Vol. V.—No. 123. NOTES AND QUERIES: A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC.

VOL. V.—No. 123.

SATURDAY, MARCH 6. 1852.

Price Fourpence. Stamped Edition, 5d.

CONTENTS.

NOTES:—

QUERIES:—

REPLIES:—

MISCELLANEOUS:—

Notes.

SOUTH SEA PLAYING CARDS.

It is pretty generally known that, during the South Sea mania, a pack of playing cards was published in illustration of the prevailing folly. Each card contained a caricature of one of the numerous bubble companies, with a pertinent verse underneath. These cards are now extremely rare. I never saw a complete set, nor do I know where one is to be found. Some time ago a friend kindly furnished me with a copy of all the verses (except one), and as I am not aware that they have been printed separately, I beg to forward a transcript for preservation in "N. & Q.;" not because I think they have any excellence to recommend them, but because it is desirable that so curious a record of a very extraordinary time should not be entirely lost.

Perhaps some of your correspondents can supply the missing verse:—

JNO. SUDLOW.

BIRTHPLACE OF THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE.

It is commonly believed that the Island of Martinique was the birthplace of Marie Josephine Rose Tascher de la Pagerie, better known as the Empress Josephine. It would seem, however, from the following circumstances, that St. Lucia has a preferable claim to that distinction. By the treaty of Paris (10th February, 1763), St. Lucia, until then one of the neutral islands, was ceded to France, and was made a dependency of Martinique. The first step adopted by the local authorities on that occasion, was to offer extensive grants of land in St. Lucia to such families in Martinique as might be disposed to settle in the former island; and among those who took advantage of the proposal was M. de Tascher, the father of Josephine. In the course of the year 1763 he came over to St. Lucia, and settled with his family on the crest of a hill called Paix-Bouche, within a few miles of the site now occupied by the principal town. Here they continued to reside until 1771, when M. de Tascher, having been selected for the office of President of the Conseil Souverain in Martinique, returned with his family to that island, taking with him a child seven years old, to whom Madame de Tascher had given birth at Morne Paix-Bouche on the 24th June, 1764, and who was destined to become the wife of Bonaparte and the Empress of France.

The fact that M. de Tascher and his family settled in St. Lucia after the Treaty of Paris, is too well established to require corroboration. The fact that his residence there extended from 1763 to 1771, is no less certain. While collecting materials some years ago for the history of St. Lucia, I met with the most authentic proofs of this circumstance; but having returned the books and documents to the several parties to whom they belonged, I am unable at this moment to give a special reference under this head. As regards the particular date of Mademoiselle De Tascher's birth, I am indebted for a knowledge of it to no less an authority than M. Sidney Daney, the author of a voluminous history of Martinique, who, while asserting that she was born on the paternal estate in that island, records the date in the following words:

"Cette année 1764 fut signalée par la naissance d'une femme qui, tout en parvenant à la plus glorieuse des destinées humaines, devait être à la fois le symbole le plus doux de cette divine charité. Le vingt-quatre Juin naquit aux Trois-Ilets, sur l'habitation de ses parens, Marie Josephine Rose Tascher de la Pagerie."

That the claim of St. Lucia to the honour of having given birth to that remarkable woman is no idle dream, no imaginary pretension, now set up for the first time, can be shown by many circumstances. From her coronation in 1804, to her death in 1814, there were several persons in St. Lucia who asserted their knowledge of the fact. Some of them were still living in 1825, when the late Sir John Jeremie came to St. Lucia and collected information on the subject. In 1831 that able judge published in a local newspaper a short historical notice of St. Lucia, in which he gives the following unequivocal testimony on this question. I quote from the St. Lucia Gazette and Public Advertiser of 23rd February, 1831:

"On the summit of one of its (St. Lucia's) highest mountains, the Paix-Bouche (a word which in Negro-French is significantly expressive of silence), on a spot surrounded by trees, apparently the growth of centuries, it might be supposed that here at least the very name of the extraordinary being who has given an impulse to the age of Napoleon had scarcely reached. A few yards from the almost impracticable and faintly traced path is the mouldering foundation of a decayed cottage. That was the birthplace of Josephine. The inhabitants of Martinique, with whom all the St. Lucia families are connected, lay claim to Josephine as their countrywoman. The fact is, however, as I have stated it; and this was admitted by one of her own family at Martinique to a lady of our island, but with the truly French addition, 'qu'elle n'avait fait qu'y naître.' The companion of her childhood was Mr. Martin Raphael, late a councillor of the royal court, who is still living, and who on visiting France was kindly received by her at Malmaison. Madame Delomel, who died but a few months ago at a very advanced age, knew her well."

On my arrival in St. Lucia in 1831, an old woman of colour, named Dédé, was pointed out to me as having been in the service of the Taschers at Morne Paix-Bouche. She was then residing with the family of Mr. R. Juge, the President of the Court of First Instance, and that gentleman assured me that nothing was more certain than that Josephine was born in St. Lucia. I afterwards had several conversations with Dédé on the subject, and she confirmed Mr. Juge's statement, adding that she was present at the time of Josephine's [221] birth, and was employed as her bonne until the departure of the family for Martinique. Dédé was an intelligent old dame, then about eighty years of age, and was greatly respected by every one.

I am aware that all this is at variance with the biographical records of our time, which assign Martinique as the place of Josephine's birth. But this inaccuracy may be accounted for on the following grounds. 1st. St. Lucia is within a short distance of Martinique, and at the period of Josephine's birth was a dependency, a portion, as it were, of that colony. 2nd. The family had long been settled in Martinique before they came to St. Lucia, and all their predilections were for the former island. 3rd. Their sojourn in St. Lucia was not of long duration, and in a few years the circumstance of their having been there at all was probably forgotten by the public. 4th. There was no priest in St. Lucia in 1764, by whom the child might have been christened, and the place of her birth established beyond dispute. 5th. When at a subsequent period she was baptized in Martinique, it happened naturally enough that there was no one present who had any knowledge of her having been born in St. Lucia, or who felt any concern in the matter. 6th. M. De Tascher had now become a personage of some distinction, and he was probably not unwilling to efface the recollection of his having been, at one time, a needy planter in the wilds of St. Lucia. 7th. Facts which have since acquired an obvious importance, were of none at all in 1771. The suppression of such a circumstance, whether intentional or accidental, would have attracted no notice at that period of the history of the Taschers. It was not then anticipated that a member of the family would, at no very remote period, become associated with the greatest actor in the most extraordinary revolution in the world's history, and prove herself not unworthy of so exalted a destiny.

All that relates to the Empress Josephine receives an added degree of interest from recent occurrences. It would be strange if the wife who was discarded by Napoleon because she could not give him an heir for the imperial throne, should give him, if not an heir, his first successor, in the person of her grandson, Prince Louis Napoleon. As regards St. Lucia, too, there is a coincidence which may be worth mentioning. When Napoleon fell into our hands after the battle of Waterloo, St. Lucia was the place first selected for his exile; but in consequence of the dangers likely to arise frown its proximity to Martinique, the scheme was relinquished, and the preference given to St. Helena.

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia.

NOTES ON HOMER, NO. III.
(Continued from Vol. v., p. 172.)

Lachmann and Grote. New Views.

Agreeably to my promise at the conclusion of my former article, I continue and conclude my remarks on the Homeric question.

Nitzsch, one of Wolf's most indefatigable and learned opponents, examined his theory with the closest critical nicety, and, by proving its fallaciousness, he shook the stability of it very much—not wholly, however, because disproof does not always engender disbelief; scholars were beginning to lose faith therein, when, ten years ago, the late Carl Lachmann revived it, with certain modifications, in his Fernere Betrachtungen über die Ilias (Abhandl. Berlin. Acad. 1841), where he has proposed the following views:—

That the Homeric poems were not composed by one man, but by several, working together; and that, after the collection of these lays by Peisistratos, the history of them is precisely as given us by classical writers.

This proposition, to use the words of Grote,[1] "explains the gaps and contradictions in the narrative, but it explains nothing else;" and is further refuted by the actual facts of the poems themselves,[2] where, as we find, no contradictions bearing on this point occur, and the whole sixteen poets (for such is Lachmann's number) concur in killing and sending off the stage, so to speak, these considerable chieftains (and all in the first battle after the secession of Achilles), Elephenor, chief of the Eubœans,[3] Tlepolemos, of the Rhodians;[4] Pandaros of the Lycians;[5] Odios, of the Halizonians;[6] Pirous and Acamas, of the Thracians;[7] besides many of inferior note. None of these reappear in the whole course of the work; and it seems strange, as Mure continues, that "any number of 'independent poets' should have so harmoniously dispensed with the services of all six in the sequel." And he then cites the solitary discrepancy, Pylæmenes, as the only exception,[8] whose death is related in the fifth, and who weeps at his son's funeral in the thirteenth book. This however, Mure explains as an oversight on the part of the poet (which is, however, impossible), or to the more probable cause of an interpolation of verses 658 and 659 by an early rhapsodist, "better versed in the 'Battle of the Ships,' as his habitual part in the recital, than in the 'Prowess of Diomed.'"

[1] Grote, vol. ii. p. 231.

[2] Mure, Appendix C., vol. i. p. 507.

[3] Ιλ. iv. 469.

[4] Ιλ. v. 659.

[5] Ιλ. v. 290.

[6] v. 39.

[7] iv. 527., vi. 7.

[8] v. 576., xiii. 658.

Grote also objects to the modifications of Lachmann, and in the following words:

"The advocates of the Wolfian theory appear to feel the difficulties which beset it: for their language is [222] wavering in respect to these supposed primary atoms.... I will add in respect to his [Lachmann's] dissertations, so instructive as a microscopic examination of the poem, 1. That I find myself constantly dissenting from that critical feeling on the strength of which he cuts out parts as interpolations, and discovers traces of the hands of distinct poets: 2. That his objections against the continuity of the narrative are often founded upon lines which the ancient scholiasts and Mr. Payne Knight had already pronounced to be interpolations: 3. That such of his objections as are founded upon lines undisputed admit, in many cases, of a complete and satisfactory reply."[9]

[9] Hist. of Greece, vol. ii. p. 232. n. 1.

Grote's own opinions on the subject are difficult to arrive at, but what he has said is mostly true. These three different views of the Homeric controversy have, as I have said, occupied the world since thinking on the subject began; each hypothesis has found most able, critical, and quibbling adherents and opponents, each affirming and proving, after his own way, what the others denied and scouted.

