Notes and Queries Vol. V., No. 134, Saturday, May 22, 1852

NOTES:—

QUERIES:—

REPLIES:—

MISCELLANEOUS:—

In the year 1836, I visited Kidderminster for the purpose of seeing the place where Richard Baxter spent fourteen of the most valuable years of his life; and of ascertaining if any relics were to be found connected with the history of this remarkable man. Baxter thought much of Kidderminster, for with strong feeling he says, respecting this place, in his poem on "Love breathing Thanks and Praise" (Poetical Fragments, 1st edit. 1681):—

While prosecuting my inquiries, I was shown the house in which he is said to have resided. It is situated in the High Street, and was, at the time of my visit, inhabited by a grocer; but I had my doubts, from a difference of opinion I heard stated as to this being the actual house. After looking at this house, I visited the vestry of the Unitarian Chapel, and examined the pulpit; the description of which given by your correspondent is very correct. He omits to mention Job Orton's chair, which was shown me, as well as that of Bishop Hall. From all I could learn at the time, and since, I should say that there is not the slightest probability of any engraving having been published of this pulpit. Sketches may have been made by private hands, but nothing I believe in this way has ever been given to the public. I have long taken a deep interest in everything, pertaining to Richard Baxter. I some years ago collected ninety-seven out of the one hundred and sixty-eight works which he wrote, most of them the original editions, and principally on controversial subjects. After they had served the purpose for which I purchased them, I parted with them, reserving to myself the first editions of the choicest of his practical writings. The folio edition of his works contains only his practical treatises. One of the most remarkable facts connected with the history of Baxter, is the prodigious amount of mechanical drudgery to which he must have patiently submitted in the production of his varied publications. He had a very delicate frame: he was continually unwell, and often greatly afflicted. To this constant ailment of body he refers in a very affecting note in his Paraphrase on the New Testament under the fifth verse in the fifth chapter of the Gospel of St. John. The reference is to the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda, who had an infirmity thirty and eight years.

Note. "How great a mercy is it, to live eight and thirty years under God's wholesome discipline? How inexcusable was this man, if he had been proud, or worldly, or careless of his everlasting state? O my God! I thank thee for the like discipline of eight and fifty years. How safe a life is this, in comparison of full prosperity and pleasure."

His ministerial duties were of an arduous nature, and yet he found time to write largely on theological subjects, and to plunge perpetually into theological controversy. The Saint's Rest, by which his fame will ever be perpetuated, was published in 1619, 4to. It is in four parts, and dedicated respectively to the inhabitants of Kidderminster, Bridgenorth, Coventry, and Shrewsbury. It was the first book he wrote, and the second he published (The Aphorisms of Justification being the first published): it was written under the daily expectation of dying. The names of Brook, Hampden, and Pym, which have a place in the first edition, are, singularly enough, omitted in the later ones. Fifty years after the appearance of the Saint's Rest, and a few months only before his death, he published the strangest of all his productions; it is—

"The Certainty of the World of Spirits, fully evinced by unquestionable Histories of Apparitions and Witchcrafts, Operations, Voices, &c. Proving the Immortality of Souls, the Malice and Misery of Devils and the Damned, and the Blessedness of the Justified. Written for the Conviction of Sadducees and Infidels."

12mo. 1691.

His Reliquiæ Baxterianæ, folio, 1686, is the text-book for the actual every-day life of this eminent divine.

H. M. BEALBY.

North Brixton.

The life of this "progenitor of Merry Andrew," as he is termed, would, if minutely examined, doubtless prove a curious piece of biography. Wood furnishes many particulars, but some of his statements want confirmation. He tells us that Boorde was borne at Pevensey in Sussex; but Hearne corrects him, and says it was at Bounds Hill in the same county. It then becomes a question whether he was educated at Winchester school. Certain it is that he was of Oxford, although he left without taking a degree, and became a brother of the Carthusian order in London. We next find him studying physic in his old university, and subsequently travelling through most parts of Europe, and even of Africa. On his return to England, he settled at Winchester, and practised as a physician. Afterwards we find him in London occupying a tenement in the parish of St. Giles-in-the-Fields. This appears to have been the period when, in his professional capacity, King Henry VIII. is said to have consulted him. How long he remained in London is uncertain, but in 1541 he was living at Montpelier in France, where he is supposed to have taken the degree of doctor in physic, in which he was afterwards incorporated at Oxford. He subsequently lived at Pevensey, and again at Winchester. At last we find him a prisoner in the Fleet—the cause has yet to be learned,—at which place he died in April, 1549. The following curious relic is transcribed from the flyleaf of a copy of The Breviary of Health, 4to., London, 1547. It is signed "Andrew Boord," and if not the handwriting of the facetious author himself, is certainly that of some one of his cotemporaries:

Andrew Boorde's printed works are as follows:

1. A Book of the Introduction to Knowledge, 4to., London, 1542.

2. A Compendious Regiment or Dietary of Health, made at Mountpyller, 8vo., 1542.

3. The Breviary of Health, 4to., London, 1547.

4. The Princyples of Astronomye, 12mo., R. Copland, London, n. d.

Wood tells us he wrote "a book on prognosticks," and another "of urines." The Merry Tales of the Wise Men of Gotham are also ascribed to him, as well as A Right Pleasant and Merry History of the Mylner of Abington, &c.

The origin of the Merry Tales is pointed out by Horsfield, in his History of Lewes, vol. i. p. 239.:—

"At a last, holden at Pevensey, Oct. 3, 24 Hen. VIII., for the purpose of preventing unauthorised persons 'from setting nettes, pottes, or innyances,' or anywise taking fish within the privileges of the Marsh of Pevensey, the king's commission was directed to John, Prior of Lewes; Richard, Abbot of Begham; John, Prior of Mychillym; Thomas, Lord Dacre, and others ... Dr. Boorde (the original Merry Andrew) founds his tale of the 'Wise Men of Gotham' upon the proceedings of this meeting, Gotham being the property of Lord Dacre, and near his residence."

The inhabitants of Gotham in Nottinghamshire have hitherto been considered the "biggest fools in christendom;" but if the above extract is to be depended upon, the Gothamites of Sussex have a fair claim to a share of this honourable distinction.

The quotation from the History of Lewes was first pointed out by your learned correspondent, MR. M. A. LOWER, in a communication to Mr. Halliwell's Archæologist, 1842, p. 129. The investigation of the origin of this popular collection of old Joe Millerisms is of some importance, because upon them rests Dr. Boorde's title to be the "progenitor of Merry Andrew."

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

Who was the editor of The Poems and Plays of William Shakspeare, eight vols. 8vo., published by Scott and Webster in 1833?

In that edition the following passage from The Merchant of Venice, Act III. Sc. 2., is pointed in this way:—

To which the anonymous editor appends the following note:—

"I have deviated slightly from the folio—the ordinary reading represents ornament as 'the beauteous scarf veiling an Indian beauty,' a sentence which by no means serves to illustrate the reflexion which Bassanio wishes to enforce. Sir Thomas Hanmer proposed to read dowdy for beauty!"

My object in this quotation is not that of commending the emendation, but of affording an opportunity of recording the following reasons which induce me to reject it; not only as no improvement to the sense, but as a positive injury to it.

1st. The argument of Bassanio is directed against the deceptiveness of ornament in general, of which seeming beauty is only one of the subordinate illustrations. These illustrations are drawn from law, religion, valour, and beauty; all of which are finally summed up in the passage in question, beginning "Thus ornament," &c. and still further concentrated in the phrase "in a word." Therefore this summing up cannot refer singly to beauty, no more than to any other of the subordinate illustrations, but it must have general reference to adventitious ornament, against which the collected argument is directed.

2ndly. The word beauty is necessarily attached to Indian as designative of sex: "an Indian," unqualified by any other distinction, would imply a male; but an "Indian beauty" is at once understood to be a female.

3rdly. The repetition, or rather the opposition, of "beauteous" and "beauty," cannot seriously be objected to by any one conversant with the phraseology of Shakspeare. Were it at all necessary, many similar examples might be cited. How the anonymous annotator, already quoted, could say that the sentence, as it stands in the folio, "by no means serves to illustrate Bassanio's reflexion," I cannot conceive. "The beauteous scarf" is the deceptive ornament which leads to the expectation of something beneath it better than an Indian beauty! Indian is used adjectively, in the sense of wild, savage, hideous—just as we, at the present day, might say a Hottentot beauty; or as Shakspeare himself in other places uses the word "Ethiop:"

—Cymbeline, Act III. Sc. 4.—I have read Mr. Halliwell's pamphlet upon this expression, noticed in "N. & Q." of the 10th of April (p. 358.) I would beg to suggest to that gentleman that he has overlooked one text in Shakspeare that would tell more for his argument than the whole of those he has cited. All his examples are drawn from the word father, metaphorically applied in the sense of creator to inanimate objects; and the same sense he extends, by analogy, to mother. But in the following lines from As You Like It (Act III. Sc. 5.), mother is directly used as a sort of warranty of female beauty! Rosalind is reproving Phebe for her contempt of her lover, and in derision of her beauty, she asks:

Now if Phebe had been one who smothered her in painting, an appropriate answer to Rosalind's question might have been—her mother was her painting!

Most certainly, this latter phrase is the more graceful mode of expressing the idea—far more in unison with the language one would expect from the refined, the delicate, the bewitching Imogen—from her who wished to set "that parting kiss betwixt two charming words."

A. E. B.

Leeds.

The following is a list of the works which have appeared under the auspices of the Stuttgart Society, referred to in my Note respecting Felix Faber:—

I. 1. Closener's Strassburgische Chronik.

2. Des Ritters Georg von Ehingen Reisen.

(a). Nach der Ritterschaft.

(b). Æneas Sylvius Piccolomineus de Viris illustribus.

(c). Ott Ruland's Handlungsbuch.

(d). Codex Hirsaugiensis.

II.-IV. Fratris Felicis Fabri Evagatorium, 3 vols.

V. (a). Die Weingartner Liederhandschrift.

(b). Italiänische Lieder des Hohenstaufischen Hofes in Sicilien.

VI. Briefe der Prinzessin Elisabeth Charlotte v. Orleans an die Raugräfin Louise (1676-1722).

VII. (a). Des Böhmischen Herrn Leo's von Rozmital Reise durch die Abendländer in den Jahren 1465, 1466, und 1467.

(b). Die Livländische Reimchronik.

VIII. Chronik des Edlen En Ramon Muntaner.

IX. (a). Bruchstück über den Kreuzzug Friederichs I.

(b). Ein Buch von guter Speise.

(c). Die alte Heidelberger Liederhandschrift.

X. Urkunden, Briefe und Actenstücke zur Geschichte Maximilians I. und seiner Zeit.

XI. Staatspapiere zur Geschichte des Kaisers Karl V.

XII. Das Ambraser Liederbuch vom Jahre 1582.

XIII. Li Romans d'Alixandre par Lambert, Li Tors et Alexandre de Bernay.

XIV. Urkunden zur Geschichte des Schwäbischen Bundes (1488-1533), Erster Theil, 1488-1506.

XV. Cancionero Geral I.

XVI. (a). Carmina Burana (from a MS. of thirteenth century).

(b). Albert v. Beham u. Regerten Papst Innocenz IV.

