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NOTES AND QUERIES:

A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC.

"When found, make a note of."—CAPTAIN CUTTLE.

CONTENTS.

NOTES.

ADDRESS TO OUR FRIENDS.

We this day publish our fifty-second Number. Every Saturday, for twelve months, have we presented to our subscribers our weekly budget of "Notes," "Queries," and "Replies;" and in so doing, we trust, we have accomplished some important ends. We have both amused and instructed the general reader; we have stored up much curious knowledge for the use of future writers; we have procured for scholars now engaged in works of learning and research, many valuable pieces of information which had evaded their own immediate pursuit; and, lastly, in doing all this, we have powerfully helped forward the great cause of literary truth.

In our Prospectus and opening address we made no great promise of what our paper should be. That, we knew, must depend upon how far the medium of intercommunication we had prepared should be approved and adopted by those for whose special use it had been projected. We laid down a literary railway: it remained to be seen whether the world of letters would travel by it. They have done so: we have been especially patronised by first-class passengers, and in such numbers that we were obliged last week to run an extra train.

It is obvious that the use of a paper like "Notes and Queries" bears a direct proportion to the extent of its circulation. What it aims at doing is, to reach the learning which lies scattered not only throughout every part of our own country, but all over the literary world, and to bring it all to bear upon the pursuits of the scholar; to enable, in short, men of letters all over the world to give a helping hand to one another. To a certain extent, we have accomplished this end. Our last number contains communications not only from all parts of the metropolis, and from almost every county in England, but also from Scotland, Ireland, Holland, and even from Demerara. This looks well. It seems as if we were in a fair way to accomplish our design. But much yet remains to be done. We have recently been told of whole districts in England so benighted as never to have heard of "Notes and Queries;" and after an interesting question has been discussed for weeks in our columns, we are informed of some one who could have answered it immediately if he had seen it. So long as this is the case the advantage we may confer upon literature and literary men is necessarily imperfect. We do what we can to make known our existence through the customary modes of announcement, and we gratefully acknowledge the kind assistance and encouragement we derive from our brethren of the public press; but we would respectfully solicit {354}the assistance of our friends this particular point. Our purpose is aided, and our usefulness increased by every introduction which can be given to our paper, either to a Book Club, to a Lending Library, or to any other channel of circulation amongst persons of inquiry and intelligence. By such introductions scholars help themselves as well as us, for there is no inquirer throughout the kingdom who is not occasionally able to throw light upon some of the multifarious objects which are discussed in our pages.

At the end of our first twelvemonth we thank our subscribers for the patronage we have received. We trust we shall go on week by week improving in our work of usefulness, so that at the end of the next twelvemonth we may meet them with the same pleasure as on the present occasion. We will continue to do whatever is in our power, and we rely upon our friends to help us.

SHAKSPEARE'S USE OF THE WORDS "CAPTIOUS" AND "INTENIBLE."

In the following passage of All's Well that Ends Well, Act i. Sc. 3., where Helena is confessing to Bertram's mother, the Countess, her love for him, these two words occur in an unusual sense, if not in a sense peculiar to the great poet:—

Johnson was perplexed about the word captious; "which (says he) I never found in this sense, yet I cannot tell what to substitute, unless carious for rotten!" Farmer supposed captious to be a contraction of capacious! Steevens believed that captious meant recipient, capable of receiving; which interpretation Malone adopts. Mr. Collier, in his recent edition of Shakspeare, after stating Johnson's and Farmer's suggestions, says, "where is the difficulty? It is true that this sense of captious may not have an exact parallel; but the intention of Shakspeare is very evident: captious means, as Malone says, capable of taking or receiving; and intenible (printed intemible in the first folio, and rightly in the second) incapable of retaining. Two more appropriate epithets could hardly be found, and a simile more happily expressive."

We no doubt all know, by intuition as it were, what Shakspeare meant; but "the great master of English," as Mr. Hickson very justly calls him, would never have used captious, as applied figuratively to a sieve, for capable of taking or receiving.

Intenible, notwithstanding the hypercriticism of Mr. Nares (that "it is incorrectly used by Shakspeare for unable to hold;" and that "it should properly mean not to be held, as we now use untenable") was undoubtedly used in the former sense, and it was most probably so accepted in the poet's time; for in the Glossagraphia Anglicana Nova, 1719, we have "Untenable, that will not or cannot hold or be holden long."

With regard to captious, it is not so much a matter of surprise that none of all these learned commentators should fail in their guesses at the meaning, as that none of them should have remarked that the sense of the Latin captiosus, and of its congeners in Italian and old French, is deceitful, fallacious; and Bacon uses the word for insidious, ensnaring. There can be no doubt that this is the sense in which Shakspeare used it. Helen speaks of her hopeless love for Bertram, and says:

"I know I love in vain, strive against hope; yet in this fallacious and unholding sieve I still pour in the waters of my love, and fail not to lose still."

When we speak of a captious person, do we mean one capable of taking or receiving? Then how much more absurd would it be to take it in that impossible sense, when figuratively applied in the passage before us! Bertram shows himself incapable of receiving Helena's love: he is truly captious in that respect.

In French the word captieux, according to the Academy, is only applied to language, though we may say un homme captieux to signify a man who has the art of deceiving or leading into error by captious language.

It is not impossible that the poet may have had in his mind the fruitless labour imposed upon the Danaïdes as a punishment, for it has been thus moralised:

"These virgins, who in the flower of their age pour water into pierced vessels which they can never fill, what is it but to be always bestowing over love and benefits upon the ungrateful."

S. W. Singer.

Mickleham, Oct. 4. 1850.

ORATORIES OF THE NONJURORS.

As the nooks and corners of London in olden times are now engaging the quiet musings of most of the topographical brotherhood, perhaps you can spare a nook or a corner of your valuable periodical for a few notes on the Oratories of those good men and true—the Nonjurors. "These were honourable men in their generation," and were made of most unbending materials.

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On the Feast of St. Matthias, Feb. 24, 1693, the consecrations of Dr. George Hickes and Thomas Wagstaffe were solemnly performed according to the rites of the Church of England, by Dr. William Lloyd, bishop of Norwich; Dr. Francis Turner, bishop of Ely; and Dr. Thomas White, bishop of Peterborough, at the Bishop of Peterborough's lodgings, at the Rev. William Giffard's house at Southgate in Middlesex: Dr. Ken, bishop of Bath and Wells, giving his consent.

Henry Hall was consecrated bishop in the oratory of the Rev. Father in Christ, John B—— [Blackburne?], in Gray's Inn, on the festival of St. Barnabas, June 11, 1725.

Hilkiah Bedford was consecrated in the oratory of the Rev. R—— R—— [Richard Rawlinson], in Gray's Inn, on the festival of St. Paul, Jan. 25, 1720. Ralph Taylor was also consecrated at the same time and place.

Henry Gandy was consecrated at his oratory in the parish of St. Andrew's, Holborn, on the festival of St. Paul, Jan. 25, 1716.

Grascome was interrupted by a messenger whilst he was ministering to his little congregation in Scroope's Court, near St. Andrew's Church.

Jeremy Collier officiated at Broad Street, London, assisted by the Rev. Samuel Carte, the father of the historian.

Mr. Hawkes officiated for some time at his own house opposite to St. James' Palace.

On Easter-day, April 13, 1718, at the oratory of his brother, Mr. William Lee, dyer, in Spitalfields, Dr. Francis Lee read a touching and beautiful declaration of his faith, betwixt the reading of the sentences at the offertory and the prayer for the state of Christ's church. It was addressed to the Rev. James Daillon, Count de Lude, then officiating.

