Notes and Queries Vol. V., No. 133, Saturday, May 15, 1852

NOTES:—

QUERIES:—

REPLIES:—

MISCELLANEOUS:—

The Original Draught of the Primitive Church, 8vo. Lond. 1717, written in reply to An Inquiry into the Constitution and Discipline of the Primitive Church, by Mr. Peter King, afterwards Lord Chancellor [from 1725 to 1733], and Baron King of Ockham, is usually attributed to Mr. William Sclater. Respecting this writer, whose work attained and has preserved considerable celebrity, and respecting others of his name, I forward some Notes which I have met with, and beg anxiously to solicit others from your correspondents.

In Lathbury's History of the Nonjurors, cap. vii. p. 303., he is thus mentioned:

"Sclater at length stepped forth [to reply to King's Inquiry], and it is said that King was not only convinced by his arguments, but that he made him an offer of a living in the Church of England. Sclater was a nonjuring clergyman; consequently he could not accept preferment in the Anglican Church, which involved the taking the oath of allegiance. All the arguments in King's book were considered with the greatest candour and ability. The author was a man of singular modesty, of unaffected piety, and of uncommon learning, of which this work affords abundant evidence."

Dr. Hinds, the present Bishop of Norwich, in his History of the Rise and early Progress of Christianity, Preface, page xv., 1st edit., thus speaks:

"Lord King wrote his once celebrated Inquiry in an honest and candid spirit, as the result testifies; but his research was partial, and led him to adopt the congregational principle of the Independents. In Mr. Sclater's reply, principles scarcely less erroneous may be pointed out; yet, as far as the controversy went, he was right, and his opponent, by an act of candour perhaps unexampled, acknowledged himself convinced, and gave Sclater preferment for his victory."

Lord Campbell, however, in his Lives of the Chancellors, vol. iv. p. 369., discredits the idea of this conversion. He says:

"This work [the Inquiry] made a great sensation, passed through several editions, and called forth many learned and able answers, particularly one by a nonjuring clergyman of the name of Sclater, which is said (I believe without authority) even to have made a convert of King himself."

These are the only notices of Sclater which have fallen in my way.[1] I should remark, that his Original Draught is anonymous. He merely styles himself "a Presbyter of the Church of England."

[1] [We have met with two other accounts of the Chancellor's conversion, both varying in a few particulars with the extracts given by our correspondent. Archdeacon Daubeny, in his work on Schism, p. 235., says, "Lord Chancellor King was at one time of his life so determined an advocate for Presbyterianism, and considered himself so perfectly acquainted with the merits of that subject, that he published a book upon it. To this book an answer was written by one Sclater, a clergyman, under the title of A Draught of the Primitive Church, which brought the point at issue within a short compass, and decided it in the most satisfactory manner. This book the author did not live to publish. It happened, however, that the author's manuscript after his death, came into the hands of the Lord Chancellor, who was so perfectly satisfied with its contents, that he published Sclater's manuscript at his own expense, as the strongest proof that could be given to the world of the alteration of his own views on the subject in question." The other version occurs in the Gentleman's Mag. for Oct. 1792, p. 910.:—"There is a circumstance relating to Lord King's book, and Mr. Sclater's answer to it, very little known, but which to me comes vouched with unquestionable authenticity. Before Mr. Sclater's book was published, it was read in manuscript by Lord King himself, it having been seized, among other papers, in the house of Mr. Nathanael Spinkes, a Nonjuring bishop, and carried to Lord King, then Chancellor, who very politely returned it, confessing that it was a very sufficient confutation of those parts of his book which it undertook to answer; that it was written with equal Christian temper and moderation, and unanswerable strength of argument; and desiring or consenting that it might be published."—ED.]

Of another William Sclater I find two notices in Miscellanies of Divinitie divided into three Books, by Edvvard Kellet, Doctour of Divinitie, and one of the Canons of the Cathedrall Church of Exon, fol. Cambridge, 1635:

"Melchisedec was a figure of Christ, and tithes by an everlasting law were due to the priesthood of Melchisedec, as is unanswerably proved by my reverend friend (now a blessed saint, Doctor Sclater), against all sacrilegious church-robbers."

B. i. c. v. p. 83.

Again:

"When that man of happy memory, the late right Reverend, now most blessed Saint, Arthur Lake, Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells [from 1616 to 1626], appointed Doctour Sclater (now also a saint in Heaven, then my most loving friend, and sometime fellow-collegian in the two royall colledges at Eaton and Cambridge) with myself to confer with an Anabaptisticall woman, we heard her determine great Depths of Divinitie as confidently as ever St. Paul did, though he was taught by Christ himself, and as nimbly as ever an ape crackt nuts," &c.

Ibid. c. viii. p. 151.

This Dr. William Sclater, then, was of Eton, and Fellow of King's College; was the author of a work on Tithes; and probably beneficed in the diocese of Bath and Wells during the episcopate of Lake, who preceded Laud in that see. To him also we may probably ascribe The Exposition on the first three Chapters of Romans, published by a person of this name in 1611. As in 1635 he is spoken of as dead, he could, if connected at all with the author of The Original Draught, hardly have been his father. He may have been his grandfather.

There is another Sclater, who may have been father of Lord King's opponent,—Dr. Edward Sclater, who in 1686 published Consensus Veterum; or the Reasons for his Conversion to the Catholic Faith. He was incumbent of Esher and of Putney, and, as such, obtained a curious dispensation from all pains, penalties, and forfeitures of non-residence on his benefices, accompanied by a license to keep a school, and to take "boarders, tablers, or sojourners," direct from the king, James II. This document may be found in Gutch's Collectanea Curiosa, No. 36., vol. i. p. 290.; and the concurrence of its date (May 3, 1686) with that of the Reasons for his Conversion is of ominous significancy. In 1687 he published another work, entitled The Primitive Fathers no Protestants; to which Edward Gee replied in his Primitive Fathers no Papists, in 1688. Several other tracts, addressed by Gee to this convert to the religion of the sovereign, show that there must have been a smart and long-continued controversy between them.[2]

[2] [On the 5th of May, 1689, being Rogation Sunday, Dr. Edward Sclater made a public recantation of the Romish religion, and was readmitted into the bosom of the English Church, in the chapel at the Savoy. The sermon was preached by Burnet, the newly-consecrated Bishop of Salisbury. (Wood's Athenæ, vol. iv. p. 700. (Bliss.))—ED.]

Having contributed all that I can collect respecting the Sclaters, I should be obliged to any of your correspondents who may be able to add any further notices, or to show whether they were connected or not as members of the same family.

Dr. Edward Kellet is mentioned by Wood, in Fasti Oxonienses, anno 1616, as rector of Ragborough and Croscombe, in Somersetshire. There is no place in Somersetshire of the former name, but there is one which bears the latter. I conceive, therefore, this to be a misprint for Bagborough and Crowcombe, parishes nearly contiguous in the western part of the county.

The Gentleman's Magazine for February 1841 contains a notice of a work by Edward Kellet, entitled Tricœnium Christi in nocte proditionis suæ: The Threefold Supper of Christ, &c.: folio, Lond. 1641. His antipathy to tobacco must have been worthy of that of good King James himself; for, starting from the Feast of the Passover, he delivers the following violent counter-blast against the weed, and those who use it:

"The earth, ayre, and water afford not enough for their gluttony, and though sawcy Art second Nature, nor eye nor desire is satisfyed: the creatures groane under this grosse abuse: these are swinish Epicures, prodigal consumers of God's blessings. Tobacco, the never unseasonable Tobacco, the all-usefull Tobacco, good for meate, drinke, and cloathing; good for cold, heate, and all diseases, this must sharpen their appetites before meate, must heate it at their meate, being the only curious antepast, sauce, and post-past; wine and beere must wash downe the stenche of that weede, and it again must dry up their moyst fumes."

To revert to the Sclaters, or to a name idem sonans. In the Hutton Correspondence, as published by the Surtees Society, at p. 65., is a letter of remonstrance, dated "10 Maye, 1582," addressed to Francis Walsingham, by the Chapter of York, respecting a dispensation that had been granted to "Mr. Doctor Gibson;" and among the signatures appears that of George Slater, who, "as one of their companie," had been despatched to deal personally "for the quietinge of the matter" with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Earl of Huntingdon, then President of the North Mountstone.

BALLIOLENSIS.

The charge for conveyance of passengers between Dover and Calais was fixed by a statute made in the fourth year of the reign of Edward III., A.D. 1330, at sixpence for a foot passenger, and two shillings for a man and horse, as may be seen in the following extract from this statute:

"Item. Com avant ces heures homme a cheval soleit aver son passage de la meer a port de Dovre pur ii, s. et homme apee pur vi, d. et ore denovel ont les gardiens de passage et passagers pris plus a grande damage de poeple; Si est accorde que en dit port et touz autres, et auxint en touz les autres passages de la terre, auxibien en ewes douces, come en braz de meer, les passauntz paient desore come ancienement soleint, et de plus ne soient charges, ne les passagers ne gardiens des passages nient plus ne preignent."

Statutes of the Realm, vol. i. p. 262.

"Item. Whereas before this time a horseman was wont to have his passage of the sea at the port of Dover for two shillings, and a man afoot for sixpence, and now of late have the guardians of passage and passagemen taken more, to the great damage of the people; so it is agreed that in the said port and all others, and also in all the other passages of the land, so well in fresh waters as in arms of the sea, the passengers shall pay henceforth as anciently they were wont, and more they shall not be charged, nor shall the passagemen nor guardians of the passages take any more."

The present steam-packet fares between Dover and Calais are, chief-cabin eight shillings, fore-cabin six shillings, and horses twenty-five shillings; i.e. for a man about seven shillings, and for a man and horse about thirty-two shillings.

Hence it would appear, that the value of a shilling was sixteen times greater, five hundred years since, than it is at present. A pound troy of standard silver, from the Conquest to the 28th year of the reign of Edward I., A.D. 1300, was coined into twenty shillings; and from that time to the 23rd of Edward III., A.D. 1349, into twenty shillings and three pence. The standard of silver coin was then 11 oz. 2 dwts. pure silver, and 18 dwts. alloy, as it is at present; but a pound troy of standard silver is now coined into sixty-six shillings. Therefore, without taking into consideration the smaller fractions of a penny, the shilling, from the Conquest to the middle of the reign of Edward III., contained the same quantity of silver as do three shillings and three pence halfpenny of our present money. The sixpence paid by a passenger at the date of the above quoted statute, contained a quantity of silver equal to that contained in one shilling and seven pence three farthings; and the two shillings paid for the passage of a man and horse contained a quantity of silver equal to that contained in six shillings and seven pence of our present coin of the realm.