XVII. Cancionero Geral II.

XVIII. Konrads von Weinsberg Einnahmen- und Ausgaben-Register.

XIX. Das Habsburg.-Œsterreichische Urbarbuch.

XX. Hadamars v. Laber Jagd.

XXI. Meister Altswert.

XXII. Meinauer Naturlehre (circa 1300).

XXIII. Der Ring, von Heinrich Wittenweiler.

XXV. Ludolfi de Itinere terræ sanctæ liber (circa 1350).

Vol. XXIV. is in the press.

F. NORGATE.

Your able correspondent MR. S. W. SINGER, in Vol. v., p. 436., gives his positive adhesion to MR. COLLIER'S emendation of the corruption "bosom multiplied" in Coriolanus, Act III. Sc. 1. Agreeing with MR. SINGER in his opinion of the value of this emendation, there is yet an importance attached to it which I feel sure MR. COLLIER will not object to have pointed out, although doubtlessly all the argument respecting the sources of his early MS. corrections will be carefully considered in the volume he so liberally intends presenting to the Shakspeare Society. Shakspearian criticism is a field so open to varied opinions, and is a subject on which so few can be brought exactly to agree, it is a mere chance if, in addressing these few lines, I in any degree anticipate MR. COLLIER'S conclusions.

MR. COLLIER'S discovery was, perhaps, of even greater interest to myself than to others, not merely on account of its being an important evidence for the state of the text, but because I had long since had the opportunity of using a volume of precisely similar character, namely, the copy of the third folio, with numerous MS. emendations in a coeval hand, mentioned by Lowndes, p. 1646., as having some years since sold for 65l., on account of those MS. emendations. This volume contains several hundred very curious and important corrections, amongst which I may mention an entirely new reading of the difficult passage at the commencement of Measure for Measure, which carries conviction with it, and shows, what might have been reasonably expected, that that to is a misprint for a verb. There are numerous other corrections of equal importance, but I forbear at present to notice them, under the conviction it is not safe to adopt MS. corrections, unless we know on what authority they are made. It was on this account I ventured to indicate the extreme danger of adopting any of the MS. readings of MR. COLLIER'S second folio, without a most rigid examination, or until their authority was unquestionably ascertained. Now, in MR. COLLIER'S first two communications to the Athenæum there was scarcely a single example which indicated it was derived from an authentic source, but many, on the other hand, which could be well believed to be mere guess-work; and it was rather alarming to see the readiness with which they were received, threatening the loss of Shakspeare's genuine text.

A ray of light, however, at length appears in the new reading in Coriolanus. This, more than any other, gives hopes of important results; and it does something more than this: it opens a reasonable expectation that the MS. corrector had, in some cases, recollection of the passages as they were delivered in representation. Once establish a probability of this, and although many of the corrections must still be looked upon as conjectural, the volume will be of high value. The correction "bisson multitude" seems to me to be clearly one of those alterations that no conjectural ingenuity could have suggested. The volume has evidently been used for stage purposes; and it may be taken as almost beyond a doubt that that particular correction was made on authority. We can scarcely imagine that authority to be a MS. of the play, and are therefore thrown on the supposition the corrector sometimes altered from memory, and sometimes from conjecture, writing as he thought Shakspeare ought to have written, even if he did not.

It is scarcely necessary to say these observations are grounded solely on what is already before the public. The appearance of MR. COLLIER'S volume may modify their effect either one way or the other; and perhaps I am committing a literary trespass on my friend's manor in thus prematurely entering into an argument on the subject. But MR. COLLIER, with his usual liberality, has invited rather than deprecated discussion; and having expressed in print opinions grounded on his first two communications, it would be uncandid in me not to acknowledge they are in some degree modified by the very important correction since published.

J. O. HALLIWELL.

In consequence of the disfranchisement of St. Clement's burial-ground, Portugal Street, Clare Market, the last memorial of "honest Jo" is condemned for removal; and this being the case, I have forwarded for "N. & Q." a copy of the inscription. The epitaph written by Stephen Duck, and the stone itself, were, about the beginning of the present century, in jeopardy of obliteration, but for the compassion of Mr. Bulgen, the grave-digger; and being still in a very bad condition, Mr. Buck a few years afterwards repaired it. The following is the inscription:

UNICORN.

—In April, 1851, a man was committed to Mayo prison for cutting off the head of a corpse but a few days interred. His object in severing the head was that of clearing himself of some imputed crime by swearing on a skull, a superstition said to be very common in that part of Ireland.

PHILIP S. KING.

—If, when you look at the new moon for the first time, you think of one particular thing which you greatly desire to have, or to have accomplished, your wishes on that same point will be realised before the close of the year.

R. VINCENT.

—If, without any neglect on your part, but even with care, articles of steel belonging to you, such as keys, knives, &c., continually become rusty, some kindhearted person is laying up money for your benefit.

This superstitious notion is very prevalent in Wales.

R. VINCENT.

—The following curious epitaph is on a tombstone in the Low Moor churchyard, near this town:—

C. WILLIAMS.

Bradford, Yorkshire.

—I do not think that the epitaph of the unfortunate Sir Thomas Overbury, poisoned by Carr, Earl of Somerset, in 1613-14, has ever been published. I send it to you, copied from a manuscript on a blank leaf of a black-letter copy of Howe's Abridgement of Stow's Chronicle in my possession.

RICHARD F. LITTLEDALE.

Dublin.

—I possess a copy of the Bibliotheca Literaria, 1722-4, in which the names of some of the authors are appended in manuscript to various papers, as follows:

In No. 4., Dr. Brett's name is appended to the first paper.

In No. 5., the first paper, concerning the pillar of fire and cloud, has the name "Sam. Jebb."

In No. 6., the third paper has the name of Dr. Brett; also, the first in

No. 7., continuation of it.

In No. 8., the first and third papers have "Carol. Ashton;" the second, Dr. Brett.

In No. 9. the first and second papers have "Thos. Wagstaffe."

Finally, the second in No. 10. has the name of Dr. Brett.

In the hope that this may be of some utility, I send it, on the chance that these names may not have been published already, which I have not time to ascertain.

W. H. S.

Edinburgh.

[All the above contributors to this valuable literary journal were Nonjurors. It may not be generally known that the principal editor was Samuel Jebb, M.D., of Peter House, Cambridge, who subsequently attached himself to the Nonjurors, and accepted the office of librarian to the celebrated Jeremy Collier. Dr. Jebb was also assisted by Mr. Wasse, Dr. Wotton, Dr. Jortin, Dr. Pearce, and others.—ED.]

—In the course of a summer spent in Argyleshire, I paid a visit to old Dundrah, or Dundarrow Castle, which stands between Inverary and Cairndhu, on the southwest. It is now a small farm-house. The tenant refused me admission under half-a-crown, so I contented myself with a survey of the exterior. Over the doorway I found the following inscription carved in the stone:

The meaning is evident, though what connexion it has with the old castle I am not able to say. I send it you, as I have not seen it noted in any book.

C. M. I.

—Mr. Peter Cunningham, in his most entertaining work, The Handbook of London, tells us that the origin of Charing Cross has never been discovered.

It lies buried in the venerable pages of Somner and Skinner. It was first propounded by the former in his Notes on Lipsius, appended to Meric Causaubon's Commentatio de Quatuor Linguis, in v. SCURGI. The A.-S. cyrrung (from cyrran, avertere) is, as he tells us, aversio:

"Atque hinc, a viarum (scil.) et platearum diverticulis, ut in compitis, pluribus apud nostrates locis hoc nomen olim inditum, quod postea in Cerring mutatum, tandem transiit (ut nunc dierum) in Charing; quomodo quadrivium sive compitum illud nuncupatur in suburbiis Londinensibus, ab occidente, prope Westmonasterium, Charing Crosse, vulgo dictum; Crosse addito, ob crucem ibidem, ut in compitis solitum, olim erectam."

Q.

I have recently purchased a small manuscript in quarto, containing fifteen leaves, written about the year 1590, which consists of a poem in six cantos, without title or name of the author, but which, I feel convinced, from the style, is one of the numerous works of Nicholas Breton. In the hope that some of your correspondents may be able to identify the poem, which may possibly be printed in some of Breton's very rare works, I subjoin the commencing stanzas:

These two stanzas are by no means favourable specimens of the entire poem, but I prefer to give them, because the work itself may be printed. If it appears, on inquiry, to be still inedited, I may venture to submit a few other extracts from it of a more illustrative character. Our bibliographers would be more useful guides, were they always to give the first lines of old poems. I have a tolerably good library, but can find no work sufficiently descriptive of Breton's works to enable me to trace the above.

H.

Where is to be found that intensely interesting MS. Lot 120., Sixth Day's Sale, at Strawberry Hill, a folio tract entitled The "Virtuosi," or St. Luke's Club, held at the Rose Tavern, first established by Sir Anthony Vandyke; with Autographs of all the eminent Artists of the day?

Such is the account of Mr. George Robins, to the sound of whose hammer it fell, let us hope, into worthy hands.

By the aid of a note made whilst the several precious contents of that "Gothic Vatican of Greece and Rome," as I think Pope described it, were on view, I hope to whet the appetite of some of our literary vultures:

"Rose Tavern, Mar. 5. 1697.

"An order for raising an annual fund for pictures; with twenty names of stewards."

What say you, Mr. Editor, to such subscribing parties as, among others, "Grinling Gibbons, Michael Dahl, J. Closterman, and Christopher Wren?" I cannot remember more, but I think "Alex. Verrio" was among them.

Mem. the second: as entries in a sort of journal:

"That our steward, John Chicheley, Esquire, gave us this day a Westphalia Ham, which had been omitted in his entertainment on St. Luke's day."

Again:

"Paid and spent at Spring Gardens, by Knightsbridge, forfeiture £3 15 shgs."

Why, Mr. Editor, here are the new Roxburgh Revels of the Knights of the Brush and Palette. And now that the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the day is expected to take out his diploma, and the ex-Premier is to be the new Professor of Perspective, vice the author of the Fallacies of Hope, it becomes a question of prevailing interest, which I commend to the research of your dilettanti querists. It may be a thread of connexion with those stores of precious materials obtained by Walpole from the widow of that persevering investigator George Virtue.

J. H. A.

The 29th vol. of the Archæologia contains an interesting "description of a monumental effigy of Richard Cœur de Lion, recently discovered in the cathedral of Notre Dame at Rouen," by Alfred Way, Esq., who, with his usual precision, has noticed what he very properly calls "some singular details" beneath the figure of the lion crouching at the king's feet; among these details is "the head of a rabbit[1] peeping out of its burrow, and, a little above, a dog warily watching the mouth of the hole." Mr. Way adds:

"I have met with nothing among the accessory ornaments of monumental sculpture analogous to this; and though convinced that what in itself may appear a trifling detail, was not placed here without design, I am quite at a loss to conjecture what could have been its import."