Charles Wheatly, author of A Rational Illustration of the Book of Common Prayer, in a letter to Dr. Rawlinson, the nonjuring titular bishop of London, says:

"I believe most of the books in Mr. Laurence's catalogue were really in his library. Most of his chapel furniture I had seen; but his pix, and his cruet, his box for unguent, and oil, I suppose you do not inquire after."

Roger Laurence was the learned author of Lay Baptism Invalid. Query, Where did he officiate?

The Rev. John Lindsay, the translator of Mason's Vindication of the Church of England, for many years officiated as minister of a nonjuring congregation in Trinity Chapel, Aldersgate Street, and is said to have been their last minister.

Thoresby, in his Diary, May 18, 1714, says, "I visited Mr. Nelson (author of the Fasts and Festivals), and the learned Dr. George Hickes, who not being at liberty for half an hour, I had the benefit of the prayers in the adjoining church, and when the Nonjuring Conventicle was over, I visited the said Dean Hickes, who is said to be bishop of ——" [Thetford]. Both Nelson and Hickes resided at this time in Ormond Street; probably the conventicle was at one of their houses. It should be noted that Thoresby, having quitted the Conventicles of the Dissenters, had only recently joined what he calls the Church established by law. He appears to have known as much about the principles of the Nonjurors as he did of Chinese music.

Dr. Welton's chapel in Goodman's Fields being visited (1717) by Colonel Ellis and other justices of the peace, with proper assistants, about two hundred and fifty persons were found there assembled, of whom but forty would take the oaths. The doctor refusing them also, was ordered to be proceeded against according to law.

This reminds me of another Query. What has become of Dr. Welton's famous Whitechapel altar-piece, which Bishop Compton drove out of his church. Some doubts have been expressed whether that is the identical one in the Saint's Chapel of St. Alban's Abbey. A friend has assured the writer that he had seen it about twenty years ago, at a Roman Catholic meeting-house in an obscure court at Greenwich. It is not there now. The print of it in the library of the Society of Antiquaries is accompanied with these MS. lines by Mr. Mattaire:—

One word more. The episcopal seal of the nonjuring bishops was a shepherd with a sheep upon his shoulders. The crozier which had been used by them, was, in 1839, in the possession of John Crossley Esq., of Scaitcliffe, near Todmorden.

J. Yeowell.

Hoxton.

HOGARTH'S ILLUSTRATIONS OF HUDIBRAS.

"Butler's Hudibras, by Zach. Grey, LL.D. 2 vols. 8vo. Cambridge, 1744.

"Best edition. Copies in fine condition are in considerable request. The cuts are beautifully engraved, and Hogarth is much indebted to the designer of them; but who he was does not appear."

The above remarks in Lowndes's Bibliographical Manual having caught my attention, they appeared to me somewhat obscure and contradictory; and as they seemed rather disparaging to the fame of Hogarth, of whose works and genius I am a warm admirer, I have taken some pains to ascertain what may have been Mr. Lowndes's meaning.

On examining the plates in Dr. Grey's edition, they are all inscribed "W. Hogarth inv^t, J. Mynde sc^t." {356}How, then, can Hogarth be said to be much indebted to the designer of them, if we are to believe the words on the plates themselves—"W. Hogarth inv^t"?

It is clear that Mr. Lowndes supposes the designer of these plates to have been some person distinct from Hogarth; and he was right in his conjecture; but he was ignorant of the name of the artist alluded to.

Whoever he was, he can have little claim to be regarded as the original designer; he was rather employed as an expurgator; for these plates are certainly copies of the two sets of plates invented and engraved by Hogarth himself in 1726.

All that this second designer performed was, to revise the original designs of Hogarth's, in order to remove some glaring indecencies; and this, no doubt, is what Mr. Lowndes means, when he says that "Hogarth is much indebted to the designer of them."

The following passage in a letter from Dr. Ducaral to Dr. Grey, dated Inner Temple, May 10th, 1743, printed In Nichols's Illustrations, will furnish us with the name of the artist in question:—

"I was at Mr. Isaac Wood's the painter, who showed me the twelve sketches of Hudibras, which he designs for you. I think they are extremely well adapted to the book, and that the designer shows how much he was master of the subject."

In the preface to this edition, Dr. Grey expresses his obligations "to the ingenious Mr. Wood, painter, of Bloomsbury-square."

In the fourth volume of Nichols's Illustrations of Literature are some interesting letters from Thos. Potter, Esq., to Dr. Grey, which throw much light on the subject of this edition of Hudibras.

I cannot conclude these observations without expressing my dissent from the praise bestowed upon the engravings in this work. Mr. Lowndes says "the cuts are beautifully engraved." With the exception of the head of Butler by Vertue, the rest are very spiritless and indifferent productions.

J. T. A.

FOLK LORE.

Overyssel Superstition.—Stolen bees will not thrive; they pine away and die.

Janus Dousa.

Death-bed Superstitions.—When a child is dying, people, in some parts of Holland, are accustomed to shade it by the curtains from the parent's gaze; the soul being supposed to linger in the body as long as a compassionate eye is fixed upon it. Thus, in Germany, he who sheds tears when leaning over an expiring friend, or, bending over the patient's couch, does but wipe them off, enhances, they say, the difficulty of death's last struggle. I believe the same poetical superstition is recorded in Mary Barton, a Tale of Manchester Life.

Janus Dousa.

Popular Rhyme.—The following lines very forcibly express the condition of many a "country milkmaid," when influence or other considerations render her incapable of giving a final decision upon the claims of two opposing suitors. They are well known in this district, and I have been induced to offer them for insertion, in the hope that if any of your correspondents are possessed of any variations or additional stanzas, they may be pleased to forward them to your interesting publication.

T. W.

Burnley, Lancashire

Death-bed Mystery.—It may, perhaps, interest Mr. Sansom to be informed that the appearance described to him is mentioned as a known fact in one of the works of the celebrated mystic, Jacob Behmen, The Three Principles, chap. 19. "Of the going forth of the Soul." I extract from J. Sparrow's translations., London, 1648.

"Seeing then that Man is so very earthly, therefore he hath none but earthly knowledge, except he be regenerated in the Gate of Deep. He always supposeth that the Soul (at the deceasing of the Body) goeth only out at the Mouth, and he understandeth nothing concerning its deep Essences above the Elements. When he seeth a blue Vapor go forth out of the Mouth of a dying Man (which maketh a strong smell all over the chamber), then he supposeth that is the Soul."

A. Roffe.

Bradshaw Family.—There is a popular belief in this immediate part of the country, which was formerly a stronghold of the Jacobites, that no Bradshaw has ever flourished since the days of the regicide. They point to old halls formerly in possession of Bradshaws, now passed into other hands, and shake their heads and say, "It is a bad name,—no Bradshaw will come to good." I heard this speech only yesterday in connexion with Halton Hall (on the Lune); but the feeling is common, and not confined to the uneducated classes.

Haigh Hall remains in the possession of the descendants of the family from which Judge Bradshaw was descended, because, so said my informant, the heiress married a "loyal Lindsay" (the Earl of Balcarras).

E. C. G.

Lancaster.

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ADVICE TO THE EDITOR, AND HINTS TO HIS CONTRIBUTORS.

My signature Σ. having been adopted by another correspondent, I have been obliged to discontinue it.

My other signature Φ., which I have used since your commencement, is in your last number applied to the contribution of another gentleman, although the same number contains two articles of mine with that signature.