There is another author who has likewise discussed the subject of Homer, and in a way more attractive to the general reader; and that is the finely-feeling and learned Walter Savage Landor, in his Pericles and Aspasia. Speaking in the person of Pericles, he says:—[10]

"I have no paradox to maintain, no partiality to defend. Some tell us there were twenty Homers; some deny that there was ever one. It were idle and foolish to shake the contents of a vase in order to let them settle at last. We are perpetually labouring to destroy our delights, our composure, our devotion to superior power. Of all the animals on earth we least know what is good for us. My opinion is, that what is best for us is our admiration of good. No man living venerates Homer more than I do. He was the only author I read when I was a boy; for our teachers are usually of opinion that wisdom and poetry are, like fruits for children, unwholesome, if too fresh. Simonides had indeed grown somewhat sound; Pindar was heating; Æschylus ... ay, but Æschylus was almost at the next door. Homer then nourished my fancy, animated my dreams, awoke me in the morning, marched with me, sailed with me, taught me morals, taught me language, taught me music, and philosophy, and war."

[10] Pericles and Aspasia, Letter LXXXIV.—Works, vol. ii. p. 387.

Agreeing with my honoured friend in what I have italicised above, I think it is time that the Homeric question were set at rest, and, to atone for our error in shaking the vase, let it remain at peace forever. I offer my reflections on the subject with extreme diffidence, yet, though I confess myself open to correction, and desirous of it, as a friend to literature, I cannot say that I think my views will be found far from an approximation to the truth, which, at this remote age, is all we can possibly arrive at. As Plinius Secundus held that there was no book so bad but that something might be learned from it, so I hold that there is no theory so bad (always excepting that one put forth by some escaped Bedlamite, of Shakspeare's non-being, and that his works were the composition of the monks), but that there lies some truth at the bottom of it. On that principle I have endeavoured "to lay the keel" (as Southey used to say of his planned poems) of a reconciliation between all the beliefs of all the theorists.

I will state my theory, as I have done the others, in the plainest possible terms; and, to begin at the beginning, I must go back to the origin of song. Is it possible that an army like that of the Hellenes when at Troy, had no idea of passing the weary evenings except in drinking and talking? No: surely not. We find Phemios singing, in the Odyssea, lays of much the same kidney as those in Athenæos, and in Xenophon's Symposion. These were short recitals of some particular circumstance of antiquity, half religious and half earthly. No doubt the common soldiers of that age had, like the common sailors of some fifty years ago, some one qualified to "discourse in excellent music" among them. Many of these, like those of the negroes in the United States, were extemporaneous, and allusive to events passing around them. But what was passing around them? The grand events of a spirit-stirring war; occurrences likely to impress themselves, as the mystical legends of former times had done, upon their memory; besides which, a retentive memory was deemed a virtue of the first water, and was cultivated accordingly, in those ancient times. Ballads at first, and down to the beginning of the war with Troy, were mere recitations with an intonation. Then followed a species of recitative, probably with an intoned burden. Tune next followed, as it aided the memory considerably.

It was at this period, about four hundred years after the war, that a poet flourished of the name of Melesigenes, or Meonides, but most probably the former. He saw that these ballads might be made of great utility to his purpose of writing a poem on the social position of Hellas, and as a collection he published these lays, connecting them by a tale of his own. This poem now exists under the title of the Odyssea. The author, however, did not affix his own name to the poem, which, in fact, was great part of it remodelled from the archaïc dialect of Crete, in which tongue the ballads were found by him. He therefore called it the poem of Homeros, or the Collector.[11] But this is rather a [223] proof of his modesty and talent, than of his mere drudging arrangement of other people's ideas, for, as Grote has finely observed, arguing for the unity of authorship, "a great poet might have recast pre-existing separate songs into one comprehensive whole; but no mere arrangers or compilers would be competent to do so."[12]

[11] Welcker, Der Epische Cyclus, p. 127. Professor Wilson, in his System of Hindu Mythology (Introduct. p. lxii.), has the following passage, quoted by Grote: "The sage Vyasa is represented not as the author, but as the arranger and compiler of the Vedas and the Purânas. His name dates his character, meaning the arranger or distributor; and the recurrence of so many Vyasas,—many individuals who new-modelled the Hindu Scriptures,—has nothing in it that is improbable, except the fabulous intervals by which their labours are separated."

[12] Hist of Greece, vol. ii. p. 232.

While employed on the wild legend of Odysseus, he met with a ballad recording the quarrel of Achilles and Agamemnon; his noble mind seized the hint that there presented itself, and the Achilleïs[13] grew under his hand. Unity of design, however, caused him to publish the poem under the same pseudonyme as his former work; and the disjointed lays of the ancient bards were joined together, like those relating to the Cid, into a chronicle history, named the Iliad.[14] Melesigenes knew that the poem was destined to be a lasting one; and so it has proved. But first, the poems were destined to undergo many vicissitudes and corruptions, by the people who took to singing them in the streets, assemblies, and agoras. However, Solon first, and then Peisistratos, and afterwards Aristoteles and others, revised the poems, and restored the works of Melesigenes Homeros to their original integrity in a great measure. But that this was of no great avail is evident from the corruption οἰωνοῖσί τε πᾶσι, in the opening. All birds are not carnivorous, and therefore the passage must be wrong: besides, the words immediately following, savouring somewhat of interpolation, and, indeed, being condemned by some as such, would lead to the fair assumption that the whole line was corrupted.

[13] "The first book, together with the eighth, and the books from the eleventh to the twenty-second inclusive, seem to form the primary organisation of the poem, then properly an Achilleïs," &c.—Grote, Vol. ii. pp. 235. fol.

[14] Mure, vol. i. p. 23 n. Ticknor, History of Spanish Literature, vol. i. p. 11. seq.

I said before (Vol. v., p. 99.) that the Cyclic poems illustrated the history of the Homeric compositions, just as the letters of Poplicola, and those of Philo Junius, illustrate the history of Junius; but I am not inclined to deprive them all of credit as the compositions of the same poet. For instance, part of the Ιλιας μικρα was probably done from the notes of Melesigenes, who was, like Herodotos, always at work upon some matter.

The origin of writing has been made a stumbling-block in the Homeric question, and most foolishly; and I must again agree with Colonel Mure on this subject. Mr. Grote, Mr. Granville Penn, and the Colonel, have done more for the elucidation of the question than any other scholars of the present or last age; and it is to them we must turn for further assistance. I wish they would give their attention to the hymns, especially that to Hermes; for "thereby hangs a tale."

As for me, I leave my speculations to the mercy of those who do not think like myself. I am satisfied that they are not far from the truth, and as near as we can hope to come in these days. Indeed, it is a well-known fact, embodied in the old proverb, "What's one man's meat's another's poison;" and that which is convincing to one is the contrary to another.

Ere I "close" my "scribblings," however, I must tender my thanks to the Editor of "N. & Q.," for his kind admission of these articles to his pages. Haveto!

KENNETH R. H. MACKENZIE.

March 3. 1852.

FOLK LORE.

Ancient Custom on Interment.

—I have read that it was a custom to inter an hour-glass with the deal, as an emblem of the sand of life being run out; or perhaps (as I should rather suggest) to intimate that the departed, having entered upon eternity, had done with time. I believe that in the early part of the last century the custom had not entirely disappeared, and that small hour-glasses were given to the friends of the deceased attending at funerals, and were put beside the corpse (like rosemary), or thrown into the grave? Does the custom still linger in any remote parts of the country?

W. S. G.

Newcastle-on-Tyne.

Pure Rain Water.

—Pure rain water is said to be an infallible cure for sore eyes, and cases are reported to the writer by persons who have tried and fancy they have proved its efficacy. The rain water must be collected in a clean open vessel, in the month of June, and must not be contaminated be being previously collected by any other means; it will then remain pure for any length of time, if preserved in a bottle.

T. D.

Gainsbro'.

Cure for Hooping Cough.

—This complaint is very prevalent in my neighbourhood just now. I overheard a conversation the other day between some farmers: one was recommending the patient to inhale the breath of a horse as a certain cure; another gravely informed his audience that the sight of a piebald horse would afford immediate relief!

G. A. C.

SAINTED KINGS INCORRUPTIBLE.

In the Appendix to Evelyn's interesting Diary (last edition, 1850), your readers may recollect [224] there is a note upon the "unexpected finding the crucifix and gold chain of that pious prince, St. Edward the Confessor." The note contains an extract from the narrative of the circumstances attending the finding of those relics by "Charles Taylour, Gent." (or, Henry Keepe—the writer's correct name). It appears from that account, that when, in 1163, Thomas à Becket obtained a canonisation of the king, and the coffin was opened, the body was found uncorrupted; and that, 136 years after William I. had commanded the coffin to be enshrined, when the abbot resolved to inspect the body, then likewise "said to be incorruptible," he found it so, "being perfect, the limbs flexible," &c.

A curious parallel to this presented itself recently to one in the course of a reference to the 2nd volume of Mr. W. B. MacCabe's curious and laborious Catholic History of England. [En passant, allow me to express the hope, in which I well know many sympathise, that the long-promised third volume, bringing the history down to the accession of William the Conqueror, will ere long appear. The work gives in a well-arranged form so much that is curious in our early national records, that it would be a matter of regret that it should not be completed. It is a great pity indeed that the author's original plan, to carry the history down to the Reformation, should have been abandoned.] After describing the burial of Edgar (also a "Confessor," as well as St. Edward), it is stated that "in the year 1052, upon his tomb being opened by the Abbot Eilward, his body was found perfectly free from the slightest stain of corruption;" and that upon the body being "profanely hacked," in order to make it fit the receptacle prepared for it, "torrents of blood burst from the king's corpse." (W. Malmsb. Ges. Reg. Ang.) This, be it remembered, was eighty-seven years after burial. The body was afterwards deposited in a shrine. Are there other examples mentioned by the chroniclers of the incorruptibility of saintly kings? Both Edward and Edgar were, it should be recollected, good friends to the monks. William of Malmsbury, in the course of his eulogium upon Edgar, mentions the important fact that the monarch not only gave—

but also—

Were not these strong reasons why the king should remain uncorrupted, at all events in the memory, and also the records, of the brotherhood?

J. J. S.

Minor Notes.

Rev. A. Butler.

—The Rev. R. Gibbings, M.A., did some years since give to the public an exact reprint of the first Roman Index Expurgatorius, in the lengthened Introduction to which he has treated of the whole literature pertaining to the question.

The same rev. gentleman is author of the following elegant inscription on the monument of the Rev. Archer Butler, recently professor of moral philosophy in Trinity College, Dublin. Your miscellany seems an appropriate place wherein to enshrine matters of this order.

O. T. D.

Birthplace of Bishop Hoadley.

—On the west side of the London Road, Westerham, Kent, are some neatly built brick cottages: before one of them stands a yew tree, which, I was informed by an intelligent inhabitant of the town, was planted by the Rev.—Hoadley, on the birth of his son Benjamin. Although the tree still marks the spot, the house itself does not now stand; it was razed to the ground some years since to make room for the present buildings. Benjamin's brother, who was afterwards Archbishop of Dublin, was also born in this house. I may add that this is not generally known in the town, but I think the above "Note" is accurate.

H. G. D.

Humboldt's "Cosmos," and Nares' "Attempt."

