Notes and Queries Vol. V., No. 131, Saturday, May 1, 1852

NOTES:—

QUERIES:—

REPLIES:—

MISCELLANEOUS:—

The following extracts from the Register Book of the parish of Sutton on the Forest, Yorkshire, which are in the handwriting of Lawrence Sterne, have come into my possession through the kindness of my friend Archdeacon Creyke (of York), and I beg to offer them for insertion in "N. & Q."

[1] There are two words in Sterne's own memoranda which may puzzle other readers besides me; Sushing and Stukbing. I have thought they might mean sashing, i.e. for windows, and stuccoing the walls. Perhaps some contributor to "N. & Q." will kindly interpret them.

[2] See [1].

These two accounts of hailstorms are supposed to be only quizzes upon prodigious entries of the same sort made by Vicar Walker in 1698. And that this latter is so is evident, from the concluding words being the same as in Walker's memorandum.

Sterne is characteristically exhibited in the subjoined account by the successor of the "reverend joker":

"In the year 1764, during the Incumbency of Mr. Lawrence Sterne, the Vicarage House was burnt down. Tho' frequently admonished and required to rebuild the Vicarage House, he found means to evade the performance of it. He continued Vicar till he died, in March, 1768. Andrew Cheap was appointed his successor, and was advised to accept a composition for Dilapidations from the Widow. A Suit was instituted for Dilapidations, but after a time (the Widow being in indigent circumstances) sixty pounds were accepted.

"In April, 1770, the New House was begun, and finished in May, 1771.

"Total amount of Suit and Building the House, 576l. 13s. 5d.

"ANDREW CHEAP, Vicar."

ALFRED GATTY.

In Mr. Knight's edition, from which the foregoing passage is printed and pointed, the following note is appended to it:

"We encounter at the onset one of the obscure passages for which this play is remarkable. The text is usually pointed thus:—

It is certainly difficult to extract a clear meaning from this; and so Theobald and Hanmer assume that a line has dropped out, which they kindly restore to us, each in his own way."

After relating Steevens' attempt at elucidation, Mr. Knight proceeds to explain the passage by a running interpretation parenthetically applied to each expression; but I doubt very much whether any person would feel much enlightened by it; or whether, amongst so many explanations, any one of them could be pointed out less obscure than the rest.

Let us try, then, what a total change of interpretation will do.

In the sixth line of the Duke's speech, as quoted at the commencement, we find the demonstrative pronoun that, which must have some object. Mr. Knight supposes that object to be "your science." I, on the contrary, am of opinion that it refers to the commission which the Duke holds in his hand, and which he is in the act of presenting to Escalus:

By transposition, this sentence becomes "Then, as your worth is able, no more remains, to your sufficiency, but that."

But what?

Your COMMISSION!

Have we not here the mot to the enigma, the clue to the mystery? When the Duke takes up the commission, he addresses Escalus to the following effect:

"It would be affectation in me to lecture you upon the art of government, since I must needs know that your own science exceeds, in that, the limits of all I could teach you. Therefore, since your worth is able, no more remains to your sufficiency, but—that, and let them work."

The sufficiency here spoken of is twofold, ability to direct, and authority to enforce. The first was personal to Escalus, consisting of his own skill and knowledge; the second was conferred upon him by commission: when both were united, he was to "let them work!"

Reading the passage in this way, there is no necessity for the alteration of a single letter; and yet I will put it to any person of sense and candour, whether the passage be not thereby relieved from all real obscurity?

It must be borne in mind, that the presentation of the commission is the main object of the Duke's address: the presentation therefore is not a single act, but rather a protracted action during the whole speech, finally consummated with the concluding words—"there is our commission."

This is so plain, that it scarcely needs confirmation; but, if it did so, it would receive it, by analogy, in the similarly protracted presentation to Angelo when it becomes his turn to receive his commission. In that case the act of presentation commences with the word "hold:"

And finishes six lines lower down with:

And it is not a little singular, that this word "hold," having been at first similarly misinterpreted, proved as great a stumbling block to Tyrwhitt and others, who seemed to grope about in sheer perverseness, catching at any meaning for it rather than the right, and certainly the obvious one.

A. E. B.

Leeds.

Seeing, in some of the former Numbers of the "N. & Q.", a collection of instances of sudden high spirits immediately preceding some great calamity, it occurred to me that it would be not uninteresting to throw together a few instances of sudden low spirits, or illness, attended with a similar result. Here our only embarrassment is that of riches.

The first example I have selected is taken from the Relation de la Mort de MM. le Duc et le Cardinal de Guise, by the Sieur Miron, physician to King Henry III. He first narrates the preparations for the Duke's assassination, and then proceeds as follows:—

Et peu après que le Duc de Guise fut assis au conseil, 'J'ai froid, dit-il, le cœur me fait mal: que l'on fasse de feu,' et s'adressant au Sieur de Morfontaine, tresorier de l'épargne, 'Monsieur de Morfontaine, je vous prie de dire à M. de St Prix, premier valet de chambre de roy, que je le prie de me donner des raisins de Darnas ou de la conserve de roses.' ... Le Duc de Guise met des prunes dans son drageoir, jette le demeurant sur le tapis. 'Messieurs, dit-il, qui en veut?'—et se lève. Mais ainsi qu'il est à deux pas près de la porte de vieux cabinet, prend sa barbe avec la main droite, et tourne le corps et le feu à demi pour regarder ceux qui le suivoient, fut tout soudain saisi au bras par le Sieur de Montsery l'ainé, qui étoit près de la cheminée, sur l'opinion qu'il ait, que le duc voulut se reculer pour se mettre en défense."

The Sieurs des Effranats, de Saint Malines, and de Loignac hasten to take part in this goodly piece of work, which the Sieur de Montsery the elder has so gallantly begun. Having the Sieur des Effranats hanging on his knees, the Sieur de Montsery the elder clinging to his arm, the Sieur de Saint Malines' dagger sticking in his chest close to his throat, and the Sieur de Loignac's sword run through his reins, the Duke for some time drags them all four up and down the chamber; at last he falls exhausted on the King's bed. Upon this the King—

"Etant en son cabinet, leur ayant demandé s'ils avoient fait, en sortit et donna un coup de pied par le visage à ce pauvre mort."

Surely it was not without good cause that the Duke, a few minutes before, felt "a chill at his heart."—

In the next instance I shall cite, the sudden illness forbodes, not any calamity to the person affected by it, but to the companion of his journey. It is taken from "Arden of Feversham, his true and lamentable Tragedy," author unknown, 1592. Arden and his friend Franklin are travelling by night to Arden's house at Feversham. Franklin is beguiling the tediousness of the way with a tale. The rest the dramatist shall relate in his own words:

Here they are set upon by ruffians, hired by Arden's wife and her paramour. Arden is killed.—

In the two preceding instances an affection of the heart is the herald of misfortune. In Titus Andronicus (Act II., Sc. 4.), Quintus and Martius are afflicted with a sudden dulness of sight, which seems at once to be an omen of impending danger, and to facilitate their succumbing to it.

It is unnecessary to give in detail the horrors that ensue.

X. Z.

I send you two morsels, copied from a small MS. volume of a very miscellaneous character, consisting of poetical extracts, epigrams, receipts, and family memoranda of the ancestors of the gentleman who has kindly permitted me to send you the inclosed.

"A Bill of ffare at the Christning of Mr. Constable's Child, Rector of Cockley Cley in Norfolk, Jan. 2, 1682.

"1. A whole hog's head, souc'd, with carrotts in the mouth and pendants in the ears, with guilded oranges thick sett.

2. 2 ox.'s cheekes stewed, with 6 marrow bones.

3. A leg of veal larded, with 6 pullets.

4. A leg of mutton, with 6 rabbits.

5. A chine of bief, chine of venison, chine of mutton, chine of veal, chine of pork, supported by 4 men.

6. A venison pasty.

7. A great minced pye, with 12 small ones about it.

8. A gelt fat turkey, with 6 capons.

9. A bustard, with 6 pluver.

10. A pheasant, with 6 woodcocks.

11. A great dish of tarts made all of sweetmeats.

12. A Westphalia hamm, with 6 tongues.

13. A jowle of sturgeon.

14. A great chargr of all sorts of sweetmeats, with wine and all sorts of liquors answerable.

"The child, a girle; godfather, Mr. Green, a clergyman; godmothers, Mis Beddingfield of Sherson, and a sister-in-law of Mr. Constable's.

"The guests, Mr. Green, Mr. Bagg and his daughter, and the godmothers.

"The parishrs entertained at another house with rost and boild bief, geese, and turkeys. Soon after the child dyd, and the funerall expenses came to 6d."

"1739. Dec. 28, Friday, began a frost. Satterday and Sunday with the most severe sharp wind that ever was known. Monday and Tuesday fell a great deal of snow, wch continued upon the ground, with the most severe frost ever known, without intermission till Friday, Feb. 1st, then thaw'd in the day. Sharp frost at night. Thaw'd Satterday and Sunday, with rain and sleet of snow, cold air with frost, and continued till Sunday ye 10, when it thaw'd very fast with smal rain and wind: continued till Monday, when it changed into severe frost and a fall of snow, wch held till Sunday, then thaw'd, wind west, in the most gentle manner, insensibly wasting, no flood: extream dry, cold weather till ye 21 of April: yt day a little rain, and on the 22 fell a great deal of snow with a severe north and north-east wind: a little wet and cold wind continued till the 5th of May, when there was hail and snow a foot thick in many places. Continued cold till ye 9th. Wheat 6s. 6d. a strike; barley 3s. 6d.; mutton, in London, 5-1/2d. and 6d. pd, beife 5d.; 3-1/2d. mutton in the country, beife 3d.

"No rain from the 21 April till the 7th of June, but continued cold east and north-east wind, with a frost. June 3d, bread cost at London, ye first sort at 11s. 8d. a strick, a little while. On the 7th of June, wind south-south-west, a charming rain fell every where, wch lowered ye exesive prises: after yt, a drought succeeding, corn kept a high price, wheat 6s., barley 4, till near harvest, and exportation stoped: grass burnt up all summer: very little hay: butter and cheese very dear: everything continued so. Ye 7 of Nov. fell a great snow and rain wch made a flood: ye 10 begun a hard frost, wch continued with great severity, the ground covered with snow till ye 22: the 21 fell a great deal of snow, wch went away with some rain, and was a very great flood. During this frost the Thames was frose, and great calamitys feared from the want of hay and straw, wch the happy thaw prevented."

EDW. HAWKINS.

Allow me to offer a Note on that part of MR. COOPER'S communication (Vol. iii., pp. 148, 149.) which relates to the alleged power of the "seventh son" to cure the "king's evil". This superstition is still extant in this part of Cornwall. I have recently been told of three seventh sons, and of one ninth son, who has been in the habit of touching (or, as it is here called, "striking," which seems to mean nothing more than stroking) persons suffering from the disease above referred to.

The striker thrice gently stokes the part affected by the disorder, and thrice blows on it, using some form of words. One of my informants, who had been so "struck" when a child, has a charm, or rather an amulet, which has just, for the first time, been opened at my instigation. It is a small bag of black silk, and is found to contain an old worn shilling of William III., bored and stitched through in a piece of canvas. This was presented to the patient at the time of the operation, and was to be kept carefully as a preservative against the malady.

In Bristol, about forty years ago, there lived a respectable tradesman who was habitually known as Dr. Peter P——, with no better title to his degree than that he was the seventh son of a seventh son.

