The following sections of this BookRags Literature Study Guide is offprint from Gale's For Students Series: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Works: Introduction, Author Biography, Plot Summary, Characters, Themes, Style, Historical Context, Critical Overview, Criticism and Critical Essays, Media Adaptations, Topics for Further Study, Compare & Contrast, What Do I Read Next?, For Further Study, and Sources.
(c)1998-2002; (c)2002 by Gale. Gale is an imprint of The Gale Group, Inc., a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Gale and Design and Thomson Learning are trademarks used herein under license.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction: "Social Concerns", "Thematic Overview", "Techniques", "Literary Precedents", "Key Questions", "Related Titles", "Adaptations", "Related Web Sites". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults: "About the Author", "Overview", "Setting", "Literary Qualities", "Social Sensitivity", "Topics for Discussion", "Ideas for Reports and Papers". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
All other sections in this Literature Study Guide are owned and copyrighted by BookRags, Inc.
| Table of Contents | |
| Section | Page |
| Start of eBook | 1 |
| OUR PROGRESS | 1 |
| SAMUEL HICKSON | 10 |
| QUERIES. | 19 |
| C. | 25 |
| BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES | 27 |
| NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS | 27 |
We have this week been called upon to take a step which neither our best friends nor our own hopes could have anticipated. Having failed in our endeavours to supply by other means the increasing demand for complete sets of our “Notes and queries,” we have been compelled to reprint the first four numbers.
It is with no slight feelings of pride and satisfaction that we record the fact of a large impression of a work like the present not having been sufficient to meet the demand,—a work devoted not to the witcheries of poetry or to the charms of romance, but to the illustration of matters of graver import, such as obscure points of national history, doubtful questions of literature and bibliography, the discussion of questionable etymologies, and the elucidation of old world customs and observances.
What Mr. Kemble lately said so well with reference to archaeology, our experience justifies us in applying to other literary inquiries:—
“On every side there is evidence of a generous and earnest co-operation among those who have devoted themselves to special pursuits; and not only does this tend of itself to widen the general basis, but it supplies the individual thinker with an ever widening foundation for his own special study.”
And whence arises this “earnest co-operation?” Is it too much to hope that it springs from an increased reverence for the Truth, from an intenser craving after a knowledge of it—whether such Truth regards an event on which a throne depended, or the etymology of some household word now familiar only to
“Hard-handed men who work in Athens here?”
We feel that the kind and earnest men who honour our “Notes and queries” with their correspondence, hold with Bacon, that
“Truth, which only doth judge itself, teacheth that the inquiry of Truth, which is the love-making or wooing of it—the knowledge of Truth, which is the presence of it—and the belief of Truth, which is the enjoying of it—is the sovereign good of human nature.”
We believe that it is under the impulse of such feelings that they have flocked to our columns—that the sentiment has found its echo in the breast of the public, and hence that success which has attended our humble efforts. The cause is so great, that we may well be pardoned if we boast that we have had both hand and heart in it. {130}
And so, with all the earnestness and heartiness which befit this happy season, when
“No spirit stirs abroad;
The nights are wholesome; when no planet
strikes,
No fairy takes, no witch hath power to
charm,
So hallow’d and so gracious is the
time,”
do we greet all our friends, whether contributors or readers, with the good old English wish,
A Merry Christmas and A happy new year!
* * * * *
Sir E. Dering’s household book.
The muniment chests of our old established families are seldom without their quota of “household books.” Goodly collections of these often turn up, with records of the expenditure and the “doings” of the household, through a period of two or more centuries. These documents are of incalculable value in giving us a complete insight into the domestic habits of our ancestors. Many a note is there, well calculated to illustrate the pages of the dramatist or the biographer, and even the accuracy of the historian’s statements may often be tested by some of the details which find their way into these accounts; as for the more peculiar province of the antiquary, there is always a rich store of materials. Every change of costume is there; the introduction of new commodities, new luxuries, and new fashions, the varying prices of the passing age. Dress in all its minute details, modes of travelling, entertainments, public and private amusements, all, with their cost, are there: and last, though not least, touches of individual character ever and anon present themselves with the force of undisguised and undeniable truth. Follow the man through his pecuniary transactions with his wife and children, his household, his tenantry, nay, with himself, and you have more of his real character than the biographer is usually able to furnish. In this view, a man’s “household book” becomes an impartial autobiography.
I would venture to suggest that a corner of your paper might sometimes be profitably reserved for “notes” from these household books; there can be little doubt that your numerous readers would soon furnish you with abundant contributions of most interesting matter.
While suggesting the idea, there happens to lie open before me the account-book of the first Sir Edward Dering, commencing with the day on which he came of age, when, though his father was still living, he felt himself an independent man.
One of his first steps, however, was to qualify this independence by marriage. If family tradition be correct, he was as heedless and impetuous in this the first important step of his life, as he seems to have been in his public career. The lady was Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Nicholas Tufton, afterwards created Earl of Thanet.
In almost the first page of his account-book he enters all the charges of this marriage, the different dresses he provided, his wedding presents, &c. As to his bride, the first pleasing intelligence which greeted the young knight, after passing his pledge to take her for “richer for poorer,” was, that the latter alternative was his. Sir Nicholas had jockied the youth out of the promised “trousseau,” and handed over his daughter to Sir Edward, with nothing but a few shillings in her purse. She came unfurnished with even decent apparel, and her new lord had to supply her forthwith with necessary clothing. In a subsequent page, when he comes to detail the purchases which he was, in consequence, obliged to make for his bride, he gives full vent to his feelings on this niggardly conduct of the father, and, in recording the costs of his own outfit, his very first words have a smack of bitterness in them, which is somewhat ludicrous—
“Medio de donte leporum
Surgit amari aliquid.”
He seems to sigh over his own folly and vanity in preparing a gallant bridal for one who met it so unbecomingly.
“1619.
“My desperate quarter! the 3d quarter from Michaelmas unto New Year’s Day.
5 yards quarter of scarlett coloured satten for a
doublett, and to line my cassocke,
at 16s. per yard, 4L. 4s.
5 yards halfe of fine scarlett, at 55s. per yard,
to
make hose cassocke and cloake [sic]
14L.
7 yards dim of blacke rich velvett, att 24s. per yard,
9L. 22 ounces of blacke galloune lace
2L. 15s. Taffaty to line the doublett
17s. 5 [sic] grosse
of buttons, at 8s. the grosse 1L. 4s.
pinkinge and racing the doublett, and lininge of ye
copell
8s.
ffor embrioderinge doublett, copell, and scarfe,
2L. 10s. 5 dozen of small buttons
1s. 8d. Stickinge
and sowing silke
14s. ffor cuttinge ye scallops
2s. holland to line the hose
5s. 6d. Dutch
bays for the hose
4s. 6d. Pocketts to ye hose
10d. 2 dozen of
checker riband pointes 12s.
drawinge ye peeces in ye suite and cloake
5s. canvas and stiffninge to ye doublett
3s. 6d. ffor makinge ye
doublett and hose 18s.
making ye copell
1L. 8s. making ye cloake
9s.
Sum of this suite 40L. 2s.”
I must not occupy more of your space this week by extending these extracts. If likely to supply useful “notes” to your readers, they shall have, in some future number, the remainder of the bridegroom’s wardrobe. In whatever niggardly array the bride came to her lord’s arms, he, at {131} least, was pranked and decked in all the apparel of a young gallant, an exquisite of the first water, for this was only one of several rich suits which he provided for his marriage outfit; and then follows a list of costly gloves and presents, and all the lavish outlay of this his “desperate quarter.”
In some future number, too, if acceptable to your readers, you shall be furnished with a list of other and better objects of expenditure from this household book; for Sir Edward, albeit, as Clarendon depicts him, the victim of his own vanity, was worthy of better fame than is yet been his lot to acquire.
He was a most accomplished scholar and a learned antiquary. He had his foibles, it is true, but they were redeemed by qualities of high and enduring excellence. The eloquence of his parliamentary speeches has elicited the admiration of Southey; to praise them therefore now were superfluous. The noble library which he formed at Surrenden, and the invaluable collection of charters which he amassed there, during his unhappily brief career, testify to his ardour in literary pursuits. The library and a large part of the MSS. are unhappily dispersed. Of the former, all that remains to tell of what it once was, are a few scattered notices among the family records, and the titles of books, with their cost, as they are entered in the weekly accounts of our “household book.” Of the latter there yet remain a few thousand charters and rolls, some of them of great interest, with exquisite seals attached. I shall be able occasionally to send you a few “notes” on these heads, from the “household book,” and, in contemplating the remains of this unrivalled collection of its day, I can well bespeak the sympathy of every true-hearted “Chartist” and Bibliographer, in the lament which has often been mine—“Quanta fuisti cum tantae sint reliquiae!”
Lambert B. Larking.
Ryarsh Vicarage, Dec. 12. 1849.
* * * * *
Berkeley’s theory of vision vindicated.