—Observing that the learned and accomplished Humboldt has concluded his Cosmos in German, although the English translation of the last portion has not yet appeared,—an extremely valuable and interesting scientific contribution towards a general view of human knowledge regarding the universe,—will you permit me to observe, that as it perhaps did not enter into his plan to consider the religious considerations that arise from a Christian's view of the universe in its relation to our small portion of its apparently illimitable extent, any reader of Humboldt's work who wishes to see how a scholar and a divine of a former generation has treated the subject, will, if I mistake not, peruse the following work with singular pleasure, making all due allowance for the imperfect state [225] of scientific knowledge at the time when the author wrote:—

"Εις Θεος Εις Μεσιτης; or, an Attempt to show how far the Philosophical Notion of a Plurality of Worlds is consistent, or not so, with the language of the Holy Scriptures. By the Rev. Edward Nares, A.M., Rector of Biddenden, Kent, and late Fellow of Merton College, Oxford. 8vo. London, 1801."

The author, I may add, was a friend of the eminent geologist, De Luc.

J. M.

Gough, the Irish Portion of his Camden: Ledwich.

—The following cutting from a Dublin bookseller's Catalogue (Connolly, 6. Chancery Place, Feb. 1852) may perhaps find a corner in "N. & Q." Dr. Ledwich was the Will-o'-the-Wisp that led Gough astray in the matter of Irish antiquities. Few, indeed, of the "additions" made to honest Camden's original are of value, many of them are worse than valueless:—

"ANTIQUITIES OF IRELAND, from Gough's edition of Camden's Britannia, profusely illustrated with plates and maps from various works, including Ortelliu's (Ortelius') rare map of Ireland, all of which were inserted by the Rev. Mr. Ledwich, the Irish Antiquarian, royal folio, half russia, neat, 3l. 10s.

"This unique copy was presented by Mr. Gough to the Rev. Mr. Ledwich, and bears Gough's autograph: 'For the Rev. Mr. Ledwich. From the author. 1789.'

"Mr. Ledwich presented the book to Wm. Monck Mason, Esq., having written the following memorandum:—

"'I assisted Mr. Gough in this edition, and he spontaneously promised a copy of the work in 3 vols. folio, but put me off with this paltry volume. So he served my valuable friend, Mr. Beauford of Athy.

"'Viveret in terris te si quis avarior uno?'

"'Horace.

"'E. L., F.A.S., 1790.'

"A copy of the original note [to Mason] inserted in the book—

"'York Street, 3rd Feb. 1817.

"'Dear Sir—Having parted with all my books, for not one of my family could or would read them, I have retained what I send you. It is a small return for the presents you made me.

"'Small as it is, have the goodness to accept of it as a testimony of my obligations and friendship.

"'Believe me yours sincerely,

"'E. LEDWICH.'

"The work is Gough's Britannia, the Irish Part."

JAMES GRAVES.

Kilkenny.

Chronogram over the door of Sherborne school, marking the date 1670:

"Tecta, Draco custos, Leo vinDeX fLos Decus, auctor, ReX pius, hæc servat, protegit, ornat, aLit."

The letters DLDXLDXL are capitals, and rubricated.

S. S.

Junius and the Quarterly Review again.

—The article on the Letters of Junius, in the last number of the Quarterly Review, is very pleasantly written. But I suppose it will not be considered to have rendered probable the notion that Thomas Lord Lyttelton was the writer of those letters. The reviewer observes that "Lord Lyttelton," meaning George, the first Lord Lyttelton, is only once mentioned by Junius. Undoubtedly Junius mentions "Lord Littleton's integrity and judgment" (Woodfall, ii. 305.) Can it be imagined that Thomas Lord Lyttelton could have so mis-spelled his father's name?

CAROLUS CURSITOR.

Queries.

SEVEN QUERIES.

1. On the 24th February, 1831, was published, at Speenhamland, the first number of the History and Antiquities of Newbury and its Environs. Was this work ever completed? If not, how many numbers were issued.

["The History and Antiquities of Newbury and its Environs, including twenty-eight Parishes situate in the County of Berks, also a Catalogue of Plants found in the Neighbourhood," was completed in 1839, and makes a volume of 340 pages.]

2. Can any information be given as to Hannah Woolley beyond what she gives in the curious autobiographical sketch prefixed to her Gentlewoman's Companion, or a Guide to the Female Sex; 3rd edition. London, 1682, 12mo. Her maiden name she omits to mention; and all she discloses as to her family and fortunes is, that her parents died when she was very young, and that she had suffered "all manner of affliction," "by loss of husband, children, friend, estate."

3. Amongst Mr. C. K. Sharpe's MSS. was sold The Force of Love, or the Ephesian Matron; a Dramatick Poem, in Three Parts. From a playbill, which was pasted on the fly-leaf, it seems that this drama was produced for the benefit of Mr. and Mrs. Wallace, at the theatre in Sadler Street, Durham, April 7, 1777. The performance was "gratis;" but 2s. 6d., 2s., and 1s., for boxes, pit, and gallery, were charged for the "Concert of Music." The title was changed into the Matron of Ephesus, and the authorship was ascribed to Mr. Wallace. No notice either of play or author occurs in the Biographia Dramatica.

4. Does any MS. of the Conquest of China, a tragedy, by Sir Robert Howard, exist? I have in my library a scene written by the Earl of Rochester for the author, and which, so far as I can trace, from the very defective state of the libraries of the north, was never printed. It is a beautiful MS., and some of the lines possess considerable vigour. It is written in rhyme.

5. Who was the author of the History of Faction, alias Hypocrisy, alias Moderation, from its first Rise, down to its present Toleration in these Kingdoms? &c. London, 1705, 8vo. [226]

6. Where can the fourth and concluding(?) number of Wright's History of Ludlow be obtained?

[Only three Parts have been published. The last was issued in 1847.]

7. Can you inform me who was the translator of—

"The Idea of Christian Love; being a Translation, at the Instance of Mr. Waller, of a Latin Sermon upon John xiii. 34, 35., preached by Mr. Edward Young, Prebend of Salisbury. With a large Paraphrase on Mr. Waller's Poem of Divine Love. To which are added, some Copies of Verses from that excellent Poetess Mrs. Wharton, with others to her. London, 1688, 8vo."

The versification is extremely good, but as I never saw the sermon, I can have no notion whether the translation be faithful, or the reverse. I suspect a Latin "preachment" would have few hearers, especially now-a-days: but it would be interesting to see a Latin sermon which Waller thought highly of, and which he proposed should be turned into verse.

I have not been able to procure any information as to the sermon, or its poetical translation, in any bibliographical work; but perhaps some of your numerous readers may know something either about Mr. Edward Young, the father I presume of the poet, or the translator.

Mrs. Wharton was the daughter of Sir H. Lee, of Ditchly, and the first wife of the future Marquis of Wharton. A manuscript tragedy by her, and in her own handwriting, is in my possession. It is the presentation copy to Miss Mary Howe, whose autograph is on the fly-leaf. It is beautifully bound in old morocco, and formerly belonged to Horace Walpole, whose book-plate is on it. Who was Miss Mary Howe? It was purchased at the dispersion of the curious MSS. of Mr. Charles K. Sharpe, who had a great fancy for the lady's poetry. She is erroneously styled Marchioness of Wharton in Park's edition of Walpole's Royal and Noble Authors.

J. MT.

[The Rev. Edward Young was father to the poet, and Rector of Upham in Hampshire, Prebendary of Salisbury, and lastly Dean of that church. He died in 1705. The translation and paraphrase in The Idea of Christian Love is attributed to William Atwood in the Bodleian Catalogue.]

PLAGUE STONES.

In a recent and valuable report addressed to the General Board of Health, on the sanitary state of the borough of Dorchester, by a gentleman to whom I, in common with all the readers of "N. & Q.," have often been indebted—I mean Robert Rawlinson, Esq.,—an allusion is made to the existence of "Plague Stones" in different parts of the country. Briefly recording the principal visitations of plague in Dorchester and its neighbourhood, he describes these "plague stones" as "stones placed on the boundary limits of old towns, having a circular or square dish-like sinking in them, which was filled with water, into which the town's people dropped the purchase-money in their dealings with the country people, as was supposed, to prevent infection. Such stones may be seen in many places throughout England." The object of this communication is, to suggest the propriety of a list of these curious relics being made, through the medium of your excellent paper. I am not aware of any such list at present existing. A plague stone is to be seen, I believe, at Penrith; and another near Manchester, which is, I am told, called the "Giant's Stone." The name of the latter seems, to my mind, to point to a more remote period, unless an existing monument of antiquity bearing that title was during the times of plague converted to the temporary use of receiving the suspected money in the hollowed dish, which is made at the top of these "plague stones." By the way, might not our forefathers have suffered less from the fearful visitations and devastating epidemics to which so many hundreds of thousands of them fell victims, if they had been as careful to wash themselves habitually in aqua pura as they were to wash the money which they received from suspected localities. The custom above alluded to admitted the powerfully cleansing qualities of water. It would have been good for them, especially in trying times of plague, if they had not been so accustomed to "let" the "well alone," as regards their own personal purification.

J. J. S.

The Cloisters, Temple.

Minor Queries.

The Cross on Counsels' Briefs.

—Can any of your correspondents inform me as to the origin and present use of the cross on counsels' briefs?

H. EDWARDS.

Sir James Hayes, of Bedgebury, Kent.

—It is mentioned in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1792, p. 21., that on the foundation stone of Old Bedgebury House in Kent, was found, many years ago, an inscription recording the building of that house in 1688 by Sir James Hayes, and Rachel Viscountess Falkland, his wife. Allusion is made in the inscription to his having attained great wealth from the depths of the ocean; and there was a tradition that he had made his fortune by diving. Can any of your readers supply information upon this subject? Was he one of the party who under Phipps (the ancestor of the house of Mulgrave) recovered 200,000l. out of a Spanish vessel, sunk [227] of the coast of Hispaniola in 1687? and where can the full particulars of that adventure be met with?

J. E. T.

Authorship of the Song "Oh Nanny," &c.

—A question as to the nationality, if not the authorship, of this celebrated song was discussed (if I remember aright) not long ago in letters printed in one of the literary periodicals, probably the Gentleman's Magazine, but I have not a reference at hand. It may be, that the facts I am about to mention were adverted to in that discussion, and that the words are admitted to be of English origin, and to have been written by Dr. Percy, yet I am induced to send you this communication. In the drawing-room at Ecton House, the mansion of Sam. Isted, Esq., at Ecton, a village about five miles from Northampton, there was, in 1814, a portrait of the wife of Thomas Percy, Bishop of Dromore (father of Mrs. Isted), holding in her hand a scroll, on which is the celebrated song "Oh Nanny!" she being the original, and the lines having been addressed to her before marriage by the bishop. (Account of a Tour, &c., published in the Scarborough Repository, by Cole, 1824.)

Perhaps some correspondent of yours in that vicinity would kindly say whether the picture remains at Ecton; or, if not, what has become of it?

W. S. G.

Newcastle-on-Tyne.

Hexameter Poem on English Counties.