As this is palpably inconvenient, pray accept the following

MINOR NOTES.

Rollin's Ancient History and History of the Arts and Sciences.—It may be useful to note, for the benefit of some of your student readers, that the most procurable editions of Rollin's Ancient History are deficient, inasmuch as they do not contain his History of the Arts and Sciences, which is an integral part of the work. After having possessed several editions of the work of Rollin, I now have got Blackie's edition of 1837, in 3 vols. 8vo., edited by Bell; and I learn from its preface that this is the only edition published since 1740 containing the History of the Arts and Sciences.

How comes it that the editions since 1740 have been so castrated ?

Iota.

Liverpool, October 16. 1850.

Jezebel.—The name of this queen is, I think, incorrectly translated in all the Bible Dictionaries and Cyclopædias that have come under my notice. It was common amongst all ancient nations to give compound names to persons, partly formed from the names of their respective divinities. This observation applies particularly to the Assyrians, Babylonians, and their dependencies, together with the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Egyptians, and Greeks. Hence we find, both in scripture and profane history, a number of names compounded of Baal, such as Baal-hanan, Gen. xxxvi. 38., the gift, grace, mercy, or favour of Baal; the name of the celebrated Carthaginian general, Hannibal, is the same name transposed. The father of the Tyrian prince, Hiram, was called Abibal, my father is Baal, or Baal is my father. Eshbaal, the fire of Baal; Jerubbaal, let Baal contend, or defend his cause; Meribaal, he that resists Baal, or strives against the idol, were Hebrew names, apparently imposed to ridicule those given in honor of Baal. The father of Jezebel was called Ethbaal, Kings xvi. 31., (classically, Ithobalus,) with Baal, towards Baal, or him that rules. Lastly, Hasdrubal signifies help or assistance of Baal. Will some of the talented contributors to "Notes and Queries" inform me what is the composition and meaning of Jezebel, as it has hitherto baffled my own individual researches? Is it the contracted feminine form of Hasdrubal?

W. G. H.

Clarendon, Oxford Edition of 1815.—The following curious fact, relating to the Oxford edition of Lord Clarendon's History in 1815, was communicated to me by a gentleman who was then officially interested in the publication, and personally cognisant of the circumstances.

In the year 1815, the University of Oxford determined to reprint Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, and to add to it that of the Irish rebellion; but as it was suspected by one of the delegates of the press, that the edition from which they were printing the "Irish Rebellion" was spurious, as it attributed the origin of the rebellion to the Protestants instead of the Catholics; a much earlier copy was procured from Dublin, through the chaplain of the then Lord Lieutenant, which reversed the accusation which was contained in the copy from which the University had been about to print.

J. T. A.

September 30. 1850.

Macaulay's Country Squire.—I suppose I may take it for granted that all the world has long since been made merry by Mr. Macaulay's description of "the country squire on a visit to London in 1685." (History of England, vol. i. p. 369.)

I am not aware that Steele's description of a country gentleman under similar circumstances has ever been referred to; it is certainly far from being as graphic as Mr. Macaulay's; but the one may at all events serve to illustrate the other, and to prove that Urbs had not made any very great progress in urbanity between 1685 and 1712.

"If a country gentleman appears a little curious in observing the edifices, signs, clocks, coaches, and dials, {358}it is not to be imagined how the polite rabble of this town, who are acquainted with these objects, ridicule his rusticity. I have known a fellow with a burden on his head steal a hand down from his load, and slily twirl the cock of a squire's hat behind him; and while the offended person is swearing or out of countenance, all the wag-wits in the highway are grinning in applause of the ingenious rogue that gave him the tip, and the folly of him who had not eyes all round his head to prevent receiving it."—Spectator, No. 354.

C. Forbes.

October 11.

Miching Mallecho.—The Writer of the review of Urquhart's Travels in the Quart. Rev. for March 1850, who is, in all probability, identical with the author of the Handbook of Spain, felicitously suggests that Miching Mallecho is a mere misprint for the Spanish words Mucho Malhecho, much mischief: Hamlet, iii. 2. Imagining that I had seen this ingenious conjecture somewhere in print before, I referred to, and was disappointed when I found it not in Knight's Shakspeare (library ed.). Recently, in looking over Dr. Maginn's admirable dissections of Dr. Farmer's Essay on the Learning of Shakspeare, I discovered what I was in search of, and beg to present it to the notice of your readers.

"That the text is corrupt, I am sure; and I think Dr. Farmer's substitution of mimicking malhecco, a most unlucky attempt at emendation. In the old copies it is munching malicho, in which we find traces of the true reading, mucho malhecho, much mischief.

"'Marry, mucho malhécho—it means mischief.'"—Fraser's Magazine, Dec. 1839, p. 654.

J. M. B.

Queries.

THE INQUISITION—THE BOHEMIAN PERSECUTION.

My query as to the authorship of The Adventures of Gaudentio di Lucca has drawn so satisfactory a reply from your correspondents (whom I beg to thank most heartily for the information they have communicated), that I am induced to ask you to aid me in ascertaining the authorships of the following works of which I have copies:—

"Histoire de l'Inquisition et son Origine. A Cologne, chez Pierre Marteau, M.DC.XCIII." 1 vol. 12mo.

Is this the same work as that mentioned in Watt's Bib. Brit. as—

"The History of the Inquisition and its Origin, by James Marsollier, 1693." 12mo.?

I have often searched for a copy of this work in English, but have never found it. Was it ever translated into English?

"L'Inquisizione processata opera storica e curiosa, Divisa in due Tomi. In Colonia Appresso Paulo della Tenaglia, M.DC.LXXXI."

I should like to know something of the authorship of these volumes, and of the circumstances under which they were published.

"The Slaughter-House, or a brief description of the Spanish Inquisition, &c., gathered together by the pains and study of James Salgado." N.D.

The biographical dictionaries within my reach give no account of Salgado. Who was he?

"Historia Persecutionium Ecclesiæ Bohemicæ jam inde à primordiis Conversionis suæ ad Christianismum hoc est, 894, ad annum usque 1632, Ferdinando Secundo Austriaco regnante, &c., anno Domini M D CXLVIII." 1 vol. 32mo.

I have an English translation of this small work, published in 1650. Can any of your readers inform me who were the authors? (The preface concludes, "In our banishment in the year 1632. N. N. N., &c.")

Iota.

Liverpool, October, 1850.

Minor Queries.

Osnaburg Bishopric.—Can any of your correspondents inform me who succeeded the late Duke of York as Bishop of Osnaburg? how the Duke of York attained it? and whether there were any ecclesiastical duties attached to it? or whether the appointment was a lay one?

B. M.

Meaning of "Farlief".—May I ask for a definition of the word "farlief", used in Devonshire to designate some service or payment to the lord of the manor by his copyholders, apparently analogous to the old feudal "relief"?

V. J. S.

Margaret Dyneley.—In Stanford Dingley Church, Berkshire, there is a "brass" of Margaret Dyneley, from whose family, I presume, the parish has received its appellation of Dingley. As, however, I have not yet succeeded in obtaining any account as to this lady or her ancestors, I should feel obliged by any information which your learned correspondents only be able to afford.

J. H. K.

Tristan d'Acunha.—Cosmopolite will be glad to have references to any authentic sources of information respecting the island of Tristan d'Acunha.

Production of Fire by Friction.—In most of the accounts written by persons who have visited the South Sea Islands, we meet with descriptions of the method adopted by the natives to produce fire by the rapid attrition of two bits of wood. Now I wish to ask whether any person has ever seen the same effect produced in this country by similar means? If not, to what cause is the difficulty—if such difficulty really exists—attributable?