Those who have read Mr. Carleton's tragic tale, The Black Prophet, will remember that, in Ireland, the seventh son of the seventh son is supposed to be—

And in Keightley's Fairy Mythology (p. 411. note, ed. 1850) are given some tradition of that gifted Welsh family, the "Jones' of Muddfi," whose forefather had married the "Spirit of the Van Pool."

"She left her children behind her, who became famous as doctors. Jones was their name, and they lived at a place called Muddfi. In them was said to have originated the tradition of the seventh son, or Septimus, being born for the healing art; as for many generations seven sons were regularly born in each family, the seventh of whom became the doctor, and wonderful in his profession. It is said, even now, that the Jones' of Muddfi are, or were until very recently, clever doctors."

I have heard this tradition of the Jones' of Muddfi corroborated by a Welsh friend.

H. G. T.

Launceston.

—In a recent Number this singular superstition was stated to be prevalent in Sussex. In the adjoining county of Surrey the notion appears to be deeply rooted in the minds of the lower classes. A friend, residing in my parish (Betchworth), has given me several examples, which have fallen under his notice during the past winter.

"I was calling, a few weeks since, upon an old man whom I had left the previous day apparently in a dying state. At the door I met an old neighhour, and inquired if he was still living. 'Yes Sir,' she said; 'we think he must change his bed.' 'Change his bed!' I replied. 'What do you mean?' 'Why, Sir, we think he can't pass away while he lies in that bed. The neighbours think there must be game-feathers in the bed.' 'Game-feathers! What do you mean?' 'Why, Sir, it is always thought a poor soul can't pass away if he is lying on game-feathers.' 'Oh,' I said, 'there is nothing in that; that is not the reason of his lingering on.' 'No, Sir,' she replied, 'I think so too, for I know the bed well. I was at the making of it, and the feathers were well picked over.'

"Not long after I looked in upon another aged man, who had been confined to his bed upwards of four months, gently dropping into his grave without any other apparent complaint than old age. He was a fine, hearty old man, with a constitution which kept him lingering on beyond expectation. 'Well,' I said, 'how are you this morning?' 'Oh, Sir, I have had a sad night. I hoped, when you left me, I should drop asleep and never wake more in this world.' 'Yes, poor fellow,' said his sister, who stood by his bedside, 'he does not seem able to die; we think we must move him to another bed.' 'Another bed! Why so?' 'Why, he does not seem able to die, and we think there must be wild feathers in his bed.' The old man evidently thought with his sister, that his bed had something to do with the protraction of his life. He died, however, at length without being moved. It is needless to remark, that the superstition would no doubt have been confirmed, and the flickering lamp of life might have been extinguished a few hours sooner, had they carried into effect their proposal to drag him from one bed to another, or to lay him upon the floor. The woman who helped to lay out the corpse came to see me, and I took the occasion to ask if she knew the belief, that a person could not die whilst lying upon game-feathers. She assured me that she knew it to be the case, and that in two instances, when she had attended persons who could not die, they had taken them out of their beds, and they had expired immediately. I found all expostulation in vain; no argument could shake so strong a conviction, and I have no doubt that this strange notion is extensively entertained by the peasantry in these southern counties."

I have since been informed that a similar belief exists in Cheshire, in regard to pigeons' feathers.

In the part of Surrey where I reside another popular belief still lingers, noticed elsewhere by writers on superstitions of this nature. On the decease of the head of a family, where bees are kept, some person forthwith goes to the hives and informs the bees of the event. Without this precaution, it is affirmed that they would speedily desert the hives.

ALBERT WAY.

—Looking over some family papers lately, I found the following charm to cure the ague in an old diary; the date on the paper is 1751. In compliance with your motto I send it to you.

"Charm to cure the Ague.

"When Jesus saw ye cross, whereon his body should be crucified, his body shook, and ye Jewes asked him had he the Ague? he answered and said, 'Whosoever keepeth this in mind or writing shall not be troubled with Fever or Ague; so, Lord, help thy servant trusting in thee. Then say the Lord's prayer.

"This is to be read before it is folded, then knotted, and not opened after."

PEREDUR.

—I may be allowed to quote, from Tennyson's Lyrical Monologue—

W. FRASER.

—In Blackwood, January, 1852, mention is made, in a review of a French Folk Lore book, of the Kacouss, a sort of Breton parias formerly excluded from the society of Christians, and rejected even by the church, which permitted them to attend Divine service only at the door of the temple under the bells. What does this under the bells mean; and is anything more known of them than what is stated in that work?

THOMAS LAWRENCE.

Ashby de la Zouch.

On looking over the parish registers of Mautby, in the county of Norfolk, a few days since, I found thirteen entries of certificates of the enforced observance of this practice, of which the following is a specimen:—

"November the 8th, 1678. Was brought unto me an Affidavit for ye Burial of William the Son̅e of John Turner in Woollen according to ye late act of Parliament for that purpose.—ANDREW CALL, Rector."

The reason is clear—to increase the consumption of wool; but I should much wish to know the date of the aforesaid act of parliament, and to how late a period it extended. I find a comparatively recent trace of it in an original affidavit of the kind, in the varied collection of my friend R. Rising, Esq., of Horsey, which I subjoin in full, as it may be interesting to many readers of "N. &. Q."

"Borough of Harwich in the County of Essex to Wit.

"Sarah the Wife of Robert Lyon of the parish of Dovercourt in the Borough aforesaid, husbandman, and Deborah the Wife of Stephen Driver, of the same parish, husbandman (being two credible persons), do make oath that Deborah, the daughter of the said Stephen and Deborah, aged 18 weeks, who was on the 7th day of April instant interred in the parish Churchyard of Dovercourt, in the borough aforesaid, was not put in, wrapped, or wound up, or buried in any Shirt, Shift, Sheet, or Shroud, made or mingled with Flax, Hemp, Silk, Hair, Gold, or Silver, or other than what is made of Sheeps' Wool only; or in any Coffin lined or faced with any Cloth Stuff, or any other thing, whatsoever, made or mingled with Flax, Hemp, Silk, Hair, Gold or Silver, or any other material but Sheeps' Wool only.

"Taken and sworn the fifteenth day of April 1769, before me, one of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace. G. DAVIES.

E. S. TAYLOR.

—As a compensation for the passages which are often held to be in the Bible, but are not there, it sometimes happens that others are taken from thence, and given to profane authors. Among these is "Multi pertransibunt, et augebitur scientia," which, Daniel xii. 4. notwithstanding, is the motto of the first edition of Montucla's History of Mathematics, followed by "—Bacon." I have also seen it given to Bacon elsewhere.

M.

—The doggerel Latin hexameters subjoined were made by a Christmas party at Billingbear, eighty years ago. Amongst the contributors I can only point out the names of my father and Sir Thomas Frankland, the sixth baronet, who printed the verses for distribution amongst his friends. I have often found them useful, and they may be perhaps of service to others.

BRAYBROOKE.

—The French Academy has been made the butt of more sarcastic sallies than any other institution of equal distinction and respectability. Some of these have been directed against it as a body, such as Piron's epitaph on himself:

Others were levelled at the members individually. Of this sort are the lines on La Bruyère:

Who was the author of the latter epigram? Since the days of La Bruyère it has been used as a standing gibe against all newly elected Academicians, whose names could be substituted for his, with a due regard to rhythmical propriety.

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia.

—As the expression of a "cock and bull story" has sometimes puzzled me, so it may have puzzled others, and I therefore send the following Note, if worthy of notice:

"I have used the expressive proverbial phrase Cock-on-a-Bell, familiarly corrupted into Cock-and-a-Bull, in its true and genuine application to the fabulous narratives of Popery. There is some measure of antiquarian curiosity attendant upon it, which may rival the singular metamorphosis of the Pix und Ousel into the familiar sign of the Pig and Whistle. During the Middle Ages, as we learn incidentally from Reinerius, Gallus-super-campanam was the ecclesiastical hieroglyphic of a Romish Priest: and as the gentlemen of that fraternity dealt somewhat copiously in legends rather marvellous than absolutely true, the contempt of Our English Protestantism soon learned proverbially to distinguish any idle figment by the burlesque name of a Cock-on-a-Bell story, or, as we now say, a Cock-and-a-Bull story."—From An Inquiry into the History and Theology of the Ancient Vallenses and Albigenses, by George Stanley Faber, B.D., 1838, p. 76. n.

J. R. R.

—I find in Grose's Antiquarian Repertory, 2nd edition, vol. iii. p. 388., an account of a monument which was formerly to be seen in the Church of St. Andrew, at Antwerp, to the memory of Mary Queen of Scots; and it is therein related, on the authority of "an ancient MS.," shown to the author by "a Flemish gentleman of consequence and learning," that two of Mary's attendant ladies, named Barbara Mowbray and Elizabeth Curle, buried the head of their unfortunate mistress there, having been permitted, on leaving England after her execution, to carry her head with them.

Can any of your readers inform me whether this monument still exists, and whether anything is known of a portrait of Mary said to have been placed by these ladies near the monument? Also, whether there is any truth whatever in the above strange story.

C. E. D.

The inclosed cutting is from the New Monthly Magazine for March 1829. What has become of the translation of the "Book of Jasher" named therein, and was it ever published as promised?

"Curious Literary Discovery.—The following is a singular discovery, said to be a translation from the original Hebrew manuscript of the Book of Jasher, referred to as a work of credit and reputation in Holy Scripture, first in Joshua x. 13. and again in 2 Sam. i. 18. This book was kept as a memorial of the great events which had happened from the beginning of time, especially to the family and descendants of Abraham, by the Kings of Judah. After the Babylonish captivity, it fell into the possession of the Persian Kings, and was preserved with great care in the city of Gazna: from whence a translation was procured by the great Alcuin, who flourished in the eighth century, at the cost of several bars of gold, presented to those who had the custody of it. He brought this translation to his own country, having employed, with his companions, seven years in pilgrimage; three of which were spent in Gazna, in order to his obtaining this important and interesting work. After his return to England he was made Abbot of Canterbury; and having lived in the highest honour, died in the year 804, leaving this, with other manuscripts, to his friend, a clergyman in Yorkshire. It appears to have been preserved with religious care for many centuries, until, about one hundred years since, it fell into the hands of a gentleman, who certifies that on its cover was the following testimony of our great reformer Wickliffe:—'I have read the Book of Jasher twice over, and I much approve of it as a piece of great antiquity and curiosity; but I cannot assent that it should be made a part of the Canon of Scripture.'—(Signed, Wickliffe.) This gentleman, who conceals his name, communicated it to a Noble Lord, who appears to have been high in office, when a rumour prevailed of a new translation of the Bible. His Lordship's opinion of it was that it should be published, as a work of great sincerity, plainness, and truth; and further, his Lordship added, 'it is my opinion the Book of Jasher ought to have been printed in the Holy Bible before the Book of Joshua.' From that period this invaluable work has lain concealed, until, by an accident, it fell into the hands of the present possessor, who purposes to publish it in a way worthy its excellence for truth, antiquity, and evident originality.—Daily Paper."