[1] Mr. Way says a hare or rabbit, forgetting that the hare does not burrow.

The same symbol or device, well known to all lovers of ancient wood-engraving, appears in some of the earliest specimens of that art. It is found in an impression of one of the oldest known playing-cards, representing the knave of diamonds, now in the print-room of the British Museum, of which a fac-simile is inserted at p. 214. of Chatto's History of Playing Cards. Another instance of this device occurs (without the dog) in an old woodcut, dated 1418, discovered a few years ago at Malines, of which a copy appeared in the Athenæum of Oct. 4, 1845. And a third example is contained in that celebrated and unique woodcut of St. Christopher, dated 1423, in the possession of Earl Spencer, copies of which may be found in Janson's Essai sur l'Origine de la Gravure, and in Ottley's work. Being as fully convinced as Mr. Way that the symbols he observed on the effigy of Richard at Rouen were never introduced without design, but that they were meant to convey some esoteric signification, I have for many years consulted both books and friends to obtain an explanation of this allegorical device, but without success. As a last resource, I address myself to the "N. & Q.," in hopes, from their having now obtained so wide a circulation, that I may receive through their medium, and the kindness of a more learned correspondent, a solution of this enigma.

P.S.—In addition to the above four instances of the device of a rabbit occurring in ancient sculpture and wood-engraving, a French writer, M. Th. Gautier, in the feuilleton of La Presse of the 27th September, 1851, describes the Madonna of Albert Durer as being "presque toujours accompagnée d'un lapin," derived (in his opinion) from a "vague ressouvenir du panthéisme Germanique."

SYMBOL.

Some time ago I made the following Notes, which, though they throw some light on the subject of Molineux's globe, yet they do not bear out MR. EASTWOOD'S conjecture. The first is from Richard Hakluyt's Address to the Reader in The Principal Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries of the English Nation, folio, 1589:

"Nowe, because peraduenture it would bee expected as necessarie, that the descriptions of so many parts of the world would farre more easily be conceiued of the Reader, by adding Geographicall and Hydrographicall tables thereunto, thou art by the way to be admonished that I haue contented myselfe with inserting into the worke one of the best generall mappes of the world onely, vntill the comming out of a very large and most exact terrestriall Globe, collected and reformed according to the newest, secretest, and latest discoueries, both Spanish, Portugall, and English, composed by M. Emmerie Mollineux of Lambeth, a rare Gentleman in his profession, being therein for divers yeeres greatly supported by the purse and liberalitie of the worshipfull marchant M. William Sanderson."

My second Note is from the rare little volume by John Davis, entitled, The Worlde's Hydrographical Discription, 12mo., London, 1595:

"The cause why I vse this particular relation of all my proceedinges for this discouery, is to stay this obiection, why hath not Dauis discouered this passage [the North-west] being thrise that waies imploied, and how far I proceeded, and in what fourme this discouery lyeth, doth appeare vpon the Globe which Master Sanderson to his verye great charge hath published, whose labouring indevour for the good of his countrie deserueth great fauour and commendations, made by Master Emery Mullineux, a man wel qualited, of a good iudgement and verye expert in many excellent practises, in myselfe being the onely meane with Master Sanderson to imploy Master Mullineux therein, whereby he is nowe growne to a most exquisite perfection."

P. 25.

And here a Query may not be out of place. Whose account of Iceland does Nash refer to?

In the writings of our early navigators, there is frequent allusion to terrestrial globes. This of Mollineux's, for instance, contains Davis's own discoveries, and should therefore be of some importance. In the tract just quoted, Davis says:

"It is wel knowne that we haue globes in the most excellent perfection of arte, and haue the vse of them in as exquisite sort, as Master Robert Hues in his book of the globes vse, lately published, hath at large made known."

P. 41.

And in an unpublished MS. relating to Sir Thomas Button's voyage, addressed to King James I. in 1610, the writer says:

"I haue left wth Mr. Wright in yor librarie att St James, a hand globe terrestriall for demonstrac̅on of these."

Do any of the globes exist, and where?

As I am about to reprint Davis's tract with additional illustrations, including the MS. above referred to, I shall be glad to receive any particulars of the life of Davis, and of his connexion with that great patron of discovery, William Sanderson; of his death, any reference to his autograph, and to any authentic portrait of him.

JOHN PETHERAM.

—On the 17th of October, 1834, the houses of parliament were burnt down, and I believe you will recollect that very soon afterwards a long serio-comic poem was published, detailing the event; the following stray morsels of which just occur to me:

Again—

I wish very much to find out this poem, or whatever else it may be called; can you assist me? I am told it was published in one of the weekly papers at the time, probably the Sunday Times or Dispatch.

T. B.

Exeter.

—In 1813, Leigh and Sotheby sold the books of Mrs. Anne Newton, professing to contain the collection of Newton's own books. As it is fully believed that no personal property of Newton descended to any relatives of his name, how is this pretension explained? The statement is copied from Sotheby's catalogue of sales into Hartwell Horne's Bibliography, and will be credited at a future time, if not now called in question.

M.

—What is the meaning of the word Royd, which is attached to the names of so many persons and places in Yorkshire, as Ackroyd, Learoyd, Brownroyd, and Boltonroyd?

C. W.

—I have in my possession a document, which shows that my great-grandfather, "William Cromwell of London," mason, was admitted into

"The freedom aforesaid, and sworn in the Mayoralty of Thomas Wright, Esq., Mayor, and John Wilkes, Esq., Chamberlain; and is entered in the book signed with the letter A., relating to the purchasing of freedom and the admission of freemen, (to wit) the 4th day of April, in the 26th year of the reign of King George the Third, and in the year of our Lord 1786. In witness whereof," &c.

The parchment bears the initials "J. W."

I am anxious to learn, from some of your numerous correspondents, whether this person once lived near Bath, and then at Hammersmith? and, secondly, whether he was descended from the Protector?

J. G. C.

—Who was Sir John Darnell, whom did he marry, who were his father and mother, and what arms did he bear? His daughter Mary was married to the Hon. Robert Ord, Lord Chief Baron of Scotland (alive in 1773). Any other particulars regarding his family will be gratefully received by

E. N.

—Can you inform me when, and under what circumstances, the use by royalty in Europe sprung up, of using the plural "we" instead of "I," the first person singular?

FRANCIS J. GRUBB.

—Mr. Macaulay, in one of his "Essays," remarks,

"The skill of the Spanish diplomatists was renowned throughout Europe. In England the name of Gondomar is still remembered."

True, oft have I heard of thee, Count Gondomar, and have read from time to time divers anecdotes of thy wit and wisdom, quips and quiddities. But is it not passing strange that this man, this Spanish Don, who, as is well known, exercised such a powerful influence over the weak-minded "Solomon of Whitehall," and who, moreover, bore so large a share in the murder of the brave and highly gifted Raleigh, should be excluded from a niche in the biographical temple; for such I am told is the case. Having deputed a friend to make search for me in the several biographical dictionaries, he reports that the name of Gondomar is not to be found in the best book of the kind, the Biographie Universelle, nor in the dictionaries of Rose and Chalmers. This desideratum will, I confidently hope, ere long be supplied through the medium of "N. & Q.," by some of its learned contributors.

W. STANLEY SIMMONDS.

—At the sale of the library of Mr. Joseph Gulston, 1784, was sold a Journal of Mr. Nehemiah Wallington, a Puritan divine, written in the year 1630. This volume probably contains some curious matters respecting the Puritans of the day; and, as it is much desired, should any person know of its whereabouts, I should feel much obliged by a note of it.

R.

—Nicolas Oresmius, or d'Oresme, bishop of Lisieux, who died in 1382, wrote Epistola Luciferi ad prælatos Ecclesiæ, afterwards printed, Magd. 1549, 8vo., and in Wolf's Lect. Memor., vol. i. p. 654. So far Fabricius. Who was Lucifer? I mean, was he the potentate who goes by the opposite name of the Prince of Darkness? And what is the tenor of his letter? The bishop was a quiet man, of orthodox fame, and tutor to a king of France.

M.

—Being a collector of works on Druidical remains and Cambrian history, I shall feel greatly favoured if any of your numerous readers will answer me the following questions, viz.:—

1st. The name of the first book or commentary printed in any language abroad, previous to the introduction of printing into England, actually written by a Cambrian?

2nd. The first book printed in the English language, actually written by a Cambrian then living?

3rd. The first and second books printed in England in the Welsh language?

4th. The first book printed in the Welsh language abroad?

5th. The first book printed in the Welsh language in Wales?

6th. The most ancient author in MSS. and in print who mentions Stonehenge and Aubury; also the monument called Cromlêch?

7th. Who has on sale the most extensive collection of Welsh books, and those relating to British history?

P. B. W

7. Harrington Street, Regent's Park.

—As no professed Oriental scholar has directed any attention to this word yet, and as, although root in the words Karimat and Akram appears the same, the analogy to VCRIMDR is not very obvious, I may mention that on searching further I have found the adjective Ucr, with the various meanings, weighty, precious, esteemed, honourable. I leave it to Orientalists to tell us if VCRIMDR is a compound or an inflexion of Ucr. I regret that owing to a peculiarity in my handwriting, De Gauley was twice substituted for De Sauley in my last note, Vol. v., p. 149.

W. H. S.

Edinburgh.

Will any of your readers be kind enough to favour me with the completion of the above stanza, as well as to state who is the author of the same?

J. T.

—John Aubrey, the antiquary, in his Collections for North Wilts, Part I. p. 51. (Sir Thomas Phillips's edition), describing the stained glass in Dauntsey Church, uses the following expression:

"Memorandum. The crescents in these coats: Therefore Sir John [Danvers] was not the penkenol."

The word is correctly printed from the original MS. Can any of your readers explain its meaning?

J. E. J.

—On the right-hand side of the road between Tadcaster and Thorpe Arch, Yorkshire, extends the domain of the Fairfax family. The mansion, a comfortable old fashioned red-brick Tudor-looking structure, stands some two hundred yards back in the grounds through which, from the road to the front door of the house, extends a fine avenue of chestnuts, terminated at the roadside by a pair of venerable, rusty, and decaying iron gates which are kept closed; the entrance to the park being by a sort of side gateway of insignificant and field-like appearance further on. Can any of your readers give me the facts, or the local tradition which accounts for this peculiarity? I believe it is a family incident of somewhat historical interest, and a subject on which I am desirous of information.

G. W.

—In the Legal Observer of the 24th April, I find the following:

"LAW PROMOTION.—Mr. James Wilde has been appointed to the office of Postman, in the Court of Exchequer. The Postman is the senior counsel without the bar attending the court, and has pre-audience of the attorney and solicitor-general in making the first motion upon the opening of the court. The Tubman is the next senior counsel without the bar. The Postman and Tubman have particular places assigned them by the Chief Baron in open court."

My Query is, from whence and at what date these two offices sprang into existence, with a list of the persons who have occupied them. And it would be as well to inquire what their duties are: for although Stephen's Blackstone derives the names from the places in which the individuals themselves sit, still the explanation hardly conveys sufficient to gather what their duties are.