In reply to the query of “B.G.” (p. 107. of your 7th No.), I beg to say that Bishop Berkeley’s Theory of Vision Vindicated does not occur either in the 4to. or 8vo. editions of his collected works; but there is a copy of it in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, from which I transcribe the full title as follows:—
“The Theory of Vision,
or Visual Language, shewing the immediate
Presence and Providence of
a Deity, vindicated and explained. By
the author of Alciphron, or
The Minute Philosopher.
“Acts, xvii. 28.
“In Him we live, and move, and have our being.
“Lond. Printed for J. Tonson in the Strand.
“MDCCXXXIII.”
Some other of the author’s tracts have also been omitted in his collected works; but, as I am now answering “a Query,” and not making “a Note,” I shall reserve what I might say of them for another opportunity. The memory of Berkeley is dear to every member of this University; and therefore I hope you will permit me to say one word, in defence of his character, against Dugald Stewart’s charge of having been “provoked,” by Lord Shaftesbury’s Characteristics, “to a harshness equally unwonted and unwarranted.”
Mr. Stewart can scarcely suppose to have seen the book upon which he pronounces this most “unwarranted” criticism. The tract was not written in reply to the Characteristics, but was an answer to an anonymous letter published in the Daily Post-Boy of September 9th, 1732, which letter Berkeley has reprinted at the end of his pamphlet. The only allusion to the writer of this letter which bears the slightest tinge of severity occurs at the commencement of the tract. Those who will take the trouble of perusing the anonymous letter, will see that it was richly deserved; and I think it can scarcely, with any justice, be censured as unbecomingly harsh, or in any degree unwarranted. The passage is as follows:—
[After mentioning that an ill state of health had prevented his noticing this letter sooner, the author adds,] “This would have altogether excused me from a controversy upon points either personal or purely speculative, or from entering the lists of the declaimers, whom I leave to the triumph of their own passions. And indeed, to one of this character, who contradicts himself and misrepresents me, what answer can be made more than to desire his readers not to take his word for what I say, but to use their own eyes, read, examine, and judge for themselves? And to their common sense I appeal.”
The remainder of the tract is occupied with a philosophical discussion of the subject of debate, in a style as cool and as free from harshness as Dugald Stewart could desire, and containing, as far as I can see, nothing inconsistent with the character of him, who was described by his contemporaries as the possessor of “every virtue under heaven.”
James H. Todd.
Trin. Coll. Dublin, Dec. 20. 1849.
* * * * *
Bishop Barnaby.
Mr. Editor,—Allow me, in addition to the Note inserted in your 4th Number, in answer to the Query of LEGOUR, by your correspondent (and I believe my friend) J.G., to give the following extract from Forby’s Vocabulary of East Anglia:—
“Bishop Barnabee-s. The pretty insect more generally called the Lady-bird, or May-bug. It is one of those highly favoured among God’s harmless creatures which superstition protects from wanton injury. Some obscurity seems to hang over this popular name {132} of it. It has certainly no more relation to the companion of St. Paul than to drunken Barnaby, though some have supposed it has. It is sometimes called Bishop Benebee, which may possibly have been intended to mean the blessed bee; sometimes Bishop Benetree, of which it seems not possible to make any thing. The name has most probably been derived from the Barn-Bishop; whether in scorn of that silly and profane mockery, or in pious commemoration of it, must depend on the time of its adoption, before or since the Reformation; andPage 6
it is not worth inquiring. The two words are transposed, and bee annexed as being perhaps thought more seemly in such a connection than fly-bug or beetle. The dignified ecclesiastics in ancient times wore brilliant mixtures of colours in their habits. Bishops had scarlet and black, as this insect has on its wing-covers. Some remains of the finery of the gravest personages still exist on our academical robes of ceremony. There is something inconsistent with the popish episcopal character in the childish rhyme with which Bishop Barnabee is thrown up and dismissed when he happens to light on any one’s hand. Unluckily the words are not recollected, nor at present recoverable; but the purport of them is to admonish him to fly home, and take care of his wife and children, for that his house in on fire. Perhaps, indeed, the rhyme has been fabricated long since the name by some one who did not think of such niceties.”
G.A.C.
Sir,—In the explanation of the term Bishop Barnaby, given by J.G., the prefix “Bishop” seems yet to need elucidation. Why should it not have arisen from the insect’s garb? The full dress gown of the Oxford D.D.—scarlet with black velvet sleeves—might easily have suggested the idea of naming the little insect “Dr. Burn bug,” and the transition is easy to “Dr. Burnabee,” or “Bishop Burnaby.” These little insects, in the winter, congregate by thousands in barns for their long slumber till the reappearance of genial weather, and it is not impossible that, from this circumstance, the country people may have designated them “Barn bug,” or “Barn bee.”
L.B.L.
Sir,—I cannot inform LEGOUR why the lady-bird (the seven-spotted, Coccinella Septempunctata, is the most common) is called in some places “Bishop Barnaby.” This little insect is sometimes erroneously accused of destroying turnips and peas in its larva state; but, in truth, both in the larva and perfect state it feeds exclusively on aphides. I do not know that it visits dairies, and Tusser’s “Bishop that burneth,” may allude to something else; still there appears some popular connection of the Coccinellidae with cows as well as burning, for in the West Riding of Yorkshire they are called Cush Cow Ladies; and in the North Riding one of the children’s rhymes anent them runs:—
“Dowdy-cow, dowdy-cow, ride
away heame,
Thy[1] house is burnt, and
thy bairns are tean,
And if thou means to save
thy bairns
Take thy wings and flee away!”
The most mischievous urchins are afraid to hurt the dowdy-cow, believing if they did evil would inevitably befall them. It is tenderly placed on the palm of the hand—of a girl, if possible—and the above rhyme recited thrice, during which it usually spreads its wings, and at the last word flies away. A collection of nursery rhymes relating to insects would, I think, be useful.
W.G.M.J. BARKER.
[Footnote 1: Thy is pronounced as thee.]
[We have received many other communications respecting the epithet of this insect—so great a favourite with children. ALICUI and several other correspondents incline to L.B.L.’s opinion that it takes its name from a fancied resemblance of its bright wing-cases to the episcopal cope or chasuble. J.T. reminds us that St. Barnabas has been distinguished of old by the title of bright, as in the old proverbial distich intended to mark the day of his festival according to the Old Style (21st June):—
“Barnaby
bright!
The longest day
and the shortest night.”
While F.E. furnishes us with another
and happier version of the
Norfolk popular rhyme:—
“Bishop, Bishop Barnabee, Tell me when my wedding be; If it be to-morrow day, Take your wings and fly away! Fly to the east, fly to the west, Fly to them that I love best!”
The name which this pretty insect bears in the various languages of Europe is clearly mythic. In this, as in other cases, the Virgin has supplanted Freya; so that Freyjuhaena and Frouehenge have been changed into Marienvoglein, which corresponds with Our Lady’s Bird. There, can, therefore, be little doubt that the esteem with which the lady-bird, or Our Lady’s cow, is still regarded, is a relic of the ancient cult.]
* * * * *
MATHEMATICAL ARCHAEOLOGY.
Sir,—I cannot gather from your “Notes” that scientific archaeology is included in your plan, nor yet, on the other hand, any indications of its exclusion. Science, however, and especially mathematical science, has its archaeology; and many doubtful points of great importance are amongst the “vexed questions” that can only be cleared up by documentary evidence. That evidence is more likely to be found mixed up amongst the masses of papers belonging to systematic collectors than amongst the papers of mere mathematicians—amongst men who never destroy a paper because they have no present use for it, or because the subject does not come within the range of their researches, than amongst men who value nothing but a “new theorem” or “an improved solution.”
As a general rule I have always habituated myself to preserve every scrap of paper of any remote (and indeed recent) period, that had the appearance of being written by a literary man, whether I {133} knew the hand, or understood the circumstance to which it referred, or not. Such papers, whether we understand them or not, have a possible value to others; and indeed, as my collections have always been at the service of my friends, very few indeed have been left in my hands, and those, probably, of no material value.
I wish this system were generally adopted. Papers, occasionally of great historical importance, and very often of archaeological interest, would thus be preserved, and, what is more, used, as they would thus generally find their way into the right hands.
There are, I fancy, few classes of papers that would be so little likely to interest archaeologists in general, as those relating to mathematics; and yet such are not unlikely to fall in their way, often and largely, if they would take the trouble to secure them. I will give an example or two, indicating the kind of papers which are desiderata to the mathematical historian.
1. A letter from Dr. Robert Simson, the editor of Euclid and the restorer of the Porisms, to John Nourse of the Strand, is missing from an otherwise unbroken series, extending from 1 Jan. 1751 to near the close of Simson’s life. The missing letter, as is gathered from a subsequent one, is Feb. 5. 1753. A mere letter of business from an author to his publisher might not be thought of much interest; but it need not be here enforced how much of consistency and clearness is often conferred upon a series of circumstances by matter which such a letter might contain. This letter, too, contains a problem, the nature of which it would be interesting to know. It would seem that the letter passed into the hands of Dodson, editor of the Mathematical Repository; but what became of Dodson’s papers I could never discover. The uses, however, to which such an unpromising series of letters have been rendered subservient may be seen in the Philosophical Magazine, under the title of “Geometry and Geometers,” Nos. ii. iii. and iv. The letters themselves are in the hands of Mr. Maynard, Earl’s Court, Leicester Square.