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Does it depend upon the nature of the wood used, the condition of the atmosphere, or the dexterity of the operator? I have not quoted any particular passages, as they are sufficiently familiar to readers of voyages and travels in the South Sea hemisphere; and although they exhibit some diversity in the modus operandi, the principle involved is essentially the same in each mode. I need scarcely add, that I am of course well aware of the means by which, whether by accident or design, heat is ordinarily generated by friction in this country.

D.

Rotherfield.

Murderer hanged when pardoned.—I have a copy of the Protestant's Almanack for 1680, full of MS. notes of the period, written by one of the Crew family. Among other matter it states:

"A man was hung for a murder in Southwark (I think), notwithstanding the king's pardon had been obtained for him, and he actually had it in his pocket at the time."

Will some kind friend oblige me with further information of this case, or tell me where I may obtain it?

Gilbert.

Burke, Passage from.—The following passage is quoted as a motto from Burke:—

"The swarthy daughters of Cadmus may hang their trophies on high, for when all the pride of the chisel and the pomp of heraldry yield to the silent touches of time, a single line, a half worn-out inscription, remain faithful to their trust."

In what composition of Burke's is it to be found?

Q.(2.)

Licensing of Books.—Can any of your readers inform me what was the law in 1665 relative to the licensing of books? also when it was introduced (or revived), and when modified? I find in a manual of devotion printed in that year the following page, after the preface:—

"I have perused this book, and finding nothing in it but what may tend to the increase of private devotion and piety, I recommend it to my Lord the Bishop of London for his licence to have it printed."

Jo. Duresme.

R. N.

Captain John Stevens.—I should be glad to learn some account of Capt. John Stevens, the continuator of Dugdale's Monasticon in 1722. He is generally considered to have edited the English abridgment of the Monasticon, in one vol. 1718, though a passage in Thoresby's Diary mentions that it contained "some reflections upon the Reformation, which the Spanish Priest, who is said to be translator and abridger of the three Latin volumes, would not omit."

A note by the editor of Thoresby's Diary says that—

"Mr. Gough was uncertain by whom this Translation and Abridgment was prepared. He supposed that it was done by Captain Stevens, the author, or rather compiler of a valuable, Supplement to the Monasticon, in which he was assisted by Thoresby."

J. T. A.

Le Bon Gendarme.—Close to the boundary stone which separates the parishes of Fulham and Hammersmith, and facing the lane which leads to Brook Green, on the Hammersmith Road, is a way-side public-house, known as "The Black Bull." So late as three months ago, in addition to the sign of the Black Bull, there was painted over the door, but somewhat high up, a worn-out inscription, "Le Bon Gendarme," as if that had originally been the name of the inn. These words have been lately effaced altogether: but as they no doubt relate to some circumstance or adventure which had happened in or near to the place, perhaps some reader of the "Notes and Queries" will have the goodness to satisfy the curiosity of one who has asked at the inn in vain for a solution.

U. U. C.

University Club.

REPLIES.

TASSO TRANSLATED BY FAIRFAX.

The variation in the first stanza of Fairfax's Godfrey of Bulloigne has been long known to bibliographers, and was pointed out in The Critical Review more than thirty years ago. I cannot fix on the particular number, but it contained a long notice of the version of Tasso by Fairfax, and the very stanzas extracted by T. N. The translator could not please himself with the outset of his undertaking, and hence the recorded substitution; but it is not known that he carried his fastidiousness so far as to furnish a third version of the first stanza, as well as of the "Argument" of the introductory canto, differing from both the others. In the instance pointed out by T. N. the substitution was effected by pasting the approved stanza over the disapproved stanza; but the third version was given by reprinting the whole leaf, which contains other variations of typography, besides such as it was thought necessary to make in the first stanza.

I formerly had copies of the book, dated 1600, including all three variations; but the late Mr. Wordsworth having one day looked particularly at that with the reprinted leaf, and expressing a {360}strong wish to possess it, I gave it to him, and I presume that it remained in his library at his death. What I speak of happened full twenty years ago.

The Critical Review of the date I refer to (I am pretty confident that it was of the early part of 1817) contained a good deal of information regarding Fairfax and his productions; but it did not mention one fact of importance to show the early estimation and popularity of his translation of the Gerusalemme Liberata, viz., that although it was published in 1600, it is repeatedly quoted in England's Parnassus, printed in the same year, and containing extracts, as most people are aware, from all the distinguished poets of that day, and somewhat earlier. This circumstance ascertains also that Fairfax's Tasso came out before England's Parnassus, although both bear the date of 1600 on the title-pages.

The Hermit of Holyport.

Fairfax's Tasso.—In my copy of the second edition, 1624, the first stanza of the first book is given precisely as in Mr. Knight's reprint. But in the very beautiful edition published by Bensley, 1817, and edited by Mr. Singer, that stanza which T. N. terms an "elegant variation," introduces the canto. The editor's preface states that the first edition, 1600, had been followed in that re-impression, "admitting some few corrections of errors, and emendations of orthography, from the second, I printed in 1624." Of this second edition it is remarked that "it appears to have been revised by some careful corrector of the press; yet nothing material is changed but the orthography of particular words." No notice is taken of the difference between the first stanza of the second edition, and that of the first edition, identical with the cancel in T. N.'s copy. Possibly, both the copies of these two editions, which happened to come under the editor's notice, had this cancel, and so presented no variation from each other. If, however, all the copies of the second edition contained the stanza as given by Mr. Knight, and Mr. Singer's opinion (drawn from the dedicatory verses to Prince Charles, prefixed to some copies of the second edition) that this edition was seen, and probably corrected, by the author, be well-founded, it would seem to follow that Fairfax finally preferred the stanza in this its first and later state, and as it appears in Mr. Knight's edition. If the "cancel-slip" be an "elegant" variation, may not the original stanza be regarded as more vigorous?

G. A. S.

Fairfax's Tasso.—In the elegant edition published by Mr. Singer in 1817, the first stanza is printed according to the variation noticed by your correspondent T. N. (Vol. ii., p. 325.), "I sing the warre," &c., and the original stanza is printed at the end of the first book, with a note stating that the pasted slip is found "in most copies" of the first edition. My copy contains no such peculiarity, but it is of course possible that the pasted slip may have been removed. The second edition (folio, London, 1624) has the stanza in the form in which it originally stood in the first, beginning "The sacred armies," &c.

J. F. M

ALE-DRAPER.—EUGENE ARAM.

(Vol. ii., p. 310.)

Your correspondent D. asks whether the word ale-draper was ever in "good use." The only place in which I can find it is Bailey's Dictionary, where it occurs thus:

"Ale-draper (a humorous name), a seller of malt liquors; an alehouse-keeper or victualler."

The humour, I suppose, consists in applying to one kind of occupation that which was commonly given to another; in taking draper from the service of cloth, and pressing it by force into that of ale. That it was ever considered as a word of respectable standing, can hardly be imagined. In such writers as Tom Brown it is most likely to occur.

1. With reference to Eugene Aram, D.'s remark about the over-ingeniousness of his defence has been anticipated by Paley, who was present at the trial, and said that Aram would not have been hanged had he less studiously defended himself. That laboured address to the jury must have employed his thoughts for years. I should like very much to know whether anyone has ever attempted to verify the references which he gives to the cases in which he says that bones have been found. The style of the speech has been much praised, but is surely not very surprising when it is considered that Johnson had previously written the Rambler. The composition wants ease.