JOHN NURSE CHADWICK.

—What chronicle narrates the circumstances of the second disinterment of King Arthur's bones in Glastonbury, temp. Edw. I. (A.D. 1298)?

H. G. T.

—In Anecdotes of British Topography, &c. (Lond. 1768), occurs the following, speaking of Boston:—

"The Churchwardens' account from 1453 to 1597, and the town-book, wrote by Mr. John Stukeley, 1676, one of his (Dr. Stukeley's) ancestors, are in the hands of the Doctor's son-in-law, Mr. Fleming."

Query, into whose hands have the above records fallen? Did Stukeley leave a family?

The name of "Wm. Stukeley" is appended to sundry parish records, anno 1713, at Boston. I believe he practised here for some years.

THOMAS COLLIS.

—Can any one inform me if there are any letters extant of Arthur, seventh Lord Balmerino, and where they are deposited?

W. PELHAM A.

Rochester.

—Is any portrait known of Thomas Percy, Earl of Northumberland, who was beheaded at York, A.D. 1572, for the part he took in the "Rising in the North?"

E. PEACOCK, Jr.

—Is it known who was the author of a satirical pamphlet against Newton: The Theology and Philosophy in Cicero's "Somnium Scipionis" explained, London, 1751, 8vo.? And has an absurd story which it contains, relative to Newton, Locke, and Lord Pembroke visiting Patrick, the barometer-maker, to be shown that the mercurial vacuum was not a perfect one, ever been told elsewhere?

M.

—We are informed by Baron Maseres, as quoted by Lingard, that the Danes, in the last invasion by Sweyn, 1013, had vanes in the shape of birds or dragons fixed on their masts, to point out the direction of the wind. Is there any record of an earlier adoption of this method of ascertaining the way of the wind?

B. B.

—Is this work a forgery or not? Charles Julius Bertram, Professor of English in the Royal Marine Academy at Copenhagen, wrote to Dr. Stukeley in 1747 that such a manuscript was in the hands of a friend of his. It was not until some time had elapsed, and after Dr. Stukeley was presented to St. George's Church, Queen Square, that he "pressed Mr. Bertram to get the manuscript into his own hands, if possible; which, at length, with some difficulty, he accomplished;" and sent to Dr. Stukeley, in letters, a transcript of the whole. Authors go on quoting from this work as genuine authority, and therefore are perhaps misleading themselves and their readers; and it would be conferring a great boon if "N. & Q." could clear up the doubt as to its authenticity.

Mr. Worsaae, the eminent Danish author, or his English translator, are exactly in the position to render this further service to antiquarian literature; and, as relating to the subject of Roman Britain, the question is of so much interest that a little trouble would not, probably, be deemed uselessly expended in the inquiry.

G. I.

—Is it true that sixteen Spanish vessels, with 5300 men on board, were wrecked on the coast of Ireland in 1589, and all put to the sword or hanged by the executioner, at the command of the Lord Deputy; who found that they had saved and got on shore a good deal of their treasure which he wanted to secure for himself. Where is any account of it to be found? How came Spanish ships so far north?

CYRUS REDDING.

—In the Journal des Savants for April of this year, the celebrated mathematician Biot, in a review of the Correspondence of Sir Isaac Newton and Cotes (Cambridge, 1850), makes mention, with the highest praise, of an analysis of Sir Isaac's Principia contained in the Acta Eruditorum for 1688. Mons. Biot says that at that time there were only two men who could have written such an analysis, Halley and Newton himself; but adds, that the style is not Halley's, being too concise and simple for him. His admiration could not have been contained within such bounds. M. Biot firmly believes that the writer of this analysis was no other than Newton himself (ex ungue Leonem), and earnestly calls on the learned of England and Germany to assist in discovering the origin of the analysis; should there perhaps be any means left for doing so in the literary depôts of the two countries. Permit a contributor to "N. & Q." to repeat M. Biot's inquiry through the medium of a publication far more extensively circulated in England than the Journal des Savants.

J. M.

—What was the origin of the peculiar hat so universally worn by women of the lower orders in Wales; and at what period did it come into use?

TREBOR.

[A gentleman who has resided for the last half century in the Principality, and to whom we submitted our correspondent's Query, has kindly forwarded the following reply:—"I have consulted bards, Welsh scholars, &c., and am sorry that I cannot forward any satisfactory account of the custom alluded to by TREBOR. Some say, we remember the time when the women wore ordinary felt hats manufactured from their own wool: one or two travelling hatters occasionally settled at Bangor, who made and sold beaver hats. We do not think that the women here intended to adopt any particular costume; but retained the hat as agreeing with the peculiar close cap, and projecting border, which it leaves in view, and in possession of its own uprightness! The fashion is going out; all our young people adopt the English bonnet with the English language. The flat hat, with a broad brim, is still retained in the mountain regions."]

—Perhaps some of your readers will kindly inform the Pancake Eating Public as to the period "when," and the reason "why" such a custom grew into existence?

I have frequently heard the question mooted upon this anniversary, without ever hearing, or being able to give, a satisfactory elucidation of it; but it is to be hoped that "N. & Q." will supply the desideratum ere long, and confer a favour on

A LOVER OF PANCAKES AND AN UPHOLDER OF ANCIENT CUSTOMS.

Temple, Shrove Tuesday, 1852.

[Fosbrooke, in his Encyclopædia of Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 572., informs us that "Pancakes, the Norman Crispellæ, are taken from the Fornacalia, on Feb. 18, in memory of the practice in use before the goddess Fornax invented ovens." The Saxons called February "Solmonath," which Dr. Frank Sayers, in his Disquisitions, says is explained by Bede "Mensis placentarum," and rendered by Spelman, in an inedited manuscript, "Pancake Month," because in the course of it cakes were offered by the Pagan Saxons to the sun. So much for the "when:" now for the reason "why" the custom was adopted by the Christian church.

Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Tuesday, as it is sometimes called, from being the vigil of Ash Wednesday, was a day when every one was bound to confess, and be shrove or shriven. That none might plead forgetfulness of this duty, the great bell was rung at an early hour in every parish, called the Pancake Bell, for the following reasons given by Taylor, the Water Poet, in his Jacke-a-Lent (Works, p. 115. fol. 1630). He tells us, "On Shrove Tuesday there is a bell rung, called the Pancake Bell, the sound whereof makes thousands of people distracted, and forgetful either of manner or humanitie. Then there is a thinge called wheaten floure, which the sulphory, necromanticke cookes doe mingle with water, egges, spice, and other tragicall, magicall inchantments, and then they put it by little and little into a frying-pan of boyling suet, where it makes a confused dismal hissing, like the Lernean snakes in the reeds of Acheron, Stix, or Phlegeton, until at last by the skill of the cooke it is transformed into the forme of a Flap-Jack, which in our translation is called a Pancake, which ominous incantation the ignorant people doe devoure very greedily, having for the most part well dined before; but they have no sooner swallowed that sweet-candied baite, but straight their wits forsake them, and they runne starke mad, assembling in routs and throngs numberlesse of ungovernable numbers, with uncivill civill commotions." In the "Forme of Cury," published with other cookery in Warner's Antiquitates Culinariæ, p. 33., and written in 1390, we find a kind of fried cakes called "comadore," composed of figs, raisins, and other fruits, steeped in wine, and folded up in paste, to be fried in oil. This suggests another savoury Query, Whether this is not an improvement on our apple fritters?]

I remember having seen quoted, à propos of the lines of Shakspeare, a passage from some Latin poet (Claudian, I think) which contained the same idea. Can you, or any of your correspondents, favour me with it; as also where they are to be found? And can they give me the origin and reason of the idea.

H. JOHNSTON.

Liverpool.

[The passage to which our correspondent refers is most probably that already quoted by Steevens, from Persius, Sat. I.

My subsequent reading has not only confirmed, but added to the information conveyed in the reference quoted. I there surmised that the third was the ring finger, because the thumb and first two fingers have always been reserved as symbols of the blessed Trinity, and consequently the third was the first vacant finger. Both the Greek and Latin church agree in this, that the thumb and first two fingers signify the blessed Trinity. And whilst these three fingers signify the Trinity, the third and fourth fingers are emblematic of the two natures of Christ, the human and divine. As then the third finger served to symbolise the human nature, and marriage was instituted to propagate the human race, that was made the wedding finger. The right hand is the hand of power: hence the wife wears the ring on the ring finger of the left hand. The Greeks make each of the first three fingers, i.e. the thumb and two fingers, symbolise one of the divine persons. M. Didron informs us that, during his visit to Greece in 1839, the Archbishop of Mistra—

"Whom I interrogated on the subject, informed me that the thumb, from its strength, indicated the Creator, the Father Eternal, the Almighty; that the middle finger was dedicated to Jesus Christ, who redeemed us; and that the forefinger, between the thumb and middle finger, figured the Holy Ghost, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, and in representations of the blessed Trinity is placed between those two persons."

A bishop's ring is emblematic of the gifts of the Holy Ghost: and formerly bishops wore their ring on the forefinger of the right hand.

CEYREP.

"And the priest, taking the ring, shall deliver it unto the man, to put it upon the fourth finger of the woman's left-hand."

Rubric, Marriage Service.

Pray let the lady be comforted! Surely the most punctilious Rubrician will make no impertinent inquiries about the missing finger, so long as a fourth remains. But even if all be wanting, I will engage to find her a priest whose conscience will not be hurt at allowing the stump to pass muster.

DIGITALIS.

Having followed with interest the late discussion in your pages upon the earlier specimens of those strange productions, the Moravian Hymns, it seems to me, that although much that is curious has been elicited, the Query of P. H., touching the genuineness of the extraordinary sample reproduced by him from the Oxford Magazine for 1769, remains unanswered. It is therefore with a view to supply some information directly to this point, that I now beg to introduce to your readers my earliest edition, which looks very like the editio princeps of Part III.: at all events it takes precedence of that described by H. C. B. Its title is, A Collection of Hymns, consisting chiefly of Translations from the German Hymn-book of the Moravian Brethren. Part III. Small 8vo. pp. 168. London, printed for James Hutton, 1748.

At first sight there would appear to be no difference between H. C. B.'s volume and mine, beyond the latter being the earlier by one year; that year, however, seems to have been the exact period when the Brethren deemed it advisable, to avoid scandal, to revise and prune their hymn-book.

"In this part (especially) of our hymn-book," says the Preface, "a good deal of liberty has been taken in dispensing with what otherwise is customary and ornamental: and that for different reasons." Then follow these three reasons: the hymns being printed in prose, to save room; the retention of German diminutives which, although scarcely known in the English tongue, "have a certain elegance and effect" in the former language; and the use of "more antique, prosaic, and less polished diction, out of tenderness for the main point, the expressing more faithfully the doctrines of the congregation, rather than seek better at the expense of the sense."