—Will any of your correspondents be kind enough to furnish me with a copy of a poem in hexameter verse, and in an abbreviated form, enumerating the shires or counties in England? In my early days it was very common in public schools, and I am enabled to give a portion of one verse, viz.—-—-"Dev. Dors. Gl. Oxfo. Buck. Hart. Ess."

M.

Dublin.

Wild Oats, Origin of the Phrase.

—Can any of your correspondents favour me with the origin and definition of the phrase "To sow your wild oats?" It has never been very clear to me why "oats" should be the grain selected as emblematical of the dissipations and excesses of youth. They constitute the food of the inhabitants of the poorest regions only, and where the absence of all aid from climate and sunshine, renders almost unceasing toil necessary, in order to obtain a meagre subsistence.

The "oat" appears to me so little the companion of luxury and pleasure, that I am wholly at a loss to account for the origin of this phrase, which is in the mouth of every one.

BEAU NASH.

Bath.

The Dr. Richard Mortons.

—I shall feel greatly indebted to any reader of "N. & Q." who can give me some account of Dr. Richard Morton, a celebrated physician of Greenwich, temp. William and Mary, and of his son Dr. Richard Morton, who died in 1730. Were they descended from the Mortons of Severn Stoke, co. Worcester? and what was the precise degree of their relationship with the Mortons of Slaugham, co. Sussex?

MARK ANTONY LOWER.

General Lambert (Vol. iv., p. 339.).

—A correspondent shows the probability or certainty that the hitherto received opinion as to the long confinement and death in Guernsey of this old parliamentary general is not correct. But Mr. Hallam and others who report this, report also that he was tried with Sir Harry Vane; and that his "submissive behaviour" was such a contrast to that of his noble fellow-prisoner that it perhaps influenced his sentence. Where is the proof of his behaviour to be found? Vane's trial has been published separately. It is also in the State Trials, with the trials of the regicides; but neither there nor elsewhere can I find the trial of Lambert.

G. L.

Cross-legged Effigies and Collars of SS.

—As some of your correspondents are sending to "N. & Q." accounts of sepulchral effigies bearing SS. collars, I should be obliged to them if they would mention when such effigies are cross-legged. Does any effigy in this attitude exist bearing a date as late as 1350?

W. H. K.

The Crooked Billet.

—Can any of your readers inform me whether there be any legend connected with the "Crooked Billet," which is frequently used in this neighbourhood as a sign to a village inn? The sign itself is formed of a crooked piece of wood, or two or three pieces joined, and suspended over the door of the public-house.

T. D.

Gainsbro'.

Collins the Poet, and his Ode on the Music of the Grecian Theatre.

—In Seward's Anecdotes of distinguished Persons there is a letter from Collins to Dr. Hayes, professor of music, Oxford, in which, after alluding to his "Ode on the Passions," he mentions another Ode, which appears to have been actually written.

"The subject," he states, "is the Music of the Grecian Theatre, in which," he goes on to say, "I have, I hope naturally, introduced the various characters with which the chorus was concerned, as Œdipus, Medea, Electra, Orestes, &c. &c. The composition too is probably more correct, as I have chosen the ancient tragedies for my models, and only copied the most affecting passages in them."

The letter is dated "Chichester, November 8, 1750." Collins died in 1756. The Ode is lost; but assuredly every effort should be made to bring it to light.

SMINTHEUS. [228]

Bishop Kidder's Autobiography.

—In the Lives of the Bishops of Bath and Wells, by the Rev. Stephen Hyde Cassan (Rivingtons, 1829), the greater portion of the notice there given of that learned writer and excellent divine, Richard Kidder, bishop of that see from 1691 to 1703, is derived from an autobiographical memoir, of which Mr. Cassan says, "the MS., one of undoubted authority, exists in original at Wells." The reasonable inference from this statement would be, that the MS. is in the Cathedral Library there; but from what I have recently been able to ascertain, through the kindness of a gentleman at Wells, it would appear that Kidder's autobiography is not in the Cathedral Library, nor in the hands of any individual in that place or its neighbourhood: the probability therefore is, that it is in some private collection; and as I believe it contains many particulars connected with the bishop's personal history, which Mr. Cassan has passed over, I shall be glad if any of your readers can inform me where it is to be met with. The bishop's birthplace has been left in some doubt; it has been stated that he was born at Lewes, at Brighthelmstone, and in Suffolk; in the memoir referred to, the question is set at rest, for he says that he was born at East Grinstead, Sussex, in 1633. While upon this subject I would beg information as to the name and family of the bishop's wife, who was killed with him in the great storm of Nov. 1703. I learn from the baptismal registers of their children that her christian name was Elizabeth.

JAS. CROSBY.

Strantham.

Shrine of Edward the Confessor.

—Is there any print or drawing, or any written description, which would show the condition of the shrine of King Edward the Confessor previously to the great Rebellion, or in any way throw light upon the various changes, mutilations, and restorations it has undergone, beyond such as is to be derived from the ordinary histories of the abbey?

GEO. S. SCOTT.

"Wise above that which is written."

—Can any of your correspondents inform me where the words originally occur, "Wise above that which is written?" I was for a long time under the impression that they were taken from one of St. Paul's Epistles, or at least were to be found somewhere in the Bible; but, after having searched Cruden diligently, though ineffectually, I am pretty sure they are not to be found in Holy Writ.

I am convinced that most persons share in the opinion I formerly held, and I have often seen them quoted in sermons just as if they were a passage of Scripture, though, of course, without giving any reference.

R. C. C.

Oxon.

"Hoffman," a Tragedy by Chettle.

—Can any correspondent of the "N. & Q." throw any light upon the source of the plot of Hoffman, a Tragedy, by Henry Chettle, 4to. 1631? The scene is laid at Dantzig in Prussia; the hero revenges his father's death, which was caused by the Duke of Lüneburg and other princes, by means of a red-hot iron crown placed on his head. He kills the son of the Duke of Lüneburg in the same manner, and assumes his character; is adopted by the Duke of Prussia, and avenges himself by the murder of the duke, and others of his father's judges; is finally discovered, and put to death by means of the iron crown.

I have in vain searched the German chronicle of the period: from the geographical localities being well preserved, as well as the German names (a peculiarity in the old drama), the presumption is, that it has been taken from an historical source. Mention is made in Menzel's History of Germany, of a Count Jordan who suffered death by means of an iron crown; and in Goldsmith's Traveller, the line of—

"Luke's iron crown and Damon's bed of steel,"

is illustrated by a note in Bohn's edition of that author, of two brothers, George and Luke Leck, who had created a rebellion in Hungary, and of one of them suffering death in this manner; but neither of these two cases apply at all to the subject.

H. B. L.

Inverted Commas.

—When were inverted commas first introduced to indicate quotations in writing?

S. W. RIX.

Quotations Wanted.

—If the subjoined Queries could be inserted early, it would greatly oblige me. I want them for a work, of which the first proofs are now before me.

I should be glad if any of the readers of "N. & Q." could refer me to the precise places from whence the following quotations are made:—

1. "Qui vult plenè et sapidè Christi verba intelligere, oportet ut totam vitam suam Illi studeat conformare."

2. "Gaudium suum ob renascentes literas non sine metu exprimet, unus scrupulus habet animum meum, ne sub obtentu priscæ literaturæ caput erigere tentet paganismus.... Optarim frigidas istas argutias (humanæ eloquentiæ logicarumque subtilitatum) amputari prorsus, Christumque illum simplicem et purum restitui, penitusque humanis mentibus inseri."

Erasmus. Query—where?

3. "Cujus vita despicitur, restat ut ejus prædicatio contemnatur."

S. Gregory.

W. D—N.

Deacons, a Phrase used by Foxe.

—In the martyrology of John Foxe we read—

"King Edward died, the world being unworthy of him: the Duke of Northumberland came down to Cambridge with an army of men, having commission [229] to proclaim Lady Jane queen.... The duke sent for Doctor Sandys, being vice-chancellor, for Doctor Parker, for Doctor Bill, and Master Leaver to sup with him. Amongst other speeches he said, Masters, pray for us, that we speed well; if not, you shall be made bishops, and we deacons. And even so it came to pass: Doctor Parker and Doctor Sandys were made bishops; and he and Sir John Gates, who were then at the table, were made deacons, ere it was long after, on the Tower-hill."

I should be glad to know the allusion here, and how men who were executed could be said to be thereby made deacons.

W. D—N.

The Count de Vordac.

—When did the Count de Vordac, a general in the army of the Emperor of Germany, die? His memoirs are scarce; the copy which I have is reprinted at Paris in 1709. He was an Italian, bred for the church, which he relinquished for the profession of arms. He was born about 1660; his memoirs break off abruptly in 1695 when in midlife, and he was serving under our William III. He closes his memoirs with an account of his being at the siege of Namur, which he says cost his own party dear, and himself more particularly. It is very probable he fell at this siege if he continued his narrative while in the camp. His memoirs are curious and very entertaining. I find there that he was much esteemed at Vienna, and his conduct in rescuing the wife of one of the German nobility from a horrible imprisonment with the corpse of the man of whom her lord was jealous, is full of interest as well as horror, from the mode in which it was accomplished. He was personally acquainted with William III., who entrusted him with important commands. His narrative makes the reader anxious to know something of his subsequent history, if he were not a victim to the sword before the close of the war of which he spoke.

CYRUS REDDING.

Minor Queries Answered.

Hoare's Charity.

—Inside the cover of a copy of The Whole Duty of Man (8vo., London, 1727, John Baskett) now before me, is pasted a slip of paper, containing a coat of arms, "Sable, a double eagle expanded or (?) in a bordure argent," surrounded by mantling, and surmounted by helmet and crest; below this is the following:—

"The gift of HENRY HOARE, Esq., who died March 12, 1724-5, aged forty-seven, and by his last Will and Testament hath vested the sum̅e of two thousand pounds in trustees, who are to apply the yearly interest, rents, and profits arising out of the said sum̅e to the purchasing, dispensing, and giving away, yearly, Bibles, Common Prayer-Books, and such other books as are intirely agreeable to the principles and doctrine of the Church of England, as now by law established, and most conducive to the advancement of Christian faith and piety in the world."

I shall be glad to learn whether this charity is still bestowed, and where: any particulars relative to the original donor will be acceptable. Permit me to add the Query,—Is mine the first edition of The Whole Duty of Man? if not, when was it first published, and who was the author?

