeds to relate some more particulars relative to the archbishop's history, stating that "he builded the upper end," that is, I conceive, the chancel "of St. Gregorie's Church at Sudbury;" and concludes his account by saying:

"He was slaine as ye haue heard, and afterwards buried in the Cathedral Church of Canterbury."

Ibid.

Now Godwin, in his valuable work De Presulibus, states, that his body was buried under the high altar of St. Dunstan's, Canterbury. But in Winkle's Cathedrals (London, 1836), vol. i. p. 38., we find Stow's account corroborated; for—

"The monument of Archbishop Sudbury, who was beheaded in 1381 [1382], is in the northern aisle, nearly parallel with the altar; it bears no effigy, but is surmounted by a sumptuous canopy of very elegant architectural design, but now much mutilated."

Of course, the fact that his monument is in the cathedral, does not prove that his body was buried there. I shall be glad to learn from any of your correspondents, what evidence there is for Godwin's assertion. Gostling, in his Walk in and about the City of Canterbury (5th edit. Cant. 1804), though he mentions the prelate's benefactions to the cathedral (pp. 12. 79.), and his tomb (p. 220.), does not state his place of sepulture. At p. 60., however (note ‡), in a brief notice of St. Dunstan's Church, he says:

"In a vault under the family chancel of Roper here is kept a skull, said to be that of the great Sir Thomas More; it is in a niche of the wall, secured with an iron grate, though some say his favourite daughter, Margaret Roper, who lies here, desired to be buried with it in her arms. The vault being full, was closed up not many years since."

This curious coincidence is at least worth noting.

I trust that the interest necessarily attaching to any remains of so celebrated an historical personage, will prove a sufficient apology to your readers for the length of this note.

W. SPARROW SIMPSON, B.A.

The following paraphrase of the Lord's Prayer may be worth printing with the Query, who was its author? I take it from the book of Mr. Walter Everenden, among Mr. Frewen's MSS., where it is ascribed to James I., whilst I believe that in a MS. book of ballads belonging to MR. J. PAYNE COLLIER it is ascribed to Bishop Andrews.

WM. DURRANT COOPER.

—In the little village of Acton, Suffolk, a legend was current not many years ago, that on certain occasions, which, by the way, were never accurately defined, the park gates were wont to fly open at midnight "withouten hands," and a carriage drawn by four spectral horses, and accompanied by headless grooms and outriders, proceeded with great rapidity from the park to a spot called "the nursery corner." What became of the ghostly cortège at this spot, I have never been able to learn; but though the sight has not been seen by any of the present inhabitants, yet some of them have heard the noise of the head-long race. The "Corner," tradition says, is the spot where a very bloody engagement took place in olden time, when the Romans were governors of England. A few coins have I believe been found, but nothing else confirmatory of the tale. Does history in any way support the story of the battle? Whilst writing on this subject, I may as well note, that near this haunted corner is a pool called Wimbell Pond, in which tradition says an iron chest of money is concealed: if any daring person ventures to approach the pond, and throw a stone into the water, it will ring against the chest and a small white figure has been heard to cry in accents of distress, "That's mine!"

I send you these legends as I have heard them from the lips of my nurse, a native of the village.

W. SPARROW SIMPSON, B.A.

—May we not consider the Saxon legend quoted by Mr. Kemble in his Saxons in England, foot-note on page 423., vol. i., as something like a parallel to "Old Booty" and Mr. Gresham, mentioned in Vol. iii., p. 93. of "N. & Q.?" or is it possible to have been the origin of both?

The legend is, that an anchoret in Lipari told some sailors that at a particular time he had seen King Theodoric ungirt, barefoot and bound, led between St. John, pope and martyr, and St. Finian, and by them hurled into the burning crater of the neighbouring island volcano. That on the sailors' return to Italy they discovered, by comparison of dates, that Theodoric died on the day on which the anchoret noticed his punishment by the hands of his victims.

THOMAS LAWRENCE.

Ashby de la Zouch.

Every reader of "N. & Q." must be acquainted with places throughout the country pronounced very differently to their spelling. It has occurred to me that a collection of them would be interesting, both as a topographical curiosity, and as an illustration of our provincial dialects. No paper is fitter for such a collection than the "N. & Q.;" its correspondents would doubtless communicate any within their notice, and you, Mr. Editor, would from time to time give up a little space to them.

The following are what I remember just now:—

Spelling.	Pronunciation.
Wednesbury (near Birmingham)	Wedgbury
Smethwick (near Birmingham)	Smerrick
Cirencester	Cisiter
Bothal (Northumberland)	Botal
Merstham (Surrey)	Maestrum
Carshalton (Surrey)	Casehorton
Shepton (Somersetshire)	Shepun
Ratlinghope (Salop)	Ratchup
Chantlingbury (Sussex)	Shankbury
Hove (Sussex)	Hoove
Wavertree (near Liverpool)	Wartree
St. Neots	St. Nouts
Beauchamp	Beechem
Belvoir	Beever
Saubridgeworth	{ Sapsworth
	{ or Sapsey

Some of your correspondents may send Scotch, Irish, and Welsh specimens; I would suggest such be kept separate from the English. My own experience bids me carefully abstain from sending Welsh ones. When on a walking tour in Wales three years ago, I asked a peasant "if that road led to Aberga'ny" (with conscious pride in my pronunciation); "Nay, nay, sir, that road takes to Abergavenny."

P. M. M.

—The Banking Company in Aberdeen was established in the year 1767; and the following Note respecting it may be new to many of the readers of "N. & Q." This Company adopted the plan of using paper bearing in watermark a waved line, and the amount of the note expressed in words, along with the designation of the Company; but about the year 1805 a gentleman connected with Aberdeenshire brought this paper under the notice of the Bank of England, in consequence of which they adopted it, and procured an act of parliament to be passed prohibiting the use of paper so marked by any provincial bank.

PETRAPROMONTORIENSIS.

—In the notes to the beautiful poem Italy, by Samuel Rogers, published (I think) in 1830, the following occurs:—

"'You admire that picture,' said an old Dominican to me at Padua, as I stood contemplating a Last Supper in the refectory of his convent, the figures as large as life. 'I have sat at my meals before it for seven-and-forty years and such are the changes that have taken place among us; so many have come and gone in the time, that when I look upon the company there—upon those who are sitting at the table silent as they—I am sometimes inclined to think that we, and not they, are the shadows.'"

In the sixth volume of Lord Mahon's History of England, chap. lx. p. 498., we find this passage:

"Once as Sir David Wilkie (Mr. Washington Irving and myself being then his fellow-travellers in Spain) was gazing on one of Titian's master-pieces—the famous picture of the Last Supper in the refectory of the Escurial—an old monk of the order of St. Jerome came up, and said to him, 'I have sat daily in sight of that picture for now nearly three score years. During that time my companions have dropped off, one after another—all who were my seniors, all who were of mine own age, and many or most of those who were younger than myself; nothing has been unchanged around me except those figures, large as life, in yonder painting; and I look at them till I sometimes think that they are the realities, and we the shadows.'"

The great resemblance between these two passages is very striking; the latter only amplifies the former by very few words.

D. F. M'L.

Cork.

—In the loop of Devonshire, on the western side of the Tamar, formed by the parishes of Werrington and North Petherwyn, none of the names of places are Cornish, but end in the Saxon termination of cot, whilst in all other parts the Cornish names are used up to the banks of the river. Modern Cornwall is a province so well defined by the language of its place-names, that it could be marked off without difficulty, if its artificial boundary-lines were omitted on a map. How does this limited extent of the language consist with some accounts of the former extent of the kingdom?

S. R. P.

Launceston.

—The birth[1] of Zachary (afterwards Bishop) Pearce was prior to the death[2] of the famous Master of Westminster, which took place at the short interval of five years: consequently, it was impossible that the relation of teacher and pupil should exist between them.

[1] 1690.

[2] 1695.

In the Memoir of this prelate, which goes before his Commentary on the Gospels, it is expressly stated that he was removed to Westminster School in Feb. 1704. At the same time, his biographer speaks of his being elected to Trinity College, Cambridge, after he had spent six years at Westminster, and "endured the constraint of a grammar school to the twentieth year of his age." Then follows the sentence, "Why his removal was so long delayed, no other reason can be given, than that Dr. Busby used to detain those boys longest under his discipline of whose future eminence he had most expectation; considering the fundamental knowledge which grammar schools inculcate, as that which is least likely to be supplied by future diligence, if the student be sent deficient to the university."

Bishop Pearce's biographer was the Rev. John Derby, his chaplain, who could not well be mistaken as to a plain and palpable matter of fact. It is perfectly conceivable, however, that the future prelate was long detained at Westminster School in consequence of a regulation first laid down by Busby, and regularly acted upon by that eminent man. This circumstance will sufficiently explain the apparent incongruity.

If I am right in this conjecture, Bishop Pearce must have entered under Knipe.[3]

[3] Noble's Continuation of Granger, Vol. iii. p. 119, &c.

N.

—In a letter from the late Bishop Copleston to the Rev. E. Tyler, in Jan. 1839, on the death of his mother at the age of ninety-two (published in his Memoirs), he says, "Her father and poet Gay were brothers' sons."

H. T. E.

The twentieth epigram in the fourth book of Chrestoleros, by T. B. (poor Thomas Bastard), printed 1598, is to the following effect:

Here the allusion is of course to the miseries entailed by the system of sheep-farming; a system which had been introduced and carried to excess by the monastic bodies. Some years ago I met with an old satirical song on this subject, of which the above "proverbe" formed a kind of burden, but where, or in what collection I met with it, I cannot for the life of me remember. Now, seeing that your periodical exemplifies very accurately the definition once given by a Surrey peasant of a highly accomplished man—"Sir! he knows everything, and what he don't know he axes,"—perhaps you will allow me to ask whether some one of your many able correspondents may not have the power and the will to give me this information. A worthless memory seems to suggest that the song was a Cambridge production, and interspersed with Latin phrases.

Now, one word about the author of the epigram above quoted. It is not, I hope, an abuse of the freedom of speech which ought to prevail in the republic of letters, if I express a strong opinion that your learned contributor, MR. PAYNE COLLIER, has rendered very scant justice to the memory of Bastard. The epigrams selected by that gentleman as favourable samples, are among the very worst of the author's efforts.

Probably not twenty copies of the Chrestoleros are in existence; but as, by the kindness of my esteemed friend E. V. Utterson, I possess one of the sixteen struck off at his own private press, I beg to supply a specimen or two, that will not only gratify your readers in general, but elicit an approving verdict from MR. COLLIER himself.