"So much," continues the Preface, "seemed proper to mention to exempt this Book (which though calculated for our own congregation, will no doubt come into the hands of strangers) from the imputation of a needless singularity. Now we only wish that every Reader may also feel something of that solid and happy Bottom, from whence these free, familiar, and perhaps abrupt Aspirations, both in the composing and using of them, do sparkle forth: And so we commit this Third Part of our Hymn-book to the Providence and Blessing of that dear Redeemer, who with his Ever-blessed Atonement, is everywhere the subject thereof."

As to the hymns themselves, I need say little more to describe them than to observe that the present edition contains not only the one quoted by P. H. from the Oxford Magazine, but all the others which are there to be found, and which have raised doubt in your correspondent's mind whether they are not rather the fabrications of Anti-Moravians than genuine productions, and at the periods in use among the Brethren. Here, too, is to be found the "Chicken Blessed" of Anstey: in his Bath Guide he correctly quotes it as "No. 33. in Count Zinzendorf's Hymn-book,"—that being its position in the present volume. The satirist has, however, given only half of "the learned Moravian's ode," but that faithfully. Besides these there are some of the hymns enumerated by Rimius in his Candid Narrative of the Herrnhuters (London, 1753), in support of his charges against them.

Probably your readers are content with the specimens which have already appeared in your columns. Had it been otherwise, this curious volume would have supplied some of a singular character: as it is, I cannot resist extracting No. 77. and a part of No. 110.; the former relating an adventure between the Arch-Enemy and Saint Martin; the latter, "Concerning the happy little Birds in the Cross's-air, or in the Atmosphere of the Corpse of Jesus:"

Parts I. and II. of these hymns I have never seen; but besides the above described, I have the following editions: A Collection of Hymns of the Children of God, in all Ages from the beginning till now: in Two Parts. Designed chiefly for the use of the Congregations in union with the Brethren's Church. Thick 8vo. London, printed in the year 1754: this is the larger hymn-book alluded to by SIGMA. A Collection of Hymns, chiefly extracted from the larger Hymn-book of the Brethren's Congregation: London, printed and sold at the Brethren's chapels, 1769,—noticed by H. C. B. These are both extraordinary productions, but yield to the edition of 1748: it having already been observed of these hymns, that the later impression is always the tamer.

J. O.

I arrive at the conclusion, that the Cacosi of Latin writers, Cacous, or Cagous, represent the true name from which Cagots, the t being mute, is but a slight deviation; while some other forms have scarcely retained more than the initial Ca. The etymology from the Goths (most absurd in substance, and worthy of the days when Languedoc was fetched from Land-got, Land of the Goths,) has reference only to one of the French spellings.

Cacosus, meaning a leper, as well as a Cacous or Cagot, was from κακὸν, κάκωσις, in Greek; and from it came cacosomium, contracted for cacoso-comium, not a mere noso-comium, but an asylum for lepers. See Ducange.

But the Cacous in question were not only lepers, but families in which leprosy was considered hereditary. For this reason they are called Giezites, les Gézits, les Gesitains, from Giezi, servant of Elisha and his posterity. (See Michel, vol. i. pp. 56. 148. 238. &c.) A simple leper was Lazarius or ladre. The latter were, like Lazarus, merely afflicted; but the former were deemed to be under an abiding curse, like Giezi.

But those who were Giezites by condition, as inheriting and transmitting the disease, were by many of the vulgar imagined to be Giezites by blood, and the real posterity of Elisha's servant, "Cagots de Chanaan." By an equally natural result, persons actually free from disease were shunned as Cacous; since the stigma attached to the race, not to the individual. Indeed, the wearing out of the malady has created the whole obscurity of the case.

Their most curious title, Crestiaas or Christians, was not given them in direct affirmation, but in denial of a negative, "not non-christian." Because, being considered of Giezi's lineage, not only Jews, but Jews under a curse, many would be disposed to repell them from communion. See Dom Lepelletier's Dict. Bretonne, in CACOUS.

Whether hereditary lepra was rightly thought to exist, or whether the negligence of the more abject and squalid families in communicating it to each other falsely raised that idea, is a separate question, which I must leave to physicians.

A. N.

Dalton saith:

"Vice comites have the same authority that the antient comites had; and at this day there are some relicts of that dignity, for he hath album baculum, and the grant of the office is commisimus vobis [comitatum]. And also he takes place of every nobleman during the time that he is in office."

The Writ of Assistance ran thus:

"To archbishops, bishops, dukes, earls, barons, knights, freeholders, and all others of our county of C. Whereas we have committed to our well-beloved A. B. the custody of our said county, with the appurtenances, during our pleasure, We command you that ye be aiding, answering, and assisting to the said A. B. as our sheriff of our said county in all things which appertain to the said office."

This form was abolished in 1833. The Lord Lieutenant is a military officer, who appears to have grown into permanence under the Tudors. The office of Custos Rotulorum, which, though quite distinct, is usually joined with it, is much more ancient; its duties are to keep the records of the sessions, which involve the appointment of the clerk of the peace, and the power of recommending to the Great Seal of persons to be inserted in the commission of the peace.

As for instances of such precedence being claimed, it is not easy to recollect what is usually taken as a thing so much of course. Perhaps the instance of a Duke, who had been Lord Lieutenant forty years, apologising to a Sheriff for having inadvertently taken precedence, may serve.

VICE. COM. DEPUTAT.

In answer to L. J.'s inquiry, upon what authority the precedency of the Sheriff over the Lord Lieutenant is maintained; may it not partly be founded on the office of Sheriff being of greater antiquity, and on this officer having the command over, and the power of summoning all the people of the county above the age of fifteen, and under the degree of a peer? The office of Lord Lieutenant was first created in the third year of King Edward VI., to suppress, as Strype tells us, "the routs and uproars" in most of the counties. We might suppose that the Sheriff already possessed sufficient power for this purpose: the means then adopted to promote tranquillity were not well calculated to be popular among the people. No drum or pipe was to be struck or sounded. Plays were forbidden. In the churches of Devonshire and Cornwall, Lord Russell was to take down every bell in a steeple but one, so as to prevent a peal being rung.

The precedency in question is acted upon to the present hour; and a Lord Lieutenant, however high his rank in the peerage, gives place to the Sheriff as a matter of course. But do not both these officers yield precedence to her Majesty's justices of assize, when actually engaged on the circuit?

J. H. M.

Two questions are asked by E. A. H. L. concerning St. Christopher: 1. Are there any known representations of St. Christopher in painted glass? There is a very interesting example in a window in St. Neot's Church, Cornwall. It represents St. Christopher with the child Jesus on his back, and below has the legend: "Sante Christophere, ora pro me." This ancient window was presented to the church by three members of the Borlase family. Their benefaction is recorded in the inscription along the cill of the window:

"Orate pro animabus Catherine Burlas, Nicolai Burlas, et Johannis Vyvian, qui istam fenestram fieri fecerunt."

Another example of St. Christopher, bearing the divine infant, is in one of the lights of the three-light window over the altar of All Saints' Church, North Street, York. It is the work of the fifteenth century.

In the same city, St. John's Church, Micklegate, has two representations of St. Christopher in glass. One is the window north of the altar, but it is only a portion of the figure; the other is in the window south of the altar, and of perpendicular character. In St. Martin-le-Grand, Coney Street, in the sixth or eastern window of the north aisle, is a figure of St. Christopher, of date about 1450. St. Michael-le-Belfroy, in the same city, has two figures of the saint: one, of perpendicular character, in the window north of the altar; the other, a fragment, in the fourth window from the east end on the south side, of date between 1540 and 1550. Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate, possesses a very beautiful figure of the saint. It forms the fifth of a series of five large figures in the east window of the church, and seems to bear the date 1470.

The second question is, "What is the real meaning of the representations of St. Christopher that are so frequently found on the north walls of churches?" I cannot agree with MR. J. EASTWOOD in thinking that the explanation he gives from Sacred and Legendary Art is sufficiently satisfactory. It appears to me that the figures of St. Christopher were meant to symbolise the privilege enjoyed by the faithful of receiving the body and blood of Christ, and thus becoming Christo-feri. The emblem may have had its origin in the earliest ages, when the disciplina arcani was carried out. This opinion receives strength from the circumstance, that Christopher was a name assumed by the saint, and not his baptismal name. The extraordinary powers of cure spoken of in verses often inscribed below the figures of this saint, were understood by the faithful to allude to the efficacy of the Holy Communion, that made them Christopher's, i.e. persons bearing their blessed Saviour, not on their shoulders, but within their breasts. His figures in sculpture and painting are always represented as colossal, to signify that this heavenly food makes each of the faithful "as a giant to run the way" (Ps. xix. 5.) This explanation will probably satisfy E. A. H. L. that the important position occupied by St. Christopher in the iconography of the mediæval church is to be solved by its symbolical signification.

In addition to the representations of this saint in painted glass mentioned above, E. A. H. L. will find mention of another specimen in the last number of the Archæological Journal. It is in private hands, being the property of Mr. Lucas, who purchased a collection of specimens of old glass some years since at Guildford, said to have come from an old mansion in Surrey. The specimen in question is described as "St. Christopher carrying our Saviour—an octagonal piece of glass."—P. 101.

He will also find, in the same place, that a mural painting of St. Christopher has been lately discovered in the chancel of Gawsworth Church, Cheshire, of which a description is given in p. 103.

CEYREP.

E. A. H. L. asks if there is any known representation of St. Christopher in painted glass. There is one in All Saints, York, engraved in Weale's Papers; and there is a small one on a brass in Tattershall Church.

C. T.

For information on this subject, I would refer E. A. H. L. to Warton, Poetry, vol. i. p. 451.; Coryatt's Crudities, vol. i. p. 29.; Rudder's Gloucestershire, p. 286.; Gage's Hengrave, p. 64.; Winckelm. Stosch, ch. i. n. 103.

On a loose print of "Painted Glass at Leicester," Throsby del. 1788, now before me, is a representation of him who was once Psychicus the savage, but now the holy Saint Christopher, figured, as usual, under the likeness of a man of gigantic stature, carrying on his shoulder the little child Jesus, through the broad and deep waters of a turbulent river, and steadying his steps with an uprooted palm-tree laden with fruit, which he bears in his hands by way of staff. He is here exhibited in more seemly habiliments, and as a personage of much more dignified and venerable appearance, than in the well-known picture on the walls of Wotton Church. The latter, however, is a portraiture of superior antiquarian interest, on account of its accessories, wherein St. Christopher's especial office, as patron of field sports, is, with much rudeness it is true, but most efficiently and fully illustrated.

In the extract given by J. EASTWOOD from Sacred and Legendary Art, we have merely the supposititious conclusions of an ingenious imagination, introduced to supply a void which the accomplished writer was unable otherwise to fill up. There is a pretty little work published by Burns, and entitled St. Christopher; a Painting in Fordholme Church, which contains, much too much, however, in the suspicious form of a modern religious allegory, what professes to be the authentic "Legend" of this saint.

COWGILL.

