No. 15. | SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9. 1850. | Price Threepence. Stamped Edition 4d. |
Running my eye accidentally through the household book of Sir Roger Twysden, from 1659 to 1670, it occurred to me to make a comparison between the relative prices of meat and wages, as there given, in order to ascertain the position of our peasantry in these parts, at the close of the 17th century. I send you a few extracts, by which it will be seen that, in Kent, at least, our agricultural labourers appear to have been in far better condition than those of the rest of England, who, in Mr. Macaulay’s brilliant work, are represented as living “almost entirely on rye, barley, and oats,” owing to the exorbitantly high price of meat, as compared with the ordinary scale of wages.
As to meat, I find the following entries:—
“1659. Beef 2s. and 1s. 8d. per stone. a loin of mutton 1s. 6d. 1662. Beef 2s. per stone. a shin of beef 1s. 10d. a loin of veal 3s. 4d. a calve’s head 1s. 2d. a quarter of mutton 4s. 4d. and 5s. a side of mutton 9s. 1664. 8 quarters of mutton 32s. 1 quarter of do. 4s. 6 stone of beef 10s. 4d. 1666. 6 stone of beef 10s. 4d. a fat weather - 12s. 8d. 32 fat weathers 19l. 1667. 10 stone of beef and 2 lb. of suet 18s. 22 stone of beef 2l. 23 stone of beef 2l. 3s. a chine and a quarter of veal 8s. 1670. A chine and a quarter of mutton 5s. a quarter of lamb 2s. 6d.”
Through this period we have:—
“Cheese per load, i.e. 56 lb., at 14s., 11s., 10s., 4d., 9s. 6d.”
The wages of labourers through the same period are entered:—
“Sawyer 2s. 6d. per hundred. a farm carpenter 1s. 6d. per day. or, ‘I finding him,’ 1s. per day.
- common labourers, generally 1s. per day;
- sometimes, but less frequently, 9d. per day
} in 1849, 2s. threshing wheat, 16d. per quarter in 1849, 3s. mowing, from 1s. to 1s. 8d. per acre in 1849, 3s. 6d. mowing oats, 1s. 3d. per acre in 1849, 2s. 6d. mowing clover, 1s. 6d. per acre in 1849, 2s. 6d. hayers, 2s. and 2s. 6d. per week in 1849, 6s. reaping, 2s. per acre in 1849, 10s. to 14s. sheep shearing, 1s. per score in 1849, 2s. 6d. hedging 2-1/2d. per rod in 1849, 4d. hoeing, 6d. per acre in 1849, 4s. women 8d. per day in 1849, 1s., and 1s. 4d. boys, 4d. per day in 1849, 6d. and 3d. making faggots, 18d. and 20d. per hundred; in 1849, 3s.”
A reference to the household-books of the Derings, in East Kent, gives the same results.
The wages given by Sir Roger Twysden to his household servants at this time were:—
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“Housekeeper 5l. per annum. maids 2l. 10s. and 3l. men 5l. 10s., 5l. and 4l.”
I have added, in most instances, the prices now paid to labourers in these parts, having obtained my information from the farmers of the neighbourhood.
The price of butchers’ meat at present, in this neighbourhood, is from 6d. to 7 1/2d. per lb.; by wholesale, 3s. 6d. or 3s. 8d. per stone.
As far, then, as the relative prices of wages and meat can guide us, the labourer, in these parts, was as well able to purchase meat in 1670 as he is now.
Unhappily for him, the imprudence of early marriage entailing upon him the charge of a family, he is precluded from the indulgence in fresh meat, except as an occasional treat. Cheese and bacon, however, are still within his reach. The improvidence of early marriage rarely occurred in former days, and palpably, if our Kentish labourers lived entirely on oats and rye, it was not of necessity that they did so. I am inclined to think that, in many of the instances given above, especially in haying and harvest, provisions of some sort were found by the employer, over and above the wages. When I have more leisure, I will endeavour to obtain correct information on this point; and meanwhile, send you the entries just as I find them. I observe an entry of “peas to boil for the men.” They had porridge then, at all events, in addition to their wages; and these wages, if they had so chosen, could further have purchased them meat, quite as well as at the present day; though, alas for our poor peasantry, this is not saying much for them; and even of that little smack of meat they will soon be debarred, if the present system—but I am intruding on sacred ground, and must leave the poor fellows to their hard work and scanty meals.
I regret that my communication (No. 13. p. 194.), on the subject of the authorship of The Taming of a Shrew, was too late to be of any avail for the already-published new edition of Marlowe’s works; and, had I been aware of such being the case, I should have waited until I had had an opportunity of seeing a work whose editor may entertain views in ignorance of which, to my disadvantage, I am still writing. It is, perhaps, a still greater disadvantage that I should appear to depend for proofs upon a bare enumeration of parallel passages; when I know that the space I should require for the purposes of stating the case fully and fairly, and, as I think, conclusively, would be utterly inconsistent with that brevity which must be with you an essential condition; while, at the same time, I know of no medium through which I am so likely to enlist the attention of a “fit audience” as your publication. Premising that my references are to The Taming of a Shrew in “Six Old Plays,” 1799, and to Marlowe’s Works, edit. 1826, I proceed to indicate such passages as a rapid glance through the respective works, aided by some previous acquaintance with the subject, and a not very bad memory, furnished. Some of the parallels will be found identical; in others, the metaphors will be found to be the same, with the expression more or less varied; and in others, again, particular expressions are the same, though the tenor of the phrase be different. It will be observed that the quotations of Marlowe are exclusively from Dr. Faustus and Tamburlaine. Of the longer passages I have given merely the first line for reference; and I have numbered them for the convenience of comparison:—
- (1) “Now that the gloomy shadow of the night,” &c. p. 161.
- (2) “But stay, what dames are these, so bright of hue,” &c. p. 167.
- (3) “ O, might I see the censer of my soule.” &c. p.169.
- (4) “ Come, fair Emelia, my lovely love,” &c. p. 180.
- “Valeria, attend, I have a lovely love,” &c. p. 191.
- “And all that pierceth Phœbus’ silver eye,” &c. p. 181.
- “Fair Emelia, summer’s bright sun queen,” &c. p.199.
- (5) “I fill’d my coffers of the wealthy mines,” &c. p.181.
- (6) “As richly wrought
- As was the massy robe that late adorn’d
- The stately legate of the Persian king,” p.183.
- (7) “Boy. Come hither, sirha boy.
- Sander. Boy, O, disgrace to my person!” &c. p.184.
- (1) “Now that the gloomy shadow of the night,” &c. —Faustus, vol. ii. p.127.
- (2) “Zenocrate, the loveliest maid alive,” &c.—Tamb. vol. i. p.46.
- (3) “Whose darts do pierce the centre of my soul,” &c. —Tamb. vol. i. p.120.
- “Was this the face that launch’d a thousand ships,” &c. —Faustus, vol. ii. p.192.
- (4) “Now bright Zenocrate, the world’s fair eye,” &c. —Tamb. vol. i. p.102
- “Batter the shining palace of the sun,” &c. —Tamb. vol. i. p.120
- “A greater lamp than that bright eye of heaven,” &c. —Tamb. vol. i. p.154.
- ——“the golden eye of heaven.”—Tamb. vol. i. p.155.
- “Wherein are rocks of pearl that shine as bright,” &c.—Tamb. vol. i. p.177.
- (5) “I’ll have them fly to India for gold,” &c. —Faustus, vol. ii. p. 123.
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- (6) “And show your pleasure to the Persian
- As fits the legate of the stately Turk.” —Tamb. vol. i. p.87.
- (7) “Wagner. Come hither, sirha! Boy!
- Clown. Boy! O disgrace to my person!” &c. —Faustus, vol. ii, p. 131.
Leaving the question in this position for the present, I shall be glad of such information from any of your readers as may tend to throw a light on the date of Shakspeare’s Taming of the Shrew. I find Mr. Collier’s opinion expressed in the following words:—
“The great probability is that Hamlet was written at the earliest in 1601, and the Taming of the Shrew perhaps came from the pen of its author not very long afterwards.”