For example, is not the finished cadence, as well as the nervous force, of the following lines to Sir Ph. Sidney, greatly to be admired?

In my poor judgment, those are truly noble lines. And what say you to the following, Mr. Editor, which form a sonnet rather than an epigram?

I not only challenge MR. P. COLLIER'S hearty approval of those magnificent lines, but I would venture the expression of a doubt whether anything finer can be produced of the same date and character.

Now take a spice of Bastard's quality as a humorist; not failing to mark again the solemn flow and well-balanced cadence of the lines:

I have other evidence as strongly favourable, but I shall not adduce it, lest after all it be wasted on unwilling ears. But if it be the verdict of your readers that Thomas Bastard has been unjustly forgotten, he shall live again in your pages.

R. C. C.

The remarkable inundations that have recently taken place (I do not, of course, allude to the accident at Holmesfirth) in various parts of the country, without any such very long-continued and violent storms of rain as one would naturally look to as their cause, have called to my recollection some remarks in the "Notices Scientifiques" of M. Arago, attached to the Annuaire pour l'An 1838, published by the Bureau des Longitudes at Paris. I beg to transcribe them:

"Des historiens, les météorologistes citent des inondations locales dont les effets ont semblé bien supérieures à ce que pouvoit faire craindre la médiocre quantité de pluie provenante des nuages et tombée dans un certain rayon. Il est rarement arrivé qu'alors on n'ait pas vu, pendant un temps plus ou moins long, d'immense masses d'eau surgir des entrailles de la terre par des ouvertures jusque là inconnues, et aussi, qu'un violent orage n'ait pas été la précurseur du phénomène et probablement sa cause première. Telles furent, du point en point, par example, en juin, 1686, les circonstances de l'inondation qui détruisit presque en totalité les deux villages de Ketlevell et de Starbottom, dans le comté d'York. Pendant l'orage une immense crevasse se forma dans la montagne voisine, et, au dire des témoins oculaires, la masse fluide qui s'en échappa avec impétuosité contribua au moins tout autant que la pluie, aux malheurs qu'on eut à déplores."—P. 361.

1. Is there any reason to suppose that a subterranean outburst of this nature accompanied any of the recent inundations?

2. Does the "immense crevice" alluded to by M. Arago still exist? and does water continue to proceed from it?

SYDNEY SMIRKE.

In the year 1704 was published anonymously:

"An Essay towards a Proposal for Catholic Communion; wherein above sixty of the principal controverted points, which have hitherto divided Christendom, being called over, 'tis examined how many of them may, and ought to be laid aside, and how few remain to be accommodated, for the effecting a general Peace. By a Minister of the Church of England. Sold by John Nutt, near Stationers' Hall, 1704."

This Essay has passed through several editions in London and Dublin: to that of 1801 is prefixed a

"Dedication to the Right Hon. the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and to the Hon. the House of Commons ... and the perusal of it earnestly recommended by a Lover of Christian Peace and Union and a Loyal United Briton."

It has now been in circulation for nearly a century and a half; and for want of a medium of inter-communication in olden times like "N. & Q.," its authorship has frequently been a topic of keen discussion. Mr. Oakeley, in his work, The Subject of Tract XC. historically examined, states that

"Its publication attracted at the time the notice of the Government. A warrant appears to have been issued from the Secretary of State's office for the seizure of the author's papers, and the arrest of his person, under a suspicion apparently that he was in league with the Pretender."

It is to be regretted that Mr. Oakeley has not given his authority for this statement. Mr. Goode, in his pamphlet entitled Tract XC. historically refuted, attributes it, on the authority of Dodd, to Thomas Dean, a Roman Catholic Fellow of University College, Oxford; whereas the author of The Sure Hope of Reconciliation, p. 61., thinks Mr. Goode's supposition open to exception; and as the writer styles himself "A Minister of the Church of England," he is inclined to admit his claim to the title, till stronger evidence be adduced to the contrary.

The following curious colloquy between two priests of the Roman and Anglican Churches, in the Town Hall at Guildford, in 1838, respecting the authorship of this Essay, is also worthy a Note:

"Rev. Joseph Sidden. The author of A Proposal for a Catholic Communion says——

"Rev. M. Hobart Seymour. Name! name.

"Rev. J. Sidden. I do not know his name; he appears to have been an archdeacon of the Church of England in the reign of Queen Anne. His work is on sale at Booker's.

"The Chairman. Can you name the place of which he was archdeacon?

"Rev. J. Sidden. No; but I give these as the words of a Protestant clergyman.

"Rev. M. H. Seymour. You do not know that he was a Protestant at all.

"Rev. J. Sidden. I have put the work into the hands of a Protestant clergyman, who agrees with it; and it agrees with Archbishop Bramhall. I have often tried to discover who was the author.

"Rev. M. H. Seymour. It was written perhaps by a Roman Catholic Priest.

"Rev. J. Sidden. I think not, because the Hon. and Rev. Arthur Perceval, rector of East Horsley, borrowed the book of me, and he wrote to me, that he so much approved of it, that he meant to procure a copy of it. I do not know who wrote it."—Proceedings at a Meeting of the Guildford Protestant Association, 1838, p. 20.

Now, without discussing the theological points at issue between the two parties, it is desirable that the authorship of this work, as a literary production, should be finally settled, which I am inclined to think will be the case when it is brought before the numerous readers of "N. & Q." On its first appearance it was attacked by three Nonjuring clergymen, viz. Grascome, Stephens, and Spinckes. Grascome, it appears, knew the author; but his work, Concordia Discors, I have not been able to procure. (See Life of Kettlewell, p. 328.) It is not to be found in the catalogues of the Bodleian, British Museum, or Sion College. The replies by Edward Stephens and Nathanael Spinckes are both in the Bodleian. The first edition of the original Essay, 1704, is in the British Museum, and on the title-page is written in pencil, "By Thomas Dean, a papist," and underneath, in ink, "By Nathanael Spinckes, not a Roman Catholic." The latter entry is clearly a mistake.

After some investigation, it appears to me that the authorship rests between Thomas Dean and Joshua Bassett. It is attributed to the former by Dodd (alias Tootle) in his Certamen utriusqe Ecclesiæ; but Wood, who has given some account of Dean in his Athenæ Oxon., vol. iv. p. 450. (Bliss), does not include this Essay among his other works. In the Bodleian Catalogue its authorship is attributed to Joshua Bassett, Master of Sidney College, Cambridge, of whom our biographical dictionaries are perfectly silent. Fortunately, Cole has preserved some notices of him in his MSS., vol. xx. p. 117. It appears that he was a Roman Catholic, and had mass publicly said in his college; but upon King James revoking the mandamuses in 1688, he left Cambridge and settled in London, where, says Cole, "he lived to be a very old man, and died in no very affluent circumstances, as we may well imagine." Cole notices a work by Bassett published anonymously, viz. Reason and Authority; or the Motives of a late Protestant's Reconciliation to the Catholic Church. London: 1687, 4to. With this clue, probably, some of your readers can finally settle the question.

J. Y.

Hoxton.

I am engaged in preparing the Old Testament on the same plan, but with some alterations and additions, as the Chronological New Testament described in Vol. iv., p. 357.

I write to ask if any of your correspondents can aid me in my undertaking in the following points:

I. To inform me where I can procure, by purchase, or by loan for a few weeks, Torshell's tract or book, in which he proposed to Charles I. to undertake such a work.

II. To make a re-division, according to the subject-matter, of Job, Ecclesiastes, and the greater and the minor prophets.

III. To draw up a brief analysis of this subject-matter, similar to what is attempted in the New Testament for the Epistles.

IV. To extract from the Mishneh, &c., the really valuable comments of the rabbis.

V. To make up the chronology into the following four great unequal divisions, assigning the particular years to each transaction falling under these divisions; viz., (a) Adam to Abraham, (b) Abraham to David; (c) David to the transportation of Judah to Babylon; (d) Transportation to Babylon to Christ.

VI. To collate all these important variations of the Septuagint and of the Samaritan Pentateuch.

VII. Critically to examine the introductions, marginal quotations, and the analyses, as given in the Chronological New Testament.

I shall with pleasure present any gentleman who will help me in any one of these particulars with a copy of the New Testament at once, if he will signify his wish for one, in a line addressed to me, care of the Publisher, Mr. Blackader, 13. Paternoster Row.

THE EDITOR OF THE "CHRONOLOGICAL NEW TESTAMENT."

Trinity Square, Southwark.

—Can any correspondent tell me under whose reign the following pasquinade was published?

The reigning Pope had erected a new order of knighthood, and the crosses were very lavishly distributed; upon which Pasquin said—

L. H. J. T.

—Sir John Fenner, by will dated 1633, desired his executors to employ monies in purchasing lands (which has since produced 620l. per annum, but now less than that amount), the rent to be laid out every Easter in buying Bibles and distributing money for and amongst the poor of ten parishes in the metropolis. I shall feel thankful for any information relating to that benevolent gentleman communicated either through your columns, or to me at 35. Gifford Street, Kingsland Road, London.

HENRY EDWARDS,
(a Subscriber from the beginning).

—I have heard a story respecting the superstition in which sailors hold Friday as a day of departure. To disabuse them of this superstition, a ship—so runs the tale—was laid down on Friday; launched on a Friday; commanded by a captain named Friday; sailed on a Friday; and—so runs the story—was never heard of afterwards!

Is there—I believe not—any truth in this tradition; and where may the earliest allusion to it be found.

?

—In a minister's account of the time of Edward II., relating to Caernarvonshire, is an entry for rent received "de terra morosa et knarres:" the word is sometimes written gnarres. What does it mean? I believe in Norfolk and in other counties a description of scrubby woodland is known by the name of carrs (Query spelling). We find Knares-borough in Yorkshire, and Knares-dale in Northumberland, Nar-borough in Leicester, Nar-burgh and Nar-ford in Norfolk. Taking the n to be the expressive letter, we have perhaps specimens of its softened sound in the names of Snare-hill, Snar-gate, Snares-brook, &c., in various counties. Some of your etymological readers may be able to explain the derivation of these names, should they be considered to come from a common source, and with that the sentence quoted above.

J. BT.

—May I hope for a reply to my Queries—in what court poor Sir John Cheke was forced to sit beside Bishop Bonner, at the trials of the martyrs? and at whose trials he was present? His sad recantation took place in the year 1556, and his death, from a broken heart, in the year following; so that his being compelled to sit on the bench beside Bonner, must have been at the trials which took place between those two dates. I have Foxe, Fuller, and Strype's memoirs of Sir John Cheke; but I shall be grateful for any information about him from any other old volumes, or from private sources.