2. Ever since I began to read about Eugene Aram, and that is some years ago, I have had a settled opinion that his attainments, and perhaps his abilities, had been greatly overrated. He was doubtless a man of considerable mental powers; but we cannot but suspect that had he acquired all the learning which is attributed to him, he would have attracted more notice than it was his fortune to obtain.

3. Mr. Scatchard's attempts, and all other attempts, to clear him from "blood-guilty stain," must be equally futile, for he himself confessed his guilt while he was in prison.

Some time ago, a dozen years or more, there appeared in the Literary Gazette, as a communication from a correspondent, an anecdote concerning Aram, which well deserves to be repeated. During the time that he was in the school of Lynn, it was the custom for the head-master, at the termination of every half-year, to invite the parents of the boys to an entertainment, and all {361}who accepted the invitation were expected to bring with them the money due on account of their sons, which, postquam exempta fames epulis, they paid into the head-master's hands. The master would thus retire to rest with a considerable sum in his possession. On one of these occasions, after he had gone to his chamber and supposed that all the family were in bed, he heard a noise in a passage not far distant, and, going out to see what was the cause of it, found Aram groping about in the dark, who, on being asked what he wanted, said that he had been obliged to leave his room on a necessary occasion, and had missed his way to the place which he sought. The passage was not one into which he was likely to wander by mistake, but the master accepted his excuse, and thought no more of the matter till Aram was arrested for the robbery and murder of Clarke, when he immediately recollected the circumstance, and suspected that he had intended on that night to commit another robbery or murder. I have not the number of the Literary Gazette in which this statement was given to refer to, but I am sure that I have repeated the substance of it correctly, and remember that it was inserted as being worthy of credit. It is another illustration of the fact that the nature of a man is unchangeable.

Bulwer's novel, which elevates Aram from a school-assistant into a private gentleman, may have pleased those, if there were such, who knew nothing of Arum's acts before they began to read it. But all who knew what Aram was, must be disgusted at the threshold. I regarded the book, at the time of its appearance, as one of the most presumptuous falsifications of biography that had ever been attempted. It is not easy to see why Bulwer might not have made an equally interesting story, if he had kept Aram in his proper station.

J. S. W.

Stockwell.

ON THE WORD "GRADELY."

Permit me to make a few remarks on the word gradely:—

1. It seems to have no connexion with the Latin noun gradus, Angl. grade, step.

2. Its first syllable, grade, is both a substantive and an adjective; and gradely itself both adjective and adverb, as weakly, sickly, godly, &c.

3. It is not confined to Lancashire or to England, but appears in Scotland as graith (ready), graith (furniture); whence graithly (readily), to graith, grathe, or graid (prepare), &c. See Jamieson's Sc. Dict. and Supplement.

4. It is in fact the Anglo-Saxon gerad, which is both substantive and adjective. As a substantive it means condition, arrangement, plan, reason, &c. As an adjective, it means prudent, well-prepared, expert, exact, &c. The ge (Gothic ga) is merely the intensive prefix; the root being rad or rath. The form in ly (adjective or adverb), without the prefix g, appears in the Anglo-Saxon raedlic, prudent, expert; raedlice, expertly. This interesting root, which appears as re, ra, red, rad, rath, &c.; sometimes by transposition, as er, ar, erd, &c. (perhaps also as reg, rag, erg, arc, &c.), seems to represent the nobler qualities of man: thought, reason, counsel, speech, deliberate action; and perhaps, also, government.

Thus in the Semitic family of languages we have the radicals rââ (saw, foresaw, counselled); râdhâ (helped, ruled); râthâd (arranged); râto (directed, instructed); and others, with their numerous derivatives.

The Indo-European family gives us, in Sanscrit, râ or râe (ponder, experience); rât (speak); râdh (accomplish); râj (excel); râgh (attain, reach); and others, with derivatives. In Greek, rheô (speak), transp. erô or werô (whence verbum, wort, word); rherô or rhedô (do), transp. erdô, also ergô (whence werke, work); archô (rule), and others, with derivatives. In Latin, reor (think), whence ratus and ratio (reason); res (thing, action); rego (rule), with derivatives (rex, regula, rectus, &c.). In Celtic (Welsh), rhe (active); rheswm (reason); rhaith (judgment, right); rhi (prince); rhag (van, before). In Sclavonic, rada, rade (counsel); redian (to direct), &c.

In the Teutonic dialects (Gothic, Anglo-Saxon, German, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Icelandic, Scotch, and English) the forms of this root are very numerous. Thus we have, in Anglo-Saxon, rad, raed (counsel); raedlich, grad, as above, whence geradien (to prepare), and other words. In German, rede (discourse); rath (counsel); reden (to speak); regel (a rule); recht (right); gerecht (just); gerade (exactly), &c.; bereiten (prepare), &c. In English, ready, read, rule, right, riddle, reason, rather, to which we must add gradely. In Scotch, red, rede, rade, rath, &c., with the words mentioned above; of which graith (furniture) is the German geräth. Your readers will derive much information on this class of words by reference to Jamieson, under red, rede, rath, graith, &c.

Benj. H. Kennedy.

Shrewsbury, Oct. 19.

Gradely.—It seems rather a rash step to differ from the mass of critical authority with which your last number has brought this shy, old-fashioned provincial word into a blaze of literary notoriety. Yet I cannot help conceiving the original form of this adverb to be grathedly (, root , with the preteritive prefix ) or gerathely. In our Yorkshire dialect, to grathe (pronounced gradhe) means, to make ready, to put in a state of order or fitness. A man inconveniently accoutred or furnished with implements for the performance of some operation on which he was employed, {362}observed to me the other day, "I's ill grathed for't job"—rather a terse Saxon contrast to my latinized paraphrase.

Grathedly would then mean, "In a state of good order, fitness, readiness, or perfection."

To the cognate German gerade adv., I find the senses, "directly, just, exactly, perfectly, rightly."

The prevailing impression given by your numerous testimonials as to the character of the word gradely, is one of decency, order, rightness, perfectness.

I fancy the whole family (who might be called the children of rath), viz. , rathe (gerathe, grathedly, gradely), rather (only a Saxon form of readier), have as a common primeval progenitor the Sanscrit (radh), which is interpreted "a process towards perfection;" in other words, "a becoming ready."

G. J. Cayley.

Wydale, Oct. 21.

P.S.—Greadly is probably a transposition for geradly. The Yorkshire pronunciation of gradely is almost as if written grared-ly.

I think it probable that the words greed, greedily, are from the same radicle. By the way, is radix perhaps derived from (rad), a tooth (from the fang-like form of roots), whence rodere and possibly radius?

COLLAR OF ESSES.

Although the suggestion made by C. (Vol. ii., p. 330.), viz. that the Collar of Esses had a "mechanical" origin, resulting from the mode of forming "the chain," and that "the name means no more than that the links were in the shape of the letter S.," could only be advocated by one unacquainted with the real formation of the collar, yet, as I am now pledged before the readers of "Notes and Queries" as the historiographer of livery collars, it may be expected that I should make some reply. This may be accompanied with the remark, that, about the reign of Henry VIII., a collar occurs, which might be adduced in support of the theory suggested by the Rev. Mr. Ellacombe, and adopted by C. It looks like a collar formed of esses; but it is not clear whether it was meant to do so, or was merely a rich collar of twisted gold links. That was the age of ponderous gold collars, but which were arbitrary features of ornamental costume, not collars of livery. Such a collar, however, resembles a series of esses placed obliquely and interlaced, as thus: SSSS; not laid flat on their sides, as figured by C. Again, it is true an (endless) chain of linked esses was formed merely by attaching the letters like hooks together. This occurs on the cup at Oriel College, Oxford, engraved in Shaw's Ancient Furniture in Shelton's Oxonia Illustrata, and in the Gentleman's Magazine for August last; but the connexion of this with the English device is at least very doubtful. The cup is not improbably of foreign workmanship, and Menneus assigns such a collar to the knights of Cyprus; even there the S was not without its attributed import:

"Per literam autem S. quæ Silentii apud Romanos nota fuit, secretum societatis et amicitiæ simulachrum, individuamque pro patriæ defensione Societatem denotari."—Fr. Mennenii Deliciæ Equest. Ordinum, 1613. 12mo. p. 153.