E. A. H. L. makes the inquiry whether "there are any known representations of St. Christopher in painted glass; if so, where?" This I am unable to answer; but your learned correspondent JARLTZBERG having sent you one version of the legend attached to this saint, may I venture to remind you of another? This is the one attached to the celebrated picture, "The Descent from the Cross," by Rubens, in the cathedral of Antwerp, in which the painter, adopting the Greek derivation of the name as given by JARLTZBERG, represents the saint supporting Christ on his removal from the crucifix. The picture was painted for the Arquebusiers of Antwerp, whose patron was St. Christopher; but they were dissatisfied with it, and refused Rubens his promised reward, a piece of land in their possession contiguous to his own, for which he had accomplished this, certainly one of his most beautiful paintings.

T. W. P.

I am not aware of any general pardon under the great seal having been printed; but the following transcript of one (the original with the seal attached is in the collection of my friend, R. Rising, Esq., of Horsey) is very much at J. G. N.'s service, and is especially interesting, as being one of the last acts of James II. before he quitted England for ever.

"Jacobus Secundus Dei grati: Anglie, Scocie, ffrancie & hibn̅ie Rex, fidei defensor, &c. Omnibus ad quos p'sentes he n're p̶veniu't sal̅tem. Sciatis qd̅ Nos pietate moti, ac gr'a n'ra sp'iali ac ex certa scientia & mero motu n'ris Pardonabimus relaxavims et remisims ac p̶ p'sentes p̶ Nobis heredibus, & successoribus n'ris, Pardonams relaxams et remittims Joh̅i Trenchard nup̶ de medio Templo Londin' armigero seu quocunque alio nomine vel cognomine artis, misterii, loci vel locor' idem Joh̅es Trenchard sciatr censeatr vocetr vel nuncupetr aut nup' sciebatr, censebatr, vocabatr seu nuncupa batr omn' et omni'od' Prodic'ones crimina lese maiestatis, mispris'ones Prodic'onis, Conspirac'ones, Sedic'ones, Insurrecc'ones, Concelament' Bellor', gestiones Bellor', machinac'ones, Imaginac'ones, et attempt' Illicit', convinc'ones verbor', p'palac'ones ac om'ia & singula ffelon', et al' malefi'a crimina Transgressiones, contempt' et offens' quecunq: p̶ ip'um Joh̅em Trenchard p̶ se solum sive cum aliqua alia p'sona, seu aliquib' aliis p̶'sonis qualicunq:, quandocunq:, seu ubicunq: antehac contra p̶sonam n'ram Regal' vel Gub'nac'onem n'ram, vel contra Person' Dn̅i Caroli sēdi nup̶ Regis Anglie preclarissimi ffratris n'ri vel Regimen suu' vel leges & statut' regni n'ri Anglie fact' com̅iss' sive p̶petrat'.—Necnon fugam & fugas sup̶inde fact'. Et licet p'fat' Joh̅es Trenchard p̶inde arrestat', ind'cat', impetit', utlagat', rectat' appellat' condemnat' convict' attinct' seu adiudicat' existit vel non existit aut inde arrestari, adiudicari, impetiri, utlagari rectari, appellari, condemnari, convinci, attingi seu adiudicari contigerit in futuro. Ac om'ia & singula Jud'camenta, convic'cones, judicia, condempnac'onas attinctur', execuc'ones imprisonamenta, Penas mortis, Penas corporales, fforisfutur', punic'ones & om'es al' Penas ac penalitates quascunq: de, p̶, sive concernen' p̶'missa, vel aliqua p̶'missor' insup̶ vel versus p̶'fat Joh̅em Trenchard habit' fact' reddit' sive adiudicat' vel imposter' h'end' f'iend' reddend', sive adiudicand' aut que nos versus ip'um Joh̅em Trenchard p̶ p'missis vel aliquo p'missor' h'uimus h'emus seu imposter' h'ere poterimus, ac heredes seu successores n'ri ullo modo he're poterint in futuro. Necnon omnes et singul' utlagar' versus p'fat' Joh̅em Trenchard rac'one seu occac'one p̶missor' seu eor' alicuius p̶mulgat' seu imposter' p̶'mulgand' At om'es & om'iod' sect', Querel', fforisfutur' impetic'ones & Demand' quecunq: que nos versus p̶'fat' Joh̅em Trenchard p̶ p'missis vel aliquo p̶'missor' h'uim' h'emus seu infuturo h'ere poterimus. Sectamq: pacis n're que ad nos versus p̶'fat Joh̅em Trenchard p̶tinet seu p̶tinere poterit, rac'one seu occac'one p̶'missor' seu eor' alicui. Et firmam pacem n'ram ei inde dam' et concedim' p̶ p'sentes. Nolentes q'd ip'e idem Joh̅es Trenchard p̶ Justitiar' Vice Comites Mariscallos Escaetor', Coronator', Ballivos seu aliquos al' ministros n're heredum vel successor' n'ror' quoscunq: rac'onib' seu occac'onib' p'd'tis seu eor' aliqu' molestetr p̶'turbetr seu in aliquo gravetr Volentes q'd he l're n're patentes quoad om'ia singul' p'missa sup̶ind menc'onat' bene, firme, valide, sufficien' et effectual' in lege erunt et existent licet Prodic'ones, crimina lese maiestatis, misprisiones Prodic'onis, conspirac'ones, sedic'ones, Insurecc'ones, concelament' Bellor', Gestion' Bellor', machinac'ones, Imaginac'ones, vel attempt' Illicit', convinc'ones verbor', Propalac'ones & ffelon' crimina, & offens' p'dict', minus certe specificat' existim't. Q'dq: hec Pardonaco' n'ra in om'ib' curiis n'ris et alibi interpretetr et adiudicetr in beneficentissimo sensu p̶ firmiore exonerac'one relaxac'one & Pardonac'one p̶'fat' Joh̅is Trenchard ac etiam p'litetr allocetr in om'ib: Curiis n'ris absq: aliquo Brevi de Allocac'one mea parte pr'm's obtent' sive obtinend'. Et non obstante aliqua def'tu vel aliquib' def'tibus in his l'ris n'ris patentib' content' aut aliquo statuto, acto, ordinac'one provisione seu Restricc'one aut aliqua al' re, causa, vel materia quacunq: in contrar' inde ullo modo non obstante.

In Cuius rei testimoniu' has l'ras n'ras fier' fecimus Patentes.

Teste me ip'o apud West' decimo sept'o die Decembris anno regni n'ri tertio.

Per Breve de p'rato Sigillo
BARKER."

This was in the year 1688, just seven days after, according to Macaulay, that he had fled secretly from the kingdom, having previously thrown the great seal into the Thames, whence it was dredged up some months after by a fisherman. Being driven back by stress of weather, he returned to London, and on the 17th Pepys states,

"That night was a council; his Maty refuses to assent to all the proposals, goes away again to Rochester."

and on that very night was this pardon granted, James probably endeavouring to prop up his tottering cause by attaching as many as possible to his own party. There were several documents in the collection of the late Josiah Trench, Esq., of Windsor (1648-1652) signed by John Trenchard, among the other regicides. Ewing, in his Norfolk Lists, states that a portrait of him is in existence, and that he was a serjeant-at-law, and at this date (1688) M. P. for Thetford, being at that date merely an esquire. In 1692, according to the same authority, Sir John Trenchard was Secretary of State; and his death took place in 1694. I should be glad to add to these scanty notices, especially as regards the reason which rendered a pardon necessary at this time.

E. S. TAYLOR.

—Bishop Jewell writes:

"M. Harding would have had us put God's word to daying (i.e. to trial), and none otherwise to be obedient to Christ's commandment, than if a few bishops gathered at Trident shall allow it."—Replie to Harding, Works, vol. ii. p. 424. (Dr. Jelf's edit.)

"The Ger. TAGEN, to appoint a day.

The D. DAGHEN, to cite or summon on a day appointed."—(Wachter and Kilian.)

And Dayesman is he, the man, "who fixes the day, who is present, or sits as judge, arbiter, or umpire on the day fixed or appointed."

It is evident that Richardson made much use of Jewell; but this word "daying" has escaped him: his explanation of dayesman accords well with it.

Q.

—We certainly do not want the aid of Obadiah Bull and Joe Dun to account for these words. Milton writes, "I affirm it to be a bull, taking away the essence of that, which it calls itself." And a bull is, "that which expresses something in opposition to what is intended, wished, or felt;" and so named "from the contrast of humble profession with despotic commands of Papal bulls."

"A dun is one who has dinned another for money or anything."—See Tooke, vol. ii. p. 305.

Q.

—I do not intend to enter the lists in defence of this "illustrious patriot." The pages of "N. & Q." are not a fit battle ground. But I request you to insert the whole quotation, that your readers may judge with what amount of fairness C. has made his note from Macaulay's History.

"Communications were opened between Barillon, the ambassador of Lewis, and those English politicians who had always professed, and who indeed sincerely felt, the greatest dread and dislike of the French ascendancy. The most upright member of the country party, William Lord Russell, son of the Earl of Bedford, did not scruple to concert with a foreign mission schemes for embarrassing his own sovereign. This was the whole extent of Russell's offence. His principles and his fortune alike raised him above all temptations of a sordid kind: but there is too much reason to believe that some of his associates were less scrupulous. It would be unjust to impute to them the extreme wickedness of taking bribes to injure their country. On the contrary, they meant to serve her: but it is impossible to deny that they were mean and indelicate enough to let a foreign prince pay them for serving her. Among those who cannot be acquitted of this degrading charge was one man who is popularly considered as the personification of public spirit, and who, in spite of some great moral and intellectual faults, has a just claim to be called a hero, a philosopher, and a patriot. It is impossible to see without pain such a name in the list of the pensioners of France. Yet it is some consolation to reflect that in our own time a public man would be thought lost to all sense of duty and shame who should not spurn from him a temptation which conquered the virtue and the pride of Algernon Sidney."

History of England, vol. i. p. 228.

ALGERNON HOLT WHITE.

Brighton.

—At Neustadt, in Wirtemberg, there is a prodigious lime-tree, which gives its name to the town, which is called Neustadt an der Linden. The age of this tree is said to be 1000 years. According to a German writer, it required the support of sixty pillars in the year 1392, and attained its present size in 1541. It now rests, says the same authority, on above one hundred props, and spreads out so far that a market can be held under its shade. It is of this tree that Evelyn says it was—

"Set about with divers columns and monuments of stone (eighty-two in number, and formerly above one hundred more), which several princes and nobles have adorned, and which as so many pillars serve likewise to support the umbrageous and venerable boughs; and that even the tree had been much ampler the ruins and distances of the columns declare, which the rude soldiers have greatly impaired."

There is another colossal specimen of the same species in the churchyard of the village of Cadiz, near Dresden. The circumference of the trunk is forty feet. Singularly, though it is completely hollow through age, its inner surface is coated with a fresh and healthy bark.

UNICORN.