W. SPARROW SIMPSON, B.A.

[Mr. Henry Hoare was a son of Sir Richard Hoare, Lord Mayor of London, and an intimate friend of that worthy man, Robert Nelson, author of the Companion for the Festivals and Fasts of the Church of England; a work which Dr. Johnson recommends as being a most valuable help to devotion, and as having had the greatest sale of any book ever printed in England, except the Bible. Mr. Hoare's name occurs in several parts of Robert Nelson's will, viz. "I give and bequeath to Mr. Henry Hoare, of London, goldsmith, one of my executors, 200l., upon trust to distribute 100l., part thereof, in such manner as shall be directed by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; and the other 100l. to be employed by him in promoting parochial libraries.... I give and bequeath to Mrs. Jane Hoare, wife of the said Mr. Henry Hoare, two pair of little silver candlesticks for her closet." It is also worthy a note in our pages that the first legacy received by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge was that of Robert Nelson's, which is thus entered on the minutes of the Society:—"3d Feb. 1714-15. Mr. Hoare reported, that Mr. Nelson, lately deceased, had ordered him by his will, as one of his executors, to pay 100l. to the Society for promoting their designs; and also 50l. towards supporting the charity-school at St. George's Chapel." The name of Mr. Henry Hoare occurs among the list of subscribers in the first volume of Jeremy Collier's Ecclesiastical History, fol. 1708; and some of his letters to John Strype, the historian, will be found among the Additional MSS. in the British Museum, No. 5853. No biographical notice of Mr. Henry Hoare appears to have been preserved. See Herbert's History of the Twelve Great Livery Companies, vol. ii. p. 285., for a notice of his gift to the Goldsmiths' Company.

The first edition of The Whole Duty of Man was published in 1657. Like the enigmatical Junius, its authorship still remains a problem; but we believe it is now generally supposed to be written either by Lady Packington or Archbishop Sterne. Our correspondent will find the question discussed in the Rev. W. B. Hawkins's Introduction to Pickering's edition of this work, published in 1842; as well as in the valuable communication of J. E. B. Mayor, Esq., of Marlborough College, in our second volume, p. 292.]

Dr. Sacheverell's "Sermon at Derby."

—Can any of your correspondents furnish me with information as to the various editions which were published of Dr. Henry Sacheverell's Sermon at Derby in 1709? I am anxious to ascertain how many editions were issued, with their dates and other particulars.

L. J.

[We think our correspondent will not be able to obtain the information he requires, owing to the great demand at the time for the two Sermons for which the [230] Doctor was prosecuted. Mr. Lathbury states (History of the Nonjurors, p. 237) that "of the Sermon 'Perils among False Brethren,' no less than forty thousand copies were sold in a few weeks." We have also now before us two copies of the Derby Sermon, both printed in 1709, 8vo., but no intimation on the title-page of their being different editions, which they evidently are, on an examination of their typographical composition. The Bodleian contains a quarto edition of the latter Sermon, 1710.]

Lucas Lossius.

—I have an old 12mo. volume with the following title-page:

"Annotationes Scholasticæ in Evangelia Dominicalia et ea quæ in Festis IESV CHRISTI, et Sanctorum ejus præcipuis, leguntur in Ecclesia, per totius Anni circulum: non inutile futuræ puerilibus Scholis.

"His adjectæ sunt in singula Evangelia Disticha, Argumenta, Doctrinæ Summariæ, Loci et Objectiones præterea, cum brevibus ac veris earum solutionibus Dialecticis, exercendæ adolescentiæ causa.

"Collecta et dictata à Luca Lossio, in Schola Lunæburgensi.

"⁕ ☞ ⁕

"Adiecimus et iam recens erudita Evangeliorum Dominicalium et Festivalium Disticha, inundæ memoriæ causa, à Vuendelino Helbachio conscripta.

"⁕

"Franc. Apud Hæred. Christ. Egen.

"M.D.LXXVIII."

The words, and parts of words, in Italics are rubricated.

As I live at a distance from any large library, and have consulted in vain such biographical works as my own scanty shelves afford, I shall be greatly obliged to any of your correspondents who have access to our public libraries, to inform me who Lucas Lossius was, and where any account of him may be met with? Also, who Wendelinus Helbachius, Stigelius, and Bernardus Bomgardius were, whose "Disticha" are interspersed throughout the volume? In the "Epistola Nuncupatoria" mention is made of "Joannis Stigelij, Poetæ clarissimi, nostra ætate," and of "M. Bernardi Bomgardij, Ludimoderatoris Vlzeniani;" but I cannot find any account of these worthies.

I ought to add that each Sunday or Saint's Day is preceded by a curious woodcut representing the subject of which the Gospel treats.

R. BN.

[Lucas Lossius, of Lunenburg, was a Lutheran divine and schoolmaster, well skilled in music, who published at Nuremberg, in 1553, Erotemata Musicæ practicæ, and together with Melancthon, the Lutheran ritual, Psalmodia, seu Cantica sacra veteris ecclesiæ selecta. At the period of the Reformation, the Lutherans preserved more of the ancient hymns and music of the church in their services than the Calvinists. Some account of Lossius is given in Hawkins's History of Music, vol. iii. p. 102. There is an edition of Annotationes Scholasticæ, with the curious woodcuts printed in the year 1560, at Leipsic.]

The "Athenian Oracle."

—Can you inform me who were the authors of the "Athenian Oracle," or, in other words, the members of the "Learned Society" who conducted this work? You may feel some interest in it as a kind of prototype and progenitor of your own "N. & Q." Your work, as I apprehend, does not profess to solve and answer so many nice puzzling points in divinity, philosophy, love, &c., as that of the Oracle, which furnishes us with a curious picture of the wants, opinions, and manners of the age in which it appeared; but yours, though neither dipping so deeply nor ranging so widely, ought to be highly prized as the exponent of the demands of our times more improved, enlightened, and not less inquisitive, and as affording to some of your correspondents far from the great metropolis of letters, a ready channel for information, much to their instruction and pleasure. Pardoning this digression, the copy of the Athenian Oracle I possess is in 3 vols. 8vo., purporting to be an entire collection of all the valuable questions and answers in the old Athenian Mercuries, &c., by a member of the Athenian Society; London, printed for Andrew Bell at the Cross Keys and Bible in Cornhill, near Stocks Market, the second volume 1703, the first and third 1704. The copy bears an autograph on the fly-leaf; "Ex Libris Thomas Browne, Ex Dono plurim; Mri Guil Carstairs Acad. Edinburg. primarij professoris Cui omnia (two words obscure) Ed. Nov. 23, 1706." The historical celebrity of Carstairs is a small feather in the cap of the copy, but unimportant to some farther knowledge from you of the book and its authors, the former having often supplied much rational fireside entertainment.

N.

Glasgow.

[The Athenian Gazette, afterwards called The Athenian Mercury, swelled at last to twenty volumes folio; these becoming scarce, a collection of the most valuable questions and answers was reprinted under the title of The Athenian Oracle, in 4 vols. 8vo. The fourth volume contains a Supplement, to which is prefixed "The History of the Athenian Society," and an "Essay upon Learning." It was projected by the celebrated John Dunton, who says, "My first project was the Athenian Gazette. As the Athenian Society had their first meeting in my brain, so it has been kept ever since religiously secret: but I will now oblige the reader with a true discovery of the question-project, and of the several persons that engaged in it." These were his brother-in-law, the Rev. Samuel Wesley and Mr. Richard Sault, who were occasionally assisted by Dr. Norris. The work was also countenanced by several of the most eminent writers of the age; and was honoured in particular with a commendatory poem by Swift. Some curious notices respecting Dunton and his numerous literary projects will be found in the Life and Errors of John Dunton, 2 vols. 8vo., 1818; and in Nichols' Literary Anecdotes, vol. v. pp. 59-83.] [231]

Replies.

FRENCH REVOLUTIONS FORETOLD.
(Vol. v., p. 100.)

A remarkable instance of foresight relative to the fate of some of the French sovereigns appears in an epistle of Erasmus to King Francis I.:

"Prætexunt fidei titulum, sed revera aliud agunt; moliuntur tyrannidem, etiam in capita Principum. Huc tendunt per cuniculos. Nisi Princeps ipsorum voluntati per omnia paruerit, dicetur fautor Hæreticorum; et destitui poterit per Ecclesiam; hoc est, per aliquos conjuratos Pseudomonachos et Pseudotheologos."

Richer, Doctor of the Sorbonne, after having alluded to this passage, uses the following very striking language:

"Cæterum regno Franciæ his artibus everso, (quod omen Deus avertat,) reliquis Monarchiis Christianis quæ supererunt eadem manet pestis; ut prophetia Apostoli, de iniquitatis mysterio, et politicarum Potestatum ruina atque interitu, complementum sortiatur; cujus pestis et ruinæ complementum in dies singulos Bullæ Cœnæ Domini et Directorii Inquisitorum arcanis promovetur. Tumque demum, in fine sæculorum, seditiones, conspirationes, et bella plusquam civilia fervebunt, propter Potestatum sæculi exarmatorum imbecillitatem atque impotentiam; quæ nec sibi ipsis, nec aliis, sufficienter consulere poterunt; quia omnes imperare, et nemo parere volet: quibus de bellis consule caput 24. Matthæi."

Apologia pro Joanne Gersonio, pp. 203-4. Lugd. Bat. 1676.

R. G.

GRIMESDYKE.
(Vol. iv. passim.)

NAUTICUS is informed that in Norfolk one of the hundreds, or subdivisions of the county, is called Grimshoo or Grimshow, after (as it is supposed) a Danish leader of the name of Grime or Gryme. He was undoubtedly either Præsitus Comitatus or Centuriæ Præpositus of that part of the country, and gave his name to the hundred as hundred-greeve, which name it still retains. In about the centre of this hundred is a very curious Danish encampment, in a semicircular form, consisting of about twelve acres.

In this space are a great number of large deep pits, joined in a regular manner, one near to another, in form of a quincunx, the largest in the centre, where the general's or commander's tent was placed. These pits are so deep and numerous as to be able to conceal a very great army. At the east end of this entrenchment is a large tumulus, pointing towards Thetford, from which it is about five or six miles distant; and which might possibly have served as a watch tower, or place of signal: and here the hundred court used to be called. This place also is known by the name of The Holes, or Grimes-graves. This part of the country, being open, was a great seat of war between the Saxons and Danes, as appears from many tumuli throughout this hundred, erected over the graves of leaders who fell in battle; or as tokens of victory, to show how far they had led their armies and conquered.—See Blomfield in loco.

J. F. F.

West Newton.

To the various instances already recorded in "N. & Q.," of ancient earthworks having received the name "Grimesdyke," the following may be added.

One on Cranbourne Chase, Dorset; three in Berkshire, viz., one near Silchester, one near Oare, where also are Grimsbury, and Grimsbury Forest; another, intersected by the Thames, near Wallingford; another near Witney, Oxfordshire.

The great fossa and vallum of Lollius Urbicus in Scotland, is called Graham's and Grime's Dyke. The frequency of its application to various earthworks in such distant parts of the kingdom may perhaps be considered sufficient evidence that the name is not derived from that of any landed proprietor, as suggested by one of your correspondents. I have no doubt the derivation suggested by your first correspondent, NAUTICUS, is the true one, viz., that it is of Saxon origin, signifying Wizard, or the Evil Spirit, which indicates, not only that these earthworks were in existence in Saxon times, but that their origin was even then so remote and mysterious that they were supposed to be the work of supernatural agency. Grimesdyke, described by NAUTICUS as beginning near Berkhamsted, Herts (not Hants, as misprinted in "N. & Q."), and running across the Chiltern hills, is mentioned, temp. Henry III., in a charter of Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, granting Ashridge to the fraternity of the Bonhommes:

"Usque ad quoddam fossatum quod dicitur Grymesdich."