Hence it appears that, whether it be for a man only, or for a man and horse, we now pay, for a passage between Dover and Calais, nearly five times as much silver as was paid for the same passage five or six hundred years since. It would therefore seem, that the value of silver, measured by this kind of labour, was then nearly five times greater than its value in the present day.

I suspect however that silver was then really worth much more than five times its present value; and in order to arrive at a more correct conclusion, I shall be much obliged to any correspondent of "N. & Q." who will inform me what were the usual fares by sailing-vessels before, or at the time of, the introduction of steam-packets between Dover and Calais.

J. LEWELYN CURTIS.

I am much pleased with MR. STERNBERG'S Oxfordshire version of Die kluge Else (Vol. v., p. 363.). I have heard another in that county, and think the variations may be acceptable to those who are interested in our rather scanty country legends.

An old couple lived in the country on a nice bit of land of their own, and they had an only daughter whose name was Mary, and she had a sweetheart whose name was John. Now there was a garden at the back of their house with a well in it. One day, as the old man was walking in the garden, he thought a thought. He thought, "If John should have Mary, and Mary should have a child, and the child was to go tittle-tottle by the well, and to fall in, what a thing that would be;" so he sat down and cried. A little while after the old woman came into the garden and saw him, and asked him why he cried. And he told her he had thought, "If John should have Mary, and Mary should have a child, and the child should go tittle-tottle by the well, and fall in, what a thing that would be." "So it would," said the old woman; and she sat down and cried.

Mary arrives, hears the thought, and sits down and cries. John finds them crying, and says he will put on a new pair of shoes, and if, by the time they are worn out, he has not found three such big fools, he will save the child's life by not marrying Mary. He puts on the shoes, and sets out early the next morning.

Before he had gone far he came to a barn with the two doors wide open, and saw a man hard at work with a shovel, as if he was a shovelling something into the barn; but there was nothing in the shovel. "What be ye doing of, Measter?" says John. "I be a shovelling the sunshine in to dry the wheat as was carried in the wet." "What a fool ye be!" says John; "why don't you take out the sheaves, and lay 'em in the sun?" "Oh, God bless ye, Sir," says the man; "I wish ye'd come this way afore. Many a hard day's work ye'd a saved me." So John cut a notch in his stick for one fool, and went on.

He went a little further, and came to where a man was cutting at pebbles with a knife. "What be ye at, Measter?" says John. "I be a cutting of the pebbles to get at the kernels," says the man. "What a fool ye be!" says John "why don't ye get a masonter's hammer and split 'em, and then ye'll see whether there be any kernels or no." "Ah, God bless you, Sir," says the man "many a good knife ye'd a saved me if ye'd come this way afore." So John made another notch for the second fool.

The third is drawing a cow up the ladder, to eat the tussock of grass that grows every year in the thatch, and is equally thankful on being advised to cut it down and give it to the cow; for "many a good cow ye'd a saved me that I've throttled, if ye'd come this way afore." So John cut the third notch; and finding that folly was not peculiar to the family, went back and married Mary while his shoes were new. And they lived very happy, and she put a rail round the well, and the child was not drowned.

In this department of history, old women are the highest authorities, and it is desirable to fix their localities as nearly as we can. I heard the story from my nurse, a native of Souldern, Oxon., a village on the borders of Northamptonshire, and from another of Bucknel, fourteen miles north of Oxford.

A version of the Froschkönig is, or was, current in the same neighbourhood.

There was a farmer that had an only daughter; and she was very handsome, but proud. One day, when the servants were all afield, her mother sent her to the well for a pitcher of water. When she had let down the bucket, it was so heavy that she could hardly draw it up again; and she was going to let loose of it, when a voice in the well said, "Hold tight and pull hard, and good luck will come of it at last." So she held tight and pulled hard; and when the bucket came up there was nothing in it but a frog, and the frog said, "Thank you, my dear; I've been a long while in the well, and I'll make a lady of you for getting me out." So when she saw it was only a frog, she took no notice, but filled her pitcher and went home.

Now, when they were at supper, there came a knock at the door, and somebody outside said,—

So she looked out of the window, and there was the frog in boots and spurs. So says she, "I sha'n't open the door for a frog." Then says her father, "Open the door to the gentleman. Who knows what it may come to at last?" So she opened the door, and the frog came in. Then says the frog,—

"I'm sure I sha'n't set a chair; the floor's good enough for a frog." The frog makes many requests, to all of which the lady returns uncivil answers. He asks for beer, and is told "Water is good enough for a frog;" to be put to bed, but "The cistern is good enough for a frog to sleep in." The father, however, insists on her compliance; and even when the frog says, "Cuddle my back, my dearest sweet one," orders her to do so, "For who knows what it may come to at last?" And in the morning, when she woke, she saw by her side the handsomest gentleman that ever was seen, in a scarlet coat and top-boots, with a sword by his side and a gold chain round his neck, and gold rings on his fingers and he married her and made her a lady, and they lived very happy together.

I suspect the scarlet coat and top-boots to be a modern interpolation, the natural product of a sporting neighbourhood. It destroys the unity of costume, as I believe Alderman Sawbridge is the only person recorded as having gone hunting in a gold chain, and with a sword by his side.

Grimm's frog sings,—

There is not much difference in the song, but the moral tone of the German is much higher. The frog restores the princess's golden ball, which has fallen into the well, on her promising to do all those things which he afterwards demands; and the king insists on her compliance, because a promise is sacred, when made even to a frog. Our farmer contradicts his daughter's inclinations to the verge, or perhaps beyond the verge, of decorum, on the speculation of "what it may come to at last." To be sure, if the Oxfordshire version is correct, she gets only a sportsman for a husband.

H. B. C.

U. U. Club.

There was once an old woman, who left her daughter at home to get dinner ready, while she was at church. On coming back she found nothing touched, and her daughter crying by the fire-place. "Why, what now?" exclaimed the old woman. "Why, do you know," replied her daughter, "as I was going to cook the dinner a brick fell down the chimney, and you know it might have killed me." This the old woman could not deny, and joined her daughter in her lamentations.

So in a little while the good man came in, and finding both weeping, cried out, "What's the matter here? What, all in tears?" "Why," said the old wife, "do you know, as Sally was going to get the dinner ready a brick fell down the chimney, and you know it might have killed her." This her husband was forced to confess, and lifted up his voice with them.

Shortly after, Sally's sweetheart came in, and seeing the hubbub and confusion, began, "What's up here? All weeping?" "Why, you know," said the father, "as Sally was going to cook the dinner a brick fell down the chimney, and you know it might have killed her." "Well!" said the young man; "of all the fools I've seen, you three are the greatest; and when I find three as great, why, then I'll come back and marry your daughter."

So away he went and went till he came to where an old woman was busy, for she was going to bake. But she bitterly bewailed her ill-luck; for, instead of taking the bread to the oven, she had got a rope fastened to the oven, and was trying with all her might to drag it to the bread, but it wouldn't budge an inch for all her pains. "Oh, you fool," cried the young man; "you should take the bread to the oven, and not try to drag the oven to the bread." "Oh, I didn't think of that," said she; "la! so I should." "Well, indeed, and that's fool number one," said the young man; and he went on his way.

So he went and went, longer than I can tell, till he came to where an old woman should feed her cow with grass that grew on her cottage-roof; but, instead of throwing down the grass to the cow, she was trying to drag the cow to the roof, but she could not, for all her pains. "Why, you fool," said the young man, "cut the grass, and throw it to the cow, to be sure." "Ay, I didn't think of that," said she. "That's fool number two, sure enough; but it will be long before I meet such another."

But again he went and went, till at last he saw a man who was trying to put his breeches on; but instead of holding them in his hand, he had propped them up with sticks, and was trying in vain to take a running jump into them. "Put in your legs, stupid!" said he. "That I didn't think of," said the man. "Here, indeed, is fool number three," said the young man. So he turned him homewards; came back to his sweetheart's cottage, and married Sally, the old woman's daughter.

For a Norwegian parallel story, see Norske Folkeeventyr samlede ved Asbjörnsen og Jörgen Moe, I., Christiania, 1843, No. 10. pp. 61-67., "Somme Kjærringer er slige."

GEORGE STEPHENS.

In Mr. Prior's Life of Goldsmith (vol. i. p. 388.), he observes that "one of his (Goldsmith's) labours, if we may believe the accounts of several personal acquaintances, for no certain evidence of the fact is at hand, and the work has been sought for in vain," was The History of Mecklenburgh, published for Newbery in February, 1762. This work, which seems to have eluded Mr. Prior's great diligence, I have now before me. It is in 8vo., to which a portrait of Queen Charlotte is prefixed, and is entitled, The History of Mecklenburgh from the first Settlement of the Vandals in that Country to the present Time, including a Period of about Three Thousand Years: London, printed for J. Newbery, at the Bible and Sun, in St. Paul's Churchyard, 1762. Pages, Preface, xiv.; History, 360. It is dedicated by Newbery to the Queen, in a short and rather elegant address, in which, as well as in the Preface which follows, there are marks of Goldsmith's style. The History itself appears to have been compiled in haste, and certainly bears no decisive internal evidence of having Goldsmith for its author. It is, however, rather superior to the ordinary run of similar compilations, and in some parts—(see account of the Vandals, pp. 11. to 22., and character of Gustavus Adolphus, p. 271.)—is not without proofs that the writer had powers of pleasing and vigorous composition. It may have proceeded from Goldsmith, and, as it is attributed to him by the accounts of several personal acquaintances, in all probability did so; though, without some indication of that kind, its authorship would not perhaps have been suspected. Mr. Forster (Life of Goldsmith, p. 241.) states that for the revision of this work he (Goldsmith) received 20l.: but is there any proof of this? Mr. Prior, as I understand him (see Life, Vol. i. p. 416.), merely supposes that he might receive that sum, from the prices paid for the other works of a similar kind.

JAMES CROSSLEY.

—Will any of the correspondents of "N. & Q." favour me with an explanation of the allusion in the following passage?

"You must cast away the workes of darknes, and then put on the armour of light: first you must put off, and then put on. As the eagle's feathers will not lie with any other feathers, but consume them which lie with them: so the wedding garment will not bee worne with filthie garments," &c.

The passage is from a sermon on Rom. xiii. 14., entitled "The Wedding Garment." It is contained in a volume in small 4to. (Lond. 1614), the earlier portion of which contains six sermons by Maister Henry Smith; and the latter, in which the above occurs, though it has no distinct title-page, yet appears, from style and general appearance, to be by the same author.

ARNCLIFFE.

—The following couplet embodies a little bit of folk lore which, from the long prevalence of easterly winds from which we are suffering, may interest some of your readers.