C. B. T.

—What authority has Gwillim, in his Display of Heraldrie, p. 258., for asserting—

"He beareth argent a chevron between three seals, feet erected, sable erased. These armes doe pertaine to the towne of Yarmouth in Norfolk."

C. I. P.

Gt. Yarmouth.

—This is a favourite expression both with speakers and with writers. Is it a quotation? If so, I should be glad to learn whence it comes. It can scarcely be part of a verse, inasmuch as it contains a violation of a well-known metrical canon: final a short before sc.

W. S.

Linwood.

—What is the origin and exact meaning of the word bull in this phrase? I made a note of the passage in which I found it, thinking that it might possibly be connected in some way with Milton's "bullish." (See vol. iii., p. 241; vol. iv., p. 394.)

"On the third day after my departure from Zashiversk, my liquor was at an end from the effects of a very common sort of leak—it had been tapped too often. I could do nothing but bull the barrel, that is, put a little water into it, and so preserve at least the appearance of vodkey."—Cochrane's Narrative of a Pedestrian Journey through Russia and Siberian Tartary, during the years 1820-23. [Murray, 1824, one vol. 8vo.] p. 225.

C. FORBES.

Temple.

—What is the meaning of the following legend, which I find on an old brass or copper coin of extreme thinness, and of the size of a shilling:—

encircling three crowns disposed in a circle with fleur de lis intervening.

encircling an emblem of Trinity, in the interior of which is a ball and cross.

There are no figures to indicate a date, but I conclude it belongs to the time of the Hanseatic league.

H. C. K.

—Can any of your musical readers inform me whether the treatise on the material media of the musical art, promised by Weber in his Theory of Musical Composition, and which he therein frequently refers to, has ever yet made its appearance; and if so, whether any English translation has been published?

T. L. L.

—I am an attorney; one of my predecessors in business was steward of Clement's Inn. He died, and his partner removed from the Inn to the City. I was articled to the partner, and I recollect that up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1837, he used to receive an annual visit from the minor officials of the inn, beadle, porter, &c., who presented four oranges, and received in return half a guinea. I used generally to suck the oranges, but it never entered my head to inquire what was the origin of the custom. You have probably a correspondent or reader amongst the "ancients" of the venerable society I have mentioned, who may be able to trace the origin of the custom which gave me the privilege of sucking the oranges in question.

Q. D.

—In Vol. iii., p. 432. of "N. & Q." there is a quotation from the Gentleman's Magazine, 1791, in which Queen Elizabeth is mentioned as of a "swarthy complexion." I had always thought of her as fair. Miss Strickland speaks of her "fair complexion," and cites De Maurier, who writes of her "white hands:" in addition to which, does not her "light auburn hair" betoken a light complexion? In one of your late numbers a madrigal is given wherein she is sung as "fair Oriana." This, however, may be no allusion to colour of complexion, but merely the poetic use of the word as synonymous with beautiful. How does the fact stand?

W. T. M.

Victoria, Hong Kong, Dec. 27, 1851.

—I should be glad if any of your correspondents could favour me with any information relative to the "Black Book of Paisley," so often quoted by Scottish historical writers as the Chronicon Clugniense, being a chronicle of the public affairs and remarkable events kept by the monks of that monastery, and if the same or any part thereof has been reprinted by any of our societies or clubs. It was said to have been recovered at Rome by Sir Robert Spottiswoode, along with other records and MSS. of the Roman Catholic Church, which had been carried abroad from the Scottish monasteries at the Reformation.

ABERDONIENSIS.

—This book, Mr. Whitbread stated in his place in the House of Commons in 1812, was published, and afterwards suppressed, and bought up at an immense expense, some holders receiving 500l., and some as high as 2000l. for their copies. Is this correct?

ELGINENSIS.

—Frith the Martyr, and Dean Comber, were born in Westerham. Can any antiquary of the district point out the exact spot? I have often asked, but ever unsuccessfully; and I now regret that I did not inquire of Mr. Streatfeild, who resided in the parish, and whom I knew.

H. G. D.

—These words occur in Kemble's Ang.-Sax. Charters, Nos. 567. and 652. The first was an islet in Somersetshire; the latter were in Hants. Were the Béocera Gent Irish, and if so, whence the name?

B. WILLIAMS.

—I should esteem it a favour if any of your correspondents could inform me whether the original grants made in Hen. VIII. and Edw. VI. reigns, of the property of dissolved religious establishments, are to be met with in the Augmentation Office, and if not, where? as it would greatly assist in tracing titles to property formerly belonging to those establishments, and which passed from the hands of the crown to different individuals at those periods.

J. N. CHADWICK.

[All grants from the crown pass under letters patent, which are enrolled on the patent rolls. Those for the time of Hen. VIII. and Edw. VI. are in the Rolls Chapel, Chancery Lane, and can be readily searched if the name of grantee and date is known. In the Augmentation Office, a branch of the Carlton Ride Record Office, are the "particulars" for those grants, which give considerable information. See 8th Report of the Deputy-keeper of the Public Records.]

—Who were the five divines who united their powers in writing against episcopacy under the above title, which is said to be composed of the initial letters of their names?

O. P. Q.

[They were Stephen Marshall, Edmund Calamy, Thomas Young, Matthew Newcomen, and William Spurstow: their followers were called Smectymnuans. See Butler's Hudibras, with Grey's notes, Part I, canto iii. line 1166.]

Bartholomæo degli Albizzi, or Bartholomew of Pisa, who wrote the famous BOOK OF CONFORMITIES, was born at Rivano in Tuscany, and died in 1401. Mr. Rose's admirable Biographical Dict. (12 vols. 8vo. 1850) contains the following passage relative to this work, under the name Albizzi:—

"The LIBER CONFORMITATUM was first printed at Venice, folio, without date or printer's name; 2nd edition, folio, black letter, Milan, 1510; 3rd, Milan, 1513. In 1590, Father Bucchi (a Franciscan) published another edition at Bologna, but with considerable curtailment; and as it did not sell, it was republished in 1620 with the first two leaves changed, in order to disguise it.

"The approbation of the Chapter of the Order is found in this edition, bearing date Aug. 2, 1399. Tiraboschi (i. 181.), who is very angry with MARCHAND for occupying SIXTEEN COLUMNS OF THE DICT. HIST. WITH AN ENUMERATION OF THE EDITIONS OF THIS WORK AND ANSWERS TO IT, should have remembered that after such an approbation, it is no longer the mere work of an individual.

"In 1632, it was published at Cologne with a new title; and in 1658 at Liege, but very much altered. Wading (Bibl. Ord. Min.) has given a catalogue of Albizzi's other works, which has been copied by Casimir, Oudin, and Fabricius."

A Venice edition, then, it would appear according to this writer, is the original edition; and that of Milan, 1510, is but the second. Will any one give me some accurate information on this point? Brunet and the publishers of the various editions of "L'Alcoran," seem quite ignorant of the existence of any edition previous to that of Milan, 1510.

DR. ERASMUS ALBER, the compiler of the Alcoranus Franciscorum, was "a warm friend and violent partizan of Luther; his chief characteristic is severe, but broad, coarse satire."

The Amsterdam edition of 1734 commences the 1st vol. with a preface in French, by Conrad Badius, which is succeeded by one from Luther in Latin: at the end of the same vol. occurs another and longer Præfatio Martini Lutheri, Germanico libello præfixa utcumque translata; then follow Typographus Lectori, and Ex Epistola Erasmi Alberi, qui hunc libellum ex detestando illo Conformitatum volumine contexuit.

To any one who is acquainted with the Book of Conformities, which has been justly denominated THESAURUS BLASPHEMIÆ, the propriety and aptness of the title of THE FRANCISCAN KORAN is very obvious. Luther (and there seems no reason to doubt the genuineness of these prefaces), after commenting on the expressions used in this book with reference to our Blessed Lord, and the great exemplar of the "minors" and "minims," observes:

"Hinc sequitur quod Christus veluti figura Francisci, nihil fit amplius: id QUOD TURCI SENTIUNT. At figuratus ille Franciscus, omnia est in omnibus. Ex quo jam altera hæresis manat, quod Franciscum, ut verum Messiam, Mediatorem, Advocatum ac Patronum invocunt, et vitam æternam ab ipso petunt."

ALBER, after quoting some of the Conformities, adds—

"Et, ut paucis dicam, Christus nihil fecit quod non item Franciscus fecerit, et longe plura etiam. Itaque et in Alcorano Franciscanorum sæpe reperitur, Franciscum Christo esse SIMILEM. Nam quod sit SUPRA CHRISTUM, perquam vellent quidem dicere, sed diabolis metuit ne nimium se prodat et agnosci possit."

The mere facts of this monstrous book having been written, approved by the highest authority, and for a century and a half receiving universal applause (with the exception perhaps of a few jealous Dominicans), nay, the mere toleration of such a book, would have been amply sufficient to show the corruption of the Western Church, and call loudly for reformation. This—

"Abominationem [says Luther] quam non ipsi solum exercuerunt ac in summo pretio habuerunt, sed ipse etiam Sanctissimus eam confirmavit, commendavit, privilegiis ornavit, ac omnibus Christe fidelibus pro focis et aris defendendam mandavit."

Southey says:

"I believe the Franciscans designed to follow the example of the Moslem, and supersede Jesus Christ. At one time they attempted to leave off the vulgar æra, and actually dated from the infliction of the Five Wounds."

In the Romish calendar, the 17th of September is dedicated to "Impressio Stigm. S. Francis." Of the Geneva editions of the Cordelier Alcoran, Brunet (last edition) mentions 1556, 1560, and 1578. In Leslie's Catalogue for 1852, under the heading "Luther," the Geneva edition of 1556 occurs; the title is worth giving:

"L'Alcoran des Cordeliers, tant en Latin qu'en François; c'est à dire, la mer des blasphèmes et mensonges de cest idole stigmatizé qu'on appelle S. François, recueilli par le Docteur M. Luther, du livre des Conformitez de ce beau S. François, imprimé à Milan l'an 1510, et nouvellement traduit, 12mo. Geneve, 1556."

The same Catalogue advertises a fine copy of Father Bucchi's Liber Aureus, 1590.

Brunet refers to the following work in reference to the Alcoranus:

"La Guerre Séraphique, ou histoire des périls qu'a courus la barbe des Capucins contre les violentes attaques des Cordeliers. La Haye, 1740, in 12.—Ce volume se joint à l'Alcoran des Cordeliers."