L. L. L.

[Two editions of this work have been published: the first appeared in 1751, and the other in 1829; both in 4to. The title-page of the latter edition informs us that it was "translated into English from the Hebrew, by Flaccus Albinus Alcuinus of Britain, Abbot of Canterbury, who went a pilgrimage into the Holy Land and Persia, where he discovered this volume, in the city of Gazna." But it appears that this Alcuin of Britain was no other than Jacob Ilive; and, according to Rowe Mores, the whole of it is a palpable forgery. He states, that "the account given of the translation is full of glaring absurdities. Mr. Ilive, in the night-time, had constantly an Hebrew Bible before him, and cases in his closet. He produced the Book of Jasher; and it was composed in private, and the same worked off in the night-time in a private press-room."—Rowe Mores' Diss. on Founders, p. 64. See also Nichols' Literary Anecdotes, vol. i. p. 309.]

—It was gratifying to see some inquiries respecting Dutch china, which it is to be hoped will lead to a further pursuit of such subjects. Some connoisseur would confer a benefit upon the community if he would be kind enough to give a concise description of the various styles and to point out the distinguishing marks of old china generally, by which its beauties might be appreciated and its value estimated: there is great difficulty in acquiring such information.

C. T.

—No such word as Pagoda is known in the native languages: Dewal, according to Mr. Forbes (Orient. Mem. vol. i. p. 25.), is the proper name. I have read somewhere or another that Pagoda is a name invented by the Portuguese from the Persian "Pentgheda," meaning a temple of idols. Joss, applied to the Chinese temples, seems to be the Spanish Diós (Deus), as diurnal becomes journal.

"The Fetiche of the African (says Mr. Milman) is the Manitou of the American Indian. The word Fetiche was first, I believe, brought into general use in the curious volume of the President de Brosses' Du Culte des Dieux Fétiches. The word was formed by the traders to Africa from the Portuguese Fetisso, chose fée, enchantée, divinée, ou rendant des Oracles." De B. p. 18.

History of Christianity (3 vols. 1840), vol. i. p. 11.

Query, Is this word the same as a common word in Ireland (upon which Banim founded a tale), ycleped fetch, which answers to the Scotch wraith?

EIRIONNACH.

—A good many years ago I deciphered on the marbled paper cover of one of my school-books the lines of which the following are what I yet retain in memory:

I have never since, through a tolerably extensive course of reading, met with the poem to which these lines belong, and have inquired of others, without more success. Can any of your correspondents inform me of the name of the poem, and of its author?

S. S. WARDEN.

—In Narratives of Sorcery and Magic, by Thomas Wright, Esq. (1851), vol. ii. p. 163., mention is made of a work by the associate of the notorious Hopkins, the "Witch-finder General," one John Hearne, entitled, A Confirmation and Discovery of Witchcraft (1648). I should esteem it a great favour if any of the numerous readers of your valuable journal can inform me where a copy of Hearne's work is to be found, as it appears to be wanting in the British Museum, and several other of the public libraries. I already happen to possess a copy of Matthew Hopkins's Discovery of Witches, 4to. (1647), an extraordinary little work, which Sir Walter Scott acknowledges he was acquainted with but by name.

There is a tract, too, by the celebrated author of the Saints' Rest, which I never yet could put eyes on, though I have for some years "collected" rather largely; I allude to Baxter's Heavy Shove, mentioned at page 99. of Lackington's "Life," and in one or two other works; but among a very large collection of old editions of Baxter's works possessed by me, it is not to be discovered. If any of your correspondents can enlighten me upon the subject I shall be much gratified.

Though I have collected rather extensively among the ballad lore of this country, I am sorry to say I never could find out from what particular ballad the annexed stanza is derived. It is to be found, as an epigraph, in Poetical Memoirs, by the late James Bird, 8vo. (1823):

CHARLES CLARK.

Great Totham Hall, Essex.

—When and where were the first gunpowder mills erected in this country? This Query was made in the Gentleman's Magazine for October, 1791, and does not appear to have been answered. I think I have waited long enough for a reply, and almost fear the Query must have been forgotten.

W.

—Who is the present heir-male of this family? The latest account of it that I have been able to discover is contained in Douglas's Baronage of Scotland (1798).

E. N.

—In the Court Manual of Dignity and Precedence it is stated, that in the year 1798, when the subject of armorial bearings was before Parliament, 9458 families in England, and 4000 in Scotland, were proved entitled to arms. Are any of the relative parliamentary papers still in existence, and where are they to be found? I have been unable to discover them in Hansard.

E. N.

—In the Collections of the Shires of Aberdeen and Banff, published by the Spalding Club, and under the heading "Ellon," p. 310., there is given an

in which occur several times the two words Scologlandis and Scologi. Neither of these words are found in Ducange; the nearest approach to either being Scolanda, which is considered to be equivalent to Scrut landa, namely, lands the revenue of which is to be applied to the providing of church vestments. I should be much obliged by any of your correspondents favouring me with their opinion as to the meaning of Scologlandis and Scologi, which are used in the "Inquisicio" as follows:

"... Qui jurati deposuerunt quod terre Ecclesiastice de Ellon que dicuntur le Scologlandis....

"... Item quod heres cujuslibet Scologi defuncti intrare consuevit hereditatem suam."

G. J. R. G.

—Can any of the readers of "N. & Q." give me information respecting this person, or the family descended from him, which is supposed to have lived in North Wales during the reign of Henry VII.? His armorial badge is figured in p. 250. of Enderbie's Cambria Triumphans, and is described as Gules, three snakes braced, Arg. There is an ancient font in our church, which, when restored to it in the year 1841, after having been put to vile uses for many years, did bear this badge, but it does not bear it now. The gentleman who undertook the direction of the repair of the sculpture on the font, not having been inspired by the Professor of History at Oxford with a due reverence for antiquities, ordered Samuel Davies, a stone-mason (who is still living in this town), to make the three snakes as much like one dragon as he could. This he attempted to do by chiselling away the head of one snake, inlaying in its place the head of a dragon; and making the other heads and tails into legs with claws. The result of these operations has been a dragon of a very singular appearance. There is a portcullis with chains sculptured on one of the eight sides of the font; and it has been conjectured that the motive to the conversion of the three snakes, braced, into a dragon, was to make it appear probable that the font had been presented to the church by Henry VII.

AP JOHN.

Wrexham.

—As you have afforded space for a Query on "Wild Oats," you will not, I hope, deny me a corner for one on Mummy Wheat.

In the year 1840, a letter appeared in The Times, signed "Martin Farquhar Tupper," which detailed minutely the sowing, growing, and gathering of some mummy wheat. Mr. Tupper, it seems, had received the grains of wheat from Mr. Pettigrew, who had them from Sir Gardner Wilkinson, by whom they were found on opening an ancient tomb in the Thebaid. Mr. Tupper took great pains to secure the identity of the seed, and had no doubt that he had gathered the product of a grain preserved since the time of the Pharaohs. The long vitality of seeds has been a popular belief; I was therefore surprised to find that that interesting fact is now pronounced to be no fact at all. It appears, in The Year-Book of Facts for 1852, that Prof. Henslowe stated to the British Association, that "the instances of plants growing from seeds found in mummies were all erroneous." Can any one tell me how this has been proved?

H. W. G.

Elgin.

—The singular emblematic picture of a "Trusty Servant," in the vestibule of the kitchen of Winchester College, is too well known to require a description. I remember once hearing a gentleman refer to some author as giving a description of a similar figure, and speaking of such representations as of great antiquity. Unfortunately I took no note of it at the time, and I now hope to recover the reference by a query; and shall feel obliged to any of your correspondents who may be able to furnish me with an answer: "Who was the author referred to?"

M. Y. R. W.

—Can you tell me the names of the clergyman and noble lord referred to in the following anecdote?

"A noble lord distinguished for a total neglect of religion, and who, boasting the superior excellence of some water works which he had invented and constructed, added, that after having been so useful to mankind, he expected to be very comfortable in the next world, notwithstanding his ridicule and disbelief of religion. 'Ah,' replied the clergyman, 'if you mean to be comfortable there, you must take your waterworks along with you.'"

Daniel's Sports, Supplement, p. 305.

H. N. E.

—What is the best edition of his Confessions. Dupin mentions his six Treatises on Man. Do these exist, and do they appear in any edition of St. Augustine's works?

E. A. H. L.

—In Ackerman's Repository, Nov. 1820, is a short account of a remarkable instance of a person being tried on the pretended evidence of a ghost. A farmer on his return from the market at Southam, co. Warwick, was murdered. The next morning a man called upon the farmer's wife, and related how on the previous night, as he lay in bed, quite awake, her husband's ghost had appeared to him, and after showing him several stabs on his body, had told him that he was murdered by a certain person, and his corpse thrown into a certain marl-pit. A search was instituted, the body found in the pit, and the wounds on the body of the deceased were exactly in the parts described by the pretended dreamer; the person who was mentioned was committed for trial on violent suspicion of murder, and the trial came on at Warwick before Lord Chief Justice Raymond. The jury would have convicted the prisoner as rashly as the magistrate had committed him, but for the interposition of the judge, who told them that he did not put any credit in the pretended ghost story, since the prisoner was a man of unblemished reputation, and no ill feeling had ever existed between himself and the deceased. He said that he knew of no law which admitted of the evidence of a ghost; and if any did, the ghost had not appeared. The crier was then ordered to summon the ghost, which he did three times, and the judge then acquitted the prisoner, and caused the accuser to be detained, which was accordingly done, and his house searched, when such strong proofs of guilt were discovered, that the man confessed the crime, and was executed for murder at the following assizes.

Could any of your readers inform me when this remarkable trial took place, and where I could meet with a more detailed account?

SOUTHAMIENSIS.

—Dr. W. Warren, formerly Vice-Master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, wrote some papers to prove that the situation of the Grantacæster of Bede was at the Castle end of Cambridge, not at Granchester, and "demonstrated the thing as amply as a matter of that sort is capable of." Brydges states (Restituta, iv. 388.) that his brother, Dr. R. Warren, intended to publish this tract, which came into his hands after the death of the vice-master, which happened in, or shortly after, the year 1735. He left some MSS. to the college, but this is not amongst them; and Dr. R. Warren did not, as far as I can learn, ever carry his intention of publishing it into execution. What I want to learn is, where this tract now is, if it still exists; or, if it has been printed, where a printed copy is to be found.

C. C. B.

—Will your correspondent who some Numbers back stated, in a communication on the mistletoe, that it was not uncommon upon the oak in Somersetshire, kindly give two or three localities on his own knowledge? I fear some mistake has arisen, for, as far as my experience goes, an arch-Druid might hunt long enough in the present day for the "heaven-descended plant" among a grove of oaks, ere he fortuitously alighted upon it. Some years ago a friend assured me that he was credibly informed by a timber merchant often in the Sussex forests, that mistletoe was not uncommon upon oaks there; but on a personal inspection it turned out that ivy, not mistletoe, was intended. I suspect a similar mistake in Somersetshire, unless two or three certain localities can be named as seen by a competent observer.

I should also like to know from your Carolinian correspondent H. H. B., whether the mistletoe he mentions is our genuine "wintry mistletoe"—the Viscum album of Linnæus, or another species. The "varieties of the oak" he speaks of as having mistletoe upon them, are, I presume, all American species, and not the European Quercus robur.

A. F.

Worcester.

—I should be glad if you, or any of your readers in England or in France, could inform me whether there is anywhere to be found a portrait—drawing, painting, or engraving—of Mesmer?

SIGMA.

Saint Richard (Vol. iv., p. 475.).—On what authority do the particulars recorded of this personage in the Lives of the Saints rest? I cannot help considering his very existence as rather apocryphal, for these reasons:—1. Bede, who must have been his contemporary, and whose Ecclesiastical History was written several years after the date assigned for Richard's death, never mentions his name. 2. When did his alleged renunciation of the throne occur, and what historian of the period mentions it? At the time of his death, and for thirty-five years before, the kingdom of Wessex was under the sway of Ina, one of the greatest and best of the West Saxon kings. 3. His name is not a Saxon one, and I believe it is not to be found in English history till after the Norman Conquest.

