{97}

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.

INEDITED LETTER FROM THE EARL OF SHAFTESBURY, AUTHOR OF THE "CHARACTERISTICS," TO LE CLERC, RESPECTING LOCKE.

"St. Giles's, in Dorset, Feb. 8-13. 1705.

"Sir,—Having once writt to you in my own Language, I continue to use the same Privilege. I am sorry that I am in no better a condition to acquit my self of my Promise to you. My Recovery has been so slow, that I am scarce yet got up: and I have been unable to hold any Correspondance with my Friends in Town. Mr. King promisd to send me the Papers I mention'd to you of Mr. Lock's; who, it seems, had begun some Memoires of his own relating to my G^d Father. These however imperfect, yet as being Mr. Lock's own I should have been glad to send you with what supplement I could make myself: But Mr. King's Engagements in the Publick affaires has made him delay this so long, that according to the account you have given me of the shortness of your Time, I must wayt no longer: but content my self with giving you what I can out of my own head, without other Assistance.

"Mr. Lock came into my Grandfathers Family in the summer of the year 1666, recommended by his Friend^[1] Mr. Bennet of y^e town of Shaftesbury. The occasion of it was thus. My Grandfather had been ill for a great while after a Fall, by w^ch his Breast was so bruised that in time it came to an Imposthumation (?) within, and appeard by a swelling under his stomach. Mr. Lock was at that time a student in Physick at Oxford: and my Grandfather taking a journey that way to drink the Waters (having Mr. Bennett in y^e Coach with him), He had this young Physician presented to him: who tho' he had never practic'd Physick; yet appear'd to my Grandfather to be such a Genius that he valew'd him above all his other Physicians, the great men in practice of those times. Accordingly on his advice and allmost solely by his Direction my G^d Father underwent an Operation w^ch sav'd his Life, and was the most wonderfull of the kind that had been heard of, till that time. His Breast was layd open, the matter discharg'd, and an Orifice ever afterwards kept open by a silver pipe: an Instrument famouse {98}upon Record, in the Writings our Popish and Jacobite Authors, who never faild to reproach him with this Infirmity.

"After this Cure, Mr. Lock grew so much in esteem with my Grand-Father that as great a Man as he had experienc'd him in Physick; he look'd upon this but as his least part. He encourag'd him to turn his Thoughts another way. Nor would he suffer him to practice Physick except in his own Family and as a kindness to some particular Friend. He put him upon the studdy of the Religiouse and Civil affaires of the Nation with whatsoever related to the Business of a Minister of State: in w^ch he was so successfull, that my G^d Father begun soon to use him as a Friend, and consult with him on all occasions of that kind. He was not only with him in his Library and Closet, but in company with the Great Men of those times, the Duke of Buckingham, Lord Hallifax and others, who being men of Witt and Learning, were as much taken with him. For together with his seriouse, respectfull and humble Character, he had a mixture of Pleasantry and a becoming Boldness of Speech. The Liberty he could take with these great Men was peculiar to such a Genius as his. A pleasant Instance of it runs in my Mind: tho' perhaps the relation of it may not be so pleasing to another.

"At an appointed Meeting of two or three of these Great-Men at my G^d Father's House, more for Entertainment and good company than for Business, it happen'd that after a few Compliments the Cards were called for, and the Court-Fashion prevailing, they were engag'd in Play before any Conversation was begun. Mr. Lock sate by as a spectator for some time. At least taking out his Table-Book, he began to write something very busily: till being observd by one of the Lords, and ask'd what he was meditating; My Lords (sayd he) I am improving my self the best I can in your Company: for, having impatiently wayted this Honour of being present at such a meeting of the wisest Men and greatest Witts of the Age, I thought I could not do better than to write your Conversation: and here I have it, in substance, all that has pass'd for this hour or two. There was no need of Mr. Lock's writing much of the Dialogue. The great men felt the ridicule, and took pleasure in improving it. They quitted their Play, and fell into a Conversation becoming them: and so passed the remainder of the Day.

"When my G^d Father, from being Chancellor of the Exchequer, was made High Chancellor (w^ch was in the year 1672) he advanc'd Mr. Lock to the Place of Secretary for the Clergy: and when my G^d Father quitted the Court and began to be in Danger from it, Mr. Lock now shard with him in Dangers, as before in Honours & Advantages. He entrusted him with his secretest negotiations, and made use of his assistant Pen in matters that nearly concerned the State, and were fitt to be made publick, to raise that spirit in the Nation which was necessary against the prevailing Popish Party.

"It was for something of this kind that got air, and out of great Tenderness to Mr. Lock that my Grandfather in the year 1674 sent him abroad to travell: an Improvement w^ch my G^d father was gladd to add to those he had allready given him. His Health servd as a very just Excuse: he being consumptive as early in his Life as that was. So that having travelld thro' France he went^[2] to Montpelier and there stayd for some time. He returnd again to my G^d Fathers in the year 1678, and remaind in his Family till the year 1682: w^ch was the year that my G^d Father retird into Holland and there dyed. Mr. Lock who was to have soon followd him thither, was not prevented in the voyage, by this Death: but found it safest for him to retire thither, and there lived (at our good Friend Mr. Furly's of Rotterdam) till the happy Revolution of King William, w^ch restord him to his native Country and to other Publick offices of greater Note, w^ch by fresh Meritts he deserv'd: witness his then Publishd Books of Government, Trade and Coin: by w^ch he had as considerably servd the State, as he had done the Church and Protestant Interest by his defence of Toleration and support of the Revolution-Principles.

"But of this part of his Life, you need no Information.

"Thus far I have made mention of Mr. Lock as to his station in Publick affaires, under my Grandfather. Now as to his Service in private affaires, and the Concerns of a Family, w^ch was, in every respect, so happy in him, that he seem as a good Guardian Angel sent to bless it.

"When Mr. Lock first came into the Family, my Father was a youth of about fifteen or sixteen. Him my Grandfather entrusted wholly to Mr. Lock for what remain'd of his Education. He was an only Child, and of no firm Health: w^ch induc'd my G^d Father, in concern for his Family to think of marrying him as soon as possible. He was too young and unexperienc'd to chuse a Wife for himself: and my Grandfather too much in Business to chuse one for him. The affair was nice, for tho' my Grandfather requir'd not a great Fortune, he insisted on good Blood, good Person and Constitution, and above all, good Education, and a Character as remote as possible from that of Court- or Town-bred Lady. All this was thrown upon Mr. Lock, who being allready so good Judge of Men, my Grand Father doubted not of his equal {99}Judgment in Women. He departed from him, entrusted and sworn, as Abraham's Head-servant^[3] that ruled over all that he had, and went into a far-Country (the North of England) to seek for his Son a Wife whome he as successfully found. Of Her, I and six more of us, Brothers & Sisters, were born; in whose Education Mr. Lock govern'd according to his own Principles (since publishd by him) and with such success that we all of us came to full years, with strong healthy Constitutions: my own the worst; tho' never faulty till of late. I was his more peculiar Charge: being as eldest son, taken by my Grandfather, & bred under his immediate Care: Mr. Lock having the absolute Direction of my Education, and to whome next my immediate Parents as I must own the greatest Obligation, so I have ever preserved the highest Gratitude & Duty.

"I could wish that my Time and Health would permit me to be longer in this Account of my Friend and Foster-Father, Mr. Lock. If I add any thing as you desire, concerning my Grandfather himself, it must have a second place: this being a subject more selfish and in w^ch I may justly suspect my self of Partiality: of w^ch I would willingly be free: and think I truly am so in this I now send you. But I fear least this (such as it is) should come too late, and therefore hasten to conclude with repeated Assurances of my being your Oblig'd Friend and humble Servant

"Shaftesbury.