If this should meet the eyes of my friend NAUTICUS, wherever in the broad seas he may happen to be, he will be glad to hear that this extensive earthwork of antiquity is now undergoing the investigation of an Archæological Society, of which he is an esteemed member. I may further remark that the family name of Grimesdike is doubtless from some ancient place so named, and not these several places from the family. The armorial bearings of the family would at once suggest this conclusion. I have not found the name given to any ancient work in Wales, which of course would not be the case, if it be of Saxon origin.

W. H. K. [232]

POET REFERRED TO BY BACON.
(Vol. iv., p. 257.)

The poet referred to by Bacon is not the author of the Mirror for Magistrates, but ARIOSTO, whose Orlando Furioso was then popular in the recent translation of Sir John Harrington. The allegory will be found at the close of the thirty-fourth and commencement of the thirty-fifth books:

S. W. SINGER.

JOHNSON'S HOUSE, BOLT COURT.
(Vol. v., p. 176.)

A correspondent discussing the question of the site, or of the continued existence, of the house in Bolt Court in which Johnson lived and died, mentions that one person now living called there during the last illness of our sublime moralist. I believe he refers to Mr. Rogers.

The fact is that there is also a lady, an inhabitant of Piccadilly, Viscountess Keith, who not only grew from childhood to the age of twenty in the constant association of the Doctor, but who is also mentioned by Madame D'Arblay as having been a visitor at Bolt Court in 1784. Whether the noble lady referred to, at the extraordinary age she has reached (she was the eldest Miss Thrale), could solve from memory your friend's doubts as to this classical locality, I know not.

M. A.

I am in a position to assure MR. EDWIN LECHLADE that Dr. Johnson's house was burnt down in 1819, the premises having been long previously occupied by the most eminent English printer of his own or any other time, Mr. Thomas Bensley, to whose energy the world is indebted for the perfection of the printing machine.

The house of Johnson's friend, Mr. Allen the printer, was not destroyed by the disastrous fire which reduced to ashes the Doctor's residence; indeed only one corner of it was injured; and, with that exception, it stands as it was built shortly after the Great Fire of London.

Mr. Allen's house stands at the head of Bolt Court; Dr. Johnson's stood to its left. On the site of the latter was erected, after the before-mentioned fire, a spacious printing-office, and both are now in the occupation of Mr. Tyler.

The Gentleman's Magazine (1819, part i., p. 575.), in giving an account of this fire, says in a note:

"It may be interesting to some of our readers to know that the house in Bolt Court, formerly the residence of Dr. Johnson, formed part of Mr. Bensley's office, and is now entirely destroyed. A view of it is preserved in the European Magazine for 1810."

The European Magazine (1810, vol. lvii. pp. 353-4.) contains, besides the view above-mentioned, an article to which your correspondent may be referred, in confirmation of the fact that the house occupied by Dr. Johnson was the one I have referred to, and was not exactly opposite the "Dr. Johnson tavern." The view, I am told by one who well recollects the old house, and is a great lover of Johnsoniana, is a correct representation of it.

Timperley's Dictionary of Printers and Printing, also, in relating the occurrence of the fire of Messrs. Bensley's premises, states that a part of it was formerly the residence of Dr. Johnson.

TEE BEE.

In answer to the Query of EDWIN LECHLADE, being in a position to give you unquestionable information, I will, to quote your correspondent's words, let the question be set at rest. Of the [233] house in which Dr. Johnson lived and died, not one brick is left upon another. It was destroyed totally by fire in 1819; and the partywall between that and Mr. Allen's house alone remains, being the west wall of that large residence. When up Bolt Court, you turn to the left through an iron gate leading to a flight of stone steps to the printing-office now occupied by Mr. Tyler, and where those stone steps are, stood the doctor's residence. I know of no relic that was saved except the scraper, which was distorted into a curious shape by the action of the fire, and being firmly fixed in a heavy stone, it lay about the yard for years.

The late well-known printer Mr. Bensley succeeded Mr. Allen there in business in 1783, going at once to reside in his house next door to Dr. Johnson, whom, of course, as a close neighbour, he often saw, and whose funeral he witnessed. After the Doctor's death the Rev.—Stockdale, of the Church of England, occupied the house; next to him it was tenanted by a Rev.—Moir, (I believe) a Presbyterian; next, by one Copley, an old tailor, whom I have teased many times when a boy; for some of us youngsters having overheard him once in a soliloquy groaning, "Dear me—and the buttons all wrong!" on passing him it became a mot among us expressed sufficiently loud to reach his ears, when he would look unutterable things. He was a worthy but somewhat cross old man, in very respectable circumstances. His was the last family which ever occupied the premises as a dwelling-house; I knew him there for about twenty years. During his abode the freehold was put up for sale by auction, as well as of Allen's house; Mr. Bensley purchased both. This was somewhere about 1804-1807. But as Copley had a lease, he did not vacate till about 1814, when Mr. Bensley appropriated the two houses to his printing purposes (and there, it may not be unworthy of notice, was steam-printing first practised),—so occupied the said premises were, till destroyed by fire in 1819. Mr. Bensley's eldest surviving son succeeded him in 1820, but did not, in re-constructing the premises, build on the site of Dr. Johnson's house, though a part thereof has since been covered. The map—a very fragile, worm-eaten affair—shows the exact dimensions of the house, the place where the walls stood, &c. The property remains in Mr. Bensley's family. I have often heard Mr. Bensley describe the Doctor and his funeral.

The print in the European Magazine is an accurate representation of the appearance of this ancient and gloomy house in the dark corner; but it had many comforts, and "a large garden," in which I have been; it is now all built upon, and has been covered for nearly half a century. Some yet living may have visited Dr. Johnson there: I have often conversed with others who are dead that did—the late Mr. Bowyer Nichols, Mr. Cradock (of Leicestershire), Mr. A. Strahan, and others mentioned in the Doctor's works, when gratifying their curiosity by showing them over the house; and it has fallen to my lot to do so to many literary characters. Indeed as to the place where Dr. Johnson lived and died, there is no more room for doubt than as to where old London bridge stood. I have many times been with the late Mr. James Boswell (son of Dr. Johnson's biographer) in the rather dismal parlour—which spot, it is not to be wondered at, had a peculiar attraction for him.

There is no kind of foundation for assigning Dr. Johnson's residence to that where Cobbett lived or wrote—it was a mere joke. As to the "Johnson's Head" tavern, it was an upholsterer's manufactory at the time of Dr. Johnson's death. I myself knew an old man of the name of Hale residing in it, and carrying on that occupation so early as 1800, who had doubtless been there before Dr. Johnson's death; his son followed him, and continued till about 1826-1830 in those premises. By the same token (as Paddy says), while now addressing "N. & Q." (though nearly 300 miles from the spot) I am writing at a table Hale sen. made for me in that house in 1818.

The greater part of Mr. Bensley's extensive premises was twice burned down; but on neither occasion was Allen's house destroyed. It yet stands, though so altered and improved as not to resemble the original edifice. Mr. Tyler's counting-house, by the iron gate at the S. W. corner, however, is left just as used by Allen (except a passage cut off at the end), the panelling, &c., just the same, being the only part remaining unaltered: there was then, of course, no door out to the stone steps, as there stood Dr. Johnson's parlour. In this counting-house, no doubt, Dr. Johnson often was; and in the adjoining parlour he often fed. It was a very old-fashioned room, as I well remember it upwards of half a century ago. His better parlour, or drawing-room, was large and handsomely furnished for the period, with three windows, and two ancient pier-glasses fixed to tables, gilt and adorned according to the taste of the times. Mr. Bensley bought these and a few other household matters, which remained in statu quo till 1805-1808.

I have seen some prints of the inside of Dr. Johnson's house, which do not give a very accurate idea of the appearance of the rooms, &c.; but, I repeat it, the view of the front in the European Magazine is excellent.

The celebrity of Dr. Johnson may induce you to insert this, which, without that influence, I am aware would be too tedious.

B. B. [234]

COOPER'S MINIATURE OF CROMWELL.
(Vol. iv., p. 368.; Vol. v., p. 189. &c.)

It is only within a few months that the existence of the "N. & Q." became known to me. It seemed likely to be such an useful and amusing publication, from the description I received of it from a literary friend (now appointed vice-consul to the Isle of Mytilene), that I lost no time in becoming a subscriber; and I am rejoiced to add, that my expectations have not been disappointed, though I have not had time to read the Notes or attend to the Queries as fully as I could have wished till very lately.

However, I have now observed amongst the Replies, Vol. v., p. 189., a Note relating to the miniature of Cromwell by Cooper, with several references to other Notes and Queries upon the same subject, originating with a Query from LORD BRAYBROOKE in Vol. iv., p. 368. If the following appears to you worthy of insertion, pray use it.

I have a beautiful miniature of Oliver Cromwell, painted with very great care, and which has every appearance of being an original by Cooper. I remember it all my life in my father's (Lord Holland's) room at Holland House; and on his death in 1840, it was left by him to his friend and mine, John Allen, late master of Dulwich College, who died in 1843, and left it with his books to me.

Cromwell is painted in armour, with a remarkably clean, plain, turned-down shirt collar; his usual countenance, somewhat stern, but full of the expression of good sense and intelligence; reddish hair, and a small portion of it under the lower lip. On the back is written in my father's handwriting:

"This miniature was given to me when at school by Lady Diana Beauclerk, who assured me that it was an original by Cooper, and that it had been long in the possession of the Beauclerk family, who had it from Charles II. (Signed) VASSALL HOLLAND."

Lady D. Beauclerk, herself distinguished as an artist, was the daughter of the Duke of St. Albans, a lineal descendant of Charles II.

There is an engraving from a miniature of Cromwell in Carlyle's life of him, said to be in the possession of Archdeacon Berners, which I believe to be also by Cooper. It is larger than mine, and even better painted. I have seen it, but cannot recollect where or when.

C. Fox, Major-General.

P.S.—I have left my miniature with my friend Mr. Domenic Colnaghi at Pall Mall East, for the inspection of any of your correspondents. It will be there till the 31st March.

Addison Road.

THE QUEEN OF THE ISLE OF MAN.
(Vol. v., p. 132.)

In an interesting communication from MR. WM. SIDNEY GIBSON in a late Number of your publication there occurs the following statement, to which I beg to add a few remarks. He says:

"After the death of Magnus, the island was seized by Alexander III. of Scotland. A daughter and heiress of Reginald sued for it against John Baliol, before Edward I. of England, as lord paramount of Man.

"Rot. Parl., 31 Edw. I."