S. S. WARDEN.

[The Britannia Sancta, 4to. 1745, contains the following notice of St. Richard compiled from the collections of the Bollandists:—"St. Richard, whose name occurs on Feb. 7 in the Roman Martyrology, is styled there, as well as in divers other monuments, King of the English, though in the catalogues of our Saxon kings there is no one found of that name; the reason of which is, because the catalogues of the kings, during the Heptarchy, are very imperfect, as might be proved, if it were necessary, by several instances of kings whose names are there omitted. As for St. Richard, it is that he was one of those princes who, as we learn from St. Bede, lib. iv. ch. 12., ruled the West Saxons after the year 673, till they were forced to give way to King Ceadwall; which is the more probable, because he flourished about that time, and was of the province of the West Saxons, as appears from his being a kinsman to St. Winifred, or Boniface, born and brought up in those parts (at Crediton in Devonshire), and from his son Willibald's being brought up in a monastery of the same province, and from his own setting out upon his pilgrimage from Hamble Haven, which belonged to the West Saxons." Some account of St. Richard and his tomb at Lucca will be found in the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. lxix., pt. i. p. 14.]

—Where does this couplet occur?

E. G.

[This couplet is from Campbells "Lochiel's Warning."]

—Fosbroke says, "the Greek Christians represented this saint with a dog's head, like Anubis, to show that he was of the country of the Cynocephale; and in confirmation of this assertion he quotes "Winckelm. Stosch. cl. i. n. 103." I have never heard either of this fact, or of the authority from which Fosbroke derived it. Can any of your readers give me any information about either?

E. A. H. L.

[The following is the passage quoted by Mr. Fosbroke, from Winckelmann's Description des Pierres Graveés du feu Baron de Stosch. 4to. Florence, 1760, p. 25.:—

"Jaspe rouge. Anubis en pied. Je vais rémarquer ici en passant que les Chretiens Grecs du moyen âge ont figuré S. Christrophle avec tête de Chien, comme Anubis, pour signifier que ce Saint étoit du pays des Cynocéphales. (Pin. Commentar. Vit. S. Christoph., § 6. in Act. SS. Ant. Ful., vol. vi. p. 427.) Tel le voiton sur un ancien Ménologe peint sur bois, dans la Bibliothèque du Vatican; cette rare pièce y est entrée avec la bibliothèque du Marq. Capponi."]

—Your correspondents have alluded to the words Donkey and Moke not appearing in any of our dictionaries. There is another word for the same animal in general use in Northumberland and the neighbouring counties, Cuddy, which likewise does not appear in the dictionaries I have looked at,—Johnson's amongst the number. Can any of your correspondents give the origin of this word?

J. S. A.

Old Broad Street.

[This word is most probably of Oriental origin, and may have been imported by the gypsies, the ass being their favourite quadruped. Persian gudda signifies an ass; and ghudda has the same signification in Hindostanee.—Jamieson's Scottish Dictionary.]

—Will any of your readers be kind enough to explain the origin of this word, which is constantly used in conversation when speaking of a sycophant?

F. M.

[Toady, or Toad-eater, a vulgar name for a fawning, obsequious sycophant, was first given to a gluttonous parasite, famous for his indiscriminate enjoyment and praise of all viands whatever set before him. To test his powers of stomach and complaisance, one of his patrons had a toad cooked and set before him, which he both ate and praised in his usual way.—Ogilvie's Imperial Dictionary.]

—We have all heard of Mother Shipton and her prophecies. Was she a real character? If so, where did she live, and at what period? Were her prophecies ever published? If so, I should like an account of them?

JACOBUS.

[Our correspondent is referred to the following works relating to this renowned personage:—1. The Prophesies of Mother Shipton in the Raigne of King Henry VIII., foretelling the Death of Cardinal Wolsey, the Lord Percy, and others; as also what should happen in ensuing Times: London, 1641, 4to. 2. Two Strange Prophesies, predicting Wonderfull Events to betide this Yeare of Danger in this Climate, where some have already come to passe, by Mother Shipton: London, 1642, 4to. (About 1642 several other tracts were published with the name of Shipton.) 3. The Life and Death of Mother Shipton: London, 1677, 4to. 4. Mother Shipton's Life and Curious Prophecies: London, 1797, 8vo. 5. The History of Mother Shipton: Newcastle, 4to. Nos. 1. and 4. are in the British Museum.]

There appears to be a slight error in the Editor's reply to E. D.'s Query respecting Ralph Winterton's translation of Gerard's Meditations and Prayers. I have an earlier edition than that of 1631. It is dated 1627,[3] printed at Cambridge by Thomas and John Bucke, and possesses no less than four dedications, which throw some little, and rather curious light on his history. The first, "To the Right Worsh. my most worthy Friend and Benefactour, Mr. John Bowle, Doctor of Divinitie, and Deane of Salisbury," in which he mentions "the fatherly care" he had experienced from that divine, "when he was at Kensington, in the house of that most vertuous and literate Lady, the Lady Coppen." "By your indeficient liberalitie," he says, "all defects were supplyed, all difficulties remooved, horses provided, a man appointed, and, to conclude, by the grace of God, after many a troublesome and wearysome step, to my rest I returned." The second Dedication is, "To the Right Worshipp. vertuous and learned Lady, the Lady Coppen, Mr R. Coppen, Mr T. Coppen, her Sonnes; Mris Elizabeth Coppen, her Daughter-in-Law, &c., Internall, Externall, Eternall Happiness." In this he records, that "scarce had he entered her doores at Kensington, but he was saluted and made welcome by a gentlewoman well deserving at his hands, whose name must not be concealed, Mris Francis Thorowgood, who hasted to carrie news to your Ladyship. Dixirat et dicto citius. Hereupon your Ladyship," he adds, "was pleased, out of hand, leaving all other business, not to send to mee, but to descend yourself to mee; not so much by the degrees of staires, as by a naturall inclination to show your hospitality," &c.; and speaks of her as understanding "the scholler's Languages as well as they that do profess them;" and as being "highly honoured by Queene Elizabeth." The third Dedication is "To the Right Worship. my most munificent Friend, Sir John Hanburie, of Kelmash, in Northamptonshire." The fourth, "To the Worsh. my very worthy Friends, Mr William Bonham (of Paternoster Rowe, in London), and Mris Anne Bonham, his Wife, Mr. Nathaniell Henshawe, of Valence, in Essex; Mr Benjamin Henshawe, of Cheapside, in London; and Mr Thomas Henshawe, of Saffron Walden, in Essex." The third Dedication is dated from Lutterworth, in Leicestershire, May 10: the others from King's Coll., June 12, 1627.

C. W. B.

[3] [The edition of 1627 was unknown to Watt, and is not to be found in the libraries of the British Museum or the Bodleian.—ED.]

MS. Account of Fellows of King's, anno 1616.

"Ralph Winterton of Lutterworth, Leicester, Bro. of Fran., who was Gent. of the Pr. Chamber to Hen. Maria, and served under D. of Hamilton in Germ., and was killed at Custrin, on the Borders of Silesia. See History of that Expedition.

"M.D., Prof. Regi Med., Sept. 13, 1636, at which time all the Reg. Prof. were of K. C.

"He was a great Physician & Scholar, insomuch that he was a Candidate to succeed Downes as Greek Prof. He translated Gerhard's Sum of Xtian Doctri., 1640, of which see Dedication. On his Bro. departing for Germany, he translated Drescelius on Eternity, and on another occasion returned to Gerhard. This was probably on some difficulty which was started to his Degree of M.D. by Provost Collins. He is said at one time to have suffered so, as for a time to have lost his senses. His Books are prefaced by recommendatory Verses from K. C. men, viz. D. Williamson, 1627; R. Newman, H. Whiston, and Thomas Page, 1627; Wym Carew, 1622; Tho. Bonham, 1621; Edm. Sheafe, 1613; R. Williams, 1623; T. Yonge, 1624.

"He published Dionysius de Situ Orbis, with a Dedication to Sir H. Wotton, and Hippocrates' Aphorisms in Gr. Verse, 1633. Que, if the Lat. Verses not written by Fryer, an eminent Physician at Camb. Que, the Poetæ Minores."

See, too, a short account in Harwood's Alumni Etonensis, p. 218.

J. H. L.

Your correspondents do not seem to be aware that this questio vexata has given rise to a volume in folio! In 1744 Don Gregorio Mayans y Siscar published, at the expense of the Academy of Valencia, a volume containing nearly 400 pages under the following title: Obras Chronologicas de Don Gaspar Ibañes, &c., Marquis de Mondejar, &c. &c., which is principally occupied by a discourse entitled, "Origen de LA ERA ESPAÑOLA i su Diferencia con los años de Christo."[4] Prefixed to this is a very able and learned Preface, by the editor, of nearly 100 pages; and one would have thought that between these distinguished scholars the subject in dispute would be set at rest.

[4] A re-impression of the Valencia edition was made at Madrid in the year 1795.

Unfortunately, however, Spanish scholars and antiquaries have too much neglected the Gothic element in their language, and they have consequently missed the only source from whence, as it appears to me, the true origin of Era could be developed. The Marquis de Mondejar indeed seems to have had a suspicion of the true source; for he has a chapter thus entitled "Si puede ser Gothica la voz ERA i aver introducido los Godos su computo en España?" in which he thus expresses his incapacity to answer his own question:

"I assi contentandonos con aver expressado nuestra imaginacion con el mismo recelo que la discurrimos, prohibendonos la ignorancia de la lengua Gothica antigua, el que podamos justificar si pudo aver procedido de ella la voz ERA propria del computo de que hablamos."

As long since as 1664 that eminent northern philologist Thomas Marshall, in his notes on the Gothic Gospels, had thus expressed himself, confirming, if not anticipating, Spelman:

"{jER} proprie significat annum, sicque usurpatur in omnibus linguis Gothicæ cognatis; suâ scilicet cuique Dialecto asservatâ. Videant Hispani, nunquid eorum HERA vel ERA, quod Ætatem et tempus dicitur interdum significare, debeat originationem suam Gothico {jER}, atque num forsan hinc quoque aliquid lucis affulserit indagantibus originem vexatissimi illius Æra, quatenus significat Epocham Chronologicam."

In the Glossary the further development of the origin of the word is ingenious, but not satisfactory:

"Prisca interim Gothorum atque Anglo-Saxonum orthographiâ inducor ut credam {ger} vel {gear} esse à γυροῦν Gyrare, in orbem circumvolvere, juxta illud poetæ principis, Georg. II. 402.:

"Unde et Annum idem poëta, Æneid. I. 273., Orbem dixit:

"ubi Servius: Annus dictus quasi Anus, id est Anulus; quod in se redeat, &c."

That the Roman word Æra signified number in earlier times, we learn from Nonius Marcellus:

"Æra numeri nota, Lucilius lib. xxviiij. Hoc est ratio perversa, æra summa, et subducta improbe."

Those who desire further confirmation will find it in that extraordinary storehouse of erudition, the Exercitationes Pliniana of Salmasius, p. 483., ed. 1689.