"P.S. If after what I have said I dare venture a Word to you as to my Grandfather's Apology for the one and only thing I repine at in his whole Life (I mean the unhappy Words you mention delenda est Carthago), It must be this: That the Publick would not insist on this as so ill, and injuriouse; if they considered the English Constitution and manner of those times in w^ch the Prince more lofty in Prorogative and at greater distance from his People than now of days, used but a few Words to his Parlement; and committed the rest to his Keepers or Chancellor, to speak his sence for him (as he expresses it in y^e conclusion of his own speech) upon w^ch my Grandfather, the then Chancellor, and in his Chancellor's Place^[4], spoke of King's sence, as the King's mouth; in y^e same manner as the Speaker of the House of Peers or Commons, speaks the House's sence, as the House's mouth (for so he is esteemd and calld) whatsoever may be his own private sence; or tho' he may have deliver'd his own Opinion far contrary.

"Such was my Grandfather's Call: who was far from delivering his Vote or Opinion in this manner, either as a Councillor or Peer, or in his Place in Parlement: where he carryed on a direct opposite Interest: he being allready in open Enmity with the Duke of York and his Party that carryed on that Warr, in so much that he was at that very time suspected of holding a Correspondence with Holland in favour of the Commonwealth-Party in England. However it be, it is no small Comfort to me that that wise Commonwealth of Holland, the Parent and Nursing-Mother of Liberty, thought him worthy of their Protection when he was a sufferer for the common Cause of Religion and Liberty: and he must ever remain a noble Instance of the Generosity of that State, and of that potent Head of it, y^e City of Amsterdam; where yourself and other Great Men have met with a Reception y^t will redound to their Honour.

"My Grandfather's turning short upon the Court (as^[5] Sir William Temple expresses it) had only this plain reason for it; that he discoverd the King to be a Papist, through that disguise of an Esprit fort, w^ch was a character his Vices and over fondness of Witt made him affect and act very naturally. Whatever Complyances my Grandfather, as a States-man, might make before this discovery, to gain the King, from his Brother and y^e French Party, he broke off all, when by the Duke of Buckingham's means, he had gaind this secret. For my Grandfather's Aversion and irreconcileable Hatred to Popery, was (as Phanaticisme,) confessd by his greatest Enemyes to be his Master-Passion. Nor was it ever said that the King left him: but He the King, for nothing was omitted afterwards by that Prince to regain him; nor nothing to destroy him, when that was found impossible——

"But I must end: least I fail this Post."

The superscription is:

{100}

MR. GOUGH'S TRANSLATION OF THE HISTORY OF THE BIBLE.

In vol. vi., p. 266., of Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, "Memoirs of Mr. Gough," is the following anecdote of Mr. Gough's precocious talents—

"At the very early age of eleven he commenced a task that would have reflected credit on any period of life; which, by the indulgence of his mother, appeared in print under the title of 'The History of the Bible, translated from the French by R. G., junior, 1746. London: Printed by James Waugh in the year 1747.' Of this curious volume, consisting of 160 sheets in folio, not more than twenty-five copies were printed, as presents to a few particular friends and when completed at the press, it is marked by way of colophon, 'Done at twelve years and a half old.'"

Mr. Nichols in his notes says, that the French edition was printed at Amsterdam, in 2 vols. folio, with plates, 1700. That by the generosity of Mr. Gough's worthy relict, he had a copy of the work with Mr. Gough's corrections in maturer age; and in a note at p. 642. of this volume of the Literary Anecdotes Mr. Nichols further states, that

"By a singular chance, at a sale of the library of Dr. Guise in January, 1812, he met with two copies of Mr. Gough's juvenile translation of the History of the Bible; and at the end of one of the volumes were ten sheets of Mr. Pickering's Dictionary, perhaps the only copy of them in existence."

The Rev. Roger Pickering was Mr. Gough's tutor until he was admitted at Bene't College, Cambridge, July, 1752, being then in the 17th year of his age. This Dictionary was compiled on the plan of Calmet, but left unfinished.

Mr. J. B. Nichols, son of the late venerable octogenarian, having recently presented me with a copy of Mr. Gough's scarce volume, I am anxious to learn by whom the original French work was written, and where a copy may be purchased. It is one of much erudition; sound in doctrine and principle; pleasing and familiar in its language, and would, I should think, well repay the publisher of a new edition, after a careful correction of a few deficiencies in composition, incidental to the early period at which Mr. Gough translated it. There is nothing in the preface, or in any part of the volume, to indicate the name of the original author. Should Mr. J. B. Nichols still possess Mr. Gough's more matured and corrected copy, he might perhaps discover some reference to the author.

J. M. G.

Worcester, Jan. 1851.

FOLK LORE.

Lammer Beads (Vol. iii. p. 84.).—If L. M. M. R. had taken the trouble to consult Jamieson's Etymological Dictionary,—that rich storehouse of curious information, not merely in relation to the language, but to the manners and customs, and the superstitions of North Britain,—he would have found interesting notices connected with his inquiry. See the word Lammer, and the same in the Supplement. We might accept, without a moment's hesitation, the suggestion of a learned friend of Dr. Jamieson's, deriving Lammer from the French, l'ambre, were it not that Kilian gives us Teut. Lamertyn-steen, succinum. In Anglo-Saxon times it was called Eolhsand (Gloss. Ælfr.), and appears to have been esteemed in Britain from a very early period. Amongst antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon age, beads of amber are of very frequent occurrence. Douglas has collected some interesting notes regarding this substance, in his Nenia, p. 9. It were needless to cite the frequent mention of precularia, or Paternosters, of amber, occurring in inventories. The Duke of Bedford, Regent of France, purchased a most costly chaplet from a Parisian jeweller, in 1431, described as "une patenostres à signeaux d'or et d'ambre musquet." (Leber, Inventaires, p. 235.) The description "de alba awmbre," as in the enumeration of strings of beads appended to the shrine of S^r William, at York Minster, may have been in distinction from jet, to which, as well as to amber, certain virtuous or talismanic properties were attributed. There were, however, several kinds of amber,—succinum rubrum, fulvum, &c. The learned professor of Copenhagen, Olaus Worm, alludes to the popular notions and superstitious use of amber—

"Foris in collo gestatum, contra fascinationes et nocturna terriculamenta pueros tueri volunt; capitis etiam destillationibus, et tonsillarum ac faucium vitiis resistere, oculorum fluxus et ophthalmias curare."

By his account it would seem to have been received as a panacea, sovereign for asthma, dropsy, toothache, and a multitude of diseases.

"In summâ (he concludes) Balsami instar est, calorem nativum roborans et morborum insultibus resistens."—Museum Wormianum, p. 32.

Bartholomaeus Glanvilla, in his work, De Proprietatibus Rerum, has not overlooked the properties of amber, which he seems to regard as a kind of jet (book xvi., c. xlix.).

"Gette, hyght Gagates, and is a boystous stone, and never the les it is precious."

He describes it as most abundant and of best quality in Britain of two kinds, yellow and black; it drives away adders,—

"Is contrary to fendes,—helpeth for fantasies and ayenste vexacions of fendis by night.—And so, if so boystus a stone dothe so great wonders, none shuld be dispisid for foule colour without, while the vertu that is within is unknowe." (Translation by Trevisa.)

Albert Way.

{101}

ON CATALOGUES OF BOOKS.

A series of notes on the utility of printed catalogues of public libraries may seem to be a superfluity. It may be said, Who ever denied it? Relying on a official document, I can assert that it has been denied—in defiance of common sense, and the experience of two hundred and fifty years!

At such a time, it behoves every lover of literature to declare himself, and to furnish his quota of facts or arguments corrective of this upstart paradox. It is under the influence of that sentiment that I submit, for consideration in the proper quarter, some short extracts from my bibliographic portfolios.

Bolton Corney.

"The forwardness of your CATALOGUE [of the public library at Oxford] is very good tidings.... I would intreat you to meditate upon it, how it may be performed to both our credits and contents."—Sir Thomas Bodley to Tho. James, c. 1604.

Habes, benigne lector, catalogum librorum, eo ordine dispositum, quo in celeberrima Oxoniensi bibliothecâ collocantur; opus diu multumque desideratum, et jam tandem editum."—Thomas James, 1605.

"Quamprimum benignis academicorum suffragiis in bibliothecarium electus essem, viderémque justum bibliothecæ publicæ catalogum ab omnibus desiderari, ego ut gratiis litatum irem, me protinùs accinxi ad conficiendum proprio marte novum catalogum."—Thomas Hyde, 1674.