—In reference to your correspondents' observations on skeleton monuments, I may mention that there is one inserted in the wall of the yard of St. Peter's Church, Drogheda. It is in high relief, cut in a dark stone and the skeleton figure half shrouded by grave clothes is a sufficiently appalling object. Beside it stands another figure still "in the flesh." It is many years since I saw the monument, and whether there be any inscription legible upon it, or whether it be generally known to whom it belongs, I cannot inform you.

URSULA.

There is a very good instance of an "altar tomb," bearing on it an ordinary effigy, and containing within it a skeleton figure, visible through pierced panel work, in Fyfield Church, Berks. It is the monument of Sir John Golafre, temp. Hen. V. Another fine instance I remember to have seen (I believe) in the parish church of Ewelme, Oxon.

HENRY G. TOMKINS.

Weston-super-Mare.

—In this neighbourhood is an ancient farm-house called Bee Hall, where I doubt not that bees were kept in great quantities in bygone ages; and am the more led to believe this because they always flourish best upon thyme, which grows here as freely and luxuriantly as I ever elsewhere observed it. About four miles from said Bee Hall, the other day, I was looking over a genteel residence, and noticing a shady enclosure, asked the gardener what it was for. He told me, to protect the bees from the sun: it was upon a much larger scale than we generally now see, indicating that the soil, &c. suit apiaries. Looking to the frequent mention of honey, and its vast consumption formerly, as you instance in royal inventories, to which may be added documents in cathedral archives, &c., is it not remarkable that we should witness so few memorials of the ancient management of this interesting insect? I certainly remember one well-built "bee-house," at the edge of Lord Portsmouth's park, Hurstbourne, Hants, large enough for a good cottage, now deserted. While on the subject I will solicit information on a custom well known to those resident in the country, viz. of making a great noise with a house key, or other small knocker, against a metal dish or kettle while bees are swarming? Of course farmers' wives, peasants, &c., who do not reason, adopt this because their fathers before them did so. It is urged by intelligent naturalists that it is utterly useless, as bees have no sense of hearing. What does the clamour mean,—whence derived?

B. B.

Pembroke.

—In reply to the Query, "Is anything known of Sally Lunn? is she a personage or a myth?" I refer your inquirer to Hone's Every-day Book, vol. ii. p. 1561.:

"The bun so fashionable, called the Sally Lunn, originated with a young woman of that name at Bath, about thirty years ago." [This was written in 1826.] "She first cried them in a basket, with a white cloth over it, morning and evening. Dalmer, a respectable baker and musician, noticed her, bought her business, and made a song and set it to music in behalf of Sally Lunn. This composition became the street favourite, barrows were made to distribute the nice cakes, Dalmer profited thereby and retired, and to this day the Sally Lunn Cake claims pre-eminence in all the cities of England."

J. R. W.

Bristol.

—An engraving of Baxter's pulpit will be found in a work entitled Footsteps of our Forefathers: what they suffered and what they sought. By James G. Miall, 1851, p. 232.

J. R. W.

Bristol.

—Although this work is now out of print, and thereby scarce, your correspondent ELGINENSIS will, I have no doubt, on application to Stevenson, the "well-known" antiquarian and historical bookseller in Edinburgh, be put in possession of a copy for 12s.

T. G. P.

Edinburgh.

—Some time ago a correspondent asked where he could obtain a list or lists of the ambassadors sent from this court. I do not recollect that an answer has appeared in your columns, nor do I know how far the following may suit his purpose:

"12. An Alphabetical Index of the Names and Dates of Employment of English Ambassadors and Diplomatic Agents resident in Foreign Courts, from the Reign of King Henry VIII. to that of Queen Anne inclusive. One volume, folio."

This is extracted from the letter of the Right Hon. H. Hobhouse, keeper of His Majesty's State Papers, in reply to the Secretary of the Commissioners of Public Records, dated "State Paper Office, Sept. 19, 1832." (See the Appendix to the Commissioners' Report, 1837, p. 78.)

TEE BEE.

—Lt.-General William Knollys, eighth Earl of Banbury, married Charlotte Martha, second daughter of the Ebenezer Blackwell, Esq., banker, of Lombard Street, and Lewisham, Kent.

The present Col. Knollys, of the Fusileer Guards, is his representative.

A. Blackwell, sister or daughter of John Blackwell, the father of Ebenezer, married an Etheridge.

W. BLACKWELL,
Curate of Mells.

—I am reminded of a similar story connected with the two rose windows in the transept of the beautiful cathedral of Rouen. They were described to me by the old Swiss in charge, as the work of two artists, master and pupil; and he also pointed out the spot where the master killed the pupil, from jealousy of the splendid production of the north window by the latter: and, as the Guide Book truly says, "La rose du nord est plus belle que celle du midi"—the master's work.

BENBOW.

Birmingham.

—Thanking you for the information given, may I further inquire if any of your correspondents are aware of the existence of any copy or print from the picture in the Church of Notre Dame, at Paris, of St. Bartholomew healing the Princess of Armenia (see Jameson's Sacred and Legendary Art); and where such may be seen?

REGEDONUM.

—The following inscription is painted in huge letters over the sun-dial in front of an old farm-house near Farnworth in Lancashire:

"Horas non numero nisi serenas."

Where are these words to be found?

Y.

—In my copy of this work, published in 1705, 8vo., formerly Isaac Reed's, he attributes it to Colonel Sackville Tufton. I observe also that Wilson (Life of De Foe, vol. ii. p. 335.) states, that in his copy it is ascribed, in an old handwriting, to the same author.

JAS. CROSSLEY.

—May not the use of this word in the sense of spectacles be a corruption of binoculis; and has not binnacle (part of a ship) a similar origin?

J. S. WARDEN.

—Any one who mixed in the society of the Scottish metropolis a few years ago must have met with two very handsome and accomplished brothers, who generally wore the Highland dress, and were known by the name of "The Princes." I do not mean to enter into the question as to whether or not they were the true representatives of "Bonnie Prince Charlie," which most persons consider to have been conclusively settled in the negative by an article which appeared in the Quarterly Review: but most assuredly a very strong point of evidence in favour of their having the royal blood of Scotland in their veins, was the remarkable resemblance which they bore—especially the younger brother—to various portraits of the Stuart family, and, among the rest, to those of the "Merry Monarch," as well as of his father Charles I.

E. N.

—C.J.P. may possibly be assisted in his inquiries by referring to De Castros' Jews in Spain, translated by Kirwan, pp. 190-196. This interesting work was published by G. Bell, 186. Fleet Street, London, 1851.

W. W.

La Valetta, Malta.

—This controversy was one of the many discussions relating to the Trinity which have engaged the theological activity of England during the last two hundred years. It arose in consequence of the imputed Arianism of some Presbyterian ministers of Exeter, the most conspicuous of whom were James Peirce and Joseph Hallet. It began in 1717, and terminated in 1719, when these two ministers were ejected from their pulpits. Your correspondent who put the question will find some account of this controversy in Murch's History of the Presbyterian Churches in the West of England,—a work well worth the attention of those who take interest in the antiquities of Non-conformity.

T. H. GILL.

—When my father was at one time engaged in collecting the numbers drawn for the Sussex militia, he began by calling out for those men who belonged to the hundred of Mayfield; and though he three times repeated his call, not a single man came forward. A person standing by suggested that he should say "the hundred of Mearvel," and give it as broad a twang as possible. He did so; when nineteen out of twenty-three present answered to the summons. Hurstmonceaux is commonly pronounced Harsmouncy; and I have heard Sompting called Summut.

G. BLINK.

—Junius, Bailey, and Johnson seem all to agree that our word poison comes from the French poison. I am inclined to think, with the two first-mentioned lexicographers, that the etymon is πόσις, or potio. Junius adds, that "Ita Belgis venenum dicitur gift, donum;" and it is curious that in Icelandic eitr means both poison and gift. In the Antiquitates Celto-Scandicæ (p. 13.), I find the following expressions:—"Sva er sagt, at Froda væri gefinn banadryckr." "Mixta portioni veneno sublatum e vivis tradunt Frotonem." Should it not be potioni, inasmuch as "bana," in Icelandic, signifies to kill, if I do not err, and "dryckr" is drink? Certainly, in Anglo-Saxon, "bana" (whence our bane) and "drycian" have similar significations.

C. I. R.

Is there any possible doubt that poison is potion? Menage quotes Suetonius, that Caligula was potionatus by his wife. It is a French word undoubtedly.

C. B.

—In the Antiquitates Celto-Scandicæ it is stated (p. 5.), that after the death of Guthormr, and subsequently to the departure of Harald (Harfagr) from the Hebrides, "Sidan settug i löndin vikingar margir Danir oc Nordmenn. Posthac sedes ibi occupant piratæ plurimi, Dani æqua ac Normanni." The word vikingar, the true Icelandic word for pirate, often occurs in the same saga, but not combined with skotar, though this latter term is repeated, signifying "the Scotch," and also in composition with konungr, &c.

C. I. R.

—A complete collection of local rhymes would certainly be both curious and interesting. Those cited by Chambers in his amusing work are exclusively Scotch; for a collection relating to English towns, I would refer your Querist MR. FRASER to Grose's Provincial Glossary, where, interspersed among the "Local Proverbs," he will find an extensive gathering of characteristic rhymes. I conclude with appending a few not to be found in either of these works:

In Belgium I am perhaps beyond bounds, but may cite in conclusion:

WILLIAM BATES.

You may perhaps think the accompanying, "Rhymes on Places" worthy of insertion, on the districts of the county of Ayr, viz.:

F. J. H.

—It may interest your correspondent to learn that a public-house exists in London with the sign he mentions. It is situate in Virginia Row, Bethnal Green, is styled "The Three Loggerheads," and has a signboard ornamented with a couple of busts: one of somewhat Cæsarian aspect, laureated; the other a formidable-looking personage with something on his head, probably intended for the dog-skin helmet of the ancient Greeks,—but as the style of art strongly reminds one of that adopted for the figure-heads of ships, I confess my doubts on the subject. Under each bust appears the distich:

The sign appears a "notability" in the neighbourhood, as I have more than once in passing seen some apparent new comer set to guess its meaning; and when he confessed his inability, informed, in language more forcible than elegant, that he made the third Loggerhead.

W. E. F.

—In some parts of America, but more particularly in the New England States, there was a popular belief, in former times, that immediately after a large fire in a town, or of wood in a forest, there would be a "fall of rain." Whether this opinion exists among the people at present, or whether it was entertained by John Winthrop, the first governor of the colony of Massachusetts Bay, and the Pilgrim Fathers, on their landing at Plymouth, as they most unfortunately did, their superstitious belief in witchcraft, and some other "strange notions," may be a subject of future inquiry.

W. W.

La Valetta, Malta.

—I have often seen the stone which G. J. R. G. mentions as "to be seen close to Gresford, in Denbighshire, about a quarter of a mile from the town, on the road to Wrexham, under a wide-spreading tree, on an open space, where three roads meet." It is, I conjecture, the base of a cross. This stone may be the remnant of the last of a succession of crosses, the first of which may have given its Welsh name, Croes ffordd, the way of the cross, to the village. There is no tradition of any visitation of the plague at Gresford; but there is reason to suppose that it once prevailed at Wrexham, which is about three miles distant. Near that town, and on the side of a hill near the footpath leading from Wrexham vechan to Marchwiel Hall, there is a field called Bryn y cabanau, the brow of the cabins; the tradition respecting which is, that, during the prevalence of the plague in Wrexham, the inhabitants constructed wooden huts in this place for their temporary residences.