It is equally certain that, soon after the establishment of the Gothic domination in Spain, it was applied in its present signification; but that it also signified time or period will be evident from the following passage of the Coronica General, Zamora, 1541. fol. CCC.XXVJ. Speaking of the numbers of the extraordinary armament assembled by Don Alonzo, preparatory to the battle of Las Navas:

"E para todo esto complir avia menester el rey Don Alfonso de cada dia doze mil maravedis de aquella ERA, que era buena moneda."

That is to say, money of that time.

From our imperfect acquaintance with the early history of the Goths, it is not easy to decide upon the reasons why they adopted their mode of reckoning from thirty-eight years before the Christian epoch; but if we accept the signification which we know it was not unusual to affix to the word Era, namely, that of year, time, or period, the solution is easy as to its origin. It was only the engrafting of their own vernacular word into the barbarous Latin of the time, from whence also it was adopted into the Romance, Castilian, or Spanish.

It may also be observed that Liutprand uses the word in this sense: in speaking of the Mosque of San Sophia at Constantinople, and how the course of the reign of its rulers was noted there, so as to be manifest to all, he concludes:

"Sic ÆRAM qui non viderunt intelligunt."

So Dudo, De Actis Normannorum, lib. v. p. 111.:

"Transacta denique duarum Herarum intercapedine, mirabilibusque incrementis augmentata profusus Ricardo Infante, cœpit Dux Willelmus de Regni commodo salubriter tractare."

It is also remarkable that we find it in use only in those places under the domination of the Goths, as in the southern provinces of France,—the Council of Arles, for instance.—V. Mansi Collect. Concil., t. xiv. col. 57.

The earliest inscription in which it has been found was at Lebrija, in the kingdom of Seville, and the date corresponds with that of the year 465 from the birth of Christ. It runs thus:

It is possible there may be some error even here, for no other inscription yet recorded is so early by eighty years.

Had it been in use at an earlier period, the Spaniard, Paulus Orosius, whose History ends with A.D. 417, would doubtless have used it; whereas we find that he makes use of the Anno Mundi, of the Olympiads, and of the A.U.C. of the Romans.

All circumstances, therefore, considered, we may safely conclude that in the Spanish Era we have nothing more than the adoption of the jera of Ulfilas, by whom it is used for ἔτος and χρόνος. The Gothic word being written with the consonant j {j} will account for the form in which, to mark the aspiration, Era is often found with the initial H. Whoever may desire to trace the etymology further will do well to consult Dieffenbach's very valuable Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der Gothischen Sprache.

S. W. SINGER.

It may be interesting to some of the readers of "N. & Q." to peruse the following observations made by the Venetian ambassador resident in England in 1606, respecting that "child of woe" the Lady Arabella Stuart, whose romantic history forms one of the most pleasing of D'Israeli's Curiosities of Literature. The extract I send you is taken from a little French work, which professes to be a translation from the manuscript "Italian Relation of England" by Marc-Antonio Correr, the Venetian ambassador, and was printed at Montbéliard in 1668. The Lady Arabella is here spoken of as Madame Isabelle.

"La personne la plus proche de sang de sa Majesté après ses enfans, est Madame Isabelle, laquelle descend, ainsi que le Roy, de Marguerite fille de Henry VII., estant née d'un frère naturel du père de S. M., par où elle luy est Cousine. Elle est âgée de 28 ans; elle n'est pas bien belle, mais en recompense elle est ornée de mille belles vertus, car outre qu'elle est noble et dans ses actions et dans ses mœurs, elle possède plusieurs Langues en perfection, sçavoir le Latin, l'Italien, le François, et l'Espagnol; elle entend le Grec et l'Hebreu, et estudie sans cesse. Elle n'est pas beaucoup riche, car la Reyne deffunte prenant jalousie de tout le monde, et principalement de ceux qui avoient quelque pretention à la couronne, luy osta sous divers pretextes, la plus grand part de ses revenus; c'est pourquoy la pauvre Dame ne peut pas vivre dans la splendeur, et n'a pas le moyen de faire du bien à ceux qui la servent, comme elle voudroit. Le Roy témoigne avoir de l'affection et de l'estime pour elle, le laissant vivre en cour, ce que la Reyne deffunte ne luy voulut jamais permettre. Le Roy luy avoit promis de luy rendre ses biens et de luy donner un mary; elle est neantmoins encore privée et de l'un et de l'autre."

Relation d'Angleterre, p. 82.

Her Flight.—Phineas Pette, the shipwright at Chatham, received orders to assist in the capture of the unfortunate lady; and it would appear, from his manuscript Diary (Harl. MS. 6279.), that he did his best to execute them. His statement is as follows:—

"The 4th of June (1611), being Tuesday, being prepared to have gone to London the next day, about midnight one of the King's messengers was sent down to me from the Lord Treasurer to man the light horsemen [Query, what kind of boats were these?] with 20 musquetteers, and to run out as low as the Noor Head to search all shipps, barks, and other vessells for the Lady Arabella that had then made a scape, and was bound over for France; which service I performed accordingly, and searched Queenborough, and other vessells I could meet withall; then went over to Lee, in Essex, and searched the Towne; and when we could hear no news of her went to Gravesend, and thence took post-horse to Greenwich, where his Majesty then lay, and delivered the account of my journey to the Lord Treasurer by his Majties command, and soe was dismissed, and went that night to Ratcliffe," &c.

The messenger above alluded to, whose name was John Price, received 6l. for his pains in making "haste, post-haste," to Gravesend, Rochester, and Queenborough. (See Devon's Pell Records.)

And Capture.—This honour—or misfortune, rather, as it proved to be—was reserved for Admiral Sir William Monson, who, in his Naval Memoirs, p. 210., makes this self-satisfied remark:

"Sir W. Monson had orders to pursue her, which he did with that celerity, that she was taken within four miles of Calais, shipped in a French bark of that town, whither she was bound."

A. GRAYAN.

"When shall we three meet again?" Let no one smile at your correspondent's question, for the common mode of stating Newton's claim makes it natural enough to ask whether the ancients were aware that bodies fall to the earth, and to produce proof that they had such knowledge. But Cicero had more: he not only knew the fall of bodies, but he had a medius locus mundi, or centrum mundi, as it was afterwards called, to which bodies must fall. This was his law of gravitation, and that of his time. Without describing the successive stages of the existence of this centre, it may be enough here to state, that a part of Newton's world-wide renown arises from his having cashiered this immovable point from the solar system, and sent it on its travels in search of the real centre of gravity of the whole universe. Newton substituted, for the old law of gravitation towards a centre, his law of universal gravitation, namely, that every particle gravitates towards every other. There had been some idea of such a law in the minds of speculative men: it was Newton who showed that one particular law, namely, that of the inverse square of the distance, would entail upon a system, all whose particles are subject to it, those very motions which are observed in our system. Cicero would have been startled to know that, when a body falls towards the earth, the earth rises towards it, medius locus and all: not quite so fast, it is true, nor so far. But it must not be supposed that we could move our earth any distance in course of time by continually dropping heavy weights upon it; for the truth is, that when the weight is raised the earth is a little lowered, or at least made to move the other way. Archimedes said that, with a place to stand on, he could move the earth; not aware that he was doing it at the time he spoke, by the motion of his arm.

M.

May I ask your correspondent S. E. B. where he has discovered that the world-wide reputation of Newton was founded upon a notion of his being the first person who pointed out that bodies are attracted, or seem to be attracted, towards the centre of the earth? and, on the other hand, what traces there are in Cicero of the real "law of gravity," which Newton did discover, and with such immense labour demonstrate and illustrate, namely, that attraction (that is, not to the centre of the earth or world in particular, but between every particle of matter and the rest) varies inversely as the square of the distance?

To come to a minor question; your correspondent reads the passage qua delata gravitate—so I should read, decidedly. The whole sentence, which is a long one, is a series of questions (which, by-the-bye, is an additional reason against quoting it as an assertion).

"Inde est indagatio nata ... unde essent omnia orta ... quæque cujusque generis ... origo quæ vita, ... quæque ex alio in aliud vicissitudo ... unde terra, et quibus librata ponderibus, quibus cavernis maria sustineantur; qua omnia, delata gravitate, medium mundi locum semper expetant."

It is in qua in Ernesti, unnoticed. In was inserted by those who thought that qua agreed with terra; which, if otherwise probable, is negatived by the use of the word mundi in the clause.

C. B.

Sir Isaac Newton's discovery was the law of universal gravitation, viz. that the solar system is kept together by the gravity of the heavenly bodies towards the sun. This was founded on terrestrial gravitation, of which the falling apple put him in mind, applied first to the moon, and then universally to the universe. (See Penny Cyclopædia, art. "Gravitation;" Biot, "Life of Newton," in the Biographie Universelle; or the translation of it in the "Life of Newton" in the Library of Useful Knowledge, p. 5.) This is very different from Cicero's words; in which[5] (sc. the earth) all things borne downwards by their weight ever seek to reach the middle point of the universe, which is also the lowest point in the earth (qui est idem infimus in rotundo).

[5] Moser's text has in qua, &c. terra.

ED. S. JACKSON.

Saffron Walden.

Although your correspondent E. S. attempts to throw discredit on M. W. B.'s narration of a deferred execution at Winchester, and carps at the mention of a "warrant," as if that militated against the fact; yet doubtless, in times when carelessness among official personages was not uncommon, many deferred executions may have taken place.

It must be evident, that in the case of a convict respited during pleasure, that an order must at last be formally made for such person's execution or commutation of punishment; during which interval the prisoner would remain in custody of the gaoler. This in effect would be tantamount to a warrant, and of course communicated to the unfortunate delinquent.

A case somewhat similar to the Winchester one was told me by an old and respectable inhabitant of Worcester, who was himself cognisant of the circumstance, and had frequently seen the convict. It occurred in the gaolership of the father of the present governor of the city gaol. A boy of only thirteen or fourteen had been convicted of some capital offence, but on account of his youth was respited indefinitely. He remained in the gaol, was found to be a docile lad, and much liberty was accorded to him; the authorities expecting that he would receive a pardon. Time flew on, many months—I think my informant said nearly two years elapsed, and his case seemed forgotten. If he was not actually sent on errands out of the gaol, so loose was his captivity, that he might easily have slipt away at any time, and been scarcely missed. In fact, he had the full run of the prison, and was a great favourite with the debtors, whose sports and amusements he joined in, for discipline was very lax in those days. He was playing at ball one day in the yard with some debtors, full of life and glee, when suddenly, to the utter astonishment of the gaoler, and the awe of his associates, there came an order from London for his execution. Why he had remained so long forgotten, or why such extreme severity fell on him so unexpectedly at last, none could tell; but his case was considered a very hard one, and was commiserated by the whole city. My informant saw the poor boy conducted to execution. The old citizen who gave me this account is dead, or I could have recovered the date of its occurrence.

AMBROSE FLORENCE.

Worcester.

I observe that the substance of M. W. B.'s Note has been reprinted in a mutilated form in several newspapers; his preliminary remark, and concluding Query, being omitted! The effect of this is to circulate as a fact what your correspondent himself questions. My object however in this communication, is not so much to draw attention to the injurious effects of partial quotation, as to point out what, in my opinion, renders the occurrence of an execution under the circumstances detailed a manifest impossibility. I believe I am correct in stating that there never was, nor is there now (out of London), such a thing as a warrant for the execution of a criminal. At the close of each Assize, a fair copy of the Calendar, with the sentences in the margin, is signed by the Judges, and left with the sheriff; this is the only authority he has given him; and in the event of a sentence of death, he has no alternative but carrying it into effect; unless he receives from the Crown a pardon, a reprieve, or a warrant commuting the sentence. Blackstone observes upon this:

"It may afford matter of speculation, that in civil causes there should be such a variety of writs of execution to recover a trifling debt, issued in the king's name, and under the seal of the court, without which the sheriff cannot legally stir one step; and yet that the execution of a man, the most important and terrible task of any, should depend upon a marginal note."