G. B.

—"The custom of placing a plate of salt on the body of the dead" has already been noticed in "N. & Q." I am informed that a custom obtains in some parts of Ireland, of placing a plate of snuff in the same situation; and that it is etiquette for all those who are invited to the funeral to take a pinch on arriving at the house of mourning. Hence has arisen the not very delicate threat, "I'll get a pinch of snuff off your belly yet!" by which Paddy would intimate to his rival his intention to survive him, and to crow over his remains. This must, indeed, be a pinch of "rale Irish."

ALFRED GATTY.

Pursuant to my conviction that most of the obscure passages in our great poet's dramas arise from typographical errors in the early editions, I submit the following suggested correction of an error in a noble passage, which has hitherto passed unnoticed, to the candid consideration of those who can enter into the spirit of the poet, and are not pertinaciously wedded to the lapses of a very careless printer; to whom, in my opinion, the editors of the first folio confided its correction. Otherwise, we must presume they were unaccustomed to such labour, and in the hurry of active life did their best, however imperfectly.

I must be indulged with rather a long extract, that the reader may be enabled at once to judge whether the words I impugn are in harmony with the tone and spirit of Hotspur's speech.

What are we to understand by the words "For heaven to earth," in the last line but one? Can they be tortured, by any ingenuity, to signify, as Warburton paraphrases them, "One might wager heaven to earth"? To say nothing, of such extraordinary and unwonted ellipsis, would it not be a strange wager, and stranger thought, to enter Hotspur's mind at such a moment? I feel assured that Shakspeare wrote, and that we should read:

If it should be thought that here on could not well be mistaken, even in MS., for heaven to, I reply that stranger misreadings of the compositor could be easily adduced; and that even in the preceding page we have one at any rate more wide of the mark, where supposition is printed in both the folios for suspicion.

How this extraordinary reading should have hitherto escaped suspicion, I am at a loss to imagine, and feel assured that no one who is competent to enter into the spirit of this exquisitely conceived passage, which breathes the true expression of heroic pathos, will attempt a vindication of the old reading.

S. W. SINGER.

—The unknown author of Thirty days hath September may be fairly described as the most popular versifier in the history of English literature. I believe he was rather a translator than an author, and that both the Latin text and the English version are of very early date. Be it as it may, no one can dispute its merit as a specimen of mnemonic verse.

On the list of claimants to the honour in question it is my wish to place, but without advocating the cause of either, 1. Richard Grafton, citizen of London; and 2. Arthur Hopton, A.B. Oxon., the "miracle of his age for learning."

(1.) "A rule to knowe how many dayes euery moneth in the yere hath.

(2.) "The which ordination of the moneths, and position of dayes [by Julius Cæsar], is vsed to this present time, according to these verses:

Which is,

Wood states that Hopton left "divers copies of verses scattered in books," so that we may venture to ascribe to him the above version—but it is not the popular version.

BOLTON CORNEY.

—The following poem may be considered in the light of an enlarged paraphrase on the motto of your valuable periodical. It is one of a collection of poems by John Byrom, first published in 1773. An edition was published at Leeds in the year 1814.

M.

Dublin.

—A friend of mine has just informed me, on the authority of one of the principal members of the family, that at Nettlecombe Park, in Somersetshire, the seat of Sir John Trevelyan, Bt., there is now existing a stuffed specimen, entire, of the supposed extinct bird, the Dodo.

How is it that such an important fact should have escaped the notice of the principal naturalists of the country? At the Great Exhibition there was a manufactured specimen of this bird, which called forth, I believe, the encomium of Mr. Strickland and other well-known naturalists; but not a word was said about this alleged real specimen at Nettlecombe Park. There was in the same case which contained this fictitious Dodo, a cast of the head and leg from the remains now in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford,—the only portions, I believe, that were rescued when the entire specimen of the bird, once in that collection, was destroyed. It is said, I think, there are other remains somewhere abroad; but that there is no entire specimen of the Dodo now in existence anywhere, is, I imagine, the universal belief. I hope that you, or some of your correspondents, may be able to solve this mystery, or set my friends right should they be labouring under some mistake.

ROWLAND WINN.

—I lately came across the following curious piece of genealogical reasoning which I think originally appeared in Hood's Magazine, and which I have endeavoured to illustrate by the annexed table:

There was a widow (Anne) and her daughter-in-law (Jane), and a man (George) and his son (Henry). The widow married the son, and the daughter married the father. The widow was therefore mother (in-law) to her husband's father, and consequently grandmother to her own husband (Henry). By this husband she had a son (David), to whom she was great-grandmother. Now, as the son of a great-grandmother must be either a grandfather or great uncle, this boy (David) was one or the other. He was his own grandfather! This was the case with a boy at school at Norwich.

E. N.

BRAYBROOKE.

—A writer in the Westminster Review for the present quarter, on "The Early Quakers and Quakerism," says (p. 610.), respecting George Fox,—

"Portrait painters having been in his eyes panderers to the fleshly desires of the creature, we have no likeness of him."

Whether or not there is in existence an authentic portrait of George Fox, I do not know; but I saw some time since, at the shop of Smith, the Quaker bookseller in Whitechapel, an engraved portrait of Fox, and another of his early coadjutor, James Nayler.

LLEWELLYN.

—George Crawfurd, who wrote a Peerage of Scotland, which was published in folio at Edinburgh in the year 1716, says, under the head of "Crawfurd, Viscount of Garnock," p. 159., that Malcolm Crawfurd, Esq., succeeded to the barony of Kilbirny in right of Marjory his wife, daughter and sole heir of John Barclay of Kilbirny; whereupon he assumed the coat of Barclay, and impaled it with his own:

"Here it may be remarked," he continues, "that all the estate the family ever had, or yet possesses, was acquired to them by marriage: or lands so obtained were exchanged for others lying more contiguous to the rest of their fortune; which gave occasion to a friend to apply to them the following distich:

Which may be thus translated:

C— S. T. P.

W—— Rectory.

It is said in Miss Strickland's Queens of England (iv. 203.), that there is a tradition at Salle in Norfolk that the remains of Anne Boleyn were removed from the Tower, and interred at midnight, with the rites of Christian burial, in Salle Church, and that a plain black stone without any inscription is supposed to indicate the place where she was buried. An account of Salle Church, with the inscriptions on the Boleyn monuments, is given in the 4th volume of Blomefield's Norfolk (folio ed.), p. 421., but no allusion is made to any such tradition; and other parts of the same work, where the Boleyns (including the Queen) are referred to, are equally silent on the subject. Lord Herbert of Cherbury, in his History of King Henry VIII., does not state how or where she was buried. Hollingshed, Stow, and Speed say, that her body, with the head, was buried in the choir of the chapel in the Tower; and Sandford, that she was buried in the chapel of St. Peter in the Tower.

Burnet (vol. i. p. 318.), who is followed by Henry, Hume, and Lingard, says that her body was thrown into a common chest of elm-tree that was made to put arrows in, and was buried in the chapel within the Tower, before twelve o'clock. Sharon Turner, in his History of the Reign of King Henry VIII., vol. ii p. 464., cites the following passage from Crispin's account of Anne Boleyn's execution, written fourteen days after her death, viz.:

"Her ladies immediately took up her head and the body. They seemed to be without souls, they were so languid and extremely weak; but fearing that their mistress might be handled unworthily by inhuman men, they forced themselves to do this duty; and though almost dead, at last carried off her dead body wrapt in a white covering."

In a letter in the Gentleman's Magazine for October, 1815, signed "J. C.," it is said—

"But the headless remains of the departed Queen were said to be deposited in an arrow-chest, and buried in the Tower Chapel, before the High Altar. Where that stood, the most sagacious antiquary, after a lapse of less than three hundred years, cannot now determine; nor is the circumstance, though related by eminent writers, clearly ascertained. In a cellar the body of a person of short stature, without a head, not many years since was found, and supposed to be the reliques of poor Anna; but soon after re-interred in the same place, and covered with earth."

I am informed that the stone in Salle Church was some time since raised, but that no remains were to be found underneath it. Has the tradition referred to by Miss Strickland been noticed by any other writer? and upon what authority does Burnet say that her remains were placed in an arrow-chest? I may add that Miss S. states that a similar tradition is assigned to a black stone in the church at Thornden on the Hill: but Morant, in his History of Essex, does not notice it.

J. H. P.

Can any correspondents of "N. & Q." who may have paid particular attention to natural history, throw any light or grounds for explaining the fact of there, I may almost say, never being instances of a male tortoiseshell cat? for though I have been very lately told that such a one was exhibited in the great display in Hyde Park, yet as I did not witness it myself, I can only use it as the exception which proves the general rule.

Having for the last fifty years been in the constant habit of keeping cats, and having frequently during that time possessed many of a rare and foreign breed, some of which were tortoise-shells of the most beautiful varieties, I have always endeavoured, by mixing the breeds in every way, to procure a male of this peculiar colour; but with the vast number of kittens that during this long period have fallen under my observation, I have invariably found that if there was the slightest appearance of a single black hair on one, otherwise white and orange, so sure would it prove a female; and thus vice versâ, an orange hair appearing on a black and white skin, even in the smallest degree, would immediately proclaim the sex.

I have asked for an elucidation of this curious fact from two of our greatest naturalists of the present day, but without any success; I have racked my own brain even for some plausible mode of accounting for it, but in vain; for it should be observed that this peculiarity or line of demarcation as to sexes does not obtain with other animals, for I have seen what may be called tortoiseshell horses and cows, that is, with the same admixture of colours, and yet they have been indiscriminately of both sexes.

Now it is true we hear occasionally of a tortoiseshell tom cat advertised as having been seen or heard of, but in all these instances a solution of the nitrate of silver has been freely used to aid the imposition, and with all the pains I have taken, I have never been fortunate enough to meet with a bonâ fide ocular demonstration.

Should any of the correspondents of "N. & Q." have it in their power to throw light on this curious fact in natural history, it will much gratify me, even if it should prove that I am making much about nothing.

W. R.

Surbiton.

—What is the proper pronunciation of this word? Ninety-nine people out of a hundred will say, as I said, "Oāsis, of course!" Let them, however, proceed to consult authorities, and they will begin to be puzzled. Its derivation from the Coptic "wáhe" (or "ouahe," the French way of expressing the Egyptian word wáhe.—Encycl. Metrop.) seems universally admitted. As to the pronunciation, the way in which the word is accented by the different authorities in which I have been able to find it is as follows:—

Ὄασις (πόλις).—Herodot. iii. 26. Larcher's Notes, and Liddell and Scott's Greek Lexicon, give no help as to the pronunciation.

Rees's Cyclopædia, and the Encyclopædia Britannica, do not accent the word at all. Brasse's Greek Gradus, Ainsworth's and Riddle's Dictionaries, Yonge's Gradus, Walker's Rhyming Dictionary, Webster, Richardson, and Johnson, do not even contain the word.