"The general use of catalogues of [of books], and the esteem they are in at present, is so well known, that it were to waste paper to expatiate on it."—Gerard Langbaine, 1688.

"Quelles obligations la république des lettres n'a-t-elle pas aux Anglais, d'avoir donné les catalogues des livres que renferment leurs bibliothèques! Celui d'Oxford est d'une utilité reconnue, par le grand nombre de livres qu'il contient, et par l'ordre alphabétique qu'on leur a donné."—Jourdan, 1739.

Catalogues of books are of great use in literary pursuits.... We mean not here to enter into all the conveniencies of a more improved catalogue, for it would require a volume to display them."—William Oldys, 1745.

"Solebat [sc. Ruhnkenius] haud exiguam subsecivæ operæ partem tribuere perlegendis catalogis librorum, sive per auctiones divendendorum, sive in bibliothecis publicis servatorum; unde factum est, ut rariorum cognitionem librorum, jam in Bergeri disciplina perceptam, continuo augeret."—Dan. Wyttenbach, 1799.

"Le premier besoin de l'homme de lettres qui entreprend un ouvrage, est de connoître les sources auxquelles il peut puiser, les livres qui ont traité directement ou indirectement le sujet qui l'occupe."—S. Chardon de la Rochette, 1812.

"La bibliothèque [savoir, la bibliothèque royale établie à Bruxelles] aura deux catalogues: l'un alphabétique, l'autre systématique. Dans l'intérêt de la science, le catalogue sera imprimé, en tout ou en partie."—Léopold, roi des Belges, 1837.

"Le catalogue est l'inventaire en le véritable palladium d'une bibliothèque. L'impression des catalogues est toujours une chose utile, sinon indispensable.... La publicité est, en outre, le frein des abus, des négligences, et des malversations, l'aiguillon du zèle, et la source de toute amélioration."—L. A. Constantin, 1839.

"La publication d'une nouvelle édition complète du catalogue de la bibliothèque du roi [de France], serait, sans doute, le plus grand service qu'on pût jamais rendre à l'histoire littéraire; et nous ne regardons pas cette entreprise comme impraticable."—Jacques Charles Brunet, 1842.

"M. Merlin pense avec moi, et c'est quelque chose, que les justes plaintes formées contre l'administration de la bibliothèque royale [de France] cesseront dès l'instant où l'on aura rédigé et publié le catalogue géneral des livres imprimés."—Paulin Paris, 1847.

Minor Notes.

The "Winter's Tale."—As Mr. Payne Collier is making inquiries as to the origin of Shakspeare's Winter's Tale, perhaps he will allow me to call his attention to an oversight he has committed in his edition of Greene's Pandosto, in the series called Shakspeare's Library. In a note to the introduction, p. ii., Mr. Collier says,

"Some verbal resemblances and trifling obligations have been pointed out by the commentators in their notes to the Winter's Tale. One of the principal instances occurs in Act IV. Sc. 3., where Florizel says:

"'The gods themselves,

Humbling their deities to love, have taken

The shapes of beasts upon them: Jupiter

Became a bull and bellow'd; the green Neptune

A ram, and bleated; and the fire-rob'd god,

Golden Apollo, a poor humble swain,

As I seem now. Their transformations

Were never for a piece of beauty rarer,

Nor in a way so chaste.'

"'This,' says Malone, 'is taken almost literally from the novel'—when, in fact, the resemblance merely consists in the adoption by Shakspeare of part of the mythological knowledge supplied by Greene. 'The gods above disdaine not to love women beneath. Phœbus liked Daphne; Jupiter Io; and why not I then Fawnia?' The resemblance is anything but literal."

It would appear, however, that the passage cited by Mr. Collier is not the one referred to by Malone. Mr. Collier's passage is at p. 34. of his edition of the novel; the one Malone evidently had in view is at p. 40., and is as follows:—

"And yet, Dorastus, shame not at thy shepheard's weede: the heavenly godes have sometime earthly thoughtes. Neptune became a ram, Jupiter a bul, Apollo a shepheard: they Gods, and yet in love; and thou a man, appointed to love."

E. L. N.

Inscribed Alms-dish.—There is an alms-dish (?) {102}in the possession of a clergyman near Rotherham, in this county, with the following inscription:—

"VREEST . GODT . ONDERHOVEDT . SYN . GEBOEDT . ANNO . 1634."

[Fear God (and?) keep his commandments.]

Having so lately been so justly reproved by your correspondent, Mr. Janus Dousa, for judging of Vondel's Lucifer by an apparently unjust review rather than by perusal,—and his beautiful chorus having so fully "established his case,"—I am rather shy of making any remarks upon this inscription: otherwise I would venture (errors excepted) to observe that there may be a mistake in the position of the last three letters of the third word.

If Mr. Dousa would kindly inform a very imperfect Dutch scholar whether this sentence is intended as a quotation from Ecclesiastes xii., 13th verse,—

or whether the third word is from the verb "onder houden,"—as looks probable, I shall be greatly obliged to him. The Bible to which I refer is dated 1644.

Being neither a scholar nor a critic, but only a lover of books and languages, I hope Mr. Dousa will accept my apology for the affront offered to his countryman, Vondel. Your publication has been a great temptation to people with a few curious books around them to set sail their little boats of inquiry or observation for the mere pleasure of seeing them float down the stream in company with others of more importance and interest. I confess myself to have been one of the injudicious number; and having made shipwreck of my credit against M. Brellet's Dictionnaire de la Langue Celtique, and also on Vondel's Lucifer, I must here apologise and promise to offend no more. If Mr. Dousa will not be appeased, I have only to add that I "send him my card." As Mrs. Malaprop said to Sir Lucius O'Trigger—

Hermes.

P. S. Can Mr. Dousa fix a positive date to my undated History of Dr. John Faustus?

Landwade Church.—It appears to me that an important service would be rendered to posterity, if a full account were taken of all the monuments and inscriptions in such deserted churches as Landwade appears to be. Such records may ere long become invaluable, and every day is hastening them to oblivion. Already hundreds of such churches, with the several monuments and inscriptions they contained, have entirely passed away. I have been making some investigation into the demolished and desecrated churches of Buckinghamshire, and am astonished at the number of monumental records which have thus perished. Thirty-one churches at least have been lost to the county, and some of them were rich in monumental memorials.

Other counties, doubtless, have equally suffered. Would it not, therefore, be well to collect accounts of the memorials they contained, so far as they can be obtained, and have them recorded in some publication, that they may be available to future historians, genealogists, and antiquaries? Is there any existing periodical suitable for the purpose?

W. Hastings Kelke.

The First Edition of the Second Book of Homilies, by Queen Elizabeth in 1563.—In the edition of the Homilies at the Oxford University press in 1822, and which from inspection, in the portion concerned, appear to be the same in the last, I find in the Advertisement, page iv. note d., that there exist four editions of the date 1563. Of these, I presume, are two in my possession, and I conclude one of them to be the first edition on the following grounds:—That one, printed by Richard Jugge and John Cawood, 1563, has in the last page and a half, "Faultes escaped in the printyng," which appear to have been corrected in all the subsequent editions, and are as they stand in the subsequent and modern editions, I presume, up to the present time. But the principal proof arises from a cancelled leaf in the Homily, "Of Common Prayer and Sacraments," as it stands in the Oxford edition of 1822, p. 329-331. The passage in question, as it there stands, and stands likewise in another edition of 1563, which I have, begins within three lines of the end of the paragraph, p. 329.,—"eth, that common or public prayer," &c., and ends at p. 331. line 13.,—"ment of baptism and the Lord's supper," &c. In my presumed first edition the original passage has been dismissed, and the substituted passage, being one leaf, in a smaller type, in order plainly to contain more matter, and it is that which appears, as I suppose, in all subsequent and the present copies. It would have been a matter of some curiosity, and perhaps of some importance, to have the original cancelled passage. But every intelligent reader will perceive that the subject was one which required both delicacy and judgment. Is any copy existing which has the original passage? My copy unfortunately is imperfect, wanting three leaves; and I apprehend this is an additional instance in which the first edition of an important work has been in a manner thrown aside for its imperfection; as was the case with the real first edition of the Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent, and the Execution of Justice given to Burghley. As the Oxford editor wished for information upon this subject, it is hoped that the present communication may not be unacceptable to him.