J. B. COLMAN.

Eye.

Your correspondent is alarmed lest the honour he claims for the Lancastrians should be denied them, because it has been "discovered that William III. never created himself Duke of Lancaster." Where is it asserted that either he or any other of our sovereigns ever did? When Henry of Bolingbroke merged the lesser name of duke in the greater name of king, he was no more Duke of Lancaster than he was Earl of Derby or Duke of Hereford; but the title of Duke of Lancaster he willed not to be lost altogether as the others were, and therefore by an act of parliament (1 Hen. IV., Art. 81.) it was enacted Que le Prince porte le nom de Duc de Lancastre. The act, after reciting that "our said Lord the King, considering how Almighty God of his great grace had placed him in the honorable Estate of King, and nevertheless he cannot yet for certain cause bear the name of Duke of Lancaster," then ordains that "Henry his eldest son should have and bear the name of Duke of Lancaster, and that he be named Prince of Wales, Duke of Aquitaine, of Lancaster, and of Cornwall, and Earl of Chester." The fact is, that the King or Queen of England cannot be Duke or Duchess in the realm of England. Our kings have held inferior titles drawn from other kingdoms, as Duke of Normandy and Earl of Anjou; but Lord Coke says the sovereign cannot be rex and dux in the same realm. The Queen, as queen, holds her palatinate of Lancaster, and the other duchy lands and franchises; but she holds them jure ducatus, so distinguished from those estates which she holds jure coronæ. She cannot however properly be styled Duchess of Lancaster.

W. H.

In your last Number (Vol. v., p. 320.) is an inquiry on the Duchess of Lancaster. The best answer to this is to be found in a book, 8vo., entitled Harrison on Crown Revenues, or a Memoir, &c. respecting the Revenues of the Duchies of Cornwall and Lancaster: no date or printer's name. I purchased a copy at a sale a short time ago. Everything will be ascertained here perhaps better than any where else.

J. D.

Is Queen Victoria the possessor of this title? It would appear so. Sir N. Harris Nicolas, in his Synopsis of the Peerage, speaking of the dukedom, says:

"1399. Henry Plantagenet, son and heir, ascended the throne 29th Sept. 1399; when this title, with all his other honours, became merged in the crown, in which it has ever since remained vested."

Your correspondent may be referred to Blackstone (Introd. §4.), where is a very interesting account of the Palatinate and Duchy of Lancaster. We are there told that on his succession to the crown, Henry IV. was too prudent to suffer his Duchy of Lancaster to be united to the crown, and therefore he procured an act of parliament ordaining that this duchy and his other hereditary estates—

"Should remain to him and his heirs for ever, and should remain, descend, be administered, and governed in like manner as if he had never attained the regal dignity."

In the first of Edward IV., Henry VI. was attainted, and the Duchy of Lancaster declared forfeited to the crown. At the same time an act was passed to continue the county palatine, and to make the same part of the duchy; and to vest the whole in King Edward IV. and his heirs, kings of England, for ever. Blackstone then mentions that in the first Henry VII. an act was passed vesting the Duchy of Lancaster in that king and his heirs; and in a note examines the question whether the duchy vested in the natural or political person of the king. He then says:

"It seems to have been understood very early after the statute of Henry VII., that the Duchy of Lancaster was by no means thereby made a separate inheritance from the royal patrimony, since it descended, with the crown, to the half-blood in the instances of Queens Mary and Elizabeth; which it could not have done as the estate of a mere Duke of Lancaster in the common course of legal descent."

If, in saying that William III. never created himself Duke of Lancaster, your correspondent means that he caused no patent to issue granting himself that dignity, he is, I doubt not, correct. But if, after the above quotations, any doubt could remain on the subject, possibly the following extract from the act 1 Will. & Mar. sess. 2. cap. 2. ("An Act declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject, and settling the Succession of the Crown") will sufficiently dispel it:—

"And the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons seriously considering, &c., do hereby recognise, acknowledge, and declare, that King James II. having abdicated the Government, and their Majesties having accepted the Crown and Royal dignity as aforesaid, their said Majesties did become, were, and are, and of right ought to be, by the laws of this realm, our sovereign liege lord and lady the King and Queen of England, France, and Ireland, and the dominions thereunto belonging, in and to whose princely persons the Royal state, crown, and dignity of the said realms, with all honours, styles, titles, regalities, prerogatives, powers, jurisdictions, and authorities to the same belonging and appertaining, are most rightfully and entirely invested and incorporated, united and annexed."

In conclusion, will you allow me to ask some correspondent to set forth at length the titles of our Sovereign Lady the Queen? In confessing that I do not know, I fancy that I state the case as regards the majority of the lieges of her Majesty. Indeed, a tale sometime ago went "the round of the papers," to the effect that the "Duke of Rothsay" was one day announced to his Royal Highness Prince Albert. The prince, who was not aware of the existence of such a personage, at length ordered him to be admitted, and was not a little astonished at beholding his eldest son! This, though doubtless the coinage of some ingenious but hungry penny-a-liner, pre-supposes so large an amount of general ignorance on the subject, that I hope some well-informed individual will, through your columns, enlighten the world on the point.

TEE BEE.

Variations of surnames occur much later than the close of the fourteenth century, the period cited by your correspondent COWGILL. I have seen a document of the date of Charles I., which names one Agnes Wilson, otherwise Randalson, widow of John, son of Randal Wilson; thus showing that the patronymic was liable to vary in every generation, even in the seventeenth century.

This is still the practice in the hill country of Lancashire, bordering upon Yorkshire, where people are seldom known by a family name. The individual is distinguished by the addition of the father's or mother's Christian name, and sometimes by the further addition of those of forefathers for a generation or two, as in the designation of Welshmen in times past. The abode sometimes varies the style.

As an example, I may mention that a few years ago I sought an heir-at-law in a town on the borders. I was referred to a man called "Dick o' Jenny's;" he being the son of a second marriage, the mother's name was used to distinguish him rather than his father's. Pursuing the inquiry I found the first wife had been a "sister of ould Tommy at top of th' huttock;" her daughter had married "John o' Bobby," and "John o' Bobby's lad" was the man I wanted. When I had made him out, it was with some difficulty that I ascertained (though amongst his kindred) that he bore the family name of "Shepherd."

W. L.

I perceive that your correspondents COWGILL and J. H. (p. 290.), and MR. MARK ANTONY LOWER (p. 326.), make use of the word surname to signify "the permanent appellative of particular families."

Now, I have always considered that the English language, in this as in many other instances, possessed two words which, though alike in sound, were very different both in origin and meaning:—surname, i.e. sur-nom, the name added to the common appellation, for the purpose of distinguishing an individual; as Rufus, Cœur de Lion, Lackland, in the case of our early kings: and sir-name, or sire-name, being that which in recent times, and in most countries, every one born in wedlock has inherited from his sire, and which is the subject of the articles in "N. & Q."

As I do not suppose that your correspondents, the last of whom is of considerable authority on this subject, have used the term unadvisedly, I am anxious to know the grounds on which they would disallow my theory.

E. H. Y.

I am glad to perceive that MR. LOWER has on the stocks a systematic Dictionary of Surnames. For the reason stated by him, it is neither desirable nor possible that it should include all English surnames. The majority derive their origin from places or districts of limited dimensions, and to enumerate them would be an interminable and very thankless task. MR. L. has therefore judiciously determined to exercise his discretion on this class of cases. Nor are the names derived from Christian names generally worth insertion, for every Christian name has, in some form, been converted into a surname, either with or without alteration. Those which originate in extinct or provincial employments and trades will supply an instructive and interesting collection, such as Tucker, Challoner, Tozer, Crowder, Berner, &c.; and will also afford scope for glossarial illustration.

I also trust that his etymological research will be successfully exercised on such names as—

Let me also bring under his notice the singularly unattractive name of Suckbitch. It is used by more than one branch of a respectable and ancient family in the West of England, and I have traced its existence for at least five centuries. Instead of availing themselves of the recent opinions of some great lawyers, that a surname may be changed at will, this family rather pride themselves on a name that can boast an antiquity probably not surpassed by that of any family in England. The shape of it has, however, deviated from the ancient form, so as to become more significant, but certainly less graceful than it was; and the change is probably an illustration of a familiar fact: viz. that we are not generally the authors of our own surnames, but receive them from our neighbours, and that, to a certain extent, they continue to have the same character of instability which they originally possessed. The earliest form of it known to me is Sokespic,—a word which seems to indicate a Saxon origin. The spic, or bacon end of it has now generally become spitch in the names of places; as in Spitchwick, a well-known seat in Devonshire. Whether the soke or suck end of it be from sucan, and the whole name equivalent to the modern Chawbacon, is a matter which I leave for the investigation of MR. LOWER. At all events, the old form will be a warning to the etymologist not to search for the origin of the name in any legend like that which ascribes the nutrition of the infant founders of Rome to a she-wolf.

I have met with many modern instances of the mutability of surnames among labouring people, and even in a class above them. In 1841 a person named Duke was on the list of voters for Penryn, in Cornwall. His original name was Rapson; but the name being very common in his neighbourhood, people long distinguished him by the name of Duke, because he kept the "Duke of York's Arms:" and this last name has since become the permanent recognised family name. This is a fact which I have had satisfactory means of verifying.

E. S.

—DR. RIMBAULT will find, in the Grenville Collection in the British Museum, an extraordinary volume of proclamations published during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, "collected together by the industry of Humfrey Dyson, of the City of London, Publique Notary. London, 1618." The volume is fully described in Bibliotheca Grenvilliana, Part the Second, 1848, pp. 368-373.

H. F.

—I know not what your correspondent A. A. D. may mean by asking "whether the battle of Waterloo was not a myth!" but I am glad to be able to state, from the very best authority, the circumstance of the celebrated order to the Guards on that day. It was at all times the Duke of Wellington's habit to cover as much as possible troops exposed to the fire of cannon, by taking advantage of any irregularity of ground, and making them sit or lie down, the better to cover them from fire till the moment of attack; and the Duke's common practice was, just as the enemy came close, and was on the point of attacking him, he attacked them. What he may have said on this occasion, and probably did say, was, "Stand up, Guards;" and then gave the commanding officers the order to attack. One would not pledge oneself to the very syllables of such a command on such an occasion; but what I have stated is the recollection of one who was present, and it is equivalent at least to the popular version of "Up, Guards, and at them!"

C.

[Our correspondent's doubt, whether Waterloo itself is not a myth, was intended, we presume, as a hit at the historical scepticism of the present day.]

—May I be allowed to call the attention of your readers who are curious in such matters, to a cut of the Bawderich and its Gear, engraved in the 13th and 14th Numbers of Willis's Current Notes, about which there have already been several notices in your interesting periodical?

I would also request any gentlemen who have access to old parish records, to see what entries they can find relating to the item in question, and anything about the "wheles" of the belles. It is desirable to find out by whom, and when, the present whole wheel was introduced. Originally a half-wheel only was used, and such may still be found in some towers. In Dorsetshire the half-wheel is common; and there being no "fillet" nor "ground truck," "peals of changes" cannot be rung as they are in other towers.