And farther on he states:

"From sundry records it appears that Edward II. and Edward III. committed its custody to various persons, and the latter at length conferred his right to it upon William Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, in consideration, probably, of that valiant earl having by his arms regained the island from the Scots, who had resumed possession, and of the circumstance that his grandmother, the wife of Simon de Montacute, was sister and heiress of one of the former kings of Man, and related to the lady who had claimed it as her inheritance on the death of Magnus."

Now, I think MR. GIBSON, on reflection, will agree with me in concluding that the wife of Simon de Montacute, and the lady who claimed the island on the death of Magnus, were one and the same person. There is no document, I believe, of the kind he refers to, of the "31st" of Edw. I.; but in the "21st" of Edw. I., which date is probably intended, there is amongst the Scotch Rolls (anno 21 Edw. I. m. 4.) a citation from Edward I., as supreme lord of Scotland, directed to John Baliol, King of Scots, to answer the complaint of Aufrica, cousin and heiress of Magnus, late King of Man, &c. This is in the year 1292-3; and a few years later we again meet with Aufrica, for amongst the ancient charters in the British Museum is one marked "V. 73." It is a deed by which "Aufrica, heiress of the land of Man," gives up her right therein "to her noble and potent husband, Simon de Montagu." This deed is dated at Bridgewater, on Thursday the Vigil of the Annunciation, 1305; i.e. March 24, 1306.

In this charter (V. 73.) she calls herself Aufrica de Connought: and this is rather curious, for in a volume of pedigrees in the British Museum, in the handwriting of Robert Glover, Somerset Herald (Bib. Harl. 807.), she is said to be the daughter of Fergus, Lord of Galloway (Galway?), and Queen of Man. Galway it is in another MS. in the same collection (MSS. Harl. 1074. folio 22.), where she is styled "Aufrica, Reyne de Man," and daughter of Fergus, Lord of Galway. In both these MSS. she is said to be the wife of Simon de Montagu, who is styled "Roy de Man par sa femme."

F. C. M. [235]

Replies to Minor Queries.

Old Scots March (Vol. v., p. 104.).

—The following quotation from a "Dissertation on Scottish Music," by Mr. Tytler, of Woodhouselee (the grandfather of the historian), contained in the Transactions of the Society of Scottish Antiquaries, vol. i. p. 486., although not an answer to his Query, may perhaps prove interesting to J.M.:—

"To the wandering harpers we are certainly indebted for that species of music which is now scarcely known, I mean the Port. Almost every great family had a Port that went by the name of the family. Of the few that are still preserved are, Port Lennox, Port Gordon, Port Seton, and Port Athole, which are all of them excellent in their kind. The Port is not of the martial strain of the march, as some have conjectured; those above named being all in the plaintive strain, and modulated for the harp.

"The pibroch, the march or battle-tune of the Highland clans, with the different strains introduced of the coronich, &c., is fitted for the bagpipe only: its measure, in the pas grave of the Highland piper, equipped with his flag and military ensigns, when marching up to battle, is stately and animating, rising often to a degree of fury."

Although anxious to do so, I have never yet been able to meet with any of the ports here referred to.

E. N.

Elizabeth, Equestrian Figure of (Vol. iv., p. 231.).

—The "unnatural gait" which MR. LAWRENCE inquires about, is known in Spain as the "paso Castiliano;" and supplies the place of the more familiar trot, which the Spanish horses are rarely broken into.

I did not see the piece of plate alluded to, but probably the horse was a Spanish (Andalusian) jennet, which would account for the peculiarity of the pace. I cannot explain how this step is taught, but Spanish horses fall into it at once on being touched with the spur, and simultaneously curbed; and they perform long journeys thus, at the rate of five miles an hour, with little fatigue to themselves or their riders. Does not the dromedary also pace in the same way?

G. W. T.

Meaning of Stickle (Vol. iv., p. 209.).

—MR. RELTON'S supposition that the word stickle is used for a pool, is at variance with the common usage of the word in Devonshire, where only I have met with it. It is there used to describe the shallow swift running water immediately below a pool. It is thus equivalent to the word rapids. It is by no means obsolete, or a mere technical term of the "patient anglers." The opposition in the line quoted, "Near to some stickle or deep bay," would alone have been a good reason to doubt whether it could be the same as pool.

G. W. T.

Latin Names of Towns (Vol. i., pp. 287. 402. 474.).

—There is a class of persons who ought to be contributors to (⁕ ?) (I like the idea of a recent correspondent better than "N. & Q." with its marks of quotation) to a much larger extent than is the case. I mean those who having asked questions, and profited by the answer, find additional answer, or better answer, by their subsequent researches. As one of these, in reference to my Query about Latin names of towns in Vol. i., I mention the list given in Riccioli's Geographia et Hydrographiæ Reformatæ, of which the first edition was licensed in 1658 (I don't know where it was printed), and the record is of Venice, folio, 1672. This work contains, from more than 250 authors whose names are given, more than 8500 Latin names rendered into vernacular, and a much larger number reversely given.

M.

Llandudno, on the Great Orme's Head (Vol. v., p. 175.).

—L. G. T. will find, in Wanderings in North Wales, by William Cathrall, published by W.S. Orr and Co., the following answer to his Query:—

"There are several copper mines conducted here with great success. In October, 1849, the miners in the course of their labours, broke into an immense cavern, the roof of which, being one mass of stalactite, reflected back their lights with dazzling splendour. On examination the work turned out to be an ancient work, probably Roman, the benches, stone hammers, &c. used by that ancient people, having been found entire, together with many bones of mutton. The bones were to all appearance as fresh, though impregnated with copper, as they were when denuded of their fleshy covering, after remaining, as they must have done, nearly 2000 years in the bowels of the earth. The cavern is about forty yards long."

The date of the cavern is, therefore, long anterior to the Catholic times.

WM. DURRANT COOPER.

Brozier (Vol. ii., p. 44.).

—An Essex clergyman, who agrees with MR. GATTY in deriving the word from the Greek verb Βρωσκω, to devour, or eat like a beast, observes, that we still describe that act when we speak of "the browsing cattle." He also mentions that when he was at Westminster, the word was there used in the same sense as at Eton, and he well recollects one of his schoolfellows broziered to such an extent that his life was despaired of.

BRAYBROOKE.

Passage in Troilus and Cressida (Vol. v., p. 178.).

—In reply to your correspondent W. S. D. I have only to say, that my folio of 1632, with early manuscript emendations, does not contain any alteration of the line in Troilus and Cressida, Act I. Sc. 3.:

which seems to me quite intelligible without any change. In the next line it reads "primogeniture" for "primogenitive", and as I apprehend rightly, the concluding syllable tive having been caught by the compositor from "prerogative," the first word in the line immediately below it. [236]

I may take this opportunity of saying that no play in my volume is more patiently corrected than Troilus and Cressida; and that in a preceding speech by Nestor it confirms a correction by Theobald in the first line—godlike for "godly;" and by Sir Thomas Hanmer in the last line—replies for "retires." Malone printed returns after Pope, which answers the sense very well, but is hardly so probable a misprint. I am sorry to say that I thought otherwise when I published my Shakspeare; and I never can sufficiently regret that this corrected copy of the second folio did not fall into my hands until some years after I had completed that undertaking.

J. PAYNE COLLIER.

Nelson Family (Vol. v., p. 176.).

—If FRANCISCUS will refer to the pedigree of the Nelson family, in Hoare's History of Modern Wiltshire (Downton Hundred), he will find that William Nelson, who settled at Dunham parva in Norfolk, and who was the great-grandfather of the naval hero, was the son of Edmund Nelson of Scarning, in the same county, and grandson of Thomas of the same place, which Thomas, according to the same pedigree, was the son of another William, who is stated to have been a Nelson of Mandesley, the same family from which the Chuddleworth Nelsons are derived in Burke's account. I have tested the general accuracy of this pedigree, which was, I believe, compiled by Mr. Matcham from the parochial registers, but I much doubt the assumed descent from the Mandesley family, as I find Nelsons inhabiting the neighbourhood of Scarning at a period prior to the supposed migration.

G. A. C.

Maps of Africa (Vol. v., p. 174.).

—I have been intending for some time to write to you on the same subject as Paterfamiliæ, but the Christian grace of laziness has been too strong for me. Paterfamiliæ, however, has aroused me. My case is this: five years ago I commenced a map, for my own use, of the shores of the Mediterranean, and such countries as received Christianity up to the period of the Council of Nice; and I had a hope of eventually being able to carry out the plan suggested by DR. MAITLAND, in his work on the Dark Ages, and an intention of making mysterious marks to indicate the scene of any great persecution, remarkable synod, or other notable event. Well! I got on very well, by the help of Kiepert and Cramer, through Greece, Asia Minor, and Italy. Indeed, I managed to be content with all my sources, as far as Europe was concerned; but when I had advanced as far as North Africa, I came to a dead stop. There really was absolutely no map that I could find that I could trust for the site of Carthage or Alexandria. There were no "N. & Q." when I found myself at a stand-still; but I asked all the friends about me, and I verily believe that to the majority of those I spoke to it appeared an unreasonable thing for any man to expect a map of the regions I wanted described. There seemed a kind of feeling that when a man had got a map of Caffraria and Egypt, and perhaps knew where Algiers might be, he knew quite as much about Africa as he ought. Can any of your correspondents now help me? Is there no authentic French map of at least some portion of the coast; or is there any map in existence among ourselves that is not palpably a "fancy portrait?"

AJAX.

Muggleton (Vol. v., p. 80.).

—The Muggletonian sect probably still exists. I was surprised at finding a shop for the sale of its publications immediately within St. John's Gate, Clerkenwell, about five years ago. Perhaps R.S. may think it worth while to look whether the same trade be still carried on there.

J. C. R.

Passage in Hamlet (Vol. v., p. 169.).

—I have just read A. E. B.'s Notes on Shakspeare, No. II. His long criticism, ending in his own suggestion of a new reading of the passage in Hamlet, does not convince me that he has found the true reading yet. I suggest the following:

This reading of mine only makes it necessary to substitute the letters n and ll, for a and o, in the quarto of 1605.

Dull is a favourite word of Shakspeare's; and surely it makes at least as good sense as any of the other readings. It is questionable whether the lines are Shakspeare's; for the whole passage, from "This heavy-headed revel," to "To his own scandal," is omitted in the first and second folios, and also in the first known quarto of "1603."

To prove how easy it is for printers, or copiers from original manuscripts of authors, to make mistakes, I will call your attention to a serious blunder in the first edition of Ben Jonson's verses addressed to the Earl of Somerset, which are in the Athenæum of Feb. 21st. The twenty-first and twenty-second lines are thus printed:

Ben wrote "immortall."

H. F.

Theoloneum (Vol. v., p. 105.).

—Theoloneum is a toll, i.e. the payment made in markets and fairs for goods bought and sold. It was the property of the lord to whom the fair or market belonged by patent from the crown.