2. Thomas Simpson (a name venerated by every geometer) was one of the scientific men consulted by the committee appointed to decide upon the plans for Blackfriars Bridge, in 1759 and 1760.
“It is probable,” says Dr. Hutton, in his Life of Simpson, prefixed to the Select Exercises, 1792, “that this reference to him gave occasion to his turning his thoughts more seriously to this subject, so as to form the design of composing a regular treatise upon it: for his family have often informed me that he laboured hard upon this work for some time before his death, and was very anxious to have completed it, frequently remarking to them that this work, when published, would procure him more credit than any of his former publications. But he lived not to put the finishing hand to it. Whatever he wrote upon this subject probably fell, together with all his other remaining papers, into the hands of Major Henry Watson, of the Engineers, in the service of the India Company, being in all a large chest full of papers. This gentleman had been a pupil of Mr. Simpson’s, and had lodged in his house. After Mr. Simpson’s death Mr. Watson prevailed upon the widow to let him have the papers, promising either to give her a sum of money for them, or else to print and publish them for her benefit. But nothing of the kind was ever done; this gentleman always declaring, when urged on this point by myself and others, that no use could be made of any ofPage 9
the papers, owing to the very imperfect state in which he said they were left. And yet he persisted in his refusal to give them up again.”
In 1780 Colonel Watson was recalled to India, and took out with him one of the most remarkable English mathematicians of that day, Reuben Burrow. This gentleman had been assistant to Dr. Maskelyne at the Royal Observatory; and to his care was, in fact, committed the celebrated Schehallien experiments and observations. He died in India, and, I believe, all his papers which reached England, as well as several of his letters, are in my possession. This, however, is no further of consequence in the present matter, than to give authority to a remark I am about to quote from one of his letters to his most intimate friend, Isaac Dalby. In this he says:—“Colonel Watson has out here a work of Simpson’s on bridges, very complete and original.”
It was no doubt by his dread of the sleepless watch of Hutton, that so unscrupulous a person as Colonel Watson is proved to be, was deterred from publishing Simpson’s work as his own.
The desideratum here is, of course, to find what became of Colonel Watson’s papers; and then to ascertain whether this and what other writings of Simpson’s are amongst them. A really good work on the mathematical theory of bridges, if such is ever to exist, has yet to be published. It is, at the same time, very likely that his great originality, and his wonderful sagacity in all his investigations, would not fail him in this; and possibly a better work on the subject was composed ninety years ago than has yet seen the light—involving, perhaps, the germs of a totally new and more effective method of investigation.
I have, I fear, already trespassed too far upon your space for a single letter; and will, therefore, defer my notice of a few other desiderata till a future day.
T.S.D.
Shooter’s Hill, Dec. 15. 1849.
* * * * *
SONG IN THE STYLE OF SUCKLING—THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.
The song in your second number, furnished by a correspondent, and considered to be in the style {134} of Suckling, is of a class common enough in the time of Charles I. George Wither, rather than Suckling, I consider as the head of a race of poets peculiar to that age, as “Shall I wasting in Despair” may be regarded as the type of this class of poems. The present instance I do not think of very high merit, and certainly not good enough for Suckling. Such as it is, however, with a few unimportant variations, it may be found at page 101. of the 1st vol. of The Hive, a Collection of the most celebrated Songs. My copy is the 2nd edit. London, 1724.
I will, with your permission, take this opportunity of setting Mr. Dyce right with regard to a passage in the Two Noble Kinsmen, in which he is only less wrong than all his predecessors. It is to be found in the second scene of the fourth act, and is as follows:—
“Here Love himself
sits smiling:
Just such another wanton Ganymede
Set Jove afire with,” &c.
One editor proposed to amend this by inserting the normative “he” after “Ganymede;” and another by omitting “with” after “afire.” Mr. Dyce saw that both these must be wrong, as a comparison between two wanton Ganymedes, one of which sat in the coutenance of Arcite, could never have been intended;—another, something, if not Ganymede, was wanted, and he, therefore, has this note:—“The construction and meaning are, ’With just such another smile (which is understood from the preceding ‘smiling’) wanton Ganymede set Jove afire.” When there is a choice of nouns to make intelligible sense, how can that one be understood which is not expressed? It might be “with just such another Love;” but, as I shall shortly show, no conjecture on the subject is needed. The older editors were so fond of mending passages, that they did not take ordinary pains to understand them; and in this instance they have been so successful in sticking the epithet “wanton” to Ganymede, that even Mr. Dyce, with his clear sight, did not see that the very word he wanted was the next word before him. It puts one in mind of a man looking for his spectacles who has them already across his nose. “Wanton” is a noun as well as an adjective; and, to prevent it from being mistaken for an epithet applied to Ganymede, it will in future be necessary to place after it a comma, when the passage will read thus:—
“Here Love himself
sits smiling.
Just such another wanton,” (as the
aforesaid smiling Love) “Ganymede
Set Jove afire with,” &c.
The third act of the same play commences thus:—
“The duke has lost Hippolita; each
took
A several land.”
Mr. Dyce suspects that for “land” we should read “laund,” an old form of lawn. “Land” being either wrong, or having a sense not understood now, we must fall back on the general sense of the passage. When people go a hunting, and don’t keep together, it is very probable that they may take a several “direction.” Now hand means “direction,” as we say “to the right” or “left hand.” It is not, therefore, probable, that we should read “a several hand?”
* * * * *
“GOTHIC” ARCHITECTURE
It would require more space than you could allot to the subject, to explain, at much length, “the origin, as well as the date, of the introduction of the term ‘Gothic,’ as applied to pointed styles of ecclesiastical architecture,” required by R. Vincent, of Winchester, in your Fourth Number. There can be no doubt that the term was used at first contemptuously, and in derision, by those who were ambitious to imitate and revive the Grecian orders of architecture, after the revival of classical literature. But, without citing many
J.I.
Trinity College, Oxford.
* * * * * {135}
DR. BURNEY’S MUSICAL WORKS.
Mr. Editor,—On pp. 63. and 78. of your columns inquiry is made for Burney’s Treatise on Music (not his History). Before correspondents trouble you with their wants, I think they should be certain that the books they inquire for have existence. Dr. Burney never published, or wrote, a Treatise on Music. His only works on the subject (the General History of Music excepted) are the following:—
“The Present State of Music in France and Italy. 8vo. 1771.
“The Present State of
Music in Germany, the Netherlands, and
United Provinces. 2 vols.
8vo. 1775.
“An Account of the Musical
Performances in Westminster Abbey,
and the Pantheon, &c. in Commemoration
of Handel. 4to. 1785.
“A Plan for the Formation of a Musical Academy, 8vo. n. d.”
As your “NOTES AND QUERIES” will become a standard book of reference, strict accuracy on all points is the grand desideratum.
EDW. F. RIMBAULT.
P.S. I might, perhaps, have included in the above list the Life of Metastasio, which, although not generally classed among musical works, forms an admirable supplement to the General History of Music.
E.F.R.
* * * * *
ANCIENT INSCRIBED DISHES.
Judging from the various notices in your Nos. 3, 5, and 6, the dishes and inscriptions mentioned therein by CLERICUS, L.S.B., &c., pp. 44. 73. 87., are likely to cause as much speculation here as they have some time experienced on the continent. They were there principally figured and discussed in the Curiositaten, a miscellaneous periodical, conducted from about 1818 to 1825, by Vulpius, brother-in-law of Goethe, librarian to the Grand Duke of Saxe Weimar. Herr v. Strombeck, Judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal at Wolfenbuettel, first noticed them from a specimen belonging to the church of a suppressed convent at Sterterheim near Brunswick, and they were subsequently pounced upon by Joseph v. Hammer (now v. Purgstall), the learned orientalist of Vienna, as one of the principal proofs which he adduced in his Mysterium Baphometis Revelatum in one of the numbers of the Fundgruben (Mines) des Orients, for the monstrous impieties and impurities which he, Nicolai, and others, falsely attributed to the Templars. Comments upon these dishes occur in other works of a recent period, but having left my portfolio, concerning them, with other papers, on the continent, I give these hasty notices entirely from memory. They are by no means uncommon now in England, as the notices of your correspondents prove. A paper on three varieties of them at Hull was read in 1829, to the Hull Literary and Philosophical Society. In Nash’s Worcestershire one is depicted full size, and a reduced copy given about this period in the Gentleman’s Magazine, and Nash first calls them “Offertory Dishes.” The Germans call them Taufbecken, or baptismal basins; but I believe the English denomination more correct, as I have a distinct recollection of seeing, in a Catholic convent at Danzig, a similar one placed on Good Friday before the tomb of the interred image of the Saviour, for the oblations for which it was not too large. Another of them is kept upon the altar of Boroughbridge Church (N. Riding of Yorkshire), but sadly worn down by scrubbing to keep it bright, and the attempt at a copy of the Inscription in a Harrowgate Guide is felicitously ludicrous: it is there taken as a relic of the Roman Isurium on the same spot. Three others were observed some years ago in a neglected nook of the sacristy of York Cathedral. At the last meeting of the Institute at Salisbury, a number of these were exhibited in St. John’s House there, but I believe without any notice taken of them in its Proceedings; and another was shown to the Archaeological Society, at their last Chester Congress, by Colonel Biddulph, at Chirk Castle; when more were mentioned by the visitors as in their possession, anxious as your correspondents to know the import of the inscriptions. They are sometimes seen exposed in the shops of Wardour Street, and in other curiosity shops of the metropolis.