I am anxious to ascertain whether I am acquainted with all the circumstances on which the above opinion is founded; as those which I can, at this moment, recall, are to my mind hardly sufficiently conclusive. Rejecting the supposed allusion to Heywood’s Woman Kill’d with Kindness, which I see, by a note, Mr. Collier gives up as untenable ground, the facts, I believe, remain as follows:—
First: The Taming of the Shrew was not mentioned by Meres in 1598, whereupon it is assumed that “had it been written, he could scarcely have failed to mention it.” And,
Second: it must have been written after Hamlet, because the name Baptista, used incorrectly in that play as a feminine name, is properly applied to a man in this. And these, I believe, are all. Now, the first of these assumptions I answer, by asking, “Does it follow?” Of all Shakspeare’s plays which had then appeared, only three had been published before 1598, and not one comedy. Meres, in all probability, had no list to refer to, nor was he making one: he simply adduced, in evidence of his assertion of Shakspeare’s excellence, both in tragedy and comedy, such plays of both kinds as he could recollect, or the best of those which he did recollect. Let us put the case home; not in reference to any modern dramatist (though Shakspeare in his own day was not the great exception that he stands with us), but to the world-honoured poet himself, who has founded a sort of religion in us: I, for my part, would not be bound not to omit, in a hasty enumeration, and having no books to refer to, more important works than the Taming of the Shrew. In short, the omission by Meres proves no more than that he either did not think of the play, or did not think it necessary to mention it. To the second assumption, I answer that the date of the first Hamlet is “not proven:” it may have been an early play. From the play of Hamlet, in its earlier form, is the name Baptiste, where it is used in conjunction with Albertus, taken; the scene mentioned is Guiana; and there is nothing to lead one to suppose that the name is used as an Italian name at all. Both the date of Hamlet, therefore, and—whichever way decided—the conclusion drawn from the supposed mistake, I regard as open questions. There is yet another circumstance which Mr. Collier thinks may strengthen his conclusion with regard to the date of this play. He refers to the production of Dekker’s Medicine for a Curst Wife, which he thinks was a revival of the old Taming of a Shrew, brought out as a rival to Shakspeare’s play. This is easily answered. In the first place, Katharine, the Shrew, is not a “curst wife:” she becomes a wife, it is true, in the course of the play; but this is a part of the process of taming her. But what seems at once to disprove it is, that, according to Henslow’s account, Dekker was paid 10l. 10s. for the piece in question; as Mr. Collier observes, an “unusually large sum” for a new piece, and not likely to be paid for the bashing up of an old one. I am thus left entirely without a clue, derivable from external evidence, to the date of this play; and shall be glad to know if there is any thing, throwing light upon the point, which I may have overlooked. That more important consequences are involved in this question than appear upon the face of it, I think I shall be able to show in a future communication; and this is my excuse for trespassing so much upon your space and your readers’ patience.
St. John’s Wood, Jan. 26. 1850.
In a copy of Burnet’s Telluris Theoria Sacra (in Latin), containing only the two first books (1 vol. 4to., Lond. 1689), there is the following entry in Bishop Jebb’s hand-writing:—
“From the internal evidence, not only of additional matter in the margin of this copy, but of frequent erasures and substitutions, I was led to suppose it was the author’s copy, illustrated by his own annotations and improvements. The supposition is, perhaps, sufficiently corroborated by the following extract from the Biographia Britannica, vol. iii. p. 18.
“‘It seems it was usual with Dr. Burnet, before he published any thing in Latin, to have two or three copies, and no more, printed off, which he kept by him for some time, in order to revise at leisure what he had written currente calamo, and sometimes, when he thought proper, to be communicated to his particular friends for their opinions, &c.’
“This copy, as it does not differ from any of the editions of 1689, was certainly not one of those proofs. But the Doctor’s habit of annotating on his own Latin books after they were printed, renders it extremely probable that this book was a preparation for a new edition. It would be well to compare it with the English translation.”
The nature of many of the corrections and additions (which are very numerous), evidently shows a preparation for the press. I have compared this copy with the English edition, published in the same year, and find that some of the {228}corrections were adopted; this, however, but in a few instances, while in one, to be mentioned presently, a palpable mistake, corrected in the MS. Latin notes, stands in the translation. The English version differs very materially from the Latin. The author says in his Preface:—
“This English version is the same in substance with the Latin, though I confess, ’tis not so properly a translation, as a new composition upon the same ground, there being several additional chapters in it, and several new moulded.”
The following are examples of corrections being adopted: P. 6. Latin ed. “Quod abunde probabitur in principio libri secundi.” For the last word subsequentis is substituted, and the English has following. P. 35. “Hippolitus” is added to the authorities in the MS.; and in the English, p. 36., “Anastasius Sinaiti, S. Gaudentius, Q. Julius Hilarius, Isidorus Hispalensis, and Cassiodorus,” are inserted after Lactantius, in both. P. 37. “Johannes Damascenus” is added after St. Augustin in both. P. 180. a clause is added which seems to have suggested the sentence beginning, “Thus we have discharged our promise,” &c. But, on the other hand, in p. 8. the allusion to the “Orphics,” which is struck out in the Latin, is retained in the English; and in the latter there is no notice taken of “Empedocles,” which is inserted in the margin of the Latin. In p. 11. “Ratio naturalis” is personified, and governs the verb vidit, which is repeated several times. This is changed by the corrector into vidimus; but in the English passage, though varying much from the Latin, the personification is retained. In p. 58., “Dion Cassius” is corrected to “Xiphilinus;” but the mistake is preserved in the English version.
I offer the following flim-flam to the examination of your readers, all of whom are, I presume, more or less, readers of Shakspeare, and far better qualified than I am to “anatomize” his writings, and “see what bred about his heart.”
I start with the proposition that the language of passion is almost invariably broken and abrupt, and the deduction that I wish to draw from this proposition, and the passages that I am about to quote is, that—Shakspeare on more than one occasion advisedly used monosyllables, and monosyllables only, when he wished to express violent and overwhelming mental emotion, ex. gratiâ:—
Lear. “Thou know’st the first time that we smell the air,
We wawl, and cry:—I will preach to thee; mark me.
[Gloster. “Alack! alack the day!]
Lear. “When we are born, we cry, that we are come
To this great stage of fools,—This a good block?”
—King Lear, Act IV. Sc. 6.
In this passage [I bracket Gloster] we find no fewer than forty-two monosyllables following each other consecutively. Again,
“——— but through his lips do throng
Weak words, so thick come, in his poor heart’s aid,
That no man could distinguish what he said.”
Rape of Lucreece, Stanza 255.
After I had kept this among other flim-flams for more than a year in my note-book, I submitted it in a letter to the examination of a friend; his answer was as follows:—“Your canon is ingenious, especially in the line taken from the sonnet. I doubt it however, much, and rather believe that sound is often sympathetically, and as it were unconsciously, adapted to sense. Moreover, monosyllables are redundant in our tongue, as you will see in the scene you quote. In King John, Act III. Sc. 3., where the King is pausing in his wish to incense Hubert to Arthur’s murder, he says:—
‘Good friend, though hast no cause to say so yet:
But thou shall have; and creep time ne’er so slow,
Yet it shall come, for me to do thee good.
I had a thing to say,—But let it go:’—
forty monosyllables.”
“Credimus? an qui amant ipsi sibi somnia fingunt.”
The very passage he quoted seemed, to my eyes, rather a corroboration of the theory, than an argument against it! I might, I think, have quoted the remainder of Lear’s speech ending with the words “Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill,” and, with the exception of three words, consisting entirely of monosyllables, and one or two other passages. But I have written enough to express my meaning.
Temple.
Wild House, Drury Lane.—Mr. Cunningham says, “Why so called, I am not aware.” Wild is a corruption of Weld. It was the town mansion of the family of the Welds, of Lutworth Castle.
Compton Street, Soho.—Built in the reign of Charles the First by Sir Francis Compton. New Compton Street, when first formed, was denominated Stiddolph Street, after Sir Richard Stiddolph, the owner of the land. It afterwards changed its name, from a demise of the whole adjoining marsh land, made by Charles the Second to Sir Francis Compton. All this, and the intermediate streets, formed part of the site of the Hospital of St. Giles.
Tottenham Court Road.—The old manor-house, sometimes called in ancient records “Totham Hall,” was, in Henry the Third’s reign, the residence of William de Tottenhall. Part of the old buildings were remaining in 1818.
{229}Short’s Gardens, Drury Lane.—Dudley Short, Esq., had a mansion here, with fine garden attached, in the reign of Charles the Second.
Parker Street, Drury Lane.—Phillip Parker, Esq., had a mansion on this site in 1623.
Bainbridge and Buckridge Streets, St. Giles’s.—The two streets, now no more, but once celebrated in the “annals of low life,” were built prior to 1672, and derived their names from their owners, eminent parishioners in the reign of Charles the Second.
Dyot Street, St. Giles’s.—This street was inhabited, as late as 1803, by Philip Dyot, Esq., a descendant of the gentleman from whom it takes its name. In 1710 there was a certain “Mendicant’s Convivial Club” held at the “Welch’s Head” in this street. The origin of this club dated as far back as 1660, when its meetings were held at the Three Crowns in the Poultry.
Denmark Street, St. Giles’s.—Originally built in 1689. Zoffany, the celebrated painter, lived at No. 9. in this street. The same house is also the scene of Bunbury’s caricature, “The Sunday Evening Concert:”—
“July 27. 1771.—Sir John Murray, late Secretary to the Pretender, was on Thursday night carried off by a party of strange men, from a house in Denmark Street, near St. Giles’s church, where he had lived some time.” —MS. Diary quoted in Collet’s Relics of Literature, p. 306.