However, the answer to the suggestion of Mr. Ellacombe and C. consists in this important distinction, that the Lancastrian livery collar was not a chain of linked esses, but a collar of leather or other stiff material, upon which the letters were distinctly figured at certain intervals; and when it came to be made of metal only, the letters were still kept distinct and upright. On John of Ghent's collar, in the window of old St. Paul's (which I have already mentioned in p. 330.), there are only five,

at considerable intervals. On the collar of the poet Gower the letters occur thus,—

On that of Queen Joan of Navarre, at Canterbury, thus,—

There is then, I think, little doubt that this device was the symbolum or nota of some word of which S was the initial letter; whether Societas, or Silentium, or Souvenance, or Soveraigne, or Seneschallus, or whatever else ingenuity or fancy may suggest, this is the question,—a question which it is scarcely possible to settle authoritatively without the testimony of some unequivocal contemporary statement. But I flatter myself that I have now clearly shown that the esses were neither the links of a chain nor yet (as suggested in a former paper) identical with the gormetti fremales, or horse-bridles, which are said to have formed the livery collar of the King of Scots.

John Gough Nichols.

By the same sort of reasoning—viz. conjecture—that Mr. John Gough Nichols adheres to the opinion that the Collar of SS. takes its name from the word Seneschallus, it might be contended that the initial letters of the lines above quoted mystically stand for "Collar, S. S." Enough, however, has already been written on this unmeaning point to show that some of us are "great gowks," or, in other words, stupid guffs, to waste so much pen, ink, and paper on the subject.

There are other topics, however, connected with the Collar of SS. which are of real interest to a {363}numerous section of the titled aristocracy in the United Kingdom; and it is with these, as bearing upon the heraldic and gentilitial rights of the subject, that I am desirous to grapple. Mr. Nichols, and those who pin faith upon his dicta, hold that the Collar of SS. was a livery ensign bestowed by our kings upon certain of their retainers, in much the same sense and fashion as Cedric the Saxon is said to have given a collar to Wamba, the son of Witless. For myself, and all those entitled to carry armorial bearings in the kingdom, I repudiate the notion that the knightly golden Collar of SS. was ever so conferred or received. Further, I maintain that there was a distinction between what Mr. Nichols calls "the Livery Collar of SS.," and the said knightly golden Collar of SS., as marked and broad as is the difference between the Collar of the Garter and the collar of that four-footed dignitary which bore the inscription,

In his last communication Mr. Nichols lays it down that "livery collars were perfectly distinct from collars of knighthood;" adding, they did not exist until a subsequent age. Of course the collars of such royal orders of knighthood as have been established since the days of our Lancastrian kings had necessarily no existence at the period to which he refers. But Gough (not Mr. Gough Nichols) mentions that the Collar of SS. was upon the monument of Matilda Fitzwalter, of Dunmow, who lived in the reign of King John; and Ashmole instances a monument in the collegiate church at Warwick, with the portraiture of Margaret, wife of Sir William Peito, said to have been sculptured there in the reign of Edward III. What credit then are we to attach to Mr. N.'s averment, that the "Collar of Esses was not a badge of knighthood, nor a badge of personal merit, but was a collar of livery, and the idea typified by livery was feudal dependence, or what we now call party?" What sort of feudal dependence was typified by the ensign of equestrian nobility upon the necks of the two ladies named, or upon the neck of Queen Joan of Navarre? Mr. Nichols states that in the first Lancastrian reigns the Collar of SS. had no pendant, though, afterwards, it had a pendant called "the king's beast." On the effigy of Queen Joan the collar certainly has no pendant, except the jewelled ring of a trefoil form. But on the ceiling and canopy of the tomb of Henry IV., his arms, and those of his queen (Joan of Navarre), are surrounded with Collars of SS., the king's terminating in an eagle volant (rather an odd sort of a beast), whilst the pendant of the queen's has been defaced.

Mr. Nichols, in a postscript, puts this query to the antiquaries of Scotland: "Can any of them help me to the authority from which Nich. Upton derived his livery collar of the King of Scotland de gormettis fremalibus equorum?" If Mr. N. puts this query from no other data than the citation given in my former paper upon this subject (vide Vol. ii., p. 194.), he need not limit it to the antiquaries of Scotland. Upton's words are as follows:—

"Rex etiam scocie dare solebat pro signo vel titulo suo, unum collarium de gormettis fremalibus equorum de auro vel argento."

This passage neither indicates that a King of Scotland is referred to, nor does it establish that the collar was given as a livery sign or title. It merely conveys something to this purport, that the king was accustomed to give to his companions, as a sign or title, a collar of gold or silver shaped like the bit of a horse's bridle.

Mr. Nichols takes exception to Favine as an heraldic authority. Could that erudite author arise from his grave, I wonder how he would designate Mr. Nichols's lucubrations on livery collars, &c. But hear Matthew Paris: that learned writer says Equites Aurati were known in his day "by a gold ring on their thumbs, by a chain of gold about their necks, and gilt spurs." Let us look to Scotland: Nesbit says, vol. ii. p. 87.:

"Our knights were no less anciently known by belts than by their gilt spurs, swords, &c. In the last place is the collar, an ensign of knightly dignity among the Germans, Gauls, Britains, Danes, Goths, &c. In latter times it was the peculiar fashion of knights amongst us to wear golden collars composed of SS."

Brydson, too, in his Summary View of Heraldry in reference to the Usages of Chivalry, and the General Economy of the Feudal System, (a work of uncommon ingenuity, deserving to be called the Philosophy of Heraldry), observes, p. 186, ch. v., that knights were distinguished by an investiture which implied superior merit and address in arms—by the attendance of one or more esquires—by the title Sir—by wearing a crest—a helmet of peculiar form—apparel peculiarly splendid—polished armour of a particular construction—gilded spurs—and a Golden Collar.

He states, ch. iv., p. 132.:

"In the fifth dissertation of Du Cange it is shown that the splendid habits which the royal household anciently received at the great festivals, were called 'Liveries,' being delivered or presented from the king."

But he nowhere countenances for a moment any of the errors entertained by Mr. John Gough Nichols, which these remarks are intended to explode.

Mr. Nichols has not yet answered B.'s query. Nor can he answer it until he previously admits that he is wrong upon the four points enumerated in my opening article (Vol. ii., p. 194.).

Armiger.