J. M.

Jan. 23. 1851.

{103}

Queries.

DUTCH TRANSLATION OF A TRACT BY ROBERT GREENE.

I was thinking of sending you a note or two on an early Dutch translation of a very celebrated English tract when your last number came to hand, by which I find that so much interest has been produced by "Notes and Queries" in Holland, that certain literati are about to establish a similar work in that country. If I mistake not, what I now transmit will be acceptable to your Batavian friends, and not unwelcome to those who approve of your undertaking on this side of the water.

A good deal has been advanced lately regarding the interest taken by the inhabitants of Holland, Belgium, and Germany, in our ancient drama; and in consistency with what was said by Thomas Heywood more than 200 years ago, some new information has been supplied respecting the encouragement given to English players abroad. The fact itself was well-known, and the author last cited (Shakspeare Society's reprint of the Apology for Actors, 1841, p. 58.) furnishes the name of the very play performed on one occasion at Amsterdam. The popularity of our drama there perhaps contributed to the popularity of our lighter literature, (especially of such as came from the pens of our most notorious playwrights,) in the same part of Europe, and may account for the circumstance I am about to mention.

At this time of day I need hardly allude to the reputation the celebrated Robert Greene obtained in England, both as a dramatist and a pamphleteer; and although we have no distinct evidence on the point, we need hardly doubt that some of his plays had been represented with applause in Holland. The Four Sons of Aymon, which Heywood tells us was acted with such strange effect at Amsterdam, must have been a piece of precisely the same kind as Greene's Orlando Furioso, which we know was extraordinarily popular in this kingdom, and may have been equally so abroad. We may thus suppose that Greene's fame had spread to the Netherlands, and that anything written by him would be well received by Batavian readers.

His Quip for an Upstart Courtier, or, a Quaint Dispute between Velvet-breeches and Cloth-breeches, was published in London in 1592, and went through two, if not three, impressions in its first year. It was often reprinted, and editions in 1606, 1615, 1620, 1625, and 1635, have come down to us, besides others that, no doubt, have entirely disappeared. That the fame of this production extended to Holland, I have the proof before me: it is a copy of the tract in Dutch, with the following imprint—"Tot Leyden. By Thomas Basson. M.D.CI." A friend of mine writes me from Rotterdam, that he has a copy, without date, but printed about twenty or five-and-twenty years after mine of 1601, which shows how long the popularity of the tract was maintained; and I have little doubt that mine is not by any means the earliest Dutch impression, if only because the wood-cut of the Courtier and the Countryman (copied with the greatest precision from the London impression of 1592) is much worn and blurred. The title-page runs as follows, and the name of Robert Greene is rendered obvious upon it for the sake of its attraction:—

"Een Seer vermakelick Proces tusschen Fluweele-Broeck ende Laken-Broeck. Waer in verhaldt werdt het misbruyck van de meeste deel der Menschen. Gheshreven int Engelsch door Robert Greene, ende nu int Neder-landtsch overgheset. Wederom oversien."

At the back of this title is printed a short address from the translator to the Edele ende welghesinde Leser, which states little more than that the original had been received from England, and concludes with the subsequent quatrain:—

The spelling and punctuation are the same as in the original, and the body of the tract follows immediately:

"Staende eens smorghens op van eene onrustige nacht rust, ende vindende mijn ghemoet noch wat onstelt, gingh ick wandelen nae de vermacklyche velden, om mijn Gheest wat te vermacken, dan wesende noch in een Melancholijcke humeur, seer eensaem sonder eenighe gheselschap, worde ick seer slaperich: alsoo dat ick droomde. Dat iek een Dal sach wel verceirt, &c."

As few of your readers will have the means of referring to the original English, I quote Greene's opening words from an edition of 1592:—

"It was just at that time when the Cuckoulds quirister began to bewray Aprill, Gentlemen, with his never-changed notes, that I, damped with a melancholy humor, went into the fields to cheere up my wits with the fresh aire: where solitarie seeking to solace my selfe, I fell in a dreame, and in that drowsie slumber I wandered into a vale, &c."

The Dutch version fills thirty-two closely printed pages, and ends with the succeeding literal translation of Greene's last sentence:—

"Tot dese Sententie (aldus by de Ridder ghepronuncieert) alle de omstaende Stemde daer toe, ende klapten in haere handen, ende maeckte een groot geluyde, waer door eck waeker worde, ende schoot uyt mynen Droom, soo stout ick op, ende met een vrolijck ghemoet, gingh ick schryven, al her gene, dat ghy hier ghehoort hebt."

The above is one of the few books I purchased when I was in Holland some thirty years ago; and as I have quoted enough for the purpose of {104}identification, I may conclude with asking some of your Dutch correspondents, whether the tract, in this or in any other edition, is of considerable rarity with them? In England I never saw a copy of it but that in my possession. I may add that every paragraph is separately numbered from 1 to 110, as if the production were one of importance to which more particular reference might be made than even by the pagination.

The Hermit of Holyport.

THE BLACK ROOD OF SCOTLAND.

(Vol. ii., pp. 308. 409.)

I am not satisfied with what W. S. G. has written on this subject; and as I feel interested in it, perhaps I cannot bring out my doubts better than in the following Queries.

1. Instead of this famous cross being destined by St. Margaret for Dunfermline, was it not transmitted by her as an heir-loom to her sons? Fordun, lib. v. cap. lv. "Quasi munus hæreditarium transmisit ad filios." Hailes (Annals, sub anno 1093) distinguishes the cross which Margaret gifted to Dunfermline from the Black Rood of Scotland; and it is found in the possession of her son David I., in his last illness. He died at Carlisle, 24th May, 1153. (Fordun, ut supra.)

2. Is not W. S. G. mistaken when, in speaking of this cross being seized by Edward I. in the Castle of Edinburgh in 1292, he says it is in a list of muniments, &c., found "in quadam cista in dormitorio S. Crucis." instead of in a list following, "et in thesauria castri de Edinburgh inventa fuerunt ornamenta subscripta?" (Ayloffe's Calendars, p. 827.; Robertson's Index, Introd. xiii.)

3. When W. S. G. says that this cross was not held in the same superstitious reverence as the Black Stone of Scone, and that Miss Strickland is mistaken when she says that it was seized by King Edward, and restored at the peace of 1327, what does he make of the following authorities?—

(1.) Fordun, lib. v, cap. xvii:

"Illa sancta crux quam nigram vocant omni genti Scotorum non minus terribilem quam amabilem pro suæ reverentia sanctitatis."

(2.) Letters to the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Carlisle, occassioned by some Passages in his late Book of the Scotch Library, &c., ascribed to the historian Rymer: London, 1702. From a "notable piece of Church history," appended to the second Letter, it appears that the Black Rood accompanied King Edward in his progresses, along with a famous English cross—the Cross Nigth,—and that he received on these two crosses the homage of several of the Scottish magnates. (The same thing, I have no doubt, will appear from the Fœdera of the same historian, which I have it not in my power to refer to.)

(3.) Chronicon de Lanercost, printed by the Maitland Club, Edinburgh, 1839, p. 283. Alluding to the pacification of 1327:

"Reddidit etiam eis partem crucis Christi quam vocant Scotti Blakerode, et similiter unam instrumentum.... Ragman vocabatur. Lapidem tamen de Scone, in quo solent regis Scotiæ apud Scone in creatione sua collocari, Londonensis noluerunt a se demittere quoquomodo. Omnia autem hæc asportari fecerat de Scotia inclytus rex Edwardus filius Henrici, dum Scottos suæ subjiceret ditioni."

Fabian and Holinshed report the same thing.