Metrical Charms.—In the enumeration of the various branches of that interesting subject, the “FOLK LORE OF ENGLAND,” on which communications were invited in the last number of “NOTES AND QUERIES,” there is an omission which I beg to point out, as it refers to a subject which, I believe, deserves especial investigation, and would amply repay any trouble or attention that might be bestowed upon it. I allude to Metrical Charms, many of which are still preserved, and, in spite of the corruptions they have undergone in the course of centuries, would furnish curious and valuable illustrations of the Mythological System on which they are founded.
“Spirits of the flood and spirits of the hills found a place in the mythology of Saxon England,”
says an able reviewer of Mr. Kemble’s Saxons in England, in The Anthenæum (13th Jan. 1849); and he continues,
“The spells by which they were invoked, and the forms by which their aid was compelled, linger, however, still amongst us, although their names and powers have passed into oblivion. In one of the Saxon spells which Mr. Kemble has inserted in the Appendix, we at once recognised a rhyme which we had heard an old woman in our childhood use,—and in which many Saxon words unintelligible to her were probably retained.”
Who would not gladly recover this “old rhyme?”—I can say for myself, that if these lines should ever meet the eye of the writer of the passage I have quoted, I trust he will be induced to communicate, in however fragmentary a shape, this curious addition to our present scanty stories of mythological information.
While on the subject of Charms and Spells, I would ask those who are more familiar than myself with the Manuscript treasures of the British Museum, and of our University Libraries, whether they have ever met with (except in MSS. of Chaucer) the remarkable “Night Spell” which the Father of English Poetry has preserved in the following passage of his Miller’s Tale. I quote from Mr. Wright’s edition, printed for the Percy Society:—
“‘What Nicholas, what how man, loke adoun:
Awake and think on Cristes passioun
I crowche the from Elves and from Wightes.’
There with the night-spel seyde he anon rightes
On the foure halves of the hous aboute
And on the threissh-fold of the dore withoute.
“‘Lord Jhesu Crist and seynte Benedight,
Blesse this hous from every wikkede wight
Fro nightes verray, the white Paternoster
When wonestow now, seynte Petres soster.’”
This charm has long occupied my attention, and as I hope shortly to submit to the Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries an attempt to illustrate some parts of it which are at present certainly involved in very great obscurity, I shall be glad to be informed whether any other early version of it is to be found in MS., and if so, where; and also whether any other version, corrupted or not, is still preserved, if not in use, at least in memory. I should also be especially glad of references of any other allusion to the “white Paternoster” or “seynte Petres soster,” or for any information as to sources for ascertaining the history, whether authentic or legendary, of the personage supposed to be alluded to in the closing words of this remarkable spell.
“A Good Wife,” &c., and “God speed the Plough!”—I should hold myself deeply indebted to any of your correspondents who would inform me where the two following quotations are to be found.
I have been anxiously looking for them for some years. I have taken some pains myself—{230}“I have poached in Suidas for unlicensed Greek”—have applied to my various antiquarian friends (many of whose names I was delighted to recognise among the brilliant galaxy that enlightened your first number)—but hitherto all in vain; and I am reduced to acknowledge the truth of the old proberb, “A —— may ask more questions in an hour than a wise man can answer in seven years:”—
I. “For thus will most truly be verified the saying of the poet, ‘A good wife, by obeying her husband, shall bear the rule, so that he shall have a delight and a gladness the sooner at all times to return home to her.’ But, on the contrary part, ‘when the wives be stubborn, froward, and malapert, their husbands are compelled thereby to abhor and flee from their own houses, even as they should have battle with their enemies.’”—Homily on Matrimony, p. 450. ed. Oxford, 1840.
Query—Who is the poet?
II. “Let no good and discreet subjects, therefore, follow the flag or banner displayed to rebellions, and borne by rebels, though it have the image of the plough painted therein, with God speed the plough written under in great letters, knowing that none hinder the plough more than rebels, who will neither go to the plough themselves, nor suffer other that would go unto it.”—Fourth Part of the Homily against Wilful Rebellion, p. 518.
In what rebellion was such a banner carried?
These questions may appear very trifling; but each man has his hobby, and mine is, not to suffer a quotation to pass without verification.
It is fortunate that I am not a despotic monarch, as I would certainly make it felony without benefit of clergy to quote a passage without giving a plain reference.
Pope’s Translations of Horace.—In a pamphlet against Pope, entitled, A True Character of Mr. Pope and his Writings, by the author of The Critical History of England, written in May, 1716, and printed in that year, Pope is reproached with having just published a “libellous,” “impudent,” and “execrable” Imitation of Horace. Twenty years later such a reproach would be very intelligible; but can any one favour me with a reference to any Imitation of Horace, published by Pope prior to 1716, of which any such complaint could be made?
Etymology of “Havior.”—Can any of your readers inform me what is the etymology of the word Havior, by which all park-keepers denote an emasculated male deer, affording good venison between the buck and doe season?
Never having seen the word written or printed, I am guided, in attempting to spell it, by the usual pronunciation.
Audley End, Feb. 2.
Arabic Numerals.—In the Archæological Journal (vol. vi. p. 291.), it is stated that the earliest “example of the use of Arabic numerals in any work connected with building” is the date 1445, on the tower of Heathfield Church, Sussex, though “they were common in MSS. after 1320, and in astronomical Tracts as early as 1290.” As it is probable that not a few instances of the employment of the Arabic numeral characters of an earlier date than that at Heathfield are to be met with in different parts of the country, will you permit me to make use of your paper to inquire whether any such are known to any of your readers, and if they will be so obliging as to communicate their knowledge through the medium of your columns? As the subject is one of considerable interest, it would be desirable that any date belonging to the fifteenth or the early part of the sixteenth century should be made known, and registered in your valuable publication.
Permit me also to ask, in connection with this subject, for references to any works or treatises supplying information on the history of the Arabic numerals, their origin, and their introduction into Europe. I am already acquainted with Astle, On Writing, Wallis’s Algebra, Nouveau Traité de Diplomatique, the Huctiana, Pegge’s Life of Grostête, and the Philosophical Transactions; but I wish for additional, and, if possible, more recent information.
Does any one of your readers know what became of the MSS. formerly in the possession of the above-named Thomas Astle, formerly Keeper of the Tower Records? In Sir W. Burrell’s Sussex collections in the British Museum are copies of charters, “ex MSS. penes T. Aste,” with notices of curious seals appended, which I should be glad to be able to inspect.
Stephen Eiton, or Eden’s “Acta Regis Edw. II.“—The interesting account of St. Thomas of Lancaster, with the appended queries (No. 12. p. 181.), reminds me of the work of Stephen Eiton or Eden, a canon-regular of Warter, in Yorkshire, entitled, “Acta Regis Edwardi iidi,” which is said still to remain in manuscript. Where is it deposited?
Dog Latin.—Permit me also to ask, what is the origin of the expression “Dog Latin”?
The Cuckoo—the Welch Ambassador.—In Middleton’s A Trick to Catch the Old One, Act iv. sc. 5., Dampet says:—
“Why, thou rogue of universality, do I not know thee? Thy sound is like the cuckoo, the Welch Embassador.”
And the editor of the continuation of Dodsley’s Collection remarks on the passage,—
“Why the cuckoo is called the Welch Embassador, I know not.”
{231} Perhaps some of your readers can explain why the cuckoo is so called.
A recent Novel.—Having lately met with an extremely rare little volume, the title of which runs thus: “La prise d’un Seigneur Ecossois et de ses gens qui pilloient les navires pescheurs de France, ensemble le razement de leur fort et le rétablissement d’un autre pour le service du Roi ... en la Nouvelle France ... par le sieur Malepart. Rouen, le Boullenger, 1630. 12o. 24pp.” I was reminded of a modern novel, the principal scenes of which are laid in an island inhabited by a British nobleman of high rank, who, having committed a political crime, had been reported dead, but was saved by singular circumstances, and led the life of a buccaneer. Can any of your numerous readers be good enough to mention the title of the novel alluded to, which has escaped my memory?
Authorship of a Couplet.—Can you help me to the authorship of the following lines?—
“Th’ unhappy have whole days, and those they choose;
The happy have but hours, and those they lose.”
Seal of Killigrew, and Genealogy of the Killigrew Family.—”BURIENSIS” (No. 13. p. 204.) is informed that the arms on the seal at Sudbury are certainly those of a member of the old Cornish house of Killigrew. These arms, impaled by those of Lower, occur on a monument at Llandulph, near Saltash, to the memory of Sir Nicholas Lower, and Elizabeth his wife, who died in 1638. She was a daughter of Sir Henry Killegrewe, of London, and a near relative, I believe, of the Master of the Revels.
While on this subject, I beg to put a query to your genealogical readers. The double-headed eagle, the bordure bizantée, and the demilion charged with bezants, are all evident derivations from the armorial bearings of Richard, titular king of the Romans, Earl of Cornwall, &c., second son of King John. The family of Killegrewe is of venerable antiquity in Cornwall. What I wish to ascertain is, the nature of the connection between the family and that unfortunate “king.” Was it one of consanguinity, or merely one of feudal dependence?