The few authorities which do accent the word, do it "with a difference." Ex. gr.:

Who is right? I have searched all the Indices to the Delphin edition of the Latin poets, without finding the word at all. A Cambridge friend quoted at once "sacramque Ammonis oasim;" but, on being pressed, admitted, that if it were not the fag-end of some prize-poem line lurking in his memory, he did not know whence it came. I cannot get anybody to produce me an instance of the use of the word in English poetry. One says, "I am sure it's in Moore," and another, "You're sure to find it in Milton;" but our English poets lack verbal indices. Some such line as "Some green oasis in the desert's waste," haunts my own memory, but I cannot give it a "local habitation." Of course, two or three instances from English poets would not absolutely determine the question one way or the other, as we pronounce many words derived from Greek and Latin sources in defiance of their original quantity. Still they would not be without their value. Can any wise man of the East help?

HARRY LEROY TEMPLE.

—About fifty years ago there was an old ballad in praise of Shakspeare which used to be very popular in Warwickshire. All I remember is the following stanza, which, I remember, was the concluding one:—

Where can the rest of the ballad be obtained? and who was the author?

SAXONICUS.

—In Le Neve's Lives of the Protestant Archbishops under Dr. Toby Matthew, Archbishop of York, it is stated that he was appointed Bishop of Durham in 1595; and that on 7th April, Archbishop Whitgift granted a commission to Archbishop Hutton, "to confirm and consecrate this our bishop within the province of Canterbury, which," says Le Neve, "no doubt was done accordingly, though I cannot find, either in his diary or elsewhere, the time when, place where, or the names of the bishops who assisted at that solemnity," (vol. ii. pp. 105-6.). In Surtees' History of Durham, it is said that his consecration took place on "Palm Sunday." Palm Sunday fell on 9th April that year: the very Sunday, therefore, which followed the date of the licence mentioned by Le Neve. I believe Surtees refers to Rot. Durham as his authority. In the Church of England Magazine, Jan. 1847, p. 13., there is a Life of Dr. T. Matthew, said to be "Abridged from a manuscript in the British Museum, entitled 'The Preaching Bishop,'" &c. Does this document supply the information which Le Neve sought in vain?[3] Can any reader ascertain from the diary, or elsewhere, what the bishop was doing on 9th April, 1595, or where he was; or give any information on the subject?

C. H. D.

[3] [The MS. in the British Museum does not supply the information required; it merely corrects Bishop Godwyn's date of the consecration, viz. March, 1594: "but," says the writer, "he was mistaken; it was the year after, for he preached the first sermon after he was made bishop, May 11, 1595, as he himself sets down, being then forty-eight years of age." It is not given in Mr. Perceval's valuable list of the consecrations of English prelates in the Appendix to his Apology for the Apostolical Succession, so that we may conclude it is not to be found among the Lambeth records. It is possible it may be found in the document quoted by Surtees, viz. "Rot. Mathew, A."—ED.]

—Very little is known of these two old actors and managers. When were they born, and when did they die?

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

—In case of the friends of any person deceased either objecting to, or not wishing to compel the clergyman to use, the burial service, is there any law to forbid the corpse being interred in the parish churchyard without any religious service at all? Suppose the deceased were a baptized dissenter, who had himself in his lifetime objected to, and whose surviving relatives also objected to the performance of the burial service, though they wished the body to be deposited in the churchyard; does a clergyman render himself liable to any penalty in permitting the body to be thus silently interred? Some years ago, at the Kensal Green cemetery the sons of Carlile protested at the grave against the performance of any religious service. The chaplain persisted in its performance in spite of their expressed wishes to the contrary! Was this right or wrong in a legal point of view?

C. H. D.

—Can any of your readers inform me who was the translator of the "Ganganelli (Pope) Bible," published in 1784 in folio, what is the merit of the translation, and who wrote the notes? If I mistake not, Evans, the auctioneer who sold the Duke of Sussex's library, puts in the catalogue that the notes are not the Pope's, it being "a scandalous imposture" in the title-page to say so, "for they have a free-thinking tendency."

The title-page of said Bible says that that Pope and the translator were liberals, and the author of the notes must have been a radical, all very intelligible in those days, but not without instruction to these.

The Duke's copy sold to the British Museum for 30l. May I ask why it is so rare?

J. D. G.

—Information is desired respecting the family of "Wherland," now of Cork, and whether they came from Scotland; and if so, whether the family still exists there? The crest of the Cork Wherlands is a demi-lion rampant out of a ducal coronet.

T. W. W.

—Can any of the readers of "N. & Q.," or, should I not rather say, of its Dutch ally, "DE NAVORSCHER," point out the original of the old Flemish proverb,

"Soth play quod play,"

quoted by Chaucer in his Prologue to the "Cook's Tale;" and whether or not there is any history attached to it?

PHILO-CHAUCER.

—The word is not given in Bailey or Richardson. It appears in Holloway's and Halliwell's Provincial Dictionaries in the plural, and is spelt "calasses." Each quotes Grose, who refers the word to the Gentleman's Magazine for May, 1784; but there the above question only is asked, and is unanswered. It has been suggested that the callis may be so called from its having been founded by some merchant of the Staple of Calais, or from its endowment being derived from donations to the chalice, made by persons to the priest administering extreme unction. Calis was the old form of chalice.—Vide Halliwell's Dictionary.

J. P. JUN.

—Can any correspondent oblige me with Notes, critical, philological, or otherwise, illustrative of the subjoined passages, which occur, among many others scarcely less curious, in the above rare tract, of which I am fortunate enough to possess a (not quite perfect) copy? Speaking of Iceland, he says,—

"It is reported, that the Pope long since gaue them a dispensation to receiue the Sacrament in ale, insomuch as for their vncessant frosts there, no wine but was turned to red emayle as soone as euer it came amongst them."

D. iii.

"Other spirits like rogues they have among them, destitute of all dwelling and habitation; and they chillingly complayne if a constable aske them Cheuela in the night, that they are going vnto Mount Hecla to warme them."

D. ii.

What is emayle? and is Cheuela for Qui va là?

Speaking of a vision of devils, he mentions some with

"Great glaring eyes, that had whole shelues of Kentish oysters in them; and terrible wide mouthes, whereof not one of them but would well haue made a case for Molenax' great gloabe of the world."

D. iii.

Is, then, Wyld's great Globe only a plagiarism from Molenax?

J. EASTWOOD.

—In the second volume, p. 38., of Prescott's Ferdinand and Isabella, are given some lines from Hyta, Guerras de Granada, &c., descriptive of the departure of Abdallah Chico on his fatal expedition against Lucena. These, enumerating all the braveries of the cortège, amongst others, mention

Now, unless this be an oversight of Hyta, his spurs of gold and stirrups of silver require some explanation, since the specification of both does not leave us the alternative of supposing that the former merely meant the sharp corners of the shovel-stirrup, which we all know serve the Oriental horseman of the present day as spurs.

Was Hyta a Spaniard or a Moor?

A. C. M.

—What were the customary badges or cognizances of De la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, executed 1450; Humphrey Duke of Gloucester, and John Duke of Bedford, Protectors, temp. Henry VI.; Cardinal Beaufort; the Earls of Somerset, Salisbury, and Arundel, temp. Henry VI.; and Sir John Fastolfe?

BURIENSIS.

—In the first article of the Number of the Quarterly Review just published, on Sir Roger de Coverley, by the Spectator, with Notes and Illustrations, by W. Henry Wills, it is stated,—

"At the suggestion of Swift they took advantage of a popular name, and derided the Knight's descent from the inventor of the celebrated country-dance," &c.

I should like to know the authority for this statement respecting Swift, as, at the time of the Spectator first appearing, he was certainly not on good terms with either Addison or Steele. The first Number of the Spectator was published on the 1st of March, 1710-11. In Swift's journal, sent to Stella, he says, March 6th,—

"I have not seen Mr. Addison these three weeks: all our friendship is over."

On the 16th he says,—

"Have you seen the Spectator yet? a paper that comes out every day. 'Tis written by Mr. Steele, who seems to have gathered new life, and have a new fund of wit; it is in the same nature as his Tatlers, and they have all of them had something pretty. I believe Addison and he club. I never see them," &c.

C. DE D.

—No doubt some of your readers will be able to tell me where I may find these verses:—

"Princeps Elizabetha tuis Dea magna Britannis."

which is fathered upon Ascham; and the following, which report gives to Camden:—

"Elizabetha suis Diva et Dea sola Britannis."

PETROS.

—Simeon of Durham relates the history of the acts of a council held A.D. 684, in the presence of King Egfrid, and presided over by Archbishop Theodore, at a place called Twyford, near the river Alne [Ættwyforda, quod significat ad duplex vadum.]—Libellus, &c., p. 44. Is there any vestige or record of the site of Twyford? Camden mentions it when speaking of the Northumberland coast:

"The shore afterwards opens for the river Alaun, which, still retaining the same name it had at Ptolemy's time, is called by contraction Alne, on whose bank is Twifford, q. d. Two-fords, where was held a synod under King Egfrid; and Eslington, Alnwick," &c.

CEYREP.

—Will somebody explain for me the origin of, and right to, these titles, which do not receive the honour of any mention in the ordinary "Baronetages, Knightages," &c. &c.; as also the mode in which the individuals who claim them are addressed in ordinary conversation.

HARRY LEROY TEMPLE.

—A common term for a lad between boyhood and manhood is a hobbledehoy. I find an early use of this word in Tusser's Hundred Points of Husbandry, A.D. 1557, in his verses entitled Man's age divided here ye have, By Prenticeships from birth to grave.

Can you tell me the origin of this curious term?

W. W. E. T.

Warwick Square, Belgravia.

—Can any of your readers inform me of books treating, scientifically, or giving traditional notices, about the supposed influences of the moon; for instance, on the tides, on lunatics, on timber felled during the wane, on fish taken by moonlight in the tropics?

Also can any account be given of the origin of the tradition that connects "the man in the moon" with the history given of the "man gathering sticks upon the Sabbath day" (Numbers, xv. 32-36.)?

W. H.

—In Pugin's Glossary of Ecclesiastical Ornament, the author refers to a book containing an account, with illustrations, of the Trésor of the church of St. Ulrich at Augsburg; he also adds, "this book is now very rare." Could any of your correspondents inform me who is the author; for I have searched the Museum catalogue under the names "Augsburg and Ulric, or Udalric," without any success? Probably, if I had the author's name, I might run some chance of finding it.

W. B.

—I should be glad if any of your Edinburgh or other correspondents could favour me with any particulars relating to the above gentleman. He was a well-known book collector, and in the spirit of his purchases the legitimate successor of Richard Heber. He bequeathed his noble collection of books to the Advocates' Library of Edinburgh. In early English poetry the collection is almost unrivalled. Mr. Miller was the purchaser of the Heber Ballads. The collection, in money market value, is nearly equal to the Grenville gift to the British Museum. I have heard the title to the property of Craigentinny was in dispute.