On their sunken centres all have religious types: the most common is the temptation of Eve; the next in frequency, the Annunciation; the Spies sent by Joshua returning with an immense bunch of grapes suspended betwixt them, is not unfrequent; but non-scriptural subjects, as the Martyrdom of St. Sebastian, mentioned by L.S.B., is a variety I have not before observed.
The inscriptions vary, and are sometimes double in two concentral rings. The most usual is that alluded to by your correspondents, and though obviously German, neither old nor obsolete; having been viewed even by native decipherers, through the mist of a preconceived hypothesis, have never yet been by them satisfactorily accounted for. It is always repeated four times, evidently from the same slightly curved die; when, however, the enlarged circumference of the circle required more than this fourfold repetition to go round it, the die was set on again for as much of a fifth impression as was necessary: this was seldom more than four or five letters, which, as pleonastic or intercalary, are to be carefully rejected in reading the rest; their introduction has confused many expositors.
The readings of some of your correspondents who understand German is pretty near the truth. {136} I have before said that the centre type of Eve’s Temptation is the most common, and to it the words especially refer, and seem at the place of their manufacture (most probably Nuremburg) to have been used for other centres without any regard to its fitness. The letters, as I can safely aver from some very perfect specimens, are
DER SELEN INFRID WART;
in modern German “der Seelen Infried wort.” To the German scholar the two latter words only require explanation. Infrid for Unfried, discord, disturbance, any thing in opposition to Frieden or peace. The Frid-stools at Beverley, Ripon, and Hexham, still bear the old theotise stamp. Wart, or ward, may be either the past tense of werden, to be (our was), or an old form of waehren, to endure, to last: our English wear is the same word. The sense is pretty much the same in both readings alluding to Eve. In the first:
(By her) the soul’s disturbance came (was).
By the second:
(Through her) the soul’s disturbance continues.
I may here observe that the words ICH WART are particularly distinct on a helmet, pictured in the Journal of the British Archaeological Association, which the Secretary, Mr. Planche, in such matters the highest authority, regards as a tilting helmet. It may there have been in the original ICH WARTE, meaning I bide (my time).
But the centres and this inscription are the least difficulty. A second, frequently met with, is by far more puzzling. I could not give your readers any idea of it without a drawing: however it is found imperfectly depicted on the plates I have before mentioned in Nash’s Worcestershire, and the Gentleman’s Magazine, and I think I recollect also a very rude copy in a volume of Hearne’s Miscellaneous Works, which I examined in the Gottingen Library, but whether belonging to the work or a MS. addition I cannot now call to mind. The fanciful and flowery form of its letters gives great scope to the imagination in assigning them their particular position in the alphabet, and the difficulty of reading them is enhanced by the doubts of German archaeologists whether they are initials or component parts of a sentence. Herr Joseph v. Hammer Purgstall, however, in his version RECORD DE SCI GNSI, or in full Recordamini de sancta Gnosi, deduces thence his principal proof of Gnostic heresy amongst the calumniated Templars, in which I am sorry to say he has been too servilely followed in England: e.g. by Mr. Godfrey Higgins, in his posthumous Anaclypsis (p. 830 note), as well as by E.G. Addison, The Temple Church (p. 57), and by Mr. R.W. Billings more especially, who tacks to his account of this building an “Essay on the symbolical Evidences of the Temple Church, where the Templars are proved Gnostic Idolators, as alleged by Edward Clarkson, Esq.” Had the learnedly hypothetic Austrian seen the engravings of the Crypt at Canterbury Cathedral (Archaeologia, viii. p. 74.), and Ledwick’s remarks on it in conjunction with the carvings at Glendalloch (History of Ireland, p. 174.), or those of Grymbald’s Crypt at Oxford, he might have been expected to have attributed their monstrosities to his order, with as little hesitation and as thorough a contempt of chronology, or proved connection, as he has the curious and innocent sculptures of the church at Schoengrabern in Bohemia (vide Curiositaeten, vol. viii. p. 501.).
WILLIAM BELL, Phil. Dr.
* * * * *
MINOR NOTES.
Prince Modoc.—At p. 57., “ANGLO-CAMBRIAN” refers to the report of the Proceedings of the British Association at Swansea, in Aug. 1848, extracted from the Athenaeum newspaper. In the course of a discussion which took place on Prof. Elton’s address, it was observed (if I recollect rightly) by the learned Dr. Latham, that a vocabulary of the so-called Welsh-Indian dialect has been formed, and that it contains no trace of any Celtic root.
J.M.T.
December 10. 1849.
St. Barnabas.—About the time of the Reformation, it was strongly debated whether the festival days of St. Paul and St. Barnabas should be admitted into the calendar; and, in the 2d Book of K. Edward, the conversion of St. Paul is put down in black, and St. Barnabas is omitted altogether! No wonder, therefore, if, in Suffolk, liberties were taken with the name of St. Barnabas, and it was transferred to doggerel rhyme, to be repeated by children.
J.I.
Register of Cromwell’s Baptism.—The communication of your correspondent C.W.G. at p. 103. of your last number, induces me to offer you the inclosed copy from the Register of All Saints’ Church, Huntingdon, of the birth and baptism of Oliver Cromwell:—
“Anno Domini 1599 Oliverus
filius Roberti Cromwell generosi et
Elisabethae huxoris ejus Natus
vicesimo quinto die Aprilis et
Baptisatus vicesimo nono ejusdem
mensis.”
Then follow the words “England’s plague for many years,” written in a different hand.
R.O.
The Times.—A correspondent (NASO) informs us of the following fact in the history of this widely circulated and influential journal; namely, that it is stated in that the paper of the 12th of March, 1788, that it was printed “Logographically!” We wish our correspondent had furnished us with the precise words of this very curious statement. {137}
Roland Monoux.—I have in my possession a brass monumental plate, said to have been taken from some church in Middlesex, and bearing the following lines, engraved in black letter:—
“Behold what droupinge Dethe maye
doe, consume
y’e corse
to duste,
What Dethe maie not shall lyue for
aye, in spite of
Dethe his luste;
Thoughe Rouland Monoux shrowdeth
here, yet
Rouland Monoux
lives,
His helpynge hand to nedys want,
a fame for ever
geves;
Hys worde and dede was ever one,
his credyth never
quaylde,
His zeall’ to Christ was stronge,
tyll’ dethe w’th latest
panges asaylde.
Twyse thre and one he Children had,
two sones, one
kepes his name,
And dowghters fyve for home he carde,
y’t lyve in
honest fame.
What booteth more, as he be kynde
dyd come of
Jentyll race,
So Rouland Monoux good Desertes
this grave can
not Deface.”
I should be obliged to any of your readers for some account of this Rouland Monoux, and when he died. I may also add; that I should be very willing to restore the brass to its original site, did I know the spot from whence it has been sacrilegiously torn.
M.
Wessel Cup Hymn.—The following Wassail Song is taken from a little chap-book printed at Manchester, called A Selection of Christmas Hymns. it is obviously a corrupted version of a much older song:—
“Here we come a wesseling,
Among the leaves so green,
Here we come a wandering,
So fair to be seen.
“Cho.—Love
and joy come to you,
And to your wessel too,
And God send you a happy new year,
A new year,
And God send you a happy new year.
“Our wessel cup is made of
the rosemary tree,
So is your beer of the best barley.
“We are not daily beggars,
That beg from door to door,
But we are neighbours’ children,
Whom you have seen before.
“Call up the butler of this house,
Put on his golden ring,
Let him bring us up a glass of beer,
And the better we shall
sing.
“We have got a little purse,
Made of stretching leather
skin,
We want a little of your money,
To line it well within.
“Bring us out a table,
And spread it with a
cloth,
Bring us out a mouldy cheese,
And some of your Christmas
loaf.
“God bless the master of this house,
Likewise the mistress
too,
And all the little children,
That round the table
go.
“Good master and mistress,
While you’r sitting by the fire,
Pray think of us poor children,
Who are wand’ring in the mire.
“Cho.—Love
and joy come to you,
And to your wessel to,
And God send you a happy new year,
A new year,
And God send you a happy new year.
Our wessel cup is made of the rosemary
tree,
So is your beer of the best barley.”
It is a song of the season which well deserves to be preserved. Its insertion will at least have that effect, and may be the means of our discovering an earlier and purer text.