*** See, on the origin of the arms of Richard and their derivatives, my Curiosities of Heraldry, pp.309. et seq.
In common with the mistletoe and vervain the Druids held the Selago and Samolus as sacred plants, and never approached them but in the most devout and reverential manner. When they were gathered for religious purposes the greatest care was taken lest they should fall to the earth, for it was an established principle of Druidism, that every thing that was sacred would be profaned if allowed to touch the ground; hence their solicitude to catch the anguinum:
“————————— When they bear
Their wond’rous egg aloof in air:
Thence before to earth it fall,
The Druid in his hallow’d pall
Receives the prize.”
Pliny, in his Natural History (lib. xxiv. cap. 11.) gives a circumstantial account of the ceremonies used by the Druids in gathering the Selago and Samolus, and of the uses to which they were applied:—
“Similis berbæ huie sabinæ est Selago appellata. Legitur sine ferro dextra manu per tunicam, qua sinistra exuitur velut a furante, candida veste vestito, pureque lotis nudis pedibus, saero facto priusquam legatur, pane vinoque. Fertur in mappa nova. Hanc contra omnem perniciem habendam prodidere Druidæ Gallorum, et contra omnia oculorum vitia fumum ejus prodesse.
“Iidem Samolum herbam nominavere nascentem in humidis: et hanc sinistra manu legi a jejunis contra morbos suum boumque, nec respicere legentem: nec alibi quam in canali, deponere, ibique conterere poturis.”
From the very slight manner in which these plants are described by Pliny, it is next to impossible to identify them with any degree of certainty, though many attempts for the purpose have been made. So far as I know, Pliny is the only ancient author who mentions them, and we have therefore nothing to guide us beyond what he has said in this passage.
The word Selago is supposed to be derived from se and lego, i.e. quid certo ritu seligeretur. Linnæus appropriated the name to a pretty genus of Cape plants, but which can have nothing whatever to do with the Selago of the Druids. It has been thought to be the same as the Serratula Chamæpeuce of Linnæus, but without sufficient reason, for Pliny says it resembles the savine; and Matthiolus, in his Commentary on Dioscorides, when speaking of the savine (Juniperus Sabina), says:—
“Siquidem vidi pro Sabina assumi quandam herbam dodrantalem quæ quibusdam in montibus plurima nascitur, folio tamaricis, licet nec odore nec sapore Sabinam Hanc sæpius existimavi esse Selaginem referat. a Plinio lib. xxiv. c. 11. commemoratam.”
Samolus, or as some copies read Samosum, is said to be derived from two Celtic words, san, salutary, and mos, pig; denoting a property in the plant which answers to the description of Pliny, who says the Gauls considered the Samolus as a specific in all maladies of swine and cattle. {232} But there is not less difficulty in identifying this plant than in the former case. Some have thought it the same as the little marsh plant, with small white flowers, which Linnæus calls Samolus Valerandi, while others consider it to be the Anemone Pulsatilla. I am ignorant of the salutary properties of these plants, and must leave it to be decided which of them has the greatest claims to be considered the Samolus of Pliny.
Is there any English translation of Ælian’s Various History, or of the work ascribed to the same author on the Peculiarities of Animals?
East Winch. Jan. 1850.
Selago and Samolus.—The Selago (mentioned by “PWCCA,” No. 10. p. 157.), in Welsh Gras Duw (Gratia Dei), was held by the Druids as a charm against all misfortunes; they called it Dawn y Dovydd, the gift of the Lord. They also ascribed great virtues to the Samolus, which was called Gwlydd, mild or tender. All that can be known respecting the Selago and Samolus, may be seen in Borlase’s Antiquities of Cornwall.
In the Anglo-Saxon Gloss, to Ælfric’s Latin dialogue, higdifatu is not, I conceive, an error of the scribe, but a variation of dialect, and therefore, standing in no need of correction into hydigfatu (“NOTES and QUERIES,” No. 13.). Hig, hi and hy, are perfectly identical, and nothing is more usual in A.S. than the omission of the final g after i; consequently, hig=hy, di=dig, therefore higdi=hydig. Mr. Singer’s reading of cassidilia for culidilia, I consider to be well-founded.
His conjecture, that sprote=Goth. sprauto, has something very specious about it, and yet I must reject it. That useful and sagacious author, Dr. Kitchener, tells us, that there is only one thing to be done in a hurry (or sprauto); and even if he had not informed us what that one thing is, very few indeed would ever have imagined that it was fish-catching. The word sprote was a puzzle to me, and I had often questioned myself as to its meaning, but never could get a satisfactory answer; nor was it until some time after the publication of the 2nd edition of my Analecta that it occurred to me that it might signify a wicker or sallow basket (such as is still in use for the capture of eels), from Lat. sporta, whence the German sportel. My conjecture, of salice for the salu of the text, was based on the possibility that the apparatus might somehow or other be made of the salix.
I beg leave to inform “SELEUCUS,” that The Phœnix, with an English version, and with the Latin original, is to be found in the Codex Exoniensis, edited by me, in 1842, for the Society of Antiquaries. The Latin ascribed to Lactantius, is printed in the Variourum edition of Claudian, and, I believe, in the editions of Lactantius.
Jan. 30, 1850.
Your correspondent, “R.G.” (No. 13. p. 203.), is correct in supposing the wood-cut portrait of Luther to be that which is prefixed to the treatise “De Captivitate Babylonica Ecclesiæ,” where he is habited as a monk; but it was evidently only a copy from the very interesting copper-plate engraving of his friend Lucas Cranach, bearing the date 1520, of which a very accurate copy was prefixed to the translation of “Luther’s Way to Prayer,” published by Mr. Pickering in 1846. Juncker’s book is a very good repertory of the various representations of the great reformer, but the prints are generally but faithless copies. In 1750 Kirchmayer printed an especial disquisition upon the portrait by Lucas Cranach of 1523, under the following title:—”Disquisitio Historia de Martini Lutheri Oris et Vultus Habitu Hervieo ad vivum expresso in Imagine divine pencilli Lucæ Cranachj patris in ære hic incisa,” &c., Wittebergæ Sax. 1750, 4to. The works in which the Germans have sought to do honour to their great protestant saint, are numerous enough to fill a small library but two of them are so remarkable as to deserve notice, 1. “Luther’s Merkwürdige Lebensumstande bey seiner Medicinalischen Leibesconstitution, Krankheiten, geistlichen und leiblichen Anfectungen und andern Zufallen, &c., von F.G. Keil,” Leipsig, 1764. 2. “Luther’s Merkwürdige Reisegeschichte zu Erganzung seiner Lebensumstande, von Jo. Th. Lingke,” Leipsig, 1769, 4to. The earliest wood-cut representation of Erasmus with which I am acquainted is a medallion accompanying another of Ulric of Hutten, on the title-page of the following work of the unfortunate but heroic champion of the Reformation:—”Ulrichi ab Hutten cum Erasmo Rotirodamo, Presbytero, Theologo, Expostulatio.” There is reason to believe that this Expostulation was printed only a short month before Hutten died; and, though it bears neither date nor name of printer, that it was printed by Johannes Schott, at Strasburg, in the month of July, 1523. It has another portrait of Hutten at the end, the whole strikingly spirited and characteristic; by some they have been attributed to Holbein, and if not by him, which is doubtful, they are at least worthy of him.
One would gladly forget this strife between the great promoter of learning and the soldier-scholar. Erasmus’s conduct was unworthy of a great man, and can never be vindicated.
Praise undeserved.—The correct quotation, referred to in No. 14. p. 222., is
“Praise undeserved is Satire in disguise.”
It is by Mr. Br——st, author of a copy of verses called the British Beauties. I cannot fill up the “hiatus,” which in this case is not “maxime deflendus,” because I have now no time to search the Museum Catalogue. I apprehend that the author belonged to the “mob of gentlemen who wrote with ease,” as it is something like Savage’s “tenth transmitter” (which, by the bye, your correspondent, Mr. Gutch, should have said is said to be Pope’s)—his only good line. Here is my authority:
EPIGRAM
On a certain line of Mr. Br——, author of a copy of verses called the“British Beauties.”—From the “GARLAND,” a collection of Poems, 1721.
“When one good line did much my wonder raise
In Br——st’s works, I stood resolved to praise;
And had, but that the modest author cries,
Praise undeserv’d is satire in disguise.”
I would add, that I believe this Epigram to be Dr. Kenrick’s, Goldsmith’s old persecutor in later years.
French Maxim.—I beg to inform your correspondent “R.V.” in reply to his query (No. 14. p. 215.), that the maxim quoted is the 218th of Rochefoucauld: “L’hypocrisie est un hommage que le vice rend à la vertu.”
Singular Motto.—The “singular motto” which occasions “P.H.F.’s” wonder (No. 14. p. 214.), is, without doubt, a cypher, and only to be rendered by those who have a Key. Such are not unfrequent in German, Austrian, or Bohemian Heraldry.