He also speaks of a work by a certain Spaniard, named Father PIERRE DE ALVA, which, for the vast number of points of conformity between our Lord and St. Francis adduced, and the amazing fecundity of invention and fertility of imagination displayed, completely throws BARTHOLOMEW OF PISA into the shade; it is entitled—

"Naturæ prodigium et gratiæ portentum hoc est Seraphici P. Francisci vitæ acta ad Christi Domini vitam et mortem regulata et coaptata a P. Petro de Alva et Astorga. Matriti, 1651, folio."

To conclude with a Query: Is the book called "FIORETTI" an Italian translation of the "BOOK OF CONFORMITIES?" The title would lead one to suppose it.

"FIORETTI. Opera gentilissima et utilissima a tutti li fideli Christiani laqual se chiama LI FIORETTI de Misser Santo Francesco asemiliativa a la vita et alla passion de JESU CHRISTO e tutte le soe sancti vertige. Lunardo Longo rector de la giesia de Sancto Paulo de Vincenza, curendo lano. M.CCCCLXXVI. in 4."

The second edition bears date, Venexia in caxa di Nicolo Girardengo M.CCCCLXXX. 4to.; the third, Perouse, 1481, 4to.

MARICONDA.

Feb. 11. 1852.

There is clearly some inaccuracy in the details of my statement, which I am obliged to LORD BRAYBROOKE and to G. for pointing out, and which, perhaps, they may help to clear up. The main fact is admitted: that "two Knights of the Garter covered the period from 1684 to 1820;" and George IV.'s assertion, that "he had given away a Garter that had been given but once since the reign of Charles II.," I myself heard, though I unluckily did not make a "Note" of it. This could apply to nothing but the cases of the Duke of Somerset and George III. Whether George IV. was misinformed as to the details on which he founded his assertion, I know not; but it is unlikely: and that after a lapse of about thirty years I may have confounded the Regency with the Accession, and Lord Moira with the Duke of Buckingham, I will not deny; for it seems that I have done one or the other, though without any effect on the main point. As to G.'s objection, that of several Garters disposed of on the same day in 1745. The Duke of Somerset's did not fall to Prince George. I have not Beltz to refer to; but it strikes me as possible this may admit of explanation: because, although Prince George was nominated first in the batch, it happened that he was invested the last; indeed not till the day after all the others: so that he might have received the badge of the Duke of Somerset. Your readers are aware that the badges are not the private property of the knights, but are always returned into the hands of the sovereign, and that the same badge is delivered to successive knights; so that it is probable that George III., on becoming sovereign, kept in his own possession the badge he had originally received, and that this identical badge George IV. disposed of as he stated, whether to the Duke of Buckingham, or, as the impression on my memory still is, Lord Moira.

C.

Traditions from Remote Periods.—From time to time notices have appeared in "N. & Q." of "remote events brought down to our own times through few links:" to these, if you should think it merits insertion, I beg to contribute the following Note from Chambers's Life and Works of Burns, vol. iii. p. 205. In the address to Mr. Maxwell, of Terraughty, on his birthday (p. 204.), Burns says, 7th line:

and Mr. Chambers remarks:

"The person addressed in these verses, John Maxwell, Esq., of Terraughty and Munches, was a leading public man in the county of Dumfries. He was on several accounts very remarkable, but particularly for his birth, and the proximity into which his family history brings us with events comparatively remote; for Mr. Maxwell was grandson's grandson, and no more, to the gallant and faithful Lord Herries, who on bended knees entreated Queen Mary to prosecute Bothwell as the murderer of her husband, and who subsequently fought for her at Langside. One cannot learn without a pleasing kind of surprise, that a relation in the fifth degree of one who was Warden of the West Marches in 1545, should have lived to the close of the French Revolution wars, which was the case of Mr. Maxwell, for he died in January 1814."

[4] Middle of December, 1791.

C. D. LAMONT.

Greenock.

There is now living in the village of Headley, Hants, a man whose father was born in the time (though not in the reign) of James II.; viz. 1697. As a curious instance of the space of time included in the lives of a father and son (although there is nothing wonderful in the number of years attained by either separately), I have thought it worth recording in "N. & Q." I may add that the age of the man now living at Headley is eighty-three, and he was born when his father was seventy-two years old.

L. G.

Happening to have made notes from time to time of several such instances, I beg to present them to the readers of "N. & Q.":—

Sixty-two Children:—

"A weaver in Scotland had by one woman 62 children, all living till they were baptized, of wch ther wer but fower daughters onely who lived till they were women, and 46 sonns, all attaining to man's estate. During the time of this fruitfullnes in the woman, the husband, at her importunity, absented himself from her for the space of 5 years together, serving as a soldier under the command of Captaine Selby in the Low Countries. After his return home his wife was againe delivered of three children at a birth, and so in due time continued in such births till, through bearing, she became impotent. The certainty of this relation I had from John Delavall of Northumb', Esq., who, ann. 1630, rid about 30 miles beyond Edenburrough to see this fruitfull couple, who were both then living. Ther statures and features he described to me then more fully. Ther was not any of the children then abiding with ther parents. Sir John Bowes & 3 other men of qualitie have taken at severall times ten of ther children apeece from them, and brought them up. The rest wer disposed of by the other English & Scottish gents, amongst wch 3 or 4 out of them are now alive & abiding at Newcastle, 1630."

Collectanea Topog. et Geneal. vol. iv. p. 53. from MS. Harl. 980. f. 74.

Thirty-nine Children:—

"In the year 1698, when Thomas Greenhill, surgeon to Henry Duke of Norfolk (son of William Greenhill of Greenhill in Middx. by Elizabeth, daughter of John Jones of London) petitioned the Earl Marshal as follows: 'That in consideration of your petitioner being the 7th son & 39th child of one father & mother, your Grace would be pleased to signalise it by some particular remark or augmentation in his coat of Arms, to transmit to posterity so uncommon a thing.' The confirmation of the arms contains no reference to the fact."

Collectanea Topogr. et Genealogica, vol. iv. p. 53.

Thirty-five Children:—

"A woman in Vere Street of the 35th child by one husband."—Gentleman's Magazine, 1736, p. 683.

Thirty Children.—In the Gentleman's Magazine for Feb. 1743, is recorded the death of Mrs. Agnes Milbourne, who was aged 106, and had thirty children.

Twenty-nine Children.—In that for 1738:—

"Nov. 15. Mr. Thomas Rogers, a 'Change-Broker, who had by his wife 29 children, born and christen'd."

Twenty-seven Children.—Mr. Richetts, father of the present Earl St. Vincent, was the twenty-third of twenty-seven children by the same mother.

J. G. N.

In the London Medical Journal, vol. x. for the year 1789, art. vi., "A remarkable case of numerous births, with observations by Maxwell Garthmore, M.D., F.R.S. & S.A.: in a Letter to Sir Joseph Banks, Bart., P.R.S.," Dr. G. mentions an account given formerly in the Journal des Sçavans, by M. Seignette, physician at Rochelle, of a woman of Saintonge who was at one birth delivered of nine well-formed children so far advanced that their sexes could be discovered.

In the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. lii. p. 376., is a curious legend of a woman giving birth to 365 children at once: all the males were baptised and named John, and all the females Elizabeth. The mother and 365 children died the same day.

In the Morning Advertiser for Dec. 1, 1851, is an account of a woman at Ballygunge, near Calcutta, being delivered of twenty-one children at once, all boys.

Nov. 14th, 1736. A woman in Vere Street, of her thirty-fifth child, by one husband. (Gentleman's Magazine, vol. vi. p. 683.)

July 31st, 1781. At Kirton-le-Moor, in Cumberland, a man and his wife, and thirty children, the youngest of whom was between two and three years old, lately walked to church to the christening of the thirty-first child. (Gentleman's Magazine, vol. li. p. 388.)

Died at Grantham, Mrs. Lelly, a widow lady of that town. She was twice mother of twenty-two children. (Gentleman's Magazine, vol. lii. p. 309.)

Eighty-seven children by two wives: sixty-nine by first, eighteen by second. (Gentleman's Magazine, vol. liii. p. 753.)

Seventy-two children by two wives, and a mother of thirty-two children. (Gentleman's Magazine, vol. lix. pp. 733-4.) To which is appended the following note by the editor:

"The following epitaph, commemorating an instance of remarkable fecundity, is inserted by Mr. Pennant in his Journey to Snowdon: 'Here lyeth the body of Nicholas Hookes, of Conway, Gent., who was the forty-first child of his father, William Hookes, Esq., by Alice his wife, and the father of twenty-seven children, who died the 20th day of March, 1637.'"

PANTAGRUEL.

It seems there can be no doubt that Richard de Clare, second Earl of Pembroke, surnamed Strongbow, was eldest son of Gilbert de Clare, first Earl of Pembroke: which last was second son of Gilbert de Tonebrugge. That Strongbow's father's name was Gilbert is proved from a charter in which he (the father) made a grant of the church of Everton to the priory of St. Neot, commencing "Gilbertus, filius G. Comes de Penbroc," &c. (See Dugdale.) And I find this confirmed by a valuable old pedigree in the possession of a member of my family (date cir. 1620), which was admitted as principal evidence, and examined, in a successful suit in the Court of Chancery, in the latter half of the last century; in which pedigree the De Clares are introduced among the "præclarissimæ affinitates." An extract would be needless, and occupy your valuable space to no purpose.

To account for the singularity mentioned by your correspondent in the charter of Strongbow, I can make but these two suggestions: either the reading is correct,—in which case the true name of the first Earl of Pembroke was Richard Gilbert, which, I need hardly say, is possible, notwithstanding the existence of his elder brother Richard; or, the reading is incorrect, in which case the mistake probably arose from the writer, notwithstanding he had written "Comes Ric'" previously, by a natural oversight inserting it again after "fil," intending to write, "Comes Ric' fil Gisleb'ti."

It may be an admission of ignorance on my part, but I am unable to find in any of the authorities I have at hand, that Strongbow, Earl of Pembroke, was, as your correspondent states him to have been, also Earl of Chepstow. Will he be kind enough to give me a reference?

In the above-mentioned pedigree the arms of the De Clares are given down to Strongbow—or, three chevrons gules; while the bearing of the latter is or, five chevrons gules. Burke, in his Extinct Peerage, gives the arms of both the De Clares, Earls of Pembroke, or three chevrons gules, a lable of five points az.; while in another authority, Berry's Encycl., I find for the two De Clares, Earls of Pembroke, two widely different coats, viz. ar. on a chief az. three crosses pattée fitchée of the field; and or, three chevrons gules, a crescent az. Can any of your heraldic correspondents account for these various bearings?