{364}

Replies to Minor Queries

Symbols of the Evangelists (Vol. i., pp. 375. 471.; vol. ii., pp. 13. 45. 205.).—Should the inquirer not have access to the authorities which, as is stated in p. 471., are referred to by Dr. Wordsworth, or not have leisure to avail himself of his copious references, he may be glad to find that in the Thesaurus Theologico Philologicus (vol. ii. pp. 57.-62.), there is a dissertation containing an analysis of more than fifty authors, who have illustrated the visions of Ezekiel and St. John, and an explanation of the Sententiarum Divortia of Irenæus, Jerome, and Augustine, respecting the application of the symbols, or of the quæstio vexata—quodnam animal cui Evangelistæ comparandum sit. Thomasius, the author of this dissertation, suggests that to recall to mind the symbol applied to Luke, we should remember the expression denoting elephantes, boves lucas. Abundant information is also supplied on this subject by that hierophantic naturalist, Aldrovandus, de Quadrup. Bisulcis, p. 180. et seq. Nor should Daubuz be neglected, the learned commentator on the Revelations.

T. J.

Becket's Mother (Vol. ii., pp. 106. 270.).—In support of the view of Mr. Foss with regard to Becket's mother, against that propounded by J. C. R. (Vol. ii., p. 270.), I would mention that Acon is the ordinary mediæval name for the city of Acre, and appears in the earlier deeds relating to the hospital in Cheapside, while the modern form occurs in those of later date; e.g. Pat. 18 Edw. II., "S. Thomæ Martyris de Aconia;" Pat. 14 Edw. III., "S. Thomæ Martyris Cantuarensis de Acon;" but Rot. Parl. 23 Hen. VI., "Saint Thomas the Martir of Acres," "the Martyr of Canterbury of Acres." (Deeds in Dugdale, Monast. vi. 646, 647.)

This would seem to identify the distinctive name of the hospital with the city in the Holy Land but the following passage from the Chronicle of Matthew of Westminster (p. 257.) seems quite conclusive on this point, as it connects that city with Becket in a manner beyond all dispute:—

"Anno gratiæ 1190. Obsessa est Acon circumquaque Christianorum legionibus, et arctatur nimis. Capella Sancti Thomæ martyris ibidem ædificatur."

If, as J. C. R. supposes, there was no connexion between the saint and Acre in Syria, the foundation of a chapel to his honour in or near that city would seem quite unaccountable. However this may be, the truth of the beautiful legend of his mother can, I fear, be never proved or disproved.

While on this subject, let me, at the risk of being tedious to your readers, quote the amusing tale told by Latimer, with regard to this hospital, in his "Sixth Sermon preached before Edward VI." (Parker Soc ed., p. 201.):—

"I had rather that ye should come [to hear the Word of God] as the tale is by the gentlewoman of London: one of her neighbours met her in the street and said, 'Mistress, whither go ye?' 'Marry,' said she; 'I am going to St. Thomas of Acres, to the sermon; I could not sleep all this last night, and I am going now thither; I never failed of a good nap there.' And so I had rather ye should go a-napping to the sermons than not to go at all."

On the name "S. Nicholas Acon," I can throw no light. Stow is quite silent as to its signification.

E. Venables.

Herstmonceux.

Becket's Mother.—I am, in truth, but a new subscriber, and when I wrote the remarks on Mr. Foss's note (Vol. ii., p. 270.), had not seen your first volume containing the communications of Mr. Matthews (p. 415.) and Dr. Rimbault (p. 490.). The rejection of the story that Becket's mother was a Saracen rests on the fact that no trace of it is found until a much later time, when the history of "St. Thomas of Canterbury" had been embellished with all manner of wonders. Mr. Matthews may find some information in the English Review, vol. vi. pp. 40-42. Dr. Rimbault is mistaken in saying that the life of St. Thomas by Herbert of Boshain "is published in the Quadrilogus, Paris, 1495." It was one of the works from which the Quadrilogus was compiled; but the only entire edition of it is that by Dr. Giles, in his S. Thomas Cantauriensis.

J. C. R.

Passage in Lucan (Vol. ii., p. 89.).—The following are parallel passages to that in Lucan's Pharsalia, b. vii. 814., referred to by Mr. Sansom.

Ovid. Metam. 1. 256.:—

Cic. De Nat. Deor. 11. 46.:—

"Ex quo eventurum nostri putant id, de quo Panætium addubitare dicebant, ut ad extremum omnis mundus ignesceret; cum, humore consumto, neque terra ali posset neque remearet ær; cujus ortus, aqua omni exhausta, esse non posset," etc.

Cic. De Divinatione, 1. 49.:—

"Nam et natura futura præsentiunt, ut aquarum fluxiones et deflagrationem futuram aliquando cœli atque terrarum," etc.

Cic. Acad. Quæst. iv. 37.:—

"Erit ei persuasum etiam, solem, lunam, stellas omnes, terram, mare, deos esse ... fore tamen aliquando ut omnis hic mundus ardore deflagret," etc.

Cic. Somn. Scipionis, vii.:—

"Propter eluviones exustionesque terrarum quas accidere tempore certo necesse est, non modo æternam, sed ne diuturnam quidem gloriam assequi possumus."

Seneca, Consol. ad Marciam, sub fine:—

"Cum tempus advenerit quo se mundus renovaturus {365}extinguat ... et omni flagrante materia uno igne quicquid nunc ex disposito lucet, ardebit."

Id. Natural Quæst. iii. 28.:—

"Qua ratione inquis? Eadem qua conflagratio futura est ... Aqua et ignes terrenis dominantur. Ex his ortus et ex his interitus est," etc.

There are also the Sybilline verses (quoted by Lactantias de Ira Dei, cap. xxiii.):—

Plato has a similar passage in his Timæus; and many others are quoted by Matthew Pole in his Synopsis Criticorum Script. Sacræ Interpretum; on 2 Pet. iii. 6. 10.; to which I beg to refer Mr. Sansom; and also to Burnet's Sacred Theory of the Earth, book iii. ch. 3.

T. H. Kersley.

King William's College, Isle of Man.

Combs buried with the Dead (Vol. ii., pp. 230. 269.).—On reference to Sir Thomas Browne's Hydriotaphia, I find two passages which may supply the information your correspondent seeks as to the reason for combs being buried with human remains. In section i., pp. 26, 27. (I quote from the Edinburgh reprint of 1822, published by Blackwood) the author says:

"In a field of Old Walsingham, not many months past (1658), were digged up between forty and fifty urns, deposited in a dry and sandy soil, not a yard deep, not far from one another, not all strickly of one figure, but most answering these described; some containing two pounds of bones, distinguishable in skulls, ribs, jaws, thigh-bones, and teeth, with fresh impressions of their combustion, besides extraneous substances, like pieces of small boxes, or combs, handsomely wrought, handles of small brass instruments, brazen nippers, and in one some kind of opale."

And again he says (pp. 36, 37.):

"From exility of bones, thinness of skulls, smallness of teeth, ribs, and thigh-bones, not improbable that many thereof were persons of minor age, or women. Confirmable also from things contained in them. In most were found substances resembling combs, plates like boxes, fastened with iron pins, and handsomely overwrought like the necks or bridges of musical instruments, long brass plates overwrought like the handles of neat implements, brazen nippers to pull away hair, and in one a kind of opale, yet maintaining a bluish colour.

"Now that they accustomed to burn or bury with them things wherein they excelled, delighted, or which were dear unto them, either as farewells unto all pleasure, or vain apprehension that they might use them in the other world, is testified by all antiquity."

The instances which he appends relate only to the Pagan period, and he does not appear to have known that a similar practice prevailed in the sepulture of Christians—if, indeed, such a custom was general, and not confined to the particular case mentioned by your correspondent.

J. H. P. Leresche.

The Norfolk Dialect (Vol. ii., p. 217.).—

Mauther.—A word peculiar to East Anglia, applied to a girl just grown up, or approaching to womanhood.

"Ipse eodem agro [Norfolciensi] ortus, a Dan. moer," virgo, puella, "deflectit."—Spelman.