Discurs. Modest.—At p. 205. No. 13., your correspondent N. replies to A.T.’s query, that “there can be no reasonable doubt, that the original authority for Rem transubstantiationis patres ne altigisse quidem, is William Watson in his Quodlibet, ii. 4. p. 31.”
By a note of mine, I find that this secular priest, W. Watson, lays the expression in question to the charge of the Jesuits as “an heretical and most dangerous assertion of theirs.” Admitting, therefore, the Discurs. Modest. to have been published after Watson’s Decacordon, i.e. later than 1602 (which can hardly be doubted), still the further question remains to be asked: “In what writings of the Jesuits, prior to 1602, had W. Watson himself found these words, with which he charges them?” Should you think this further query of importance enough to find a place in your paper, perhaps some one of your readers might throw yet another ray of light upon this subject.
Oxford
Pallace (No. 13. p. 202).—Mr. Halliwell, in his Dictionary of Archaic, &c. Words, explains this word as used in Devonshire:—
“Palace, a Storehouse.”—Devon. “At Dartmouth, I am told there are some of these storehouses, called palaces, cut out of the rock, still retaining the name.” —MS Devon. Gloss.
Meaning of “Pallace.”—The term “Pallace” (No. 13. p. 202.) is applied in Totnes to denote a landing-place inclosed by walls, but not roofed in. Many of these “pallaces” have been converted into coal-cellars. Perhaps pales may have been used originally to form these inclosures in lieu of walls;—and hence the word “pallace” would mean a place paled in. I find repeated mention made of “pallaces” in a schedule attached to a deed of the Corporation of Totnes, bearing date September 18th, 1719, a copy of which is now before me, and from it the following extracts are taken:—
“One linney and two pallaces or yards.”
“All those houses, rooms, cellars, and pallaces.”
“All that great cellar lately rebuilt, and the plott of ground or pallace thereto belonging lately converted into a cellar.”
“All that little cellar and pallace lately rebuilt, and the kay or landing place thereto belonging, and near adjoyning unto and upon the river Dart.”
“And the little pallace or landing-place.”
Apropos of landing-places, it may interest some of your readers to learn that the very stone upon which Brutus, the nephew of Æneas, landed at Totnes, still remains! It is inserted in the foot-way nearly opposite the Mayoralty-house in the Fore Street. From Totnes, the neighbouring shore was heretofore called Totonese: and the British History tells us, that Brutus, the founder of the British nation, arrived here; and Havillanus [John de Alvilla or Hauteville, according to Mr. Wright] as a poet, following the same authority, writes thus:—
“Inde dato cursu, Brutus comitatus Achate
Gallorum spoliis cumulatis navibus æquor
Exarat, et superis auraque faventibus usus,
Littora felices intrat Totonesia portus.”
“From hence great Brute with his Achates steer’d,
Full fraught with Gallic spoils their ships appear’d;
The Winds and Gods were all at their command,
And happy Totnes shew’d them grateful land.”
Totnes is made mention of the Lais de Marie:—
“Il tient sun chemin tut avant.
A la mer vient, si est passer,
En Toteneis est arriver.”—Lai d’Elidne.
Totnes, Devon, Jan. 30. 1850.
Litany Version of the Psalms.—The doubts produced by Beloe’s self-contradicting statements on the subject of the Bishops’ Bible, which are referred to by “X.X.” (No. 13. p. 203.), may thus be settled. The first edition of this Bible, printed in 1568, contains a new translation of the Psalms by Becon. In the second folio edition, 1572, are inserted, in opposite columns, “the translation according to the Ebrewe,” which differs but little from the former, in Roman letter, and “the translation used in common prayer,” or that of the Great Bible, printed by Whitchurch, 1553, in black letter.
The clarum et venerabile nomen associated with the Bishops’ Bible, a very magnificent and perfect copy of which is now open before me, suggests the inquiry whether there is any copy known of Archbishop Parker’s rare volume on the English Church, 1572, which is not noticed by Martin in the list of eighteen which he had discovered. He does not mention that in the Chetham library.
Tempora mutantur &c.—In reply to your correspondent, “E.V.” (No. 14. p. 215.), I beg to state, that the germ of “Tempora mutantur, et nos mutamur in illis,” is to be found in the Delitiæ Poetarium Germanorum, vol. i. p. 685., under the Poems of Matthias Borbonius. He considers them as a saying of Lotharius I. (flor. Cir. 830.):—
“Omnia mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis;
Illa vices quasdam res habet, illa suas.”
I sent this communication, some years ago, to Sharpe’s Magazine, where it will be found, vol. v. p. 208.
Pandoxare.—Your correspondent, “H.B.” (No. 13. p. 202.), has lighted upon a curious specimen of domestic hieroglyphics, the notice of which recalls to mind the quaint marginal symbols scattered over the inventories of the Exchequer Treasury, at a much earlier period. They are not devoid of information or interest. The word of which he requests explanation, is, indeed, of too base Latinity to be found in the Facciolati, or even in the Auctarium; but in our old Latin dictionaries, sources of abundant information on obsolete expressions, the word is readily to be found. Old Gouldman, for instance, whose columns are replete with uncommon and local English terms, gives “Pandoxor, to brew,” citing Alciatus as authority, and “Pandox, a swill-bowl,” apparently a word used by Statius. It is obviously a barbarous derivative of the same Greek words as Pandocium or Pandoxarium (παν and δοχειον), the hostelry open to all comers. If, however, a more recondite authority for the explanation of the word, as formerly used in England, be desired, I would refer your querist to the pages of the Promptorium Parvulorum, where may be found—“Bruwyn ale or other drynke, Pandoxor. Browstar, or brewere, Pandoxator, Pandoxatrix,” the medieval Bass or Guinness having been, most frequently, a female. And, having cited the primitive lexicographer of Norfolk, I would seize the occasion to offer a note, in response to the numerous queries regarding the too tardy advance of the work in question, and to assure your readers, who may be interested in the publications of the Camden Society, that a further instalment of the Promptorium is in forwardness, so that I hope to complete a considerable portion, in readiness for issue, early in the current year.
Saint Thomas of Lancaster.—Not having Brady at hand, I cannot tell what authorities he cites; but, as Mr. Milnes (No. 12. p. 181.) does not mention Rymer, he perhaps may not know that he will find in that collection some documentary evidence on the subject of this saint, if saint he was; for instance—
“Super rumore Thomam nuper Comitem Lancastriæ miraculis corruscuri.”—Rym. Fœd. iii. p. 1033. A.D. 1323. “Quod,” adds the king, “moleste gerimus.”
But Edward III. was of quite another mind, and urged his canonization of the Holy See. Witness Rymer:—
“Ad Papam; pro canonisatione Thomaelig; nuper Comitis Lancastriæ.”—Fœd. iv. p. 2. A.D. 1326.
And again—
“Pro custodi“ (Weryngton mentioned by Mr. Milnes), “Capellæ ad montem ubi nuper comes Lancastriæ decollatus fuit.”—Ib. p. 291.
It seems that the bodies of some of Thomas’s accomplices were also supposed to have worked miracles; for we find an ordinance—
“Contra Fingentes miracula fieri per inimicos Regis.” —Rym. Fœd. iv. p. 20. A.D. 1323.
Andrews says (Hist. i. 342.) that Richard II. renewed the application for Thomas’s canonization; but he does not give his authority, and I have not time to look further through Rymer.
p. 184. Jhon-John.—I wonder Mr. Williams does not see that the h is not “introduced“ for any purpose; it is an integral part of the original name Johannes, which was contracted into Johan, and in French into Jehan.
p. 185. Slang Phrases.—”A Rowland for an Oliver“ is no slang phrase of the eighteenth century; it is a proverbial expression as old as the days of the romances of Roland and Olivier. The other two were phrases put into the mouths of two characters (Dr. Ollapod, in Colman’s Poor Gentleman, and Young Rapid, in Morton’s Cure for the Heart-ache), which grew into vogue only from the success of the actors Fawcett and Lewis, and had no meaning or allusion beyond what the words obviously meant.
{235}Full of Rain in England.—”ROYDON” (No. 11. p. 73) will find the average quantity of rain fallen at Greenwich, for twenty-five years, 1815 to 1839, in a very useful and clever pamphlet, price 1s., by J.H. Belville, of the Royal Observatory, published by Taylor, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street, called Manual of the Mercurial and Aneroid Barometers.
Judas Bell—(No. 13, p. 195). In the “Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedie,” a singular Scotch Poem, composed in the former half of the 16th century, and printed in Ramsay’s Evergreen, the following passage occurs (Everg. vol. ii. p. 74.):—
“A Benefice quha wald give sic a Beist,
But gif it were to jingle Judas bells?
Tak thee a Fiddle or a Flute to jest,
Undocht thou art, ordained for naithing ells.”