PETROPROMONTORIENSIS.

—Will any correspondent of "N. & Q." inform me when ceased the custom of male heirs apparent to the throne of England having whipping boys? when and why it originated? what remuneration such boys received? and whether our queens had during their state of pupillage any such kinds of convenience. I have only met with the names of two whipping boys; Brown, who stood for Edward VI., and Mungo Murray, who did the like for Charles.

THOS. LAWRENCE.

Ashby-de-la-Zouch.

—This family can be traced to Anstey from 1700. A descendant in New York has the arms: Argent, a fess ermines between 3. martlets (2. and 1.) sable. Can any correspondent find him any old branches of his family tree?

E.

New York.

—Where could I obtain Testaments in the various languages of Polynesia, more especially in the Feejeean and Samoan? I have applied at the British and Foreign Bible Society without success. These Testaments have been published by this society.

EBLANENSIS.

[Our correspondent should consult The Bible of every Land, lately published by Bagster and Sons, which gives some account of the different Polynesian and Malayan versions.—See Class V., pp. 299-312.]

—Will any of your Lancashire correspondents be kind enough to inform me whether they have ever met with the following arms in connexion with the name of Thompson in any work on the history of Lancashire, or on any monument in that county, namely, "Per pale, argent and sable, a fess embattled between three falcons, countercharged, belled or?" I believe a family of the name to which the arms are attributed held landed property in the neighbourhood of Hornby and Gressingham.

JAYTEE.

[We know nothing beyond the fact of such a coat being described in an ordinary of arms for Thompson of Lancashire, without any particular locality.]

—What is the origin of the old sign-board "The Silent Woman?" She is represented headless, holding her head under her arm. There is, or was, a sign of this at a small ale-house not far from Ledbury, in Herefordshire, and I was told it was not an uncommon sign in these parts.

F. J. H.

Edinburgh.

[Has not this sign, which we have seen also described as that of The Good Woman, its origin in the satirical spirit which prompted the Dutch epigrammist to write,—

—In what literary paper can I find review of Mr. Hewett's Memoirs of Tobias Rustat?

C. W.

[A review of this work will be found in the Gentleman's Magazine of June, 1850, pp. 638-640.]

—Can any of your readers inform me whether Robert Recorde, who in 1549, or possibly some years later, was Comptroller of the Mint at Bristol, was the same person as the author of The Whetstone of Wit, and other mathematical works? Also, whether there is any fuller account of his life to be met with than that given by Hutton?

J. E.

[It does not appear that Robert Recorde, the celebrated mathematician, was ever connected with the Bristol mint. The best account we have met with of the author of The Whetstone of Wit, is in Mr. Halliwell's pamphlet on The Connexion of Wales with the Early Science of England, 8vo., 1840. Consult also a very able and learned article in the Companion to the British Almanack for 1837, pp. 30-37., by Professor De Morgan.]

—I shall be obliged to any of your correspondents who can give me references to the following quotations from the works of two great divines:

(1.) "I would that we were well rid of this [the Athanasian] Creed."

(2.) "The Apocalypse either finds a man mad, or leaves him so."

C. MANSFIELD INGLEBY.

[1. The first quotation will be found in a letter of Archbishop Tillotson's to Bishop Burnet, dated Oct. 23, 1694. The archbishop says, "The account given of Athanasius' Creed (i.e. in Burnet's Exposition of the Thirty-nine Articles) seems to me no-wise satisfactory. I wish we were well rid of it." Dr. Birch adds, "The archbishop did not long survive the writing of this letter."—See Birch's Life of Tillotson, edit. 1752, p. 343.; ed. 1753, p. 315. Consult also Remarks upon Dr. Birch's Life of Tillotson, 8vo., 1753, p. 53., anonymous, but attributed to George Smith, a Nonjuror.

2. The second quotation is probably the following, which occurs in Dr. South's Sermon on the Nature and Measures of Conscience (Serm. XXIII.): "Because the light of natural conscience is in many things defective and dim, and the internal voice of God's Spirit not always distinguishable, above all, let a man attend to the mind of God, uttered in His revealed Word: I say, His revealed Word; by which I do not mean that mysterious, extraordinary (and of late so much studied) book called 'The Revelation,' and which, perhaps, the more it is studied, the less it is understood, as generally either finding a man cracked, or making him so; but I mean those other writings of the prophets and apostles, which exhibit to us a plain, sure, perfect, and intelligible rule; a rule that will neither fail nor distract such as make use of it."]

—What are these, extending to seven volumes, regularly paged, and coming down to 1656, referred to in Oldfield's History of Wainfleet? Are they printed works? It is quite a different publication to the Calendarium, &c. in four volumes.

When did the Post Mortem Inquisitions cease?

W. H. L.

[The Inquisitiones quoted by Oldfield are sometimes called Cole's Escheats, and will be found in the Harleian Collection in the British Museum, the first five volumes in Nos. 756. to 760., and the sixth and seventh, Nos. 410, 411.]

—What is the derivation of this word Carmarthen?

LLEWELLYN.

[Caermarthen appears to have been the Maridunum of Ptolemy, and the Muridunum of Antoninus, one of the principal stations in the country of the Dimetæ, situated on the Via Julia, or great Roman road. Its modern name of Caermarthen, or Caer Fyrdden, as it is called by the Welsh (by a change of the convertible consonants f and m, common in their language), implies "a military station fortified with walls," and perfectly agrees with the description given by Giraldus Cambrensis, who calls it, "Urbs antiqua coctilibus muris."]

—These terms are now in constant use, and very differently and vaguely defined. Will any of your correspondents, antiquaries or historians, say what period is comprehended in these terms, and give the date when it should commence, and when terminate?

L. T.

[The late lamented Rev. J. G. Dowling, in his Introduction to the Critical Study of Ecclesiastical History, fixes upon the Council of Chalcedon, A.D. 451, as the commencement of the Mediæval, or Middle Ages, which he thinks ended with the revival of classical literature in the fifteenth century, "that age of transition and revolution, combining in itself several of the most striking characteristics of the two states of society between which it forms the interval." This able work ought to find a place in the library of every ecclesiastical student.]

—It is said that the pretty wild flower, the small Woodruff (Asperula Cynanchica), was formerly employed in adorning the walls of churches. Is this true? If so, what was the origin of the custom? Was this particular flower thus used for the reason that it long preserves its scent? Is it mentioned by any early poet in connexion with the decoration of churches?

R. VINCENT.

[Garlands of Rosemary and Woodroof were formerly used to decorate the churches on St. Barnabas' day, as appears by many old entries and church-books; e.g. in the churchwardens' accounts of St. Mary-at-Hill, in the city of London, 17 and 19 Edward IV., the following entry occurs: "For Rose garlondis and Woodrove garlondis on St. Barnebe's daye, xjd." The reason Woodroof was used, Gerard tells us in his Historie of Plants, p. 965.: "It doth very well attemper the aire, coole and make fresh the place, to the delight and comfort of such as are therein."]

MR. PARKER makes some inquiries relative to the ancient town-halls of our country towns; and should the following particulars of some still in existence be of service, I shall feel a pleasure in having been the means of gratifying his curiosity.

The town-hall in the city of Hereford is a timber structure built upon twenty-seven pillars, and was originally a very handsome building, but was many years since denuded of its upper story, in which the fourteen different trading companies of the city transacted their business. It was erected by the celebrated John Abel, in the reign of James I. Prior to the erection of the present county hall, the assizes were held in this building.

The town-hall at Leominster, or Butter-cross as it is frequently called by the inhabitants, was erected in the year 1633, by the above-named architect; it stands upon twelve oak pillars, and was originally ornamented with a variety of curious carvings, and the shields of arms of those who contributed towards the expense of its erection, but which have long since vanished. Around the building, just above the pillars, was inscribed the following sentences, but portions of which only now remain. On the south side:

"Vive Deo gratus, toti mundo tumulatus, crimine mundatus, semper transire paratus."

On the east side:

"Where justice reigns, there virtue flows. Sat cito, si sat bene vive ut post vivas. As columns do support the fabric of a building, so noble gentry do subprop the honour of a state."

On the north side:

"In memoriâ æternâ erit Justus, 1663."

In the year 1793, this hall underwent very considerable repairs, more properly called spoliation, by taking down the gables, and with them the curious carvings, shields of arms, &c., which must have greatly destroyed its picturesque effect. It contains a clock, and is surmounted by a cupola, in which is a bell, whereon the hours strike.

The town-halls of Brecon, Kington,[4] and Weobly, and probably others of which at present I can give no particulars, were built by the same person. Mr. Abel being in Hereford when that city was besieged in 1645, was of great service by constructing mills to grind corn for the use of the inhabitants and soldiers confined therein, for which Charles I. afterwards conferred upon him the title of one of his majesty's carpenters.

[4] This hall had similar inscriptions to those of Leominster.

In Sarnesfield churchyard, in the county of Hereford, is a monument consisting of the effigies of himself and his two wives, with the emblems of his profession, executed by his own hands after he reached the patriarchal age of ninety years; it has the following inscription, being his own composition:

I believe Sarnesfield was his native place; he died there in 1694, having attained the great age of ninety-seven years.

J. B. WHITBORNE.

Leamington.

In my reply to a Query upon the interesting subject introduced by MR. J. H. PARKER, I felt anxious to direct his attention to other peculiar characters appertaining to the ancient town of Wokingham, besides those marks by which it in some degree approximates to his general description of the English towns in France. In reply to MR. PARKER'S inquiry respecting the mediæval town-halls, and other public halls of that period remaining in England (Vol. v., p. 295.), I have much pleasure in forwarding the following account of the Town-hall of Leicester, which formerly belonged to the Guild of Corpus Christi, in the church of St. Martin. It was built in the reign of Elizabeth, and was first opened by a banquet, given by George Norris, the mayor, to celebrate the victory over the Spanish Armada. This anniversary was continued until within the memory of some of the burgesses now living, and was called the "Venison Feast." The hall is a low-roofed timber building, lighted by plain latticed windows, and was enlarged, by the addition of the Mayor's parlour, in 1636. The great hall, or court, is fitted with appropriate seats of state for the mayor and aldermen, and with galleries for spectators of municipal ceremonies; and its walls were formerly enriched with many valuable paintings. The adjoining parlour is remarkable for the quaint character of its decorations; it is, like the great hall, provided with state seats or benches, and has a long range of low windows, containing stained glass illustrative of religious subjects, and emblems of the seasons. The Town-library is a storied building, containing a large hall, founded by the Corporation in 1632, and possessing at present about 1000 volumes, chiefly of old divinity, together with a few miscellaneous books, and a MS. of the Greek Testament written on vellum and paper, supposed to be of the thirteenth century, and which was given to the library in 1649 by the Rector of Thrussington.