AMBROSE MERTON.
Portrait of Charles I.—In Sir Henry Ellis’s Original Letters, 2d series, vol. iii. p. 254., amongst the prefatory matter to the reign of Charles I., there is a notice of a sermon, entitled “The Subject’s Sorrow, or Lamentations upon the Death of Britaine’s Josiah, King Charles.”
Sir Henry Ellis says it is expressly stated, in this Sermon, that the King himself desired “that unto his Golden Manual might be prefixed his representation, kneeling; contemning a temporal crown, holding our blessed Saviour’s crown of thorns, and aspiring unto an eternal crown of happiness.”
Note b. upon this passage is as follows:—
“This very portrait of King Charles the First, engraved by Marshall, adorned the original edition of the [Greek: Eikon Basilikae]. 8vo. 1648. The same portrait, as large as life, in oil painting, was afterwards put up in many of our churches.”
When I was a boy, such a portrait, in oil painting, hung upon the south wall of the body of St. Michael’s Church, Cambridge, between the pulpit and a small door to the west, leading into the south aisle.
Out of the window of the chamber in which the King was kneeling was represented a storm at sea, and the ship being driven by it upon some rocks.
A few years ago, upon visiting Cambridge, I went purposely to St. Michael’s Church to see this picture, which had been so familiar to me in my boyhood. The clerk told me it had been taken down, and was in the vestry. In the vestry I found it, on its side, on the floor against the wall. {138}
You are probably aware that this St. Michael’s Church was nearly destroyed by fire not many weeks since; that a committee is established to arrange its restoration.
Would it not be worth while that some inquiry should be made about the fate of this picture?
R.O.
Dec. 17. 1849.
P.S.—I may add, that there was affixed to the bottom of the frame of the picture a board, on which was painted, in conformably large letters—
“LORD, remember David and all his trouble.”
Psalm cxxxii. 1.
The italics in part of the Note above quoted are mine.
Autograph Mottoes of Richard Duke of Gloucester, and Henry Duke of Buckingham.—In the volume of the Cottonian MSS. marked Vespasian F. XIII., at fol. 53., is a slip of parchment, upon which is written by the hands of Richard Duke of Gloucester, and Henry Duke of Buckingham, the following couplet:—
“Loyaulte me lie
Richard Gloucestre
“Souente me souene
Harre Bokingh’a’m.”
A fac-simile is engraved in Autographs of Royal, Noble, Learned, and Remarkable Personages in English History, engraved by C.J. Smith, and edited by Mr. John Gough Nichols, 1829, 4to., where the editor suggests that this slip of parchment was “perhaps a deceitful toy,” or it may have been attached to some present offered by the Duke of Gloucester to his royal nephew Edward the Fifth. The meaning of Gloucester’s motto is perfectly free from misapprehension; but he asserts his fidelity to the crown, which he soon so flagrantly outraged—“Loyalty binds me.” In the work above mentioned, the motto of Buckingham is interpreted by these words, in modern French:—“Souvent me souviens.” This does not appear to me perfectly satisfactory; and I have to request the opinions of such as are conversant with old manuscripts, whether the true meaning, or even the true reading, of the Duke of Buckingham’s motto has as yet been ascertained?
H.
* * * * *
NOTES IN ANSWER TO QUERIES.
Lord Erskine’s Brooms.—“G.B.” informs us, that the anecdote about Lord Erskine’s brooms, and the apprehension of his servant for selling them without a licence, will be found in his Life by Lord Campbell (Lives of the Chancellors, vol. vi. p. 618.). Erskine himself attended the sessions to plead the man’s cause, and contended that the brooms were agricultural produce, or, as he jocosely observed, “came under the sweeping clause.” The when is about 1807, and the where an estate in Sussex, which proved rather an unprofitable speculation to its owner, as it produced nothing but birch trees, and those but stunted ones. To which information “W.J.” adds, that about the same period Lord Erskine printed, for private circulation, An Appeal in favour of the agricultural Services of Rooks; a production probably scarce now, but full of humanity, and very characteristic.
Scarborough Warning.—In a postscript to a letter written from court on the 19th January, 1603, by Toby Matthew, Bishop of Durham, to Hutton, Archbishop of York, I find the term Scarborough warning. Can any of the correspondents of your valuable paper inform me of the origin and prevalence of this saying? The postscript is—
“When I was in the middest of this discourse, I received a message from my lord chamberlaine, that it was his majesty’s pleasure that I should preach before him upon Sunday next; which Scarborough warning did not perplex me, but so puzzled me, as no mervail if somewhat be pretermitted, which otherwise I might have better remembered.”
Quoted in Caldwell’s Conferences, p. 166.
W.M.C.
[NARES tells us, that Ray, on the authority of Fuller, states that this saying took its origin from “Thomas Stafford, who, in the reign of Mary, A.D. 1557, with a small company, seized on Scarborough Castle (utterly destitute of provision for resistance), before the townsmen had the least notice of their approach;” but shows that it was probably much older, as, in a ballad written by J. Heywood on the taking of that place by Stafford, the following more probable origin is given to the proverb:—
“This term Scarborow
warning grew (some say),
By hasty hanging for rank robbery theare.
Who that was met, but suspect in that way,
Straight he was trust up, whatever he were.”
This implies that Scarborough imitated the Halifax gibbet law. Is any thing known of such a privilege being claimed or exercised by the men of Scarborough? We should be glad to hear from any local antiquary upon this point.]
Gray’s Elegy.—In answer to your correspondent, J.F.M. (p. 101.), who asks for information respecting the competition for the best translation of Gray’s Elegy, in which Dr. Sparke was a candidate, I would beg to refer him to the satirical poem attributed to Mr. T.J. Matthias, formerly Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, entitled The Pursuits of Literature, in which a ludicrous account is given of the affair. It does not appear who offered the prize, but Mr. Nares, the editor of The British Critic, was the judge, and the place of meeting “The Musical Room in {139} Hanover Square,” which was decorated for the occasion with appropriate scenery—at least so says The Critic. He thus describes the solemnity (p. 174 8th edit. 1798):—
“Lo, learned clerks in sable stole,
Graceful in years, pant eager for the
goal.
Old Norbury starts, and, with the seventh-form
boys,
In weeds of Greek the church-yard’s
peace annoys,
With classic Weston, Charley Coote and
Tew,
In dismal dance about the mournful yew.
But first in notes Sicilian placed on
high,
Bates sounds the soft precluding symphony;
And in sad cadence, as the bands condense,
The curfew tolls the knell of parting
sense.”
The distribution of prizes is thus recorded, Dr. Norbury being apparently the “conqueror:”—
“Nares rising paused; then gave,
the contest done,
To Weston, Taylor’s Hymns and Alciphron,
And Rochester’s Address to lemans
loose;
To Tew, Parr’s Sermon and the game
of goose;
To Coote the foolscap, as the best relief
A dean could hope; last to the hoary chief
He filled a cup; then placed on Norbury’s
back
The Sunday suit of customary black.
The gabbling ceased; with fixed and serious
look
Gray glanced from high, and owned his
rival, COOK.”
W.
Lincoln’s Inn, Dec. 17.
Coffee, the Lacedaemonian Black Broth.—Your correspondent “R.O.” inquires what modern author suggests the probability of coffee being the black broth of the Lacedaemonians? The suggestion, I think, originated with George Sandys, the translator of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Sandys travelled in the Turkish empire in 1610. He first published his Notes in 1615. The following is from the 6th edit. 1652, p. 52.:—
“Although they be destitute of taverns, yet have they their coffa-houses, which something resemble them. Their sit they, chatting most of the day, and sip of a drink called coffa (of the berry that it is made of), in little China dishes, as hot as they can suffer it; black as soot, and tasting not much unlike it (why not that black broth which was in use among the Lacedaemonians?) which helpeth, as they say, digestion, and procureth alacrity,” &c.
Burton also (Anatomy of Melancholy) describes it as “like that black drink which was in use among the Lacedaemonians, and perhaps the same.”
E.B. PRICE.
* * * * *
THE LAST OF THE VILLAINS.
It would be an interesting fact if we could ascertain the last bondsman by blood—nativus de sanguine—who lived in this country. The beginning of the seventeenth century is the period usually referred to as the date of the extinction of personal villenage. In the celebrated argument in the case of the negro Somerset (State Trials, vol. xx. p. 41), an instance as late as 1617-18 is cited as the latest in our law books. (See Noy’s Reports, p. 27.) It is probably the latest recorded claim, but it is observable that the claim failed, and that the supposed villain was adjudged to be a free man. I can supply the names of three who were living near Brighton in the year 1617, and whose thraldom does not appear to have been disputed. Norden, from whose unpublished Survey of certain Crown Manors I have extracted the following notice, adverts to the fact, but seems to think that the times were rather unfavourable to any attempt by the lord of the manor to put his rights in force.