H. T. E.

—MR. HEPWORTH DIXON invites your readers to furnish him with references to any works which may throw light on the history of Algernon Sydney. May I suggest to him to look at the article on Macaulay's History of England which appeared in the Quarterly Review two or three years ago, wherein there are statements, from cited authorities, which seem to prove that that "illustrious patriot" was no exception to the famous rule, that "every man has his price."

C. E. D.

—If your correspondent T., who cannot find this passage in any of Lord Bolingbroke's writings, will turn to the second letter of that nobleman, "On the Study and Use of History," he will perceive that the sentence is there quoted from Dionysius of Halicarnassus. The writer in the Encyclopædia Metropolitana evidently takes it at second-hand from this work; and there can be no doubt that the currency of the quotation is entirely attributable to Lord Bolingbroke's use of it. This sentence is the text which he illustrates at much length in his historical essay.

JOSHUA G. FITCH.

—P. C. S. S. has an inquiry respecting the interpretation of these lines in Pope's Imitation of Horace's "Epistle to Augustus:"

And C. having repeated this Query (Vol. iv., p. 59.), I am induced to impart to them a "guess" which I made not long since. I must premise by asking your correspondents whether the unctuous substance known as "bear's grease" was in use at the period referred to; and if the reply be in the affirmative, I would suggest the following interpretation of the couplet.

King William and King Charles had shown so little wisdom and discrimination in their knighting and pensioning of worthless poets, that they must be supposed to have been anointed, at their coronation, with bear's grease, instead of the holy ointment commonly used for such purposes, and which is considered to possess the power of conferring on the kingly office those very virtues in which William and Charles had shown themselves so deficient. In this sense, Old Ben and Dennis, each in reference to the sovereign of his time, might have exclaimed,—

—the word "Russian" being obviously intended to describe bears in general.

It is not for me to say how far this guess about "bear's grease" may suit the fancy of C. and P. C. S. S. They will probably look upon it as "tiré par les cheveux." If so, let them produce a better solution.

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia.

—Near Ravensworth Castle is a stone column, concerning which there is a tradition that it was one of the crosses erected to hold markets at during the great plague at Newcastle in 1645, when the produce of the county was not allowed to be exposed for sale at a less distance than three miles from that town.

C. T.

There is another stone of this description on the boundary between Dent and Widdal, in the West Riding of the county of York; it is near an old road from Dent to Hawes, and is now called the "Cross upon Cross-hills."

W. B. M.

Dee Side.

—In reply to the Queries of R. H. (see No. 125. p. 274.), 1. "Why the reprinted pages of the 1st volume of the Archæologia Cambrensis do not agree with those in the original copies?" and 2. Why "nearly a whole page of interesting matter has been omitted?"—it may be sufficient to state that the introduction of two additional notes at pages 204. and 209. rendered the first impossible: and, secondly, that the omission complained of was anything but of interest, as it only related to a supposed irregularity in the delivery of the early numbers, which subsequent inquiry proved to be groundless, and therefore it was suppressed.

Besides the notes above-mentioned, the letter-press has been revised and various typographical errors corrected, so as to render the second edition in many respects superior to the first.

†

—MR. PARKER is reminded of the very curious Town-hall at Ashburton, in Devonshire, constructed entirely of timber.

M. Y. R. W.

—BURIENSIS has been furnished by several of your correspondents with many examples of the representation of an emaciated corpse in connexion with tombs, but no one has yet referred him to that very remarkable instance at Tewkesbury. The tomb is usually assigned, I believe, to Abbot Wakeman. If anything were needed to refute the absurd notion of the forty days' fast, I think the figure on this tomb would supply the clue to the true conception of the artist; and show that it was intended, by such figures, to remind the passers-by of their own mortality by representing the hollow cheek and sunken eyes, and emaciated form, of a corpse from which life had only recently departed: for, in the figure on this tomb, the idea of mortality is carried still further, and the more humbling and revolting thought of corruption and decay is suggested to the mind by the representation of noxious reptiles and worms crawling over the lifeless form, and revelling in their disgusting banquet.

M. Y. R. W.

I have read somewhere that these monuments with emaciated figures were erected during the lifetime of the individual as an act of humiliation, and to remind himself as well as others of mortality and the instability of human grandeur. If this cannot be disproved by facts, it affords a satisfactory solution. There is a small chapel connected with Bishop Fleming's in Lincoln Minster, and with others, where masses were said for the repose of their souls; so it is probable that these were at least designed during their lives, which would manifest their humility.

C. T.

—Mr. Crewe, the bookseller of Newcastle-under-Lyne, has communicated to me some corrections upon my last notice. The great potter's name was Josiah, not Joseph. This was an accidental lapsus memoriæ on my part. Wedgwood is spelt without the e, though I believe it has been spelt both ways by the family. It seems that Miss Sarah Wedgwood is still alive, and till lately resided at Camphill, Maer; but the Maer estate has been sold to Mr. Wm. Davenport, and she now resides near London. Mr. Crewe sends me the following extract, which confirms the identity of the munificent co-patron of Coleridge.

"Extract from a Letter from Coleridge to Wordsworth, dated Shrewsbury, January, 1798.

"You know that I have accepted the munificent liberality of Josiah [Joshua?] and Thomas Wedgwood; I accepted it on the presumption that I had talents, honesty, and propensities to persevering effort."

Memoirs of Wordsworth, vol. i. p. 116.

C. M. I.

—Having both Miss C. Fanshawe's enigmas, I send you a copy of that on the letter "I," which is inquired for by E. S. S. W., in case it should not reach you from any other quarter. In an old scrap-book in my possession it stands thus:

How came Miss Fanshawe's enigmas to be attributed to Lord Byron?

J. SANSOM.

Oxford.

—Navigators meet with the Little Petrel, Storm Finch, or Stormy Petrel, the Procellaria pellagica of Linnæus, in every part of the ocean, diving, running on foot, or skimming over the highest waves with the greatest ease. It seems to foresee the coming storm long ere the seamen can discover any signs of its approach; and they make this known by congregating together under the wake of the vessel, as if to shelter themselves from it, and they thus warn the mariner to guard against the coming danger. At night they set up a piercing cry. This usefulness to the sailor is the obvious cause of the latter having such an objection to their being killed. I am unable to say who Mother Carey was; but I might venture a conjecture why the bird who guards the seaman with such care bears its familiar name.

UNICORN.

The name of "Mother Carey's Chickens" is said to have been originally bestowed upon Stormy Petrels by Captain Carteret's sailors, probably from some celebrated ideal hag of that name. As these birds are supposed to be seen only before stormy weather, they are not welcome visitors.

WM. YARRELL.

—Your correspondent ELGINENSIS has got the "Burnomania" of Dr. William Peebles, the minister of Newton-upon-Ayr, himself one of the minor poets of Scotland by virtue of his Crisis, or the Progress of Revolutionary Principles, Edinburgh, 1803 and 1804; and Poems, consisting of Odes and Elegies, Glasgow, 1810; all in my collection.

Like the transcendent powers of a living vocalist, the genius of Burns could brook no rival, and for a long period, notwithstanding the futile attempts of the smaller poetical fry to arrest its progress by their Lilliputian shafts, the "Ayrshire Ploughman" maintained a species of monopoly of the public mind and attention.

Dr. Peebles, as a candidate for poetical fame, no doubt found this "Burnomania" sufficiently annoying; he therefore put forth his puny arm, in the publication alluded to by ELGINENSIS, to stem it, and, considering that the poetry of Burns was then in the zenith of its popularity, we need not add that the worthy Doctor's work proved but a turf to the cataract, and is only now known as a curiosity.

I may however notice, that Dr. Peebles had a deeper grudge than rivalry to settle with Burns, the satirical poet having aimed at him in the "Holy Fair" and the "Kirk's Alarm;" and should your correspondent seek to know more of the author of his book, he will find him noticed in Paterson's Contemporaries of Burns, Edinburgh, 1830.

While upon the subject I may further note, that among many other carpers at the "Burnomania" was James Maxwell, better known as the "Poet in Paisley," who attacked Burns and his friend Lapraik in a brochure, entitled "Animadversions on some Poets and Poetasters of the present Age, especially R——t B——s and J——n L——k, with a Contrast of some of the former Age: Paisley, Neilson, for the Author, 1788. In this curious piece, which was unknown to Motherwell,—our pair of poets, with all their patrons and friends,—among whom Maxwell is shocked to find both ministers and elders,—

all these, and such like, are severely censured by the moral poet for admiring "this stupid blockhead," besides being menaced with a certain place, to which their favourites are certainly doomed, should they continue to support such arch-enemies of the Kirk and order. How appropriate, then, is the remark of the Rev. Hamilton Paul, one of Burns' warmest admirers and editors, when, lumping all these envious spirits together, he says,—

"Some weak attempts have been made by narrow-minded men to expose to ridicule this 'Burnomania,' as they term it; but like self-love converted by the plastic power of the poet into social affection, it is spreading wider and wider every day."

J. O.

—THEOPHYLACT will find an account of the Cagots in the Magasin Pittoresque for 1838, where they are stated to be descended from the Goths, their name of Cagots being derived from caas Goth (chien de Goth), which corresponds with the derivation given by Scaliger.

In Brittany they were known under the name of Cacous and Caqueux: in Guienne and Gascony under that of Cahets; in Navarre, Caffos; in the mountains of Bearn, &c., as Cagots or Capots.

The same work for 1840 contains an account of the Cretins; also noticed by Kohl in his Alpen-Reisen (reviewed in Westminster Review, July, 1849).

PHILIP S. KING.

—There is, in Ashbourne Church in Derbyshire, a beautiful figure of a sleeping child by Thomas Banks, R.A., from which it is generally said that Chantrey took the idea of his celebrated monument in Lichfield Cathedral. It is a tradition in Ashbourne, that Chantrey drew the sketch for his sleeping children at an inn in the place, immediately after having seen Banks' sculpture in the parish church. The monument at Ashbourne is to Penelope, daughter of Sir Brooke Boothby, born April 11th, 1785, died Nov. 12th, 1791, and on it there are inscriptions in four languages, English, French, Latin, and Italian. The following description of it, taken from The History and Topography of Ashbourne, may be acceptable to some your readers, who may compare it with their recollections of Chantrey's figures:—

"It represents a child of delicate and amiable features, who has long suffered from slow and incurable disease, lightly, but rather carelessly, reclining on her right side. The position of the meek and lovely sufferer shows that she has just assumed it in order to seek temporary relief from pain, or from the weariness that a protracted repose, even on the softest materials, eventually causes. The little patient is extended, in the position just described, on a marble mattress and pillow, to which the hand of the sculptor has communicated the apparent texture of the softest down. The expression of the countenance is slightly indicative of pain, felt even in the intervals of slumber; and the little hands, lifted towards the countenance, plainly show that the sufferer has so placed them, in order that they and the arms may be in some measure a support to the body, and relieve it from the aching tenderness caused by long contact with the couch on which it rests. Around the head is bound, in loose folds, a handkerchief, which allows the artist greater scope to exhibit the child's features. The body-costume is a low-fronted frock with short sleeves, most gracefully sculptured. The whole of the drapery is in the most finished style, and the ease and softness of the folds are an admirable proof of the delicate chiselling of the artist. He has shown his natural and pure taste in the manner in which he has placed the feet. The entire position of the figure is faultless; and it represents, with refined fidelity to nature, the female infant form, patiently and slowly perishing beneath the steady undermining progress of irresistible decay."