H. C. K.

—— Rectory, Hereford.

MR. WM. SIDNEY GIBSON has correctly referred to the authority for this designation; but it may be well, before pursuing the inquiry, to place before the reader the very words of the register of the Grey Friars of London:

"Versus quasi medium chori jacet dominus Willelmus Fitzwarryn Baro, et Isabella uxor sua quondam Regina Man."

Collectanea Top. et Geneal. v. 278.

MR. GIBSON has also correctly added, that in my note to this entry I have not afforded any information about the lady Isabel. It is true that I searched for such information in vain; and the information I gave in lieu was the date of the death of William Lord Fitz-Warine, viz., the 35 Edw. III. (1361), and the name of the lady he is known from record (Ex. 22 Edw. III. no. 39.), to have married, namely, Amicia, daughter and heir of Sir Henry de Haddon. As there is not the slightest ground for imagining that this Amicia was ever "Queen of Man," it must therefore be concluded, supposing that the register of the Grey Friars gives a faithful reflection of the epitaph, that the Lord Fitz-Warine had a second wife. I am not inclined to adopt MR. GIBSON'S suggestion that this lady was Sibilla, daughter of William de Montacute, first Earl of Salisbury, because the lordship of Man descended to the second earl, and he possessed it until the 16 Ric. II. (1393). It seems therefore that the only "Queen of Man" that could be the wife of William Lord Fitz-Warine, must have been the widow of the first Earl of Salisbury, who died in 1343. The wife of that earl and the mother of his heir was Katharine, daughter of William Lord Granson, as Mr. Beltz gives that name, correcting the more prevalent form of Grandison. The question therefore to be decided is—Did this lady survive him, or did he marry a second wife named Isabella? In either case, I think it is clear that the lady buried at the Grey Friars was the Dowager Countess of Salisbury. Mr. Beltz has given a memoir of Sir William Fitz-Warine in his Memorials of the Garter, but he was not aware of the baron's connexion with "the Queen of Man." Dying of the plague on the 28th Oct. 1361, it was probably in haste that his body was interred in the church of the Grey Friars, and the queen may have fallen a victim to the same pestilence. There is an effigy in the church at Wantage which is ascribed to this Lord Fitz-Warine; and it is accompanied by one of a lady, probably Amicia Haddon, on whose death, some time before his own, that monument may have been erected. These effigies are engraved in the series by Hollis. There is a peculiarity attending the barony of this William Fitz-Warine. He was first summoned by writ in 1342 [qu. if 1343, and thus after his marriage with the Dowager Countess of Salisbury?]; and though he left a son and heir, Sir Ivo Fitz-Warine, that son was never summoned to parliament. A similar course has been observed in other cases where the title to a barony was jure uxoris, in which condition may be included the state of the second husband of a countess, there being instances of men in that position being summoned to parliament as barons, whilst the countesses their wives were living, and no longer. Thus it is possible that Fitz-Warine was summoned, because he had married the countess and "queen;" and his son Ivo was not summoned, because he was the son of Amicia Haddon.

With regard to the titles of King or Queen of Man, they do not appear to be recognised by records, but merely by the chroniclers. Dugdale has quoted from the history of Thomas de la Marc, that William, Earl Of Salisbury, having in 16 Edw. III. (1342) conquered the Isle of Man (from the Scots), the king gave him the inheritance, and crowned him king thereof; and Walsingham and Otterbourne (p. 153.) relate that the Vice-Chamberlaine, Sir William Scrope, in 16 Ric. II. (1393) purchased the sovereignty of the Isle of Man cum corona. But the word dominus, not rex, is employed in Latin records, and seigneur in French. On the seal of the first Earl of Salisbury he is styled dominus de dynbi et mannie, and on his counterseal dominus de man et de dynbi; and on a counter or privy seal of the second earl he is styled dominus mannie et de dynbi (i.e. Denbigh, not "Derby," as misprinted in p. 132. antea). These seals have been recently engraved in the Salisbury volume of the Archæological Institute. The second earl in his will, made the 20th April, 1397, styles himself "Earl of Salisbury and Lord of the Isles of Man and Wiht," although he had then sold the lordship of Man some years before. In the Harleian charters is a bond from the purchaser to the famous Sir Richard Whityngton, citizen and mercer of London, dated 29th Aug. 1393, in which he is described as "William le Scrope, Seigneur de Man et des Isles;" and in the truce with France on the 10th March, 1394, "Monsieur Gwilliam le Scrope" is recorded to have assented to the proceedings "pour le seigneury de Man," as one of the allies of the King of England. (Fœdera, iii. part iv. p. 95.) It is not easy to determine when or where these potent subjects really assumed the rank or title of "king" and "queen;" and it must be recollected that the King of England himself was at the same period content to call himself only "Lord of Ireland," as the Earl of Salisbury was "Lord of Man."

It may stimulate MR. GIBSON, as a north countryman, to further researches in this matter to remind him that it is to Katharine, Countess of Salisbury, at the Castle of Wark in Northumberland, that Mr. Beltz has traced the anecdote related by Froissart of the especial admiration which King Edward III. conceived for a Countess of Salisbury; connected with which are some of the legendary stories of the origin of the Order of the Garter (see Memorials of the Garter, pp. 63. et seq.). It would be a remarkable fact to ascertain that the object of the king's gallantry became afterwards even a nominal queen.

JOHN GOUGH NICHOLS.

—The town of Kingston-upon-Hull was founded by King Edward I., when he returned from Scotland, through Yorkshire, in 1299, and it may be seen in Hollar's map of the town, as it was in 1640, that the ground plan coincides exactly with MR. PARKER'S description of the "Villes Anglaises" in France.

F. HH.

—Pasquier is the great author originally in her favour. Hallam refers also to Vellay, Hist. de France, tom. i. on one side, and a dissertation by Gaillard in the Memoirs of the Academy of Inscriptions, tom. xxx. on the other. Hallam himself was against her. In his Supplement, p. 19., he is rather undecided.

Michelet and Sismondi do not seem to defend her; nor, I believe, Guizot, who considers there was a constant struggle between the Frank and Roman inhabitants, and that Fredegonde and Brunéhaut were the heads and types respectively of the two races, and their respective principles of government.

C. B.

—The criticisms of your correspondent RECHABITE are of so singular a character, that I must beg him to excuse my passing over, unnoticed, the first paragraph.

The second appears calculated to traduce the character of a man celebrated for his integrity, judgment, accurateness, preciseness, and skill in his sketches, &c. The Inscriptio Persepolitana, p. 333., is his own sketch: "Verum, unius descriptio tam longam mihi facessebat operam (ob loci altitudinem et solares radios permolestam) ut parum abesset, quin à ceteris abstinere coactus fuerim." (P. 332.) There were three others: "Inscriptionis quadruplex quasi tabula spectatur." Perhaps it may be one of the latter ones that RECHABITE has seen in Niebuhr and Porter. I have not seen those works.

Next, why does RECHABITE not say what are the two letters which I have translated as two words containing eight letters?

And now for my theory, and Major Rawlinson's improved translation of the inscription, all together. Let the reader of "N. & Q." turn to Kæmpfer, p. 341., and he will see the procession that is described in p. 333. Does he think that Ormazd, Xerxes, Darius, or Achæmenes is there? I assure him that they are not mentioned. In fact, the engravings were made long before the date 694 B.C., when Achæmenes began his reign. But it appears that an Egyptian reed is thought sufficient to prop up a structure raised in the sand.

Finally, my great desire is, that some spirited person would take up the matter, and let the old and new system be tried by proper tests; and let the conquered have a decent burial.

T. R. BROWN.

Southwick, near Oundle.

—Notwithstanding the high legal tone which pervades the replies you have received on Parish Registers, I cannot acquiesce in the conclusion that "the genealogical or archæological inquirer has in general no right to inspect," much less to copy, the Register Books. What object could there be in enforcing the keeping and preservation of registers by the officiating ministers, even under the pain of transportation for fourteen years of any person wilfully injuring them, and the cost to parishes for providing iron chests, except it be "for the inspection of persons desirous to make search therein, and obtain copies from and out of the same." (52 Geo. III. cap. 146.) And by the act just quoted, the minister and the public are bound with regard to fees due on searching, and for copies. He is entitled "to all due legal and accustomed fees on such occasions, and all powers and remedies for recovery thereof." And by the 49th section of a more recent Registration Act (6 & 7 Wm. IV.), registers of baptisms and burials may still be kept, and, by inference, the fees are included; because by the 35th section the fees for the examination of the registers created by this last act are defined; but then they apply only to those registers, the power of that act being only prospective, not retrospective.

The following note, made many years ago, from Phillip's Law of Evidence (which, from the number of editions it has passed through, must be supposed to be a work of considerable weight), will probably set the question at rest, as he refers to adjudged cases:

"Parish registers are public books, and persons interested in them have a right to inspect and take copies of such parts as relate to their interest.—Geery v. Hopkins, 2 Lord Raym. 850.; Warriner v. Giles, 2 Stra. 954.; Mayor of Lond. v. Swinhead, 1 Barnardist. 454."

The reply, therefore, to the Query of D. (Vol. iv., p. 474.) seems to be, that any person has a right to consult the parish registers, not gratuitously, but on payment of the accustomed fee.

H. T. ELLACOMBE.

Clyst St. George.

It may be of use to D. (Rotherfield), to be referred to the Justice of the Peace for 31st January, 1852, wherein, at p. 76., he will find an opinion given, that, for the search the clergyman has a right to charge 1s. and no more, whatever may be the number of names, unless the search extended over a period of more than one year, when he would be entitled to 6d. extra for every additional year.

REGEDONUM.

—Some fancy of this kind at Mr. Weld's of Lulworth Castle, in Dorsetshire, exaggerated or highly coloured by O'Keefe, was supposed to afford the title and principal incident of his extravagant but laughable comedy of The London Hermit; or, Rambles in Dorsetshire, first played in 1793, with great success, and revived (cut down to a two-act farce) in 1822. I, too, have heard the story as told of Mr. Hamilton and Payne's Hill; but I a little doubt it, because in the elaborate and somewhat pompous description of Payne's Hill there is no mention of the Hermitage; and when I saw it as a show place a great many years ago, I saw no building of that description; but, after all, this may have been the original story which O'Keefe transported into Dorsetshire.

C.

—Allow me to correct one or two errors into which your correspondent H. L. has fallen.