There are hospitals in Leicester of similar style, and two of much earlier periods, 1330 and 1512.

KT.

Leicestershire.

In an old manuscript book now before me, containing a copy of Flower's "Visitation of Cheshire," 1580, together with a very great number of coats of arms, copies of charters, &c., is the curious account of old Sir Raulfe Vernon, which I now send you. I have not at present Ormerod's History Of Cheshire to refer to; but, if I remember right, there is an account of the old knight, and of the great age he is said to have attained, there. The latest date in the book from which this is extracted is 1610; but there is bound with it eleven pages of "Armes of the Gentry of Cheshire, entred in ye Visitation of that County made in Ao 1663 and 1664, by me Wm. Dugdale, Esqr., Norroy King of Armes."

"Coppies of old Pedegrees remayning wth Sr John Savadge, 1583.

"Theare was Sr Raulfe ye Vernon ye old, ye quych levet xx
vij yer and x yere, and he had to his first Wyffe on Mary ye Lordes doughter of Dacre, and he had Issue by her one Sr Raulf ye Vernon of Hanwell, Mr Ricrd person of Stockporte, other two sonnes Mighell & Hugh, ye quich wer both freres: and two daughteres, Agnes and Rose and yen deghet ye forsaid Mary, and after her death ye forsaid old Sr Raulf tooke to paremer on Maude ye Grosevener, and had Issue by her Ricrd and Robart bastardes. Ye forsaid Sr Raulf ye Vernon of Hanwell was maryed to A. Seintper, and had Issue by her Ralyn, Hychcoke, John, & Thomas, ye quiche Ralyn had Issue Sr Raulfe ye Vernon of Mottrem, ye quich Sr Raulf had Issue yong Sr Raulf, ye forsaid Sr Raufe ye Vernon of Hanwell, Ralyn his Sonn, and Sr Raufe his sonn deygen, lyvand ye old Sr Raufe; and ye sam tym on Sr Ricrd Damory was Justice of Chester, and ye forsaid old Sr Raufe and he weren accordet yat ye yong Sr Raufe shold wedde Agnes daughter of ye forsaid Sr Ricrd Damory, and that Sir Raufe ye old shold be fyne reret at Chester, gife all his landes &c. to ye said Mr Ricrd his sonn, getten by ye forsaid Mary of Dacre and to his heires, and so it was done, and the sam Ricrd pson gyfe the sam lands &c. to ye sam old Sr Raufe againe to term of his Lyve; and after his dessease to ye yong Sr Rauf and to Agnes his Wyfe daughter to Sr Ricrd Damory, and to ye heires male of yr bodyes geten; for default of Issue mall of ye forsaid yong Sir Raufe and Agnes, yat all ye Landes &c. then Remaine to Ricrd ye Sonn of Raufe ye Vernon of Shibbrocke getten by Maud ye Grosvener, and to ye heires of his body begotten male, and for default of Issue of his body getten male, that all ye Landes &c. sholden remain to ye right heires of ye forsaid Mr Ricrd wthouten ende. Ye forsaid yong Sr Raufe and Agnes deyhten wthout Issue of hose bodyes begotten male, and yen entret Sr Raufe yat last deyhten as sonn and heir to Ricrd ye Vernon ye sonn of old Sr Rauf ye Vernon and Maude ye Grosevenor, by Vertue of ye fyne before rehersed. Ye forsaid Sr Rauf Ricrd son deyget wthout heir of his body getten mall, and so Sr Ricrd ye Vernon brother to yis last Sr Rauf entret heir male, and continued all his Lyfe and had Issue mulier Sr Ricrd ye quiche is now dead wthout Issue malle."

C. DE D.

I have, in my scrap-book, a curious old print of Fairlop Oak, to which some verses are attached, which I think is somewhat of a rarity. It is on thin, miserable paper; size, demy quarto; without date or printer's name; in general character bearing a very Catnachian aspect. The print of the tree occupies nearly half the sheet, and is a most vile specimen of both drawing and engraving. The tree is represented as in a dilapidated condition, with a huge hollow trunk, within which are seen some persons making themselves "jolly" at a drinking-table. The tree has but five principal branches, and these are only tipped here and there with foliage, the work of popular demolition under which the tree is known to have fallen being plainly seen in its many barren branches, and still more pointedly suggested by the four persons, who, having climbed aloft, are airing themselves in the forks of its boughs. The background is filled up with the incidents of the fair. To the right, in the fore-ground, is one of the well-known "boats" mounted on wheels, the deck manned by blockmakers "on their legs" singing a chorus. Behind, in the distance, is a theatre or exhibition-booth, with the band and sundry performers entertaining the crowd gratis; on the proscenium above is written, ... GELL. CLARK. On the left hand is another of these unclassical erections, with a man in front balancing himself on a ladder; the name SAUNDERS being inscribed above. Below this is an exhibition of a minor sort, and several groups of gaping cockneys. A "boat," a booth, and a set of "knock 'em down" complete the scene; in the latter case a woman caters for the encouragement of the English but ignoble sport of "three throws a penny."[5] Below the print is a line in large type (scarcely legible), announcing it to be "An original Drawing by an eminent Artist [printed off] a Woodcut engraved on a Block of the celebrated Tree." I transcribe literally what follows.

[5] Query, whence the origin of this fashionable accompaniment of cockney fairs?

"The Stem of this vegetable Progidy, which was [roughly hollowed (?)], measured, at 3 feet from the ground, about 36 feet in girth, and the boughs extended about 300 feet in circumference. The Fair which was held upon this spot was founded about the year 1720, by Mr. Daniel Day, Block Maker, of Wapping, who gave his men an annual Bean Feast, under the shade of the Oak, on the first Friday in July; and which has been visited for a number of years by the Block Makers and Watermen of the eastern part of the metropolis, who parade round the spot singing the following songs:—

"A few years before Mr. Day died, his favourite oak lost a limb, out of which he procured a coffin to be made for his own interment, and often used to lie down in it, to try how it would fit him. He died October 13, 1767, aged eighty-four, and his remains were conveyed to Barking by water, pursuant of his own request, accompanied by six journeymen Block and Pump Makers, to each of whom he bequeathed a new leathern apron and a guinea."

So runs this historical and poetical (?) fragment. The first song I have often heard sung, or rather bawled, by Mr. Hemingway from one of the windows in the street which diverges out of the Mil-End Road, at the "King's Arms." That was before I commenced my teens. Hemingway has long since gone the way of Daniel Day; and Fairlop has lost so much of its original vigour and popularity, as to be almost one of the things that were.

There is an engraving of Fairlop Oak, as it appeared in 1806, in the Gentleman's Magazine for July, 1806, p. 617. I think that some particulars of Fairlop Oak are given in Loudon's Arboretum. The woodcut in the Mirror referred to (p. 114.) bears some resemblance, in the outline of the tree, to my specimen of the Catnach literature.

SHIRLEY HIBBERD.

[Our correspondent will also find a woodcut of the Catnach style prefixed to a pamphlet published in 1813, entitled History, Origin, and Rise of Fairlop Fair; with a History and Description of the Forests of Essex, and an Account of Mr. Daniel Day, founder of Fairlop Fair. Another tract with a similar title was published in 1795.—ED.]

The first person of the name as Mayor of Worcester, occurring in 1648, is James Taylor, Esq.; in 1666, Henry Taylor, Esq.; in 1675, Rowland Taylor, Esq.; in 1731, Samuel Taylor, Esq. In 1732, James Saunders, Esq., was elected, but, dying in his mayoralty, Samuel Taylor, Esq., was re-elected, to serve the remainder of the year; and in 1737, a Samuel Taylor, Esq., was again elected, and this is no doubt the same person, making his third election.

It is, I think, evident from the following, which may be found in Green's History of that city, vol. ii. p. 106. of Appendix, that their burial-place was in a vault at the west end of the north aisle of St. Helen's Church:—

"Opposite the pulpit—Richard Taylor, Alderman of this city, died Nov. 11th, 1754, aged sixty-eight. There are several more of the same family interred under this stone."

In 1718, a Mr. Thomas Taylor, lay clerk, and in 1719, Elizabeth, wife of Mr. Thomas Taylor, a lay clerk of this church (Worcester Cathedral), were buried therein.

I think it very probable, from the orthography of the names being alike, that the above parties were connected by family ties.

I do not find, either in my own MS., in Green's History, or any other work, memorials of the same name in any other of the Worcester churches.

Nash, in his County History, gives the arms of Taylor of Welland, a small village near Upton-on-Severn: "sable, a lion passant, argent."

On flat stones within the communion-rails of that (Welland) church are the following inscriptions:—

"Edmund Taylor, Esq., died 10 Jan., 1721, aged 55.

"'Hic jacet Radulphus Taylor vir nullo non doctrinæ genere instructissimus uxorem duxit Penelopen filiam natu secundam Nicholai Lechmere de Hanleycastle, armigeri, quarto die Junii, obiit, A.D. 1676, æt. 39;' and several of their children are here buried.

"Penelope Taylor, died 29 May, 1710, aged 62."

Arms on the stone.

I know of no family of the name resident in that city; but, having left it many years, I am almost a stranger to its inhabitants. But I recollect a gentleman of that name resident at Strensham, the birth-place of the poet Butler (Hudibras), and who, to his honour, in 1843, erected a monument to the memory of that celebrated man, in the church of his native village. His name was John Taylor, Esq.

J. B. WHITBORNE.

—Your correspondent SIGMA may be informed that there is an engraved portrait of Mesmer in tom. xiii. p. 261. of the Biographie Nouvelle des Contemporains, Paris, 1824.

TYRO.

Dublin.

—Your correspondent might have found "sleeveless errand" explained by Tooke; and from him by Todd and Richardson. It is "an errand without cover or pretext." Skinner, with the word sleeve, A.-S. slife, tegmen, before his eyes, could write, "a liveless or lifeless errand." Earm-slife is "that with which the arm is covered."

Q.

—Gibbon observes that—

"In the time of Homer, when the Greeks and Asiatics might probably use a common idiom, the imitative sound of Bar-Bar was applied to the ruder tribes, whose pronunciation was most harsh, and whose grammar was most defective."

Ch. 51. n. 162.

Tooke's suggestion is, that the Gr. βαρυς, strong, with a reduplication of the first syllable βαρ, gave the compound βαρ-βαρος; their great strength being the characteristic for which the barbarians were distinguished by the Greeks. (Div. of Purley, vol. ii. p. 183. 8vo. ed.)

Q.

—Q. inquired after the author of some remarkable verses quoted by Tillotson, beginning "O wearisome conditions of humanity." By the kind assistance of the Rev. A. Dyce, I am enabled to answer, that they are by Lord Brooke, in his tragedy of Mustapha, and may be found at p. 159. of his Works, in one vol. small folio, 1633.