W. FRASER.

—This surname would originally denote the fabricator of such arks, or large chests made of strong oaken planks, as are still to be found under that name in most old farmhouses, at least in this neighbourhood, where they are chiefly used for storing meal or flour. The fact of our translators of the Bible having called the sacred chest in the Holy of Holies by this term seems to point to a more general use of the word in their days than at present obtains. Mr. Hunter (Hallamsh. Gloss., p. 5.) says that the strong boxes in which the Jews kept their valuables were anciently called their arks (archas), and that the word is so found in the Fœdera, 45 Hen. III. It occurs twice in the Church Accounts of this parish.

"1527. Minatus ē. p̅ d. Willm̅us browne archas et cistas diffrīgere.

"1744. pd. Wm. Yates for setting up ark."

Cf. also Lower's Eng. Surnames, 2nd ed., p. 92.; and the Latin arca, a chest, coffer, or box.

J. EASTWOOD

Ecclesfield, Sheffield.

It is rather curious that the word wright for carpenter is still commonly used in Scotland, but that Sievewright is the only surname in which it appears in that country; while in England it is found in several, although the word itself is there obsolete, unless it is still to be found in the northern counties.

C. E. D.

—Seeing a notice in "N. & Q." of Breydenbach's Opus Transmarinum, and a suggestion of Dr. Kitto that this work was written by Felix Faber, I am induced to call attention to another work written by the latter, which is still extant in his own MS., in the library at Ulm, bearing the following title: Fratris Felicis Fabri Evagatorium in Terræ Sanctæ, Arabiæ et Ægypti Peregrinationem, and which was printed for the first time for the Literarische Verein at Stuttgart, a society established there about ten years since, with objects somewhat similar to our Camden Society. This was one of its earliest publications, and as the number of copies printed was very small, the volumes are now rarely to be met with. The author informs his brethren of the monastery of Ulm, for whose especial benefit he professes to have written his book, that he composed it soon after his return from his second journey, the interval between the first and second journey having been occupied in reading and making notes from all the existing books on the same subject which he could meet with (it is to be regretted that he has not given us a list of these), "de quibus omnibus," he adds, "tuli quidquid deserviebat proposito meo, ex qua collectura grande volumen comportavi." With this collection of notes he appears to have set forth on his second expedition, "quia post hæc omnia in multis dubius remansi et incertus, quia multa legeram et pauca videram." Traversing Jerusalem, Arabia, and Ægypt, "conferens ea, quæ prius legeram et collegeram ad ipsa loca, et concordantias sanctarum scripturarum cum locis, et loca cum scripturis quantum potui, investigavi et signavi. Inter hæc nonnunquam de locis sanctis etiam, in quibus non fui, exactam diligentiam feci, ut earum dispositionem conscriberem, sed non nisi illo addito: ibi non fui, sed auditu aut lectione didici."

[The MS. is dated 1484.]

F. N.

—C. I. P. will find an account in Mortimer under the head "Of Commerce," &c., vol. ii. p. 164. et seq. It refers to Cabot's scheme, as also Chancellor's: the first charter of incorporation was granted 2 Phil. & Ma. (Feb. 6, 1554) by the name of "The Merchants Adventurers for the Discoveries of Lands, Countries, Isles, &c. not before known or frequented by the English," &c. In the year 1560, 2 Eliz., her charter confirmed all former charters and privileges to "the Company of Merchant Adventurers of England," and likewise granted them two ample charters, one in the sixth, the other in the twenty-eighth of her reign. In the former of the latter they are specially designated by Eliz. as "Merchant Adventurers."

[There are other particulars in connexion with them which I do not send you, reference being easy of access.]

J. EBFF.

Bolt Court, Fleet Street.

Anderson's History of the Origin of Commerce, 2 vols., London, 1764, contains some information on the subject of this Company, whose title was that of "Merchant Adventurers," and whose trade was chiefly with the Netherlands.

In 1604, James I., after concluding a treaty of peace and commerce with Spain, incorporated a company of merchants for an exclusive trade to Spain and Portugal; but this monopoly being found prejudicial to commerce, in the following year the patent was revoked by act of parliament.

If C. I. P. has not access to Anderson, and will communicate his address, I shall be happy to give him any information in my power on this subject.

BROCTUNA.

Bury, Lancashire.

The steady progress which sound Archæology is making in this country is shown, and the benefits which will accrue from such progress to those who are desirous of investigating the early history of this island and its inhabitants is rendered evident, by the fact, that discoverers of primæval remains no longer endeavour to build upon those remains some strange theories which have no foundation beyond the fancy of those who pen them. On the contrary, Archæologists are now content to give us plain and distinct particulars of the discoveries they make, and to leave to future labourers the task of comparing the different objects, and of evolving from such comparison those trustworthy illustrations of our early history which are so highly to be prized. The truth of these remarks will be seen by a glance at the interesting volume entitled Fairford Graves; a Record of Researches in an Anglo-Saxon Burial-place in Gloucestershire, in which Mr. Wylie narrates, with much clearness and simplicity, the result of a very interesting series of excavations made at Fairford, on the site of a Saxon necropolis, more particularly of those made at the commencement of the past year. These discoveries furnish some very valuable materials towards a more complete history of the Anglo-Saxon civilisation than we yet possess; and Mr. Wylie deserves the thanks of his brother antiquaries for his well-directed zeal on the occasion, and for the judicious manner in which he has told his story. The work is very profusely illustrated; and is one of the best contributions which have recently been made to the history of our primæval antiquities.

We have received, and read with great pleasure, Two Introductory Lectures upon Archæology, delivered in the University of Cambridge, by the Rev. J. H. Marsden. We are not sure that these lectures are not privately printed; and in that doubt should have passed them without notice, had not their merits, as the production of a scholar and a man of taste, seemed to us such as to make it desirable that they should be placed within the reach of all whom they are calculated to interest. They are the first-fruits of Mr. Disney's munificent donation to the University of Cambridge.

We have received the second volume of Bohn's reprint of The Literary Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds, edited by H. W. H. Beechey, which completes the work. No President ever filled the Chair of the Royal Academy with greater benefit to the students than did Sir Joshua; and this cheap and useful edition of the invaluable legacy which he bequeathed to them is well calculated not only for their use, but for more general circulation, now that the arts of design are receiving such deserved attention in this country.

The people of Manchester will shortly commence their great experiment of a Free Library, which, it is hoped, will be opened in the course of the present month, probably by Prince Albert. It contains about twenty thousand volumes, consisting of about twelve thousand books of reference and eight thousand to form the library of circulation, which will be lent freely to all persons bringing recommendations or certificates of good character. The books are all well bound and in excellent condition, and the managers have no fears but that they will be returned from circulation in the same state. We shall look with great interest to the result; for it is clear that what is good for Manchester must be good for London, and for all other places where men do congregate.

FABRICII BIBLIOTHECA LATINA. Ed. Ernesti. Leipsig 1773. Vol. III.

THE ANACALYPSIS. By Godfrey Higgins. 2 Vols. 4to.

CODEX DIPLOMATICUS ÆVI SAXONICI, opera J.M. Kemble. Vols. I. and II. 8vo.

ECKHEL, DOCTRINA NUMORUM. Vol. VIII.

BROUGHAM'S MEN OF LETTERS. 2nd Series, royal 8vo., boards. Original edition.

KNIGHT'S PICTORIAL SHAKSPEARE. Royal 8vo. Parts XLII. XLIII. XLIV. L. and LI.

CONDER'S ANALYTICAL VIEW OF ALL RELIGIONS. 8vo.

NEWMAN'S (J. H.) PRESENT POSITION OF THE CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND.

HALLIWELL ON THE DIALECTS OF SOMERSETSHIRE.

SCLOPETARIA, OR REMARKS ON RIFLES, &c.

SOWERBY'S ENGLISH FUNGI. Vol. III.

SUPPLEMENT TO SOWERBY'S ENGLISH FUNGI.

EUROPEAN MAGAZINE. Vols. XXIII. XXIV. and XXV.

POETIC WREATH. Small 8vo. Newman.

GEMS FROM BRITISH POETS. 4 Vols. Tyas.

THE WORKS OF LORD BYRON. Vols. VI. VII. and VIII. 12mo. Murray, 1823.

MALLET'S POEMS. Bell's edition.

MALLET'S PLAY OF ELVIRA. 1763.

JOANNIS LELANDI COLLECTANEA. Vol. V. 1774.

BISHOP PATRICK'S COMMENTARY ON THE BIBLE. The Volumes containing Joshua and Judges. Small 4to.

KENT'S ANTHEMS. Vol. I. folio. Edited by Joseph Corfe.

THE MATHEMATICIAN. Vol. I. No. I. 1844.

MACULLOCH'S HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS OF SCOTLAND.

BACK'S VOYAGE OF THE TERROR, 8vo.

L'HISTOIRE DE LA SAINCTE BIBLE, par ROYAUMONDE: à Paris, 1701.

JOHNSON'S (DR. S.) WORKS, by MURPHY. Trade Edition of 1816, in 8vo. Vol. XII. only.

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

REPLIES RECEIVED.—Old Dog—MEANING OF "TO BE MADE A DEACON"—Groom of the Stole—Corrupted Names of Places—Plague Stones—Body and Soul, &c.—Large Families—Emaciated Monumental Effigies—Which are the Shadows?—London Street Characters—Umbrella, &c.—Sir John Wallop—Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell—Poison—Rain Omens—Longevity—Friday Superstition—Son of the Morning—Frog or Thrush—Can a Clergyman marry himself?—Newton, Cicero, and Gravitation—Exeter Controversy—Amyclæ—Passage in Hamlet—The Three Loggerheads—St. Christopher—Article "An"—Bee Park—Musical Plagiarism—Abbot of Croyland's Motto—Breezes from Gas Works—Vikingr Skotar—Throwing Salt over left Shoulder—Man in the Almanack—Curfew—Glass-making in England—Birthplace of St. Patrick—Milton's Epitaph—Devil's Head as a Crest—Moke—Stone Pillar Worship—Inedited Poetry—Tower of London—Mrs. Van Butchel—Sneezing—Liability to Error—Analysis—Dillijon—Grinning like a Cheshire Cat—Donkey—"An tye"—St. Botolph—Clerical Members of Parliament—Seven Senses—Ring Finger.

R. R. R. (Cambridge) is thanked. We have every reason to put faith in the writer of the paper to which he refers.

R. F. L. will find a Note on the line by Borbonius:

in "N. & Q." Vol. i. pp. 234. 419.

J. B. R. (Belper). The Derbyshire Folk-lore will be very acceptable.

SEXAGENARIUS ALTER. The article respecting "Black Rood of Scotland" is in the printer's hands. The other has not been lost sight of.

E. G. "When Greeks join Greeks," &c., is from Nat Lee's "Alexander the Great."

TEE BEE. The communication of our Norwich correspondent has been duly forwarded.

H. M. W. will find his quotation on "Stops in Printing" at p. 133. of the present Volume.

We are compelled to postpone replying to many correspondents; to some who have given us their names we will communicate by letter.

The correspondent who writes to us on the subject of Collins is thanked; the date in the Query (Vol. v., p. 227.) is certainly wrong: it should have been 1759. We do not publish Hayley's Epitaph, as it has been, we believe, frequently printed. Our correspondent has been anticipated too (see p. 331.) in the excellent illustration of the word BIGOT from Trench's "Study of Words."

"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, May 1. 1852.