4. Is not Fordun quoting from Turgot and Aelred (whom he names Baldredus) when he speaks of "illa sancta crux quam nigram vocant?" And how does the description of the Durham cross,—

"Which rood and pictures were all three very richly wrought in silver, and were all smoked black over, being large pictures of a yard or five quarters long," &c. &c.,—

agree with the description of the Black Rood of St. Margaret which, as Lord Hailes says, "was of gold, about the length of a palm; the figure of ebony, studded and inlaid with gold. A piece of the true cross was enclosed in it"?

5. As to the cross "miraculously received by David I., and in honour of which he founded Holyrood Abbey in 1128," and which some antiquaries (see A Brief Account of Durham Cathedral; Newcastle, 1833, p. 46.) gravely assert was to be seen "in the south aisle of the choir of Durham Cathedral at its eastern termination, in front of a wooden screen richly gilt and decorated with stars and other ornaments," are not all agreed that the story is a mere monkish legend, invented long after Holyrood was founded (although, perhaps, not so recent as Lord Hailes supposed)? and is it not, therefore, absurd to speak of such a cross being taken at the battle of Durham, or to identify it with the Black Rood of Scotland?

6. The quotation of W. S. G. from the MS. Dunelm is curious; but is there any contemporary authority for the Black Rood having been taken with King David at the battle of Durham? I can find none.

7. Is it not, however, probable that King David lost two crosses at Durham, one a military cross, carried with his army, and taken from the Abbey of Holyrood; and the other the famous Black Rood found on his person, and made an offering to the shrine of St. Cuthbert? This would reconcile some apparent discrepancies.

8. I find it noticed by Richardson in his Table Book (Newcastle, 1846, vol. i. p. 123.), that "there is a letter in the British Museum (Faustina, A 6. 47.) from the prior of Durham to the Bishop (then absent), giving an account of the battle of Neville's cross." Has this letter been printed, and where? If not so, will any of your correspondents have the {105}kindness to examine it, and say if it gives any information as to a cross or crosses captured with the King of Scots?

J. D. N. N.

Minor Queries.

The "Tanthony."—When the porteress at the principal entrance to Kimbolton Park opens the gates for the admission of a visitor, she rings a bell to give warning to the servants at the castle of his approach. This bell is popularly called the "Tanthony," in reference, I presume, to some legend of Saint Anthony. Will one of your readers be good enough to enlighten me?

Arun.

"Beauty Retire."—Will the noble editor of Pepys's Diary permit me to ask him whether he has seen, in the Pepysian library, or elsewhere, a copy, either in print or MS., of Pepys's song, "Beauty Retire," words and music; or is it to be found in any miscellaneous collection of songs?

I. H. M.

The Soul's Dark Cottage.—Being called on to reply to matters as plain as those to which I replied last week, I am less reluctant to acknowledge my own ignorance or obliviousness, respecting a couplet of which, I doubt not, hundreds of your readers know the original habitat, but which cannot be recalled to my own memory, nor to that of several friends to whom I have referred. The couplet is—

Effaress.

London, Jan. 4, 1851.

"Small by degrees and beautifully less."—This is a very common quotation, but, although I have made frequent inquiries, I have never yet been able to find out the author of it. Perhaps some of your readers can inform me.

W. H. B.

Musical Plagiarism.—I think I remember to have heard, two or three years ago, of an action for damages brought against an eminent composer, on account of plagiarism in a musical composition; and that the defendant's argument was founded on the fact, that there exist very few really "original compositions," if originality excludes every form of plagiarism. And he adduced as examples the "See the conquering hero," of Handel; and the "Zitti Zitti," of Rossini. Can any of your readers refer me to the minutes of this trial; and tell me if any book has been published in criticism of the originality of composers?

R. M.

Simon Bache.—In the parish church of Knebworth, Herts, is the brass of a priest, with the following inscription:—

"Hic jacet Dominus Simo Bache, Clericus, quondam Thesaurarius Hospitii illustrissimi Principis Domini Henrici Quinti Regis Angliæ, ac Canonic. Ecclesiæ Cathedralis Sancti Paulli, London; qui obiit xix. die Maii. Anno Dom. nostr. 1414."

Can any of your readers inform me what this office of Thesaurarius Hospitii was; also, who Simon Bache was that held it; and how it happens that he is buried at Knebworth?

A. W. H.

Sir Walter Raleigh.—In speaking of the difficulty which exists in obtaining a perfect knowledge of any event, reference is often made to Sir Walter Raleigh having witnessed an occurrence, while confined in the Tower, and that two witnesses gave such a different account from each other as well as from himself, that he threw his MS. history into the fire. In what contemporary work is this recorded?

A similar discrepancy in evidence is mentioned with reference to the celebrated tourney at Tiani, in 1502, in Prescott's Ferdinand and Isabella, vol. iii. p. 45.

H. J.

Harrison's Chronology.—William Harrison, a native of London, chaplain to Sir William Brooke, Baron Cobham, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, composed a Description of Britain and of England; and likewise translated Hector Boethius's Description of Scotland, from the Scottish version of John Bellenden. Both these pieces are printed in Holinshed's Chronicles, 2 vols. fol. 1587. In the prefaces Harrison speaks of a work on Chronology, "which I have yet in hand." Has that work ever been printed? I discovered the manuscript of it last year, in the Diocesan Library of Derry, in Ireland; but did not ascertain who was its author (though it bears the name of Harrison), until a few days ago.

H. Cotton.

Thurles, Ireland, Dec. 21. 1850.

Aristophanes on the Modern Stage.—Can any of your valuable correspondents inform me whether any of the plays of Aristophanes have been produced upon the stage in a modern version; and if so, when, and by whom?

I am inclined to think that some at least of the comedies in the hands of a skilful author might be made entertaining and popular.

The Acharnians and Peace, or perhaps even the Birds, might form the groundwork of an amusing piece. Should you be able to spare a corner in your valuable periodical for this Query, you would greatly oblige

C. J. R. (2.)

Burton Crescent.

Drachmarus.—Can any of your readers kindly inform me, under what name "Drachmarus," one of the Schoolmen, is commonly known?

J. Sansom.

Strutt's Queen Hoo Hall.—Some years back I purchased of a son of the late Joseph Strutt, a copy of Queen Hoo Hall, containing manuscript {106}memoranda by that son relating to his father and to Walter Scott. Amongst other matters it states, that the original manuscript of that romance was submitted to Mr. Scott before it was published, and that he retained it a long time before he published his Waverley Novels. Mr. Strutt, jun., accuses him of taking hints and facts from his parent's work. He also stated that the story of the Illuminator in Queen Hoo Hall is mainly an account of the life of his father. The three volumes I gave to my friend and patron, Mr. John Broadly, whose very fine and choice library was sold by auction after his death, with the copy of the work referred to. I am desirous of ascertaining in whose possession these volumes are? I have a beautiful miniature portrait of Joseph Strutt.

J. Britton.

17. Burton Street, Jan. 21. 1851.

Cardinal's Monument.—Passing into the church of St. Saviour, Southwark, yesterday by the centre door on the south, I observed on a pillar to the right, a sculpture of a cardinal's hat with the usual cord and tassels properly coloured, beneath which was a coat of arms, quartering alternately three lions and three fleur-de-lis. There is no name or date upon it. It would be interesting to know to whom it refers.

J. D. A.

Names Bacon and Fagan.—The very curious and interesting information which has come to light in the replies to my Query about the origin of the patronymic Bacon, emboldens me to put another question upon the subject.

I have long suspected, but have been unable to prove, that the names Bacon and Fagan were originally one and the same. Bacon, it appears, is a Saxon word, meaning "of the beech tree." Fagan, I presume, is as undoubtedly from the Latin "de fago," "of the beech tree."

The approximation of sound in these names is sufficiently evident. That the letters C and G have been commonly convertible between the Latin and Saxon is without doubt. Query: Have B and F been at all used convertibly? Or can any of your readers, by any other means, strengthen the probability, or prove the truth, of my conjecture?

Nocab.