Q.

—An allusion to the fact, that to become a deacon (the first step in the priesthood) it was necessary to have the hair cut, which is also done previous to beheading. In Foxe's time the customs of the Roman church were known to all.

J. B. C.

—Perhaps the following brief particulars of this celebrated physician may be acceptable to your correspondent M. A. LOWER, Vol. v., p. 227. He was born in the county of Suffolk, educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he became Chaplain of New College. He was for some time chaplain, and probably tutor, to the Foley family in Worcestershire; but after the Restoration took his degrees in medicine, and became an eminent practitioner in London, dying at his residence in Surrey in the year 1698. An engraved portrait of him, with the large flowing wig of the period, now lies before me, with this inscription:

I have not been able to discover whether this gentleman was related to the Mortons of Severn Stoke, co. Worcester.

J. B. WHITBORNE.

—Your correspondents having met with the third part only, I will describe the first and second parts now before me. Both were printed for James Hutton, London, 1746, who printed also The Watchwords of the Covenant in the Blood of Jesus for the Years 1743 and 1746. They contain 403 hymns, and two supplements. I have sought in vain for the hymn in the New Bath Guide, but the two following will show that Anstey did not colour too highly.

Many circumstances concurred to render these books now very rare. The impression was undoubtedly limited, and the wear and tear of enthusiastic singers for above a century, of a 12mo. book of nearly a thousand pages, very great. Unless preserved in "N. & Q.," the existence of such hymns might be doubted some years hence, even by the religious fraternity for whom they were compiled, and whose collection is now widely different:

E. D.

—In spite of the memorable declaration of Junius that his secret should perish with him, and the hitherto unsatisfactory attempts that have been made to draw him from his hiding-place, I have ever felt assured that he will eventually be unearthed. After half a century's active exertion, the "Iron Mask" was unveiled.

I recollect that, somewhere in Woodfall's edition, is a letter from Junius, requiring a copy of the letters to be sent him, bound in a particular manner and colour, which, at the time that edition came out, was thought likely to afford a clue to the detection: some such casual notice may not yet be unlikely to lead to the discovery. Many years since, in conversation with an old officer, then barrack-master at Pendennis Garrison, Captain Hall, he related a circumstance that occurred when he was a boy, that curiously impressed itself on his memory. His family and Woodfall's were intimate, and when about ten years old he was taken by his mother to see Woodfall, whilst in prison on account of the publication of these redoubtable letters.

During this visit a tea-service of plate was received by Woodfall as a present from Junius, and was exhibited with no small degree of pride and gratification. Surely two such circumstances could not occur without being known to more than one or two persons; and had the inquiry been keenly followed up, I think, not unreasonably, that a chance might be afforded for the solution of the problem.

JAMES CORNISH.

—The supposition that the initial w of this word may have been a misreading for pa, however ingenious, is not tenable. Not having the MS. at hand (it is in the University Library, Cambridge), I wrote to a learned friend there to request him to refer to the passage. He assures me that the word is wyned, not payned. Indeed, the precedent being fairly written in a clerkly hand, there was little possibility of mistake. I beg, therefore, to leave the word in the hands of your etymological reader for further suggestion or explanation.

C. W. G.

—The ensuing Note, although it has no reference to the Tradescants who have been the subject of many interesting communications in "N. & Q.," will, perhaps, not be considered unacceptable; for, in conjunction with the mention made in the will of the younger John Tradescant (p. 367.) of his "two namesakes, Robert Tradescant and Thomas Tradescant of Walberswick in the Countie of Suffolk," to whom the testator, if his love is to be estimated by the amount of their legacies, would not appear to have borne much esteem,—it establishes the fact that there was, at that time, at least one collateral branch of the Tradescant family. I find in the town books of Harleston, in Norfolk, the name of a John Tredeskin as a resident in that town in the year 1682-83, and of Mr. Robert Tredeskin from 1683-84 to 1688-89 inclusive, and from that time to 1691-92 Mrs. Tradeskin, widow, appears as the occupier, in the last year the name being spelt Tradescant. The name also occurs in the Court Books of the Manor of Harleston. Robert Tradescant, and Martha his wife, are mentioned in 1687, and it appears that she survived and was afterwards the wife of Charles Fox, gentleman. In 1721 John Tradescant is described as son and heir of the said Robert and Martha, both deceased. I have not met with it at a later period. Whether this Harleston family branched from Walberswick, or whether either were actually related to the Lambeth Tradescants,—for the term "namesake" does not of itself imply relationship—is not certain, but both are at all events probable. I may observe that the prefix Mr. indicated a person above the rank of a tradesman, and such as we should now address upon a letter as "Esquire."

G. A. C.

—Of the first-named class of curious ecclesiastical structures I know of no examples; of one of the latter, the following notice occurs in Mr. Wesley's Journal, vol. iv. p. 213.:—

"Aug. 15 (1781). I went to Sheffield: in the afternoon I took a view of the chapel lately built by the Duke of Norfolk. One may safely say, there is none like it in the three kingdoms, nor, I suppose, in the world. It is a stone building, an octagon, about eighty feet in diameter.... The pulpit is movable: it rolls upon wheels; and is shifted once a quarter, that all the pews may face it in their turns: I presume the first contrivance of the kind in Europe."

This was an episcopal place of worship connected with a noble charity, "The Shrewsbury Hospital," a suite of liberally-endowed almshouses for old people of both sexes. The "chapel" in question, as well as the almshouses, have, many years ago, given place to a large market. But I must add, the charity still flourishes, and its recipients enjoy a suite of beautiful little dwellings, and a commodious place of worship, in a pleasant and airy part of "Sheffield Park."

J. H.

There is a movable pulpit in Norwich Cathedral.

J. B.

—These words are derived from sgológ, a Celtic word meaning a farmer, a husbandman, and probably denote the husbandlands and husbandmen holding the kirktoun (church lands) of Ellon, or parts thereof. A distinction is drawn between the husbandman and the cotter in an unpublished return to an inquisition in 1450, concerning the payments and services due by certain tenants of some ecclesiastical lands—"that is to say, of ylke husband an thraf (threave) of corn and half an ferlot of meil, and of ylke coter an pek." The husbands of church lands (bondi of Scotch charter Latin?) were in all likelihood the "Kyndlie tenantis" of the church, who seem to have had a sort of hereditary right to renewal of their leases on payment of a fine, either taxed or uncertain. In a charter lately before me, a lease of tithes was renewed to the holder as "Kyndlie tenant," on payment of a grassum (equivalent to a fine), and it was declared that the said tenant and his ancestors had held the vicarage land hereditarily, past the memory of man, on payment of a rent, though the said vicarage land belonged in property to the vicar. Neither sgológ nor bondi are applicable to tenants of church lands exclusively. The compilers of the Highland Society's Gaelic Dictionary do not appear to have met with the word sgológ, or, if they did, have confounded it with scalóg or sgalóg, a boor, a hind, a countryman.

DE CAMERA.

—Your correspondent A. B. has anticipated an inquiry I was about to make as to the history of this saint, which I am desirous of learning. It is a rather singular circumstance that three churches dedicated to St. Botolph, and all of ancient foundation, are situated immediately without gates of the city, viz. at Aldgate, Bishopsgate, and Aldersgate. There was also before the Great Fire a church similarly dedicated at Billingsgate, and a water-gate, called Buttolph's gate (vide Stow).

I can hardly imagine that this is merely a coincidence, and should be glad to know whether any explanation can be given of it.

J. R. J.

—An extract from the Memoirs of Wordsworth, vol. ii. p. 273., will throw some little light on J. C. R.'s perplexities:

"The anecdote of the saying of the monk, in sight of Titian's picture, was told me in this house (Rydal Mount) by Mr. Wilkie, and was, I believe, first communicated to the world in this poem, the former portion of which I was composing at the time ('Lines suggested by a Portrait by F. Stone, 1834'). Southey heard the story from Miss Hutchinson, and transferred it to the Doctor; my friend Mr. Rogers, in a note subsequently added to his Italy, speaks of the same remarkable words having many years before been spoken in his hearing by a monk or priest in front of a picture of the Last Supper, placed over a refectory table in a convent at Padua."

It is much to be feared that this goes far towards reducing "the mild Jeronymite's" remark to the established order of stereotype. On which supposition, one need not wonder that—

J.

—Is it known to your correspondents who take an interest in this subject, that the nightingale, when she builds her nest, inserts a thorn about an inch long in the centre of it, probably to lean her breast against.

During my angling excursions I often get comfortably housed at a little farmer's in Berks, and in conversation with him, about two years ago, relative to the habits of the nightingale, he mentioned this peculiarity, adding that he carried a nest home with a thorn an inch long built strongly through the middle of it. I recollected at the time the subject had been treated by some of our poets, but was not aware that it had any practical applicability.

In Berkshire they say of the nightingale's plaintive ditty:

MARYBONE.

—Your correspondent J. R. (Cork) is in error when he asserts that the above-named office does not belong to female majesty.

Among the collection of pictures at Montreal, in Kent, is a portrait which was purchased at the sale at Strawberry Hill, in 1842, on the back of which is the following inscription in the handwriting of Horace Walpole:

"Lady Elizabeth Percy, only daughter and heiress of Josceline, last Earl of Northumberland. She was first married to Henry Holles Cavendish, Lord Ogle, only son of Henry, Duke of Newcastle. 2ndly, To Thomas Thynne, Esquire, who was murdered by Count Konismark. And, lastly, to Charles Seymour Duke of Somerset. To Queen Anne she was groom of the stole, and had great influence."

Vide Swift's Journal.

By Beatson's Political Index it appears that her predecessor in this office was Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough.

E. H. Y.

—I am sorry that I am unable to give your correspondents, MR. GRAVES of Kilkenny, and E. H. Y., any information on the subject of the De Clares. The pedigree from which I quoted is not one of that family, but merely contains some few of them; introduced, as I said before, among the "præclarissimæ affinitates." The arms of Strongbow, Earl of Pembroke, are brought into the shield of quarterings through the well-known line of Marshall, De Braose, Cantelupe, La Zouche, and thence through Burdet and Ashbye; nor, with the exceptions of the last three, is there much mention of each family, but merely what is necessary to show their descent.

H. C. K.

—— Rectory, Hereford.

—You might have added to your list of editions of this work, one printed at New York in 1840, a number of copies of which have been recently sent to this country. The title is The Book of Jasher, referred to in Joshua and Second Samuel, faithfully translated from the Original Hebrew, 8vo. pp. 267. It was published with the recommendations of many learned men in America, one of which by Prof. Noah, who appears to be the translator, I think worth extracting as giving some idea of the character of the book:—

"Without giving it to the world as a work of divine inspiration, or assuming the responsibility to say that it is not an inspired book, I have no hesitation in pronouncing it a work of great antiquity and interest, and a work that is entitled, even regarding it as a literary curiosity, to a great circulation among those who take pleasure in studying the Scriptures."