“There are three bondmen of bloude belonginge unto this manor, never known to be anie way mannumissed, namely, Thomas Goringe, William and John Goringe. Thomas Goringe dwells at Amberley, William at Piddinghow, and John Goringe at Rottingdean. What goods they have the Jurie know not. All poor men. Thomas hath the reversion of a cotage now in the tenure of William Jefferye. But mee thinks this kinde of advantage is nowe out of season; yet, were they men of ability, they might be, upon some consideration, infraunchized.” (Survey of the Manor of Falmer, Sussex.)
I shall be glad to know whether any more recent instance can be pointed out.
E. SMIRKE.
* * * * *
THE DORE OF HOLY SCRIPTURE.
In Herbert’s edition of Ames’s Typographical Antiquities, 1785, vol. i. p. 492., is noticed The Dore of Holy Scripture, 12mo., printed by John Gowghe in 1536; and, at p. 494., a reprint of the same work is mentioned in 1540, by the same printer, and a description of a copy given from one then in the possession of Herbert himself. In the preface prefixed by the printer, he calls the work “the prologue of the fyrste translatoure of the byble out of latyn in to Englyshe;” and at the end of the work is this note:—“Perused by doctor Taylor and doctor Barons, Master Ceton and Master Tornor.” As I am much interested in the subject to which this publication refers, may I ask for information on three points?—1. What evidence is there of this edition of 1536, beyond the statement in Ames? 2. What has become of the copy of the edition of 1540, formerly belonging to Herbert? and, 3. Who are the persons who peruse and revise the latter edition? There is not copy of either edition, as far as I can trace, in the British Museum, in the Bodleian, or at Lambeth.
I may add to these queries the following remarks:—
1. Ames asserted that The Dore of Holy Scripture was among the books prohibited to be read {140} by the injunctions of Henry the Eighth, and refers, as his authority, to Foxe’s Acts and Monument, ed. 1562, p. 574. Herbert, in a note, questions the fact, and raises a doubt as to the existence of the passage in Foxe, since it is not in the edition of 1641. I have, however, the first edition now before me of 1563 (not 1562), and at p. 574., among “the names of certen bokes whiche after this injunction [namely, of 1539], or some other in the said kinges dayes were prohybited,” occurs, “Item, the doore of holy scripture. made by Jhon. Gowghe.”
2. This work was again printed by Crowley in 1550, 12mo., under a different title, namely, The Pathway to Perfect Knowledge; and in the preface, he falsely ascribes it to John Wycliffe, and adds, “the original wherof is in an olde English Bible, betwixt the Olde Testament and the Newe, which Bible remaineth now in the Kyng his Majesties chamber.” This Bible appears to be the identical manuscript copy of the later Wycliffe version of the Scriptures, now preserved in the University Library, Cambridge, and marked Mm 2. 15. A copy of Crowley’s edition is in the British Museum, but the orthography and language of the tract are modernised.
F.M.
B.M., Dec. 19.
* * * * *
TURNER’S MS. HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER—CRUCIFIX OF EDWARD THE CONFESSOR.
On April 6. 1708, Henry Turner was elected, by the vestry, organist of St. Margaret’s, Westminster, in the room of the famous “Father Smith” (Bernard Schmidt). As regards his musical capabilities, Hawkins does not assign him a niche in his Temple of Worthies, although he names some of his predecessors and successors in that office. One merit we must accord him, that of true antiquarian love and zeal in all matters regarding “this renowned city.” “Great materials are said to have been collected for a full description (of Westminster), by a parish-clerk of St. Margaret’s. I presume this is Henry Turner, mentioned in Widmore’s Account of the Writers of the History of Westminster Abbey.... His book was only a survey of the city of Westminster, purposely omitting the history of the (collegiate) church.”—Gough, Brit. Top. vol. i. p. 761. Lond. 1780. “The man’s natural parts were very good; he was also very diligent in making enquiries relating to his subject, and he had collected a great deal.”—Widmore’s Acc. of Writers of the Hist. of Westm. Abbey, pp. 6, 7. Lond. 1751. As regards his personal history, I alighted on some curious notes on a fly-leaf of a transcript of a register: “Henry Turner, borne at Yearely, Derbyshire, 12. July, 1679: married Eliz. Sabin, of Clement Danes, in St. Margrts. Westmr. Feb. 26. 1701. by Dr. Onley.”
In 1697 it was discovered that some valuable MS. records belonging to the parish, and taken out of the Tower of London, had been lost by their keeper. This history in its time appears to have suffered the same fate. However, there is this entry in the Harleian MSS. 7045. fol. 361.: “From the learned Dr. Kennet, Dean of Peterborough’s Collection. MSS. MS. H. On Aug. 2. 1708, at Windsor, I read over the History of the Parish of St. Margaret’s, Westminster, drawn up in MS. by one of the parish clerks.” Some interesting extracts follow. Compare Aysc. Add. MSS. Brit. Mus. 4163. fol. 5. Bishop Kennet resided in St. James’s Street, in this parish, and died there on Dec. 19. 1728. I have applied in vain for any account of this MS. to the librarians of Windsor Castle and Eton College.
Can any of your readers give a clue to its recovery? Are any aware that this survey, which would be valuable now, still exists? There is an instance, as early as the fifteenth century, of the union of the offices of lay-clerk and organist in St. Margaret’s, in the person of one Metyngham, and H. Turner also held them at the same time; since, on July 28th, 1713, he was elected parish-clerk by the vestry, in “consideration of the experience they had of fitness and diligence in executing the office of deputy-clerk of this parish for several years last past;” and he did not resign the place of organist until 2nd October, 1718.
May I make another Query?—The gold chain and crucifix, laid in the grave of K. Edward the Confessor, were removed by Charles Taylor, and given into the hands of King James II. On the reverse of the same cross was pictured a Benedictine monk, in his habit, and on each side of him these capital Roman letter,—
On the right limb thus: and on the left thus:
(A)
P.
Z. A. X
A. C.
A
H.
Antiq. of St. Peter’s, vol. ii. App. n. iij, Ed. 1722.
What does the inscription mean? Is the former portion to be understood “[Greek: A. O. Zoae agion Christos]”? What is the import of the latter?
MACKENZIE WALCOTT, M.A.
* * * * *
THE TALISMAN OF CHARLEMAGNE.
Many years back, “Prince” Louis Napoleon was stated to be in possesion of the talisman of Charlemagne;—“a small nut, in a gold filigree envelopment, found round the neck of that monarch on the opening of his tomb, and given by the town of Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) to Buonaparte, and by him to his favourite Hortense, ci-de-vant Queen of Holland, at whose death it descended to her son,” the present President of the French Republic. {141}
The Germans have a curious legend connected with this talisman. It was framed by some of the magi in the train of the ambassadors of Aaroun-al-Raschid to the mighty Emperor of the West, at the instance of his spouse Fastrada, with the virtue that her husband should be always fascinated towards the person or thing on which it was. The constant love of Charles to this his spouse was the consequence; but, as it was not taken from her finger after death, the affection of the emperor was continued unchanging to the corpse, which he would on no account allow to be interred, even when it became offensive. His confessor, having some knowledge of the occult sciences, at last drew off the amulet from the inanimate body, which was then permitted to be buried; but he retained possession of it himself, and thence became Charles’s chief favourite and prime minister, till he had been promoted to the highest ecclesiastical dignity, as Archbishop of Mainz and Chancellor of the Empire. At this pitch of power, whether he thought he could rise no higher, or scruples of conscience were awakened by the hierarchical vow, he would hold the heathen charm no longer, and he threw it into a lake not far from his metropolitan seat, where the town of Ingethuem now stands. The regard and affection of the monarch were immediately diverted from the monk, and all men, to the country surrounding the lake; and he determined on building there a magnificent palace for his constant residence, and robbed all the ancient royal and imperial residences, even to the distance of Ravenna, in Italy, to adorn it. Here he subsequently resided and died: but it seems the charm had a passive as
So much for the introduction to the following Queries:—1. Can any of your readers say whether this amulet is still in possession of the President of the French Republic? 2. If so, might not the believers in the doctrines of Sympathy attribute the votes of the six millions who, in Dec. 1848, voted in favour of his election, to the sympathetic influence of his “nut in gold filigree,” and be justified in looking upon those who voted for his rivals as no true Franks? It was originally concocted for a Frankish monarch of pure blood, and may be supposed to exercise its potency only on those of genuine descent and untainted lineage.
WILLIAM BELL, Phil. Dr.
* * * * *
DICK SHORE—ISLE OF DOGS—KATHERINE PEGG.
I entirely concur in the opinion of your able correspondent, Mr. P. Cunningham, that Pepys’s Diary is well deserving all the illustrative light which may be reflected upon it from your useful pages. In submitting the following Query, however, my object is to glean a scrap of information on a point connected with the neglected topography of the east end of London, taking Pepys for my text. In the Diary, the entry for January 15th, 1660-61, contains this passage:—
“We took barge and went to Blackwall, and viewed the Dock and the new west Dock which is newly made there, and a brave new merchantman which is to launched shortly, and they say to be called the Royal Oake. Hence we walked to Dick Shoare, and thence to the Towre, and so home.”—Vol. i. p. 178. new Ed.