Blunder.—What is the origin of this word? In Woolston's First Discourse on Miracles (Lond. 1729), at p 28., I find this passage:—

"In another place he intimates what are meant by oxen and sheep, viz., the literal sense of the Scriptures. And if the literal sense be irrational and nonsensical, the metaphor we must allow to be proper, inasmuch as nowadays dull and foolish and absurd stuff we call Bulls, Fatlings, and Blunders."

This would seem to imply that in Woolston's days blunder was the name of some animal; but in no dictionary have I been able to find such a signification attributed to it. The Germans use the words bock and pudel in the same sense as our word blunder.

C. W. G.

Prince of Wales' Feathers.—The establishment of "De Navorscher" is a matter of great importance to all students of our early history, and the liberal mention of its projectors, to bring under the notice of their countrymen all Queries likely to be answered by them, is one calculated to clear up many obscure points in our early history. Sir H. Nicolas concludes his valuable papers on the Badge and Mottoes of the Prince of Wales (Archæologia, vol. xxxi. p. 372.) by expressing his belief that both the former, namely, the Feathers, and the mottoes, "Ich Dien" and "Houmout," were derived from the House of Hainault, possibly from the Comté of Ostrevant, which formed the appanage of the eldest sons of the Counts of that province. Perhaps I may be allowed, through your columns, to invite the attention of the correspondents of "De Navorscher" to this point.

Effessa.

Portrait of Ben Jonson.—Ritson, the well-known antiquary, possessed an original painting of Ben Jonson. It was afterwards purchased by W. Fillingham, Esq., of the Inner Temple, a gentleman well known for his love of the early drama; and whilst in his possession it was engraved by Ridley in 8vo. What has become of the painting? Can any of your readers point out its locality at the present time?

Edward F. Rimbault.

Robert Burton, otherwise Democritus Junior, the author of that glorious book The Anatomy of Melancholy, is stated by Wood to have been born at Lindley, in Leicestershire. Plot, however, in his Natural History of Staffordshire, 1686, p.276., gives the place of his birth, Fald, in the latter county; and, furthermore, says he was shown the very house of his nativity. Can any of your correspondents throw any light upon this subject?

Edward F. Rimbault.

Blowen, Origin of the Name.—You have fallen into a very general error in spelling my name (pp. 71. 76.) with the terminal r, "Blower," instead of "Blowen." Perhaps some one of your genealogical readers can inform me of the origin and descendants of the family with this scarce name, thus spelt, "Blowen." Are we a branch of the Blowers (as you appear to think we must be), that useful family of alarmists, whose services in early times were so necessary? or are we the descendants of the Flanders "Boleyns," Anglicanized "Bloyen?"

Query, Did Anna Boleyn, wife of Henry VIII., ever spell her name so? I need not to be reminded that some lexicographers define "Blowen" to be a rude woman. Query, origin of that appellation, so used?

We have been citizens and liverymen of London from Richard Blowen, who married, at {107}the close of the seventeenth century, the sister of Dr. Hugh Boulter (who became chaplain to George I., and afterwards Lord Archbishop of Armagh).

Blowen.

Replies.

TOUCHSTONE'S DIAL.

(Vol. ii., p. 405.; vol. iii., p. 52.)

How is it that Mr. Knight, who so well and so judiciously exposes the absurdness of attempting to measure out a poet's imaginings by rule-and-compass probability, should himself endeavour to embody and identify Touchstone's dial—an ideal image—a mere peg on which to hang the fool's sapient moralizing.

Surely, whether it was a real moving animated pocket watch, that was present to the poet's mind, or a thumb ring dial, is an inquiry quite as bootless as the geographical existence of a sea-coast in Bohemia, or of lions and serpents in the forest of Ardennes.

When Thaliard engages to take away the life of Pericles if he can get him within his "pistol's length," are we seriously to inquire whether the weapon was an Italian dagger or an English firearm? or are we to debate which of the interpretations would be the lesser anachronism?

But your correspondents (Vol. ii., p. 405. and vol. iii., p. 52.) approve of, and confirm Mr. Knight's suggestion of a ring dial, as though it were so self-evident as to admit of no denial. Nevertheless, neither he nor they have shown any good reason for its adoption: even its superior antiquity over the portable time-piece is mere surmise on their parts, unaccompanied as yet by any direct proof. In point of fact, the sole argument advanced by Mr. Knight why Touchstone's dial should be a ring dial is, that "it was not likely that the fool would have a pocket watch." Well, but it might belong to Celia, carried away with the "jewels and wealth" she speaks of, and, on account of the unwieldy size of watches in those days, intrusted to the porterage of the able-bodied fool.

When Touchstone said, so very wisely, "It is ten o'clock," he used a phrase which, according to Orlando in the same play, could only properly apply to a mechanical time-piece. Rosalind asks Orlando, "I pray you what is it a clock?" to which he replies, "You should ask me what time o' day; there's no clock in the forest." Again, when Jacques declares that he did laugh "an hour by his dial," do we not immediately recall Falstaff's similar phrase, "an hour by Shrewsbury clock?"

If it shall be said that the word "dial" is more used in reference to a natural than to a mechanical indicator of time, I should point, in reply, to Hotspur's allusion:

The "dial's point," so referred to, must be in motion, and is therefore the hand or pointer of a mechanical clock.

A further confirmation that the Shakspearian "dial" was a piece of mechanism may be seen in Lafeu's reply to Bertram, when he exclaims,

"Then my dial goes not true,"

using it as a metaphor to imply that his judgment must have been deceived.

These are some of the considerations that would induce me to reject Mr. Knight's interpretation, and, were it necessary to realize the scene between Jacques and Touchstone at all, I should prefer doing so by imagining some old turnip-faced atrocity in clock-making presented to the fool's lack-lustre eye, than the nice astronomical observation supposed by Mr. Knight.

The ring-dial, as described by him, and by your correspondents, is likewise described in most of the encyclopædias. It is available for the latitude of construction only, and was no doubt common enough a hundred years ago; but it is scarcely an object as yet for deposit in the British Museum.

A. E. B.

Leeds, Jan. 28. 1851.

The Ring Dial, perhaps the most elegant in principle of all the forms of sun dial, has not, I think, fallen into greater disuse than have sun dials of other constructions. To describe, in this place, a modern ring dial, and the method of using it, would be useless: because it is an instrument which may be so readily inspected in the shops of most of the London opticians. Messrs. Troughton and Simms, of Fleet Street, make ring dials to a pattern of about six inches in diameter, costing, in a case, 2l. 5s. They are, in truth, elegant and instructive astronomical toys, to say the least of them; and indicate the solar time to the accuracy of about two minutes, when the sun is pretty high.

Formerly, ring dials were made of a larger diameter, with much costly graduation bestowed upon them; too heavy to be portable, and too expensive for the occasion. For example, at the apartments of the Royal Astronomical Society, at Somerset House, a ring dial, eighteen inches in diameter, may be seen, constructed by Abraham Sharp, contemporary and correspondent of Newton and Flamstead; one similar to which, hazarding a guess, I should say, could not be made under 100l. At the same place also may be seen, belonging to Mr. Williams, the assistant-secretary of the society, a very handsome oriental astrolabe, about four inches in diameter, richly chased with Arabic characters and symbols; to which instrument, as well as to modern ring dials, the ring dials described in "Notes and Queries" (Vol. iii., p. 52.) seem to bear relation. If I recollect right, in one of the tales of the Arabian Nights, the barber goes out, leaving his customer half shaved, {108}to take an observation with his astrolabe, to ascertain if he were operating in a lucky hour. By his astrolabe, therefore, the barber could find the time of day; this, however, I confess I could not pretend to find with the astrolabe in question. Ring dials, as I am informed, are in demand to go out to India, where they are in use among surveyors and military men; and, no doubt, such instruments as the astrolabe above-mentioned, which, though pretty old, does not pretend to be an antique, are in use among the educated of the natives all over the East.

Robert Snow.

I send you the particulars of two brass ring dials, seeing they are claiming some notice from your learned correspondents, and having recently bought them of a dealer in old metals.

7-16ths of an inch wide, 1 and 7-16ths over,

3-8ths wide, and 1½ over,

J. Clarke.

Easton, Jan. 27. 1851.