A QUONDAM GRESFORDITE.

I do not think the "Plague Stone" a mile or two out of Hereford has been mentioned in the Notes on that subject. If my memory is correct, there is a good deal of ornament, and it is surrounded by a short flight of stone steps.

F. J. H.

—Having occasion to look at the first edition of the Golden Legend, printed by Caxton, I met with the following passage, which may perhaps prove interesting to your correspondent, as showing that the custom of blessing persons when they sneeze "endured" in the fifteenth century. The institution of the "Litany the more and the lasse," we are told, was justified,—

"For a right grete and grevous maladye: for as the Romayns had in the lenton lyued sobrely and in contynence, and after at Ester had receyud theyr Sauyour; after they disordered them in etyng, in drynkyng, in playes, and in lecherye. And therfore our Lord was meuyed ayenst them and sente them a grete pestelence, which was called the Botche of impedymye, and that was cruell and sodayne, and caused peple to dye in goyng by the waye, in pleying, in leeyng atte table, and in spekyng one with another sodeynly they deyed. In this manere somtyme snesyng they deyed; so that whan any persone was herd snesyng, anone they that were by said to hym, God helpe you, or Cryst helpe, and yet endureth the custome. And also when he sneseth or gapeth he maketh to fore his face the signe of the crosse and blessith hym. And yet endureth this custome."

Golden Legende, edit. 1483, fo. xxi. b.

F. SOMNER MERRYWEATHER.

Kentish Town.

—MR. FORBES is quite correct with regard to the motto of Abbot Wells, which should be "Benedicite Fontes Domino." The sentence, "Bless the Wells, O Lord!" which is placed in so awkward a juxtaposition with it, is really a distinct motto for the name of Wells, and, so far from being a translation of the abbot's, is almost an inversion of it; and this should, as MR. FORBES justly remarks, have had "some editorial notice" from me.

M. A. LOWER.

—The group of islands called the Azores, first discovered in 1439, by Joshua Vanderburg, a merchant of Bruges, and taken possession of by the Portuguese in 1448, were so named by Martin Behem, from the Portuguese word Açor, a hawk; Behem observing a great number of hawks there. The three species most frequently seen now are the Kestril, called Francelho; the Sparrowhawk, Furobardo; and the Buzzard, Manta; but whether very numerous or not, I am unable to state. From the geographical position of these islands, correct lists of the birds and fishes would be of great interest, and, as far as I am aware, are yet wanting.

Martin Behem found one of these islands covered with beech-trees, and called it therefore Fayal, from the Portuguese word Faya, a beech-tree. Another island, abounding in sweet flowers, he called Flores, from the Portuguese, Flor, a flower. Terceira, one of the nine islands forming the group, is said to have been so called, because, in the order of succession, it was the third island discovered (from Ter and ceira, a bank). Graciosa, as a name, was conferred upon one of peculiar beauty, a sort of paradise. Pico derived its name from its sugar-loaf form. The raven found at Madeira and the Canary Islands is probably also a native of the Azores, and might have suggested the Portuguese name of Corvo for one of the nine. St. Mary, St. Michael, and St. George complete the names of the group, of which St. Michael is the largest and Corvo the smallest.

WM. YARRELL.

Rider Street.

—As these names occur in a Celtic country, we are justified in seeking their explanation in the Celtic language. I therefore write to inform G. J. R. G. that the word scolog is a living word in the Irish language, and that it signifies a farmer or husbandman. It is the word used in the Irish Bible at Matt. xxi. 33., "he let it out to husbandmen"—tug se do scologaibh ar chios i.

I may also mention that the name Mac Scoloige is very common in the co. Fermanagh in Ireland, where it is very generally anglicised Farmer, according to a usual practice of the Irish. Thus it is not uncommon even now to find a man known by the name of John or Thomas Farmer, whose father or grandfather is John or Thomas Mac Scoloige, the name Mac Scoloige signifying "son of a farmer."

The Scologlandis, in the documents quoted by G. J. R. G., must therefore have taken their name from the scologs or farmers, by whom they were cultivated, unless we suppose that they were anciently the patrimony of some branch of the family of Mac Scoloige, whose remains are now settled in Fermanagh.

In Scotland the word is now usually written sgalag, and is explained by Armstrong in his Gaelic Dictionary "a farm servant." And the word does certainly seem to have been used in ancient Irish to denote a servant or menial attendant, although the notion of a farm servant seems to have grown out of its other significations. Thus in a very ancient historical romance (probably as old as the ninth or tenth century), which is preserved in the curious volume called Leabhar breac, or Speckled Book, in the library of the Royal Irish Academy, the word scolog is used to designate the servant of the Abbot of St. Finbar's, Cork.

J. H. T.

If there be any one class of documents from which, more than from any other, we may hope to draw evidence of the accuracy of Byron's assertion, that "Truth is strange, stranger than fiction!" they are surely the records of judicial proceedings both in civil and criminal matters; while, as Mr. Burton well observes in the preface to the two volumes which have called forth this remark, Narratives from Criminal Trials in Scotland, "there can be no source of information more fruitful in incidents which have the attraction of picturesqueness, along with the usefulness of truth." In submitting therefore to the public the materials of this nature—some drawn from manuscript authorities, some again from those works which, being printed for Subscription Clubs, may be considered as privately printed, and inaccessible to the majority of readers—which had accumulated on his hands while in the pursuit of other inquiries connected with the history of Scotland, Mr. Burton has produced two volumes which will be read with the deepest interest. The narratives are of the most varied character; and while some give us strange glimpses of the workings of the human heart, and show us how truly the Prophet spoke when he described it as being "deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked;" and some exhibit humiliating pictures of the fallibility of human judgment, others derive their chief interest from revealing collaterally "the social secrets of the day,—from the state mysteries, guarded by the etiquette and policy of courts, down to those characteristics of humble life which are removed from ordinary notice by their native obscurity." Greater dramatic power on the part of Mr. Burton might have given additional attraction to his narratives; but though the want of this power is obvious, they form two volumes which will be perused with great curiosity and interest even by the most passionless of readers.

Speaking of the use of Records reminds us that our valued cotemporary The Athenæum has anticipated us in a purpose we have long entertained, of calling the attention of historical inquirers to the vast amount of new material for illustrating English history to be found in Sir F. Palgrave's Calendar of the "Baga de Secretis," printed by him in several of his Reports, as Deputy Keeper of the Records. As The Athenæum has however entered upon the subject, we cannot do better than refer our readers to its columns.

Letter addressed to Lord Viscount Mahon, M.P., President of the Society of Antiquaries, on the Propriety of Reconsidering the Resolutions of that Society which regulate the Payments from the Fellows: by John Bruce, Esq., Treas. S.A.—is the title of a temperate and well-argued endeavour on the part of the Treasurer, to persuade the Society of Antiquaries to return to that scale of subscription, &c. which prevailed at the moment when unquestionably the Society was at its highest point of reputation and usefulness. Originally addressed to the President, and then communicated to the Council, it has now been submitted to the Fellows, that they may see some of the grounds on which the Council have recommended, and on which they are invited to ballot on Thursday next, in favour of a reversal of the Resolution of 1807. Looking to the general state and prosperity of the Society as exhibited in this pamphlet, and comparing the payments to it with those to the numerous Archæological Societies which have sprung up of late years, the proposal seems to be well-timed, and deserving to be adopted by the Fellows as obviously calculated to extend the usefulness and raise the character of the Society. We hope that when the ballot is taken, some of those old friends of the Society to whose former exertions, in connexion with its financial arrangements, the Society owes so much, and who are understood now to be doubtful as to the measure, will put in their white balls in favour of a step which ought clearly to lead to increased exertions on the part of all persons connected with the Society; and which may well be advocated on the ground, that it must lead to such a result.

The lovers of elaborate and highly finished drawings of antiquarian objects are recommended to inspect some specimens of Mr. Shaw's artistic skill, comprising portraits of Mary Queen of Scots, Mary of England, the Pall of the Fishmongers' Company, which will be on view to-day and Monday at Sotheby and Wilkinson's Rooms, previous to their sale by auction on Tuesday next.

BIBLIA SACRA, Vulg. Edit., cum Commentar. Menochii. Alost and Ghent, 1826. Vol. I.

BARANTE, DUCS DE BOURGOGNE. Vols. I. and II. 1st, 2nd, or 3rd Edit. Paris Ladvocat, 1825.

BIOGRAPHIA AMERICANA, by a Gentleman of Philadelphia.

POTGIESERI DE CONDITIONE SERVORUM APUD GERMANOS. 8vo. Col. Agrip.

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.

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

REPLIES RECEIVED.—Eagles' Feathers—Many Children—Longevity—Oasis—Newton, Cicero, and Gravitation—Burial of Suicides—Warwickshire Ballad—Algernon Sydney—Mother Damnable—Passage in Henry IV.—Moon and her Influences—Emaciated Monumental Effigies—Cane Decane—Hoax on Sir Walter Scott—Poison—Whipping Boys—Monument of Mary Queen of Scots—Portrait of Earl of Peterborough—Can Bishops vacate their Sees, &c.—Burials in Fields—The Three Estates of the Realm—Bawdricks for Bells—The Sclaters—St. Christopher—Arms of Thompson—Wyned—Lines on Crawfurd of Kilbirnie—Silent Woman—A Man his own Grandfather—Palæologus—Lines on a Bed—Inveni Portum, &c., and many others, which we will acknowledge in our next Number.

A. B., who asks the meaning of MOSAIC, is referred to our 3rd Vol., pp. 389. 469. 521.

C. C. G., who asks the origin of "God tempers the wind," is referred to our 1st Vol., pp. 211. 236. 325. 357. 418., where he will find that it is derived from the French proverb quoted by Gruter in 1611, "A brebis pres tondue, Dieu luy mesure le vent".

POLYNESIAN LANGUAGES. If EBLANENSIS will call on the Assistant Foreign Secretary of the Bible Society, he will be assisted in procuring the Samoan text, and such others as have been published. The Feejeean is just about to be reprinted, the first edition being out of print.

KESEPH'S BIBLE. The Query on this subject from "The Editor of the Chronological New Table" has been accidentally omitted. It shall be inserted in our next Number.

J. M. G. C. is thanked. His suggestions and communication shall not be lost sight of.

BALLIOLENSIS is requested to say how a letter may be addressed to him.

Printed by THOMAS CLARK SHAW, of No. 8. New Street Square, at No. 5. New Street Square, in the Parish of St. Bride, in the City of London; and published by GEORGE BELL, of No. 186. Fleet Street, in the Parish of St. Dunstan in the West, in the City of London, Publisher, at No. 186. Fleet Street aforesaid.—Saturday, May 22, 1852.