In the first place, my letter was not intended (nor, I conceive, was that of your correspondent LLEWELLYN) either to support a favourite theory, or to combat a long-established prejudice; but simply to furnish a contribution to MR. FOSS'S list of monumental effigies decorated with this "much-vext" ornament.

As to the mistakes (if mistakes they be) which H. L. assumes, they are not mine, but those of persons whose authority on these subjects H. L. (like the celebrated reviewer who criticised Pindar's Greek without knowing it) might find it awkward to impugn.

I may as well inform him, by the way, that the corf de mailles, which originally covered the whole head, as a sort of cowl, was diminished in size until it became little more than a gorget of mail; and appears at last to have formed a portion of the hauberk. The name also changed its orthography: passing, as has been suggested, through the intervening stage of cap-mail, until it was corrupted into camail. There is, therefore, no ground for "assuming" the ignorance of persons who use the original, instead of the corrupted form of a word.

Perhaps H. L. has never heard of a helmet being worn over a bascinet. I can furnish him with a few instances of monumental effigies where both appear. He should study the monument in question before he pronounces the use of the word "helmet" to be a mistake.

I would suggest to H. L. that the next time he appears in your pages he had better append his name in full, that those whom he assails may be better able to judge of the value of his criticism.

I will only add that it is hardly fair to "assume" that a man has never studied a subject which has been his hobby for thirty years; and who might be able to prove, by ocular demonstration, that he has "studied" more monumental effigies than H. L. probably ever dreamt of.

LEWIS EVANS.

—It was not Herschel's discoveries relative to the sun's motion, but his theory relative to its physical constitutions, which was anticipated by a person, who was declared to be mad for holding such opinions. Sir David Brewster, in a note to his edition of Ferguson's Astronomy, vol. ii. p. 144., says:

"It is a curious fact that the opinions of Dr. Herschel, respecting the nature of the sun, were maintained by a Dr. Elliot, who was tried at the Old Bailey for shooting Miss Boydell. The friends of the Doctor maintained that he was insane, and called several witnesses to establish this point. Among these was Dr. Simmons, who declared that Dr. Elliot had, for some months before, shown a fondness for the most extravagant opinions; and that in particular, he had sent to him a letter on the light of the celestial bodies, to be communicated to the Royal Society. This letter confirmed Dr. Simmons in the belief that this unhappy man was under the influence of this mental derangement; and, as a proof of the correctness of this opinion, he directed the attention of the court to a passage of the letter, in which Dr. Elliot states, 'that the light of the sun proceeds from a dense and universal aurora, which may afford ample light to the inhabitants of the surface (of the sun) beneath, and yet be at such a distance aloft as not to annoy them.' No objection, says he, ariseth to that great luminary being inhabited; vegetation may obtain there, as well as with us. There may be water and dry land, hills and dales, rain and fair weather; and as the light, so the season, must be eternal; consequently it may easily be conceived to be by far the most blissful habitation of the whole system." (See the Gentleman's Magazine, 1787, p. 636.)

W. G.

—In reply to CEYREP I would recommend to his notice the following publications; they may assist him materially in his inquiries, viz.:

1. "Moore's List of the Principal Monasteries and Castles in Great Britain. Revised by John Caley, Keeper of the Records of the Abbey lands in the Exchequer. 8vo. 1798."

2. "Fragmenta Scoto-Monastica: Memoir of what has been already done, and what Materials exist, towards the Formation of a Scottish Monasticon: to which are appended, Sundry New Instances of Goodly Matter, by a Delver in Antiquity (W. B. Turnbull). 8vo. 1842."

In the Advocates' Library here, there are, I understand, a few MSS. relative to these religious establishments, such as Rentales; also Father Richard Hay's MS. entitled Scotia Sacra, being an account of the most renowned monasteries in Scotland, with a series of the several bishops, priors, and other governors, &c., written in 1700, folio.

T. G. S.

Edinburgh.

—The editorial reply to AN M.D. seems to me very unsatisfactory. Would it not be more reasonable to refer the custom to the Scandinavian mythology, wherein the mistletoe is dedicated to Friga, the Venus of the Scandinavians; especially when we remember that previous to the introduction of Christianity, the feast of Thor was celebrated by the Northmen at nearly the same period? a fact which also accounts for the Bacchanalian character of the Christian feast. Students of the Edda will remember the importance of the mistletoe in the Scandinavian legends; the story of Loke's attack on Balder hinging upon the parasite character of the plant. It is worth a note in passing, that the holly owes its importance in the Christmas festivities to paganism. The Romans dedicated the holly to Saturn, whose festival was held in December; and the early Christians, to screen themselves from persecution, decked their houses with its branches during their own celebration of the Nativity.

SHIRLEY HIBBERD.

—I allow all that has been said, though the Rubric in our Prayer Book directs the ring to be placed on the fourth finger, and held there, &c. Still I have read of the earliest custom being, after repeating the words "With this ring I thee wed," &c., on coming to "In the name of the Father," to place the ring on the top of the thumb; "and of the Son," to place it on the top of the forefinger; "and of the Holy Ghost," to place it on the top of the third finger; and, on repeating the word "amen," to put the ring down over the fourth finger; thereby "ratifying, and confirming the same." This seems the most serious conclusion of the matter.

R. F. M.

—The Glossary of Architecture is right in its description, but not in its conclusion. There are many instances where the Sanctus Bell, or its remains, still exist in the tower or bell chamber. As e.g. at Addington, Bucks, the "Parson's Bell," as it is now called there, is to be seen in a small aperture in the wall of the bell-chamber, exposed to the outside, on the west. A similar aperture, size, and position, but minus the bell, can also be seen in the tower of Merriott, Somerset. The recess in the wall of the tower of Trumpington Church was clearly for the sacristan (perhaps) to stand in to ring the bell. In the ringing chamber in the tower of Halstock, Dorset, is a wedge-like aperture in the wall next the nave; it is about three feet square, and splays from a narrow slit in the church over the tower arch. This was evidently for the sacristan to observe the proper times for ringing the bell. The top of the tower, bell-chamber, &c., had been rebuilt about a hundred years since, which may account for no loop-hole now to be seen. No doubt there are many others.

R. F. M.

—The following titles of books of this nature are taken from A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. The second edition, corrected and enlarged. 8vo. London, 1788.

1. "A Caveat for Common Cursetors, vulgarly called Vagabones; set forth by Thomas Harman, Esquier, for the Utilitie and Proffyt of hys Naturall Countrye. Newly Augmented and Imprinted, Anno Domini M.D.LXVII."

2. "The Bellman of London, bringing to light the most notorious villanies that are now practised in the Kingdom. Profitable for gentlemen, lawyers, merchants, citizens, farmers, masters of households, and all sorts of servants, to marke and delightfull for men to reade. Lege, Perlege, Relege. 1608."

3. "English Villanies, seven severall times prest to death by the printers; but (still reviving againe) are now the eighth time (as the first) discovered by lanthorne and candle light. Et cet.... London, 1638."

4. "The Canting Academy; or Villanies discovered: Wherein are shown the Mysterious and Villanous Practices of that Wicked Crew, commonly known by the Names of Hectors, Trapanners, Gilts, et cet., with several new Catches and Songs; also a Compleat Canting Dictionary both of Old Words and such as are now most in Use: a Book very useful and necessary (to be known but not practised) for all People. The Second Edition: London. N. B.—The dedication is signed R. Head."

5. "Hell upon Earth; or the most pleasant and delectable History of Whittington's Colledge, otherwise (vulgarly) called Newgate. Giving an Account of the Humours of those Collegians who are strictly examined at the Old Bailey, and take their Highest Degrees near Hyde Park Corner.... London, 1703."

6. "The Scoundrel's Dictionary, 1754."

CRANMORE.

—With the utmost deference to so high an authority, on such a subject, as SIR EMERSON TENNENT, I must deny that Cos, Athens, or Constantinople have been called by the Greeks, Stanco, Satines, or Stamboul.

These corruptions have been made by Turks, Venetians, and Englishmen; and in speaking to barbarians the Greek uses barbarous terms to make himself intelligible; but in speaking to another Greek, and in writing, Athens is Athens, Cos is Cos, and Constantinople is ἡ πόλις.

Very few corruptions of names of places have taken place amongst the Greeks; while every island, peak, and every headland in the Ægean cries out against Venetian barbarism.

Patræ is Patras in the mouths of Englishmen, and Patrasso with Italians: the Greeks call it Πατραι, and generally write it Παλαιαι Πατραι.

Corcyra has lost her name, but has received a correct Greek name, Οἱ Κόρυφοι—the peaks—whether of the citadel or of Mount San Salvador. This has become Corfu. Ithaca has lost her name and is now Theaki.

A Greek does not know what place you mean.

I should be obliged if any correspondent can tell me whether Paxo is mentioned by any classical author. It has a plural termination: Οι Παξοι εις τοὺς Παξους.

L. H. J. T.

—For several years past I have had by me a little memorandum in the handwriting of a friend. It states that Baskerville was once foreman to a stonemason, during which time he had cut some lines upon the tombstone of a poor idiot, who was buried in Edgbaston churchyard. The lines are these:

A few days since (Jan. 26), being at Birmingham, I visited Edgbaston churchyard, and on making inquiry for the above-mentioned tombstone, was grieved to learn (from one who resembled the sexton) that nothing had been heard of it since the year 1816. It seems that, with many other tombstones, it had been maliciously broken and destroyed in the said year, and that though a reward had been offered for the detection of the criminals, they had never been discovered. Is all this true? or have I given the epitaph correctly? If not, it is more my misfortune than my fault, for I am as accurate on the matter as I have the power of being at present.

RT.

Warmington.

—Your correspondent ☞ F. is informed that Marwell Old Hall, formerly the residence of the Seymour, and afterwards of the Dacre family, situate between Winchester and Bishops Waltham, is connected by tradition with the story of Ginevra; and the compiler of the Post Office Directory of Hampshire (1848) states, that "the chest, said to be the identical one, is now the property of the Rev. J. Haygarth, Rector of Upham," a village in the immediate locality, "and may be seen in his entrance hall."

H. EDWARDS.

—BURIENSIS complains that "the inquiry of STEPHEN has not elicited one answer, nor one additional note of other trees designated as Gospel Oaks." I conjecture that the cause of this silence is, that the oaks so called have long since perished. In this neighbourhood there are two iron-works situated near the boundary of the parishes of Tipton and Wednesbury, which are called respectively Gospel Oak Works and Wednesbury Oak Works. The tradition respecting the name of Gospel Oak is, that it was so called in consequence of it having been the practice in ancient times to read under a tree which grew there, a portion of the Gospels on the annual perambulation of the bounds of the parish on Ascension Day. That Gospel Oak and Wednesbury Oak marked the boundary line of the parishes of Tipton and Wednesbury is highly probable.