I shall be glad to learn from any of your readers what part of the northern bank of the river, between Blackwall and the Tower, was called Dick Shore. It is not marked on any of the old maps of London I have been able to consult; but it was probably beyond the most easterly point generally shown within their limits. The modern maps present no trace of the locality in question.
The dock-yard visited by Pepys was long one of the most considerable private ship-building establishments in England. For may years it was conducted by Mr. Perry, and subsequently, under the firm of Wigram and Green, the property having been purchased by the late Sir Robert Wigram, Bart. The extensive premises are still applied to the same use; but they have been divided to form two distinct yards, conducted by separate firms.
The origin of the name (Isle of Dogs), given to the marshy tract of land lying within the bold curve of the Thames between Blackwall and Limehouse, is still undetermined. The common story is, that it receives its name from the king’s hounds having been kept there during the residence of the royal family at Greenwich. This tradition is wholly unsupported; nor is it very probable that the king’s hounds would be kennelled in this ungenial and inconvenient place, while they could be kept on the Kentish side of the river, in the vicinity of Greenwich Castle, then occupying the site of the present Observatory.
The denominations “isle” and “island” appear to have been bestowed on many places not geographically entitled to them. The Isle of Dogs, before the construction of the canal which now crosses its isthmus, was in fact a peninsula. Pepys {142} spent a night in the “isle of Doggs,” as appears by his entry for July 24th, 1665, and again, on the 31st of the same month, he was compelled to wait in the “unlucky Isle of Doggs, in a chill place, the morning cool and wind fresh, above two if not three hours, to his great discontent.”
To the account of Katherine Pegg, given by your correspondents, pp. 90, 91, may be added, that, besides Charles Fitz-Charles, Earl of Plymouth, she had, by Charles II., a daughter, who died in her infancy. Mrs. Pegg was one of the three wives of Sir Edward Greene, of Sampford (not Samford), near Thaxted, Essex, created a baronet 26th July, 1660 (within two months of the Restoration), to whom she seems to have been not unfitly matched; for it is recorded of him that, “by his extravagancy and love of gambling, he entirely ruined his estate, and his large inheritance passed from his family.” He had issue two daughters, who married.—See Burke’s Extinct Baronetage.
I do not think that Katherine Pegg, whose son by the King was born in 1657, was “the pretty woman newly come called Pegg,” saluted by Pepys, 7th May, 1668, as Mr. Cunningham surmises.
J.T. HAMMACK.
December.
* * * * *
MINOR QUERIES.
The Strand Maypole.—“E.F.R.” inquires what was the ultimate fate of the “tall Maypole” which “once o’erlooked the Strand”? It was taken down about the year 1717, when it was found to measure a hundred feet. It was obtained by Sir Isaac Newton, and borne on a carriage, for timber, to Wanstead, in Essex, the seat of the Earl of Tylney, where, under the direction of the Reverend Mr. Pound Breton, it was placed in the Park, for the erection of a telescope, the largest then in the world, presented by a French gentleman to the Royal Society.
To Fettle.—What is the derivation of the verb “to fettle?” In the North it means to amend—to repair—to put a thing, which is out of order, into such a state as to effectuate, or to be effectual for, its original, or a given purpose; e.g. a cart out of order is sent to the wheelwright’s to be fettled. It has been suggested that the word is a verbalised corruption of the word “effectual.” Bailey, in his Dictionary, has designated it as a north country word: but it is evident that he misunderstood its entire meaning; for he has merely “to fettle to,” and seems to have been ignorant of the use of the word “fettle” as a verb active. To revert to my former example of its use—An injured cart is fettled by the wheel-wright; the wheelwright fettles the injured cart.
L.C.R.
Greek Verse.—Can any of your readers inform me who is the author of the line—
“[Greek: Pollai men thnaetois glottai, mia d’ athanatoisi]?”
Dr. Dee’s petition to James I.—“E.F.R.” states that he has lately discovered, in the lining of an ancient trunk, two or three curious broadsides, one of which purports to be Dr. Dee’s petition to James I., 1604, against the report raised against him, namely, “That he is or hath bin a Conjurer and Caller, or Invocator of Divels.” He would be glad to know whether this curious broadside has been printed in any memoir of Dr. Dee.
Vondel’s Lucifer.—“F.” desires to be informed whether the tragedy or dramatic poem Lucifer, of the Dutch poet Vondel, which has been said to bear some analogy to Paradise Lost, has ever been translated? and if not, why not? The French writer, Alfred de Vigny, in Stella, calls Vondel (Wundel in his spelling) “ce vieux Shakspeare de la Hollande.”
Discurs Modest.—In Bishop Andrewes’ Reply to the Apology of Bellarmine, chap. i. p. 7, ed. 4to. London, 1610, certain jesuits in prison are reported to have confessed, Rem transubstantiationis patres ne attigisse quidem; as authority for which is quoted Discurs Modest, p. 13. From this work apparently the passage is copied by Jeremy Taylor, Real Presence, sect. 12. Sec. 16; Dissuasive, part i. chap. 1. Sec. 5, and part 2. book 2. sect. 3. 3: also by Cosin on Transubstantiation, chap. 6. Sec. 17. Can any of your readers favour me with a clue to the Modest Discourse?
A.T.
Ptolemy of Alexandria.—“QUERY” wishes to be informed what works of Ptolemy of Alexandria are to be met with in an English translation.
Vanbrugh’s London Improvements.—In the London Journal of March 16th, 1722-23, there is the following paragraph:—
“We are informed that Sir John Vanbrugh, in his scheme for new paving the cities of London and Westminster, among other things, proposes a tax on all gentlemen’s coaches, to stop all channels in the street, and to carry all the water off by drains and common sewers under ground.”
Sir John Vanbrugh was chiefly known as an architect of noblemen’s and gentlemen’s mansions. Can any of your readers supply me with a reference to any detailed plan, from Sir John, for the general improvement of the metropolis?
B.M.
Becket’s Grace-Cup.—The inscription round the neck of this so-called cup, of which a representation is given in No. 1. of Mr. Scott’s Antiquarian Gleanings, is thus printed by him—GOD FERARE—: to which he adds, in explanation, “probably the name of the goldsmith.” {143} At the foot of an earlier print of this relic, the inscription is given thus—FERARE GOD—and till the appearance of Mr. Scott’s version, I had considered the former word as an accidental error of the engraver, instead of FEARE; which would present a moral motto, suiting the SOBRII ESTOTE round the lid.—As Mr. Nichols, in his recent interesting work on Pilgrimages to Walsingham and Canterbury, noticing the misnomer of the cup (p. 229, n.), indicates its date to be of “the early part of the sixteenth century,” perhaps some one of your well-informed readers could state if any artist-goldsmith of that era, and of that name, be known.
ALICUI.
Sir Henry Herbert’s Office-Book.—I should be glad to know if any of your readers can tell me the “whereabouts” of Sir Henry Herbert’s Office-Book, a MS. frequently referred to by Malone, Chalmers, and Collier. Sir Henry Herbert was Master of the Revels to King James the First, and the two succeeding kings, and the said MS. contains an account of almost every piece exhibited at any of the theatres from August, 1623, to the commencement of the rebellion in 1641. Malone, in his Historical Account of the English Stage (edit. Boswell, iii. 57.), says, in a note—
“For the use of this very curious and valuable manuscript I am indebted to Francis Ingram, of Ribbisford, near Bewdley, in Worcestershire, Esq., Deputy Remembrancer in the Court of the Exchequer. It has lately been found in the same old chest which contained the manuscript Memoirs of Lord Herbert of Cherbury, from which Mr. Walpole, about twenty years ago, printed the life of that nobleman, who was elder brother to Sir Henry Herbert.”
In another place, Malone adds:—
“This valuable manuscript, having lain for a considerable time in a damp place, is unfortunately damaged, and in a very mouldering condition; however, no material part of it appears to have perished.”
Such being the case, it becomes more than ever desirable that this interesting volume should be sought after, and the whole of its contents put on record before its total decay. Surely, if its depositary is known, and accessible, it is well worth the attention of the Shakespeare Society, or some other learned body instituted for the preservation of documents of this nature.
A biographical account of the various persons that have held the appointment of “Master of the Revels,” with such particulars of the stage as would necessarily fall in, would form a valuable Prolegomena to the publication of Sir Henry’s Office-Book. We have, it is true, much information upon this subject, but in a very scattered form.
I have now before me a list of the “Masters of the Revells,” with the dates of their patents, which I beg to transcribe. It is of more than ordinary value, being in the handwriting of Sir Henry Herbert himself, and copied at the back of the worthy knight’s “Petition to Charles the Second against the Grant to Killegrew and Davenant to form Two Companies of Players.”
“Masters of ye Revells.
“Sir Richard Guilford — not on record.
Sir Thomas Cawerden — [1544] 36 Henry VIII.
Sir Thomas Beneger — not on record.
Sir John Fortescue — not on record.
Edmund Tilney, Esq. — July 24 [1578] 21
Eliz.