WINIFREDA.

(Vol. ii., p. 519. Vol. iii., p. 27.)

Subjoined is a brief notice of the various printed forms in which the old song called "Winifreda" has, from time to time, been brought before the public. I am indebted for these particulars to a kind friend in the British Museum, but we have hitherto failed in discovering the author.

1. The song first occurs as a translation from the ancient British language in D. Lewis's Collection of Miscellaneous Poems, 8vo. 1726, vol. i., p. 53., pointed out by your correspondent, Mr. Hickson. (Vol. ii., p. 519.)

2ndly. In Watts' Musical Miscellany, vol. vi., p. 198. Lond. 1731; it is with the tune, "Eveillez vous ma belle Endormie," and is called "Winifreda, from the ancient language."

3dly. As an engraved song entitled "Colin's Address;" the words by the Earl of Chesterfield, set by W. Yates, 1752. The air begins "Away, &c."

4thly. In 1755, 8vo., appeared Letters concerning Taste, anonymously, but by John Gilbert Cooper; in Letter XIV. pp. 95, 96, he says,—

"It was not in my power then to amuse you with any poetry of my own composition, I shall now take the liberty to send you, without any apology, an old song wrote above a hundred years ago by the happy bridegroom himself."

Cooper then praises the poem, and prints it at length.

5thly. In 1765, Dr. Percy first published his Reliques, with the song, as copied from Lewis.

6thly. We find an engraved song, entitled "Winifreda, an Address to Conjugal Love," translated from the ancient British language; set to music by Signor Giordani, 1780. The air begins, "Away, &c."

7thly. In Ritson's printed Songs as by Gilbert Cooper, Park's edition, 1813, vol. i., p. 281., with a note by the editor referring to Aikin's Vocal Biography, p. 152.; and mentioning that in the Edinburgh Review, vol. xi., p. 37. "Winifreda" is attributed to the late Mr. Stephens, meaning George Steevens.

8thly. In Campbell's British Poems, 1819, vol. vi., p. 93., with a Life of John Gilbert Cooper, to whom Campbell attributes the authorship, stating that he was born in 1723, and died in 1769; he was, consequently, only three years old when the poem was printed, which would settle the question, even if his disclaimer had been merely a trick to deceive his friend.

Lord Chesterfield's claim is hardly worth notice; his name seems to have been used to promote the sale of the "Engraven old Song;" and no one can doubt that he would gladly have avowed a production which would have added to his literary fame.

Whether the problem will ever be solved, seems very doubtful; but I am disposed to think that the song belongs to a much earlier period, and that it should be looked for amongst the works of those poets of whom Izaak Walton has left us such agreeable reminiscences; and whose simplicity and moral tone are in keeping with those sentiments of good feeling to which "Winifreda" owes its principal attraction.

Braybrooke.

Audley End.

Winifreda (Vol. iii., p. 27.).—Lord Braybrooke has revived a Query which I instituted above forty years ago (see Gent.'s Magazine for 1808, vol. lxxviii., Part I. p. 129.). The correspondent, C. K., who replied to my letter in the same magazine, mentioned the appearance of this song in Dodsley's Letters on Taste (3rd edition, 1757.) These letters, being edited by John Gilbert Cooper, doubtless led Aikin, in his collection of songs, and Park, in his edition of Ritson's English Songs, to ascribe it to Cooper. That writer speaks of it as an "old song," and with such warm praise, that we may fairly suppose it was not his own production. C. K. adds, from his own knowledge, that about the middle of the eighteenth century, he well remembered a Welsh clergyman repeating the lines with spirit and pathos, and asserting that they were written by a native of Wales. The name of Winifreda gives countenance to this; and the publication by David Lewis, in 1726, referred to by Bishop Percy, as that in which it first {109}appeared, also connects the song with the principality. An Edinburgh reviewer (vol. xi. p. 37.) says that it is "one of the love songs" by Stephens (meaning George Steevens), a strange mistake, as the poem appeared in print ten years before Steevens was born.

I notice this error for the purpose of asking your readers whether many poems by this clever, witty, and mischievous writer exist, although not, to use the words of the reviewer, "in a substantive or collective form?" "The Frantic Lover," referred to in the Edinburgh Review, and considered by his biographer as "superior to any similar production in the English language," and the verses on Elinor Rummin, are the only two poems of George Steevens which now occur to me; but two or three others are noticed in Nichols's Literary Anecdotes as his productions.

J. H. M.

Replies to Minor Queries.

Did St. Paul's Clock strike Thirteen? (Vol. iii., p. 40.).—Mr. Campkin will find some notice of the popular tradition to which he refers, in the Antiquarian Repertory, originally published in 1775, and republished in 1807; but I doubt whether it will satisfactorily answer his inquiries.

I. H. M.

By the bye (Vol. ii., p. 424.).—As no one of your correspondents has answered the Query of J. R. N., as to the etymology and meaning of by the bye and by and by, I send you the following exposition; which I have collected from Richardson's Dictionary, and the authorities there referred to.

Spelman informs us, that in Norfolk there were in his time thirteen villages with names ending in by: this By being a Danish word, signifying "villa." That a bye-law, Dan. by-lage, is a law peculiar to a villa. And thus we have the general application of bye to any thing; peculiar, private, indirect, as distinguished from the direct or main: as, bye-ways, bye-talk, &c. &c. In the trial of Sir Walter Raleigh, State Trials, James I., 1603, are these words:—

"You are fools; you are on the bye, Raleigh and I are on the main. We mean to take away the king and his cubs."

Here the contradistinction is manifest. Lord Bacon and B. Jonson write, on the by; as if, on the way, in passing, indirectly:—

"'There is, upon the by, to be noted.'—'Those who have seluted poetry on the by'—such being a collateral, and not the main object of pursuit."

This I think is clear and satisfactory.

By and by is quite a different matter. Mr. Tyrwhitt, upon the line in Chaucer,—

"These were his words by and by."—R. R. 4581.

interprets "separately, distinctly;" and there are various other instances in Chaucer admitting the same interpretation:—

So also in the "Floure and the Leafe," stanzas 9 and 24. The latter I will quote, as it is much to the purpose:—

But there are more ancient usages, e.g. in R. Brunne, bearing also the same interpretation. "The chartre was read ilk poynt bi and bi:" William had taken the homage of barons "bi and bi." He assayed (i.e. tried) "tham (the horses) bi and bi."

Richardson's conception is, that there is a subaudition in all these expressions; and that the meaning is, by point and by point; by baron and by baron; by horse and by horse: one and one, as Chaucer writes; each one separately, by him or it-self. And thus, that by and by may be explained, by one and by one; distinctly, both in space or time. Our modern usage is restricted to time, as, "I will do so by and by:" where by and by is equivalent to anon, i.e. in one (moment, instant, &c.). And so—

Good B'ye.

Bloomsbury.

Clement's Inn (Vol. iii., p. 84.).—This inn was neither "a court of law" nor "an inn of court," but "an inn of chancery;" according to the distinction drawn by Sir John Fortescue, in his De Laudibus Legum Angliæ, chap. xlix., written between 1460 and 1470.

The evidence of its antiquity is traced back to an earlier date than 1486; for, according to Dugdale (Orig., p. 187.), in a Record of Michaelmas, 19 Edward IV., 1479, it is spoken of as then, and diu ante, an Inn "hominum Curiæ Legis temporalis, necnon hominum Consiliariorum ejusdem Legis."

The early history of the Inns of Court and Chancery is involved in the greatest obscurity; and it is difficult to account for the original difference between the two denominations.

Any facts which your correspondents may be able to communicate on this subject, or in reference to what were the ten Inns of Chancery existing in Fortescue's time, but not named by him, or relating to the history of either of the Inns, whether of Court or Chancery, will be most gratefully received by me, and be of important service at the present time, when I am preparing {110}for the press my two next volumes of The Judges of England.

Edward Foss.

Street-End House, near Canterbury.