FABER.

West Bromwich.

Your correspondent BURIENSIS (Vol. v. p. 157.) has supplied a quotation from Mr. Hollingsworth to the effect, that these ancient trees were probably Druidical, under whose "leafy tabernacles" the first Christian missionaries preached. This view of their origin is borne out by the ordinary practice of Christian missionaries to the Heathen of the present day, who are frequently driven to the shelter of some umbrageous giant of the forest, to deliver the Word of Life. In some cases I imagine that it may be found that such trees have been rendered sacred by the superstition of the native inhabitants; and it is scarcely venturing too much in supposing, that as the moral wilderness becomes cultivated, that similar traditions with our own may be handed down to future generations, and especially if we look so far forward as to the time when the sable inhabitants of the centre of Africa may in their progress be occupied by curious questions of a bygone age in their "N. & Q."

EXON.

I quite agree with your correspondent BURIENSIS as to the origin of the title given to various old oak trees in different parts of the country. These trees were no doubt selected on account of either their position, age, or size, as places of assembly for the early Christians, and from them the "Gospel" was, probably, first preached in their respective neighbourhoods.

That these trees were connected with religious observances is evident from the following lines in the 502nd poem of Herrick's Hesperides. The poem is addressed "To Anthea:"—

P. T.

Stoke Newington.

—MR. HICKSON's objections to this reading are twofold—matter of opinion, and matter of fact: of course, it is only with the latter that I may presume to interfere.

I beg to refer him to the precepts of Polonius to his son, no further than the third scene of the same play, amongst which he will find this line:

Although it does not prove that "the English language admits of the formation of a perfect sentence without a verb," yet it does show that the verb need not always be expressed; but may be left to the hearer, or reader, to supply, according to the requirements of the context.

The line just quoted is found amongst a number of imperative precepts—the verb to be supplied is therefore the imperative of "to be"—

Similarly, the line to which MR. HICKSON takes exception is found amongst a number of described appearances—the verb, therefore, must be in accordance:

Many better examples of this most common license might doubtless be adduced; but I always like to take the nearest at hand.

A. E. B.

Leeds.

P. S.—MR. HICKSON will find it difficult to confine the portents of Cæsar's death to the night time. All authorities mention the obscuration of the sun—necessarily from spots, if the moon were eclipsed since sun and moon could not both be eclipsed about the same time.

Wiggan, or Utiggan, an Oxford Student (Vol. v., p. 78.).—

appears in A Catalogue of All Graduates, &c., created in the University of Oxford, printed at the Clarendon press in the year M.DCCLXXIJ.

W. DN. will also find the following in the same catalogue:—

FABER FERRARIUS.

Dublin.

—I have a cutting from a newspaper of 1849 confirmative of the truth of this practice:—

"MENDICANT FREEMASONRY.—Persons indiscreet enough to open their purses to the relief of the beggar tribe would do well to take a readily-learned lesson as to the folly of that misguided benevolence which encourages and perpetuates vagabondism. Every door or passage is pregnant with instruction as to the error committed by the patron of beggars, as the beggar-marks show that a system of free-masonry is followed, by which a beggar knows whether it will be worth his while to call into a passage or knock at a door. Let any one examine the entrances to the passages in any town, and there he will find chalk marks, unintelligible to him, but significant enough to beggars. If a thousand towns are examined, the same marks will be found at every passage entrance. The passage mark is a cypher with a twisted tail: in some cases the tail projects into the passage, in others outwardly; thus seeming to indicate whether the houses down the passage are worth calling at or not. Almost every door has its marks: these are varied. In some cases there is a cross on the brick-work, others, a cypher: the figures 1, 2, 3 are also used. Every person may for himself test the accuracy of these statements by the examination of the brickwork near his own doorway ... thus demonstrating that mendicity is a regular trade, carried out upon a system calculated to save time and realise the largest profits!"

A. A. D.

[5]

—Moore has given a reference himself as to where the story of the "inextinguishable fire of St. Bridget," alluded to in his melody, may be found: viz. Giraldus Camb. de Mirab. Hibern. dist. ii. c. 34.

[5] Not "lay."

A. A. D.

—MR. CHADWICK inquires the meaning of this word. In Bosworth's Anglo-Saxon Dictionary I find, "Hyrne, a horn, corner;" "Hirne, an angle, a corner;" and in Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words I find "Hirne, a corner." In many villages in the fen districts of Lincolnshire are found places called the Hirne, the Hurne, or the Horn's-end all being portions of the respective villages situated in an angle or corner at the extreme end of the parish.

"Horncastle in Lincolnshire, the Banovallum of the Roman geographer Ravennas, derives its name from its situation in an angle formed by the junction of two small rivers, the Bane and the Waring. Horncastle is a corruption of Hyrncastre, a fortification in an angle or corner."—See Weir's Horncastle.

P. T.

Stoke Newington.

—In the Alvearie, or Quadruple Dictionarie, by Baret, published in 1580, may be found the comma, colon, semicolon, and period. The semicolon appears, as far as my observation has gone, to have been there used, not as a stop, but as a note of contraction. The point of interrogation is plentifully scattered throughout the same work; as also, the index ☞.

FRANCISCUS.

—Your correspondent as to MSS. formerly at Enmore may learn their fate on applying to Mr. Woodgate, of Lincoln's Inn. I think the MSS. were sent to the then Lord Perceval. Mr. N. B. Acworth, of the English bar, would also probably know.

J. R. P.

—In addition to the instances in Oxon and Wilts, already mentioned, the town of Kinsey occurs on the high road leading from Prince's Risborough to Thame. Is Kinsey, in this case, a contraction for Kings-way, as in Oxon; and is this a continuation of King Athelstan's road?

B. WILLIAMS.

—At Vol. iv., p. 455., on the subject of the Duc d'Enghien's murder, Fouché's Memoirs are quoted in proof that the saying, "C'était pire qu'un crime, c'était une faute," was claimed as his own by that famous police minister. Indeed, I have little doubt of the fact, which, however, can derive no confirmation or authority from the quoted work; for this nominal autobiography has been pronounced, on a regular trial before the French tribunals, an utter cheat and imposition; though referred to by Mr. Alison, in his History of Europe, volume the fifth, p. 482. (original edition), as genuine, as well as by Lord Brougham in the third volume of his Statesmen; yet with less decided assertion than by the Scotch historian. Fouché's family at once denounced the fabrication, and obtained heavy damages from the printer; who equally succeeded against the writer, Alphons de Beaumont, and was awarded large damages for the imposition. (See Gentleman's Magazine for November, 1842.) It is at present perfectly understood that the sharp and apt antithesis, however immoral, was Fouché's.

Talleyrand's reputation for ready wit fixed on him the paternity of numerous bons mots, which have proved to be of alien birth. Voltaire, Piron, Mirabeau, in France; and Chesterfield, Selwyn, Wilkes, &c. in England; with Curran in Ireland, and many others, have similarly obtained credit for pointed expressions not of their utterance, as to the rich are generally given by rumour more than they possess. "On ne prête qu'aux riches," is an apposite proverb, long since indeed stated by the sententious Euripides: "Ὁρῶσσι δὲ οἱ διδόντες εἰς τὰ χρήματα" (In Fragmentis). Cicero tells us, in his letter to Volumnius (Epistol. Famil. lib. vii. ep. 32.), that the sayings of others had been thus similarly fathered on him: "Ais omnia omnium dicta in me conferri;" and complains, half-humorously and half-seriously, that his supremacy of wit was not sufficiently protected from usurpers or intruders: "Quod parum diligenter possessio salinarum mearum, ate procuratore, defenditur," &c.

J. R. (Cork.)

—Shakspeare, in Hamlet, alludes to the popular notion respecting this bird:

The best representation I have ever seen of the pelican feeding her young occurs in the works of a Roman printer, in the early part of the eighteenth century, Rocco Bernabo, who has taken for his device a pelican feeding her five young ones, a crown of thorns encircling them.

The pelican has a long bag or pouch, reaching the entire length of the bill to the neck. In feeding its young, the bird squeezes the food deposited in the bag into their mouths, by strongly compressing it upon its breast with the bill. (See Calmet and Shaw.) Hence the popular idea.

MARICONDA.

Feb. 10. 1852.

—Your correspondent W. S. S. is, I think, right in supposing Bow-bell to be almost synonymous with Cockney. I quote a passage from the London Prodigall, which had once the honour of being attributed to Shakspeare.

RT.

Warmington.

—In MR. SINGER'S note on the word cou-bache, in the enumeration of the cognate words which would appear to contradict the usual interpretation, he would seem to have forgotten the Greek Βήσσα, which confirms it, and has precisely the meaning of a shaded mountain valley, and certainly belongs to the same tribe of the Indo-Germanic languages as the pure Saxon bæccha.

RICHARD F. LITTLEDALE.

—The expression white-livered had its origin in the auspices taken by the Greeks and Romans before battle, in which the examination of the liver and entrails of the victim formed an essential part. If the liver were the usual shape, and a blood-red colour, the omen was favourable; if pale or livid, it was an augury of defeat. The transition from the victim to the inquirer was easy, and a dastard leader, likely to sustain disgrace, was called "a man of a white liver."

RICHARD F. LITTLEDALE.

Dublin.

—Your correspondent W. L. may perhaps find the origin of the above phrase in the following epitaph copied from the floor of Exeter College Chapel, Oxford:

What is the meaning of the capitals? Close by is the following:

H. H. G.

Frognal.

These lines were first quoted by Madan, in his translation of Juvenal, as a note on the words—

He prefaced the lines by confessing that he could not recollect where he had met with them; but Gifford, in his translation of Juvenal (3rd edition, 1817), assigns them to "Athelwold, a forgotten tragedy by Aaron Hill." I have referred to the play, for the sake of obtaining a correct copy of the quotation, and a reference to Act and Scene.

C. FORBES.

Temple.

—The British word Blaen, a frequent prefix, means top point, or fore part: hence Blaenffrwyth, first fruit; Blaenafon, source of a river, &c.

E. ALLEN.

—At Erbistock, near this place (it is called "Saint Erbyn's stoke" in the Valor Ecclesiasticus made temp. Henry VIII.), there is a stone weir across the river Dee, which there washes the base of the rock on which the Parish church is built. The use of this weir is now only to divert a part of the stream to a corn mill; but a weir may have been erected here in ancient times for the purpose of catching salmon, as it is the first weir above Chester on the river Dee. The name of Saint Erbyn is not to be found in the Calendar of Welsh Saints; but I apprehend that the authority of the commissioners of Henry VIII. may be deemed sufficient for placing his name in the next edition of the Calendar that shall be published.