The Judas bells may probably have been used in the Easter-eve ceremonies, in connexion with which we find Judas candles mentioned. See Brand’s Popular Antiq. by Sir H. Ellis, vol. i. p. 29.
Boduc or Boduoc on British Coins.—The real name of the heroic queen of the Iceni is very uncertain. Walther (Tacitus, xiv. Ann. c. 31.), adopts Boudicea. It is probable enough that the syllables Boduo may have formed a part of it, as pronounced by the Britons. We are reminded of Boduognatus, leader of the Nervii, mentioned by Cæsar. But to come nearer home, the name Boduogenus is found upon a bronze vessel discovered in the Isle of Ely, described by Mr. Goddard Johnson, Archæologia, xxviii. p. 436.
C.W.G.
Lord Bacon’s Metrical Version of the Psalms.—Lord Bacon’s translation of seven psalms, the 1st, 12th, 90th, 104th, 126th, 127th, and 149th, with a Dedication to George Herbert, is found at the end of the 2nd vol. of his works. (Lond. 1826.) They were printed at London, 1625, in quarto.
[To this we may add, on the information of X.X., that some account of these Psalms, with specimens, may be seen in Holland’s Psalmists of Britain, 1824.]
A “Gib” Cat.—What is the etymology of the term “Gibbe,” as applied to the male cat? I may observe that the g is pronounced hard in this locality, and not jibbe, as most dictionaries have it.
Burnley, Lancashire.
[NARES has shown, very satisfactorily, that Gib, the contraction of Gilbert, was the name formerly applied to a cat, as Tom is now. He states that Tibert (the name given to the Cat in the old Reynard the Fox) was the old French for Gilbert; and at all events, be that as it may, Chaucer, in his Romance of the Rose, verse 6204., translates “Thibert le Cas” by “Gibbe our Cat.”]
Lay of the Phœnix.—”SELEUCUS” is informed that the Anglo-Saxon Lay of the Phœnix is contained in the Codex Exoniensis, edited by Mr. B. Thorpe. The Latin poem, in hexameters and pentameters, attributed to Lactantius, is given at the foot of the page. It will be found at the end of the works of Lactantius, in the small edition by Fritzsche (Lipsiæ, 1842). Fritzsche mentions two separate editions of the poem; 1. by Martini, Lunæburgi, 1825; 2. by Leyser, Quedlinburgi, 1839.
Lay of the Phœnix.—”SELEUCUS” (No. 13, p. 203.) asks, “Is there any published edition of the hexameter poem by Lactantius, which is said to have suggested the idea of the Anglo-Saxon Lay of the Phœnix?” This poem is not in hexameter, but in elegiac verse; and though, on account of its brevity, we could not expect that it would have been separately published, it is to be found very commonly at the end of the works of Lactantius; for example, in three editions before me, Basil. 1524, Lugd. 1548, Basil. 1563. That this poem, however, belongs to the Christian Cicero, at any period of his life, is more than doubtful, even by the admission of Romanists, who readily avail themselves of other compositions of similar authority. It has been sometimes ascribed to Venantius Fortunatus, and is by Sirmondus attributed to Theodulphus, Bishop of Orleans. (Opp., ii. 840. cf. iv. 519. Venet. 1728.)
Ordination Pledges.—Your correspondent, “CLERICUS” (no. 10. p. 156.), will find by far the most elaborate and judicious examination of the import, design, and obligation of the various oaths and subscriptions required of the clergy, in the successive numbers of The Christian Observer for 1849.
Feast of St, Michael and All-Angels.—The difficulty started by “K.M.P.” (No. 13, p. 203.), with regard to the double second lessons for the Feast of St. Michael and All-Angels, is easily resolved by comparing the Table of Proper Lessons before and after the last review of the Prayer Book in 1662; from which it will be seen, that the proper second lessons were then appointed for the first time, while the old second lessons for Sept. 29. were retained, either from inadvertence, or to avoid the necessity of disarranging all the subsequent part of the calendar. The present first lessons, Gen. xxxii., and Dan. x. v. 5., at the same time took the place of the inappropriate chapters, Eccles. xxxix. and xliv., which had been appointed for this day in Queen Elizabeth’s Prayer Book, 1559.
Beaver Hat.—Mr. T. Hudson Turner (No. 7. p. 100.) asks, “What is the earliest known instance of the use of a beaver hat in England?”
{236} Fairholt (Costume in England) says, the earliest notice of it is in the reign of Elizabeth, and gives the following quotation from Stubbe’s Anatomy of Abuses, 1580:—
“And as the fashions be rare and strange, so is the stuff whereof their hats be made divers also; for some are of silk, some of velvet, some of taffetie, some of sarcenet, some of wool, and, which is more curious, some of a certain kind of fine haire; these they call bever hattes, of xx, xxx, or xl shillings price, fetched from beyond the seas, from whence a great sort of other varieties doe come besides.”
Meaning of “Pisan.”—Mr. Turner (No. 7. p.100.) asks the meaning of the term pisan, used in old records for some part of defensive armour.
Meyrick (Ancient Armour, vol. i. p. 155, 2d ed.) gives a curious and interesting inventory of the arms and armour of Louis le Hutin, King of France, taken in the year 1316, in which we find, “Item 3 coloretes Pizanes de jazeran d’acier.” He describes pizane (otherwise written pizaine, pusen, pesen) as a collar made, or much in fashion, at Pisa. The jazeran armour was formed of overlapping plates. In the metrical romance of Kyng Alisaunder, edited by Webber, occur the lines—
“And Indiens, and Emaniens,
With swordes, lances, and pesens.“
Weber explains the pesens here as gorgets, armour for the neck.
In more recent MSS. pisan may be a contraction for partisan, a halberd.
I cannot agree with your correspondent “A.F.” (p.90), that the nine of diamonds was called “the curse (cross) of Scotland” from its resemblance to the cross of St. Andrew, which has the form of the Roman X; whereas the pips on the nine of diamonds are arranged in the form of the letter H. “Mend the instance.”
Erratum. P. 181 col. 2. line 3., for obscurities, read obscenities.
Cambridge, Jan. 31. 1850.
Pokership—God tempers the Wind.—I am disposed to think that Parkership will turn out to be the right explanation, because almost every forest or chase contained a fenced park, in which the deer were confined; and the charge of the woods and park might be consigned to the same person; and the error in spelling the word was probably copied from one genealogist to another.
Nevertheless, Mr. Corney’s conjecture may be right, as Forby (Vocabulary, vol. ii. p. 258.) mentions Poke-Day as the day on which the allowance of corn is made to the labourers, who, in some places, receive a part of their wages in that form. Now the Pokerer might be the officer who distributed the grain on these occasions.
I open my note to add, that Mr. Gutch (No. 14. p. 211.) will find, in Sterne’s Sentimental Journey,—”God tempers the wind,” said Maria, “to the shorn lamb.”
The words which I have underlined are printed in Italics in my edition of the work (London, 12mo. 1790), which may indicate that they are quoted from some other author.
Audley End, Feb. 2.
Walewich or Watewich.—I have made the reference suggested by “W.B.M.”
Canute was residing at Walewich, and the Abbot of Ely was consecrated there by the Archbishop of Canterbury. This “Walewich” can be no obscure place, and we need not look for it in Cambridgeshire.
I am inclined to think that the word ought to have been written Warewich, i.e. Warwick.
Soham Mere (Mare de Soham) once covered 1369 1⁄2 acres.—Lyson’s Cambridge, 254.
Portum Pusillum, if not Littleport, was a place upon the Cam or the Ouse, within sight of Ely Minster.
Does your correspondent suppose that Northmouth was among the fens? If so, he may consult Inquisitio Eliensis, or Dugdale’s Map of the Bedford Level, which is in the Museum.
Dec. 22.
Madoc’s Emigration to America.—”ANGLO-CAMBRIAN” (No. 4. p. 57.), in contradiction to the occurrence of Madoc’s emigration, has adduced what he supposes to be a gross anachronism in the words “Madoc was directed by the best compass, and this in 1170!” Now, unfortunately for this opinion, the passage on which it is founded will not allow of his interpretation. The original words are in Sir Thomas Herbert’s Travels, and, in his expressive language, they are as follows:—”By Providence, the best compass, and benefit of the pole-star, he returned safely to his own country.” Most certainly this cannot imply that Madoc was acquainted with the mariner’s compass.
“J.M.T.” also seems to give great weight to the fact of a “Welsh-Indian vocabulary” having been formed, containing no trace of any Celtic root. This seems conclusive, yet it is not so; for I have some words, extracted from a vocabulary of the Mandan (Indian) language made by Mr. Catlin, during his sojourn among them, all of which, with very slight allowance for corruption, are clearly Welsh. Mr. Catlin believes the Mandans to have been descended from the followers of Prince Madoc, from the strong evidence which he considers his stay among them afforded him, and detailed in his work on the Indians. I regret to add, that the Mandans have been exterminated by the small-pox and the weapons of their enemies. I have long taken a deep, because a national, interest in this question, and have endeavoured to examine in the spirit of that noble {237}precept, which ought to be bound up with the existence of every Cymro, “The truth against the world.” Consequently, I have found that much of what is put forth as evidence on this question is, as Mr. Corney has very justly intimated, quite inadmissible; in short, unworthy of belief. Still, the inquiry has afforded me sufficient reasons for viewing the question of Prince Madoc’s emigration as a fact, and for supporting it as such as far as my humble testimony will allow.