Spelman assures us, in endeavouring to rescue the word from the contempt into which it had fallen, that it was applied by our very early ancestors, even to the noble virgins who were selected to sing the praises of heroes; they were called scald-moers, q.d. singing mauthers!

It is written also modder.

says Restive to Dame Pliant in Ben Jonson. Alchemist, IV. 7. So Richard says to Kate, in Bloomfield's Suffolk ballad:—

Perhaps it is derived from the German with the termination een or -den added, as in the Lincolnshire dialect, hee-der, and shee-der, denote the male and female sex.

Gotsch.—A jug or pitcher with one ear or handle. Forby thinks it may be derived from the Italian gozzo, a throat.

Holl.—From the Saxon holh. German , a ditch.

Anan! = How! what say you? Perhaps an invitation to come near, in order to be better heard, from the Saxon nean, near. Vid. Brockett's,—Jennings, and Wilbraham's Chesh. Glossaries.

To be Muddled.—That is, confused, perplexed, tired. Doubtless from the idea of thickness, want of clearness; so, muddy is used for a state of inebriety.

Together.—In Low Scotch, thegether, seemingly, but not really, an adverb, converted to a noun, and used in familiarly addressing a number of persons collectively. Forby considers to and the article the identical; as to-day, to-night, in Low Scotch, the day, the night, are in fact, this day, this night; so {366}that the expression together may mean "the gathering," the company assembled.

The authorities I have used are Forby's Vocabulary of East Anglia; Moor, Suffolk Words and Phrases; and Lemon, English Etymology; in which, if Icenus will refer, he will find the subject more fully discussed.

E. S. T

Conflagration of the Earth (Vol. ii., p. 89.).—The eventful period when this globe, or "the fabric of the world,"^[1] will be "wrap'd in flames" and "in ruin hurl'd," is described in language, or at least, in sense similar to the quotations of our correspondent in p. 89., by the poets, philosophers, fathers, and divines here referred to:—

Lucan, lib. i. 70. et seqq. 75.:—

"Omnia mistis Sidera sideribus concurrent."

Seneca ad Marciam, cap. ult.:—

"Cum tempus advenerit, quo se mundus renovaturus extinguat, viribus ista se suis cedent, et sidera sideribus incurrent, et omni flagrante materia uno igne quicquid nunc ex disposito lucet, ardebit."

Quæst. Nat. iii. 27., which contains a commentary on St. Peter's expression, "Like a thief in the night:"—

"Nihil, inquit, difficile est Naturæ, ubi ad finem sui properat. Ad originem rerum parcè utitur viribus, dispensatque se incrementis fallentibus; subitò ad ruinam et toto impetu venit ... Momento fit cinis, diu silua."

Compare Sir T Browne's Rel. Med. s. 45.

Seneca, Hercul. Œt. 1102.

Ovid. Metamorph. lib. i. s. viii.

Diplilus as quoted by Dr. H. More, Vision. Apoc. vi. 9.

Cicero, Acad. lib. ii. 37. "Somn. Scipionis."

—— de Nat. Deorum. lib. ii. 46.

Pliny, Nat. Hist. lib. vii. cap. 16.

These are the opinions of writers before Christ; whether they were derived from Scripture, it is not now my purpose to discuss. See also Lipsii Physiologia. On the agreement of the systems of the Stoics, of the Magi, and of the Edda, see Bishop Percy's Notes to Mallet's Northern Antiquities, vol. ii.

The general conflagration and purgatorial fire were among the tenets of the Sibylline books, and maintained by many Fathers of the Greek and Latin churches down to the sixth century. See Blondel on the Sibyls, and Arkudius adversus Barlaam. Among modern writers on this subject, it will be sufficient to name Magius de Mundi Exustione, Dr. H. More, and Dr T. Burnet. Ray, in the third of his Physico-Theological Discourses, discusses all the questions connected with the dissolution of the world.

T. J.

Wraxen, (Vol. ii., p. 207.).—G. W. Skyring will find the following explanation in Halliwell's Dictionary of Provincial and Archaic Words, "to grow out of bounds, spoken of weeds," c. Kent. Certainly an expressive term as used by the Kentish women.

J. D. A.

Wraxen.—Probably analogous to the Northumbrian "wrax, wraxing, wraxed," signifying to stretch or (sometimes) to sprain.

A peasant leaving overworked himself, would say he had wraxed himself; after sitting, would walk to wrax his legs. Falling on the ice would have wraxed his arm; and of a rope that has stretched considerably, he would say it had wraxed a gay feck.

It may possibly have come, as a corruption, from the verb wax, to grow. It is a useful and very expressive word, although not recognised in polite language.

S. T. R.

Wraxen.—Rax or Wrax is a very common word in the north of England, meaning to stretch, so that when the old Kentish woman told Mr. Skyring's friend her children were wraxen, she meant their minds were so overstretched during the week, that they required rest on Sunday.

W.

Miscellaneous.

NOTES OF BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC.

Of the various changes which have been made of late years in public education, there is not one so generally admitted to be an improvement as that which has made the study of

an essential part of the system and probably no individual has so effectually contributed towards this important end as Dr. Latham, the third edition of whose masterly and philosophical volume, entitled The English Language, is mow before us. Dr. Latham has ever earnestly and successfully insisted on the disciplinal character of grammatical studies in general, combined with the fact, that the grammatical study of one's own language is exclusively so; and having established this theory, he has, by the production of various elementary works, exhibiting a happy combination of great philological acquirements with the ability to apply them in a logical and systematic manner, enabled those who shared his views to put that theory into practice. Hence the change in our educational system to which we have alluded. His volume entitled The English Language is, however, addressed to a higher class of {367}readers, and this third edition may justly be pronounced the most important contribution to the history of our native tongue which has yet been produced; and, as such every student of our early language and literature must, with us, bid it welcome.

We have received the following Catalogues;—Cole's (15. Great Turnstile, Holborn) List No. XXIX. of curious Old Books; Kerslake's (3. Park Street, Bristol) Valuable Books containing Selections from Libraries at Conishead Priory; of Prof. Elrington; T. G. Ward, &c.

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Notices to Correspondents.

V. F. S. will find an answer to his Query respecting "Auster Tenements" in our first Vol., p. 307.

J. C., who inquires respecting the author of the oft-quoted saying, "Quem Deus vult perdere," is referred to our first Vol., pp. 347. 351. 421. 476.; and to a further illustration of it in No. 50., p. 317.

We have received "A Plan for a Church-History Society," by the Rev. Dr. Maitland, to which we will call the attention of our readers next week.

W. L. B.'s description of the coin found at Horndon is not sufficiently clear. It is, doubtless, a billon piece of the lower empire. If he will send us an impression, in sealing-wax, we may probably be enabled to give him a description of it.

Clericus. "As Lazy as Ludlam's Dog" is one of the sayings quoted by Southey in The Doctor. See, too, Notes and Queries, Vol. I., pp. 382. 475.

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Errata. In No. 51. p. 347, for "θεῖον" read "θεῶν;" for "Perchi" read "Perchè;" and also the curious misprints (caused by a transposition of type) alluded to in the following note:—

"Referring to my friend R. G.'s 'Bibliographical Queries' (which are always worth referring to), will you allow me to ask yourself, and him if you cannot tell, whether it is by the mistake of your printer, or of the original one, that in the fourth Query (p. 324. line 10.) the letters of two words are so transposed that 'Vrbe germanie' is turned into 'Vrbanie germe?'"

S. R. M.

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{368}

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