Words are men's daughters (Vol. iii., p. 38.).—I take this to be a proverbial sentence. In the Gnomologia of Fuller we have "Words are for women; actions for men"—but there is a nearer approach to it in a letter written by Sir Thomas Bodley to his librarian about the year 1604. He says,

"Sir John Parker hath promised more than you have signified: but words are women, and deeds are men."

It was no doubt an adoption of the worthy knight, and I shall leave it to others to trace out the true author—hoping it may never be ascribed to an ancestor of

Bolton Corney.

Passage in St. Mark (Vol. iii., p. 8.).—Irenæus is considered the best (if not the only) commentator among the very early Fathers upon those words in Mark xiii. 32. "οὐδὲ ὁ υἱὸς;" and though I cannot refer Calmet further than to the author's works, he can trust the general accuracy of the following translation:—

"Our Lord himself," says he, "the Son of God, acknowledged that the Father only knew the day and hour of judgment, declaring expressly, that of that day and hour knoweth no one, neither the Son, but the Father only. Now, if the Son himself was not ashamed to leave the knowledge of that day to the Father, but plainly declared the truth; neither ought we to be ashamed to leave to God such questions as are too high for us. For if any one inquires why the Father, who communicates in all things to the Son, is yet by our Lord declared to know alone that day and hour, he cannot at present find any better, or more decent, or indeed any other safe answer at all, than this, that since our Lord is the only teacher of truth, we should learn of him, that the Father is above all; for the Son saith, 'He is greater than I.' The Father, therefore, is by Our Lord declared to be superior even in knowledge also; to this end, that we, while we continue in this world, may learn to acknowledge God only to have perfect knowledge, and leave such questions to him; and (put a stop to our presumption), lest curiously inquiring into the greatness of the Father, we run at last into so great a danger, as to ask whether even above God there be not another God."

Blowen.

"And Coxcombs vanquish Berkeley by a Grin" (Vol. i., p. 384.).—This line is taken from Dr. Brown's Essay on Satire, part ii. v. 224. The entire couplet is—

Dr. Brown's Essay is prefixed to Pope's "Essay on Man" in Warburton's edition of Pope's Works. (See vol. iii. p. 15., edit. 1770, 8vo.)

Dr. Trusler's Memoirs (Vol. iii., p. 61.).—The first part of Dr. Trusler's Memoirs (Bath, 1806), mentioned by your correspondent, but which is not very scarce, is the only one published. I have the continuation in the Doctor's Autograph, which is exceedingly entertaining and curious, and full of anecdotes of his contemporaries. It is closely written in two 8vo. volumes, and comprises 554 pages, and appears to have been finally revised for publication. Why it never appeared I do not know. He was a very extraordinary and ingenious man, and wrote upon everything, from farriery to carving. With life in all its varieties he was perfectly acquainted, and had personally known almost every eminent man of his day. He had experienced every variety of fortune, but seems to have died in very reduced circumstances. The Sententiæ Variorum referred to by your correspondent is, I presume, what was published under the title of—

"Detached Philosophic Thoughts of near 300 of the best Writers, Ancient and Modern, on Man, Life, Death, and Immortality, systematically arranged under the Authors' Names." 2 vols. 12mo. 1810.

Jas. Crossley.

Manchester, Jan. 25. 1851.

Miscellaneous.

NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC.

Dr. Latham seems to have adopted as his literary motto the dictum of the poet,

We have recently had occasion to call the attention of our readers to his learned and interesting volume entitled The English Language,—a work which affords proof how deeply he has studied that remarkable characteristic of our race, which Goldsmith wittily described as being "given to man to conceal his thoughts." From the language to The Natural History of the Varieties of Man, the transition is an easy one. The same preliminary studies lead to a mastery of both divisions of this one great subject: and having so lately seen how successfully Dr. Latham had pursued his researches into the languages of the earth, we were quite prepared to find, as we have done, the same learning, acumen, and philosophical spirit of investigation leading to the same satisfactory results in this kindred, but new field of inquiry. In paying a well-deserved tribute to his predecessor, Dr. Prichard, whom he describes as "a physiologist among physiologists, and a scholar among scholars,"—and his work as one "which, by combining the historical, the philological, and the anatomical methods, should command the attention of the naturalist, as well as of the scholar,"—Dr. Latham has at once done justice to that distinguished man, and expressed very neatly the opinion which will be entertained by the great majority of his readers of his own acquirements, and of the merits of this his last contribution to our stock of knowledge.

The Family Almanack and Educational Register for 1851, with what its editor justly describes as "its noble list of grammar schools," to a great extent the "offspring of the English Reformation in the sixteenth {111}century," will be a very acceptable book to every parent who belongs to the middle classes of society; and who must feel that an endowed school, of which the masters are bound to produce testimonials of moral and intellectual fitness, presents the best security for the acquirement by his sons of a solid, well-grounded education.

Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson will sell on Monday next, and three following days, the valuable antiquarian, miscellaneous, and historical library of the late Mr. Amyot. The collection contains all the best works on English history, an important series of the valuable antiquarian publications of Tom Hearne; the first, second, and fourth editions of Shakspeare, and an extensive collection of Shakspeariana; and, in short, forms an admirably selected library of early English history and literature.

Catalogues Received.—Cole (15. Great Turnstile) List, No. XXXII. of very Cheap Books; W. Pedder (18. Holywell Street, Strand) Catalogue, Part I. for 1851, of Books Ancient and Modern; J. Wheldon (4. Paternoster Row) Catalogue of a Valuable Collection of Scientific Books; W. Brown (130. Old Street, London) Catalogue of English Books on Origin, Rise, Doctrines, Rites, Policy, &c., of the Church of Rome, &c., the Reformation, &c.

BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES WANTED TO PURCHASE.

Odd Volumes.

Drummond's History of Noble Families. Part II. containing Compton and Arden.

Bibliotheca Spenceriana, Vol. IV., and Bassano Collection.

Scott's Novels and Romances, last series, 14 vols., 8vo.—The Surgeon's Daughter.

*** 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.

Replies Received. Col. Hewson—True Blue—Plafery—Cockade—Warming Pans—Memoirs of Elizabeth—Paternoster Tackling—Forged Papal Bulls—By Hook or by Crook—Crossing Rivers on Skins—Fronte Capillatâ—Tandem D. O. M.—Cranmer's Descendants—Histoire des Severambes—Singing of Swans—Annoy—Queen Mary's Lament—Touching for the Evil—The Conquest—Scandal against Elizabeth—Shipster—Queries on Costume—Separation of Sexes in Church—Cum grano Salis—St. Paul's Clock—Sir John Davis—Aver.

H. J. Webb (Birmingham) has our best thanks for the Paper he so kindly sent.

Nemo. The book wanted is reported. Will he send his address to Mr. Bell?

U. U. C. "A Roland for an Oliver" is explained in our Second Volume, p. 132.

P. S. We should gladly receive any such succinct yet correct and comprehensive definitions of new terms in science, or new words in literature, as our correspondent suggests. Will he kindly set the example?

T. F. R. (Oriel). What are the coins? In one part they are spoken of as farthings, in another as sixpences.

K. R. H. M. received. Next double number.

Volume the Second of Notes and Queries, with very copious Index, is now ready, price 9s. 6d. strongly bound in cloth. Vol. I. is reprinted, and may also be had at the same price.

Notes and Queries may be procured, by order, of all Booksellers and Newsvenders. It is published at noon on Friday, so that our country Subscribers ought not to experience any difficulty in procuring it regularly. Many of the country Booksellers, &c., are, probably, not yet aware of this arrangement, which will enable them to receive Notes and Queries in their Saturday parcels.

All communications for the Editor of Notes and Queries should be addressed to the care of Mr. Bell, No. 186. Fleet Street.

Errata.—No. 65. p.62. l. 25. for "Sullustius" read "Sallustius." No. 66. p. 87. l. 3., for "in 8vo." read "in eights"; l. 55., erase the comma after "tzelete,"; and for "M.CCCC." read "mcccc." In the same column for "And" and "For" read "and" and "for." A similar correction may be made in the preceding column, in which remove the comma after "style," and put a small a in "Apostoli." and a period at "Paris." P. 92. l. 24. for "humble" read "durable."

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{112}

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