Caerphili Castle.—With reference to “PWCCA’S” query (No. 10. p. 157.), it may be noted that Full is the Welsh word for “haste,” and, if the derivatur, must allude to the original structure having been hastily erected.
Origin of word Bug.—I should feel obliged by your informing me whether the word Bug is not of Celtic origin, signifying a “Ghost or Goblin?” Vide Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, Act I. Scene II.:—
“Tush, tush, fright boys with bugs.”
And whether, in Mathews’ Bible, A.D. 1537, the 5th verse of the 91st Psalm is not thus rendered:—
“Thou shalt not need to be afraid of any bugs by night”?
literally, in the Hebrew, “Terror of the night.”
[Bug in Welsh means a ghost or goblin. It is probably the same with the Icelandic Paki, an evil spirit. But on this etymology our correspondent can consult an article by Sir F. Palgrave, on the “Popular Mythology of the Middle Ages.” in the Quarterly Review, vol. xxii.;a paper, by Mr. Thoms, on the “Folk Lore of Shakspeare,” No. 6.; “Puck’s several Names,” in The Athenæum, Oct. 9. 1847; and lastly, Mr. Keightley’s most interesting work, The Fairy Mythology. vol. ii. p. 118., of which we are happy to hear that a new and enlarged edition may shortly be expected.]
Excecution of Duke of Monmouth.—Among the memorials of the “rash but unfortunate Duke of Monmouth,” which have recently attracted much attention, and for which the public are principally indebted to certain inquiries originated in the “NOTES AND QUERIES,” I have not observed any notice taken of an anecdote respecting him, which is current among our neighbours on the Continent; namely, that he gave six guineas to the executioner, the JOHN KETCH of that day, to perform his work well!—
“Le Duc de Monmout donna six guinées au Bourreau de Londres, pour lui bien couper la tête; mais le misérable ne mérroit par ces guinées, puisqu’il la lui coupa très mal.”
This anecdote is introduced, in the form of a note, into the folio Dictionary of Pierre Richelet, a most valuable work, and full of history, ancient and modern. Can any of your correspondents produce the authority for this anecdote? Richelet himself does not give any, but merely relates the story, apparently with a view of illustrating the term “guinea,” as applied to the gold coin of Charles the Second. Vid, voc. “Guinée.”
By Hook or by Crook.—I send you a note, which I made some years ago.
This expression is much more ancient than the time of Charles I., to which it is generally referred. It occurs in Skelton, Colin Clout, line 31. a fine:—
“Nor wyll suffer this boke
By hooke ne by crooke
Prynted for to be.”
In Spenser, f. 2. v. ii. 27.:—
“Thereafter all that mucky pelfe he tooke,
The spoile of peoples evil gotten good,
The which her sire had serap’t by hooke and crooke,
And burning all to ashes pour’d it down the brooke.”
In Holland’s Suetonius, p. 169:—
“Likewise to get, to pill and poll by hooke and crooke so much, as that——”
In a letter of Sir Richard Morysin to the Privy Council, in Lodges Illustrations, &c., i. 154:—
“Ferrante Gonzaga, d’Arras, and Don Diego, are in a leage, utterlie bent to myslyke, and to charge by hook or by crooke, anything don, or to be don, by the thre fyrst.”
Cupid Crying.—The beautiful epigram upon this subject, which appeared in No. 11 p. 172., was kindly quoted, “for its extreme elegance,” by the Athenæum of the 26th January, which produced the following communication to that journal of Saturday last:—
“Will the correspondent of the ‘NOTES AND QUERIES,’ whose pretty epigram appears copied into your Athenæum of Saturday last, accept the following as a stop-gap pending the discovery of the Latin original?
“En lacrymosus Amor! Fidem quia perdidit arcum
Vapulat! Exultans Cælia tela tenet.
Ast illam potuitne Puer donare sagittis?
Subrisit:—Matrem credidit esse suam.
Miry-land Town.—As an addition to the note of “J.R.F.” (p. 167. No. 11.) on Miry-land Town, and by way of corroboration of his reading, I may just mention that the towns and villages in the Weald of Kent are familiarly spoken of as places “down in the mud,” by the inhabitants of other parts of the country. Those who are acquainted with the Weald will agree that this designation is not undeserved.
The Surtees Society, for the publication of inedited MSS. illustrative of the intellectual, moral, religious, and social condition of those parts of the United Kingdom which constitute the ancient kingdom of Northumberland, has been remodelled. The subscription for the year is one guinea, and the works in immediate preparation are, 1. “The Injunctions and other Ecclesiastical Proceedings of Richard Barnes, Bishop of Durham (1577-87);” and, 2. “The Anglo-Saxon Hymnarium.”
We have great pleasure in directing attention to the Exhibition of Works of Ancient and Mediæval Art which is to be opened in the Adelphi next month.
This is a great opportunity for forming an Exhibition of a novel and most interesting kind, one which is calculated both to interest and amuse the archæologist and the public, and to instruct the artizan and the manufacturer. We sincerely hope possessors of articles suitable for exhibition, will not fail to take advantage of it. They should immediately enter into communication with the Honorary Secretary to the Exhibition, at the rooms of the Society of Arts, or they will be too late.
The Gentlemen’s Magazine realizes all our anticipations. The Reviews are of a very superior order. Justice is done to as well as upon the authors who have come under notice, and the original articles are of high value; those upon the Dea Sequana and the History of Words are especially worthy of notice. Mr. Waller’s papers upon Christian Iconography promise to be of the highest value. A new career of usefulness and honour has been opened up to Sylvanus Urban, who seems determined to merit the addition lately made to his title, and to become what is really a desideratum in English Literature—a good “Historical Review.”
Messrs. Sotheby and Co. will sell, on Thursday and Friday next, a very choice Selection of Magnificent Books and Pictorial Works from the Library of an eminent Collector, including large paper copies of the Antiquarian Works of Visconti, Montfaucon, &c.; the first four editions of Shakspeare, and other works of similar high character.
We have received the following Catalogues:—
“Catalogue of most splendid and truly valuable Ancient Manuscripts upon Vellum and Paper, particularly rich in History and Topography, Heraldry and County Visitations, Pedigrees and Family History, Ancient Charters, Royal Grants and other Documents of peculiar interest to the Antiquary and Historian, on sale by Thomas Thorpe, 13. Henrietta Street, Covent Garden; and
“Bernard Quartch’s Catalogue of Foreign and English Books, selling for Cash at very reduced Prices, at 16. Castle Street, Leicester Square; comprising Antiquities, History, Heraldry, Numismatics, Classics, Ethnology, Languages, &c.
(In continuation of Lists in Former Nos.)
ALANI OPERA. Edit. C. DE NISCH. Antwerp, 1654.
CLICHTORÆUS, ELUCIDATORIUM ECCLESIASTICUM. Paris, 1556.
CORNER, PROMPTUARIUM DEVOTIONIS. Vienna, 1672.
Odd Volumes.
AMES AND HERBERT’S TYPOGRAPHICAL ANTIQUITIES. By DIBDIN. Vol. I.
*** Letters stating particulars and lowest price, carriage free, to be sent to MR. BELL, Publisher of “NOTES AND QUERIES,” 186. Fleet Street.
R.J.S. will find in No. 12. p. 188., an answer to his query in reply to a previous query in No. 8. p. 125.
F.D. (BRADFORD) is informed that the Towneley Mysteries have been printed by the Surtees Society, and the Coventry and Chester Mysteries by the Shakspeare Society. We have no doubt the Collection of Early Mysteries, printed at Basle, may be procured from any of the foreign booksellers.
W. calls our attention to an error in p. 217. The Field of Forty Foot-steps is a distinct work by Miss Porter, published in the same collection as “Coming Out,” but not the second title of that work.
J.K.R.W. Many thanks, although there has not been an opportunity of using the communications.
G.W. will find the phrase “to dine with Duke Humphrey” very fully illustrated in Nares.
We are compelled, by want of space, to omit our usual acknowledgment of COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED.
We are again compelled to omit many Notes, Queries, and Answers to Queries which are in type, as well as Answers to Correspondents.
Uniform with “HALLAM’S LITERATURE OF EUROPE.”
Now ready, in 3 vols. 8vo. 42s.
A HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE. With Criticism on particular Works, and Biographical Notices of Prominent Writers. By GEORGE TICKNOR, Esq.
JOHN Murray, Albemarle Street.
NEW WORK BY LORD LINDSAY.
This day is published. 3vols. 8vo. 42s.
LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS; or, a Memoir of the HOUSES OF CRAWFORD AND BALCARRES. By LORD LINDSAY.
Also, by the same Author. 3 vols. 8vo. 31s. 6d.
SKETCHES of the HISTORY of CHRISTIAN ART.
JOHN MURRAY, Albemarle Street.
On the 15th of February will be published, No. II., for 1850, of
On sale at 43, Chandos Street, Trafalgar Square, to be had gratis, and sent (if required) postage free to any Book-buyer. The prices are for ready money only.
It will contain, amongst other subjects, a large collection of Books on HERALDRY, GENEALOGY, and FAMILY HISTORY, a few Books on ANGLING, some early ENGLISH DICTIONARIES, Books of POETRY, HISTORY, TOPOGRAPHY, and ENGRAVINGS, with various works in other interesting departments of Miscellaneous Literature.
A CHRONICLE OF THE KYNGES OF ENGELONDE, from ye Normane Conqueste to the reygne of our Soveragne Ladie Elizabethe, wythe a summarie accounte of eache reygne, by G.C.L. A MANUSCRIPT of the last century, in 4to., calf, very neat, 37 full-length portraits, water-colour drawings, curiously emblazoned in gold and colours, with the Arms and Insignia of each Monarch, and numerous other devices, ornaments and borders, from the library of Sir Gore Ousely, with a portrait apparently of the executor. 3l. 3s.
ANNALS OF THE CALEDONIANS, PICTS, AND SCOTS, and of Strathclyde, Cumberland, Galloway, and Murray, by J. RITSON, Esq. 2 vols cr. 8vo. Half-bound morocco, extra marble edges, 8s. 6d. 1828.
BETHAMS (W.) BARONETAGE OF ENGLAND, or the History of the English Baronets, and such Baronets of Scotland as are of English Families. 5 vols. 4to. Half-calf, neat, with Genealogical Tables, and Engravings of Armorial Bearings, 1l. 10s. 1801-1808.
BUCKINGHAM’S ORIENTAL HERALD AND COLONIAL REVIEW, comprising a Mass of Valuable Writings on the Colonies and their Government. Complete in 23 vols. 8vo. Half-calf, very neat. 1l. 10s. 1824-1829.
BUCKINGHAM’S (J.S.) TRAVELS AMONG THE ARAB TRIBES in Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, Assyria, Media, and Persia. 3 vols. 4to., not uniform in binding. Maps, Portrait, and upwards of 80 Illustrations, 1l. 17s. 1825-1829.
BYRON’S (LORD) LETTERS AND JOURNALS, with Notices of his Life, by THOMAS MOORE. 3 vols. 8vo., illustrated with 41 Engravings by the Findens, from Designs by Turner, Stanfield, &c., elegantly half-bound morocco, marbled edges, in the best style, by Hayday, 1l. 8s. 1813.
DALLAWAY’S INQUIRY INTO THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF HERALDRY IN ENGLAND. Royal 4to., coloured plates, calf, very neat, 16s. Gloucester, 1793.
THE EDINBURGH REVIEW, from its Commencement in 1802 to the Year 1824, forming a valuable Series of the Journal. 40 vols. in 20. 8vo., nearly half-bound in russia, only 2l. 12s. 6d. 1802-1824
FRERON L’ANNE LITTERAIRE, from 1754 to 1777, wanting a few intermediate Volumes. 166 vols. 12mo., calf, neat, 2l. 2s. 1754-1777.
GALLERY OF ENGLISH AND FOREIGN PORTRAITS, with Memoirs by various distinguished Writers. 7 vols. imp. 8vo. cloth, uncut, top edges gilt. 168 fine Portraits. An early copy. 3l. 13s. 6d.
GIUSTINIAN (BERNARD) HISTORIE CHRONOLOGICHE DEL L’ORIGINR DEGL’ ORDINI MILITARI E DI TUTTE LE RELIGIONI CARVALLE RESCHE INFINO AD HORA INSTITUITE NEL MONDO. 2 vols. royal 4 to. Illustrated with 30 fine full-length Engravings of the Costumes, &c. of the various Orders of Knighthood in the World, with numerous other Illustrations, 1l. 11s. 6d. Venezen, 1692.
JOURNAL OF THE LONDON GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, from its Commencement. 12 vols. 8vo. half-calf, gilt, Maps, &c. 3l. 3s.
LINGARD’S (JOHN, D.D.) HISTORY OF ENGLAND, from the First Invasion of the Romans. 13 vols. fcap. 8vo. Vignette title-pages. 1l. 18s. 1837. &c.
LADIES’ MONTHLY MUSEUM; OR POLITE REPOSITORY OF AMUSEMENT AND INSTRUCTION: from its Commencement. 19 vols. 12mo. half-bound, uncut; profusely illustrated with Portraits of celebrated Females, and an extensive variety of coloured Costumes. 1l. 5s. 1799-1807.
THE LITERARY GAZETTE, a JOURNAL OF BELLES LETTRES, FINE ARTS, and SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION, from its Commencement in 1817 to the Year 1844, inclusive. 24 vols. 4to. half-calf, neat, and uniform. 3l. 18s. 1817-1844.
A clean, handsomely bound copy of this valuable repertory of literary, scientific, and fine art information during the last quarter of a century.
PALEY, (W.) D.D., THE ENTIRE WORKS OF, With a BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH of the AUTHOR By the Rev. D.S. WAYLAND, 5 vols. 8vo. Half calf, extra marble edges; fine Portrait. New and neat. Only 1l. 2s. 1837.
PORTRAITS OF THE PRINCES AND PEOPLE OF INDIA. By the Hon. Miss EDEN. Drawn on Stone by L. DICKENSON. Folio Half-bound; morocco. 24 fine Engravings. 1l. 5s.
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI, from the Commencement to June, 1849. 16 vols. Complete in 8 thick 4to. vols., half-bound calf, gilt, many thousand Engravings, only 4l. 4s.
SHAKESPEARE ALBUM; a Series of One Hundred and Seventy Illustrations from the Plates to Boydell’s Edition of Shakespeare, as published to the Edition edited by Valpy. Fcap. 8vo., cloth, gilt, 12s. 6d; or elegantly bound in morocco, gilt edges, richly tooled back and sides, 16s. 1831.—But a very small number of copies were printed for sale in this form.
SHIRLEY, JAMES, THE DRAMATIC WORKS AND POEMS OF. now first collected, with Notes by GIFFORD, and an Account of his Life by the Rev. ALEX. DYER. 6 vols. 8vo., half-bound morocco, marble edges, fine Portraits, 1l. 16s. 1833.
TRIALS:—An extensive Collection of State Trials, in 5 vols. folio, calf, very neat, 1l. 8s. 1719, &c.
TYPOGRAPHIA, OR THE PRINTER’S INSTRUCTOR, including an Account of the Origin of Printing, by J. JOHNSON. 2 very thick vols. 24mo., upward of 1500 pages of Letter-press, profusely illustrated and ornamented with borders. Woodcuts, &c., the most perfect Typographical work published. Only 3s. 6d.—J.M. is enabled to offer this work at a price that must place it in the hands of every printer’s apprentice, as well as the lover of books.
JOHN MILLER, 43. Chandos Street, Trafalgar Square.
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The above COMMITTEE has been formed for the purpose of organising an EXHIBITION OF WORKS OF ANCIENT AND MEDIÆVAL ART. The SOCIETY OF ARTS having considered that such an Exhibition is not only likely to be interesting to the public, but also to be especially useful to Manufacturers (with reference to the Exhibition of Works of Industry of all Nations to be held in the year 1851), have placed a portion of their Rooms at the disposal of the Committee, and have agreed to adopt the Exhibition as part of that annually made by the Society, thereby taking all the expenses connected with it upon themselves. The Committee, regarding the Exhibition in the twofold character contemplated by the Society of Arts, have resolved that the objects of ancient and mediæval art of which the Exhibition is to be composed, shall, as far as possible, be selected with reference to their beauty and the practical illustration which they are likely to afford of processes of manufacture; and now beg to invite the possessors of Works deemed suitable for such an exhibition to assist the Committee in their very important office, by entering into communication with them, respecting the nature of any objects which they may be willing to offer for exhibition.
It is requested that all Works proposed for exhibition be punctually sent to the Rooms of the SOCIETY OF ARTS, John Street, Adelphi, on or before the 20th of February, it being imperative that the Exhibition should open in early March.
Letters and Communications should be addressed to AUGUSTUS W. FRANKS, Esq. Honorary Secretary to the Committee, Society of Arts, John Street, Adelphi.
By order of the Committee
JOHN MURRAY: Albemarle Street.
Printed by THOMAS CLARK SHAW, of No. 8. New Street Square, at No. 5. New Street Square, in the Parish of St. Bride, in the City of London; and published by GEORGE BELL, of No. 186. Fleet Street, in the Parish of St. Dunstan in the West, in the City of London, Publisher, at No. 186. Fleet Street aforesaid.—Saturday, February 9. 1850.