Henry III., by letters patent, dated at Windsor 15th May, in the thirty-first year of his reign, grants to the abbot, &c. of Fecamp, the manors at [237] Cheltenham and Slaughter, &c. &c. &c. in exchange for the villes of Winchelsea and Rye, which had been granted to the said abbot, &c. by Edward the Confessor; to hold them—

"adeo libera et quieta sicut antea tenuerunt Winchelsee et la Rye ratione donationis eis facte a felicis memorie sancto Adwardo, et concessionum ac confirmationum postmodum abitarum a Willelmo et Henrico Regibus Anglie de terra de Staniges cum omnibus apendiciis suis. Inter que reputabantur Winchelsee et la Rye. In cujus regis Willelmi carta continebantur hujusmodi libertates; videlicet, quod predicti abbas et monachi Phiscanenses habeant terram de Staniges, cum omnibus omnino apendiciis suis et cum omnibus legibus, libertatibus, liberis consuetudinibus quietanciis placitis, querelis, et causis que sunt vel fore possunt, absque ulla inquietudine et diminutione cujuslibet secularis vel judiciaria potestatis sicut res ad Phiscum dominicum pertinentes et quod predicta terra cum omnibus apendiciis suis libera sit et quieta ab omni consuetudine terrene servitutis et ab omni dominacione et subjeccione Baronum et principum et omnium aliorum. Et quod prefati abbas et Monachi Phiscanenses et eorum ministri habeant omnem regiam libertatem et consuetudinem et omnem justiciam suam de omnibus rebus et negociis que in terra sua evenient vel poterunt evenire, nec aliquis nisi per eos se inde intromittat. Quia hoc totum regale beneficium est et ab omni servitute quietum. Et quod si aliquis quicquam contra hujusmodi concessionem presumat, ad phiscum dominicum coactus auri libras centum persolvat."

I have ventured to subjoin this recital from the charter of William, thinking that it may be acceptable to your querist, as fully explanatory of the transaction to which his question refers.

LAMBERT A. LARKING.

Donkey (Vol. v., pp. 78. 165.).

—In Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, v. 16954., we have—

There is also an old proverbial simile:

It is supposed that Dun was a nickname applied to the ass from his colour, in the same way as Burnell, in the Chester Whitsun Playes, MS. Harl. 2013., and Russell applied to the fox, Canterbury Tales, v. 15340.

As to the termination key, it is probably (as in monkey, jockey, which are the only words of similar formation which I can call to mind at present) the same as kin, which has the force of a diminutive in words like lambkin, mannikin, &c.

JUVENIS.

Sir Samuel Garth (Vol. v., p. 151.).

—I believe it will be found difficult to find the place of this celebrated physician's birth. In the fourth volume of Mr. Surtees' History of the County of Durham, pp. 26, 27., there is an interesting account of him, to which is added a pedigree of his family. Surtees, in a note, says:

"There is no trace of his having ever revisited the north, and I have in vain endeavoured to glean anything of correspondence, or of traditional anecdote."

FRA. MEWBURN.

Darlington.

Princes of Wales and Earls of Chester, &c.: Mr. Bush's Collection (Vol. v., p. 178.).

—I suspect Mr. Bush's proposed collection was never published. In an old MS. account of the Fellows of King's, I find the following extract. I copy it as it stands:

"1718.

"Cha. Bush, of Harmondsworth, Middx. Res on being denied his Degree of A. B. in College from Party.... A Clk. of the Record Off. in the Tower, 1725. April 27, 1726, he published proposals for printing by Subsr. A lott of Charters and Letters Patent, and other Instruments concerning the Creation and Investiture of the eldest sons of the Ks of Engl. as Princes of Wales, D. of Cornwall & E. of Chester & Flint, together with several Extracts out of the Parl. Rolls relating to the Honor, Dignity, & Estate of the P. of Wales, from the time of Edward first, P. of Wales (afterwards K. E. 2) to the time of E. 4. inclusive, faithfully collated from the Records of the Tower by C. B. one of the Clks. of the Record Off. in the T. & late Fell. of K. C. C.

"He was taken into the Ordnance Office to assist in methodising the Papers belonging to it, and was after Sec. to the Board of Ordnance."

It would seem Mr. Bush's proposals did not meet with a favourable reception, or perhaps his removal to an important government office prevented his fulfilling his intentions. It is to be hoped he returned his subscriptions (if any).

J. H. L.

Litera scripta manet (Vol. v., p. 200.).

—The following extract, if not complete answer to the query on Litera scripta manet, is a curious instance of the early use of that maxim, and I transcribe it with pleasure as a specimen of one of the best informed and most interesting of our medieval prose writers. I rely, as to orthography and punctuation, on Joseph Ames:

"Considering that wordes ben perisshyng, wayne, and forgateful, and wrytynes duelle and abide permanent, as I rede, Vox audita perit, litera scripta manet. Thise thinges have caused that the faites and deeds of auncient men ben sette by declaracion in fair and aourned volumes, to thende that science and artes, lerned and founden, of thinges passed might be had in perpetuel memorye and remembraunce," &c.

William Caxton.

Westmestre by London, 1481.

BOLTON CORNEY.

Miscellaneous.

NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC.

The Athenæum of Saturday the 21st February announces that Sir F. Madden has secured for the British [238] Museum the celebrated "Bedford Missal," and several other beautiful MSS., by the wise expenditure of three thousand pounds. The other MSS., not described by The Athenæum, are, we believe, the Breviary of Isabella of Spain, presented to her by Francisco de Rojas in 1497, on the occasion of the double marriage of her children, Don Juan and Doña Juana, to Margaret of Austria and Philip the Fair, which sold at Mr. Hurd's sale in 1832 for 520l.; the Hours of Juana of Castile, wife of Philip the Fair, formerly in Hanrott's library; the Hours of Francis I., which sold in Sir Mark Masterman Sykes's sale, 1824, for 163l. 16s.; the Hours of François d'Inteville, Bishop of Auxerre, executed in 1525, formerly in Beckford's collection; another volume of Hours of the sixteenth century, and a fine copy, in two large vols. folio, of the French translation of Petrus Comestor's Historia Scholastica, by Guiart des Molins, completed in 1294. While we agree with our contemporary in our approval of this purchase, we cannot help adding to that approval a hope that neither the trustees nor the treasury will make this expenditure an excuse for not enabling the keeper of the MSS. to make extensive purchases at the sales of valuable historical collections which are expected to take place in the course of the present year.

At a general meeting of the Percy Society held last Thursday week, the dissolution of the Society was determined on; and the meeting came to the very proper resolution of not selling the stock of books in hand, which would have had the effect of depreciating the market-value of the Society's publications, but of distributing them among the existing members. It is proposed, we believe, to form a new Society on a somewhat similar plan; but which is to have for its object the reprinting, without abridgment or omission, of such rare but well chosen tracts by Greene, Nash Breton, Taylor the Water Poet, &c. as afford valuable illustration of manners, or are interesting in any other point of view.

We have received from Messrs. Rivington a new volume containing Eight Essays on Various Subjects, by the Rev. S. R. Maitland, D.D. The pages of "N. & Q." have been so frequently enriched by contributions from the able pen of the writer of these Essays, and he has in the work in question spoken so kindly of this journal, that we feel it will be more respectful to one who does not need our praise—which might under these circumstances be attributed to interested motives—if we limit our notice of the subject of the volume to an enumeration of the titles of the essays. They are as follows:—I. On the Mystical Interpretation of Scripture; II. Sacred Art—No. 1. Music; III. Sacred Art—No. 2. Painting; IV. Matter of Fact; V. The Fulness of the Gentiles; VI. The Waldenses and Albigenses; VII. Perrin's History of the Vaudois; VIII. The Lollards. When we add that to these are appended the following notes:—A. Cowper's Nightcap; B. Vauxhall; C. The School of Declamation; D. On Political Prophecies; E. The "Mirabilis Liber" and "Petrus de Bardis"; F. Extracts from Lollard Prophecies: we think we have shown all who know the learning, honesty of purpose, strong common sense, and racy humour of the Essayist, that the book is one to be looked after, and to be looked at.

BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES
WANTED TO PURCHASE.

BELL'S FUGITIVE POETRY COLLECTION. Vols. X. and XVI. 12mo. 1790.

THE CRITIC, London Literary Journal. First 6 Nos. for 1851.

VOLTAIRE, ŒUVRES COMPLETES DE. Aux Deux-Ponts. Chez Sanson et Compagnie. Vols. I. & II. 1791-2.

SCOTT'S CONTINUATION OF MILNER'S CHURCH HISTORY. Part II. of Vol. II. 8vo.

SPECTATOR. No. 1223. Dec. 6, 1851.

EDWIN AND EMMA. Taylor, 1776.

ANNUAL REGISTER, from 1816 inclusive to the present time.

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

THE CODE MATRIMONIAL. Paris, 1770.

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

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

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

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

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

CRESCENT AND THE CROSS. Vol. I. Third Edition.

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

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

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

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

FIELDING'S WORKS. 14 Vols. 1808. Vol. XI. [Being 2nd of Amelia.]

SHADWELL. Vols. II. and IV. 1720.

ARCHBISHOP LEIGHTON. Vol. IV. 1819.

BARONETAGE. Vol. I. 1720.
Ditto. Vols. I. and II. 1727.

CHAMBERLAYNE'S PHARONNIDA. (Reprint.) Vols. I. and II. 1820.

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

Notices to Correspondents.

We regret that we have been compelled at the last moment to postpone MR. RAWLINSON'S paper on Provincial Words until next week.

J. W. B. The autobiography of Richard Jones the comedian has not, we believe, been published.

J. N. C. The Augmentation Office is a part of the Record Office at Carlton Ride.

G. H. K. Does our correspondent wish his Query respecting William Tell in our 3rd Vol. p. 187. repeated?

R. J. (Shrewsbury) is referred to Carlyle's Sartor Resartus for a reply to his Query.

REPLIES RECEIVED.—Cabal—Roaring Meg—Cheap Maps—Nuremburg Token—Gospel Oaks—Broad Arrow—Provincial Names—Modern Greek Names of Places—Knarres—Boiling to Death—Passage in Hamlet—Age of Trees—Ballad of Lord Delamere—Beocherie—Sir A. Cumming and the Cherokees—Behemoth—"'Twas whisper'd in Heaven"—John of Padua—Donkey—Ambassadors addressed as Peers.

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

Neat Cases for holding the Numbers of "N. & Q." until the completion of each Volume are now ready, price 1s. 6d., and may be had by order of all booksellers and newsmen.

Copies of our Prospectus, according to the suggestion of T. E. H., will be forwarded to any correspondent willing to assist us by circulating them.

VOLUME THE FOURTH OF NOTES AND QUERIES, with very copious INDEX, is now ready, price 9s. 6d. cloth boards.

"NOTES AND QUERIES" is published at noon on Friday, so that the Country Booksellers may receive Copies in that night's parcels, and deliver them to their Subscribers on the Saturday. [239]

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, March 6, 1852.