WM. BROWN, Jun., Bibliop.

Old Street.

I have read this book formerly. It is the jeu d'esprit of an unbeliever. The drift of it is, to present a cotemporary naturalist account of the Mosaic and Josuetic histories, in opposition to the supernatural histories in the Bible. But I remember seeing announced among the intended publications of the Oriental Translation Fund, the "Book of Jasher." That proves a work, so entitled, to exist in some oriental language. What has become of that manuscript; and why was the translation of it never printed, as promised? I have long wished to learn.

A. N.

—In a highly interesting and pathetic volume of elegiac poetry, written by Sir Brooke Boothby (and published in London by Cadell and Davies, 1796), entitled Sorrows Sacred to the Memory of Penelope, is contained a fine engraving of the exquisite recumbent figure by Banks in Ashbourne Church, referred to by your correspondent. Perhaps you will afford room for the quotation of the following sonnet (Sorrows, p. 18.), which may interest readers unacquainted with the volume:

H. G. T.

Weston super Mare.

—Your correspondent, on referring to Wilson's Life of De Foe (vol. iii. p. 648.), will find some mention of John Joseph De Foe, his unfortunate great-grandson (not grandson), who was executed at Tyburn, January 2, 1771. In the Sessions Papers for 1770-1 (p. 25.), he will also find the trial of John Clark and John Joseph Defoe, otherwise Brown, otherwise Smith, for the robbery, on the King's highway, of Alexander Fordyce, Esq. There seems to have been no distinct identification of De Foe as one of the parties committing the robbery; but in those days juries did not stand upon trifles, and he had but little grace accorded to him. He was probably the grandson of Daniel's second son, Bernard Norton De Foe, the abused of Pope; but this is not quite certain.

Of the descendant of Daniel De Foe, who lived in or adjoining Hungerford Market, your correspondent will also find mention in Wilson (vol. iii. p. 649.). In all probability there are many descendants of this great man now living in this country or abroad.

Your correspondent is under a mistake as to Robert Drury's Journal. The first edition of that work, which I have now before me, came out in 1729, and therefore could not have been made use of by De Foe in writing Robinson Crusoe, published ten years before. How far Drury's Journal is true or fictitious, and by whom it was written, are curious questions; but to attempt their solution would be out of place in this reply.

JAS. CROSSLEY.

—Is J. MT. satisfied that the scene written by the Earl of Rochester does not form part of Elkanah Settle's play, The Conquest of China by the Tartars (1676, 4to.)? It is also written in rhyme; and Rochester was, as is well known, a patron of Settle. If J. MT. have not referred to it, it may be worth while to do so, or to give a few lines from the scene, to afford an opportunity of ascertaining the point.

JAS. CROSSLEY.

—A satisfactory explanation of these three words is much to be desired, as they have puzzled the antiquary, the linguist, and the classical scholar for nearly forty years. They remind me of a similar case I met with in my reading not long ago. The word Ilpadelt, painted on the windows of the church of the Celestines at Marconcies, was the puzzle of all that read it, till one day a Turk, who had received baptism, and was in the suite of Francis I., came to Marconcies in the year 1523, and discovered that the word was Syriac, and that it meant "God is my hope;" which explanation was registered in the abbey library. These words had been the motto of John de Montaign, who had founded the abbey, and enriched it with many valuable treasures, according to a vow he had made during the sickness of Charles VI.

However, if it will not disconcert the learned, I will, audax omnia perpati, venture upon a conjecture as to the meaning of these hidden words. Ought not the first letters, thought to be Bu, in reality to be read Pro? in which case the legend will be Pro Roberti Beri ora, i.e. pray for Robert Berry; and the ring will be a mourning ring.

While on this subject, I may add that the inscribed rings, commonly called talismanic or cabalistic rings, are improperly so designated. The Latin term is much more appropriate, "annuli vertuosi." Perhaps mystical might be a suitable name.

CEYREP.

—A. B. will find that the interesting inquiry relative to the last resting-place of Cromwell, has been investigated in a little work by Henry Lockinge, M.A., late curate of Naseby, entitled Historical Gleanings on the Memorable Field of Naseby, published in 1830. Mr. Lockinge, besides alluding to the "Memoranda" of the vicar, the Rev. W. Marshall, on the subject, adduces evidence, apparently satisfactory, which leaves the Protector's remains slumbering, "uncommemorated, beneath the turf of Naseby Field."

OLIVER PEMBERTON.

Birmingham.

—Allow me to refer MR. CATO to the late Mr. Turner's work on Domestic Architecture of the Middle Ages. He will there find (pp. 73-83.) an interesting digression on the history of glass-making, and its introduction into domestic use. In addition to the facts contained in that work, the following anecdote from my common-place book may not be altogether uninteresting. It is recorded with gratitude that Robert de Lindesay, chosen Abbot of Peterborough in 1214, beautified thirty of the monastic windows with glass, which previously had been stuffed with straw to keep out the cold and rain. (Gunton's Hist. Ch. Peterborough, p. 27.; Stevens' Continuation of Dugdale's Monasticon, vol. i. p. 478.)

F. SOMNER MERRYWEATHER.

—In answer to your correspondent, who inquires whether there are any persons named Devil, I beg to say that there is (or was, two years since) a person of that name, a labouring man, residing in the hamlet of Aston, in the parish of Hope, Derbyshire. Whether there are more of the name living there, I am unable to state; but I remember distinctly hearing of one, and the name being so peculiar, fixed itself in my memory.

R. C. C.

There can be little doubt that the beneficent intentions which prompted the late Earl of Bridgewater to bequeath 8000l. for the production of a work On the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God, as manifested in the Creation, were fully realised, when the late Mr. Davies Gilbert, the then President of the Royal Society, to whom the duty of carrying out such intentions was allotted, did, with the assistance of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London, select for that purpose the very eminent men to whom the world is indebted for the now well-known series of books entitled The Bridgewater Treatises. And there can be as little doubt that the republication, in a more popular form, of these Essays, written by men most eminent for their scientific attainments, and for the noble purpose of proving the consistency of the works with the Word of God, is a still further carrying out of the original intentions of the testator. We are therefore glad to see that they are to form a portion of Bohn's Scientific Library. The first volume—being the first also of the Rev. W. Kirby's Treatise On the History, Habits, and Instincts of Animals, revised by Professor Rymer Jones, who has added a few notes to the text explanatory of omissions and errors incidental to the condition of zoological knowledge at the time of its publication, and with the addition of many new woodcuts—has just been issued, and is destined, we trust, to be circulated throughout the whole length and breadth of the land.

Our readers who take an interest in the literature of Germany will be pleased to hear that the Deutsches Wörterbuch of the Brothers Grimm, the announcement of which fourteen years since created so much excitement, is at press, and that the first portion of it may very shortly be expected in this country. From the specimen which has been forwarded to us by Messrs. Williams and Norgate, we think we may safely assure our readers that, while on the one hand the work will be found such as to do justice to the well-known acquirements of its distinguished authors, it will not be found to be so overlaid with learning as to be only fit for the use of profound philologists.

Messrs. Murray and Longman continue stedfast in their good work of supplying the still increasing demand for works of real value at moderate prices. The Reading for the Rail has, since we last called attention to the series, been enriched with James's Fables of Æsop, with one hundred original and beautiful woodcuts designed by John Tenniel; with the Sketch of Theodore Hook, from which we quoted in our last Number; and with an admirable collection of stories of naval heroism, under the title of Deeds of Naval Daring.

Messrs. Longman, on the other hand, have added to their Traveller's Library one of the most interesting and curious books of travels in Africa ever given to the public, we allude to Ferdinand Werne's Feldzug nach Taka, the merits of which were recently pointed out in Blackwood's Magazine, and which Mr. Johnston has well translated, under the title of African Wanderings; or an Expedition to Taka, Basa, and Beni-Amer, with a Particular Glance at the Races of Bellad Sudan. A more interesting book for the traveller, or the stayer at home, we have not met with for some time.

THE BRITISH POETS. Whittingham's edition in 100 Vols., with plates.

REPOSITORY OF PATENTS AND INVENTIONS. Vol. XLV. 2nd Series. 1824.

—— Vol. V. 3rd Series. 1827.

NICHOLSON'S PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL. Vols. XIV. XV. 1806.

JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN. No. XI. 2nd Series.

SOROCOLD'S BOOK OF DEVOTIONS.

WORKS OF ISAAC BARROW, D.D., late Master of Trinity College. Cambridge. London, 1683. Vol. I. Folio.

LINGARD'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND. Vols. VI. VII. VIII. IX. XII. XIII., cloth.

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.

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.

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

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

REPLIES RECEIVED.—The Book of Jasher—Samuel Horsey—Ground Ice—"And Tye"—Surnames—Old China—Enigma on the Letter H—Thomas Crawford—Monument of Queen Mary at Antwerp—Nine Days' Wonder, &c.—Lothian's "Scottish Historical Atlas"—We three—The Lass of Richmond Hill—Nottinghamshire Provincialisms, &c.—Showing the White Feather—Salmon Fisheries—Sweet Singers—Boiling to Death—Nightingale and Thorn—Sites of Buildings mysteriously changed—The Azores—Corrupted Names of Places—Wedgewood Family—Sir A. Hungerford—Countess of Middleton—Algernon Sidney—Gilbert de Clare—Blind taught to read—Miller's Melody, &c. (from F. P. P.)—The Holy Shove—Moravian Hymns—Burials in Woollen—Memoria Technica—Cagots—Fides Carbonarii—Philip Quarl—Bishop of London's House.

We have been compelled this week, by want of space, to omit numerous articles of great interest which are in type.

H. C. D. is thanked. His communication shall receive early attention.

R. I. S., who inquires who were the authors of certain articles in the Anti-Jacobin, is referred to our 3rd Volume, particularly to p. 348.

VOX. What request did our correspondent make? We cannot understand his letter. Surely he does not seriously ask whether there is any charge for the insertion of Queries.

A CONSTANT READER. Admission to the Brompton Hospital is, we believe, by order from a Governor. Is the case to which our Correspondent refers one of great urgency?

C—S. T. P. We inserted the Latin epigram when it appeared, but there are many reasons why we cannot avail ourselves of the very happy English translation offered by our Correspondent.

W. (Cambridge). Will our Correspondent who writes so gravely on the antiquity of the Joneses (including of course Davy Jones) favour us with the name of the profound thinker at the University of Berlin to whom he alludes?

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Errata.—Page 361. col. 2. l. 6. for "habitus," read "habitas;" p. 367. col. 2. l. 30. for "crest" read "coat;" p. 448. col. 1. l. 4., for "campanum," read "campanam."

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