Sir George Buck — June 23 [1603] I
Jac.
Sir John Astley — [1612] 10 Jac.
I.
Benjamin Johnson — [1617] 15 Jac.
I.
Sir Henry Herbert, and}
Simon Thelwall, Esq. } — Aug. 21 [1629] 5
Car. I.”
EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.
* * * * *
WANTED TO PURCHASE
(In continuation of Lists in former Nos.)
1. DR. BROOK TAYLOR’S PERSPECTIVE. 1st edit. 1715.
2. DR. AUSTIN’S CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF THE FIRST SIX BOOKS OF EUCLID. (Date not known.)
3. DR. ABRAHAM ROBERTSON ON RATIO AND PROPORTION. Oxford. 1804.
4. LAWSON’S DISSERTATION ON THE ANALYSIS OF THE ANTIENTS. Edited by Fryer, and printed in Bristol, 1809.—[The particular copy wanted is interleaved with thick paper and MS. alterations by the Editor. It was surreptitiously obtained from its owner; but the books of the person who had it are dispersed.]
Letters, stating particulars and lowest price, carriage free, to be sent to MR. BELL, Publisher of “NOTES AND QUERIES,” 186. Fleet Street.
* * * * *
It will be seen by our leading article that having been unable to procure by any other means sufficient copies of our early numbers, to supply perfect sets to all who applied for them, we have reprinted Nos. 1. 2. 3. and 4., so that our subscribers have now an opportunity of completing their sets.
Our correspondent who inquired respecting the Life and Diary of Haydon the Painter, is informed that its publication is suspended for the present.
We have to explain to correspondents who inquire as to the mode of procuring “NOTES AND QUERIES,” that every bookseller and newsman will supply it if ordered, and that gentlemen residing in the country may be supplied regularly with the Stamped Edition, by giving their orders direct to the publisher, MR. GEORGE BELL, 186. Fleet Street, accompanied by a Post Office order for a Quarter (4s. 4d.).
A neat Case for holding Numbers of “NOTES AND QUERIES” until the completion of each volume, is now ready, price 1s. 6d., and may be had, by Order, of all Booksellers and Newsmen.
We are again compelled to omit many Notes, Queries, and Answers to Queries, as well as Answers to Correspondents.
* * * * * {144}
[Illustration: A pilgrim in a field.]
This day is published, price 6s.,
THE PILGRIMAGES OF WALSINGHAM and CANTERBURY: by DESIDERIUS ERASMUS. Being his Colloquy on Pilgrimage, translated and illustrated with Notes, by JOHN GOUGH NICHOLS, F.S.A.; together with the Colloquy on Rash Vows, and the Characters of Archbishop Warham and Dean Collet, by the same Author.
“This entertaining little volume will afford to many a reader not only much information on the subject of Pilgrimages, but also numerous illustrations of the feelings and habits of the times.”—Athenaeum.
“We can conceive no more perfect translation than Mr. Nichols has given; most delicately does he express the quiet eloquence and quieter irony of the original; while his Notes—which occupy about three-fourths of the handsome volume—are full of the most curious, learned, and interesting matter.”—Weekly News.
“In the Appendix, Mr. Nichols gives a very interesting dissertation on pilgrimages in general, and furnishes us with much curious information relative to Walsingham, and a judicious summary of facts and circumstances connected with the murder of Archbishop Becket.”— Salisbury Journal.
* * * * *
THE GENTLEMAN’S MAGAZINE.
The Obituary of the Gentleman’s Magazine is generally allowed to be one of its most valuable features, and unremitting attention is devoted to the task of making it as complete and comprehensive as possible. It records the decease of all persons of station in society or of individual merit, and biographical memoirs are given (amounting every year to more than three hundred) of eminent characters, whether statesmen, senators, officers in the public service, members of the learned professions, men of science, authors, artists, &c. &c. The Magazine for January will contain, among others, Memoirs of Her Majesty the Queen Dowager; Sir John Dashwood King, Bart.; Sir Thomas Lethbridge, Bart.; Rear-Adm. Sir S.J.B. Pechell, Bart.; Admiral Sir J. Hawkins Whitshed; General Sir George Anson; General Sir John Vandeleur; Lieut.-Col. John Browne; Charles Lyell, Esq.; John Musters, Esq.; Louis Hayes Petit, Esq.; Wm. Cooke Taylor, L.L.D.; Mr. Kenney, the dramatist; Charles Edw. Horn, the composer, &c. &c.
The Number for January will be embellished with two Plates of the Roman Pavements recently found at Cirencester.
NICHOLS AND SON, 25. Parliament Street.
* * * * *
Vols. I. and II. 8vo., price 28s., cloth.
THE JUDGES OF ENGLAND; from the TIME of the CONQUEST. By Edward Foss, F.S.A.
“A work in which a subject of great historical importance is treated with the care, diligence, and learning it deserves; in which Mr. Foss has brought to light many points previously unknown, corrected many errors, and shown such ample knowledge of his subject as to conduct it successfully through all the intricacies of a difficult investigation, and such taste and judgment as will enable him to quit, when occasion requires, the dry details of a professional inquiry, and to impart to his work, as he proceeds, the grace and dignity of a philosophical history.”—Gent. Mag.
LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS.
* * * * *
Illustrated with numerous woodcuts, 8vo. 10s. 6d.
THE PRIMEVAL ANTIQUITIES OF DENMARK.
By J.J.A. WORSAAE, M.R.S.A., of Copenhagen.
Translated and applied to the Illustration of similar
remains in
England; by WILLIAM J. THOMS, Esq., F.S.A., Secretary
of the Camden
Society.
JOHN HENRY PARKER, Oxford, and 377. Strand, London.
* * * * *
THE CLERICAL LIBRARY OF THEOLOGICAL AND GENERAL LITERATURE, for Town and Country, Clergy and Laity, and Reading Rooms, conducted by JAMES DARLING, 22. Little Queen Street, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London. Annual Subscription, one guinea or upwards, according to the number of books taken out at one time. No entrance fee. Preparing for publication, by subscription, A New Catalogue of the Library; Vol. I. to contain Authors, with Biographies, and a complete Analysis of their Works; Vol. II., A Scientific Arrangement of Subjects. To be published in 24 Monthly Parts, super royal 8vo., at 2s. 6d. each. A Prospectus of the Library, and Catalogue, sent free on receipt of two postage stamps.
“Such a Catalogue as Mr. Darling projects would be, if scientifically formed, of European value.”—Christian Remembrancer, Oct. 1849. See also Notes and Queries, No. 8.
* * * * *
Nearly ready, 8vo., with etched Frontispiece, by Wehnert, and Eight Engravings,
SABRINAE COROLLA: A Volume of Classical Translations with original Compositions contributed by Gentlemen educated at Shrewsbury School.
Among the Contributors are the Head Masters of Shrewsbury,
Stamford,
Repton and Birmingham Schools; Andrew Lawson, Esq.,
late M.P.; the Rev.
R. Shilleto, Cambridge; the Rev. T.S. Evans,
Rugby; J. Riddell, Esq.,
Fellow of Baliol College, Oxford; the Rev. E.M.
Cope, H.J. Hodgson,
Esq., H.A.J. Munro, Esq., W.G. Clark, Esq.,
Fellows of Trinity College,
Cambridge, and many other distinguished Scholars from
both Universities.
This Work is edited by three of the principal Contributors.
GEORGE BELL, 186. Fleet Street.
* * * * *
At WASHBOURNE’S, 18. New Bridge Street.
MOORE’S PICTORIAL BOOK OF BALLADS, including some of the BORDER MINSTRELSY, many very curious and rare, with Appendix, Glossary, Notes, &c. 8vo. 10s. 6d. cloth; and 12s. half-bound morocco.
PERCY’S RELIQUES OF ANCIENT ENGLISH POETRY. 3 vols. small 8vo., with richly-illuminated Title-pages, 15s. cloth gilt; 18s. half-bound morocco; antique morocco, 1l. 11s. 6d.
Also, to match in size, price, &c.,
ELLIS’S SPECIMENS OF THE EARLY ENGLISH POETS. 3 vols.
“Washbourne’s Edition of Percy and Ellis are tempting books.”—Gentleman’s Magazine.
THE BOOK OF FAMILY CRESTS AND MOTTOES, with 4000 Engravings of Crests. The Fifth Edition. 2 vols. small 8vo. 21s. It is used for reference at Herald’s College. “No wonder this book sells.”—Spectator.
BUTLER’S HUDIBRAS. Illustrated by 60 Engraved Portraits, and 35 Woodcuts. Edited by Dr. NASH, and including such of Dr. Gray’s Annotations as are worthy of record. 2 vols. crown 8vo. 21s.; or without the Portraits, 10s. 6d.
WALTON’S LIVES OF DONNE, WOTTON, HOOKER, HERBERT, AND SANDERSON. With MAJOR’S Illustrations, and edited by MAJOR and NICHOL. Small 8vo. 9s. cloth; or 12s. morocco.
* * * * *
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, December 29. 1849.