☞

Wrexham Regis.

The quotation from Bosworth is doubtless correct. Blomfield, in his History of Norfolk, when describing Stoke-ferry, says:

"This town stands on the river Wissey, and in the Book of Domesday it is wrote 'Stoches;' not taking its name from stoch, (i.e.) some wood, but from stow, a dwelling or habitation, and ches, or kes, by the water."

There are two villages of the name of Stoke in Norfolk, and both are situate on small streams.

J. F. F.

West Newton.

—The editorial reply in this page has referred to the Note on Funerals which I prefixed to Machyn's Diary; and from that book may certainly be gathered the best possible notion of the style and character of the hearse, and other paraphernalia attendant upon funerals in England during the sixteenth century. But in a book which I edited for another Society, namely, The Unton Inventories, 1841, will be found the authority for Lloyd's statement relative to the funeral of Sir Henry Unton: it is the certificate in the College of Arms, which states that he was buried at Faringdon "with a baron's hearse, and in the degree of a baron, because he died ambassador leidger for France." A Lord Mayor of London, dying in office, was in like manner interred with the observances due to a baron. It appears from Sir Henry Unton's papers that he was usually addressed as "My Lord" whilst in France as ambassador. May I inquire whether that practice is still kept up towards ambassadors who are not peers? or, if not, when did it cease?

JOHN GOUGH NICHOLS.

—There is an engraving of the Bed of Ware in Clutterbuck's History of Hertfordshire, and another in Shaw's Ancient Furniture.

J. G. N.

[We are also reminded by Mr. C. H. COOPER that it is engraved in Knight's Pictorial Shakspeare.]

—Will you permit a Note to say, that Herder, after Lessing, and in continuation of his essay, wrote on the subject of "Death, as symbolically represented by the Ancients." Lessing's treatise was lately mentioned by one of your correspondents, without any notice of Herder's.

J. M.

—I send the following "Notes from Newspapers," thinking they may be of service to [Gh.].:—

"His Majesty has been pleased to appoint the Hon. Col. Wolfe to be Inspector of all the marines."—London and County Journal, May 13, 1742.

These lines are headed "An Epitaph intended for General Wolfe." They are signed by E. D.

In the Illustrated London News of Jan. 24 is the popular air known as "General Wolfe's Song," which, according to Sir H. Bishop's "note," is said to have been composed by him the night previous to the battle on the Plains of Abraham.

H. G. D.

—Fuller defines a proverb "much matter decocted into few words."—Worthies, ch. ii.

R. W. C.

When we remember the ill-drawn and gaudily coloured prints with which, until these few years, it was the fashion to illustrate all books intended for the use and amusement of young people, we cannot but be forcibly struck with the improvement which has taken place in this respect. These remarks have been suggested to us by a couple of children's books just issued by Messrs. Addey, in the illustration of which those tasteful publishers have employed the able pencil of Hablot Browne. The first, Home and its Pleasures, Simple Stories for Young People, by Mrs. Harriet Myrtle, contains eight admirable designs; while Aunt Effie's Rhymes for Little Children—and Aunt Effie is a most capital writer of Rhymes for Babyland—is enriched with no less than twenty-four illustrations, some of which are rich in the peculiar humour of this artist. To the same house we are also indebted for a work of still higher interest, namely, a new and complete edition of The Danish Fairy Legends and Tales, by Hans Christian Andersen, containing (besides a Memoir of the Author) no less than forty-five tales, translated direct from the original language, and not through any German version. This will be good news to all who know and admire the playful humour and deep imaginings of the great Danish Story Teller.

Child's Play, Seventeen Drawings by E. V. B., demands notice, not as a work of literature, but of Art, and Art of a very high order. For fancy, grace, and simplicity, these exquisite illustrations of some of our old Nursery Rhymes may challenge comparison with any works of a similar character with which we are acquainted. Produced by the Anastatic process, they show how available that process may be made to the requirements of the amateur: for, admirable as are these designs, they owe their existence to the taste and artistic skill of a lady; for we believe "E. V. B." designates the Hon. Mrs. Boyle. Little wonder, as poor Theodore Hook would have said, to find one of the Cork family distinguished for drawing.

BOOKS RECEIVED.—The Relations between the Holy Scriptures and some parts of Geological Science, the fifth edition of a well-known and much esteemed work by the late Dr. Pye Smith, forms the new issue of Bohn's Scientific Library. His Antiquarian Library has been enriched by the publication of the second volume of The Works of Sir Thomas Browne, containing the last three books of the Vulgar Errors, his Religio Medici, and The Garden of Cyrus. The fifth volume of The Works of Plato, containing the Laws, translated by George Burges, has been added to the Classical Library. Home Truths for Home Peace, or, "Muddle" Defeated; a Practical Inquiry into what chiefly mars or makes the Comfort of Domestic Life, chiefly addressed to Young Housewives, is an attempt at the exposure and destruction of their most insidious and deadly enemy, and deserves to be well known for the good sense, right feeling, and quaint humour, with which its praiseworthy object is inculcated. Lebahn's Henry von Eichenfels, Wonderful History of Peter Schlemihl, Egmont by Goethe, Wilhelm Tell by Schiller. Although there is no royal road to learning, it is unquestionable that the journey may be shortened, and the path rendered less wearisome by the company of judicious guides. The four books edited by M. Falck Lebahn, whose titles we have just enumerated, consisting of well-known masterpieces of his country's literature, each accompanied by a vocabulary, complete, both as regards the words and the difficult phrases in the several works to which they are attached, belong to this class, and will greatly facilitate the self instructor in his acquirement of a language which is not only one of the richest in Europe in indigenous works, but far richer than any other in its translations from all other languages.

EDWIN AND EMMA. Taylor, 1776.

ANNUAL REGISTER, from 1816 inclusive to the present time.

MEDICO CHIRURGICAL TRANSACTIONS. From Part II. of Vol. XI. March, 1819; and also from Vol. XXX.

THE CODE MATRIMONIAL. Paris, 1770.

PRO MATRIMONIO PRINCIPIS CUM DEFUNCTÆ UXORIS SORORE CONTRACTO RESPONSUM JURIS, COLLEGH JURISCONSULTORUM IN ACADEMIÂ RINTELENSI. Published about 1655.

GREGORY'S (DR.) SECOND MEMORIAL TO THE MANAGERS OF THE ROYAL INFIRMARY, EDINBURGH.

HERON'S (SIR ROBERT) NOTES. First Edition. Privately printed.

COBBETT'S STATE TRIALS. 8vo. Vol. VIII. 1810.

ARNOTT'S PHYSICS. 2 Vols.

ISR. CLAUDERI DISPUTATIO DE SALE SUB PRÆSIDIO SAGITTARII. Jenæ, 1650.

CRESCENT AND THE CROSS. Vol I. Third Edition.

MACKINNON'S HISTORY OF CIVILISATION. Vol. II. 1846.

LITE'S DODOENS' HERBAL. First Edition. (An imperfect copy to complete another.)

TURNER'S A BOOKE OF THE NATURES OF THE BATHES IN ENGLAND. 1568. (An imperfect copy to complete another.)

A MOST EXCELLENT AND PERFECTE CORNISH APOTHECARY. 1561. (An imperfect copy to complete another.)

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

NOTES AND QUERIES IN CHINA. It will be seen by a communication in the present Number that "N. & Q." at length entered the Celestial Empire. We are gratified by the fact, and cannot resist therefore laying before our readers the following extract from the private note which accompanied several communications from an old contributor who has removed to that remote quarter of the world:—"I perceive that you have reached India in an Eastern direction; and trust that you will allow one who was a slight contributor at home, to avail himself of your publication in a still more distant oriental land. The "N. & Q." since my introduction of them, have excited here (Victoria, Hong Kong) a remarkable interest in many."

The letter to MR. HAMPSON has been forwarded; as has also the one addressed to our Querist respecting the "Ruthvens."

ÆGROTUS. We have thought we should better serve the cause which our correspondent has at heart, by not calling attention to the subject of his query.

C. B. T. shall receive a note from us.

L. I. N. Many thanks. We have forwarded her communication and specimen of bachelor's buttons to our correspondent.

THE TRADESCANTS. We take this opportunity of calling the attention of our readers to the attempt which is making to raise funds for the restoration of the Tomb of the Tradescants, &c., and of which particulars will be found in our advertising columns. We have reason to believe that we shall, in the course of a short time, be enabled to lay before our readers some new and valuable illustration of their history.

E. N. will find in some modern German books, that capital letters are not even used at the commencement of sentences.

DIABOLUS GANDER. The enigma—

was, we believe, written by Lord Byron.

JUVENIS is in type, although, like many other articles, unavoidably omitted this week for want of room.

H. B. The "Macaronie Poem" has already appeared in "N. & Q." No. 119. p. 123.

A. A. D. The Queries shall have early insertion. The suggestion is a good one, and we will see how far we can adopt it.

ROBERT DE WELLE. Has H. W. (the querist) on G. H. D. (the respondent) any objection to our communicating his name to the other?

AMBROSE FLORENCE will find his Query on "White Livers" in No. 119. p. 127., and the subject of the mistletoe is still under discussion in our columns.

Our correspondence has increased so much, during the last few weeks, that we are compelled to solicit the indulgence of our friends for the postponement of many of their communications.

REPLIES RECEIVED.—Princes of Wales—Extraordinary Number of Children—Long Meg of Westminster—Moonlight—Frozen Sounds—Martinique—Bachelor's Buttons—Old Books and New Titles—Old Scots March—Miniature of Cromwell—Meaning of Hyrne—Mull—Stickle—Equestrian Statue of Elizabeth—Donkey—L'Homme de 1400 Ans.—Greek Translation of Ovid—Dulcarnon—Olivarius Eale—Mother Damnable—News—Covines, &c. (from P. T.)—Dictionary of Provincial Words—Sterne in Paris, &c. (from COWGILL)—Praed's Charades—Byron's Hymn to Ocean—Did St. Paul quote Aristotle—Junius Rumours, &c. (from J. C.)—Dr. Johnson's House—Quid est Episcopus—Family Likenesses—Etymology of Church—Papermaking in England—Muggleton—Archaic Words—Enigmatical Epitaphs—Moravian Hymns—Hernshaw.

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

Neat Cases for loading 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 28, 1852.